Fig Sunshine Cake

 

I made this cake for Mother's day.  Paul inspired me with his jars full of figs. The cake is citrus with layers of fig spread in between.  Four layers to be exact.  The recipe is for two 9" round cake pans.

 The lemons in this photo are the ones I used in the recipe.  I had a feeling that they would make perfect photo shoot material!

Yummy, moist, and silky smooth fig spread between layers made a seedy sumptuous treat for Mother's day.  I adapted my recipe from my gluten free fig newtons and used the basic idea for this cake.  Paul's mom said,"Wow! I've never had a fig cake before!" and I said," Neither have I!" I just had the idea that citrus and fig would be wonderful together.  The cake is buttermilk so the crumb really held up to the textures and frosting well. 

Preheat oven to 350

Prepare 2 8" round cake pans with flour and butter

Ingredients

For the Cake:

4 eggs

2 egg yolks

1-1/4  c. buttermilk

3 c. unbleached flour sifted

2 c. Evaporated cane juice

1 Tbs. baking powder + 1 tsp. baking powder 

1 teaspoon  baking soda

pinch salt

1/2 c. oil ( I use virgin olive)

zest and juice of 2 lemons

zest of 1 lime 

For the Fig Spread:

1 1/2 c. dried figs sliced thinly

3/4-1 c. apple juice (I use organic)

zest and juice of one navel orange

1/4 c. honey (or other mild flavored sweetener)

For the Frosting:

1 1/2 c. butter (3 sticks)

4 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. buttermilk

2 tsp. hazelnut flavor

Make the Cake 

1. Beat eggs, sugar, oil, zest, and lemon juice in small bowl.  Set aside.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt into a medium to large mixing bowl.

3.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in buttermilk.  Lightly moisten dry ingredients by hand or with electric mixer.  Pour remaining wet ingredients and beat for about 2 minutes until batter is smooth and yellow.

4.  Pour prepared batter into cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes on center rack in oven until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  The edges will be golden.

 Make Fig spread

1. Place sliced figs in blender or food processor.  Cover blade of mixer with enough apple juice to blend the figs easily into a spread.  Slowly add juice little by little to maintain the integrity of the figs.  The mixture will be very thick and smooth.

2.  While the fig spread is still in mixer, zest the orange into it, then cut the orange in half and extract as much juice as possible into the mixer.  Pulse the zest and juice into the mixture slowly. Use a spoon to push down any bits that have not been incorporated.

3.  Add honey last and blend thoroughly.

4.  Set small- medium sauce pan on medium heat and pour fig mixture in.  Let the figs cook for about 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.  This process will help to evaporate some of the liquid used while blending and reduce the overall texture to a fig butter.  Much sweeter and more suited to filling a cake.

5. Remove from heat and let cool uncovered for about 15 minutes before putting in fridge to cool for one hour.

Make Frosting 

1. cut butter into small pieces and beat on medium speed for about 3-5 minutes.  The butter should become pale in color and whipped with some small air bubbles.

2. Add sugar one cup at a time until smooth

3. pour in buttermilk and whip until consistency is creamy.  There may some air bubbles which is characteristic of whipped butter. 

4. Add flavouring and tinting.  Mix thoroughly.

Assemble the Cake

1. Prepare a 10" cake board to frost and assemble the cake on. Choose one cake to be the top.  Shave the rounded top off with a sharp knife and cut the cake in half. Choose the layer that has the flat bottom of the original cake as the very top layer to achieve a smooth crumbles top .  Set aside.

2.  Shave the top off of the other cake as evenly as possible.  I always do this by hand, slowly shaving bit by bit until my desired width and height are attained.  Cut this cake in half to form two layers.

3. Fill a 12" pastry bag with frosting and pipe a border around the first layer that should have the original bottom down.  Fill this layer with figs by using a large table spoon or spatula.  Repeat this step with the second layer. And again with the third.

4. Place the fourth layer on the top with the smooth baked side facing up.  Place a light crumb coating over the entire cake and set in freezer for 15-20 minutes.

5. Remove from freezer and use the remaining frosting to cover cake and pipe a border.  Sprinkle with demerara or turbinado sugar and slice a few figs as decoration.

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Breakfast with my Man

  The morning after our good friend's Cico de Mayo party, my boyfriend cooked pancakes for me over this open fire pit that he built in a wood behind his cabin.  The pancakes were almond meal and fig.  I asked him to cook me an egg (hence the Cholula) after the pancakes were done.

 He is a wonderful chef and partner in kitchen.

As you can see, the cake browned up very nicely.  This is one of my favorit treats that he makes.

The cast iron tea pot works excellently over an open flame.  The tea in the Mason jar is gunpowder that I think I bought for him when we first started dating.  All in all, this was a wonderful way to enjoy a Monday morning before work.   Hope you found this inspiring as well!

Pineapple Coconut Cake

 

   

 I was in the mood for pineapple coconut cake.  Well actually, I've been in the mood for it for a while.  This recipe turned out well, although it is my first go around. I think I will be making and re-making this recipe in the coming months..more citrus, coconut, pineapple??  I guess we'll see what happens as the weather begins to warm.

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

1 Tbl. Baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. evaporated cane juice

2 eggs

1 c. coconut milk (full fat)

1 1/2 c. crushed pineapple

1/2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes (I use organic)

1 1/2 tsp. lemon extract

Frosting:

1 c. unsweetened flaked coconut (toasted)

1 1/2 c. butter (softened)

3 c. confectioner's sugar

1 tsp. lemon extract

1 Tbl. coconut milk

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium sized mixing bowl.

2.  In a smaller bowl, beat eggs, pineapple, sugar,lemon extract, coconut milk, and coconut flakes until combined. 

3. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and beat until fully combined about 2-3 minutes.

4. Prepare cake pans with butter and flour.  I used one 9" springform.

5. Pour cake batter into cake pan/s and bake for 30-40 minutes.  This batter is very wet and dense from the pineapple so check the cake about 20 mins into the baking process.  When knife inserted comes out clean and edges are golden, the cake is done.

6. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.  After completely cool, place cake/s into the refrigerator or freezer to make frosting easier.

7. Prepare frosting by whipping butter with stand or hand mixer for 3-5 minutes.  The color of the butter will become a very light yellow.

8. Add Confectioners sugar cup by cup until mixed.  Add coconut milk and lemon extract until the frosting is smooth and mixed fully.

9. Remove cake/s from the the freezer or fridge and frost as desired.

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Picnic for The Moth Story Hour

We decided to go and listen to people tell stories at The Moth Story hour.  Last time we went they only had drinks and told us that we should and are also allowed to bring our own food! So, we went to the co-op and picked up ourselves some pinic food. We chose soft cheese spread, sesame baguette, homemade fig newtons, and homemade carob-cacao nib-cashew bark (all made by yours truly).  We also chose a dark chocolate bar that was on sale, just in case we weren't able to curb our sugar cravings.  Everything ended up looking so nice when it was all packed and ready to go, that I took a few photos for you.

I think that it is a great idea to bring a baguette sliced when going out with a few friends.  Also, having this soft cheese makes spreading easy and utensil free.  Eating with my hands is definitely a favorite activity. What do you think?

 The Fig newtons are gluten free and the figs came from my wonderful boyfriend who has full gallon jars just sitting around in his house!!  We went on a fig spree the other day, he made sesame fig bars and I made these.  The Carob bark is sugar free.  I melted carob chips over a double boiler and added cacao nibs and cashew and a bit of coconut oil until it was pretty thick.  I then spread it out on a parchment lined sheet pan and let it cool in the fridge for about twenty minutes. This picnic ended being a fairly fun and healthy but decadent  way to enjoy storytelling.

I hope this came as inspiration for your next picnic!

Cardamom Banana bread with poppy sesame crumble

It has been a while since I posted anything, mostly because I have been in the process of transitioning my life to a more practical space.  The more practical space being my new 2 bedroom apartment that I absolutely adore.  It is the top apartment of an old historic home that was recently renovated after being abandoned.  The walls that used to read 'whore' and 'butt brother's' (I added the apostrophe) are now  painted a wonderful eggshell/coconut milk color and when the light shines through the bay window, it is truly magnificent!  These photos should reveal how great the light really is.  I am so excited to do photo shoots from my new light abundant space.

 For some reason I really have been in the mood for spicy things, like cardamom and ginger.  This recipe uses ginger instead of cinnamon in the bread, but does use cinnamon in the crumble. Which give a more cohesive 'banana bread' type feel to the overall dessert.

 The crumble is a take on the last one I used in the Brown Butter Cardamom cake.  I use un-hulled sesame seeds ( the calcium resides in the hulls) poppy seeds and walnuts to add crunch.  I also made my own brown sugar by adding a tablespoon of molasses to the granulated sugar instead of buying some at the store(it always gets so hard!).

 I obviously had a ton of fun shooting this dessert, which I am bringing to meet some new friends in Detroit this evening. Wish me luck!  I've noticed from past experience, that when meeting new friends or spending time over the holidays with one's own family or a significant other's, bringing a dessert or getting drunk usually are the most convenient methods of breaking the ice......

Cardamom Banana Bread with Poppy seed & sesame crumble

preheat oven to 350

For the bread:

 4 very ripe bananas

1 c. evaporated cane juice

2  eggs

1/2 c. olive oil

1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla (I use vanilla bean paste)

1 Tbl. Ginger

5 cardamom pods ( split open, using seeds inside)

1 cup white flour

1/4 cup almond meal

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt (sea)

For the crumble:

1 1/2 c. walnuts (chopped0

1 1/2 c. sugar

1Tbl. molasses

3/4 c. flour

1Tbl. cinnamon

1 1/2 stick butter (unsalted)

1/8 c. un-hulled sesame seeds

1/4.c poppy seeds

1.Prepare crumble first.  Chop walnuts, set aside.  Combine sugar and molasses with a fork in a quick whisking motion or use food processor until the sugar becomes a light golden brown.  Add walnuts, flour, cinnamon, poppy seeds, sesame seeds. Stir this all together by hand. Cube the butter and cut into sugar/flour/nut mixture with a pastry cutter or by hand.  Sed aside to sprinkle over banana bread batter once prepared.

2. In medium sized mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork or pastry cutter. Add sugar and oil.  Mix the spices(including cardamom pods) into the banana, sugar, oil, mixture.  The fat from the oil will soak up the flavors from the spices before adding it to the dry ingredients.  Also, add vanilla at this time.  Take a medium to large sized mesh strainer and place over the bowl with the wet ingredients.  Put the dry ingredients into the strainer, one on top of the other.  When all of the dry ingredients are in the strainer, tap the flour mixture 1/3 at a time and mix until all of the ingredients are incorporated.  The batter will be similar to cake batter in that it will be wet and smooth, not super thick like some other banana bread recipes.  Pour batter into 2 prepared loaf pans.

3. Bake for 50 mins to 1 hour until fork or toothpick inserted comes out clean. let cool for 5 minutes.  Serve as desired.

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