Daring Baker's Challenge: Adventures with Caramel Cake

So here, it is, my first challenge with the Daring Bakers! And wow, was this more of an adventure than I ever could have imagined. This months challenge was Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater's Caramel Cake as posted in Bay Area Bites. The hosts for this month's challenge were Dolores of Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Blondie and Brownie and Jenny of Foray into Food. Gluten-Free help was given by Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go.
Before I get into the crazy day I had with this cake, here is the recipe:

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature




Preheat oven to 350F

Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light


OK, now are you ready hear about my day? A little background here- this is my first DB challenge, and I was feeling a little nervous. I'm not a huge fan of caramel, but I was willing to try, and I thought to jazz things up a little, I would infuse the thing with some lavender. I had just been away for over a week and I was cutting it close to the deadline, so I knew there would just be one chance to get it right.

You can see where this is going, right?

So here we are, the day after thanksgiving, and I'm ready to start this thing. We've got a few friends coming over later to help us eat the cake, and the kids are pretty psyched about the whole situation. So I get up in the morning, and make the caramel syrup right away. To infuse the lavender, I let about 3 T of lavender flowers soak in the 1 cup of cold water used to stop the carmelizing process for about an hour. This totally worked. I'm not sure the rest of it worked so well though. While I did get my caramel syrup to a nice amber color, it was super thin, and not so sticky. This was my first foray into caramel, and I was afraid I would burn the whole thing. But in the end, it tasted great, so I used it anyway. Here's my nice amber color:



The lavender was quite strong, and this syrup was so good that I got a bit sugar dazed sampling it. I let the whole thing cool and started work on the batter. Everything was going fine, until I began to preheat the oven.

Now here is the moment where I can choose to tell you the whole truth, a little bit of it, or none at all. You pick:

No truth: Then everything went great and the the cake came out flawlessly, filling my house with the sweet smell of caramel and lavender.

A little truth: Then a few rough things happened with my oven, but I got through it like a true daring baker, and the cake came out great anyway.

The whole truth: (not for the faint of heart) OK, so immediately my kitchen was filled with maybe the worst smell I have ever smelled. My husband ran into the kitchen and we quickly tried to discern the cause. I remind you here that I had been away for over the week, and under the watch of my husband, the oven had been used, well let's just say, a little less than usual.
So yes, upon further inspection, we began to suspect that the smell was one of (close your ears if you can't handle this) burning rodent. Breathe... I got through it and so will you.
At this point, my husband opened the pots and pans drawer under the oven and a very large living mouse jumped out. Joey and I screamed like small children and ran away from the kitchen. Our kids ran into the living room inquiring as to the cause of our shrieking, and all we could say was "back to your room, now." "What's that smell, Mommy?" "Back to your room, now. Don't your dolls need a tea party?" "Yeah!" And that bought us a good five minutes to deal with the situation.
This whole time, my precious caramel cake batter is in the mixer. And if there is one thing I will not do, it is abandon ship mid-batter.
So Joey starts taking apart our ancient electric stove. And sure enough, in the layer between the oven and the burners, not only is there a crispy mouse, but there is many hidden stores of half-eaten nuts and several nearly chewed through wires. Joey quickly cleans out the corpse and after inspection of the wires, we realize that it is time for the stove to RIP. May I remind you that the mixer is churning away?
OK, I know, this whole thing is super gross. But more importantly, my caramel cake! I'm not going to fail in my first Daring Bakers challenge because of a silly mouse nesting in my stove!
Thank God for neighbors. I called up my neighbor Hannah, who was recovering from just making Thanksgiving for 28 people. She began the preheating and I ran down there. Here's me coming back home with the cakes:
Now, although as I said, I refuse to give up here, I'm starting to worry a little bit about my cakes. It's late November in New England, and running the batter around the block is not going to help matters much, nor is running the hot cakes back up the block. But what am I to do? My cake eating guests are arriving and I must have a cake to give them.
As I had a few people over, I made a double cake, and I decided to put whipped cream flavored with the lavender caramel syrup in the center. I started working on the whipped cream and Browned butter frosting, and then I realized that I had forgotten that I needed a stove to brown the butter! There was no way I was going to turn my stove on for anything, so I looked for another option. Lucky we had a fire going:

After my face got really really red, the butter was finally browned. By this time I was losing my light to photograph the cake and I was also starting to lose my focus. I made the frosting and it was tooth-hurtingly sweet, so in a last minute moment of panic, I folded some of the whipped cream into the frosting. This created a really delicious creamy mess, and no matter how much I worked on it, it looked like my three-year-old had frosted the cake:

I drizzled some extra caramel syrup on the cake and added a sprinkling of Fleur de Sel, and presented it, as Julia Child says, "without apologies".

And in the end, although it wasn't pretty, it was really really good. A hit all around, I think.



I'm hoping next month's challenge will be a little less exciting for me, but I guess we'll just have to wait and find out. Hopefully I'll have a new oven by then. Until then, it's the rice cooker for me....

Food Travelling For you

This is a post for my friend Eilen who gave me a camera for my birthday. The camera arrived moments before I left on my trip, and hence, I have actual photos of food to show you. Luckily, my work that took me on this trip resulted in me finding myself at many exciting tables, and so here it is: something of a tour of these tables....



We shall start, appropriately, with dessert first. My travels got off to what can only be described as a rocky start, and it was necessary to finds some sweets quickly. This Pavlova, along with the flan above, really did the trick. I'm not sure that I've ever actually had a Pavlova before this, but I see now why it takes the name of one of the most fluid and graceful dancers of all time. I had these two deserts in a hotel restaurant in Thessaloniki, and although the photojournalist across from me had devoted quite a bit of time to talk to me about his failed screenplay about Sappho and rock lyrics, this dessert allowed me to change the subject. And all we could say was, "the air, the air." And I know that it's a cliche, but this thing was like eating a cloud. And the cloud was topped with strawberries from Crete.

The next day, I found this baklava:
pretty nice, wouldn't you say? I think I need to get up the courage to start baking with puff pastry.

On our final day in Greece, our host took us to a restaurant to sample the best of what Thessaloniki had to offer. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....

Or maybe I'll speak for them a little bit too. I saw a lot of fava beans in Thessaloniki, and they were complex and worth all the work that I know goes into them. That grilled fresh cheese in the center there was earthy and pretty mindboggling, and the salad with grilled vegetables wasn't so shabby either. On it's own at the top though were lamb meatballs in a perfect batter, and you can just go ahead and think about that- they were just as good as they sound.

I had a few minutes to actually walk around the city in the rain, and when I came upon these windows I thought I would record them too. An old grumpy woman chased me away though, saying "what are you doing? (imagine a nice thick greek accent) These things are for eating!"


Definitely for eating...

My final night in Greece, just hours before my plane to Morrocco, I had a meal that I will never forget. Tuna that brought me closer to God, Chocolate Mousse with sea salt, and more things of which the specifics have been lost in a haze of ecstasy. And because I was sitting at a table with a very famous and slightly intimidating director who shall remain nameless, I only had the courage to whip out my camera once to photograph these razor clams.
And yes, although I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by my dinner company (the list does not end with the nameless director), these clams made me weep at the table. The olive oil in Greece is, well let's just say, special, and the simplicity of these clams with parsley and olive oil was almost too much for me.

When I continued on to Morocco, my food experiences changed. This change can most be exemplified by this orange tree.
The food is right there, and so beautiful, but I just can't quite get to it. Because although I was at many tables in Marrakesh scattered with rose petals and filled with perfect bites, some power in the city contrived against me eating those bites. Complex, I know, but maybe I'll go into more at a later date. I did have one very nice lunch however, of which I ate every morsel.
I hope you've enjoyed your tour of my little trip as much as I enjoyed eating it. Nice to travel without having to worry about drinking the water, eh?

Soup of the Week: Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

This is one of those nice recipes that just takes a few really great flavors, puts them together, and lets them do their stuff. I especially like to make this soup when I have a lot of butternut squash, and then I can freeze a bunch of the puree. This is what you need:






Butternut squash, as many as you've got
Peeled whole garlic cloves, about 4 per half of butternut squash
Sage leaves, about 2 per half of squash
salt and pepper
Milk or cream for finishing off.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut each squash in half , lay the halves out next to each other, and admire them, like this:

Scoop out the seeds and set aside. Put the garlic cloves and sage leaves in the hollows of the squash, and magically turn them over onto a baking sheet or pyrex dish while keeping the garlic in place. (Okay, actually realize that you have to make little sage garlic mountains on the baking dish while you place the squash on top)
The point is, the squash is face down and the garlic is inside- do what you have to do. Bake until the squash is brown and soft, about an hour or so. Take it out and let it cool.
Meanwhile, clean the seeds, coat with a bit of olive oil and salt, and roast on a baking sheet until they start to pop, 10 or fifteen minutes. Set aside.
When the squash has cooled a bit, peel it. This should be pretty easy if it is cooked enough. Get yourself a nice heavy pot. Put all of the squash, garlic and sage into it. Add a bit of water. Put your hand blender into the pot, and have a good time. If you don't have a hand blender, buy one. I swear it will bring you much joy. Keep adding more water, slowly, to bring it up to a nice mushy puree. Then add the milk or cream at the end, and season with salt and pepper.
If you make lots of puree and would like to freeze, take a moment to fill some glass containers before you add the milk. This stuff freezes great.
Top with roasted seeds and there you go- you have made your soup of the week.

apple puffy pancake

Okay, so I've got to admit that I'm having a little technical frustration. I've been taking my photographs with a pretty dinky little video camera, because that's what I've got, and my pictures just aren't looking like the food they portray. I'm working on it, and the quality will rise, i promise, but until then, this is what I have to work with. As Julia Child, says, "Never Apologize", but I think that she was talking about the food itself. Anyway, here goes...
Today, we're going to talk about apple puffy pancake. This is one crowd pleaser of a breakfast, a good one for a special occasion. Just make it known to your family that you are only going to make it once in a while; otherwise, this can be a whine-inducing dish. (Oh, mom, please can we have puffy pancake, please, please?)

Apple Puffy Pancake adapted from Moosewood New Classics

serves 4-6 hungry people

Batter:
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
2 T butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of nutmeg

fruit topping
2 T butter
4 cups sliced apples (you can leave the peels on)
3 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

apple syrup (optional)
3 cups apple cider
cinnamon stick

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Stir just to combine and set aside. The mixture will be lumpy.
Melt the butter in a big cast iron skillet. Add the apple slices and sautee for a few minutes. Stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook for another few minutes, until the sugar is melted and the apples are hot.
Leaving the apples in the skillet, make sure that the sides of the skillet are well oiled. Pour the batter over the apples. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffed and golden and firm in the center. Keep the oven closed while the pancake is baking.
Meanwhile, if you are making the syrup (maple syrup will work just fine if you don't feel like it), bring the cider and cinnamon stick to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Cook until liquid has cooked down to about 1/2 cup, about 20-25 minutes. Watch it at the end to make sure that it doesn't burn.

Soup of the Week:Fall Minestrone

In honor of the beginning of November, I will begin a new cold weather feature here... The soup of the week! I have one child who boycotts soup altogether, but I'm still trying, and this one gets a few bites if I promise desert (an interesting parental debate to be discussed later, I'm sure).
This is Alice Waters' Fall Minestrone, and the flavors in the soup are pretty mindblowing. The trick is to cook the soffrito until it is really golden, and then some sort of magic happens.
Here goes...

Fall Minestrone from The Art of Simple Cooking

makes 8 servings (or double and freeze!)

1 cup of dry cannellini or other white beans, soaked overnight
1/4 cup olive oil plus more for garnish
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chopped sage
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups water
1 leek, diced
1 small can of tomatoes
1 bunch of kale, washed, stemmed, and chopped
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
grated parmesan cheese for garnish


Cover the beans with water and cook for 2-3 hours at a low simmer until soft. You can also substitute 3 cups canned beans if time insists. Reserve bean cooking liquid.

Heat in a heavy bottomed pan over low heat:
olive oil, carrots, onion

Cook for 15 minutes or until tender

Add:
garlic, rosemary, sage, salt, bay leaf, tomatoes, kale

Cook for 5 minutes

Add 3 cups of water, and bring to a boil

When boiling, add the leeks and squash
Cook for 15 minutes, or until the squash is tender, then add cooked beans

Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with olive oil and Parmesan. I promise that all of the chopping is more than worth it!