September Recipe - Pancakes!

Because I recently ate one of the largest pancakes I have ever seen in my life, and because Sarah is hungry for breakfast... we are making pancakes this month! 


Sarah picked our theme since pancakes are easy, and there are endless options. "Sourdough? Whole Wheat? Berry? Banana? There are so many crazy things you can do with pancakes!" says Sarah. 


Your task - make an amazing pancake. Dress up a box mix, or try those yeasted pancakes you have been reading about. Try posting your creations by the last week of the month. 

Photo by M - The Tractor Room, San Diego

August Recipe : Summer Berry Trifle

Because it is summer, and because I can't resist berries, this month's recipe is a Trifle. I have included one recipe from Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, Ethnic and Regional Recipes from the Cooks for you to follow, or you are more than welcome to create your own, or use your favorite recipe. The recipe below comes from the British Isles by Tom Walsh and is described as a "Proper Trifle" (because all things british are proper). 

If you don't use the recipe, remember trifles can be made with sponge cake or pound cake, layered with whipped cream or custard, and your choice of macerated fruits. Bake the pound cake from scratch - or from your favorite box - just let us know which. 


Can't wait to see all of your creations (and sorry for the late post!) If you need additional time to post this month's recipe feel free to post the first week of September. 


Enjoy!


A Proper Trifle
from Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, Ethnic and Regional Recipes from the Cooks


A Proper Custard
1 1/2 C heavy cream
5 egg yolks
3 T superfine or granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch


Cake/Fruit Layer
5 C broken pieces pound cake or sponge cake
raspberry jam
1/8-1/4 C sherry
1 1/2 C fresh (or frozen) raspberries or blackberries
1 large banana


Topping
1/2 pint heavy cream, whipped
1/4 C slivered almonds, lightly toasted


To make the custard, heat the cream in a small saucepan, taking care that it does not scorch. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch in a bowl. When the cream is hot, pour it into the bowl with the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Return the custard to the saucepan and stir constantly on low heat until thickened, but do not let it boil (*see my note below). Remove it from the heat and cool. 


To assemble the trifle, spread the pieces of cake with a thin layer of jam.  Put the pieces in a large bowl. (Clear glass or crystal is traditional.) Sprinkle the sherry and berries over the cake and stir. Don't bother to thaw the frozen berries ; theres less mess if they're still frozen. Peel and thinly slice the banana. Stir it in with the cake and berries. Drizzle the custard over the top. Don't expect to cover and completely encase the cake and fruit mix. 


Spread the whipped cream over the trifle. Sprinkle the almonds on top. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours. 


A british trifle differs from the American version with only one layer of cake and fruit mixed together. Feel free to assemble however you like substituting fruits in season and available to you. 




*Note: When cooking your custard, don't overcook it on the stovetop. Remove it from the heat as soon as it starts to thicken like pudding. This step usually happens quickly so keep an eye on it! 


Some links to fantastic pound cakes:
Paula Deen (where large amounts of butter are accepted!)
Ina Garten's Lemon Pound Cake (who says you can't have lemon?)
Buttermilk Pound Cake, All Recipes

This cake is special. I finally had a chance make the cake yesterday and was completely pleased with the results. We have two in the family that are not crazy about ginger, but even they enjoyed the cake. The flavors worked nicely together: the ginger and the caramel sauce. The fresh ginger was pleasant, not overwhelming. The cake was exceptionally moist. The caramel was lovely and I will make it again for a topping on other recipes. This cake deserves to be shown off and I look forward to serving this for dinner guests in the future!

Ginger Cake!

The recipe for this cake was mouthwatering just to read it. I can only imagine how wonderful this dessert must be from the original restaurant. The recipe, though it had a lot of ingredients, was easy to follow and made for a very tasty batter! I brought my friend Amy along for the ride on the day I decided to make it. So while we discussed life matters, we baked! It was a fun afternoon.

The cake turned out well and tasted great. Our only tragedy of the day was not watching the carmel closely. It took a very long time to reach the appropriate temperature and I knew we should watch it closely when the temperature began to rise, but we got busy talking and before we knew it, it was black. We were both heart broken! But, that was solved with a plate of cake. I probably disgraced the cake's creator by adding store-bought carmel as the topping, but it was still delicious! It will definitely be my birthday cake in October!

Ginger Cake!

I made the ginger cake and liked it very much! Thanks for another great recipe! Check out my full post on the Lovely Lady Baker blog.

Chow's Ginger Cake

As always, I start to make the recipes from the cOven with some trepidation, and this one as much as any – probably because it was an attempt to recreate a particular dessert from a particular restaurant – and one that had been showered with glowing praise.

And I had decided that I was going to attempt to make it gluten-free, as my partner is a bit wheat-intolerant. Plus, since corn syrup is hard to find in Australia, I was going to substitute golden syrup and use whatever molasses I could find. (In the end, I think it may have been blackstrap after all, after the recipe advised not to use that!).

I had intended to cook this earlier in the week, but when we decided to have a lovely dinner at home on Friday night, it seemed the perfect dessert after home-made prawn cutlets, and roast chicken and vegies for main.

It was easy to make, though I found the order of doing some things intriguing. I had to cook it a bit longer than suggested, possibly because of the gluten-free flour, or the fact that my oven is getting old.

And it was delicious. The two types of ginger and other spices made it a bit sharp, set off by the caramel sauce. I didn’t have the energy for making the special cream (nor does my waistline need it either!) We had it with natural yoghurt – which also worked really well!

It was really great. My partner said that he thought it was really lovely too!

And there is more for dessert tonight & tomorrow!

Best of Intentions

Well, there I was, almost 38 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good. Looking forward to making a fabulous ginger cake to take to a friend's dinner party this weekend. It was going to be great.

...and then...last night...I sneezed. And all my hopes were dashed.

Turns out I pulled a muscle in my back, if you can believe it. Who does that? Apparently pregnant women in their 38th week do that, all the time. And so the ginger cake, I'm afraid, is not going to be made this month. I can barely breathe deeply; never mind trying to whip and mix and bake a 3 component cake. Sigh.

But I've been so very delinquent in my blogging in the last couple months, despite the fact that I've been baking! So I thought that my time recuperating from my fateful sneeze could be spent blogging about baked goods passed. So here we go...

May: Free For All

I made April's recipe for my freebie.
Check out my fruit tart!

This was my very first fruit tart ever. And I was really pleased with the recipe. It was very straight forward and almost fool-proof. What amazed me was how quickly the pastry cream turned from soupy to custard. I looked away for a second, and there it was. Yum.

I was a bit intimidated by the idea of arranging the fruit, but I think it turned out pretty well. And well, as my mom always says, it all tastes the same in your stomach!

June: Crepes

For the first time in a while, Jay and I were able to wake up late on a Saturday morning. And it was a beautiful Saturday morning, for that matter. So obviously, it was the perfect opportunity to make a special breakfast: Spinach, portabello mushroom and gruyere crepes and dessert crepes with varying combinations of strawberries, honey-sweetened ricotta cheese and nutella. Dessert after breakfast--can't beat that.