Now In Technicolor: Coconut Teacakes Redux

When I was tasked with making some baked goods for someone who likes coconut (after abandoning the idea of making a dessert with grapefruit, another one of his other favorite foods), I thought that lamingtons would be a good choice. I have made King Arthur Flour's lamington/coconut teacake recipe several times before (see, e.g. here), and I have always been happy with the results. However, I have been bothered by the fact that my lamingtons never look like the ones pictured with the recipe on the King Arthur website.

The raspberry glaze shown on the website is an intense reddish-pink color, while mine is always a muted reddish-tan hue, the color of the raspberry spreadable fruit I use to make the glaze. I know that some raspberry jams might be more brightly colored than others, but I still didn't understand how a thin coating of any jam (especially jam thinned out with corn syrup and water) could have such a saturated color; jam is, after all, translucent by nature. I am a bit compulsive in this respect, but my expectation is that if I bake something, it should look as good as the cookbook photo. Or better. Well, I have finally discovered why my lamingtons have literally paled in comparison.

I recently bought all of the 2009 back issues of The Baking Sheet, King Arthur's bi-monthly newsletter of recipes. The 2009 Early Spring issue contains the lamington recipe, and it's not the same as the one on the King Arthur website. Not only does the cake recipe vary slightly (it basically contains the same ingredients in different ratios), but Baking Sheet version of the raspberry glaze is not made from raspberry jam, but from frozen raspberries, lemon juice, and sugar. The resulting glaze is, not surprisingly, the bright shade of raspberries. The color is so vivid that it looks completely fake. I cut my lamingtons into snack cake shapes (1-inch by 1-inch by 3-inch fingers), and after I rolled the cakes in coconut, they were dead ringers for a raspberry Hostess Zinger.

Although I normally toast the coconut I use to coat lamingtons, in this case, I skipped the toasting step so that the bright white coconut would have greater contrast against the raspberry glaze. I definitely prefer this glaze to the jam version -- not only is the color more eye-catching, but the raspberry flavor is markedly stronger.

Really, assuming you are not in the coconut-hating camp, what's not to love about this captivating cake?

This cake is too dense to put in any sort of cream filling, but now that I know the secret to making the Technicolor glaze, I'm half-seriously considering the idea of making a Zinger knockoff with vanilla cake and cream filling. I'm definitely putting it on my "I'll get to that someday" list.

Recipe: "Lamingtons," from The King Arthur Baking Sheet, Early Spring 2009.

Previous Posts:

• "Bloody Poofy Woolly Biscuits: Lamington Cupcakes," May 2, 2010.
• "Woolly Biscuits Take II: Coconut Teacakes," July 19, 2010.

This Tart Sticks With You: Lattice-Topped Apple Tart

I recently got a copy of Bake! by Nick Malgieri, and I was excited to see that the book offers quite a few tart recipes. I have always had trouble with pies, but I will happily make tarts all day long. In fact, the book has three chapters on tarts using different types of crusts: sweet pastry dough, flaky pastry dough, and cookie dough. I decided to try the recipe for "Lattice-Topped Apple Tart" for my first foray into the book.

This tart is in the flaky pastry dough chapter. I made the dough in the food processor from flour, salt, baking powder, cold butter, and eggs. After chilling, the dough was pretty easy to handle and roll out. Conveniently, the dough recipe makes enough for two crusts, so I only needed one batch to have enough dough for both the bottom crust and the lattice.

The filling for this tart is diced apples tossed with a mixture of sugar, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. You sprinkle a little bit of the reserved sugar mixture onto the bottom crust, pour in the apples, and then dot them with butter before putting on the lattice. The cookbook says that Northern Spies are the best apples to use for the filling, but I have never seen them available in this area. Fortunately, the recipe also suggests a readily available substitute -- equal parts Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples. As the recipe directed, I cut the Granny Smith apples smaller since they are firmer and would otherwise take longer to soften.

The lattice top for this tart is not woven, but simply overlaid, so it takes almost no time at all to assemble on top of the filling. By moistening the edges of the bottom crust with water, it's easy to get the strips of the lattice to adhere. After brushing the lattice with a little water and sprinkling on some granulated sugar, the tart is ready to bake.

The recipe advises you to put a sheet of foil on the bottom of the oven to catch drips when the filling comes to a simmer close to the end of the baking time. Instead, I put my tart pan directly on a sheet pan (I usually do this anyway, since it makes the tart part easier to handle and eliminates the possibility of accidentally knocking out the removable bottom when picking up the pan). At the end of the baking time, the crust was golden and the filling was gently bubbling; some of the liquid had run out onto the sheet pan, but my tart pretty much looked exactly like the one pictured in the cookbook, so I was feeling pretty confident. I noticed that when the liquid on the sheet pan cooled, it was completely hard, like caramel. After the tart had cooled, I tried to lift out the pan bottom, but I couldn't get it to budge -- it was completely stuck. I have made countless tarts in the past, and I have never once encountered this problem before. Even more distressing, I had made this tart for my friends Jim and Colleen, and so I had to drop it off at their house and sheepishly explain that the tart was stuck and I had no idea if they would be able to get slices of it out of the pan.

So I didn't actually get to see the tart when it was cut and served, but I am informed that the sticking problem was limited to the outside perimeter of the tart. Presumably when the filling bubbled over, the liquid fell into the gap between the crust and the pan and then hardened as it cooled, gluing the crust to the pan in the process. I was assured that the tart filling was delicious and the crust properly cooked through. Jim and Colleen had the great misfortune of being forced to sample several unsuccessful pies over the summer (see here, here, and here), and Jim -- who is not afraid to be honest with me when it comes to baked goods -- reported that this tart was far superior to all of them.

I am looking forward to making this tart again so that I can taste if for myself! In the meantime, unless someone informs me otherwise, I'm considering this recipe a success. Although, just to be on the safe side, I'll make sure that I don't plan to serve this tart at some formal occasion where it would pose a problem if I find it stuck to the pan again!

Recipe: "Lattice-Topped Apple Tart" from Bake!: Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking, by Nick Malgieri.

This Cake Needs a Second Chance: My First Chocolate Birthday Cake

Earlier this month, we celebrated a birthday in my office, and when I asked the birthday girl what her baked goods preference was, she mentioned chocolate. So I went straight to the "Chocolate Birthday Cakes" chapter of Lisa Yockelson's ChocolateChocolate cookbook. I decided on "My First Chocolate Birthday Cake." The name makes it sound like something a grade-schooler might produce in an Easy Bake Oven, but Yockelson explains, "Plain and simple, this layer cake most likely began the tradition of chocolate-flavored birthday cakes in my small family."

The cake batter is made from butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, unsweetened chocolate, milk, cake flour, baking soda, and salt. The Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting that goes along with the cake is made from butter, unsweetened chocolate, salt, vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk.

The frosting had a nice thick consistency, and the recipe makes plenty of frosting to fill, frost, and decorate the cake. I made this cake the night before I was going to serve it, so I kept it in the refrigerator. I took it out about an hour before serving.

I thought this cake was quite good, although there a couple of things I wish I had done differently. First, the cake was slightly overbaked, even though I baked it only for the 30 minutes specified in the recipe. I used dark non-stick pans, and I think the cake would have turned out better if I had used light-colored pans or reduced the baking time. Second, the cake was still quite cold when I served it, even though I had taken it out of the refrigerator an hour before. Not only was the chocolate flavor of the cake and frosting muted because of the cake's temperature, but the frosting was solid, like cold butter. When I made the frosting, it had a luscious and creamy smooth consistency; eating it cold was just not the same. In the future, I would be sure to either store the cake covered at room temperature, or to take it out of the refrigerator several hours in advance to allow it to fully reach room temperature before serving.

I am interested in making this cake again, because I want to taste it at its full potential; I know the cake would have been much better if not overbaked and served at the proper temperature. I'm looking forward to my second attempt at My First Birthday Cake!

Recipe: "My First Chocolate Birthday Cake/Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting," from ChocolateChocolate by Lisa Yockelson.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Chocolate Mint Thumbprints

The recipe on today's Baked Sunday Mornings schedule is Chocolate Mint Thumbprints.  I made this cookie a few months ago and didn't have time to make the recipe again -- but you can read my previous post here.  Also, the Baked Sunday Mornings group has a new website, where you can find the link roundup and recipe, here.

Recipe: "Chocolate Mint Thumbprints," from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Recipe available at the new Baked Sunday Mornings website, here.

Previous Post: "A Dish Best Served Cold: Chocolate Mint Thumbprints," March 24, 2011.

The Quest for a Grapefruit Dessert: Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies

A few weeks ago, I was recruited to supply some baked goods for a farewell party at the office. I asked about the guest of honor's baked goods preferences, and I was told that he likes grapefruit, strawberries dipped in chocolate, scones, and oatmeal. Since the organizers had planned an afternoon tea, scones were a perfect fit and I knew I could make those without any problem. But I was determined to make a grapefruit dessert as well. Since I had several weeks advance notice of the party, I had some time to test out some recipes beforehand.

While I have made grapefruit cake in the past, for the purposes of this party I wanted to stick to single-serving desserts that wouldn't require any utensils. I made multiple attempts at grapefruit pate de fruit jellies, but I wasn't happy with any of the results (of the four recipes I tried, I achieved the best results using a recipe from Zoe Francois; the jellies had a good texture and appearance, but just were not grapefruit-y enough). Feeling slightly discouraged, I decided to try a Martha Stewart recipe for "Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies."

The cookie batter contains butter, sugar, egg yolks, grapefruit zest, grapefruit juice, all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt. You have to chill the dough before rolling and cutting it. Even after chilling, my dough was quite soft, and I had some problems with the dough sticking. I found both the yield and the baking time supplied in the recipe to be wholly inaccurate (my cookies were done baking in about 13 minutes, not 18-20; I also got over three dozen 2-inch sandwich cookies instead of the specified yield of 15).

After the cookies are baked and cooled, you sandwich them around a filling made from butter, powdered sugar, honey, and grapefruit juice. While several of the comments on the Martha Stewart website complained that the filling was too soft, I didn't have any problems with the consistency.

I thought that this cookie was wonderful. It was sweet on the front end, but tart on the back end. The cookies themselves were crisp and hard -- but I think the firm texture helped them stand up to the filling without becoming soggy (I kept some filled cookies in the refrigerator, and even after several days, the cookies were still crunchy). Notwithstanding the fact that the cookies tasted great, I was hugely disappointed that they didn't taste like grapefruit; no one who tasted them could tell that they were made with grapefruit. While the cookie definitely had a bright, citrusy, acidic character, the precise flavor was very hard to pin down. To me, the flavor tasted like kumquat, especially the strong lingering sourness.

I absolutely would be happy to make (and eat!) these cookies again, but I decided that they were not the right choice for the party, since the guest of honor was unlikely to realize that they contained grapefruit. Fortunately, I subsequently learned that the guest of honor also likes coconut -- and that opened up a whole world of additional baking possibilities!

Still, I'm grateful to have discovered this recipe, because grapefruit flavor or not, these are tasty little cookies -- perfect for an afternoon tea or any time!

Recipe: "Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies/Pink Grapefruit Cream Filling" from Martha Stewart.

Previous Post: "Mother Nature's Sweetest Gift of Winter: Grapefruit Cake," January 26, 2010.

Jewish Mother Approved: Lora Brody's Rugelach

When a friend kindly invited me to join him and his family for a Yom Kippur break fast, I decided that it was time to revisit rugelach. I've only tried making rugelach twice before (documented here and here), and I wasn't fully satisfied with either attempt. This time, I picked a rugelach recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's cookbook Rose's Christmas Cookies, which she calls "without a doubt, the best rugelach I've ever tasted."  The recipe actually originates from Lora Brody's Cooking With Memories -- hence the recipe name, "Lora Brody's Rugelach."

If you make this dough in the food processor, it only takes a minute or two. You just process cream cheese and butter, incorporate sugar and vanilla, and then add flour and salt and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. You divide the dough into four portions and chill them overnight. After chilling, you roll it each portion into a circle, spread on a thin layer of apricot jam, and then sprinkle on a filling made from sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, golden raisins, and chopped walnuts. I made sure that my rolling surface was floured and didn't have any problem with the dough sticking as I cut it into triangles and rolled up each piece into the distinctive crescent shape. You chill the rolled rugelach for 30 minutes, brush them with milk, and then sprinkle them with cinnamon-sugar before baking.

I loved the way that these turned out. I thought that the sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar on top added both nice color and a boost of flavor. The pastry is outstanding. Also, I thought that the rugelach had the perfect ratio of filling to pastry (i.e. not too much filling).  I loved the various textures of the crunchy walnuts, chewy golden raisins, and tender pastry in every bite.

Even though I thought the rugelach were wonderful, I didn't think I could call them a success until I saw how they were received at the break fast.  I was thrilled that they were enjoyed by all. Most gratifying, my friend's parents loved them, and I consider that the best endorsement of them all -- Jewish mother approved!

Recipe: "Lora Brody's Rugelach," from Rose's Chrismas Cookies by Rose Levy Beranbaum, available on epicurious.com.

Previous Posts:

• "Rugelach 2.0," April 14, 2010.
• "Can Anyone Help Out an Asian Girl From Nebraska?," January 26, 2009.

Unfortunately, These Aren't Number One: Biscotti #2

When I heard that Lisa Yockelson was coming out with a new cookbook, Baking Style, I pre-ordered it on Amazon right away. I already owned ten (!) other Lisa Yockelson cookbooks, and Baking By Flavor and ChocolateChocolate in particular are two cookbooks that I go back to over and over again. On the day that Baking Style was released, two copies arrived on my doorstep -- apparently I thought that pre-ordering it from Amazon was such a great idea that I accidentally did it twice.

Baking Style is organized in what Yockelson refers to as a "diary" format, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. (Yockelson describes the book's unusual format here and here.) Baking style is full of essays, which I definitely appreciate. However, instead of the typical cookbook organization by product type (e.g., a chapter on cookies and bars, a chapter on pies and tarts, a chapter on cakes, etc.), the cookbook is organized into chapters with two-word titles that are simultaneously descriptive and cryptic ("Pure Flavor," "Past Perfect," "Plain Old-Fashioned," "Very Naughty," "Dreamy Regal," Texture Exquisite," "Contour Fanciful," Intense Bold," "Polished Sophisticated," "Comfy Cozy," "Lush Exuberant,"  and "Down Home"). Each chapter is divided into subparts -- some of which include only a single recipe -- with equally vague titles.  For example, the "Very Naughty" chapter includes subparts titled: "chocolate, and a lot of it, in the right place," "cookies, untamed," "fudge griddled," "lacking restraint," "little muffins, sauced," rough and tumble, moist and sensual," "seductive times two," and "fry happy." I find it all a little overwhelming.

Yockelson's cookbook Baking by Flavor is also organized in an non-traditional fashion. As the title suggests, each chapter is dedicated to a specific flavor (almond, lemon, chocolate, banana, coconut, and so forth).  However, I find organization by flavor to be rather intuitive and often helpful -- after all, there are times that I am in the mood for something lemony or something with ginger.  But never in my life have I ever thought to myself, "Gee, I would really like to eat something contour fanciful."

Last week, Tom flew out to Wisconsin to visit his mother, and I wanted to bake something he could take along with him.  Since I was looking for something sturdy that could be baked in advance, I decided to make biscotti.  Baking Style includes several recipes for biscotti and mandel breit, all of which are in the "Past Perfect" chapter, in the "a baking memento" subsection (thank god for the cookbook index, or I never would have found them). The two almond biscotti recipes are simply titled "Biscotti #1" and "Biscotti #2," and they are described respectively as, "languorous afternoon almond cookies for dipping and its going-boldly-into-almond cousin." I decided to try Biscotti #2, since it was promised to be "ultra-crunchy." Also, as it happens, the recipe is written to include baking powder, but a note indicates that you can substitute half the amount of baking ammonia. I'm still exploring uses for baking ammonia, which produces an extra crisp-crunchy texture in baked goods (for instance, in the Vanilla Dreams recipe from King Arthur Flour).

The Biscotti #2 recipe includes eggs, an egg yolk, sugar, vegetable oil, almond extract, vanilla extract, flour, baker's ammonia (or baking powder), salt, and toasted slivered almonds. A tablespoon of almond liqueur is listed as an optional ingredient. I didn't have any on hand, so I put in an extra splash of almond extract. The recipe instructs you to form the dough into a loaf and sprinkle on coarse sugar before the first bake (in the cookbook photo, the biscotti are sprinkled with Barbie-pink sugar).  The biscotti were very easy to slice after the first bake, because the inside was drier than what I'm used to when making biscotti.

The texture of these biscotti were different from any I have made before -- they were dry while still remaining tender. I would not say that they were "ultra-crunchy" (I have definitely made crunchier); they had a texture almost exactly like the commercial biscotti that you can buy at Starbucks. Also, other biscotti I've made improve in quality if you wait a few days after baking, but these biscotti maintained a consistent texture and flavor over time. I liked the texture a lot, but was underwhelmed by the flavor.  Despite the inclusion of a healthy amount of almond extract and slivered almonds, I thought the biscotti were not almond-y enough.

Even though I didn't think this recipe was a home run, I'm looking forward to making my way through the rest of Baking Style. I think that using this cookbook might be a little like taking the long way around -- but knowing Yockelson's talent, I'm sure the journey will be worth the effort.

Recipe: "Biscotti #2" from Baking Style: Art, Craft, Recipes, by Lisa Yockelson.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I wasn't sure what to expect for this week's Baked Sunday Mornings assignment, the "Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting." I have never made a cake with oatmeal in it before, and there was no picture accompanying the recipe. Even the cookbook's description of "coffee cake for the cookie enthusiast" didn't give me a clear picture of what the end product would be.

The first step in making this cake is to hydrate the oatmeal -- you pour boiling water over rolled oats and softened butter, stir, and let the mixture sit for about 30 minutes. During that time, the oats soak up the water so that you end up with what is essentially oatmeal -- although it smelled way better than any oatmeal I've ever eaten (the 1:2 ratio of butter to oats probably had something to do with this).

Once the oatmeal is ready, making the cake is pretty simple. You whisk together eggs, sugar, dark brown sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, stir in the oatmeal, and fold in flour and chocolate chips. You toss the chocolate chips with a little bit of liqueur and coat them with flour before adding them into the batter, to keep the chips from sinking during baking. You frost the cooled cake with a frosting made from cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.

The top of the cake was very dark when it came out of the oven, and not very attractive. The recipe instructs you to make the frosting, and then refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes before using. I made this cake twice, and the first time, I refrigerated the frosting for about an hour, and it was so stiff that I had to beat it in the stand mixer again to get it pliable enough to spread (the recipe does say that you can make the frosting up to a day in advance, and advises that you need to let it come to room temperature before using). The second time I made the cake, I just mixed the frosting and spread it on the cooled cake right away. I don't really see the point of refrigerating the frosting first. The frosting is lighter and fluffier and much easier to suave if you use it right away. However, I would say that it is important to refrigerate the frosted cake for some period of time to firm up the frosting before slicing, if you want cleaner slices.

I thought this cake was just fabulous. It doesn't look like much, but it is surprisingly flavorful.  The cake is hearty -- dense and moist, and the chocolate chips add loads of flavor. (I am undecided whether it might be better to use miniature chocolate chips instead -- the regular-sized chips are a little clunky and inelegant, but on other other hand, the big bursts of chocolate flavor and texture are very tasty.) The cinnamon flavor in the cake is reminiscent of the flavor in carrot cake, and I thought that the cream cheese frosting was a luxurious and perfect complement. I don't think this cake resembles coffee cake in any way, and I'm still not sure how I would categorize it -- but I think that calling it "delicious" captures it perfectly!

Recipe: "Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting," from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

A New Year, A New Cake: Apricot Honey Cake

Last year I made a lovely honey cake to bring into the office for Rosh Hashanah, and I wanted to do the same this year -- but I wanted to try a new recipe. I hunted around epicurious.com, and decided to try a Joan Nathan recipe for "Apricot Honey Cake" that has received positive reviews.

The first step in this recipe is to chop some dried apricots and soak them in rum for at least 30 minutes. Then you strain the apricots and reserve the soaking liquid. To make the batter, you beat eggs, and then add in honey, vegetable oil, lemon and orange juice and zest, sugar, salt, and apricot jam. You alternately add the sifted dry ingredients (flour and baking soda) and reserved rum, and then fold in the apricots.  You pour the batter into a loaf pan and sprinkle on sliced almonds before baking.

I ran into a couple of problems making this cake. I agree with the many epicurious reviewers who commented how irritating it is that the recipe does not give a specific volume measurement for how much lemon juice and orange juice you are supposed to use -- the recipe simply calls for grated peel and juice of "one lemon" and "one orange." Obviously lemons and oranges can very quite a bit in size, as does the amount of juice you might get from any given piece of fruit. I made a double batch of the batter. My two lemons yielded 1.5 fluid ounces of juice and the two navel oranges yielded 6.5 fluid ounces, so I had exactly one cup of juice total.

When I added the relatively small amount of dry ingredients to the relatively large volume of liquid ingredients, I got a ton of clumps, despite the fact that I had sifted the flour. The clumps were so pervasive and persistent that I put the batter through a sieve to get rid of them (of course, the sieve caught all of the lemon and orange zest, so I then had to scoop it out of the sieve and mix it back in).

Also, a lot of the reviewers commented that the apricots sink to the bottom of the loaf while baking. I soaked my apricots in Grand Marnier instead of rum (which just made sense to me since I really don't like rum and the cake already has so many citrus flavors anyway), and as was recommended by some reviewers, I tossed the drained apricots with flour before folding them into the batter. As you can see from the photo above, all of the apricots sank straight to the bottom anyway, and the ones that were touching the bottom of the pan were burned.

I can report that I had no problem with baking times. I used the 10-inch by 5-inch loaf pans specified, and all of the batter neatly fit into the pans, with room to spare. The loaves were done baking in 50 minutes.

As far as taste, I thought that this cake had a pleasant, interesting flavor -- my favorite parts were the top (with the sliced almonds) and the bottom (with the chewy apricots) of each slice. The cake would have been better if the apricots were evenly distributed.  The loaf was moist, although fairly dense, and there was a rubbery portion in the center of each slice (the slightly darker area in middle of the slice pictured above). You could taste that there was alcohol in the cake, which is something I don't particularly enjoy. Overall, I thought this cake was okay, but I definitely enjoyed last year's honey cake more.

Recipe: "Apricot Honey Cake," from The Jewish Holiday Baker by Joan Nathan, available on epicurious.com.

Previous Post: "A Delicious Start for a Sweet New Year: Majestic and Moist New Year's Honey Cake," September 8, 2010.

How Can Upside Down Be So Right?: Plum Upside-Down Cake

When I recently looked for highly rated plum cakes on epicurious.com, I found several that looked quite promising. The Plum Streusel Coffeecake was terrific, but I saw no reason to stop there when there were other plum cakes to try! I also decided to make the Plum Upside-Down Cake.

I made a double batch of this recipe in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. Even though the recipe didn't call for it, I lined my pan with parchment, which is my usual practice. The first step in the recipe is to make a sauce from butter, brown sugar, and honey by heating them together on the stove. You pour the sauce into the pan and arrange sliced plums on top. Then you make a cake batter by creaming together butter and sugar, adding eggs, almond extract, and vanilla, and then alternately adding the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt) and milk. You spoon the cake batter on top of the plums, bake, and let the cake cool for 30 minutes before turning it out of the pan.

I didn't have any problems getting the cake out of the pan, as the parchment contained everything nicely. I'm sad to say that I did not try this cake warm, because I made it the night before I served it. But even the morning after, this cake was delicious. I loved the cinnamon flavor in the tender cake. And while the cake itself was not very sweet, the sauce-soaked plums on top were quite sweet, and taken as a whole, I thought the sweetness level was nicely balanced.

It's difficult for me to decide which cake I like better, this one or the plum streusel coffeecake. One of the main differences between the two is that the plums are definitely the star of the plum upside-down cake, while I don't think the same is true of the coffeecake. But both are wonderful. I speculate that eating a slice of still-warm-from-the-oven upside-down cake with ice cream is probably indescribably good, and I plan to make this cake again some time to put that theory to the test!

Recipe: "Plum Upside-Down Cake" from epicurious.com.

Previous Posts:

• "Putting the 'Cake' Back into 'Coffeecake': Plum Streusel Coffeecake," September 30, 2011.
• "Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming: Crunchy-Topped Whole-Wheat Plum Cake," September 7, 2010.

I Don't Think "Rustic" Is Supposed to Mean "Raw": Rustic Tuscan Apple Cake

A couple of weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal ran an article featuring three recipes from Francine Segan's cookbook Dolci: Italy's Sweets. The "Rustic Tuscan Apple Cake" looked like an easy recipe that would be perfect for fall, so I couldn't wait to give it a try.

The cake batter itself contains no butter or oil. You make it by beating together eggs and sugar, and then adding in flour, milk, baking powder, baking soda, and lemon zest. You pour the batter into a pan, sprinkle on one diced apple, and then arrange three sliced apples on top. The recipe notes that while the ratio of apples to batter appears disproportionately high, the apples magically meld into the batter and in the end will float over moist, sweet cake. You scatter small pats of butter over the apples and sprinkle on one tablespoon of granulated sugar before baking.  

I used four gala apples that came in right at two pounds total, and there were so many apple slices on the cake that I could barely fit them into the pan (I used an 8-inch round pan that was two inches high). I baked the cake for 50 minutes as directed, and it was a little difficult for me to get a toothpick into the cake through all of the layers to apples to test for doneness. I tested several spots about halfway between the edge and the center, and the cake seemed to be done, so I took it out of the oven.

After the cake cooled and I unmolded it from the pan, my heart sank when I cut into it and realized that it was completely uncooked in the middle. The reason that the tip of the slice pictured above has collapsed is because all of the light-colored creamy stuff under the apples is raw batter that is providing no support. I did taste the outer perimeter of the cake, which was cooked through. The cake was dry (not altogether unexpected, given the lack of butter and oil), but I did like the moist, sweet apples and the bright flavor from the lemon zest. However, the outside of the cake was so dry that I question whether it would be have been possible to bake the cake long enough to cook the center through without turning the outside into sawdust. While I'll take the blame for not testing the center of the cake for doneness, I have no interest in trying this recipe again. I love the idea of a rustic apple cake for fall, but I'm not in love with this one.

Recipe: "Rustic Tuscan Apple Cake, aka Torta di mele," from Dolci: Italy's Sweets, by Francine Segan.