CrankyCakes

I’ve long wanted to make this cake,  which I first had years ago at a celebration dinner with friends.  But  though it combines two of my very favorite flavors (strawberries and almonds), I was intimidated by making genoise, the classic European sponge cake that provides its layers.

My mother inspired me recently though, telling me that even though she didn’t think of herself as much of a cook, she could do fairly complex things because she knows how to follow the steps of a recipe.

I thought, I want to do that too.  And before I knew it it was Mother’s Day, and since these are tastes my mother also loves, Z. & I got in the kitchen.  We followed the recipe, making it just a bit healthier, and it was very, very good.

Fraisier Cake
(adapted from Joy of Cooking)
12 servings

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease and flour the bottoms of two 9 x 2″ round pans.

Sift together 3 times and return to the sifter:

• 1 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour or cake flour
• 1/4 c. sugar

Melt in a small saucepan:

• 1/3 c. clarified butter (I used 2 T. butter, and the rest olive oil)

Whisk together in a large heatproof bowl:

• 6 large eggs
• 3/4 c. sugar

Set the bowl over a skillet of very lightly simmering water, and whisk constantly until the mixture is warm to the touch (110 on a thermometer).  Remove bowl from the heat and and beat on high speed until very lightly colored and tripled in volume.  This will take about 5 minutes with the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, or 15 minutes with a hand-held beater.

In 3 additions, sift the flour mixture over the top and fold in with a rubber spatula.  (Unless your children relentlessly steal your rubber spatulas, no matter how many times you replace them, in which case you can use a wooden spoon like I did.)

Reheat butter until warm, and fold into

• 1 1/2 c. of batter, with
• 1 t. vanilla

until completely incorporated.

Fold into remaining egg mixture, then scrape into pans and spread evenly.  Bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pans and top springs back when lightly pressed.  The JoC recipe says this should take about 15 minutes, but in my oven it took about 22.

Let cool on rack in pans for 10 minutes, then run knife carefully around edges to detach from pan, then let cool on rack completely.

While cakes are cooling, clean and slice in half:

• 3 c. strawberries

Set aside and whip until fairly stiff:

• 1 c. whipping cream
• 1 t. sugar

Get a rolling pin, and roll out until nice and flat (alternately, if you can’ t find your rolling pin no matter how you try, you can get a nice big cutting board and use your hands to create a nice flat circle that’s the same size as your cake):

• 1 tube of marzipan

Once cakes are cooled, place the marzipan disc (use a spatula to lift it from the board) on top of one cake.

Then place the strawberry halves, flat side down and cut side facing out, in concentric circles on top of the marzipan.

Place whipped cream on top, and then top with top layer of cake.  You can decorate the top with strawberries or extra marzipan or more whipped cream if you like.  It’s also traditional to drizzle some chocolate over the top.  I was told to put the plain round circle on there so that’s what I did.

And we ate it and were very happy.  Then Z. said it was time to, “put your hand way out and take a picture of ourselves hugging,” so I did that too.  Hope your Mother’s Day was just as sweet and silly.

I’ve been finding myself thinking about muffin tops.  Mostly in an, “Nnnnnnrrr!  Mmph!  I don’t need to, grrr,  go up a size in jeans.  Zip, damnit!” sort of way.

And then last night my neighbor presented me with the last Thanksgiving leftovers – a whole pot filled with mashed sweet potatoes with pineapple.   It seemed like an easy thing to turn into some good food, so off I went with promises to share whatever resulted.

Since we had no baked goods around for snacking or behavior-related bribery, something in the sweet and yummy category seemed right.  So half of the sweet potatoes became:

Sweet Potato-Pineapple-Chocolate Cardamom Muffins & Bread
10 – 12 servings
Adapted from Joy of Cooking

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan or 12-cup muffin pan.

Whisk together thoroughly:

• 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 c. unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 t. ground cardamom
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking powder

Combine in another bowl:

• 1/3 c. water or milk
• 1/2 t. vanilla

In a large bowl, beat until creamy:

• 6 T. unsalted butter

Gradually add and beat until fluffy and light, about 3 minutes:

• 1 c. sugar or brown sugar

Beat in, one at a time:

• 2 large eggs

Add and beat on low speed just until blended:

• 1 c. sweet potato (or pumpkin, or butternut squash) puree

Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 parts, stirring with firm strokes just until blended but still lumpy.

Fold in:

• 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 c. crushed pineapple

Scrape into pan or muffin cups.  Bake about 30 minutes for muffins, or one hour for bread.  Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely.

And why did mine come out so flat?  Here are some ideas from Chowhound.  I don’t know why I can’t seem to remember that my oven’s so slow and I really have to set it 25 degrees higher.

The rest of the sweet potatoes is destined for my attempt to recreate the amazing Southwest Sweet Potato soup I had at (one of my workplaces) The Scuffer the other day.  Picturing cream, broth, chipotles en adobo, a little smoked paprika.  Of course I’ll be reporting back.