Saturday, February 07, 2009

And this looks like a major event... but I may try it for applicant weekend... we'll see...
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cocoa-Nib-Chocolate-and-Citrus-Dacquoise-351263

Yellow Cake

I've obviously given up on the "perfect chocolate chip cookie" hunt...There are some things I may just have to buy... But... I have decided to go on a search for a good cupcake recipe. The other one was tasty... I now want to compare to this one. I'm fairly curious about what cake flour does... the other one used self-rising...

Moist Yellow Cake

Epicurious | © 2003 by Toba Garrett

The Well-Decorated Cake

*
recipe
*
reviews (89)
*
my notes
*
find out more

user rating

83% would make it again
user rating

user rating:
3½ forks
rate this recipe review this recipe
at a glance

main ingredients Egg, Milk/Cream

cuisine American

type Cake
more resources
Food Dictionary Wine Dictionary cooking videos
This is my favorite recipe in the book. I use this cake more than 85% of the time. It's always delicious. The Soft as Silk brand of cake flour... more ›
subscribe to Bon Appétit
Ingredients
Ingredients

* 3 cups (330 g) cake flour
* 1 tablebspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (8 ounces or 230 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2 cups (454 g) granulated sugar
* 5 large eggs
* 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/4 cups (10 fluid ounces or 300 ml) buttermilk

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and line with parchment paper two 8x2-inch (20x5-cm) pans. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Cut up the butter into 1-inch pieces and place them in the large bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment or beaters. Beat for 3 minutes on MEDIUM-HIGH speed until the butter is light and creamy in color. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the butter for an additional 60 seconds.

4.Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs one at a time.

5. Reduce the mixer speed. Stir vanilla into the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a knife. Lift up the pan with the batter, and let it drop onto the counter top to burst any air bubbles, allowing the batter to settle.

7.Center the pans onto the lower third of the oven and let bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake is lightly brown on top and comes away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Other experiments and notes from last night...


I tried making a caramelized onion and white mushroom truffle oil white pizza, and a barbecue shrimp and caramelized onion pizza. I think I've decided that I want to experiment with a few more pizza dough recipes. I can't tell if I let the yeast in warm water stay too long [discovered midway through that I needed to borrow a cup of flour from our grad school neighboor] or if I just need another recipe. As far as toppings go, I liked both. I used a mixture of mozarella and havarti cheese on the mushroom one. And I used Annie's barbecue sauce on the shrimp one. I sauteed the shrimp separately in oil and cajun spice until they were just slightly undercooked, before putting them on the pizza. I would remake both. However, I would probably sautee the mushrooms in oil, rather than use the mushrooms from below

I'd also remake the veggie pot pie that I made, with a few modifications. I caramelized onions in one pan. Meanwhile, in another pot, I sauteed mushrooms in butter and oil, and then added white wine. I cooked until it was somewhat reduced. I pulled out some of the mushrooms for the pizza (though in the future, I would've pulled them out before the wine). I then threw in some sticks of thyme, what little left of a rosemary sprig (about 1/4 of an inch) I had on hand, as well as chopped zucchini, carrots, spinach, corn, green pepper, and vegetarian Quorn-brand chicken tenders. In the future, I'd hope that I'd remember to throw in diced potatoes as well. I added some skim milk and more white wine until the vegetables seemed almost cooked. I then added some flour to thicken the sauce. I dumped the mixture into a glass pie pan. I rolled out a whole wheat pie crust from Whole Foods' frozen section, cut out a few holes, and placed the crust on top. I then baked until the crust was ready--the rest of the mixture was warm and cooked so I didn't worry about the timing.
My pie pan had been fairly packed to the brim with veggies. It was delicious but to make it more like a traditional pot pie, I'd probably cut the veggies into two pie containers and increase the amount of liquid in each in the future...

Thursday, February 05, 2009

I finally tried to make cupcakes tonight... The mini ones were a disaster since I used a silicon base without paper wrappers so I couldn't get the cakes out... But the big ones came out well. I put on nutella instead of frosting due to time constraints. I more or less used the recipe below, but used blackberry jam instead of raspberry, regular sugar instead of powdered, and lime juice instead of the lemon peel/lemon juice.




These gorgeous cupcakes have a sweet surprise inside: They're filled with a dollop of raspberry jam. Half of the cupcakes have a pale yellow... more ›
subscribe to Bon Appétit
Ingredients

* 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
*used 1 1/2 granular sugar--original recipe said 1 1/2 powdered sugar for the cupcakes and 1 1/2 for the frosting
* 4 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel, divided
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
* 1/4 cup buttermilk
* 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
* 12 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon seedless raspberry jam
* Fresh raspberries (for garnish)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Using electric mixer, beat butter, 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, and 3 teaspoons lemon peel in large bowl until blended, then beat until fluffy and pale yellow. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in half of flour. Add buttermilk and 2 tablespoons lemon juice; beat to blend. Beat in remaining flour.

Drop 1 rounded tablespoonful batter into each muffin liner. Spoon 1 teaspoon raspberry jam over. Cover with remaining batter, dividing equally.

Bake cupcakes until tester inserted halfway into centers comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan on rack. Meanwhile, whisk remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon peel in small bowl. Spoon half of icing over 6 cupcakes. Whisk 1 tablespoon raspberry jam into remaining icing. Spoon over remaining cupcakes. Let stand until icing sets, about 30 minutes. Garnish with raspberries.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Interview circuit

It's been a sad sad state of affairs in the cooking world. But. All that is changing! I had a dream about cooking a few nights ago and am convinced it is a sign that I start reconnecting to the kitchen again. (More realistically, I probably had the cooking dream because I'd been watching Iron Chef and sadly had to stop watching before finding out the winner).



My goal this week is to try making cupcakes. Mini, delicious morsels of sweet delight. I have never been able to make a cake. Sooner or later, I should learn... now, why I didn't take advantage of learning how to do so while I'd been dating a former professional pastry chef is beyond me... I never was very bright!



In other news, as exhausting as the interview circuit was, and how tired I was of eating granolas and hummus wraps, there were also multiple stops involving good food.



Boston--well, we all know that I am obsessed with food in Boston. Delicious. Affordable. 'nuf said. Thai, sushi, Schezuan, Cantonese, Northern Chinese, Bertuccis, Indian... life was good. very good.



Philly--We went to the Good Dog, which unlike its name would suggest, had nothing to do with hot dogs. Thankfully! They had one of the yummiest fried goat cheese and beet salad. Philly also involved delicious Indian food, Greek food, Jones (monkey bread! mac and cheese!) delights, and of course, the delight of seeing N and N!



New Haven--I had a HOME COOKED meal when I stayed with A&V. It was sooo nice after traveling for so much time!



Toronto--I have to admit it. The Indian food in the cafeteria of SickKids was GOOD. I had chana masala and it made me one happy camper...especially since I'd left NYC at 4am and was finally eating a breakfast/lunch/dinner combo at 4pm post-interview! Gotta love mechanical failures of planes.



Providence--Brown had the most yummiest salad bar I saw. I'm not kidding.



Long Beach--N&M took me to an amazing Italian place for dinner! It was sooo good!



And now...I will finally stop procrastinating and do what I have to do...