Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

My neighbor Amy and I love to chat about baking and cooking. We both share an interest in having fun in the kitchen, and recently she shared these photos of a cake she baked for her friend’s Bat Mitzvah. I was so excited by the beauty of the cake that I wanted to post the details on Kitchen Gadget Girl.

Amy also provided the two recipes she used, which are great basic cakes to have in your repertoire. The cake she made above used 2 batches of chocolate cake and 2 batches of yellow cake – two batches for the “big pan” and two batches split into the small and medium pans.

Brown-bottom Cupcakes
Makes excellent chocolate cake without the filling ingredients

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
12 oz chocolate chips

Cupcake:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
½ cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
2/3 cup oil
1 egg
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Make the filling in a medium bowl by mixing together the cream cheese, egg and sugar until creamy. Add chocolate chips, and set aside.

Make the cupcakes: Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add 2 cups water, oil, egg, vanilla and vinegar.

Fill cupcake papers about ½ full with batter. Drop 1 teaspoon filling on top.

Bake 15 minutes.

Great also as mini cupcakes (but use less filling per cupcake).

Yellow cake
These make great cupcakes

Recent realization/recommendation: Cream butter and sugar together. Then add the rest of the ingredients except the water. Add the water SLOWLY (or it splashes and makes an incredible mess!) This is a fun recipe for playing with food coloring too.

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cups butter or margarine, softened
4 eggs
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Grease and flour 3 9-inch baking pans, or a 9×13 pan.

Into large bowl, measure all ingredients, and 1 ¼ cup water. With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat at high speed 4 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl.

Pour batter into pans and bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Last year, I promised to share more persimmon recipes, following my post about Persimmon Cookies. I have also written about Steamed Persimmon Pudding and making Hoshigaki at home. With persimmons in season again, it was time to pull out the recipes.

I generally use Hachiya for breads and cookies, and enjoy Fuyu in salads. The trick with Hachiyas is to make sure you let them ripen completely, until very soft and gelatin-like, otherwise, they are too astringent. And the Fuyus are meant to be eaten crisp – I like to peel mine, and slice into thin pieces.

Here are many more of my family’s favorite persimmon recipes:

Fuyu Persimmons

Persimmons in Salad

Originally from Joe Carcione’s The Greengrocer

Peel a Fuyu (the squat, crisp persimmon) and slice in small sections. Add to a bowl of salad greens and thin sliced red onions. Add a light vinegrette of lemon juice and olive oil for a refreshing seasonal salad.

Persimmon Cake

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 cups chopped dates
• 2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, soda, powder and salt. Mix sugar, butter, vanilla, milk, and persimmon pulp, and add in flour mixture. Mix in bread crumbs, dates and nuts.

Pour into two (2) greased loaf pans and bake 65 minutes. Cool.

Hachiya Persimmons

Persimmon Oatmeal Drop Cookies

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup persimmon pulp
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cup quick rolled oats
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs.

Stir soda into persimmon pulp and add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla and sifted dry ingredients. Mix well. Stir in rolled oats, coconut, and nuts.

Using your cookie scoop, drop balls of dough onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake 12 minutes. Makes 6 dozen.

Persimmon Cookies

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
• 2 teaspoons baking soda (dissolved in persimmon pulp)
• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups raisins
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350F.

Pour boiling water over raisins and let stand while mixing other ingredients.

Cream sugars and butter well. Add eggs and beat well. Add persimmon pulp and mix well. Sift dry ingredients and add. Mix in vanilla, nuts and raisins.

Using your cookie scoop, drop balls of dough onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake 20 minutes, until light brown. Do not overbake.

Hachiya (pointy and tall) and Fuyu (short and squat)

Persimmon Refrigerator Roll

• 1 cup persimmon pulp
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 10 dates, chopped fine
• 10 marshmallows, chopped fine

Mix all ingredients together, then turn onto waxed paper spread with more graham cracker crumbs. Form into a roll about 2″ diameter, coating well with crumbs.

Wrap in waxed paper and chill for at least 2 hours. Slice and serve with whipped cream.

Frozen Persimmon Mousse

• 1 1/2 cups persimmon pulp
• 1/4 cup diced orange
• 1/2 cup diced canned pineapple
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 pint whipped evaporated milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Combine pulp, orange, pineapple, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Blend gently, and fold in whipped milk. Pour into freezer unit of ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Indiana Persimmon Bread
originally from Recipe Source

• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F.

Soak raisins in brandy, set aside.

Combine sugars, persimmon pulp and oil. Add eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition. Sift together dry ingredients into medium bowl. Add to egg mixture and stir in brandied raisins and nuts.

Pour into greased 9×5″ loaf pans (two) or 8×4″ loaf pans (three) and bake 1 hour. The larger pans make take a little longer. Use cake tester to ensure bread is done.

Roasting your own pumpkin for pie this Thanksgiving is not a difficult process. And you will be amazed at the difference in taste.

This week, in preparation for my pie baking marathon Thanksgiving week, I roasted up a Musquee de Provence pumpkin. This variety of pumpkin is huge – the small ones are over 15 pounds apiece! In two batches, I roasted pumpkin pieces, then pureed them in my food processor, strained them through a small-holed strainer, and packaged up for the freezer.

Step by Step Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375F
• Cut pumpkin in half, or quarters if very large. The pumpkin above was cut into 9 pieces
• Rub cut side of pumpkin with olive or canola oil. Place cut-side down on a cookie sheet. A Silpat lined cookie sheet makes cleanup easy
• Roast 45 – 90 minutes, until you can poke it with a fork and the rind is soft. Thick skinned pumpkins will take longer to roast
• Remove from oven and allow to cool
• Puree in a food processor
• If your pumpkin contains a good deal of liquid, strain through a small-holed sieve, or a colander lined with cheese cloth
• Freeze puree in 1-cup increments for easy pie making later in the season
• Use as you would canned pumpkin puree, satisfied in the knowledge that you are making a pumpkin pie truly from scratch!

Pumpkin Pie
adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

• 1 Pie Crust, unbaked
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• Pinch salt
• 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
• 2 cups half-and-half, light cream or whole milk (I use 1 cup skim milk + 1 cup heavy cream)

Prebake the pie crust, and start the filling while the crust is in the oven. When the crust is done, turn the oven to 375F.

Beat the eggs and sugar together; add spices and salt. Stir in pumpkin puree then the cream/milk. Warm this mixture in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until it is hot to the touch. Do not boil.

Put the prebaked pie crust in its pie plate on a baking sheet. Pour pumpkin mixture into still-hot crust and bake 30-40 minutes, until the pie shakes like Jell-O. Cool on a rack.

Note: When using my own pumpkin puree, I like to make sure the seasonings are correct, which sometimes means adding a little more spice than the recipe suggests. Be sure to test as you go to ensure the pie is properly flavorful.

Lisa was right.

She and I have been subscribing to the same fruit CSA (Frog Hollow Farms CSA) since early September. Each week, with our 5 pound box of perfectly ripe, organic and local fruit, we receive a recipe for a delightful dessert using the fruit. I tend to avoid these, since goodness knows I don’t need that extra butter and sugar disguised with fruit.

Lisa told me about the Pear Upside Down Cake from the October 5th newsletter. I pooh-pooh’d her, explaining my reasoning for not making desserts with the fruit. What a mistake.

Fortunately, last week, I had the chance to undo that mistake. I made the Pear Upside Down Cake with Warren and Bosc pears, and not only was the cake easy, it was a huge success. I highly recommend it. And I am sorry I doubted Lisa.

Pear-Almond Upside Cake
Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison

• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 large pears, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4″ slices (I used about 4-5 small/medium pears)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional, i.e. I did not have it, so if you don’t, don’t panic)
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup finely ground almonds (I used toasted sliced almonds from Trader Joes that I whirled with my immersion blender)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• pinch of ground cloves

Preheat oven to 375F. Heat 3 Tablespoons butter and brown sugar in a 10″ cast iron or ovenproof skillet over medium heat until sugar is melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Arrange pear slices in overlapping, concentric circles over the sugar.

Cream 1/2 cup butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts, then beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in nuts, then add flour, baking powder, salt, and cloves. Spoon batter evenly over fruit.

Bake until top of cake is golden and springy when pressed, 35-40 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then loosen edges with a butter knife. Place a cake plate over the top of the pan, grasp plate and pan tightly, and flip over. Ease pan off cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

In my mind, no party is complete without a Bundt cake. Really. They are that special.

And Bundt has a fun kitchen gadget that makes the cakes even that much better. The Nordic Ware Tunnel of Bundt, aka, Bundt Tunnel!

The Bundt Tunnel is a handy tool that allows you to bake in a tunnel to your favorite Bundt cake. Then, you can fill the tunnel with whatever your heart desires, making your dessert a true experience.

I used my Bundt Tunnel to make a birthday cake for Christy, and it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I followed the instructions for the cake on the inside of the Bundt Tunnel box. The tunnel works with both a 10-cup and 12-cup Bundt Pans, and the recipes included Chocolate Bundt Tunnel Cake with Peanut Butter Filling and Vanilla Bundt Tunnel Cake with Chocolate Ganache (the one I made). If you don’t have a Bundt Pan, I recommend the Nordic Ware Pro Cast Original Bundt Pan.

Vanilla Bundt Tunnel Cake with Chocolate Ganache
original recipe on back of Bundt Tunnel box from Williams Sonoma

(for 10-cup/2.5-l Bundt pan)

For the Cake:

• 2 1/3 cups (295g) cake flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 14 Tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks/220g) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups (375g) sugar
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup (160ml) milk

For the Ganache Filling:

• 10 ounces (315g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick/60g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3/4 cup (180ml) heavy cream

For the Chocolate Glaze:

• 3 ounces (90g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 6 Tablespoons (90ml) heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325F. Position rack in the lower third of the oven. Place a wire cooling rack on the oven rack, perpendicular to the oven rack wires, forming a grid. This will allow the cake to bake evenly.

Grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan; tap out excess flour.

Prepare the cake: sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (if you use a Beater Blade, you won’t need to stop and scrap down the sides of the bowl!). Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla.

Reduce speed and add in the flour, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour. Beat each addition until just incorporated.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, spreading batter on the side slightly higher than the center. Position the Bundt tunnel on the center tube of the pan. Set the pan on the wire cooling rack in the oven and bake until cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and a cake tester comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool, upright, on wire rack for 15 minutes. Then lift off Bundt tunnel. Let the cake continue to cool upright for 1 hour more.

Invert the pan onto to the rack and lift off the pan. Let cool completely for another hour.

Make ganache filling: In a bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Warm the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, until bubbles form around edges of the pan. Pour the cream over the chocolate and butter. Let stand 2 minutes, then gently whisk until smooth. Cool 5 minutes.

Invert cooled cake onto a large serving plate. Fill the hollow of the cake with the ganache and smooth the top. Refrigerate the cake until the ganache is firm to the touch, 30 minutes to 1 hour. Invert the cake again onto another large serving plate so the ganache is on the bottom.

Make the chocolate glaze: In a bowl, place the chocolate. Warm the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, until bubbles form around edges of the pan. Pour the cream over the chocolate. Let stand 2 minutes, then gently whisk until smooth. Spoon the glaze over the top of the cake. Let the glaze set for 30 minutes before serving.

Bundt Cake Pan

My grandparent’s farm was in Southern California, east of San Diego. The side of their property, or maybe it was the next farm over, was filled with avocado trees, a giant orchard. Unfortunately, my palate was not advanced enough at age 5 to take advantage of all those avocados, but fortunately, as I matured, so did my taste buds and now avocados are a favorite.

This recipe came to my Grandmother from Letha Finch, a nearby neighbor.

Avocado Cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups mashed avocado
• 2 2/3 cups sifted flour
• 3/4 teaspoon each allspice, cinnamon, salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons soda
• 3/4 cup sour milk (add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to sweet milk)
• 3/4 cup each raisins and chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup chopped dates

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, beating well after each addition. Add avocado, mix well.

Mix dry ingredients. Dissolve soda in sour milk. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to avocado mixture. Mix well.

Stir in fruit and nuts. Pour into 2 greased 9″ loaf pans. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

Bake at 350F for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Be sure to visit Joy of Desserts for more Vintage Thursday recipes!

In my “Big Clean” last week, I unearthed several recipes I had clipped and meant to try. One of them was from Sunset Magazine, make your own frozen yogurt. And in the back of my fridge was a container of Fage I bought at CostCo a couple weeks ago – perfect!

Frozen Yogurt

• 1 32-ounce container plain nonfat yogurt
• 2/3 – 3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)

Mix sugar into yogurt (put the yogurt into a bowl, it is much easier that way). Spoon mixture into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve immediately (much easier, and the consistency is better, IMHO)

30 minutes later, I was happily indulging in this healthy, fat-free frozen treat. Next time, I might go for a tarter yogurt, but the creamieness of the Fage worked well in the end product. Also, I would make this right before I want to eat it – I froze some for a snack later and it is now as hard as a rock.

As a long time subscriber to Sunset, I am thrilled to see that they are moving content online. For a long time, I have searched recipes through MyRecipes.com, which includes recipes from Sunset, Cooking Light and Real Simple. Now they have blogs! Here are the ones I just added to my reader:

You’ve Got to Taste This

One Block Diet

Sunset Traveler

Do you read Sunset Magazine? Are you reading them online now? How much do you love their chickens?

Summer is here! And I can see peaches at our local farmer’s market. Life is once again good.

I found this old recipe in my box, from my paternal Grandmother. It was typed on a small sheet of writing paper on my Grandmother’s typewriter, which wrote everything in cursive. And the date is August 1971, a perfect summer month for peaches.

With July 4th right around the corner, I thought this would make a perfect dish to bring to a potluck BBQ. Ooh, maybe that is what I will make for our neighborhood TGIF!

Peach Torte

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 Tablespoons milk

Sift dry ingredients and cut in butter as in a pie dough. Beat egg yolks and milk together and add to dry ingredients. Form into a ball. Pat into an 8×11″ pan or spring mold form. Fill with peaches and pour custard over all.

Custard

• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 cup half-and-half, scalded
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 10 ripe peaches
• 1 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Beat egg yolks and add cream and mix. Mix cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add to cream mixture and mix well. Add in almond extract. Slice peaches and place into pan with crust. Pour custard over the top. Bake 350F for one hour.

For more vintage recipes, check out Joy of Desserts.

Editor’s note: I made this torte on Friday, July 3rd, with mixed results. The peaches were very juicy, and I don’t think the custard was cooked long enough. Unmolding it from the springform pan looked like a recipe for disaster. However, the peaches and cream together were nice, and it was even better chilled. Next time, I might try a variation on this Cherry Torte recipe, or perhaps this Blackberry Custard Torte recipe.

For this week’s Vintage Recipe Thursday, I offer you a maternal family favorite, although it is also one of my Dad’s favorites: Date Nut Bars. The note on the card says this recipe is from 1935 when my Mom and her family lived in San Luis Obispo, California.

Even those among us who are not date fans will find something to love in this bar cookie – dense, sticky bar, with a crispy top and enough powdered sugar to cause a coughing fit. My favorite part are the corners, naturally, and next time I make them, I think I will put them in my new Brownie Edges Pan. 

Date Nut Bars

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 10 Tablespoons flour
• 1 cup chopped dates (about 20 medjools)
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 3 egg whites

Beat egg whites until stiff; add remaining ingredients. Bake in greased square pan, 8×8, at 350F for 35 minutes. Cut while hot and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

With 3 major family celebrations in the third week of April in our house, it seemed as though each day last week brought a new dessert treat. Each was personal and special, depending on the celebrator (is that a word?). My daughter’s birthday cake was made out of cupcakes and featured a bouncy-ball motif that I think only we understood. My husband loves coconut, and coconut he got in the form of coconut cupcakes with coconut frosting, served at our weekly neighborhood TGIF. And the only requirement for my cake was strawberries, just now in season in California. 

Strawberry cake

Coconut cupcakes

How to make your own Cupcake Cake

Cupcake cakes are great when you are serving a crowd and don’t want to deal with cutting a cake, plates, forks and napkins. To serve, you just stick your hand in and pull out the next cupcake, the frosting comes along with it. And because cupcake cakes are frosted completely over the top, you can decorate just like you would a sheet cake. 

Step 1:

On a cardboard cake support, or plate or pan, arrange your baked and cooled cupcakes, snugging them up close to their neighbor. If your support is slippery, I recommend a dab of frosting on the bottom of each cake.

Step 2:

Using a large frosting tip (Wilton #789), lay frosting over the tops of the cupcakes. Try to be as even with the application as possible. If necessary, you might find that thinning your frosting out will help. For this cupcake cake, I used 2 batches of standard buttercream frosting. 

Step 3: 

Decorate any way you would like. This birthday girl’s party was at a bounce house facility, so we tried to decorate with bouncy balls and trajectory lines. 

And this was decorated for a camping-themed birthday party. The graham crackers make the tent, the pretzel sticks are a fire (along with red gum drops for flames), and the green cornflake blobs are supposed to be trees! Any idea what the brown blob is?