Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Torta di Mele al Burro (Buttery Apple Cake)

Fall has arrived in earnest. We've had a fire for the past two nights. I am sitting here typing in a sweatshirt and jeans (after 6 months of shorts and t-shirts this is a challenge). When it is cool like this I start craving stews and cake. I don't know why, perhaps for me these are comfort foods the way others drool over a grilled cheese sandwich.

I was looking for a recipe to use some apples up the other day and came upon this recipe in a Williams-Sonoma Regions of Italy cook book. This cake is a specialty of the Friuli-Venezia region of Italy. It sounded amazing - a soft buttery cake covering tender apple slices that had also been cooked in butter. Frankly I am shocked that Paul Deen hasn't suggested that she has invented this recipe as it has her trademarks . . . mainly an excess of butter.

I made it for dinner and it was well received. Actually, it was more than well received as someone who shall remain nameless ate 3 pieces. I think that this must be the reason that I am only about 8 pounds more than said someone. A milestone for us as I have always been about 20 - almost 80 (ARGH) pounds lumpier.

Oh oh - yet again I have digressed.

I was worried that it would all get eaten and we'd get fatter so I took the leftovers into work where my colleagues also loved it.

Clearly this recipe was a winner.

Even better - it wasn't a challenging cake to pull together. I appreciated that.

If you're craving a delicious taste of fall as well give this a try. It isn't low-fat but it is amazing and life should be about good things in moderation IMHO!

Torta di Mele al Burro (Buttery Apple Cake)

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 inch round cake pan with 2 inch sides (I used a spring form pan)

In a large frying pan over low heat, melt the butter. pour 6 tablespoons of it into a small bowl and set aside. Add the apples to the frying pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolk until blended. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter, vanilla, granulated sugar, and the lemon zest. Stir in the flour mixture. Gently fold in the apples. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake until the cake is brown - 30 - 35 minutes (my cake needed 45 minutes). Transfer to a wore rack and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan onto the rack and allow to cool completely.

Just prior to serving dust the cake with icing sugar (we skipped this and didn't miss it at all!)

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

This one surprised me - I've finally managed to get my head around zucchini in a cake or sweet loaf but the thought of chocolate tossed in there just about threw me over the edge. Once again though, since Elise, author of Simply Recipes, was sharing it I thought 'hmmm' and promptly threw my doubts aside and gave it a shot. Funny how I will put my reputation as a cook in the hands I've never so much as e-mailed!

Last Friday was an unusual day for me. In eight years at my current job I've never worked on the Friday prior to a long weekend or holiday. I was sure that it would be dead in the office - likely myself and the support staff. I thought that I'd bake some treats to make everybody's live a wee bit better.

People were a tad skeptical about this at first. However, once the first brave soul (not me incidentally) took a tiny bite an declared it delicious the cake was gone in a flash! I had to stash some away quickly in the midst of the feeding frenzy to take home for Paul!

I followed Elise's recipe carefully but I didn't feel the need to 'gild the lily' with the glaze.

My recommendation?

If you have a bunch of zucchini in your garden, make this recipe and if you don’t, run to the market to grab some!!!

Enjoy!

 Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted

1/2 cup cocoa

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup soft butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons grated orange peel

2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini

1/2 cup milk

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Glaze (directions follow)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.

Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.

Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Drizzle glaze over cake.

Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze

Last spring the Sunday Slow Bakers worked their way through some recipes in Dolce Italiano by fellow slow traveler Gina De Palma. Paul and I were in Italy at the time so we missed the zucchini olive oil cake. We finally got around to correcting that a few weeks back. Dear lord - why, oh why, did we wait?

This cake cake is made with olive oil, a very healthy fat. It is  moist with lots of fresh squash and an amazing crunchy lemony glaze on top.  It mixes together in a snap. I generally don't like nuts in cakes but decided to leave the walnuts in - I'm glad that I did because they provided a delicious crunch!

I've whipped it together twice now and it is amazing how quickly it vanishes! LOL

If you still have a glut of zucchini in the garden you'll want to check this out.

Enjoy

Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze

1 cup (75 g) walnut pieces, toasted
2 cups (240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 large eggs
1-3/4 cup (306 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (237 mil) extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups (438 g) grated zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)
confectioners sugar, for dusting (optional -I've never tried this)

LEMON GLAZE
1/4 cup (59 mil) fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup (58 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (130 g) confectioners sugar

CAKE: Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350º F/175º C.

In the medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, and olive oil together on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat in the vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined, then increase speed to medium and mix for 30 seconds.

Stir in the zucchini and walnut pieces until completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Rotate the cake halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Tester should come out clean and the cake edges should start to pull away from the sides of the pan.

GLAZE: Make the glaze while the cake is baking. In a medium bowl, whisk the lemon juice and granulated sugar, then whisk in the confectioners sugar until the glaze is smooth. Strain any lumps as necessary.

Remove the baked cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Place the wire rack over a piece of wax paper and invert the cake onto the rack. Use a pastry brush to brush the glaze all over the hot cake. It will stick to the cake and set as the cake cools, leaving a nice crunchy surface. Allow the cake to cool completely and the glaze to dry completely. OPTIONAL: You may dust the cake with confections sugar before serving.

Wrap cake in plastic to store and use within 2 days.

Blueberry Lemon Angel Food Cake

Paul and I were entertaining last night and I wanted something new to make for dessert. Had I been smart I would have just popped into a bakery and picked something up. Those of you who know me know that when it comes to food smart doesn't play a big role - obsessed, yes! Smart, not so much . . .

Anyway. There I was, on the hottest, most humid day of the year so far, baking a cake.

See what I mean . . . smart was not even on the radar screen.

Anyway.

The cake we selected was an angel food cake from Cooking Light magazine. I figured it would be a wonderful way to use up some of the containers of frozen egg whites in the freezer that I had as a by-product from all of the ice cream making this year. Given that every batch of ice cream generally uses 5 - 6 egg yolks there were lots of egg whites on ice!

I had never made an angel food cake before. I was amazed at how easy it was. Yet again I was left wondering why I hadn't attempted this before.

The web site declared:

Angel food cake, appropriately named, is a godsend when it comes to big family gatherings. Everyone likes it, almost no one is allergic to it, and it provides a light, sweet ending to what is too often a sloth-inducing meal. Fresh blueberries color the cake purple, and a citrusy glaze gives it a festive feeling.

Hmmmm. Sloth-like? Apparently they had seen our menu!

This cake was fabulous! It came together just like the recipe directions said it would. I did find that it took a bit longer to bake than 40 min (about 50 min or so). It cooled perfectly and tasted awesome! I really appreciated the mix of blueberry and lemon - one of my all-time favourite flavour combinations. If you want a low fat yet full-flavor dessert, this is it.

Blueberry Lemon Angel Food Cake

Cake:
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 cup sifted cake flour
12 large egg whites (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375°.

Sift together 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup flour.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.

Sift flour mixture over egg white mixture, 1/4 cup at a time; fold in. Fold in vanilla and blueberries.

Combine 2 tablespoons flour and lemon rind; toss to coat. Sprinkle over egg white mixture; fold in.

Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan; cool completely. Loosen the cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Invert cake onto plate.

To prepare the glaze, combine powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Drizzle over cooled cake.

The BEST Pound Cake . . .

Now the snarky of you out there will likely be saying one of two things . . . 'there he goes, exaggerating about food again' or 'pound cake is so horrendous that making the 'best' pound cake wouldn't be a challenge - anything that didn't taste as if it were baked in 1938 would fit the bill' . . .

I recognize that many pound cakes are dry, heavy and tasteless. They don't call them pound cakes for nothing - they are generally heavy and bad ones sit in your gut like a pound of lead. This is likely the reason that the greatest use of pound cake is in some other recipe - anything to try and make it taste better.

Then the wonderful chef Gina de Palma published Dolce Italiano and the pound cake suddenly became tasty. Apparently all that was required was the addition of ricotta cheese . . .

You may recall that last year a group of talented slowtravel cooks worked there way through Gina's cook book. No one attempted the recipe for ricotta pound cake - a shame really because it is brilliant.

I have made this pound cake a few times and can guarantee that the folks you serve it to will be impressed. I have proof. I brought my assistant and a colleague a piece today - both of them raved about it. If that isn't scientific proof of the most stringent caliber I am not sure what is.

I like to play with the recipe - I've added fruit (dry of fresh), I've added other flavourings - lemon zest, lemoncello - and it has all been good.

If you a re ready to give the much maligned pound cake another test this is the way to go . . .

Enjoy!

Ricotta Pound Cake

1 1/2 c cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 c unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c fresh whole-milk ricotta
1 1/2 c granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 vanilla bean
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and place rack in center.

Grease and flour 9-inch loaf pan.

In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter, ricotta, and sugar until smooth and light.

Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping sides of bowl after each addition.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with the blunt side of a small knife, then beat them into the batter along with the vanilla extract.

On low speed, beat in dry ingredients to combine them, scrape down sides of the bowl, and beat the batter for 30 seconds on medium.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula. Tap pan on counter a few times to remove air pockets.

Put cake in oven and let bake for 15 minutes, then turn 180 degrees to ensure even browning. Lower the temperature to 325°F (160°C) and let bake until cake springs back when lightly touched, the sides of the cake have pulled away from the sides of the pan, and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes more. NOTE - my cakes have ALWAYs taken longer to bake (likely because of the ricotta I use) - just watch them and test until they are done.

Allow cake to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert it on wire rack to cool completely.

Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

Gingerbread Cake with Blueberry Sauce

Paul and I needed some dessert for Oscar watching on Sunday. I decided to make one of our 'old' favourites from Cooking Light. This cake is moist and packed with flavour. The flavour of the ginger pairs surprising well with the blueberries. The crystallized ginger deepens the flavor in this moist cake (although it's fine without it).

The best thing about this cake is that it is low-fat. A serving has 280 calories (about the same as 6 store bought chocolate chip cookies). Ask yourself . . . what would you rather have? This cake is a perfect reminder that low-fat doesn't have to mean tasteless!

The blueberry sauce is not thick. I like it thin but if you wanted to thicken it you could do so with some cornstarch . . . recognize that you're adding some extra calories that way though!

Enjoy

Gingerbread Cake with Blueberry Sauce

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed
Cooking spray

3/4 cup frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 7 ingredients (flour through cloves) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk; make a well in center of mixture.

Combine buttermilk and next 5 ingredients (buttermilk through eggs); stir well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish or 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in dish for 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Spoon Blueberry Sauce over top of individual pieces; dollop with whipped topping

Blueberry Sauce

1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; add blueberries. Return to a boil, and cook 1 minute. Cool.

Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Sauce

Have you voted in the photo contest?

Four of our trip pictures have been entered in a photo contest run by the good folks at easycar.com. Oh happy day - all four photos are currently in the top 10 out of 370 photos. You can vote for each by clicking here, (remember 10 is a good vote! *smile*)  here, here, and here.

Yes, you CAN vote for all four photos.

You can only vote once from any given IP address - this means you can vote once for EACH pic from both at home and at work! If you have two computers networked at home, you can only vote on one of them, however. If you have a Blackberry though, that is a third vote. If you send these links to friends, relatives, or people who bug you with unwanted e-mails - just think of the of votes! It boggles the mind.

Heck, do what I do - vote at every hotel, conference centre, and friend's house in which you find a PC attached to the internet. Don't be shy at all. :-)

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Does anything whisper Christmas in your head as much as gingerbread? I don't know what it is but the smells of warm gingerbread, redolent with spices and molasses is just one of those smells I associate with Christmas. Some pay thousands of bucks on therapy to deal with their association issues - not me, I find a recipe, bake, and eat!

Our pal Elise was over for dinner last night and we debated the dessert . . . finally I found this recipe on one of my favourite blogs: Serious Eats and we were good to go. It was an easy recipe to follow and pull together. I think it took less than 45 minutes form start to finish - my idea of a good dessert. The flavour was amazing - the cake was wonderful and the addition of the lemon sauce was inspired. I hadn't thought of lemon as an accompaniment with gingerbread but whoa - it worked!

 In fact, it worked extremely well!

I served our cakes with a shaving of good quality crystallized ginger on top of the whipped cream to tie it all together.

I followed the recipe as printed with two changes - I only had an Easter mini-bunt cake tin and I didn't think that Easter egg cake shapes would work for Christmas so I used a large muffin tin. This worked perfectly - the resulting cakes weren't as fancy as a mini-bunt cake pan would have made but they were fine (and the pans a whole lot easier to clean as well! :-)

Additionally, there seemed to be a mis-print in the original recipe as it called for 3/4 cup molasses (9oz) and 3/4 cup of water (6 oz). Clearly a liquid measurement couldn't be both. I had a dilemma - increase the water or the molasses. I decided that if I went with more molasses (as the recipe seemed to indicate) I'd have more flavourful cakes so that is what I did and it worked.

This would make a great finale for your holiday meal!

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cakes with Lemon Sauce

- makes 6 individual mini Bundt cakes or one 9-inch square cake -
Adapted from The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread

Ingredients

For the gingerbread cakes:
2 cups (290 g/10.23 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (71 g/2.5 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup (50 g/1.76 oz) sugar
1 large egg
1 cup (255 g/9 oz) molasses, dark
3/4 cup (170 g/6 oz) water, hot

For the lemon sauce:
5/8 cup (125 g/4.4 oz) sugar
1 large egg
Juice of one large lemon
3 tablespoons (42 g/1.5 oz) boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup (1 stick/113 g/4 oz) unsalted butter, cold

For the whipped cream:
1/2 cup (116 g/4.09 oz) heavy cream, cold
2 teaspoons sugar

Procedure

Prepare the gingerbread cakes: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease the pans with softened butter, or spray with nonstick spray.

Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt onto a sheet of parchment paper.

In a small bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter for 1 minute or until light and fluffy. Add the sugar, and beat again for 1 minute or until light in color. Add the egg and beat for another minute until it's well combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Pour the molasses into the bowl slowly, beating all the while.

Add half of the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula. Add the remaining dry ingredients and fold together again. Pour in the hot water and fold gently just until the water is well incorporated and there are no more thick lumps of batter.

Divide the batter evenly among the pans. A heaping 1/2-cup measure will fill each mold almost to the top. Bake for about 16 to 17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the individual cakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then tip out on a wire rack to finish cooling. The cakes are delicious served slightly warm from the oven.

While the cakes are baking, prepare the Lemon Sauce: In a small bowl add the sugar, egg, lemon juice, the boiling water, and the zest, and whisk together. Cook the mixture over a pan of simmering water at medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, whisking often. Strain the sauce to remove the lemon zest. After the sauce has cooled slightly, whisk in pieces of the diced cold butter to thicken it. If you make the sauce before you are ready to use it, place the plastic wrap directly on the surface to keep a skin from forming. Leftovers can be chilled and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Prepare the whipped cream: In a medium bowl combine the cold cream and 2 teaspoons of sugar. With an electric mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Do not overwhip. Keep the cream chilled until ready to serve.

To serve, place a little gingerbread Bundt cake on a dessert plate. Spoon the lemon sauce over the top of the cake so it drips down both sides of the ring and onto the plate. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and serve. This makes a great winter dessert. Store any leftover cake at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic.

Pear and Pine Nut Coffee Cake

Tomorrow is the monthly meeting for my department. As the coordinator it is my job to order snacks for the gang. Rather than pay a caterer $ 500 I decided early in my tenure to bake. Of course, this can be a challenge given that there are close to 40 people in the department! My assistant always orders two trays of fruit, we have yoghurt, granola, and whatever I decided to bake.

Tonight I made a coffee cake that I originally made for a meeting last year. Back then folks loved it - I didn't even get to try it. I guess I shouldn't tell them tomorrow that it is low-fat!

This coffee cake has an interesting mix of flavours with the lemon, pears, cinnamon, and pine nuts in a light cake. I shall carve out my piece early tomorrow.

YUM!

Pear and Pine Nut Coffee Cake

 

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
Cooking spray
2 cups thinly sliced peeled pear

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Remove 1/3 cup flour mixture; place in a small bowl. Stir in pine nuts and cinnamon; set aside.

Combine the remaining flour mixture, sour cream, and the next 6 ingredients (sour cream through egg) in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Pour the batter into a 9-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray. Arrange the pear slices evenly over the batter. Sprinkle with pine nut mixture. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean; cool completely on a wire rack.

Raspberry-Peach Cake

I was feeling guilty about being away this week so on Sunday I decided to bake a treat for Paul. My baking trickles to almost nothing in the summer because it gets so hot. It has been nice and cool lately so the thought of firing up the oven didn't send me screaming for the hills.

This recipe looked relatively easy to make - a huge plus for me as I don't often make cakes from scratch. I liked the raspberry-peach combination and I had some wonderfully fresh fruit on hand.

This proved to be a simple cake to make and was great for a summer dessert. I definitely think that it needs nice fresh and ripe fruit - don't use fruit that isn't ripe. We discovered that the leftovers work well for a breakfast cake.

Enjoy!

Raspberry-Peach Cake

6 oz. (1-1/3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pan
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. table salt
6 Tbs. (3 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature; more for the pan
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp. finely grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup plain yogurt

For the topping:
1/2 large, ripe peach or nectarine (about 3-3/4 oz.), halved and cut into very thin slices (aim for 1/16 inch)
3/4 cup (3-3/4 oz.) fresh raspberries
1 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 Tbs. unbleached all-purpose flour

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9x2-inch  round cake pan. Line the bottom with a parchment circle cut to fit the pan, lightly flour the sides, and tap out the excess.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well blended. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar on medium-high until well blended and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed until just blended, and adding the orange zest and vanilla with the second egg. Using a wide rubber spatula, fold in half the dry ingredients, then the yogurt, and then the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the topping.

Combine the peach slices, raspberries, sugar, and flour in a small bowl. Using a table fork, mix the ingredients to evenly coat the fruit and lightly crush the raspberries. After the cake has baked for 15 minutes, slide the oven rack out and scatter the fruit evenly over the top of the cake, working quickly. Continue baking until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, another 25 to 30 minutes.

Let the cake cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Using a dry dishtowel to protect your hands, lay a rack on top of the cake pan and, holding onto both rack and pan, invert the cake. Lift the pan from the cake. Peel away the parchment. Set a flat plate on the bottom of the cake and flip the cake one more time so that the fruit is on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

From Fine Cooking 80, pp. 68

Sunday Slow Baking # 15 - Citrus Glazed Polenta Cake

Another Sunday and another great recipe by Gina De Palma. This is the latest stage in the Sunday Slow Bakers' exploration of Dolce Italiano by Gina De Palma. Krista came up with the notion that it might be interesting to get a group of folks together to bake and blog each week. This week's recipe was selected by Ida.

Of course the biggest challenge for us all was to figure out what fine polenta was. I googled and discovered posts from folks who used regular polenta by mistake and were not happy at all with the texture. We debated whether or not fine polenta was the same as instant polenta was the same as fine corn meal . . . ARGH In the end we decided that fine corn meal = instant polenta and just went with it.

The texture was great - score one for the fine corn meal. However, the finished cake wasn't as cooked in the middle as I would have like - in fact the cake sunk a bit. Now my oven tends to be on the cool side so I baked the cake at a higher temperature and for longer than called for but I think another 5 or 10 minutes might have been helpful. It tasted fine but the centre wasn't completely cooked. Another thing that may have contributed to this . . . I used at 8 inch pan instead of a 10 inch - I never adjusted the baking time for that - opps

Instead of regular olive oil I used the tangerine olive oil we bought in Paso Robles in February - it sure helped make this cake a citrus delight. We ended up slicing into it at breakfast this morning - Paul gave it 2 thumbs up and didn't even noticed that it wasn't fully baked in the centre - bless his heart. The cake isn't sweet and is redolent of lovely citrus flavour. This really was a treat and at some point I will recover from the fact that I didn't bake it for as long as I should have.

I decorated the cake with simple candied peel. I used a special zester which takes long threads from the fruit. I tossed the threads of lime, orange, and lemon peel in granulated sugar, let it dry and tossed again. I repeated this about 5 times before the peel was nicely crusted with sugar. It made for a nice presentation (but not as nice as if I had baked the damn cake long enough - I will get over this at some time!)

Citrus Glazed Polenta Cake

1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 lemon
1 lime
1 orange
3/4 cup instant or fine polenta
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat over to 325 degrees and position a rack in the center. Lightly grease a 9" springform pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray, dust the pan with flour, and tap to knock out the excess. Grate the zest from the lemon, lime, and orange, setting the zests aside for the cake batter and reserving the fruit for the glaze.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and granulated sugar together on med-high speed until they are pale yellow and have tripled in volume, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in reserved citrus zests.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the olive oil to the egg mixture; begin with one third of the dry ingredients, then add half the oil, followed by another third of the dry ingredients, beating only until each addition is incorporated. Stop the mixer and briefly scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the remaining olive oil, followed by the last third of the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating it 180 degrees halfway through the baking time to ensure even browning. The cake is down when it springs back lightly when touched and pulls away from the sides of the pan, and when a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 12 to 15 minutes, then carefully remove the sides of the pan and allow the cake to cool completely.

While the cake is cooling, make the glaze: Sift 2 cups confectioners' sugar into a large bowl. Squeeze 1 tablespoon of juice from each of the reserved citrus fruits. Add the citrus juices to the bowl and whisk until smooth. If the glaze seems too thick, add a few drops and whisk until smooth. If the glaze seems too thick, add a few drops of water until it falls easily from a spoon. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and allow it to set until it is completely dry.

Carefully remove the bottom of the springform pan with an offset spatula and tranfer the cake to a serving plate. If desired, dust the cake with additional confectioner's sugar before serving. Any leftover cake may be wrapped in plastic and served the following the day.

Be sure and check in on the other sunday slow bakers to see how their cakes turned out:

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