Gee, what a mouthful that title is, huh? Maybe I should re-arrange the title to Angel Food Cake with Raspberry Filling, Lemon Curd Cream Frosting and Toasted Almonds. Still a mouthful.

After making (or buying) an angel food cake, you carefully slice it into three layers. Carefully. The cake is very tender and tears easily.

Then you spread the bottom layer with some seedless raspberry jam. Don’t spread it too close to the outside edge so it doesn’t mix with the whipped cream frosting. If it’s hard to spread, heat the jam just a smidgen in the microwave so it is spreadable.

Then you repeat the process with the next layer. Same drill.

Put the top layer on.

There’s a side view of the layers. You can see that I didn’t exactly slice it evenly. Doesn’t really matter – you don’t notice it in the finished product.

Then frost it all with the whipped cream frosting – it’s just heavy cream, whipped, with 3/4 cup of lemon curd folded in at the end.

Then you pat on all the toasted almonds. Use a plastic (disposable) glove to do it – much easier. And do it over a large sheet pan so the almonds that don’t stick will fall into the pan and you can try again. When you cut and serve it, add some fresh raspberries alongside. They can be tossed with some sugar – I didn’t because I thought they were sweet enough.

At the Phillis Carey cooking class, she made this with a kind of lemon brittle (that she made) rather than the almonds. I thought the almonds would be better for us – and it was easier. If you’re interested in the lemon brittle part, leave a comment and I’ll add that part of the recipe in the comment section. I think I preferred the lemon flavor with the lemon brittle, but it was more work than I was willing to do. I made my own lemon curd (because I have lots of lemons), but you can use store bought just fine!

There’s only one more thing to tell you about – the size of the angel food cake. My DH, who does nearly all the grocery shopping for me, could not find a ready-made angel food cake. The two places Phillis suggested we buy one didn’t have any (Henry’s and Costco). So he bought an angel food cake mix. The Betty Crocker mix made a bigger angel food cake than Phillis’ recipe intended. I should have perhaps used just two layers (would have been a very low cake). Or trimmed the outside edge all around (would have been very raggedy and probably not a pretty sight). Hence I used the whole thing. You use lots of the whipped cream and lemon curd frosting on the cake – it needs it. Don’t think that the recipe is incorrect here – you do need that much whipped cream. In my case, there wasn’t enough frosting in proportion to cake. So do take that into consideration when you make this. If you use an angel food mix, just make more frosting, at least 25% more. I also think angel cake mixes (categorically) contain too much sugar – we found the dessert to be very sweet, even though I used sugar-free jam. Overall, though it’s very good. And really, a fairly easy dessert to make. Quite impressive to look at as well, don’t you think?

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A year ago: Lemon Upside Down Cake (can you tell March is the time when ripe lemons are on our trees?)
Two years ago: Great Coffee Cake (a Marion Cunningham recipe – she named it Great)

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With an abundance of lemons around our house, and when faced with a recipe calling for lemon curd, I couldn’t in good conscience even consider buying it, when it could be made in a matter of minutes. It took about 15 minutes, all told, including squeezing the juice, separating the eggs, measuring the sugar and then cooking it.

I’d read on someone else’s blog that Dorie Greenspan’s recipe, in her book Baking: From My Home to Yours was fantastic. Most lemon curd recipes call for whole eggs. And this one does too – but just ONE. Dorie suggests you use 6 egg yolks and one whole egg. Therefore this lemon curd is richer than most. I don’t know why people are intimidated by making lemon curd – it’s really very easy, and if you have a good pan (or a double boiler) it’s quite easy too. There are only a few caveats when making lemon curd: (1) heat and cook the curd on low heat; (2) don’t cook it past the point of a thin type sauce (it will thicken as it cools); and (3) stir it constantly. Do NOT leave your post at the stove to do anything as it really needs your constant attention. I used my ball bearing whisk and my precious All-Clad Copper Core 1-Quart Saucier Pan to do it – and there was no burning or sticking whatsoever. After I poured out the contents, there was just a lovely patina of curd sticking to the edges – perfect for the cook to taste. And taste. Yummy. Does that tell you whether you should try it?

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Three years ago: Lemon Sponge Pudding

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With oodles of Meyer lemons around my house these days (from our trees), I needed to use up some juice and zest. I’d read a recipe for a lemon and chocolate loaf cake – oh, did that sound good to me. I’d recently purchased a new pan – an elongated loaf pan – narrower and longer than a traditional bread pan. It’s a ceramic dish, pan shaped, but not metal, and it’s 12” x 4” x 2 1/2”. A lovely, bright glazed finish. And it holds the equivalent of a regular loaf pan quantity. So this gave me a perfect opportunity to try it out.

The recipe came from Marie, over at A Year From Oak Cottage. She writes two blogs – that one, and another one that’s just recipes (where this one came from), called The English Kitchen. Marie said that you might not think lemon and chocolate go all that well together. Oh, but she’s right, they do!

So I dug out the new pan – see the photo at right. It’s from King Arthur Flour. I love the shape of this pan – they call it a tea loaf pan. Makes for really pretty slices.

The cake was a cinch to make – the usual kind of cake-baking ingredients (butter, flour, eggs, leavening, yogurt). Then you veer off course and add lemon zest and chocolate chunks or chips and some walnuts. And after it bakes you pour some sweetened lemon syrup on top. A drizzle, if you will.

This recipe is not a bread-type texture. It’s more a cake-type-texture. But baked in a loaf pan. The cake/bread is very, very tender. Like a sponge cake, even. So once I removed the bread from the pan (using greased parchment as a sling and moved very carefully, I’ll add) and it cooled off, I did discover that you can’t cut narrow slices as you would for a banana bread, for instance – it was just so soft – too soft for that. But gosh, it’s delicious. Very tasty. So I cut wider slices – about 3/4 of an inch each. And did I tell you it was delicious? Oh yes. If you happen to have a lemon tree and need an excuse to use up some juice and zest, try this recipe. Thanks, Marie, for a great addition to my recipe box.

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A year ago: Salmon Steaks with Soy Maple Glaze (a favorite)
Two years ago: A write-up about my (then new) Kindle
Three years ago: Coriander Lime Shrimp (a great appetizer)

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Looking at this photo above, you’d probably think this is just a chocolate cake. Well, it is a chocolate cake, but it’s nothing related to ordinary. One of the descriptions of this cake is that it tastes more like cheesecake than cake. I don’t know that it’s cheesecake-like, only because it doesn’t have that wet-like texture of a cheesecake. It’s more like a cake, but with an almost velvet texture. It sort of defies description. It’s not exactly a cake; it’s not really a cheesecake, either (because it contains no dairy – like cream cheese –  except butter, and doesn’t have a crust – and isn’t wet like a cheesecake – it’s not even like a dry cheesecake, either). It’s not a torte, because it has no crust. I don’t really know what to call it.

The recipe is in Maida Heatter’s chocolate cookbook: Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts. It’s an old cookbook, but Maida Heatter is just a jewel of a baker. Nothing I’ve ever made from this book has been less than fabulous. Last year I made her 86-proof Chocolate Bundt Cake. It was sensational.

I can’t say that I’d ever even heard of Countess de Toulouse-Lautrec (1901-1969). And no, she was not married to the famous artist. Her husband was one of Henri’s distant cousins. But, she became a well-known foodie of that era and published a cookbook. This recipe, though, she introduced to American tastes by way of an article in McCall’s magazine way back in 1959.

Whatever this cake is, it’s absolutely rich with chocolate. It’s soft and velvety. And not heavy in the least. It’s a somewhat unorthodox cooking method, I will say. Not hard to make – kind of like a sponge cake – a chocolate one.  But it’s a far cry from a sponge cake in texture – it’s a bit more dense, remember. I was supposed to use an 8-inch springform pan. Would you believe, I don’t have one. So I had to improvise and use an 8 1/2-inch cake pan. It made it a little bit iffy getting the cake out of the pan that way (it could have been a disaster, actually), but it did come out because I greased a piece of parchment paper in the bottom. And the cake pan was nonstick too.

What’s odd is that you bake this little guy for a total of 15 minutes. Yup. That’s correct. And would you believe it only has one tablespoon of flour in it? And one tablespoon of sugar too. Well then, we will talk about the chocolate – it, of course, has sugar in it. And the recipe uses an entire pound of chocolate. The recipe calls for semisweet chocolate. I didn’t have a whole pound of semisweet, so I had to improvise with some bittersweet plus some ordinary chocolate chips. It didn’t seem to matter – the cake came out just fine.

Once we cut into this cake, I had a very hard time keeping my kitchen knife out of the dish to just cut off a thin, tiny little wedge to eat out of hand. Even with no whipped cream on top, it was sensational. The recipe indicates it’s even better made a day ahead. I would agree, although it was delicious the first evening too. You don’t chill it – it stays out at room temp, covered, of course. If you chilled it, I think the chocolate would firm up, and that you wouldn’t want! Do eat it within 2 days, though. Otherwise, freeze it to eat at a later time.

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A year ago: Chocolate Puddle Cookies
Two years ago: A post about planning for a Valentine’s dinner

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Does that photo make you want to prepare this cake? Sometimes I get the best photos when I hardly try! Then when I try, they don’t turn out all that well. Since this wasn’t a hot dish that I needed to zip to the table, I was able to take time to set it up with reflective light. The contrast of dark and light works too. Sorry folks, you’ll just have to bear with me as I pat myself on the back!

Anyway, this cake. Well, it’s just delicious. Rich. Decadent. Chocolate. Almost truffle-like. Thick. Sensual almost. Wicked. All of the above. I didn’t get a photo of a served slice of the cake with the accompanying ice cream (with cinnamon and Kahlua added in) since we were at our son and daughter-in-law’s home, and the ice cream was melting fast. You’ll just have to trust me that the ice cream was delish, and that you NEED to make that part of it. Don’t NOT make the ice cream – you really do need it to cut the sweetness of the cake. Did I mention it was rich? Uh, yes it was.

The cake is easy to make. Honestly, it is. It’s a Phillis Carey recipe – one she notified her subscribers about – she sends out emails once in awhile with added recipes on her website. You have to sign up at her website to be notified. Anyway, this was one of those recipes. She probably taught it at a class, but I didn’t go to that one – she just said this cake was sensational. My changes: I’ve made two: (1) I reduced the amount of sugar in the cake, by just a bit; and (2) I added in the Kahlua to the ice cream. Why? Just because it sounded good. I bought vanilla ice cream and the children present had the cake with plain ice cream. The adults got a dose of liquor and a bit of cinnamon with theirs. I’d softened the ice cream to put in the additions and re-froze it (although 2 hours in the freezer was not enough time to totally re-freeze it, so allow more than that when you make it, okay?).

The cake can be made the day before, and I think it will feed 12 people. Phillis said 8-10, but with the richness of this cake, small pieces were in order. This recipe below is my slight adaptation of hers. Be sure to use the right sized pan (an 8-inch, not a 9-inch). If you DO use a 9-inch, it will bake in less time, probably by about 5 minutes.

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A year ago: Joanne Weir’s Mom’s Chocolate Cake
Three years ago: Refrigerator Bran Muffins

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Was this cake ever delicious! We had a nice family gathering on New Years’ Day, so I whipped up this cake periodically watching the Rose Parade on TV that morning while the house was quiet. I think everyone at the dinner table had something great to say about it. Exceedingly flavorful, spicy, moist . . . all the superlatives you’d want to hear about a cake. It’s kind of a combination gingerbread and apple cake. Very moist. And full of those heart-warming gather-‘round-the-fire kind of spices.

Having read about it over at Food 52, the blog written by Amanda Hesser (she’s the Food Editor of the N.Y. Times) and Merrill Stubbs (a NYC food journalist), I knew I needed to try this cake. It was in early November when the gals at Food 52 had a contest for the best non-pie Thanksgiving dessert, and this one won, submitted by a reader named Dr. Babs. It’s been a huge hit by the number and variety of comments submitted about this one recipe.

Now, as cakes go, this one does take a bit more work than some (because you must make the apple mixture separately) but the cake itself is . . . is, really, just a nice, moist and flavorful spice cake. It does have a grand list of ingredients including Greek yogurt, dark rum, molasses, fresh ginger and turbinado sugar. If you have allergies, you might go to the Food 52 blog write-up and read about all the different substitutions other bakers made to adapt this cake, even one that was gluten-free. You can substitute milk for the rum (and add some rum extract) if you don’t want alcohol in it.

The cake is made in a springform pan (buttered) and you scoop in half the cake batter, then add the cooked apple mixture, then the remaining cake batter on top. Add walnut halves on the top and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar and into the oven it goes. Nothing more required. We enjoyed it with vanilla ice cream, but whipped cream (very lightly sweetened, Dr. Babs suggests) would work equally well.

May I just suggest, whatever you do, make this cake. It’s really worth every ounce of work, and I guarantee you’ll hear lots of raves at your table! And if the comments left on the website are any indication, most people who had any leftovers, ate it for breakfast. As I’m writing this, the cake is all gone. I’m sad. I may just have to make another one. Soon.

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Three years ago: Brandied Apricot Bars (an adult cookie, and a favorite of my friend Cherrie . . . I gave her a batch for her birthday one year)

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Last summer, every week I watched the Next Food Network Star, and from the very first show, when there were 12 or more candidates, I thought Aarti Sequeira had what it would take to win. I rooted for her from day one. And sure enough, she won, and now she has her own Food Network show, Aarti Party. I Tivo it every time it’s on (don’t you just love the new DVRs when all you have to do is set it up once and it forever records all new shows?). And I’ve made several of her recipes too. Her cooking schtick is comfortable American food with an Indian twist. At least that’s how I see it.

Anyway, after her first few shows ( her first “season,” she’s back on with more shows. And when she made Indian-style rice pudding using basmati rice, I knew I had to try it. All I had to buy was whole milk. I thought I had some pistachio nuts, but when I was ready to add them I   found none in the freezer. So the pudding doesn’t look quite as pretty as hers. Pistachios are on my grocery list now. What makes this pudding Indian is the addition of cardamom spice, rosewater (instead of vanilla) and pistachios.

The pudding is easy enough to make – you simmer the rice in whole milk with ground cardamom for about 45 minutes or so.

The milk reduces down, concentrating its richness. After it’s cooked you add the sugar and some rosewater (or vanilla). I’d have added the pistachios then (some in the pudding, more for garnish) if I’d had them.

The taste? Really unctuous. Rich. Smooth. Still a little tiny bit of tooth to the rice, even after that much cooking. I definitely didn’t want to over cook the rice. I like basmati rice as a rice pudding type. It’s a long-grained rice and retains a nice crunch, I think. Will I make this again? Definitely. Maybe it’s not quite up to my very favorite rice pudding, but it’s pretty close!

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Sorry I don’t have a photo of the whole cake. This was from a cooking class with Phillis Carey, and it was phenomenal. This may have been my favorite item from a double-whammy cooking class my friend Cherrie and I went to. Two cooking instructors, both teaching recipes for a full meal. Our portions, of course, weren’t huge. Just enough to get a sufficient taste, but oh, were we ever full when we walked out of that class!

We watched Phillis make this torte – it’s a light-as-a-feather sponge cake with chocolate chips that sink to the bottom. And flavored with amaretti (the almond-flavored Italian meringue cookies), and whipped cream flavored with the liqueur, Amaretto. The cake is mostly like any other sponge cake (where you whip up the whites and gently fold them into the egg-rich cake batter). This one just has the cooking crumbs folded in too, plus the chocolate chips. Don’t use chop-up-yourself chocolate in this – you need to use ready-made chocolate chips. And do slice it with a serrated knife, okay? Don’t refrigerate the cake – it’s okay to make it one day ahead. It also freezes well. You’ve gotta make this cake if you enjoy almond flavorings. And chocolate.

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A year ago: Zov’s Lentil Salad
Two years ago: Seafood Bisque
Three years ago: Almond Custard

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Oh, was this ever delicious. It was last week sometime when a group of us were talking about old-time recipes that nobody makes anymore, and my friend Peggy (I think) mentioned that spice cake is one of those things that’s gone by the wayside. That got me to thinking about it. My mother used to make a great spice cake (not a mix, although Duncan Hines and Pillsbury did used to produce a box mix), but after looking, I couldn’t find one in her recipe box. Found three recipes, though, amongst my cookbooks and to-try recipes. The one with the browned butter frosting stood out.

I made the cake, and our daughter Sara, who came to visit with her family over the weekend, made the frosting. Neither was difficult, but the spice mixture is certainly different. The recipe came from Sunset Magazine in October. Its title is “French Four Spice Cake with Browned Butter Spice Frosting.” That seemed like an unwieldy name, so I shortened it up some. But the recipe is just as it was printed in the magazine and online.

In France, they have a spice called quatre épices. It’s a mixture of spices, including white pepper. Maybe in France you can buy this already packaged (like we would buy pumpkin pie spice). It’s not hard to make – as long as you have white peppercorns on hand, you’ll likely have the other spices (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg). Although it’s called four spice, it’s actually five. I made a small batch in my electric spice grinder. Just remember that once spices are mixed together, they don’t hold their flavors as long – use the mixture within a month. Also, grind it up well – you don’t want little chunks of white pepper in your cake. You use some of it in the cake and some in the frosting as well.

The cake fills a 9×9 pan, but actually, we got many more than 12 servings out of it – if you served it with some vanilla ice cream on the side, I think it would easily serve 16. Whatever the serving sizes, it’s really good. Comfort food. And the frosting – oh my goodness – it’s rich, but good enough that you could easily lick the beater clean as a whistle! Don’t be tempted to make more frosting (to frost the sides, for instance). You don’t need more. The cake is tender and tasty, but the frosting puts it onto another plane!

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A year ago: Saffron Risotto Cakes (oh, yum, love those things)
Two years ago: Rice Pudding
Three years ago: Cauliflower with Scallop Soup

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Since we’re about to leave on an extended trip, I won’t be able to do any cooking or baking at all. (I’m setting this up to post while we’re en route.) New crop fall apples are available now and when I saw the recipe for an apple cake, it just spoke to me. With four Granny Smith apples on hand, I whipped it together. The recipe is from the 10/2010 issue of Southern Living and the dozens of people who had already made it had written good reports. I’m learning – that when I make something from a magazine article (published within the last few years anyway) I should go online and see if other people have blogged about it, and if the magazine has an interactive site, to see if readers have left favorable comments. Generally, I do this BEFORE I make the dish. I should do it before I ever even decide to make it (like before I buy specific ingredients!). Read the rest of this entry »

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