Caramelized Pinapple Cake with Toasted Pineapple Topping

Mmmm Mmmm mmmm.  This weekend I was deliciously inspired!

Inspiration #1 -  it was my friend's birthday and no one loves cake more than her.  You'd never know it because she is so thin, but she has cake every morning for breakfast. She once bought a cake from me...and ate the whole thing herself.  Over the course of a week, but still.  That is impressive.  So it was a no brainer - she'd love a cake for her birthday.  (Also an ego boost for me because someone recently thought salted caramel cake was "interesting" - and not in a good way. I think they were more of a plain vanilla person.)

Whipped Egg Yolks & Sugar!

Inspiration #2 - I saw a blog post for caramelize pineapple.  Thinking through the process of caramelizing pineapple I kept picturing a pineapple version of a banana fosters.  Mmm!

Inspiration #3 - I got this amazing cookbook for Christmas:  The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, by Bo Friberg. I was reading a very detailed and scientific description of the various ways to make sponge cakes and I was really excited to play with the "recipes."  The tricky part about this book is that it is written for...well...professional pastry chefs...who own bakeries...and are cooking for the masses.  So a cookie recipe doesn't make a dozen cookies...it makes 4 dozen.  I love this book!

Inspiration #4 - I have a lot of supplies (coconut, fun-colored cupcake papers, etc.) which i probably don't want to move with; so I need to find recipes to use them up.
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I wish you could smell this picture!  Delicious 
pineapplesweetness with a touch of ginger,
bubbling up to create a sweet sweet syrup
and wonderful little surprises!

Caramelized Pineapple  

1 medium pineapple, diced into bite-sized cubes

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp freshly shaved ginger

Simmer.  The sugar will pull the juices out of the pineapple and when these cook down you'll have a delicious syrup to incorporate into your cake and frosting.  The pineapple will turn a lovely color which is just so full of life and deliciousness!  Keep simmering on low, stirring occasionally, until you have the color of pineapple and thickness of syrup you'd like.  Strain and separate the two.

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Toasted Coconut

This one doesn't really have a recipe.  I put the shaved coconut on a piece of parchment paper just to be safe, you might not have to do that part.  My only tip is to keep your eye on it!  The top part turned beautifully golden brown very quickly, at which point I pulled it out, stirred, and popped it back in.  

Toasted Coconut

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Caramelized Pineapple Génoise cake

My favorite:  Eggs and sugar!
Watch the magic...

No recipe here.  This experiment was  a result of reading my wonderful cookbook mentioned above.  The cake is equal parts flour, sugar and egg...with a touch of flavoring (in this case the caramelized pineapple syrup) and melted butter added at the end.  Clearly from the ingredient list you can tell this is more about style than ingredients.

Step one was my favorite process:  mixing eggs and sugar.  It is magical!  The results vary so much based on the part of the egg, the quantity of sugar, what temperature, and for how long you mix them.  This take was equal parts (by weight) of egg and sugar heated up to 110* F over a pot of simmering water whisking the whole time.  Geeze was my arm tired from whisking.   Once you hit that magic temperature you remove from heat and whisk even faster until the mixture is cooled and fluffy.  This is the base of the cake.  

Cake, Frosting, Cake, Frosting, 
Pineapple goodness, Cake!

My favorite part was next - but no photo for obvious reasons.  I gently folded the flour into my cake base...with my hands :)  It was fun and fluffy and the most wonderfully soft delicate substance you could possibly submerge your hands into.  Doing it by hand (as opposed to with the beater) meant that fewer of my precious little air bubbles were popped and the cake was fluffier.  After this is just mixed (not pockets of flour) I added and carefully mixed in the butter and the caramelized pineapple syrup.  Finally, you have to transfer this to the prepared pans and to the oven quickly.  This cake is built (literally) upon the air that you whip into it.  Those precious little air pockets can only hold up the flour and egg for so long before they fall.  If you wait you'll get a flat cake (notice the bottom layer of the cake).

Because this made WAY more batter than I thought it would, I made some cupcakes too.  And my beautiful...handsome assistant helped me drop in the little surprises right before we popped them in the oven.  Isn't he great!

Note the little bubbles in the batter on the right - those are the little air pockets which hold the cake up.  They should be there.  Also to note - the cake and cupcakes will shrink slightly when you pull them out of the oven.  These cupcake papers look a little full now, but the final cupcakes are nice and flat across the top.

 My wonderful assistant!

Dropping in little surprises!

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Not-so-sweet Frosting

1 cup milk

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (two sticks) softened butter

1 cup (granulated) sugar and 1/4 cup powder sugar

To start - this is not my recipe.  Here is the source.  It is a little weird, but the taste is good.  I just wouldn't want to tell people it has flour in it.  I feel like I've made a processed unhealthy fake food product.  But the people liked it.  So here it is...

First, cream the butter in your mixed until it is light and fluffy.  Add the sugar and mix until they are combined and almost smooth (about 3 minutes.  The almost is because they won't be smooth, but you should get as close as possible.)  Then, in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan bring the milk to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, add the flour and whisk like crazy.  Keep whisking until it is smooth.  Remove from heat and KEEP WHISKING!  (This was my mistake.)  Keep whisking until it is cooled.  Add to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until it is light and fluffy.  Just keep beating...it will get there.  Add the vanilla and mix.  Add the powdered sugar.  Cool in the refrigerator slightly before you try to use it.

Birthday box - this is how you know I like you :)

Baby Shower for Katie

  

The first thing I thought when Katie told me she was pregnant was: 

"I want to host the baby shower!!!"  

 

Needless to say, I put a lot of research and planning into this shower.  It was a lot of fun to put together and even more fun to share with Katie and her friends.


Another friend of ours hosted the shower at her place and took care of the decorations, set-up and party music (and the cleaning! Thank God!).  I took care of the menu.  I basically took all of my favorite party dishes from my favorite blogs and tried them out.  But I can't take full credit...I had three sous chefs chopping and slicing and....cutting out little S's and carefully stringing sewing ribbon through them :)  

As one friend said sarcastically "You, ambitious?  Nothing about this is ambitious."  It was a bit much to take on...but we didn't just pull it off...we did it well! 


My favorite (hosting-related) moment was when Girl A said to Girl B (who is also pregnant) "We were going to host a shower for you, but now I don't think we can.  The bar has been set waaay too high."  :)  And that was BEFORE the cupcakes and cookies came out!

Le Theme
Of course I had to have theme...or more so a concept...for the food.  I wanted to make it all delicate and girly - kind of like a high tea party - but we aren't Brits.  All of the food was designed (thought of, made, crafted...) to be eaten in no more than three bites, able to be held with 2 or three fingers, and, if you wanted, you could put that little pinky in the air.














Le Menu
Peach & Strawberry Mimosas
Tea Sandwiches -
      Vidalia Onion (surprisingly delicious);
      Arugula and Avocado;
      Smoked Salmon on Rye; and
      Chicken Curry.
Caramelized Onion Tartlettes
Mushroom & Rosemary Galettes
Cucumber and Cream Cheese Rounds
French Bread Crudite
Strawberries, Balsamic and Powdered Sugar
Strawberries, Cream and Brown Sugar
Blueberry Scones with Lemon Curd
"S" Tea Bag Cookies
Classic Vanilla cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (Katie's favorite)
Pineapple cupcakes with Green Tea Frosting (the experiment)
Champagne Cupcakes (the crowd favorite)

Valentine's Day Treats

This past Valentine's Day I was pretty ambitious with the treats.  And then I was pretty unambitious about posting the pictures.  Anyways - here there are:  no big stories, just the recipes and the photos.

First up - 
Strawberry Rhubarb Tart

Crust:

2.7 oz butter

5 oz all purpose flour

½ tsp salt

3+ tbsp cold water

1 egg white (used later)

Dice up the butter into cubes/pads and drop it into the food processor.  Add the flour and salt and pulse until you have small pieces (not too long or you’ll have one big blob).  Pour in the cold water, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing in between tbsps.  Add more water until the dough is moist and sticks together.  Roll out a piece of saran wrap and place the dough in the center.  Knead the dough slightly to make sure you don’t have chunks of butter.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
1 kilo fresh strawberries
8-10 stalks fresh rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar

Dice the strawberries and rhubarb into bite-sized pieces.  Place the strawberries in the bottom of a heavy-bottomed pan.  Put the rhubarb on top of the strawberries and pour the sugar over it all.  Cover and set on medium heat for 5 minutes.  At 5 minutes, uncover and stir.  The strawberries should have produces a wonderful juice in which you'll cook the rhubarb.  Bring the whole thing to a boil and then reduce the heat, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens and coats the back of your spoon.  Let cool.

Once the strawberry rhubarb is at room temperature, roll out your dough, place it in the pan and cut off the excess.  From the excess dough cut out several small hearts.  Pour the cooled mixture into the crust and top with the cute little hearts.  Bake until the crust is golden brown.

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Frosted Heart Sugar Cookies  

These were just cute and fun to make.  I usually make them slightly thicker than they are supposed to be and cook them just a little bit less...and on a pizza stone.   I know the recipe isn't original or innovative, but it is from my grandmother's Betty Crocker Cookbook from the 1930s.  Here is the link the modern Betty Crocker recipe.

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Heart Cake
I think I need just a little more practice on the heart, but it was a cute surprise in the center of the cake.  And of course it was delicious!!!

The vanilla butter cake recipe is from Warren Brown (he is awesome!).  The heart is red velvet from Annie's Eats.  And the frosting is my own cream cheese frosting.

Here is the technique (which I've not quite mastered).   You have to make two layers of a cake.  In the bottom layer use a sharp knife to cut out a cone.  In the top layer cut out a round shape like a bowl, then use the inverted top of the cone you've cut out and place it in the middle of the bowl shape.  Crumble the red velvet and mix with red food coloring.  It needs to be a fairly dense mixture (not crumbly).  Hint - the circumferential of the two shapes you cut out has to match.

Fill the top and bottom of the cake.  Using a piping bag, pipe red frosting onto the red portion of the bottom layer, then white frosting onto the white portion of the bottom layer.  Carefully flip the top layer onto the bottom layer (somehow not breaking the cake, smearing the frosting, and making it line up perfectly).

Frost the outside of the cake as usual.  When you cut the cake, use a sharp knife and cut triangle pieces from the very center of the cake.  You should have a  half heart in every piece of cake and a full heart inside the cake.  I'm not going to lie - this one wasn't easy...nor was it the prettiest.  But you get the idea.

And there were some beautiful parrots on the balcony to kick.

Pfeffernusse

Every Christmas my grandma would send us a box full of pfeffernusse (pepper nuts) a small hard German Christmas cookie.  I'm always hesitant to tell people they are anise cookies because the general public seems to think they hate anise because of the bad rep of black licorice.  I have news for you people:  the flavor you hate in black licorice is the same flavor you love in Italian sausage!

Back to grandma's pfeffernusse.  When she died we all wanted to make sure we had this recipe which was by far her most famous.  Though I've had the recipe for 2 years, this is the first that I've attempted the cookies and the recipe was a bit of a challenge, to say the least.

Lets start out with the lard.  Obviously this is an old recipe.  Guessing by my grandma's age and the dates on the other cookbooks I have from her, I'd say the version I have is from the 1930s.  I don't have access to lard, and even if I did I'm not sure I would want to cook with it, so I used butter.  Actually, someday it would be great to try these with lard just for the heck of it.

Brown sugar or 1/2 and 1/2 white sugar...I think I know what you mean.  1 cup syrup or 1/2 cup molasses...umm...I know these are different, but wouldn't the different quantities and viscosity dramatically effect the baking times and final product?  This seems like a lot of guessing for a first attempt.

And then was the kicker..."Enough flour to roll."  Well thanks, Grandma.  I seem to have misplaced my "enough" measuring cup.  Is that closer to 1 cup or 4 cups?  And exactly how many cookies am I making?  (The answer is closer to 4 cups.)

There was also no guidance on HOW to make the cookies.  It was more of an ingredient list than a recipe. Which I get, that is how I write my favorite recipes too.  But it isn't so helpful for the first time.  So I guessed...wrong.  I started over.  I tried a first batch (which are more like cookies than pfeffernuss).  And then I think I got it down.  Tricky little devils though - they look like they aren't done, but they are hard as a rock.  And according to the internet (and I think confirmed by my memory of grandma's version) they actually soften over time.  Lets hope so!

Recipe Details
From the above recipe, use butter in place of lard and use all brown sugar.  I halved the recipe and used about 3-4 cups of flour (you should probably have a whole bag on hand).  "Enough to roll" means that you stir in enough flour to make the dough thick enough to roll out like gnocci (or play dough).  Oh, and I took sour milk to mean buttermilk.

First, beat the butter and sugar until it is soft and all of the sugar is incorporated (I just love doing this).  In a small bowl combine the buttermilk and syrup.  Add syrup/milk mixture to the butter in two or three batches, making sure it is fully combined.  In another bowl mix together the spices and the baking soda with about 3 cups of flour.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two or three parts.  Once the dry ingredients are fully mixed in continue to add flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is thick (like play dough).

On a floured surface (I love this part too!) roll out a piece of dough into a rope that is about as thick as your thumb.  Using a butter knife cut the rope into pieces about 1/2 to one inch wide.  Place the pieces on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. 

Experimenting with Israeli Fruit

 

It is part of life in the foreign service, but a part that we haven’t yet experienced.  Our first departure.  Not ours, but our friends.  They were the first friends that we made here and they are moving on to Afghanistan.  I don’t know if it has fully set in that my friends are moving away, but the “normal” reaction to a friend moving away is slightly different.  For one, we knew when we met them that they’d only be around for a year.  Two, they are going to Afghanistan and there is a chance that we could overlap with them there by a month of so next year.  Three, they are also Latin Americanists, so if we all had our way we’d be serving in Latin America in the future (there are many posts there and they all know each other pretty well…so we could likely be neighbors again).  And finally, there were our neighbors in DC!  We didn’t know them then, but they only lived 1 block from us, and there is kind of this general feeling that someday all of us will be living in DC again.

So they are really great people because they are always happy and optimistic.  No one here (besides Paul) has encouraged my cooking and baking as much as Liz because she is so complementary of everything I make.  It may not be amazing or professional, but she thinks it is!  I will also always remember the eloquent soliloquy Liz gave on a long car ride professing her love of all things Israeli.  And so, for one of their final nights here we are having them over for a dinner including our best Israeli dishes.  It will pay homage to Liz’s passion.

Paul is making his delicious hummus – and though the Israeli’s don’t put additional flavors in their hummus (that is an American thing), we are probably going to make it a roasted red pepper hummus.  The red peppers are from Israel…so it is still pretty Israeli.  For dinner Paul is making shakshuka.  Friends and family that have come to visit have had this great dish!  It is a spicy tomato base with poached eggs on top.  We serve it with this great olive or onion bread from the “bread guy” in the market. 

Dessert – that is my specialty.  But I don’t do Israeli desserts.  Primarily because they aren’t good .  But the theme of this dinner is Israeli so I thought I might do a modern (improved) take on an Israeli dessert, or make an American dessert with distinctively Israeli ingredients.  So I went to the market and got two fruits that I’ve never even tasted before.  A challenge!

My safe starting point for dessert is a cheesecake.  I have a great recipe and I happen to have cream cheese, thanks to my recent visit to the States!  (You can buy cream cheese here, it is just $7 or $8 for a 6oz box.)  I’ll not describe the cheesecake process to much except to say that a.) I don’t understand the Israeli dairy isle and I may have used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and I forgot to read one VERY important line of the recipe.  Nonetheless, the batter tasted amazing when I cleaned the beater so I’m sure it will taste amazing!  (It is just slightly more golden brown on top.)