Buttermilk Cake with Ricotta-Marscapone Frosting and Cherries

This cake (staying cool outside on the snowy deck) has tangy vanilla buttermilk cake, creamy-but-not-quite-sweet frosting with ricotta, lemon, honey, marscapone and Greek yogurt, and a crowing pile of juicy red cherries. It's a combination made in heaven.

Historically, I haven't been much of a baker or a dessert enthusiast--I've never had much taste for sweets, and baking requires a far more meticulous eye for directions than my natural cooking disposition allows for. Even when I am baking, I never measure baking power, salt, vanilla, etc. Hence, about half my sweet baking projects turn out horrible, fueling my anti-baking cycle. 

But occasionally--and apparently especially when pregnant--I get the urge to bake. In the last few weekends, I've made a new dessert each Saturday afternoon. One was smittenkitchen's Blood Orange, Almond, and Ricotta Cake, (but I used mixed citrus--grapefruit, lime, and orange). To go with this, I made a barely-sweet marscapone and Greek yogurt "whip cream", which had honey, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla. 

This was for my brother-in-law's engagement party, and the cake both looked pretty and tasted delicious. The tangy cream on the side really sent it over the edge--and ALSO started me on the kick of making creamy marscapone-and-ricotta baked goods, leading eventually to the fabulous buttermilk cherry cake. 

Next I made some homemade cherry Danishes. This also led to the invention of the frozen-dried-jam cherry sauce for the cake. The recipe, which I came across in a New York Times "What to Cook This Week" column, appealed to me because I'd never made Danish before, and because it looked like the sort of engrossing, complicated kitchen project I was in the mood for. Putzing around in the kitchen, completing hours-long cooking projects while listening to music or podcasts--this has been one of my favorite weekend pastimes. And I have a feeling experimental, all-day cooking is going to shortly take a backseat to my new hobby of baby-death prevention. So I have been wanting to enjoy it while I can. 

The Danishes came out really yummy, but honestly weren't worth the work. All the flavor came from the cheese and cherries--the yeast-butter dough, though interesting, wasn't especially fabulous. You could put the cheese-cherry combo on any number of other, far-easier bases. But if you want to try baking your own Danish from scratch, here is the recipe. 

Anyway--to the cake!
I must say this is up there with the best cakes I've even made. Even better, maybe, than that amazing coconut layer cake I made a couple summers ago. It was so, so, so good.

The buttermilk cake was the perfect base--and the tangy, not-quite-sweet, complex frosting--made with whipped cream, marscapone, ricotta, Greek yogurt, honey, lemon, and vanilla--was the perfect foil for the very sweet, very over-the-top-CHERRY-NESS of the cherry "sauce". This cherry sauce is my own invention and I think it's brilliant--and its formula can be applied to a ton of different fruits. What you do is take a bag of frozen cherries, a bag of dried cherries, a small jar of cherry jam, and an envelope of powdered flavorless gelatin, then boil everything together for a couple of minutes. The liquid from the frozen cherries and melted jam re hydrate the dried cherries, and the gelatin thickens it into the perfect saucy-but-not-runny consistency (the pectin from the jam contributes, too). It would work with apricots, pineapple, blueberries--anything. It makes a sweet, concentrated sauce that screams the flavor of the fruit. ULTIMATE CHERRY GOODNESS. Way, way better than any cherry pie filling I've ever tried. 
So! To the cake! You need 3 separate recipes, which you then assemble into the cake. 

Recipe for the Cake

This will make two 9-inch cake pans. You can make a layer cake, like I did this time, or two single cakes (this might be excellent if you are using fresh fruit in the summertime--two cakes piled with different fresh fruit). 

Note--the original recipe calls for 1 1/3 cup of sugar--I cut this to 3/4 cups (ish--didn't measure) because I wanted a distinct contrast between the less sweet, tangy cake and the sugar-cherry crush of the sauce. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ⅓ cups cake flour
•  Vegetable oil for greasing pans
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 ounces butter
• 3/4  cups sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 
  
• PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch cake pans and set aside. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla.
2. Using a mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until creamy. Over the course of 3 minutes, beat in the sugar. Over 2 minutes, add the egg mixture. Reduce the speed to low and alternate adding the flour and buttermilk in three parts, scraping the bowl.
3. Divide the batter between the pans and smooth the tops. Bake until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then unmold onto a rack to cool completely before frosting

Recipe for the Marscapone-Ricotta Frosting 

Ingredients

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 8 oz container marscapone cheese 

3 / 4 cup Greek yogurt 

3 / 4 cup whole milk ricotta

2 or 3 tablespoons honey 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

juice and zest of one lemon

What to do 

Put the cup of whipping cream into the bowl of  a stand mixer (you could also certainly use a hand mixer for this) and, using the whisk attachment, whip the cream into nice, fluffy whipped cream with soft peaks. Add the remaining ingredients and whip together on high speed for a minute or two. Taste for sweetness--remember that you don't want it too sweet. 

Place into the fridge until the cakes and cherries are cooled and ready to assemble. This should be chilled when spreading on. 

Recipe for the Cherry Topping

Ingredients 

1 bag frozen cherries

1 bag dried cherries

1 12 oz jar of cherry preserves 

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

What to do

Place the frozen cherries, dried cherries, and cherry jam in a sauce pan and heat over medium until boiling. Make sure to stir regularly. After it boils, turn the heat off and sprinkle the envelope of gelatin over the top, then mix everything together vigorously. Allow to come to room temperature or cooler--don't put cherries onto cake warm, or they'll melt the frosting. 

How to assemble the cake! 

When cake and cherries are completely cooled, you're ready to assemble! You can make two single-layer cakes, or one double-layer. Place one layer on your cake plate. Using your spatula, blob a big pile of frosting onto the middle of the cake, then smooth it across. Take another scoop and smooth it along the sides. Stack the other cake on top and repeat. Use all the frosting! You want it nice and thick, especially on top and in the middle labor.
Once frosted, pile the cherries onto the middle of the top. Don't worry if some juice drips along the sides. 

Cake after being cut to celebrate the Denver Superbowl win. Utterly delicious. 

This cake is utterly, completely delicious. Among the better desserts I've made.  This would make an incredible dessert for a special occasion.
Or--just make it because you feel like it!
Enjoy!!!!

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

I made balsamic macerated raspberries to top this version. 

Panna Cotta isn'tt something I had ever thought to make at home before, and a dessert I'd only even eaten once, when a little cube of it was included on an artsy-looking modern dessert at Del Posto a few years ago.

But there was a recipe for it in a used cookbook I recently bought called Chefs of the Times, which is a compilation of a column the New York Times used to run, where it included chefs' thoughts about how they developed recipes in addition to the recipes themselves. The book itself if very late 90s--basically every chef has a different risotto recipe. I enjoyed reading it from cover to cover, and the recipe that stuck most in my mind was for this buttermilk panna cotta. 

It was incredibly easy, just as the recipe promised--and unbelievably delicious. It tastes like rich, smooth cheesecake--just a bit tangy and not too sweet. It's the best new recipe I've tried in a really long time. I'm not usually particularly interested in desserts--but this one was fantastic.

I've made it twice recently: once, for a dinner party at my sister's, and for my husband's birthday. For the first batch, I decorated it with balsamic macerated rasperries, and for the second, with warm pecan salted caramel. Both were fantastic, and really, this would go with anything. 

You can make a large panna cotta and slice it to serve, or you can make individual ones in a muffin tin. 

Yum.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

• 2 envelopes unflavored, powdered gelatin

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Whatever garnish you want--the possibilities are endless.

Lightly spray six 3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups with nonstick spray. OR whatever you are going to put the panna cotta into. If you don't have ramekins, muffin tins work just as well

Heat cream, buttermilk, lemon peel, and sugar in medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring just to low boil, stirring occasionally. Add gelatin and whisk like crazy. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Whisk until there are no gelatin lumps. Cool mixture to lukewarm, stirring often. Refrigerate panna cotta until set, about 4 hours.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.

Again this SO so delicious. It's the sort of dessert you only expect in a restaurant, but couldn't be easier to make at home.
Enjoy!

Cherry Streudel from the Settlement Cookbook

Nothing with baked cherries ever tastes entirely bad. 

Well, I am back to both cooking and blogging about cooking after a good month or so in which I did neither. First, my husband and I went to Tanzania. It was amazing and perfect, but the extent of my food preparation was pouring some Jim Beam into highball glasses around sunset. 

The food on this trip was good, but not particularly memorable. It was the sort of food you'd find in a nice hotel anywhere. The one really special thing was the fresh fruit: 

Best-tasting, freshest fruit. 

Then, a day after returning from Africa, I left for New Haven to attend a rather intense teacher conference where I stayed in a hotel for ten days.

My good friend Amanda is getting her PhD in New Haven, and she loves food just like me, so we had some great dinners, most notably, the macaroni and cheese at Caseus. This mac and cheese was one of the best things I've eaten in years. Transcendent, fabulous mac and cheese. 

I am in awe of the deliciousness of Caseus' mac and cheese. Don't ever leave New Haven without eating this. 

Right after the program ended, I took to train to New York to spend the weekend visiting my husband's family. It was a weekend of fantastic eating. 

We had soupy dumplings and Peking duck near his father's on the upper East Side,at a lovely Chinese restaurant with hundreds of waiters, called Shun Lee.  There are really few things as delicious as roast duck with crispy skin, rolled up with a bit of hoisin and scallions. 

Then the next morning, after a long debaucherous night out with friends--where we were serendipitous-ly picked up by the Happy Cabby and treated to a crosstown disco, then drank and screamed karaoke till 2 am--we woke up late and ordered in bagels and lox while staring out the windows at seaplanes taking off from the East River. 

Then we headed to Brooklyn. Adam's mom planned his absolute favorite food event available on this planet: dinner at Peter Luger's. Adam is far less given food-rhapsodizing than I, but he can speak at length on why Peter Luger's is the perfect restaurant. We had tomatoes-and-onions, steak, spinach, and potatoes. Then for dessert, Adam and his mom got pecan pie and apple strudel, and I just ate scoops of the giant bowl of whipped cream ("schlag") that came with. If I even get close to cooking steak half as good, my life will have been worth it. 

Full and happy. 

After dinner we walked off our full bellies along the newly-redone waterfront area by the Brooklyn docks. On a Saturday night it was teeming with families, walking and playing soccer and barbecuing. A joyful and egalitarian view of city planning.

In Brooklyn, we also got Italian ice and pizza.

So, this summer has had some fantastic food, but not much cooking. 

OK, I got so excited remembering everything I've eaten in the past few weeks that I forgot what I was writing about! Cherry Streudel! 

OK, so I found this very old cook book on the shelves in my mother-in-law's house in Brooklyn. She's lived there since the 70's so I find interesting old stuff every time I stay there. 

The 1932 version of the Settlement Cookbook.

This belonged to Adam's paternal grandmother, who, according to his father, was a very poor cook. Tucked  into the pages was a handwritten recipe for "prune cream whip."

This book is very well-known and loved in Wisconsin. It contains a few chapters of general house-wifely information: baby feeding schedules, how to cook for an invalid, what to wear while cooking ("a breathable cap") etc. The recipes are simple--few ingredients--bland, and labor intensive. Being pre-WW2, there are very few instant, canned or other convenience foods.
 I stole it and brought it back to Denver to try some recipes. 

Milwaukee, what the hell.

 There were a lot of recipes for strange and unappealing-looking foods lost to history. I don't know if anyone could be a good cook it this was her main source of information. But I decided to try a recipe from it anyway--I decided cherry struedel because it sounded delicious and cherries are beautifully in-season right now. 

I made the dough, pitted a ton of cherries, and baked the whole thing. It was fun and relaxing, putzing around all day doing cooking projects. 

Drinking PBR, making pastry and not teaching--why I love summer. 

So how did it turn out???
Meh. OK.
It better than not eating cherry struedel, but not as good as pastry-wrapped fresh macerated cherries ought to taste. The dough didn't call for any sugar or fat, and ended up being a sort of tough bread. I read a bunch of recipes online that called for phyllo dough or a more buttery pastry--if you want to make cherry struedel, I would recommend finding one of those, and not using this recipe. I am not even going to bother retyping it.

Tastes ok, but not fantastic. 

My apologies to Ms. Simon Kander, but I don't know when I'll be attempting one of her recipes again, other than for a joke. Though I'm sure, if you could find the fresh fruit, this would have been a real treat back in 1932 Milwaukee. 

I have a couple of precious weeks left before school starts. Looking forward to getting back to some excellent home cooking, dinner on the deck, and relaxing as much as possible before getting back to the grind.
Enjoy!

Coconut Layer Cake

Coconut layer cake made with fresh coconut.

I almost never get the urge to make desserts. I don't have much of a sweet tooth--I would take good cheese or something fatty-salty over baked goods any day. Also--baking is hard. I'm comfortable improvising bread--but to make cakes or cookies, you have to actually follow a recipe--not something I tend to do.

But Adam and I were skiing the other day, and, seeing as it was a powder day and one of our longstanding nuptial agreements is that he doesn't have to ski with me on powder days--I ended up skiing alone for a few hours. AND ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT WAS BAKING A CAKE. It was so strange. I became fixated on the memory of an article I read a couple years ago about traditional Southern layer cakes. I was fascinated at the time, so I read a few more articles and watched some Youtube videos. But I never got around to baking anything--it was just aimless curiosity. But that day at Steamboat--I had to bake a cake.
In particular, I kept remembering the coconut cake made with fresh grated coconut. The descriptions of these were so intriguing--the way they need to sit in the fridge so the coconut could soak into the frosting and cake. Also--I'd seen frozen fresh coconut at my favorite Asian grocery store, sold (according to the package) for making Filipino desserts and drinks.

So we got back to Denver, and I immediately went and bought the ingredients, then baked this big, beautiful so-coconut-y cake. 

And it was so fun and pleasurable, spending the afternoon baking a cake. I dripped frosting and flour on both of the dogs. 

ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut 
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup shaved fresh coconut

• Pinch of salt

• Cream Cheese Frosting (below) 

• 4 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter and sweetened cream of coconut in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients and then buttermilk, each just until blended.

Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites with pinch of salt in another large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold beaten egg whites into batter.

Divide cake batter between prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on rack 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

Place 1 cake layer on cake plate. Spread 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer. Sprinkle 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut over. Top with second cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle remaining coconut over cake, gently pressing into sides to adhere. (Coconut Layer Cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours before serving.)

Frosting!

ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut or coconut milk
• 1 cup grated fresh coconut
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract\
• pinch sal

preparation

Beat cream cheese in medium bowl until fluffy. Add butter and beat to blend. Add sugar, sweetened cream of coconut and vanilla extract and beat until well blended.

Frost the cooled cake with the cream cheese frosting, and decorate with toasted flaked coconut. Let sit in the fridge, frosted, for at least 2 hours, then come to room temperature for another hour before serving.

I don't think I'm likely to become a regular baker--but this cake was SO DELICIOUS. I've always loved fresh coconut and this cake was bursting with fresh coconut flavor. 

Enjoy!

Orange-Cardamom-Vanilla Rice Pudding

I didn't get many pictures of this--and the ones I did take were pretty iffy. But: I wanted to include this recipe because a. It turned out great, and I was proud of a rare dessert-making success b. I realized rice pudding is an endlessly re-imaginable dish. You can start with a basic rice pudding (I used smittenkitchen's excellent and simple recipe) and add whatever flavors you like. I am already thinking of new ideas: Ginger and lime? Toasted walnut and caramel? Sour cherry?
It can also be made ahead and quickly bruleed at dessert time--so it's a great party dessert. And it's also gluten free.
This was delightful--creamy and sweet, but with the spices adding interest and depth. Absolutely lovely.
I made this for an Indian food dinner party--so I just added Indian-ish spices. It was big hit--even though people were too full to eat very much of it.

Ingredients

1 cup rice
4.5 cups milk (anything but nonfat)
1/2 cup sugar plus 2 TB
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest and juice of 2 fresh oranges
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt

What to do
Place all of the ingredients except 2 TB sugar into a saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to the barest simmer. Leave uncovered. Stir occasionally for 30 minutes--plump rice should be suspended in a thick, creamy sauce.
Pour into a casserole dish and leave until ready to serve.
Before serving, dusk the top with the remaining 2 TB of sugar. Turn the oven on to High broil. Place the casserole dish until the broiler for a couple minutes--until the sugar becomes brown and caramelized.

Serve!

My sister say NUMSSSSS! 

Apricot-Filled Chardonnay Cupcakes With Strawberry Frosting

Cupcakes make you happy.

Apricot surprise!

My friend Anna is a cupcake genius. Cupcakes are her obsession and she's made a million amazing types. I hired her to make cupcakes for our pre-wedding BBQ based on a Moscow Mule--the drink Adam and I had on our second date, when I stole him a copper mug from Steuben's. Anna's the best baker I've ever met--and she had last Friday off, so she came over and we made these delicious, fruity cupcakes, drank boxed wine, and she regaled me with horror stories of her dating life. A great Friday afternoon.

World's foremost cupcake expert. 

I learned that cupcakes, like cobbler, is a formula rather than a specific recipe. You can improvise endlessly to create new flavors and themes.


Cupcake Batter:
 2 1/3 cups flour 

1 1/2 cups white sugar 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk 

1 cup canola oil

2 eggs 

1 tablespoon vanilla 

What to do: Mix all the ingredients together! Now you have batter! Place cupcake papers into a muffin tin. Fill each one about halfway with batter. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Cupcake batter

How to improvise: 

To make more healthy: Replace half of the canola oil with apple sauce. 

To make other flavors: Replace the milk with any other liquid. You can use fruit juice, booze--anything! 

For these particular cupcakes, we used boxed wine. Trashy and delicious. 

Then, to go on these chardonnay cupcakes, we made a Swiss Meringue butter cream frosting, with diced strawberries. This type of frosting starts with an egg white meringue, to which you whip in butter and flavorings. 

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

6 egg whites 

1 cup butter 

1 cup sugar 

What to do ( I copied these directions from Martha Stewart) 

Combine egg whites and  in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).

Anna beating egg whites and sugar. 

Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.

With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. 

At this point, add your flavorings. For fruit frosting, add about a cup of finely diced fresh fruit. We used strawberries, but any fruit would work.

Or--add a TB of vanilla and drops of food coloring for classic party frosting. 

Put on cupcakes!

The final exciting part of these cupcakes was the apricot filling. I chopped up 2 cups of fresh apricots, sprinkled them with 2 TB of sugar and 1 TB of cornstarch, then cooked them in a saucepan until boiling, then mashed them with a potato masher. They became apricot jam. 

Apricot filling being cooked. 

Then, we poked holes in the cupcakes, filled them with apricot filling, then frosted them. 

Cupcakes with apricot filling. 

Being frosted. 

Done!

These were delicious, and now, thanks to Anna, I know how to make cupcakes! Maybe I like baking more than I think. 

Yum.

Enjoy! 

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

A fantastic summer dessert. 

I really don't have much of a sweet-tooth, so while I bake a lot, it's almost always bread, pretzels, biscuits, etc. I am also pretty bad at baking--baking requires recipe-adherence discipline, and I just don't stick to recipes. I've had some notorious baking disasters--like the time I forgot the eggs in pecan pies for Adam's birthday. I realized it about 20 minutes into the baking so I just added the eggs late to the bubbling caramel. So it was a sweet, scrambled egg pie. Needless to say, that shit was super gross.

Cobblers are an exception to my sweet-baking reticence! I love making cobblers in the summer--the sticky, soft fruit tastes more intensely peachy (or plummy, or berry-y) than eating the fruit raw. Plus, you don't really need a recipe--it's more like a formula--and they are nearly impossible to mess up.

Basic cobbler formula 
You need a full pie-dish worth of stone fruit (peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots) OR berries or apples, or any combination. If using stone fruit, apples or strawberries, thinly slice. (Technically you should peel these, but I never bother). Small berries like blueberries or blackberries can be left whole.
Add to the fruit 2 TB of white sugar, 1 TB of cornstarch, 2 TB of lemon juice.
Then, make the crumb, biscuit or pastry topping, and bake at 400 for 25 minutes.


Personally, I like a nut-based pastry top. Here is what I used, a pecan-based pastry. This makes enough for two cobblers.

Blend the following in a food processor:
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 stick butter
3/4 cup flour
tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
Dribble of cold water

Blitz everything but the water in the food processor. It will look like gravel or sand, depending on how dry the air in your kitchen is. Dribble in the water until it forms a coherent ball (this will only take about 2 tablespoons).
Then, pinch the pastry into little leaves and place over the fruit. Done!
If you are only making one cobber, the other half of the pastry freezes well. Leave it in the freezer for your next cobbler!

Ingredients

Fruit filling. I used five peaches and a small crate of blueberries.

Before baking

All done!

I love to use blueberries in cobblers because they explode during baking, creating a rich, purple fruit syrup all through the bottom.

I plan to make a lot of cobblers this summer with different fruit combinations. We have a plum tree in the backyard--but so far it's produced a single, rock-hard, midget of a plum. My home-grown cobbler dreams my not come to fruition. Heh. Fruition--get it?
Enjoy!