Piñata cake and aging

Next week I'm turning 27. It's a strange feeling. A feeling of comfort. The realization that I'm not anymore in my early 20s and I really like it. I am not the person I used to be a few years ago. And despite the common sayings, I think women do improve with age, just like men do.

I have recently read 'Winter Journal' from Paul Auster. I can't think of a better time to read such a wonderful autobiography, as now that I'm about to turn a year older. If you have never read any of his novels, I strongly recommend you do. Perhaps you won't like him, perhaps you will fall in love with his words, just like I did a few years ago.

I'm a picky reader, that's for sure. Growing up with two much older sisters, one of whom is a librarian, certainly shaped my taste for literature. But style aside, the wonderful thing about this book, it's the way in which it conveys the idea of aging as a learning process. In a way. I doubt Mr. Auster intended for it to be a lesson type book. But the comfort with which he embraces the winter of his life, is contagious.

I am nowhere near close to that winter. And yet I am glad to look back and see that I've slowly evolved into the human being I am today. I am glad to look into the future and know that constant evolution is normal, necessary and beneficial.

In a way, my palate has evolved quite a bit as well. When I made this cake (for the boy's labmate, who was about to return to Mexico), I realized how much my sweet palate has changed. This cake is quite simple. Plain white cake with a raspberry preserve filling. Topped with cream cheese frosting mixed with a good amount of food coloring. There's nothing wrong with that. And I will, not modestly, say it was delicious.

And yet it's not my type of thing. Granted, that's irrelevant, since the cake was for her and not for me. Not to say I didn't enjoy it. But I also realized that the sweet-toothed-little-girl who loved to eat cake at any occasion, is long gone. Me, I am more the type of more subtle sweetness. Muffins, biscotti, pies without tons of sugar and homemade ice cream are more my type of thing. I blame age. I blame my newly acquired taste for spicy food and the drive to make baked savory delights instead of sugary cakes.

However, the cake didn't make it to the end of our weekly joint group meeting with another lab. Some folks had seconds. Some had thirds. So by all means, do make it. With or without frosting. With or without coloring. If you can, use homemade preserves. If you like very sugary frostings, up the sugar and down the cream cheese.

By the way, in case you hadn't realized yet. This cake is an attempt to mimic a pinata donkey. We couldn't have a pinata party in our conference room, so we settled for the cake. I hope you enjoy it. Donkey or not.

Pinata cake or white cake with raspberry preserves and cream cheese frosting

White cake

from Leite's Culinaria

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pans

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk, or 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour your pans (either 2 9 inch round pans or a large 13x9). In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until fluffly and slightly pale. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined. Add half of the buttermilk or milk/lemon mixture to the cake and mix until combined. Mix in half of the sifted ingredients and then the rest of the buttermilk. Finally, add the rest of the dry mixture and mix until combined. Do not overmix or the cake will be dense. 

Pour the batter in the pans and bake for 20-30 min until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for about 10 min, then remove from the pan and cool in a wire rack for about 1 hr. 

Raspberry preserves

I prepared this the exact same way as the blackberry jam.

Cream cheese frosting

12 ounces cream cheese (for a sweeter frosting 8 ounces)

1 stick of butter

2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted (for a sweeter frosting, 3 cups)

Before combining the ingredients, make sure all of them are at room temperature. With a hand mixer, start by creaming the cheese and the butter together. Once the mixture is homogeneous start adding the confectioners sugar slowly and keep beating until the frosting is fluffy but has enough body to be piped. For coloring, divide the frosting in bowls and add food coloring as desired. Transfer to piping/ziploc bags and decorate as desired. 

Swedish rye cookies and vacation

I bet you know what I mean when I talk about being completely exhausted. About reaching that point in which you just keep on going because of pure inertia. When you just wake up because the alarm goes off and drag yourself to work with a sleepy face. When even if on the weekends you get to relax a bit, you're in constant motion, not a minute left for breathing. I certainly have reached that point.

It's been a year since I last was home, since my real last vacation. So right now, I really need to go home. Don't get me wrong. I just passed my second aniversary in the US and every day that goes by, I'm happier with the decision of moving here. Living 6000 miles away from your family is not easy, but for me it's totally worth it.

One of the reasons is that after two years of working like crazy both at MIT and at my current company, I will finally be a grad student. A PhD student nonetheless. I know it might sound boring to you, but I'm crazy excited. What can I say, I was born for research. And the teaching part, has me thrilled. I can't wait to have a bunch of students to guide through labs and classes.

But before that, I really need to charge batteries. That means being in Barcelona with my family and friends. Beers in the hot afternoons and delicious food. Then going with my parents to my dad's hometown. The smallest town in earth, or almost. I can picture myself waking up in the morning and baking some brioche for breakfast. Then going with my dad to the fields, to pick fresh fruit from those trees that have been in the family for generations. Maybe put some of that fruit in a galette or a tart. Certainly, hanging out with my friends until the moon goes down and the sun comes up. In a word, relaxing.

Don't worry, I'll be baking and posting!. Cleaning my pantry from flours and other ingredients has left me with a ton of baked goods that my coworkers and friends have been happy to receive. These Swedish rye cookies had been in my bookmarks for a long time and the only thing I'm sorry about is that I didn't make them earlier. They are tiny nice light cookies. Not overly sweet. In fact, if it weren't for the powdered sugar, they would barely be sweet at all. Perfect pairing for a cup of tea, they make a great afternoon snack. Plus the recipe makes a huge amount of them so you'll be able to share!

Swedish Rye Cookies
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Print this recipe

Note: I adapted the recipe by changing cane sugar for brown and skipped sprinkling the cookies with large grain sugar before baking. I used a small flower cookie cutter, less than 1 inch diameter and got 3 dozen cookies.

1 cup rye flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

In a bowl, combine flours and salt. With a hand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Refrigerate the dough covered in plastic wrap for about 30 min (you can skip this but it made it easier for me to work the dough in a really hot kitchen).

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Roll the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness and cut in shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake the cookies for about 7 minutes or until golden on the edges. Don't overbake or they'll become dry. Let them cool and dust with powdered sugar.