Lemon Squares

I promise, my baking repertoire includes more than just layer cakes! Take these lemon squares for instance.  They're not overly sweet, but they have a strong lemony flavor.  My only complaint about lemon squares is that after you've completed the none-too-short tasks of juicing and zesting the lemons, putting together the crust, and baking the final treats, you're left with... lemon bars.  They taste great, but as I stare at my bare, disemboweled lemons, I always feel like I've earned something just a little fancier.

Three cake orders in the next week though, so many more layer cakes to come!  And a really fun Daring Bakers Challenge this Thursday - stay tuned!

Almond Orange Olive Oil Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

Happy Pi Day!!  To celebrate, I'm bringing you this, um, cake.  Oops.  No time to make pie this weekend, sorry!  I'll have to catch European Pi Day on July 22 (22/7 is one of the best approximates of pi).

When I got tenure (over a year ago now), my mom and I wanted to go someplace nice in New York.  The problem with lots of nice restaurants in NY?  Not very vegetarian friendly.  I think we've narrowed it down to Daniel's and Babbo, but our celebration dinner has yet to happen (this summer hopefully!)... in the meantime, this cake is by Gina DePalma, pastry chef at Babbo.

This cake is perfect for a Sunday brunch or afternoon meeting or any other time when you'd like something (relatively) light and sweet without totally taking you over into a sugar coma.  It's a somewhat unusual combination of flavors with the citrus, the almonds, and the olive oil - but it works!  And it's Italian.  And did you see how there's brown butter in the glaze? You're going to want to start using this glaze on everything. It's yummy.  And no mixer required - just some whisking and stirring - easy. 

 

Orange Almond Olive Oil Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

(adapted only slightly from Gina DePalma)

For the Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup blanched or natural almond flour (you can finely grind the almonds yourself)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
Grated zest of 1 medium lemon or 1/2 a medium orange (I used orange)
1/2 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed if possible)

Notes:

The first time I made this, I used 1/2 cup lime juice and 1/2 cup lemon juice instead of the orange juice, and used lemon zest instead of orange zest.  I liked it, but it definitely tasted different.  I prefer the cake made as above, but if you're a huge fan of lime, you may want to experiment with adding some lime juice.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Spray an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan (the 8-inch will give you a slightly taller cake, but it won't overflow if the sides are 2" tall or higher).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a largebowl, whisk together the eggs to break up the yolks.  Add the sugar to the bowl and whisk it in thoroughly  for about 30 seconds. Add the olive oil and whisk until the mixture is a bit lighter in color and has thickened slightly, about 45 seconds. Whisk in the extracts and zest, followed by the orange juice.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and whisk until they are thoroughly combined; continue whisking until you have a smooth, emulsified batter, about 30 more seconds.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake the cake for 30 to 45 minutes, rotating the cake pan halfway through the cooking time to ensure even browning. The cake is done when it has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan, springs back lightly when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool for ten minutes in the pan, then gently remove it from the pan and allow it to cool completely (right-side up) on a rack.

For the Brown Butter Glaze and Assembly

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream
1/2 cup slivered almonds


While the cake is cooling, make the glaze.  Brown the butter, and let sit (it will continue to get a little darker after you turn off the heat).  

Toast the almonds:  scatter them evenly over a baking sheet, and bake at 350F for 5-10 minutes, until lightly browned.

In a medium bowl, add the milk or heavy cream to the powdered sugar and stir.  Slowly add the browned butter, and stir until smooth.  Add more milk/cream if you'd like the glaze to be a little thinner; add more sugar if you'd like it thicker.  Spread onto the cake with an offset spatula when cool, and allow to drip down the sides of the cake.  Scatter the toasted almonds evenly over the surface of the cake. Enjoy!

Baking Class: Cheesecakes

 Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake with Oreo Crust

Baking Class has been over for awhile now, but I still have lots of goodies to post from it.  During the last week of class, we made cheesecakes.  This is a recipe adapted from the Daring Bakers; the students made a lot of different varieties.  It's a very adaptable recipe - so have fun and design your own flavor combination!

 Anna & Jen

Graham Cracker Crust

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spray the springform pan with baking spray.  Stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it begins to clump.  Press into the bottom (and up the sides if desired) of the prepared pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.  Cool completely.

Sean, Andrew, & JC

Oreo Crust

1 ½ cups oreo cookie crumbs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spray the springform pan with baking spray.  Stir together the crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until it begins to clump.  Press into the bottom (and up the sides if desired) of the prepared pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes until set.  Cool completely.

Batter Mixing

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Batter - Before Baking

Cheesecake

24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tbsp liqueur, optional

Be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature, especially the eggs and cream cheese. This will help keep cracks from forming in the top of the cheesecake.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put a kettle of water on to boil for the waterbath. Wrap springform pan in 3-4 layers of aluminum foil to prevent (or lessen at least!) leakage.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed for about 4 minutes, until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes, until the cream cheese is light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 1 minute) and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Beating at low speed, add the heavy cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir in the liqueur, if using. The batter will be thin.

(Note: If you're using a hand mixer, you will want to increase the mixing times).

Bake the cheesecake for about 80-90 minutes in a water bath; it should hold together, but there will still be a lot of jiggle in the center. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. After one hour, remove the cake from the water bath, and let it finish cooling on the counter top. Refrigerate overnight, and bring to room temperature before serving.

Lemon Cheesecake

Flavor Variations

Lemon:  Replace liqueur with fresh lemon juice, and stir in 2 teaspoons lemon zest.

Coffee:  Dissolve 2/3 tablespoon espresso powder into 1 tablespoon very hot water, and cover until using.  Add to batter at the same time as the vanilla extract.  Omit the lemon juice, and use Kahlua for the liqueur.

Chocolate Swirl:  In a separate bowl, stir together about one-third of the batter and 3 ounces melted semisweet chocolate. Pour the plain batter on top of the cooled crumb crust. Drop the chocolate batter mixture on top of the other batter in spoonfuls. With a knife, gently swirl the chocolate batter through the plain batter.

Coffee with Nutella Swirl : See my previous post.

Pumpkin:  See my previous post.

Coffee Cheesecake with Chocolate Swirl

Berry Galette (Crostata)

My favorite restaurant in the world is Al Forno in Providence.  I went there as often as I could afford when I was in graduate school, and I try to go every time I get back to Providence (it's so popular, I once went there on Valentine's Day and was told there was a 5-hour wait!). The chef/owners at Al Forno invented grilled pizza; they serve an amazing baked pasta in pink sauce; the corn fritters alone in August make the 3 hour drive worth it.  The menu changes daily according to what's in season, and you have to order dessert at the same time as you order your meal.  Their signature dessert is their crostata - strawberries in the spring, apples in the winter, berries in the summer, and if you're very very lucky, white peach. Yumm....  This galette (i.e. crostata) uses the Al Forno dough, with a berry and lemon curd filling. If you're feeling extra indulgent, serve the galette in a pool of creme anglaise.

You'll have lots of extra lemon curd, but it tastes great with scones or fruit; or fold in some whipped cream for a light lemon mousse.  It lasts a few weeks in the fridge, and several months in the freezer.

My favorite thing about the galette:  it looks great (think rustic!), and is so much easier than a traditional pie.  So if you're scared of making pie dough from scratch, try this - you still have to roll it out, but no struggles to fit the dough perfectly into the pie plate and no fancy crimping required.

This was another recipe we covered in baking class.  Stay tuned for the students' final projects, they did great work!  Baked alaska, an orange and white chocolate Charlotte, Pierre Herme's plaisir sucre, macarons, Opera Cake, and so much more!! Pictures and recipes coming soon.

Brushing excess flour off dough

Lemon Poppyseed Cake with Toasted Almonds

(the inside looked pretty good at least!)

I know better than to frost a cake without chilling it long enough, especially when I plan to frost it with cream cheese frosting... especially when that frosting hasn't chilled long enough... but life gets in the way, and I do things that I shouldn't.  In the grand scheme of things, frosting a cake too early isn't really so bad on the list of things that I could do but should not, right?  It does, however, result in a leaning tower of cake which makes me panic and scramble to see what I can do to make it look a little better.  I made this cake right before Thanksgiving, and thought seriously about not sharing it with you since it's not the prettiest cake on the block, but it's so yummy that not sharing the recipe would just add to the list of things I did wrong here.

Seriously, cream cheese frosting is slippery!  These cake layers are rather large.  Not a good combination unless both cake and frosting are nice and chill(ed).