Today, an addition to my recipe collection so I know where to find this next time I need a light, perfectly sweet, flavorful chocolate frosting to go with my favorite chocolate cake.
I like lemon. And lime and yuzu and orange, but very much lemon. Which is why I want to give a shout-out to King Arthur’s 2017 Recipe of the Year and my new favorite lemon cake. The hardest thing about it is prepping the pan. (After years of fighting with the challenges of Bundt pan topography, I opted to try this spray. Success!)
Click through to the recipe for details and step-by-step instructions. I record my version here for next week when I make this again culinary posterity.
Icing (optional, the cake is good with or without it)
170g confectioners’ sugar, sifted
pinch of table salt
42g lemon juice
Bake at 350F for 60 minutes.
* I bought the specialized ingredients at King Arthur so I’ve included those links, but you can find these items elsewhere. I do appreciate the fact that King Arthur is an employee-owned company with an extensive free recipe collection and a hotline for baking emergencies!
My favorite sandwich bread recipe makes two loaves. That’s just enough for Mr Man to eat most of a loaf the first day, and then polish off the second loaf over the next day or two. Making this bread isn’t hard but it does take up most of a morning, and it would be nice if the results lasted a bit longer.
Given that, I’ve adapted the recipe to make three loaves and include it here so I won’t misplace the random scrap of paper I used for my calculations. (Yes, that happens a lot!)
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Even More Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
Levain
192g flour
192g water
66g sourdough starter
Dough
946g flour
75g sugar
22g salt
8.4g instant yeast
85g butter, softened
573g milk (70° to 80°F, I microwave for 63 seconds)
the ripe levain
Instructions (abbreviated*)
Mix the levain ingredients the night before and let rise
The next morning, mix and then knead together all of the dough ingredients (~12 minutes)
Let the dough rise for 1 to 2 hours, until ~doubled in size
Divide the dough into three, shape into loaves, let rise in buttered 9″ loaf pans until ~1″ above rim
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 375F
* I’ve memorized this recipe by now, but for more details see the original post. And apologies for not converting these measurements back into cups etc. but my bread needs to be shaped!
Enjoy!
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Not quite the BLTs we’re planning, but close enough! Photo by Dimitri on Unsplash
I am trying something new today: cheesecake. I am sure that I have made a cheesecake at some point because my lizard brain remembers the pain of a hot water bath slopping up against my forearm, and the annoyance of a leaky springform pan. That said, I don’t remember many other details because I’ve been avoiding this kind of cake for years.
But I had a special request. Mr Man wanted a cheesecake. And not just any cheesecake, he wanted it to be chocolate.
Ok, I said. I can do that. (Pretty sure I can do that.)
After much research and a number of modifications, I am doing it.
If you are unfamiliar, cheesecake is typically a multi-day affair. It requires a bake and then a cool and then a chill, preferably overnight. If you’re in a hurry, you can try some of the no-bake variants out there, but they still tend to require significant time in the fridge.
Here’s the base recipe I’m using: Epic New York Cheesecake From BraveTart. (No water bath! My forearms are thanking me. And how did I not realize that there is no flour at all in cheesecake?)
Modifications are required because my pan isn’t quite the right size and the original formulation is for a lightly citrus-flavored version. For Mr Man’s chocolate extravaganza, I’m using some of the changes posted by GregLasky in the recipe comments, along with most of his ingredient list: Chocolate Cheesecake.
The bad thing about a recipe like this is that I have to wait before I know if it worked. The good thing about a recipe like this? I have a whole day to imagine how great it’s going to be.
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If I’m lucky, my cheesecake will look something like this. Except not as dark chocolaty. Or as well plated. And what is that tasty-looking beverage? Photo by Allen Rad on Unsplash
The recipe is fine, the butterscotch flavor excellent, and it could have turned out great. Emphasis on “could.”
If you don’t have access to the New York Times recipe collection, here are the ingredients I used:
6 medium or 5 large ripe peaches
4 T. unsalted butter
½ C. cream
½ C. sugar
1 T. maple syrup
Pinch of salt
¾ t. vanilla
In sum: peel and chop the peaches, brown the butter and sauté the peaches for three minutes, then let rest. In a second pan, add all remaining ingredients except vanilla. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved, then raise heat to medium and let simmer/boil for 12 minutes or until browned. Add to peaches and stir to combine.
The result? My peaches were a bit of a disaster. The first peaches of the season often are, but I held out hope. They were beautiful, I‘ll give them that, but after washing and scoring and boiling and peeling (a pain, I’d skip it next time) and slicing, I had to accept the facts.
The peaches were decidedly mediocre. All but two had at least some internal brown spots, and three were nothing but mush. And eaten fresh, even the prettiest fruit was mealy and low on flavor.
I cooked them up and made the butterscotch. Then, as I was nearing the finish line, I waffled over the final product. Should I go ahead with the subpar peaches or skip the fruit and just eat the butterscotch? While I considered my options, the butterscotch started to harden. By the time I decided to say what the hell, I was on my way to Candyland. As in, the butterscotch was hardening into delicious-yet-difficult-to-mix candy.
I went with it in the end. The final product tasted good, actually, but there were chunks of semi-solidified butterscotch throughout. (It would have made for a delicious addition to ice cream, in fact. Maybe next time.)
I need to start testing some of the thousand (!) recipes here, but if there is a more perfect type of cookbook for me, I don’t know what it is. I love the ease, reliability and reach of books like Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, but this new book’s approach not only tests the many (many) variations of each recipe, it also tells you what they tried, why, and with what results. Then you get the finalized recipe.
I made the banana bread. Mr Man’s double helping for dessert say it was a success.
I’m working today but I’d rather be baking. While in Montreal last week I picked up some sugar cookies. Mediocre, not good, stale cookies. They were, to put it mildly, a disappointment.
I hate disappointment. What do I like? Recipes that are satisfying, easy enough to make whenever I want, and showcase flavor rather than perfection. A little flash doesn’t go amiss, either.
We’re watching The Great Canadian Baking Show and I am reminded that there are so many interesting things out there to learn. So while I’m looking for the perfect sugar cookie recipe, I may also start building a list of essential* recipes and methods I don’t already know.
And then start baking.
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* My definition of essential will almost certainly differ from yours, but I’m aiming for techniques that can be used in a wide variety of recipes, help build flexibility into both recipes and bakers regardless of skill level, and eschew fiddly for fun. That said, how have I never made a pithivier? Also, buying puff pastry is absolutely acceptable in my book.
Yesterday: a pretty fall day + road trip + Les Fruits du Poirier pick-your-own fruit farm = fun 🙂
This particular farm has the usual apples, pears, raspberries, etc. but they also specialize in the less usual. Not everything was in season, but they also grow fruits like haskap, sea buckthorn, gooseberries, and northern kiwi. Yes, that kiwi! The northern variety is smaller than the imported variety you find in stores, but it is sweeter, with thinner skin and no fuzz, which means it doesn’t have to be peeled.
We had to look up half of what we saw, either because we didn’t recognize the plant or because we’d never heard of it before (jostaberry?). We used a click to ID app called Picture This (free to use but you have to navigate a maze of “sign up now!” screens, but I’m sure there are others.
The day was beautiful and it was great to get outside and into the country. Recommended.
I had some plums waiting for a recipe, and I ran across this one for plum torte. The original was a wildly popular New York Times recipe that ran for years. This version is slightly modified and includes comments to help triangulate your own changes.
It’s easy and delicious. There’s a little magic involved. The fruit starts on top but slowly sinks into the batter and turns into a delicious, jammy treat. Of course I added a few minor adjustments.
I made a plum version a few days ago, and today I made a plum with cinnamon, a peach with cinnamon and cardamom, and two mixed berry* tortes with cinnamon and just a splash of Grand Marnier. They also freeze well.
Prep an 8 or 9-inch cake pan. I used a round of parchment paper and buttered the interior, then dusted bottom and sides with a mix of sugar and cinnamon to avoid sticking.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream the sugar and butter until very light and fluffy, about 5–7 minutes with my mixer. I recommend mechanical means unless you want to be there all day.
Add the dry ingredients, eggs and vanilla all at once, and beat until combined, scraping down the sides a couple of times.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the fruit on top of the batter. Sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan for 10 minutes, and then remove. Invert onto a cooling rack, then flip back onto another rack to finish cooling.
Notes
— The recipe called for a springform pan but they aren’t my favorite. (Although it would make cooling easier.) I used a 9” cake pan.
— Fruit options: this recipe has worked with every kind of fruit I’ve tried so far. Plums, peaches and pears are all very good. Pit and quarter lengthwise if small or chop into smaller pieces. Berries are also excellent, and I’ve had great luck with frozen blueberries although starting from frozen added a few minutes to the baking time. For any of these options, if the flavor’s flat then season with a little lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon to taste. Grand Marnier is also very good with berries. Just saying.
— One batch of batter weighs ~475g, in case you’re doubling the recipe.
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* In addition to pints of red raspberries, yellow raspberries, pears, apples, and kiwi, we picked up a haskap pie (no judgement, they were baking and it smelled amazing), and a frozen bag of haskap, red and white currants, raspberries, gooseberries, and Saskatoon berries.
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The tortes. Also, sandwich bread (testing mayonnaise instead of butter) and a double batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. And now I’m ready for a frosty adult beverage.
What with no travel or outside family, this isn’t a great year for giant eight-layer cakes, so today I’m revisiting my one and only Easter dessert, the Bunny Cake.
It was fun to make. Will I do it again someday? Maybe, maybe not, but techniques like the meringue mushrooms, grass, and fondant were interesting to do.
J.R. Johnson 
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