Blueberry lemon curd cake

I made this cake for my friend's BBQ. It didn't last long!  Instead of the lemon cream I used lemon curd and it was what made the cake. I got a little confused by this recipe and ended up reading it wrong and not baking enough cake to make all 4 layers, so I suggest doubling this recipe and baking it in two 9-inch pans, then cutting each one in 2 to yield 4 layers.

Blueberry Lemon Curd Cake
Adapted from Lu Lu's Sweet Secrets


Cake Ingredients: (makes 1/2 the cake- double this recipe for 2 cakes/ 4 layers once cut)

• 1 1/2 cups flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 large egg whites, room temperature
• 2 cups fresh Blueberries

Lemon Curd Recipe Here

Whipped Cream Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavycream, cold
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two 9" cake pans.
Mix flour, b powder, and salt in small bowl, set aside.
Mix 1/4 cup of the sugar, milk, oil, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest in, bowl set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer beat egg whites until foamy then slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, beat until the eggs hold stiff peaks.
Fold half the flour mixture into milk mixture, then fold in 1/3 of the egg whites, then more flour, then whites and flour two more times until all folded in.
Add blueberries and divide the batter between the 2 prepared pans.
Bake for 30 minutes and test the center with a toothpick.
Add addition time in 3 min intervals until toothpick comes out clean.

Make lemon curd while cake is baking.

Once cake layers are completely cool you can cut each in half horizontally and spread the cooled lemon curd between each layer.

Make the whipped cream by beating the cream until it starts to stiffen.
Add the 10x sugar and vanilla and beat until it is firm.

The whipped cream gets dumped on top of the cake and then with a long off-set knife grab some from the top and apply to the sides. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, leave it a little lumpy and rustic.

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

Yes it is going to be the hottest day of the year according to meteorologists. And yes I made a cake, biscuits, and lemon curd this morning. But I did it before it got really hot and I used a box fan to blow all of the hot air out of the kitchen.

I made some herbed biscuits the other day and realized they are are really easy and require very few ingredients. I am going to a BBQ tonight so I made these little savory bite-sized guys to bring along with my blueberry cake, which I still have to assemble and ice.

In between all of the baking and cooking (I'm making a salad too but thankfully there's nothing to cook there) I am lounging in Jenn's blow-up baby pool. Pool party at Jenn's!!

This recipe comes from Zoom Yummy. I used buttermilk instead of regular milk and added in about 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese and sprinkled some on top for fun. I accidentally put in 1/2 teaspoon of garlic when the recipe called for 1/2 tablespoon- that's what you get for not reading carefully.

Ingredients:

1 cup ap flour
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp b powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 stick cold butter- cut in pieces

1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat oven to 400, spray mini muffin pans and set aside.
Combine all dry ingredients, set aside.
Chop butter in small pieces and cut into dry ingredients with pastry cutter until the butter is incorporated into the flour in small pea-sized pieces.
Add buttermilk and cheeses and mix with spatula until dough ball forms.
Work quickly and don't touch the dough too much with your hands or you'll melt the butter.
Turn the dough ball out onto your floured counter and roll into a log with your hands- work quickly.
Cut the dough into walnut -sized pieces and then roll each one in a ball with your hand and place directly into the sprayed muffin tin.
I used 1 1/4 muffin tins.
Sprinkle the tops with some parmesan if you like and bake for about 20 mins.
Mine didn't get as brown as the ones in the picture of the original recipe but I didn't want them to get dry so I took them out.

Black Pepper and Herb Biscuits

Why did I feel like making biscuits? Well I've never made them before so I thought I'd give it a shot. I ran out of buttermilk so I used a combo of 2% milk and heavy cream and I added fresh rosemary, chives, and thyme from my garden. Because I didn't use the right milk my biscuits were a little runny and after I formed them they baked together as one big cake biscuit, I just cut them apart once they cooled.

This recipe comes from Ode To Goodness. The directions are really easy to understand and are basically the same way you make scones.

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground pepper
handful of fresh herbs

1 1/2 cups cold buttermilk

Method:

With a rack in the middle of the oven, heat to 500 degrees. Spray a 9 inch cake pan with non-stick spray. Set aside. Also, grab a 1/4 cup measure and spray it inside and out with non-stick spray, you’ll use it to portion out the biscuits and that will help the dough to slip out easily.
Spread one cup of flour onto a rimmed baking sheet to toss the biscuits in later. Set aside.
Mix the remaining two cups of flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, pepper, and herbs in a bowl to combine. Add the butter and cut it in with 2 forks until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and mix lightly with a rubber spatula until the mixture is just combined. Do not over mix. It should be a little lumpy.
Working quickly, measure out a leveled 1/4 cup of the dough in your greased measuring cup. Drop the biscuits onto the floured rim baking sheet. Continue until you have no more dough. Sprinkle some flour from the baking sheet on top of each biscuit. Roll the biscuit in the flour, pick it up and form into a ball by passing it from each had to the other, kind of like your playing hot potato (remember that game?). By doing so, you’ll shape it and get rid of excess flour. Place the dough into the cake pan, arranging 9 biscuits around the perimeter and then filling in the middle with the last three.
Bake the biscuits for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 450 and bake for another 15 minutes, or until nice and golden brown. Cool the biscuits in the pan for two minutes then flip them out onto a clean kitchen towel, then flip them right side up. Break them apart and let cool for 5 more minutes.

Whole Wheat Orange Olive Oil Rosemary Muffins

From a random fruity cake recipe- that looked delicious- I was inspired to make this muffin. I was just going to bake the cake in muffin tins, with peaches or something, but muffins with fruit in them don't hold up more than a couple of days in the fridge. They start to get soft and mushy from the water in the fruit.

The inspiration came from The Eccentric Cook's apricot breakfast cake. Interestingly enough, I just read an article in Lucky Peach Magazine about how terrible the commercially grown apricots that are available to us taste compared to the ones they have in Europe and Asia. Ours look really pretty but are completely tasteless. So I got rid of the fruit all together, backed off on the sugar, used half whole wheat flour, olive oil instead of butter, OJ and milk instead of just milk, and threw in some rosemary from my garden to compliment the orange. Also, I have perfected the baking temp to get the ultimate crusty muffin.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup OJ
1/2 cup milk
zest from 2 oranges
zest and juice from 1 lemon
big handful of brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups ap flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt

big handful of fresh rosemary, chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 450, grease 12 cup muffin pan.
Mix all wet ingredients in one bowl and all dry in another bowl.
Add dry to wet and stir til almost combined.
Add rosemary and mix the rest of the way.
Pour batter into muffin pan and bake on 450 for 7 minutes.
Turn oven down to 375 and bake about 8 more minutes, until muffins are done in the middle- check with a knife.

Twice Baked Parmesan Shortbread

I haven't made shortbread for a while. This recipe looked really good so I combined it with a parmesan shortbread recipe by adding 1/2 cup parmesan and extra salt and black pepper. They came out prety good but next time I want try it with chocolate shortbread. Mmmmmmm ....

Ingredients:

11 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and still warm
5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup parmesan

Method:

In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar vanilla and salt. Add the flour and cheese and mix until just incorporated. Pat the dough evenly into a foil-lined 8 inch square pan. Let it rest for at least 2 hours or overnight (no need to refrigerate).

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 300F. Bake the shortbread for 45 minutes.

Remove pan from oven, leaving the oven on. Let the shortbread cool for 10 minutes.

Remove shortbread from pan and cut it into oblong "fingers" or squares. Sprinkle with more parmesan cheese. Place the pieces slightly apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for another 15 minutes. Cool on a rack before storing.

Muffin Thursday: Lemon Thyme Date Muffins

These are really excellent muffins. The recipe was for a loaf cake but I didn't feel like waiting that long for them to bake so I made muffins instead. Plus they're easier to share this way. :-)

This recipe comes from The Dinner Vine. I changed the whole eggs to yolks and the original recipe called for blackberries but I used dates instead.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
3 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp chopped, FRESH thyme
2 cups chopped dates
1/4 cup 2% milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup extra virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare muffin pan with papers.
In small bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, soda, salt, set aside.
In another bowl combine eggs, lemon zest, and sugar, beating well.
Add vanilla.
Beat in milk.
Add oil, gradually, mixing until incorporated.
Add dry ingredients, only stirring lightly.
Now gently stir in dates and thyme until combined.
Bake in muffin pan for about 20 min or until they bounce back to the touch.

Red Velvet Cake a la The Cheesecake Factory

A friend asked me to make him a red velvet cake. Of course I started searching recipes on taste spotting and food gawker, looking for a recipe first based on the pictures of the cake and then the ease of the recipe and the availability of ingredients. But this weekend someone told me that the best red velvet cake they've ever had came from The Cheesecake Factory of all places. I've never even been there but I hear that it's pretty generic food and the menu is overwhelmingly large. The only thing I know about that place is that there is never less than a mile-long line at the one in the King of Prussia Mall and Chris Rock once said that his favorite sandwich is their shrimp and bacon sandwich. That sounds so gross. Anyway, I googled this cake and of course someone has broken it down for me and duplicated it.

I should have known that it is a red velvet cake with a cheesecake layer in the middle (duh- it's from The Cheesecake Factory). Then it gets a cream cheese icing and voila- Elias Grimm's own personal heaven. I decided to bake this before this Wed/Thurs 105 degree heat wave we're about to get when the oven will be shut down until further notice. Marie has declared- "cooktop and bbq cooking only- no oven Sam".

This recipe comes from Recipe Girl. I've never made a cheesecake before so this was new for me. Turns out they are incredibly easy. A little more expensive with all the cream cheese, heavy cream, and sour cream that I usually buy fresh for each recipe, but this is a special cake so I made an exception.

The only thing that I changed for this recipe was to use all egg yolks instead of whole eggs. However I left the original recipe alone and pasted it below with the whole eggs. I also used a gel food coloring instead of the bottled liquid kind listed below.



Cheesecake Layer Ingredients:

Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Red Velvet Cake Layer Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup (two 1-ounce bottles) red food coloring
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted lightly to remove any lumps
Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Prepare the cheesecake layer: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place a large roasting pan on the lower third rack of the oven. Place a kettle of water on the stove to boil. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Wrap a double layer of foil around the bottom and up the sides of the pan (you want to seal it so the water from the water bath doesn't seep into the pan). In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to mix the cream cheese- blend until it is nice and smooth and creamy. Mix in sugar and salt and blend for 2 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, blending after each addition. Finally, mix in sour cream, whipping cream and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Set the pan into the roasting pan in the pre-heated oven. Carefully pour the hot water from your kettle into the roasting pan (it will fill the pan surrounding the cheesecake). Pour enough water so that there is about an inch of water coming up the foil along the sides of the cheesecake pan. Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes. It should be set to the touch and not jiggly. Remove the cheesecake from the roasting pan and let it cool on a wire rack for at least an hour. When it has cooled, place the pan into the freezer and let the cheesecake freeze completely. This can be done in several hours- or overnight.

2. Prepare the cake layers: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round metal baking pans (or spray with nonstick baking spray with flour). In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar to the flour mixture. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat for 1 minute, until blended. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pans, dividing equally. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pans, then invert cakes onto a rack to cool completely.

3. Prepare the frosting: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla until it is smooth and creamy (do not overbeat).

4. Assemble the cake: Place one cake layer into the center of a cake plate or platter. Remove the cheesecake from the freezer, take off the sides of the pan, and slide a knife under the parchment to remove the cheesecake from the pan. Peel off the parchment. Measure your cheesecake layer against the cake layers. If the cheesecake layer turns out to be a slightly larger round than your cake, move it to a cutting board and gently shave off some of the exterior of the cheesecake to get it to the same size as your cake layers. Place the cheesecake layer on top of the first cake layer. Place the 2nd cake layer on top of the cheesecake.

5. Frost the cake: Apply a crumb coat layer to the cake- use a long, thin spatula to cover the cake completely with a thin and even layer of frosting. Be sure to wipe off your spatula each time you are about to dip it back into the bowl to get more frosting (this way you won't be transferring any red crumbs into the bowl of frosting). Don't worry at this point about the crumbs being visible in the frosting on the cake. When your cake has a thin layer of frosting all over it, place it into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to "set" the frosting. Once the first layer of frosting is set, apply the 2nd layer. Start by adding a large scoop of frosting onto the top of the cake. Use a long, thin spatula to spread the frosting evenly across the top and then spread it down the sides of the cake too. Because you applied a crumb-coat layer, you shouldn't have any red crumbs floating around in the final frosting layer. Decorate, as desired.

*A little chocolate ganache drizzled around the edge never hurt!!*

Denver Brownies

For Father's Day dinner with the fam: David Leibovits's absolutely best brownie recipe with cream cheese icing and then chocolate ganache on top. My mom used to make these brownies at the bakery and she called them Denver Brownies. The flavor combo is pretty distinct and completely amazing.

My Dad likes just a little bit of chocolate for dessert so this was the perfect father's day treat for him. I got the brownie recipe from Thyme For Cooking.

I changed the recipe a little by using all yolks instead of whole eggs and I left my walnuts raw instead of toasting them.

Brownie Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare an 8x8 baking pan with tin foil and cooking spray.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the chocolate, stir until melted and then remove from the heat, don't burn the chocolate.
Add the sugar and vanilla and stir them in.
Add the egg and stir for 30 secs.
Add the flour and stir like crazy for one minute until batter gets smooth and shiny.
Add walnuts and stir to combine.
Pour into pan and flatten down with spatula.
Bake for about 30 minutes, a few crumbs will still stick to a knife inserted in the center. It will set at it cools.
Once the brownies have cooled completely you can spread a layer of Cream Cheese Icing and then a layer of Chocolate Ganache on top.

Cream Cheese Icing Recipe

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

Sunday morning pancakes!! This recipe comes from The Little Red House.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons sugar
3 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/8 cup wheat germ
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Water to thin batter

Method:

Mix all dry ingredients (2nd paragraph), set aside.
Mix all wet ingredients (1st paragraph).
Add dry to wet and mix just to combine.
Add water enough to thin the batter to thick soup consistency.
Heat and butter pancake griddle and ladle out your tester pancake, once it really starts to cook you can ladle the rest.

Potato Chip Cookies

I actually got this recipe from the Martha Stewart Living magazine but you can find it on her website as well. I forgot to put the nuts in and I didn't buy a big enough bag of chips so I had to use some tortilla chips as well.

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

4 cups coarsely crushed salted potato chips (about 10 ounces), divided

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375.
Mix flour, b soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugars in the mixer for about 2 minutes then add vanilla and eggs one at a time until just mixed.
Add the flour mix to the butter in 2 additions while mixer is off and get ready for flour to spray everywhere.
Add about half of the chips and mix just til combined.
Take tablespoon-sized balls of dough and roll them in the other half of the crushed potato chips and spread them between 3 baking sheets.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until brown.

I also put chocolate chips on one of the trays just to see how that would taste. Next time I want to put sea salt in the chips that you roll the dough in to make them extra salty.