blue artichoke

A bright and sunny Saturday calls for a bright and sunny lemon pound cake. I started by rifling through the kitchen cupboards to see what sort of ingredients my brother and his girlfriend keep on hand. Finding aspirin mixed in with the spices and an entire cupboard shelf dedicated to canned beans (which neither eat), I pulled everything out of the cupboards, threw out expired goods, made a bag to be donated and put everything back in an orderly and contained fashion. Then, I headed out to Whole Foods to buy what I needed for the pound cake. My roomies have a strong preference for organic goods, so I bought the organic version of every ingredient, except butter (because I grabbed the wrong package) and baking powder (because there wasn't an organic one available).

It takes me a lot longer to mix and prep food in an unfamiliar kitchen, but it felt nice to back at a kitchen counter, working the beaters and tasting batter in its many stages. This is the first time I've made this recipe, and the first time I've made an almost-wholly organic cake. It had three stages of flavor: the cake contained lemon zest and some juice, a lemon-sugar syrup brushed on the top of the warm cake, then finally a lemon juice and icing sugar glaze drizzled over the top. The glaze had the most lemony-tart flavor; the cake flavor was very mild.

Pound cakes are usually better after sitting a day, but I've never been able to wait that long before cutting a slice for myself. This time, though, I baked, syruped and glazed the cake, then left it to cool completely while I watched the UFC fights Saturday night (probably the only thing that could have made me forget there was a lemon pound cake cooling on the kitchen counter). I did have a small slice Saturday night, but there was still plenty left to sample the next day (shocking!). And it's true. This pound cake is much better the next day, moister and lemonier. If you can wait that long.

Lemon Pound Cake

Cook’s Country, 4/2006
Lemon pound cake is one of the simpler desserts you can make--just flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and flavoring--but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy to make. Every little step during preparation can make or break the results.

· For the lightest, most delicate texture, thoroughly cream the butter. The butter should be soft but still cool, and it should be whipped with the sugar until very airy, light, and almost white in color.
· Add a little baking powder. Classic recipes eschew chemical leaveners, but we much preferred the lighter crumb of cake leavened with the aid of baking powder.
· For the brightest lemon flavor, combine lemon juice and lemon zest in the cake; soak the cake in a lemon-flavored syrup; and glaze the cooled cake with a lemon-flavored glaze. A little sour cream in the cake batter helps boost the lemon flavor as well.
For best results, the butter should be between 65 and 70 degrees--it should give slightly when pressed with your finger but still hold its shape. You will need three lemons for this recipe.

Cake:
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened but still cool, plus extra for greasing pan
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour , plus extra for dusting pan
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1 cup granulated sugar plus 2 additional tablespoons
5 large eggs , at room temperature, beaten
Syrup:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Glaze:
1/2 cup Confectioners' sugar , sifted
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with butter; dust pan with flour, then tap out excess. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into bowl. Stir sour cream and lemon juice together in second bowl.

2. Using fingers, toss lemon zest and sugar together in large bowl until clumps are gone. Add butter and beat with electric mixer at medium-high speed until smooth and light, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add beaten eggs in three additions, mixing until smooth and scraping down bowl after each addition (mixture will begin to look curdled). With mixer on low, add one-third of flour mixture, followed by half of sour cream mixture, stopping as necessary to scrape down bowl. Repeat, ending with flour mixture. Scrape down bowl, then mix on low until smooth, about 30 seconds. Use rubber spatula to give batter final stir.

3. Pour batter into pan and smooth top. Gently tap pan on counter to release air bubbles. Bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 55 to 70 minutes.

4. For the syrup: While cake bakes, stir sugar and lemon juice together in saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 2 minutes, remove from heat, and set aside.

5. Cool cake in pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Brush top and sides of still-warm cake with syrup and cool completely, about 2 hours.

6. For the glaze: Whisk confectioners' sugar and lemon juice in bowl until smooth. Spread glaze over cake, allowing some to drip down sides. Let glaze set for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 8

Make Ahead:
The test kitchen found this cake to be more moist the day after it was baked. In fact, when tightly wrapped, the cake will stay fresh up to 5 days. This cake also freezes well. Apply syrup, let cool, and wrap, unglazed, in two layers of plastic wrap and freeze in a zipper-lock plastic bag for up to 1 month. When ready to serve, defrost the cake, still wrapped, at room temperature, then remove the plastic wrap and proceed with the recipe from step

To Make Two Cakes:
Double all ingredients except the eggs, using 9 eggs (instead of 10). Cream the butter and sugar in step 2 for 6 minutes (rather than 3 minutes) and add the eggs in four additions (rather than three). Divide the batter between two buttered and floured loaf pans and bake as directed, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time.

Getting to Know All About You: Do you buy organic? What products?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Since the January diet, things have changed around here. There seems to be a direct proportional relationship between time spent in the kitchen and my waistline. The January diet was actually a very fast and easy diet. There were no elaborate food preparations or time-consuming mixing and measuring. Nope, it was mostly oven-roasting and sauteing, meat and vegetables. No sauces, no starches, maybe a drizzle of oil or a sprinkling of spices, but that was it. Even though the J-diet ended six weeks ago, I've been too busy to get back in the habit of spending a lot of time in the kitchen. That, plus the incredibly shrinking waistline and the superlative blood work results have kept us on a slightly less-restrictive version of the January diet.

Baking is my stress reliever. More than I like eating baked goods (which I do, oh yes!), I find it relaxing to be in my tiny kitchen with ocean-blue walls, mixing, measuring, stirring, making a delicious mess and tantalizing smells. Perhaps I like the alchemy, starting with various amounts of dissimilar ingredients, mashing them all together and heating them until I have a final product that tastes good. Whatever the reason, though I've enjoyed having more free time to pursue other projects, I miss baking.

Saturday afternoon, I donned my apron and returned to the kitchen. First I baked a dark chocolate pound cake for a party that night. I don't think I shared the recipe the last time I made this cake. It's awesome. See for yourself:

Dark Chocolate Pound Cake

I chopped the dark chocolate instead of grating it, so there were pieces of chocolate in the cake, which I like. Add mini chocolate chips for an even more decadent and delicious cake.

3 c. flour
¾ c. cocoa (I used dark chocolate cocoa, usually available only around Christmas)
½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
1-½ c. unsalted butter, softened
3 c. sugar
5 large eggs
1-¼ c. milk
4 oz. dark chocolate, grated
1 T. vanilla
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Fresh berries and mint sprigs, optional

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 10-c, 10” tube pan.

In sifter, mix flour, cocoa, powder and salt. Sift into large bowl.

In large bowl, with mixer at high, beat butter until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Alternately beat in flour mixture (in fourths) and milk (in thirds), beginning with flour. Beat in grated chocolate and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan, spreading top evenly; bake 1 hour + 15 minutes (rotating halfway through if your oven has hot spots) or until tests done.

Cool in pan 10 minutes; invert onto rack. Cool completely. Before serving, dust with confectioners’ sugar. Garnish with berries and mint if desired.

Serves 16.

While that baked, I also made a loaf of my grandmother's banana bread (winner of the Ultimate Snackdown Banana Bread Battle) to take with me to Mexico. I usually take a loaf of her bread with me to Mexico because it travels well (frozen) and is a quick and easy breakfast. This time, I lightened the recipe from the Snackdown version, replacing the sugar with Splenda and substituting applesauce for half of the oil. The batter tasted as good as it always does, but the bread didn't rise very much. Oh well, more room in my suitcase!

To be continued...

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After ending my ban on sugar, flour and other processed foods, I've gone a bit overboard making up for lost time. So far, I've eaten a dark chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting, a lemon square, a molten-chocolate cake, a key lime bar, a peanut butter-chocolate cheesecake bar, a gooey turtle brownie and a piece of white cake with vanilla frosting. Yikes!

I made the cupcakes for a friend's birthday. When I finished making the frosting, I licked the beaters (as every good cook should). I don't know whether it was because that was my first sugar in a month or if the frosting was just that good, but my legs started shaking! The cupcakes were good, but the icing was spectacular. Here's the recipe:

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe does not double very well. Cupcakes made from a doubled batch and baked side by side in the oven yield a slightly compromised rise. It's best to make two separate batches and bake each separately. Store leftover cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted) in the refrigerator, but let them come to room temperature before serving.

I measured some ingredients by weight, and some by volume, which might have given me a skewed ratio. I also substituted plain nonfat yogurt for sour cream. These two changes may have made the cupcakes a bit dry. They were pretty easy to make, though. And even easier to eat!

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (1 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (3 3/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup sour cream (4 ounces)

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have 1/2-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.

2. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.

4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogenous and thick.

5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes. (To frost: Mound about 2 tablespoons icing on center of each cupcake. Using small icing spatula or butter knife, spread icing to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center.)

Makes 12 cupcakes
Cook’s Illustrated, March/April 2005

Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream
If you prefer to skip the vanilla bean, increase the extract to 1-1/2 teaspoons. Buttercream frostings can be made ahead and refrigerated; if refrigerated, however, it must stand at room temperature to soften before use. If using a hand-held mixer, increase mixing times significantly (at least 50 percent). This recipe can be doubled to make enough for a two-layer cake.

I used a whole vanilla bean, because it was sort of dry and difficult to scrape out the seeds. I also used a hand mixer, but didn't increase the mixing time. The frosting may have been lighter and fluffier if I had, but I had plenty and the texture was fine. It would have made for a nice arm workout, though, to beat the frosting twice as long.

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar (5 ounces)
pinch table salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon heavy cream

In standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Using paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds. Add confectioners' sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Makes 1 1/2 cups, enough for 12 cupcakes
Cook’s Illustrated, March/April 2005

I also made the peanut butter-chocolate cheesecake bars for a Super Bowl party last night. It was sort of short notice and I was pressed for time, so I used the recipe on the back of the bag of milk chocolate-peanut butter swirl chips. The bars were pretty good, though the crust was a bit crumbly. They definitely were not the star of the show, though. Other people brought lots of dessert treats, and most were better than my bars (though most of my bars were gone by the end of the night, so I guess they weren't that bad!).

I'm still trying to curb my sugar/flour intake, but I just can't resist trying every goody presented to me. Professional interest. If I ever have a key lime bar snackdown, I need to include the recipe for the bars I had last night. They were perfect, in flavor, texture and appearance.

I must admit, though, that I didn't feel so great last night. I thought I'd have a sugar-high with lots of excess energy to burn, but I skipped the sugar high and went straight to the crash. I might have dozed off a bit during the Super Bowl, but it also wasn't very exciting until the last quarter. I rallied for that (with help from the molten chocolate cake). After binging on all that sugar, I didn't feel sick-bad or guilty-bad, but dirty-bad.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)