Category: Cakes
Blue-tifulberry Muffins from Zoe Bakes

Blue-tifulberry Muffins from Zoe Bakes

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I know, I know…I already have a few showstopper blueberry muffin recipes on 3Jamigos but I just found another one!  From Zoe Bakes, her Blueberry Muffin with Crumble Topping.  The crumble and a touch of lemon sets this muffin apart.  They’re delicious and perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.  During blueberry season, which happens to be right now, I head to our farmer’s market to load up on the tiny blue orbs.  First, I eat some out of hand when I return from the market.  Then I save some for fruit salads or a favorite spinach salad with hazelnuts, and avocado dressed in a honey mustard vinaigrette.  A portion gets frozen to be enjoyed later in the year.  But ultimately, the berries end up in baked goodies- there’s Blueberry Boy Bait Cake, Blueberry Hand Pies, Blueberry Cornmeal Cobbler,  Blueberry Cornmeal Mochi Cake… I feel like Bubba Gump, you get the picture.  I’m blue without blueberries.  Search blueberries on 3jamigos.com and a plethora of recipes will pop up.

 Zoe of All Trades

If by chance you aren’t familiar with Zoe Francois, let me fangirl about her for a moment.  Zoe is based out of Minneapolis.  She started in a different career but ultimately pivoted to food, working as a pastry chef and co-writing cookbooks.  Her easy, friendly, personable style , million-dollar smile and great dessert recipes have given rise to cookbooks, videos, and a TV show.  I love her show, which is filled with great tips, techniques, and ideas.  It also highlights the folks and local businesses in Minneapolis and St. Paul.  I have a soft spot for the Twin Cities having visited often (even in the winter) when Jamie lived there.  Her book, Zoe Bakes, sits on my frequent flyer bookshelf on my island and I can’t wait until her next book, Zoe’s Cookies, comes out in September.

How the Muffin Crumbles

As much as I love Hummingbird High’s Levain Bakery Blueberry Muffins, my family is crumble-crazy.  There was never a question if we would make Zoe’s muffins, the question was when.  With blueberry season in full swing, the time was now.  I brought home a quart of blueberries from my favorite purveyor, Triple Delight, and set upon making these muffins.

Make the crumble first as it needs to chill a bit, toss it in the fridge while making the batter.  The crumble is a little on the sweet side, maybe I’ll add nuts next time and a pinch of salt. It’s a classic crumble topping, butter, and brown sugar with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon.  Work the butter in with a pastry blender or your fingers, it should look like coarse lumpy sand.  Stash it in the fridge.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and yolk along with the vanilla and combine well.  It may look slightly curdled but will smooth out after adding the dry ingredients.  Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl a couple of times during the process.  It makes a difference.

Add flour mixture with sour cream or buttermilk in two portions.  Do not overmix.  The batter will be fairly thick and stiff.   Finally, fold the blueberries into the batter by hand to avoid crushing the berries.

I love these tulip-shaped muffin tin liners but traditional cupcake papers will work too. Use an ice cream scoop (#20) to portion the batter into a muffin tin.  Sprinkle the chilled crumble equally over the batter.

Bake the muffins until golden brown on the edges.  The middle will be lighter than the edges.  Remove from oven, serve warm.  Enjoy!

While blueberries are in season make these muffins.  They can also be made with frozen blueberries.  Do not thaw, fold the frozen berries into the batter.

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Blueberry Muffins

A tender, fine crumb muffin studded with sweet blueberries and topped with a buttery crumble topping. Perfection from Zoe Bakes
Course Breakfast, Muffins, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword blueberries, Blueberry Muffins, muffins, streusel, zoe bakes
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Topping

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour bleached or unbleached will work 60g
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar well packed 125g
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature 57g

Muffins

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 cups spoon and sweep 240g all-purpose flour (bleached or unbleached)* Use 210gm if using KA flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 3/8 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt

Cream Mixture

  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature 86g
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar 150g
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar 30g
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 whole egg room temperature
  • 1 yolk room temperature

Liquid Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sour cream or buttermilk crème fraîche or yogurt work too! 135g
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries** 175g
  • 1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare the topping by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl until it turns into uniform clumps. Refrigerate until ready to use.
  • Prepare regular muffin tins with 7 LARGE liners. (You can bake regular sized muffins by dividing it into 12)
  • Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl, set aside.
  • Cream the butter, sugars and zest together on medium speed, in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add vanilla. Add the egg and yolk, one at a time, mixing on low just until combined. It may seem a bit curdled, because it is a lot of liquid to add to that amount of butter. It will all come together in the end.
  • Add half the flour and half the sour cream. Mix on low until combined. Add the remaining flour and sour cream.
  • Toss the blueberries with flour and if using frozen berries immediately fold them into the batter with two or three gentle stirs. If you over mix, the batter will turn purple and then gray. Scoop into the muffin liners.
  • Sprinkle the topping over the muffins. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and a tester comes out with moist, but not wet, crumbs. If you are baking smaller muffins, bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool slightly and serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

*If you use King Arthur Baking all-purpose flour, your muffins will not be as soft and fluffy, because it has more protein, so use a few tablespoons less.**If you use frozen blueberries, keep them frozen until the last minute.
These muffins can be frozen. Thaw them out and reheat in a warm oven for about 10 minutes to serve.
Glazed Butter Cake, Found

Glazed Butter Cake, Found

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I excitedly headed to the city a couple of months ago to pick up my copy of Erin French’s new book, Big Heart Little Stove. I became a fan after reading her biography and watching her show, The Lost Kitchen.  Her food is simple and beautiful.  She focuses on sourcing amazing locally-grown products from small farms.  If you watch her show, you know the setting for The Lost Kitchen is a historic, gorgeous stone grist mill set next to a waterfall.  The dining room exudes rustic charm and gives guests a birdseye view of the kitchen area.  In short, the setting is breathtaking.

On one episode she served a Glazed Butter Pound Cake with a poached donut peach and creme anglaise.  I adore a pound cake and knew I would be looking for the recipe.  Growing up, I loved pound cake, especially Sara Lee’s or Ping Yuen Bakery’s Pound Cake.  Many of you are familiar with the iconic Sara Lee version (HERE is a love letter & recipe to that very cake by Eric Kim, his version is SPOT ON), however, only folks around my age or older who lived or frequented San Francisco Chinatown, will be familiar with Ping Yuen Bakery & Cafe version. Conveniently, located downstairs from my parent’s office, we often stopped there to buy deli items and baked goods to bring home.  I always lobbied for their buttery, fine-crumb pound cake.

Pound Cake Groupie

The cake is in her new book and in my book, you can never have too many butter-pound cake recipes.  First, cream butter and sugar, then add eggs and follow with alternating the dry ingredients with the buttermilk into the batter.  Finish the cake with the butter and confectioner’s sugar glaze.

Vanilla paste with its seeds also works well in this cake.

There’s my postcard! Iykyk

Bake in a 9×5 loaf pan until golden brown.  It took approximately 45 minutes instead of the 25 minutes listed in the directions.  Start testing for doneness at 20 minutes. If the top gets too dark, cover it with foil.

Icing, Icing, Baby

Glaze cake with the butter-powdered sugar icing.  The addition of vanilla and almond extracts adds a ton of flavor.  Feel free to substitute rum or Bourbon for the almond extract.  The glaze gives the cake a shiny donut-like finish.

Serve with fresh berries, whipped cream, creme anglaise, or by itself.  Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.  Enjoy!

 

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Glazed Butter Cake

Delicious, simple but elegant butter cake, flavored with vanilla and almond. From Erin French's newest book, Big Heart, Little Stove
Course Cake, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword erin french, Glazed butter cake, loaf cake, lost kitchen
Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 8

Equipment

  • 1 9x5 loaf pan

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt or 1/4 tsp reg salt

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter 8 tbsp or 4oz.
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk shake well before measuring
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste

Butter Glaze

  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 stick unsalted butter 8 T or 4 oz
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp almond extract substitute rum extract or rum or bourbon
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch loaf pan, line with parchment, set aside.
  • Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
  • Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy ~ 5 minutes
  • Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating the first egg before adding the next egg.
  • With the mixer on low, add approximately 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter, mix until combined then add 1/2 of buttermilk, again mix until well combined. Repeat this process, ending with the flour mixture. Add vanilla and mix just until combined.
  • Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until cake is golden brown and a cake tester in the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Note, my cake took about 45 minutes. Begin testing at 20 minutes. Remove cake and place it on a rack to cool. Meanwhile, make the glaze.

Glaze

  • In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, and 1/4 cup water. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally. Remove pan from heat and let glaze cool a little. Whisk in vanilla and almond extracts. As the glaze cools it will thicken slightly.
  • Allow cake to cool and remove from pan. Brush the bottom, sides and the top generously with the glaze.
  • Slice and serve. Feel free to add berries, whipped cream or a creme anglaise.
Cream Cheese Frosting-Luscious, Creamy & Lump-Free

Cream Cheese Frosting-Luscious, Creamy & Lump-Free

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I LOVE Cream Cheese Frosting,.  It deserves its own post, and should not be an afterthought tacked onto a Carrot Cake or Banana Cake recipe.

TBH…it needs its own post because I was today years old when I learned how to make a creamy, luscious, LUMP-FREE Cream Cheese Frosting.  Yep, all those years I struggled to achieve a smooth and creamy frosting.  I tried cream cheese and butter at room temp before combining. I tried smooshing the cream cheese first that didn’t work. Sometimes, I resorted to using a hand blender to get rid of lumps which worked but added an extra step.  Then… on an episode of Zoe Bakes, I learned the secret to making lump-free, voluptuous, thick frosting.  Hallelujah.

COLD Cream Cheese Meets SOFTIE Butter

Cream Cheese- Start with cold cream cheese, beat it until it is smooth. Cold cream cheese prevents the frosting from becoming too thin as it is whipped.

Butter- Use unsalted butter at room temperature (~68 degrees).  It should be soft enough that it gives with little finger pressure but should not be melty.  Gradually add softened butter, approximately 2 tablespoons at a time to the cream cheese. Adding soft butter to the cold cream cheese minimizes lumps in your finished frosting.

Powdered Sugar- MY OPINION:  Cream cheese frostings have too much sugar.  Add powdered sugar to the level of sweetness you want. I add about 1-1/2 cups of powdered sugar to this recipe.  If I add sour cream or creme fraiche I bump it up to 1-3/4 cups.  Add sugar in 2-3 parts beating at medium-low speed and scraping the bowl after each addition (mandatory).  Be careful not to beat too much which can cause the frosting to break and become too thin.  If the frosting seems a little soft, chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until it reaches a thick, creamy, consistency then frost your cake.

Creme Fraiche- A touch of creme fraiche adds a hint of tanginess and creaminess to the frosting.  Feel free to substitute with sour cream or mascarpone.

I made Zoe’s Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake and followed her frosting directions.  It worked like a charm.  Cream cheese frosting being my favorite frosting, it’s also featured in Hubby’s Carrot Cake, Smitten Kitchen’s delightful Carrot Graham Cake, my favorite banana cake from Clementine Bakery, and Sally’s Baking Addiction Banana Snacking Cake.  YUM!

Enjoy!

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Cream Cheese Frosting

The secret to making delicious, and decadent, cream cheese frosting
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Chocolate Devil's Food Cake, cream cheese frosting, zoe bakes
Prep Time 20 minutes

Equipment

  • 1 Mixer

Ingredients

  • 2 8- ounce packages cream cheese softened 455 grams total
  • 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature 2 sticks, 8 ounces or 230 grams
  • 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted if lumpy 240 grams, or to taste
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract to taste, can use less
  • 2 tbsp sour cream or creme fraiche or mascarpone

Instructions

Making the Frosting

  • Start with cold cream cheese and room temperature softened butter.
  • With an electric mixer, beat cold cream cheese until smooth. With mixer running (medium speed), add room temp butter a couple of tablespoons at a time, blend each add in completely. SCRAPE BOWL with every couple of additions of butter. This helps to minimize lumps. Beat until smooth and creamy.
  • Add vanilla and creme fraiche (sour cream), then add powdered sugar half at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Scrape down bowl after each addition. Don't overbeat which will cause mixture to get runny.
  • If frosting seems too soft, chill for about 30 minutes to thicken before frosting cake.
  • Arrange first cake layer on a cake plate or stand. Spread with frosting; place top layer on it. For 8 -inch cake top each layer with approximately 3/4 cup of frosting.

Frosting the Cake

  • For the top and sides of the cake. Spread a thin layer of frosting on sides, called the crumb coat. This keeps the final frosting layer free of crumbs. If you have time, chill the cake to lock the crumbs in the crumb coat.
  • Remove chilled cake and finish frosting. To create the horizontal lines on the sides. Place cake on turntable. Place offset spatula parallel to side of cake in frosting and rotate turntable while keeping constant pressure on your spatula. Gradually lower your spatula towards the base of the cake creating a ripple effect on the sides,
  • Optional: Shower perimeter of cake with chocolate or multi-colored sprinkles.
Ina Garten’s Country Cake with Strawberries (The Comeback Cake)

Ina Garten’s Country Cake with Strawberries (The Comeback Cake)

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When my oldest was a tyke his favorite cake was the Barefoot Contessa’s Strawberry Country Cake.  This was his cake of choice for his birthday for quite a few years… Then Along Came Daddy (his Carrot Cake actually) that put the kibosh on the strawberry cake, so sad.  After I shoved my ego aside, I was FINE with Wes’s Carrot Cake becoming the birthday cake of choice.  It is pretty damn tasty.

The other birthday tradition we have, which thankfully has stayed the same, is going to a Giants game.  His birthday is in June, right about the time baseball is in full swing and school is out for the summer.  This year was no exception, we planned the perfect day for his b-day.

Giants versus the Cubbies plus SF Giants Pride Jerseys for the first 20K fans, dinner at our favorite neighborhood Chinese Restaurant, Gourmet Carousel (which recently re-opened with the OG owners-yay), and to round out the day, birthday cake at home.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Every year around this time, when the weather warms up, the days are longer, this thought pops into my head, “Hey, shouldn’t P&K Farms Strawberries and Triple Delight Blueberries be showing up soon?”.  As luck would have it, both P&K and Triple Delight were at the Farmer’s Market the week of his birthday.  I made a command decision…Ina’s Country Cake with Strawberries for his birthday this year, NOT Carrot Cake.  He’s a big boy, he can handle it.

It Was A Hit, He Loved It

This version of Ina Garten’s Country Cake with Strawberries is from a long-ago issue of Food & Wine.  If you Google Ina Garten’s Strawberry Country Cake you will find multiple sites that have published her recipe.  Why Food & Wine’s version?  First, I had a subscription to F&W back in the day and that’s where I found the recipe.  Second, the recipe makes a single-layer cake that you split into two layers.  Finally, the recipe calls for large eggs. Barefoot Contessa fans know she often uses extra-large eggs in her recipes (which I rarely buy). So this version is my go-to.  I baked another one and ended up freezing it.  We pulled it out of the freezer on Father’s Day and left it on the counter to thaw.   It was delicious, so feel free to use one of the double recipes and freeze the second layer for another day!

I adore this cake, it is buttery, has a nice crumb, and is not too sweet.  Classic prep, cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time, and then the sour cream and zest.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with each addition.  Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until the batter is well combined and homogenous looking but do not overbeat.  The addition of lemon and orange zest adds a refreshing citrus hint that is terrific with berries.  Sour cream adds a hint of tang and moisture to the cake.  Spread batter into an 8-inch round cake pan that has been buttered and floured or sprayed.  The batter is fairly thick, not pourable, and will need an offset spatula to spread evenly in the cake pan.

I would increase the amount of whipping cream to 1-1/2 cups, and decrease the sugar to 2 tablespoons, especially if your berries are sweet.  Your whipped cream fans will be happy.

Split the cake into two layers.  The easiest way I know how to do this is with a serrated bread knife.  Place knife level to at the midline of your cake and slice through to the middle only, keeping your knife level.  Rotate the cake and continue to slice from the outside to the middle.  The first cut acts as your knife’s guide for an even cake.  Easy peasy.

Whip It, Whip It Good

Start with heavy whipping cream, preferably pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized, which is heated to a higher temperature and does not whip as well.  Heavy whipping cream has a higher percentage of butterfat than whipping cream (36% vs 30%) and heck, it’s dessert, so we are going for the gusto. Chill your heavy whipping cream, bowl, and whisk attachment before whipping.  This kickstarts the process and results in the lightest whipped cream possible. Place the cream, sugar, and vanilla in the chilled bowl and whisk at medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  You want peaks that will stand up but the tip will slowly fold over.  Don’t overdo it, if the cream looks a bit grainy, or curdled that’s too far.  If you go too far, add a bit of heavy cream and fold it in with a spatula.  This will loosen the whipped cream and smooth it out again.

This is what your whipped cream should look like.

Plop a generous amount of cream on the bottom layer of your split cake. Spread to the edge leaving a small border.  Arrange your berries on the cream.  If you like, dice the strawberries for this layer, so you can maximize the number of berries.  Top with the second split layer cut side down and top with the remaining cream.  Arrange halved strawberries in a cool pattern, and place blueberries and raspberries, if using, in the center of the cake or scatter blueberries in the crevices between the strawberries.  Serve to oohs and ahhs from the cake gallery.

 

Add this cake to your Bake It Bucket List.  Now.

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Country Cake With Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Like a family sized Shortcake, Ina Garten's iconic Strawberry Country Cake
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword barefoot contessa, cake, ina garten, shortcake, strawberries, whipped cream
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 37 minutes
Servings 8

Equipment

  • 1 8-inch cake pan

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Creamed Mixture

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Topping

  • 1 cup heavy cream I use`1.5 cups of heavey whipping cream!
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar adjust sugar to taste, I use 1.5 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pint strawberries or berry medley hulled and sliced, blueberries and raspberries left whole

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan. In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the cornstarch, baking soda and salt.
  • In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the 3/4 cup of sugar and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the sour cream, the orange and lemon zests and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla and beat until blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until smooth.
  • Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool for 15 minutes before turning it out onto the rack to cool completely.
  • Beat the cream with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla until soft peaks form.
  • Slice the cake in half horizontally. Spread most of the whipped cream over the cut side of the bottom cake half. Layer most of the sliced strawberries on top. Replace the top half of the cake and garnish with the remaining whipped cream and strawberries. make ahead .

Notes

The cake can be frozen for up to 1 month. Let it cool completely before wrapping in plastic and then foil. The assembled cake can be prepared up to 2 hours ahead.

…

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Another Butterful Cake! (Everyday Butter Cake)

Another Butterful Cake! (Everyday Butter Cake)

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Growing up, one of my favorite places was Ping Yuen Bakery on the corner of Grant Ave. and Pacific Ave.  A hop, skip, and a jump from my parent’s real estate office, you would find us there often, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and tea time.  Though called Ping Yuen Bakery, it was an all-encompassing, eat-in Chinese American diner that served noodles and won-ton soup alongside hamburgers and fries.

Their layout was genius, the front deli window enticed passersby with roast ducks, crispy-skinned pork, char siu (bbq pork), fried chicken, and an array of prepared braised and stir-fried dishes. On the other side was a full-service bakery that featured apple pies, custard pies, fresh strawberry cakes, chocolate cakes, and almond cookies.

One of my favorites (there were many) was their pound cake or butter cake.  The cake, tweaked to be a little lighter, a little less sweet, but still buttery, is the Asian version of a classic butter pound cake.

A post featuring a gorgeous, simple butter cake flittered through my feed and caught my eye.  Buttermilk by Sam, a baking blog from a political analyst by trade (gotta love that) described her Everyday Butter Cake as somewhere between a tea cake and a pound cake, it reminded me of Ping Yuen’s Butter Cake, so of course, I had to try it.

A Butter-ful Cake

The beauty of this recipe is that it is not just DELICIOUS it’s also pretty darn easy to make.  It can be made by hand or in a mixer with the admonishment to not overmix.  You start with semi-melted butter for the cake, no waiting for the butter to soften, just zap it in the microwave or melt it on the stove.  Do not melt it all the way, you want the butter to be slightly viscous with some lumps left.  Using cake flour ensures a tender, fine crumb cake, and the sour cream does the same plus adds moisture.  The cake flour and cornstarch create a lower protein content flour=less gluten= tender, light cake. Ta-da.

Make This Cake by Hand-It’s a Good Workout

Finally, sprinkle the remaining granulated sugar over the top of the cake batter.  This morphs the top into a sweet crunchy layer during baking.  This cake is a keeper.

I first made this cake a couple of months back on a cold, rainy day.  While the cake was baking I turned on a favorite K-drama to pass the time.  The aroma of sugar and butter wafted through the air and the heat of the oven warmed the house.  The perfect antidote to the dreary weather.

Fast Forward to Spring-Finally

Beautiful, sweet strawberries from P & K Farms and plump, juicy Triple Delight Blueberries back at our local farmer’s market prompted me to make this cake again.  It also reminded me that I had yet to share this cake with you.  Make this cake, go to your local farmers market pick up some berries or peaches, and enjoy!

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Everyday Butter Cake

A delicious, easy butter cake from Buttermilk by Sam
Course Cake
Cuisine American
Keyword butter cake, pound cake
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings 16 servings

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter (226 gm)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (200-210gm)
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 cups cake flour, sifted (250gm)
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar can sub with granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¾ cup sour cream (180gm)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9” square or round cake pan.
  • Place the butter in a large glass or heatproof bowl and microwave it until it’s almost but not completely melted. You will still have some lumps. Or place is a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Remove from heat before it is completely melted.
  • Add the sugar and whisk very well, a full 30 seconds.
  • Add the salt and vanilla and whisk for another 30 seconds.
  • Add the eggs one by one, whisking to fully incorporate before adding another then whisk for a full minute, until it’s light and creamy.
  • Sift in the cake flour, powdered sugar and baking powder together and add to creamed mixture.
  • Whisk in the sour cream. Fold the batter until it’s smooth.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with an additional 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
  • Bake for 30-45 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
Cream Cheese Pound Cake-Eric Kim Makes Sara Lee Proud

Cream Cheese Pound Cake-Eric Kim Makes Sara Lee Proud

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I am seriously thinking about adding a new category to 3Jamigos. I’m going to call it “Everything Everywhere All at Eric”.  Serving a dual purpose, a nod to the movie EEAAO and its amazing cast, and of course to Eric.  For those of you not “in the know”, I am referring to Eric Kim, food writer, cookbook author (Korean American: Food that Tastes Like Home), Food52 alum, and current columnist of lots of yummy stuff at the New York Times.

I’ve been following him since his days at Food52 where he wrote a column, Cooking for One.  His writing and recipes are gorgeous, simple, straightforward, and delicious.  I have a backlog of the recipes I have made but haven’t had the time to do them justice in a post.  I will get to them soon.  During the holidays I made his Cream Cheese Pound Cake, it’s divine. Posting about it is long overdue! So here is the list of Eric recipes I have made and love—links to the ones I have posted. I hope you will try them!

Savory

Sweet

Well, the list of savory is overwhelming at this point so I am going to finish off the Sweet category with his Cream Cheese Pound Cake.  It’s delicious and something you should bake right now. It will fill your home with the aroma of butter and sugar and help keep the house warm since our cold, wet, weather is back.  This is the perfect antidote.

Does it bother you when you make something from scratch and the person eating it says, “Wow this tastes just like the one in the grocery store!” Unless it is your hubby, who you would slug, you politely smile, laugh, and let it go.  This cake is reminiscent of the Sara Lee Poundcake we all grew up with.  Don’t be surprised if someone exclaims “This is like Sara Lee’s” and take it as a compliment.

Let’s Get Baking

Make sure your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature (about 68 degrees).  Cream cheese adds moisture, richness, and flavor to the cake. Three cups of sugar is pretty typical for a pound cake although this cake may be a little sweeter since it has a smaller amount of flour.  Cream the butter, cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth.  Finally, add the dry ingredients at low speed.  Do not overbeat after adding the flour, this would toughen the cake.

I cut the recipe in half using weights to split it and baked it in an 8×8 square pan. The cake dipped in the middle despite being fully baked. Looking at a couple of recipes for pound cake, for the equivalent amount of butter and sugar, most used 3 cups of flour. Using less flour, in this case, 2.5 cups, may make a softer cake with less structure and therefore lower in the center.   It was still delicious and nothing a nice dollop of whipped cream couldn’t hide.

The whipped cream, jam, and raspberry dust are nice additions to the cake but not absolutely necessary.  I skipped the jam and the cake was delicious with just whipped cream and a dusting of ground freeze-dried raspberry.  Fresh berries instead of jam would be lovely too.

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Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Just like Sara Lee's Pound Cake! Buttery, slightly dense but tender with a fine crumb. From Eric Kim and the NYT, an absolutely delicious pound cake that will transport you to your childhood.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword buttery, Dessert, ERic KIm, freeze-dried raspberries, NYT Cooking, pound cake, whipped cream
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

It's All About the Cake

  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour (320 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1½ cups unsalted butter (345 grams) at room temperature
  • 8 ounces cream cheese (226 grams) at room temperature
  • 3 cups granulated sugar (600 grams)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1¼ teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 5 large eggs at room temperature

The Bling Finish

  • 2 cups cold heavy whipping cream (473 milliliters)
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 cup raspberry preserves (305 grams) see notes
  • 1½ cups freeze-dried raspberries (34 grams)

Instructions

Make the cake:

  • Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan; line the bottom and long sides with parchment.
  • In a medium bowl, add the flour and baking powder. Whisk to combine and to break up any lumps. Set aside.
  • Add the butter,cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed to combine. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, almost white, and the sugar is mostly dissolved about 5 to 7 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing until smooth after each addition. Use a flexible spatula to scrape the bowl, then beat over medium speed for another minute.
  • With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until most of the flour streaks have disappeared. Using the spatula, scrape the bowl and gently stir until you eliminate the flour streaks. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, then smooth out the top.
  • Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until golden brown and a skewer or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. When you gently press on the center of the cake with your fingertip, you shouldn’t leave a dent. The internal temperature of the cake should be about 205 degrees. Let cool completely in the pan. (The cooled cake can be covered and kept at room temperature for up to 3 or 4 days.)

Putting it all together

  • If using the jam, spread layer on top of the cake. You could use strawberry or a mixed berry jam also.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the heavy whipping cream, sugar and salt over medium-high until billowy soft peaks form. When you lift the whisk out of the bowl and turn it upside-down, a peak of cream should flop over slightly like a Santa hat. Evenly spread the whipped cream over the jam-topped cake.
  • Add the freeze-dried raspberries to a fine-mesh sieve and hold it over the cake. Using your fingers, pass them through until most of the magenta powder rests atop the frosting like fresh snow and most of the seeds are left behind in the sieve. The entire surface of the whipped cream should be covered in pink dust. Discard the raspberry seeds. Serve immediately.

Notes

Personally, the cake is so damn good, I don't think it needs the jam.  The whipped cream is great and the sprinkling of raspberry dust is more than enough. YOu could also substitute strawberry for raspberry.
This is from the original recipe
Look for a brand of raspberry preserves with minimal ingredients: They should consist of only raspberries, sugar, pectin and some kind of citrus. That will taste more tart and less artificial than one with, say, high-fructose corn syrup and other fruit juices that muddy the natural raspberry flavor. If your preserves taste especially sweet, you can stir in up to 3 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice for added tartness.
Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake #CakeforTimmy

Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake #CakeforTimmy

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I first made Eric Kim’s Chewy Black Sesame Mochi Cake after a “Bake-a-long” with him, a perk for purchasing his book, Korean American. I was on a “mochi-bender”, if a recipe called for sweet or glutinous rice, I made it.  His cake is not only made with mochi, it has black sesame seeds.  I LOVE sesame seeds in any form, game on.

Bake-A-long

For those of you who #1 Have read this far down, #2  Pretty darn observant…yes, the Bake-A-Long was quite a while ago.  While I loved the sesame flavor and texture of the cake, not gonna lie, the cake was pretty sweet.  Eric seems to have a pretty high sugar barometer.  I made a mental note to file it away in my brain to try again with a smidge less sugar.

52 Reasons To Try It Again

For all the evils of social media (I say this with a half chuckle) the best thing about it has been finding my peeps.  Finding folks with similar interests that I would never in a million years have connected with if not for Facebook or Instagram. A virtual community that shares a common interest.  Groups like Food52’s Cookbook Club on Facebook (yep, you need to use FB) where folks like you and I can share recipes, reviews, and kitchen adventures.

Each month features a new (or old) cookbook, which, if you are like me, a cookbook addict, probably have or are in the process of getting.  It gives me that little shove to open up that cookbook and try it.  It’s also a great resource for tips and reviews for many of the recipes.

This month the selected cookbook is Korean American by Eric Kim.  Which reminded me that I haven’t made anything from it in a while.  Time to tweak that Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake again.

Oops, I Did It Again.  But as Muffins

I decreased the amount of sugar in the recipe and made muffins instead of a cake.  Kinda like having my own personal dessert.

Sweet or glutinous rice flour is not to be confused with rice flour.  Sweet rice is much stickier than rice flour.  They are not interchangeable.  Koda Farms sweet rice is known as Mochiko and is pretty easy to find especially at Asian grocery stores.

Black sesame seeds can be found at most grocery stores in the spice section.  Asian grocery stores will also carry sesame seeds in larger quantities and not quite as expensive.  You

To reduce the sweetness cut sugar by 1/4 to 1/2 cup.  I cut it by 1/2 and it was still sweet enough for my taste. You may have to play with a little.  The time between making the original recipe (full sugar load) and when I made the muffins with half sugar taxes my memory as to whether the texture was different

The batter is fairly runny and pourable.  Very doable as a cake or muffins.  Shorten baking time to 20-25 minutes if making muffins.

Looking for something just a little different, gluten-free, and delicious, look no more, it’s right here.

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Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake

A delicious, dense, chewy, sesame flavored cake from Eric Kim
Course Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword Black Sesame Seed, cake, chewy, ERic KIm, Mochi
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour

Equipment

  • 1 9 inch cake pan or
  • 1 12-cup std muffin pan

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray or butter and flour with plain rice flour

Eggs and Tings'

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup sugar (it's pretty sweet, I use 1/2 cup)
  • ¼ cup honey mild
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt

The Wet Stuff

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract yes, 1 TABLESPOON
  • ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

The Crunch

  • 4 tablespoons toasted black sesame seeds divided equally in half

The Dry Stuff

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 8 ounces (227g) glutinous rice flour aka mochiko or sweet rice flour NOT plain rice flour

The Finish

  • Powdered sugar for serving

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mist an 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray or buttered and dusted with rice flour.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, honey, and salt until fluffy and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, vanilla, melted butter, and sesame oil until combined. Ain't gonna lie, I use my mixer on medium speed.
  • Using a mortar and pestle (or a coffee/spice grinder), pulverize 2 tablespoons of the black sesame seeds into a rough powder. It should smell very fragrant. Add this sesame powder, along with the remaining 2 tablespoons of whole black sesame seeds, to the bowl with the egg mixture, followed by the baking powder and rice flour. Whisk to combine, then carefully pour the batter into the greased cake pan. This part you can do by hand or machine.
  • Bake until the top is nicely browned and cracked slightly (this is a good sign), 50 to 60 minutes. You can also insert a chopstick or toothpick into the center of the cake, and if it comes out clean, then it’s done.
    For muffins, fill a 12-cup muffin tin that has been buttered to 7/8 full. Bake for approximately 25 minutes.
  • Cool completely before dusting with the powdered sugar and slicing into wedges to serve. The cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
The Cookie Bible from Rose Levy Beranbaum!

The Cookie Bible from Rose Levy Beranbaum!

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I have been a big fan of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s books for a very long time. I went to my bookshelf to see just how many of her books I have, I counted six. Of these six, my absolute favorite is Rose’s Christmas Cookies. I can’t recall a Holiday Cookie Tin that has not featured at least one of her cookies.  I was eager to take a sneak peek at her newest book coming out, The Cookie Bible.

See below for the recipe for Lemon Madeleines.

 The Layout

  • Intro – brief description and a memory or an anecdotal story for the cookie.
    Temperature, baking time, and equipment – organized into a table.
    Ingredients – listed in volume and weight measurements also organized in a table, easy to see and follow.
    Directions
  • Mise en place-steps that need to be done before making the dough ie. taking out butter to soften or bringing eggs to room temp.
  • Making the dough-If a particular cookie can be made in either a food processor or stand mixer, both methods are listed. I love this.  Followed by:
  • Forming cookies
  • Baking cookies
  • Cooling cookies

All her cookbooks are organized this way, meticulous and thorough. It’s like getting a Master Baking class in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Each recipe finishes with Baking Gems, MORE valuable tips, and tweaks!

The Recipes

I flipped through the book to earmark recipes I wanted to try. This is where I felt like the book came up a bit short. The selection of cookies seemed just a bit dated. Today’s cookies include new flavors and spices and eye-catching colors created by using freeze-dried fruits.

Few recipes in this book jumped out at me and shouted MAKE ME!  Quite a few recipes in the book are also in Rose’s Christmas Cookies. Recipes I already make and love like Cloud Cookies, Meltaways, Lion Paws, and Spritz Cookies.  If I didn’t have Rose’s Christmas Cookies I might have been putting Post-Its on those very pages.  Recipes have been scaled back in the new book to yield smaller batches of cookies, a good thing, as it limits how many cookies I can eat.

 

Read through the recipe before making it.  I found this book even more detailed than her older books.  Explicit directions like when to take the butter and eggs out before making the dough or what type of flour to use for each recipe.

If only I had taken my own advice and read the recipe first

I plowed through the first recipe, Dream Chocolate Chip Cookies, only to be stumped when I found I hadn’t added the egg. Turns out that twenty minutes before making the dough, I was supposed to crack the egg into the mixer bowl, add the vanilla, and cover it so it can come to room temp first. The egg should have been in the mixer when I creamed the butter and sugar.

Lemon Poppy Seed Madeleines were next up.  Once again, detailed instructions produced a tender sweet-tart Madeleine.  Next time, I would reduce the poppyseeds, a bit too much crunch.  I actually liked them more the next day as the syrup had time to absorb so the cookies weren’t sticky to touch and the tartness had mellowed.

The Verdict

With all that being said. Here is my take. If you do not own a Rose Levy Berenbaum Cookbook, this would absolutely be a lovely addition to your kitchen.  This book will make you a better baker.  Filled with invaluable tips and technique information, it takes that extra step of explaining why specific ingredients and techniques work in a recipe.  Although there isn’t a photo for every cookie in the book, the photos included are gorgeous.

Happy baking!

I reviewed The Cookie Bible via NetGalley

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Lemon Madeleines

From Rose Levy Beranbaum's upcoming book, The Cookie Bible
Course cookies
Cuisine American, French
Keyword easy recipe, leomn poppy seed madeleines, madeleine, rose levy beranbaum
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 24 servings

Ingredients

Oven Temp 350f/175c. Baking Time: 14-15 min for large madeleines Special Equipment: Madeleine molds-lightly coat with baking spray with flour. Disposable pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-1/2 inch pastry tube. 2 baking sheets lined with plastic wrap and lightly coated with nonstick spray.

Batter

  • 8.5 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons, unsalted butter 120 grams
  • 2 large eggs 100 grams 1/3 cup plus 1 T, (94ml)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla 5ml
  • 2 tablespoons milk 30 grams (30ml)
  • 1 cup bleached cake flour, sifted into the cup and leveled off 100 grams
  • 1/2 cup sugar, preferably superfine 100 grams
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar 5.25 ounces = 150 grams
  • 2 teaspoons loosely packed grated lemon zest 4 grams (from about 2 lemons)
  • 2 tablespoons poppy seeds, optional 19 grams I would use a little less

Lemon Syrup

  • 1/4 cup sugar 50 grams
  • 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained 47 grams

Instructions

Preheat Oven

  • 20 minutes or longer before baking, set oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of oven. Set oven to 350°F.

Mise En Place

  • 30 minutes to 1 hour ahead, cut butter into tablespoon-size pieces. Set on the counter to soften.
  • 30 minutes ahead, into a 1 cup/237 ml glass measure with a spout, weigh or measure the eggs. Whisk in vanilla. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set on counter.
  • Wash lemons with dishwashing liquid, rinse, and dry before zesting. Finey grate lemon zest. Freeze any extra for future use.

Make the Batter

  • Add the milk to the egg mixture and whisk it in.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and optional poppy seeds on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and half the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides.
  • With the mixer off between additions, add the remaining egg mixture in two parts. Beat after each addition, starting on medium-low speed and gradually raising the speed to medium, then beating on med speed for 30 seconds, to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down sides of bowl.

Pipe the Batter into the Molds

  • Fill the prepared pastry bag about 3/4 full with batter. Pipe the batter into the molds. filling them about 3/4 full (4gms for each mini-mold, 16 gms for large cavity). No need to smooth the batter. Refill the bag as needed.
  • Ok, I didn't pipe I just used two spoons and scooped the batter into the molds.

Bake the Madeleines

  • Bake the mini-madeleines for 10-12 minutes, large ones for 14-15 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out completely clean and the madeleines spring back when pressed lightly in the centers. While they are baking, make the lemon syrup.

Make Lemon Syrup (1/3 cup/95gms/79ml)

  • In 1 cup/237ml glass measure with a spout, stir together the sugar and lemon juice. Heat in the microwave just until the sugar is dissolved. (Or use a small sauce pan over medium heat.)

Brush the Medeleines with Syrup, Unmold, and Cool

  • As soon as the madeleines come out of the oven, place the pans on a rack, poke the madeleines all over with a wire tester, and brush it with 1/3 of the syrup.
  • Metal molds, use a toothpick or pin to carefully dislodge them from molds and then invert them onto the prepared cookie sheets (this prevents sticking)
  • Brush madeleines with remaining syrup and allow to cool completely. Let sit for 2 hours for syrup to distribute.
  • STORE: Airtight one layer; room temp, 3 days; refrigerated, 5 days; frozen, 3 months.

Baking Gems

  • Use superfine sugar for the best texture
  • After coating with baking spray with flour, brush molds with pastry brush to remove excess spray to prevent air bubbles from forming in the fluted tops of the madeleines.
  • If you do not have enough molds to bake all at once, chill batter in fridge until ready to use.
  • When done, madeleines will spring back when pressed lightly in the center even before they are done.