More cake.

This is now my favorite white cake recipe. Buy the vanilla bean, it is worth it. This recipe is from Organic and Chic by Sarah Magid. The only change I made was using a whole vanilla bean rather than a half.

Vanilla Bean Butter Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 c white sugar
4 eggs
1 c whole milk
1 T vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out and reserved
2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 8-inch (I used 6 inch) round cake pans (I also lined them with parchment paper) or place liners in muffin pans for 24 cupcakes.

Cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add eggs, one at a time.

In a small bowl combine the milk, vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds. Set aside.

In another bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder.

With mixer on low speed alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, starting and ending with the flour. When almost combined turn off the mixer and scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Finish mixing the batter by hand with a rubber spatula. Pour into prepared pans.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or 24 to 30 minutes for cupcakes. Let cool in pans for 15 minutes then invert on a wire rack and cool completely.

Vanilla Whipped Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 c sugar
1 c whole milk
1/4 c all-purpose four
1 1/2 T vanilla extract

In a small saucepan combine 1/4 c of the milk with the flour and vanilla and whisk until completely smooth. Over medium heat slowly add the remaining heat and whisk constantly until it begins to thicken. Remove from heat and keep stirring. Cool in an ice bath to room temperature.

Cream the butter on medium speed. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low slowly add the thickened and cooled milk mixture and increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy.

100th Post - Connor's Divine Birthday Cake

I bought The Silver Spoon for Children cookbook for Connor several months ago and decided to try out the recipes for his birthday. We chose the Orange Cake because Connor is obsessed with oranges, and it is now my new favorite cake. It is easy and delicious. So delicious. Completely amazing. Make it tonight.

Orange Cake

7 T unsalted butter, plus a bit more for greasing the pan

1 orange

2 barnyard eggs (yep, that's what it calls for)

1/2 c supgerfine sugar (we used granulated because that is what we had)

scant 1 c confectioner's sugar

scant 1 c self-rising flour

1/2 t baking powder

Orange Glaze

scant 1 c confectioner's guar

1 orange (we used both the zest and the juice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper.

Melt butter and let cool. In a medium bowl combine the eggs, superfine sugar, and confectioner's sugar with a whisk until light and fluffy. Stir in melted butter. Sfit the flour and baking powder onto the egg mixutre and pour in 6 T orange juice. Carefully mix tovether and pour into pan.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool in pan and then turn out on cooling rack. Place on cakestand and poke holes all over the cake with a toothipick or a fork. Whisk together juice from 1 orange, zest, and confectioner's sugar to make the glaze. Spread glaze all over cake, letting it seap into the holes until it is completelyl absorbed by the cake.

Top with sweetened whipped cream with a bit of vanilla and a thinly sliced orange sprinkled with sugar if you would like for decoration.

Panna Cotta with Roasted Strawberries

Divine. Easy. Make this soon.

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 c heavy cream
1/2 c sugar
2 c buttermilk
1 T vanilla

Measure 2 T water in a small bowl and add gelatin. Stir and let stand 5 minutes.

Place 1 c cream in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Add the gelatin and sugar and stir until both have dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in remaining 1 c cream, 2 c buttermilk, and 1 T vanilla. Pour into desired mold, individual glasses, ramekins, large glass bowl, goblets, whatever. Chill until set, about 6 hours.

4 to 6 c frozen strawberries
1 t lemon zest
1/4 to 1/2 c sugar

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper or silpat. Spread out strawberries in a single layer. Sprinkle with lemon zest and sugar. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or so, until berries have softened and juice has thickened with the sugar. Taste for doneness. Let cool. Pile on top of panna cotta to serve.

MIA

Sorry. Life has been crazy. But here are two cookbook recommendations and two recipes that I'm not sure you can live without.

Canyon Ranch Nourish is amazing and quite possibly my new favorite. The recipes are divine and healthy. It doesn't get much better than that.

Ellie Krieger's So Easy is easy, and delicious, and nutritious. Seriously, check these out ASAP from your library.

Here is a sneak peak from Canyon Ranch:

This tart is amazing. I knew the cookbook and I were meant for each other when I found this recipe in the breakfast section. For 2 days I thought I might even like it more than pie. That's how good it is. I've made it 3 times - twice according to the recipe (mostly) and once with all white flour and believe me, it needs the whole wheat flour.

Crust:
4 T unsalted butter
1/4 c low-fat cream cheese
1/2 c plus 1 T sugar
1/4 t salt
3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 c all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10-inch tart pan with canola oil spray.
Combine all ingredients in a food processor until mixed, reserving 1 T of the sugar for the filling. Press into the tart pan to form the crust.

Filling:

2 or 3 peaches or nectarines

1 c blueberries (if you use frozen berries make sure they are completely thawed and drained)

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1 T sugar

Arrange the peach slices in concentric circles around the edge of the tart and pile the blueberries in the middle. Whisk 1 egg with 1 T sugar and 1 t vanilla and pour over berries. Bake for 40 minutes.

And then I made these:

Cinnamon Snap Rolls (from A Passion for Ice Cream by Emily Luchetti) filled with homemade apricot vanilla ice cream. Let me know if you need the recipes.

The blogging is going to get worse, not better, for the next little while because in 2 weeks I leave to go wait for our baby girl to be born! Can't wait.

Plum Preserves

To read the very long account about how I got the plums go to http://www.petersonabcs.blogspot.com/. To make some crazy good plum preserves use this recipe and add 2 cinnamon sticks to the mixture as it boils. I also made ice cream using the many plums currently in my possession and adapted a recipe from this man who is kind of a genius. Here's the recipe:

Plum Ice Cream

1 lb plums, halved and pitted

1 c sugar

1/3 c water

1 c cream

1/2 t pure vanilla extract

Combine the plums, sugar, and water in a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes or until plums are tender. Remove from heat and puree in a blender. Add cream and vanilla and blend until thoroughly combined. Pour through a sieve into a container and refrigerate until cold. Put mixture in ice cream maker and make ice cream. Eat ice cream. It is tart and delicious and the vanilla is the perfect accompaniment to the tartness of the plums and brings out the flavor of the cream. And it looks pretty.

20 lbs of apricots

I saw a listing on craigslist for 20 lbs of apricots for $15, which seemed too good of a deal to pass up. I planned on making apricot lavender jam, but quickly decided upon realizing how many apricots make up 20 lbs that I needed some other quick things to use up all of the lovely produce. I found this recipe and changed it by omitting the vanilla bean (although that would also be perfectly wonderful), doubling the recipe, and adding 5 tsp of culinary lavender buds that I ground up in a coffee grinder with some of the sugar. I also left the peelings on because I love the color and didn't want to peel that many apricots, and after combining all of the ingredients I let it sit overnight in the fridge (covered of course) to really let the flavors meld. This jam is fantastic - on a spoon, on bread, or mixed with some vinegar to make a lovely apricot vinaigrette for a salad. So that's the jam.

Then I saw this recipe for apricot ice cream and decided to puree a bunch of the apricots, add a bit of lemon juice to preserve the color, and freeze the puree in ice cube trays (which were later emptied into gallon freezer bags) so that we can eat apricot ice cream all year long. I haven't made any yet, but it looks quite good.

Apricot pie also sounded idea but rather than make the entire pie I decided to just make the filling, put it in a gallon ziplock bag, shape it in a pie dish and freeze. Once frozen I removed the pie dish and now when I need a pie I can just make the crust, pop in the filling, and bake it. I haven't tasted the finished product yet, but the filling is very good.

4 c apricots, peeled
1 T lemon juice
1 c sugar
1/3 c flour
nutmeg to taste
1 to 2 t vanilla extract

Just toss to combine and you are ready to go.

By this point I had just enough apricots to fill a cookie sheet, so I lined the cookie sheet with parchment, spread out the apricot halves, drizzled them with 2 T olive oil, 1/2 c melted honey,
1 t vanilla, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. I then roasted them in a 375 degree oven for about 35 to 45 minutes, until meltingly soft and a bit caramelized. These are delicious on their own, but especially over French Toast.

DB Challenge - Mexican Chocolate Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

For this challenge we had to make 2 kinds of ice cream - the recipes given in the challenge were for vanilla and chocolate, but I decided instead to make dulce de leche and cinnamon. I also made caramel sauce for serving, and it was the perfect accompaniment to the cake. This is quite divine. My only regret is not thoroughly reading the recipe when making the Swiss Roll. That led to quite the catastrophe, but I managed to piece it together and still roll it up with the whipped cream.

Recipes from the challenge:

Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 10 - 12 minutes
Rolling and cooling time: at least 30 minutes
Filling: 5 - 8 minutes
Filling and rolling: 5 - 10 minutes

Ingredients:
6 medium sized eggs
1 C / 225 grams caster sugar /8 oz + extra for rolling
6 TBS. / 45 grams/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 TBS. /40 gram / a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
2 TBS. /30 ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans
For the filling:
2 C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 TBS. / 70 grams / 2.5oz of caster sugar

Directions:
1. Pre-heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans (11 inches by 9 inches) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.

3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
5. Place a pan in the center of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the center is springy to the touch.
6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it. Very important. I didn't use sugar on my towel and it was not good!
7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
9. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
10. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
11. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
12. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
13. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to
the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).
14. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation time: 5 minutes + freezing
I have made the ice cream without an ice cream maker.
Ingredients
2 and ½ C / 625 ml / 20 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp/ 5 ml/ .15 fl oz vanilla extract
½ C / 115grams/ 4 oz of granulated sugar
Directions:
1. Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.
2. Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

Hot Fudge Sauce
Preparation time: 2 minutes
I made this just after adding the layer of vanilla ice cream to the cake.
Cooking time: 2 minutes
Ingredients:
1 C / 230 grams / 8 oz of caster sugar
3 TBS. / 24 grams /1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 TBS. /15 grams / 1 oz of corn flour/cornstarch
1 ½ C / 355 ml /12 fl oz of water
1 TBS. /14 grams/ 1 oz butter
1 tsp/ 5 ml / .15 fl oz vanilla extract
Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, corn flour and water.
2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool.

Chocolate Ice Cream
Preparation time: 5 minutes + freezing
Ingredients:
2 C / 500 ml whipping cream
1 C / 230 grams / 8 oz caster sugar
3 TBS. / 24 grams / 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:
1. Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor.
2. In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
3. Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
4. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instruction, after the mixture has cooled completely.
5. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

Assembly:
1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices
(approximately 2 cms each).
2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in
which you are going to set the dessert with
cling film/plastic wrap.
3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan,
with their seam sides facing each other.
Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl,
with the seam sides facing away from the
bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and
freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30
minutes).
4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out
of the freezer, remove the cling film cover
and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices.

Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the

bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap

and freeze till firm (at least 1 hour)
5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice
cream, cover and freeze till firm. (at least an
hour)
6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it
over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap
and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely
set.
7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the
serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it
upside down and remove the bowl and the
plastic lining. If the bowl does not come
away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl
with a kitchen towel dampened with hot
water. The bowl will come away easily.
8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least
10 minutes before slicing, depending on
how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp
knife, dipped in hot water.

Additional recipes I used:

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/05/dulce-de-leche-ice-cream/

Dulce de Leche: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2005/11/dulce_de_lechec.html

Cinnamon Ice Cream adapted from recipe by Emily Luchetti in A Passion for Ice Cream

2 3/4 c heavy whipping cream

1 c milk

2/3 c sugar

3 cinnamon sticks

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp kosher salt

Combine the cream, milk, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cinnamon, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until almost simmering. Pour into a bowl and cool over ice bath to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Strain cream, discard cinnamon sticks, and church in ice cream machine.

Caramel Sauce adapted from recipe by Emily Luchetti in A Passion for Ice Cream

2 c sugar

1/2 c water

1 1/2 c heavy whipping cream

1/8 tsp salt

2 ounces (4 T) unsalted butter

1 T very good vanilla

Stir the sugar and water together in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Increase heat to high and continue to cook, without stirring, until the sugar is medium amber in color. Remove pot from heat and slowly stir in about 1/4 c of the cream. (It will sputter, so be careful. At this point I always think I've ruined it, but just keep stirring.) Continue adding the cream and then add the salt and butter and whisk until smooth. Add the vanilla last. This can be stored in the fridge, just microwave for 10 to 30 seconds and stir before serving.

***I could drink this straight, that's how good this is, so consider yourself warned.