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. 

Raspberry buttermilk cake

It is raspberry season. Only for that reason, you should make this cake. But I'm gonna give you two more. First, it's delicious. Second, you can put it together in the blink of an eye.

Last weekend it was my friend E's birthday. He lives outside of town and I actually hadn't planned on seeing him on the birthday day. But him and B convinced me (it didn't take much) Saturday evening, that I should swing by on Sunday. Obviously, I could not go to see him on his birthday without a cake. But last weekend was mad hot and in this weather, cake frosting is not an option.

The best solution is a one pan fruity cake, no layers, no frosting and no ganaches. Sounds like a boring cake right? I promise it's not. Get yourself some fresh raspberries and some buttermilk and whip it up. Halve the recipe and you'll get a great cake for that afternoon coffee. 

Adapted from Gourmet via Smitten Kitchen

Printable recipe

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick of butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

6 oz (1 package) fresh raspberries

*I doubled Deb's recipe but I chose not to double the amount of sugar, it just seemed like too much to me.

Preheat oven to 400 F

Mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. In a bowl, cream together butter and sugar, add the vanilla extract and the eggs and mix until combined. At low speed, mix the dry mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Pour batter in a 9 inch round cake pan. 

Scatter the raspberries. Now, the raspberries that had the round part showing up, sank inside the cake. The ones that were placed upside down, with the O part showing up, stayed at the same place and so did the ones that i placed sided (because they were a little smashed). Knowing this, feel free to spread them as you wish. 

Bake for aproximately 30 min or until a cake tester or skewer comes out clean. 

 

Yay! featured in foodgawker again! http://foodgawker.com/post/2010/06/07/63011/

Raspberry swirl brownies

Guys, I might be sick. If there's a rare disease that involves compulsively eating foods of a certain color, I've got it. No kidding. Let's make a list of the things I've been compulsively eating lately. Strawberries (maybe too many of them), dried cranberries, raspberries and cherry tomatoes. What do you know, they are all red!

Wait! now that I think about it... my glasses, purse, wallet and converse are red. Maybe I'm just obsessed with red. I'm sort of a red smurf. Oh man! I just remembered I have a ski suit, full suit, all red. We went skiing with college classmates and one of my friends gave me the nickname of the red smurf (I'm short you know). 

Anywaaaaay... let's go back to the food!  Including those red things, there's this amazing red raspberry jam I bought for the Krapfen and I wanted to bake into something else. A couple weeks ago I wanted to bake something quick for some friends. Sandwich cookies seemed like too much work, so I went for these amazingly easy and tasty brownies. 

They are mixed and baked in 45 min flat. And they are what I call 'one bowl recipes'. No mess, no fuss and lots of deliciousness using only a bowl, a whisk and a spatula. 

The brownie base is not overly sweet and the red raspberry jam has a hint of tartness which goes perfect with it. Plus they are gooey and cakey at the same time. Mine came out pretty tall, but I don't really think that was a problem for anyone. 

If you can't find raspberry jam, you can substitute for unsweetened strawberry jam. I'd suggest nothing overly sweet, you want to have a contrast of flavors between the chocolate and the jam. Oh jeez, I almost forgot! I stirred in some walnuts for a crunch. You can omit them but I find they add an extra layer of texture and crunch to the mix. 

All in all, these brownies were a success. My friend kept saying... 'Adri these are supergood!', while licking her fingers and grabbing another piece. So just go and make them. We'll discuss red later.

By the way guys! to avoid missing any updates, you can  become a fan of Baking Powders on facebook!

Raspberry swirl brownies
Adapted from here

Printable recipe

4 oz bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
1 stick of butter
1/3 cup red raspberry preserves
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
¾ cup flour
¾ cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler or microwave. In a bowl, beat eggs until foamy, add sugar and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Stir in the melted chocolate and butter (make sure it's not very warm). Incorporate the flour into the mixture by mixing with a spatula. Stir in the walnuts and fold them in the batter. Pour the batter in a greased 8 x8 inch pan. Add tablespoons of jam on top of the mixture and swirl using a knife. Bake for 30 min or until a toothpick inserted comes with wet crumbs (not totally clean).