More about my birthday, this time - presents

Dear Marg,

I'm worried that the sheer number of cookbooks I got for my birthday implies great expectations on the part of my friends and family. I mean, what are they going to expect me to serve for dinner after receiving Ready for Desert by David Lebovitz, The Flavor Thesaurus by Niki Segnit, 500 Soups by Susannah Blake, Canal House Cooks Everyday by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer and Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel? I can never live up to the presure of those expectations.

So instead I'll share a bit about each of the books over the next few days. OK, weeks is probably more like it given my schedule lately. Starting with the smallest, since that is how they are stacked on my desk, 500 Soups is a  6" square collection of recipes divided into chapters like, "Cooled and Chilled", "Healthy and Wholesome", "20 Minute Treats" and my favorite, "Meal in a Bowl".

Each primary recipe is illustrated with a photograph that clearly shows the soup. Not one for art that obscures soup, Ms. Blake has selected images that show you exactly what you can expect. In fact, so little attention was given to the art of the photography that I had to search to find the photographer's name (Ian Garlick. Really.) listed in the same font and placement as the Home Economist.

The chapters feature about 10 main recipes and then at the end of the chapter each recipe is given its own page with a handful of variations. While I love the idea of variations, it's odd that they are at the end of the chapter.When I'm on the bean soup page I want to be inspired by the wealth of options that Blake has come up with. If I"m curious about whether I can substitute red beans for black I don't want to leaf through to the end of the chapter to find out. I want it all right in front of me. 

I haven't had time to try any of the recipes yet,but they do look good, and the breadth of varieties offered is wide. The book is part of the 500 Series, which also features 500 Cupcakes, 500 Casseroles and 500 White Wines.

This seems to be a solid basic book, and a good addition to the library. I'm not sure that it will help with the surfeit of high expectations but as Abby says, you can't be a wizard every day.

Love, Elise

More Cake

Dear Marg,

Guess what kind of cake Amos made for my birthday? Apple!

It was the Chunky Apple Walnut Cake from the red Silver Palate, the one whose binding has completely disintegrated from being held open by a cutting board while I work my way through yet another recipe.

Honestly, I don't think my standards are as high as yours, or maybe the fact that he made it gives it an extra 10 points, or maybe I'm grading on a curve, but I really loved it.

Love, Elise

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Elise,

 It was your birthday just a few days ago and I wanted to bake you a cake. Since this cake was just for my celebration of your birthday, I gave myself some leeway and didn’t actually bake it until the day after your birthday.

 But I baked a gingerbread cake because I know you really like it. I like it OK. To be honest, gingerbread is one of the few desserts about which, to paraphrase you, the best that can be said is that there is no risk of overeating. I don’t hate it; it’s not like fig pie or tapioca. I just don’t want to eat it. But I baked it, for you.

 Lest you feel too guilty about my sacrifice, I also baked it because I wanted to get back on the Miette horse, back in the rushing Miette river, but I wanted to get back on a horse that was placid and exhausted, I wanted to wave my toes in the shallows at edge of that river. The Miette Gingerbread requires no slicing of layers, no crumb coat, pretty straightforward mixing. It seemed like a safe place for the reintroduction.

 Naturally, since I had actually located and purchased two 6” pans, the recipe calls for two 7” pans. I went with one 8” and one 6”. Next time, I’ll use two 6” pans. There seems to be no reason not to, aside from the peculiar uselessness of a six inch cake. One person who reviewed Miette was thrilled with the 6” cakes because smaller cake means fewer calories. Huh?? Smaller cake means larger pieces. A six inch cake serves three. 

 I think the whole process went pretty well. I restrained my oppositional defiance disorder and slavishly followed the instructions. Except for the pan sizes. And I put parchment on the bottom of the pans even though they just call for butter and flour. Oh, and I also skipped the medium size strainer step because I don’t have a medium sized strainer. But other than that, I was dutiful. I didn’t over mix, and I only peeked in the oven once. 

 So far so good. They rose enough, they baked all the way through, they came out of the pans, (I was happy I had used the parchment).

 Then there was the cream cheese frosting. I prefer gingerbread with whipped cream and maybe a nice fruit compote. But I was slavishly following directions.

 I slavishly followed those directions right off the road to Hell and into the tree of regret. Miette’s cream cheese frosting calls for a pound of cream cheese (this is 2 packages) and a cup of confectionary sugar. It makes gently sweetened cream cheese. 

 Then came the application process, and things went awry. Miette wants you to use your half inch star tip to apply the frosting in a spiral as the cake slowly turns on your revolving cake stand. No half inch star tip, no revolving cake stand. Not even a bag for my decorative tip set.  I used a plastic bag.

 The star tip I have is so small and the frosting so thick, I squeezed and squeezed, nothing. I squeezed harder, several small holes broke through the bag and tiny spirals of frosting spewed out. But from the star tip? Nothing. I kept squeezing until the entire tip apparatus burst out the bottom of the plastic bag. I applied the frosting in a spiral (sort of) as it extruded from the half inch hole in the corner of the plastic bag. Chris has my offset spatula, so I made do with a straight spatula. 

 While my finished cake didn’t look like a Miette cake, it didn’t look bad. Unfortunately, it tasted like gingerbread with gently sweetened cream cheese. 

 

  Happy Birthday!!

A Holiday From Failure

Regan Daley’s Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Rum Soaked Raisins and Spiked Sugar Glaze.

 First try and it was nearly divine. Next time I’ll double the raisins and triple the glaze.

The Unbridled Failure of Apple Cake

Elise,

                What is so challenging about an apple cake? It is basically a cake with some apples tossed in. I can make a cake (previous post to the contrary, I know). I can peel and chop an apple. Seriously, I feel as if I’ve failed at finger painting, or bead-stringing.

                If 90% of life is showing up, then all my failure is crammed into the final 10%. Because I showed up. I really showed up. People were talking.

                One friend, on whom I forced one failure after another, kept asking, “What’s the cake for?” sounding increasingly alarmed.  

                I considered and discarded Canadian Thanksgiving, October 8^th, Columbus Day, also October 8^th, Leif Erikson Day, October 9^th, Tunisian Evacuation Day, October 15^th, (this seemed like a good candidate until this friend pointed out that apple cake probably isn’t traditional evacuation fare). I settled on Simchat Torah, October 9^th.

 ‘This holiday [Simchat Torah] is characterized by utterly unbridled joy, which surpasses even the joy of Sukkot. The joy reaches its climax on Simchat Torah, when we celebrate the conclusion – and restart – of the annual Torah-reading cycle.’

                Utterly Unbridled Joy calls for Apple Cake.

                I don’t want to lower the tone from unbridled joy to unbridled despair, but I must. I’ve included a chart to perk things up. Which just shows you how bad things are.

                Four Star Desserts’ Morning Apple Cake. Once again, it didn’t bake all the way through, despite my following the recipe and then doubling the baking time.

                Grand Central Baking’s Cream Cheese Apple Cake. I had high hopes for this one; ½ lb of butter and ¾ lb of cream cheese? My cardiologist was dizzy. The texture was gummy and the flavor was pretty good but too subtle.

                Ripe’s Apple Marmalade Cake. It is made with ww flour and half the sugar of the rest, and the best thing that can be said is that it is healthy, as in good-for-you.

                I added the Silver Palate Chunky Walnut Apple cake to the chart as well as a Food & Wine Apple Cider Cake that I have liked in the past.

recipe	flour	fat	sugar	apples
4 star	2 1/3 C	½ lb	1 2/3 C	5
Grand central	3 C	½ lb butter ¾ lb crm chs	2 ½ C	1 ¼ lbs (3-4)
Silver palate	3 C	1 ½ C oil	2 C	3 ¼ C
Ripe	2C	½ lb butter	1 C	7 oz.
Food & Wine	3C	12 oz butter	2C	1.5 lb (3 large)

                The fat to flour ratio seems pretty consistent. Other than that weird outlier from Ripe, the amount of sugar doesn’t vary much either. I’m seeing an issue with the apples, specifically the amount of apples, even more specifically, the expression of the amount of apples. For reasons that those of you who are enjoying this foray into charts can probably determine, but that I can’t, the Four Star Dessert’s Apple Morning Cake has the best flavor. It also has the most irresponsible apple amount. Five apples? You may as well ask for a big handful of sugar and enough flour to fill the cat’s water bowl. Five apples could produce a cup and half of shredded apple or six cups of shredded apple which is closer to the amount I folded in. No wonder it didn’t bake. I’d have more luck baking a quart of cider.

                If you are waiting for a happy ending, you’ll have to be content with beginning again with the Torah. There is no happy ending. I still haven’t made a good apple cake. But November 6 is Marooned Without  A Compass Day. And the 11^th is Veterans Day. Both seem suitable for another attempt. 

               Love, Margaret

PS The happy accident that came from all this is my discovery of caramel whipped cream. Make some caramel sauce and allow it to cool. Partially whip some heavy cream, then add some of the caramel and finish whipping the cream. It seems like it will be a disaster and could never properly emulsify and then it does and OMG is it transporting, transcendent, trance inducing. I was entranced. You will be too.