Pumpkin citrus cake

All this pumpkin's gotta get used somehow.

Streusel center
All measurements here are approximate
4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
4-5 Tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Chopped pecans
3 Tbsp cold butter

Mix all dry ingredients, crumble butter in, set aside.

Pumpkin Citrus Cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Dash of ground nutmeg and clove
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp orange extract
Dried cranberries (Aldi sells these fantastic orange-flavored cranberries that were PERFECT for this)

Preheat oven to 350F

Soak dried cranberries in Very Hot Water, just enough to cover them. Leave 'em soaking while you make the cake.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt together. Add pumpkin, butter, extracts and eggs - beat until smooth.

Drain cranberries (save the water) and place at the bottom of a well-greased pan. I used a Bundt pan, but there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to make an upside down cake with other fruits, maybe some candied orange peel or ginger (I love me some ginger), whatever you're into.

Pour about 2/3-3/4 of the batter on top of the cranberries--that streusel stuff has a way of going for the bottom of the pan like it's a race. Sprinkle the streusel center over this batter and spoon the remaining batter carefully over the streusel.

Bake for, I kid you not, about an hour. I've been experimenting with this recipe a few times and I'm yet to find an exact time. Baking it at 375F turns the edges too brown too quickly before the rest of the cake is done, and it's also a little hard to gauge because the streusel center stays rather moist and sticking a knife in to check for doneness is a bit misleading because of this. Whooooo, that was a busy sentence. If you make this, keep an eye on it after 45-50 minutes, make sure it's not getting burned, do the knife/toothpick thing if you must--some sticky on the knife is okay (the streusel), as long as you're not seeing blatant raw batter. And if you figure out a more accurate baking time, LET ME KNOWWWWWW, PLZ, THX.

It doesn't help that my oven's temperature likes to fluctuate any way it pleases.

Whenever it finally does come out of the oven, cool for about 20 minutes and flip onto a serving plate.

Glaze
(approximate)
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp orange extract
Water from the cranberry-soaking business earlier--strain any stray seeds

Combine sugar and orange, and then add the water, a few drops at a time, until easily stirred. You don't want it too runny, but not quite spread-like consistency. It's a GLAZE, you know what that's supposed to look like, right? Drizzle it over cake while the cake is still warm so it drips nicely.


Once the cake is cooled COMPLETELY, sprinkle about 1/2 a teaspoon of confectioner's sugar over it using a fine mesh sieve. This is just for added pretty (and added sugar), it's technically completely unnecessary.

This cake is awesome with coffee.

Chicken and Rice v2.0

Yeah, I got nothing on Kroger's baked chicken.

I made a different version of that other chicken and rice, in which I actually purchased uncooked chicken and marinated it and did my experimenting around with it for a while.

Let's see, what's in here... some red onion, parsley, ginger, garlic, lemon zest... added after the picture was taken - balsamic vinagrette, honey, lime juice, mustard, thyme, ponzu sauce... I don't know, I just raided my fridge and made it up as I went.

I left that in the fridge for a few hours, baked it, cubed it, decided I had used perhaps Way Too Much Onion and ended up making a very plain cream sauce (as opposed to the onion cream sauce in the post linked above). It was good, I guess. I mean, I'm glad I liked it, because I ended up making obscene amounts of it and have pretty much been eating nothing but for the last 4 days, but I'll take crispy, roasted chicken skin over skinless any day.

Reason/excuse = I actually made this for the pot luck at work and I wanted something that could easily and quickly be ladled onto a plate with minimum fuss. Thus the lack of bone and skin.

Pozole

I should make it a point to ALWAYS have pozole in my freezer, ready to defrost at the earliest sign of a craving.

All I had was a salad mix instead of plain lettuce, and I had no radish, and the only lime juice I had was frozen (Mexican grocery store sells limes at 10/$1. Sometimes I use 10 limes in one DAY, sometimes they sit in my fridge a while. If they start looking like I need to use them up, I juice them and freeze the juice in handy, single use ice cubes). And no salsa, so I had to use chipotle powder.

Not bad, though.

Chicken and rice

I have a thing for roasted chicken, and it borders on "unhealthy obsession."
Roasted chicken is pretty much perfect. A whole chicken costs barely more than a sub, and you can get something like 3-4 meals out of it (more like 2 meals for me, because, seriously, I LOVE roasted chicken).
We went to Kroger tonight and they had this huge 16-piece chicken thing for 8 bucks. Add to this the recent acquisition of a toaster oven, and dinner was on its way.
Chicken was baked for about 23 minutes at 325F (so the package instructed), and while that was happening I made some white rice with frozen corn thrown in. Since both of these things sort of cook themselves, I busied myself with making an onion cream sauce.

There are things I keep in my freezer to make lazy meals even easier than they already are. For example, I love parsley with a passion, but I never use an entire bunch before it starts going bad. So I dry it up as much as possible using paper towels, then finely chop it, blot out more moisture, and then store it in an airtight container in the freezer. When I need some, I bang the container on the counter a few times, shake it up, and it goes straight into whatever I'm cooking. Better than dried parsley.
(I also do this with cilantro)

Another thing I keep in the freezer is cubes of chicken or beef broth. The chicken ones are usually a result of a roasted chicken binge, when I take all the meat off the bones for the 2 picky eaters in the household, throw the bones in a pot with whatever peels/stems/leaves I have leftover when cleaning up vegetables for storage, and simmer over low heat for about an hour. The beef ones happen as a side effect of shredded meat for flautas or salpicon (which I'll probably post about eventually, but tonight is not the night).
I have 2 ice trays specifically for the purpose of freezing broth.

So, this onion cream sauce.
(I may or may not also have a thing for cream of-'s)
Roux drill - melt about a tablespoon of butter over low heat, add equal amount of flour and whisk until it dissolves, allow to cook for a bit until thick.
Then I started playing with it--added some milk... a few beef broth ice cubes, about half an envelope of onion soup/dip mix, some parsley from the freezer, some thyme (chicken + thyme = OTP). I just messed with it until it was the consistency and amount that I wanted.


I wish the end result had looked as pretty as it was tasty. For a half-assed meal thrown together out of things in my pantry/freezer and an impulse buy at Kroger, it was much better than it had any right to be.

Pumpkins

All over the internet you'll find pages advicing you that Jack-o-Lantern type pumpkins are not the kind you want to use for baking. Too stringy, no flavor, not sweet enough, blah, blah, blah.

Fact: IT'S FRESH PUMPKIN. I don't care how you look at it, it's still better than crap-in-a-can. Besides, it seems like such a waste.

Too stringy? Before you do anything with it, you have to bake and puree it. If your puree is stringy, You're Doing It Wrong.
No flavor? Were you planning on eating it by itself? You're weird.
Not sweet enough? Add more sugar to the dish, come on, people, this isn't rocket science.

I got a great run out of last year's pumpkin (read: about 3 gallons worth), and I didn't hear anyone complain about the cream-cheese filled, streusel topped, pumpkin/cranberry muffins.

I started out with a massive pumpkin that I had to bake in 3 different batches, and which produced as much puree as roughly 3 small houses. A good bit of it is stored in my freezer now, but I kept about half a gallon in the fridge to experiment a bit over the next couple of days.

Tonight I made a cream of pumpkin base, because I wanted to try savory and sweet versions (savory won, no contest), and a cranberry/citrus flan that sounded much better in print than it actually was. I mean, it was decent. If someone served that to me at their house I'd eat it and enjoy it. Just like I ate and enjoyed it tonight, but I probably won't be making it again.

Cream of Pumpkin
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Evaporated milk
Pumpkin puree
Salt
White pepper

Making a roux is easy stuff--melt butter over low heat, add equal amounts of flour, let it cook/dissolve/get creamy and thick. I had something like 1/4 cup evaporated milk in my fridge, so I used that, let it thicken again, and started adding pumpkin puree. I didn't measure it, but I probably added about 2 cups (maybe less), gradually. It seemed a bit too thick, so I added a bit more regular milk (probably another 1/4 cup or so). Salt/white pepper to taste, topped with fresh parsley. It was definitely more than decent, and if The Husband enjoyed Cream of- soups more I'd probably make it on a regular basis.

Tomorrow I might try to make pumpkin noodles. I've been wanting to try that for a while.

Unhealthy love for Ginger, brought to you by poor grammar

Powdered ginger has its place (the store's shelves), but nothing compares to the taste and smell of the fresh, grated, Real Thing.

That said, as much as I love the stuff, I just don't go through it quickly enough before it starts going South. And you know what I hate? The actual act of grating it, because my grater is tiny and lame, and more gets stuck in the little holes than what comes out through them.

Alas, not anymore.

I freeze my ginger. Shave the peel off, wrap it in a couple of layers of plastic wrap and a couple of layers of aluminum foil, and freeze those suckers. Then, when I need it, it's like shaving ice, and nothing gets stuck to the grater. In fact, I can even grate it with a butter knife.

This was one of the better epiphanies I've had while Not Spending Time In Barcelona.

And now, a picture of awesome ginger that does NOT belong in the freezer:

White chocolate cake with raspberry/almond filling and marshmallow fondant

For my 6th wedding anniversary this year I decided I had to recreate our actual wedding cake - Something white chocolate something something, raspberry/amaretto filling, something else.
That sounded about right and easy enough, but I also decided I wanted to experiment with fondant.
It was going to be glorious and I had big plans for this fondant involving black food coloring and skull sculpting (my anniversary's on Halloween), but I used liquid food coloring and at best that fondant turned a dark slate GRAY that wasn't doing the trick.
I ended up going in a completely different direction, white on white, using some fondant cutters my sister had acquired on a whim.


It turned out pretty, I guess. Not what I wanted or was going for visually, but flavor-wise it was actually pretty awesome. Unfortunately, my skull was not very photogenic.

Now, I don't drink anymore. Like, AT ALL. Amaretto was out of the question, but that doesn't mean YOU can't use Amaretto. Also, fair warning, this is The Most Elaborate thing I've EVER done in my kitchen.

White Chocolate Cake
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
~1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup half & half (or milk, if you must)
1/3 cup butter, softened (if you plan on using margerine or shortening, get the hell out of my blog)
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp almond extract
4 eggs, separate whites from yolks (room temperature)

When baking cakes, I tend to add just a tiny bit more butter and sugar. It's a moisture issue. Don't add too much, or leave it alone altogether if you don't know what you're doing.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

Melt chocolate and 1/4 cup of H&H--you can use a double boiler or the microwave, in 30 second intervals, until fully melted and smooth. As a general rule I sneer in the direction of microwaves, but honestly, it's just more effective at the white chocolate melting thing. Add remaining H&H, set aside to cool.

Beat butter on medium-high until softened and a little fluffy. Add sugar and almond extract, mix well.

Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating until combined after each one.

"I love dipshit cooking instructions like "add eggs, one at a time." Alright. How many hands do YOU have?"

Alternate adding the flour mix and the melted chocolate, beating on medium-low after each addition until just combined.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, and fold into cake batter.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or so, give or take.

***

I baked this in 2 8in. round pans, cooled them for 10 min. on a rack, then unmolded them to level them with a serrated knife. Once completely cooled, to prevent the raspberry filling from seeping and bleeding, I covered the top of what would be the bottom half and the bottom of the top half with a thin layer of buttercream icing, and made a sort of... what, well? Barrier? I'm sure there's an actual name for this--a border of the same icing all around the outer edge, to keep said filling from spilling out the sides once you put the other half of the cake on top. Does that even make sense? I should have taken pictures of the process.

Spoon filling inside "well," place other half of cake on top, and spread the entire thing with buttercream frosting--just a thin layer. This is a crumb layer and it doesn't have to look perfect, the name should give you a clue as to how it will look. Refrigerate for about an hour, and then you can give it a healthier layer of buttercream.

You could decorate the cake at this point, most people prefer buttercream anyway. If you want to continue on to fondant, let this thicker layer of buttercream set in the refrigerator for about an hour as well.

Raspberry filling
6 oz fresh raspberries (average store package)
2/3 cup water (I used juuuuust under this measurement, because I was going to add... almond extract. Or Amaretto, if that's your thing)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (I also used a pinch grated lemon peel, orange peel would be nice, too)
3 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

Combine raspberries, water, sugar, and lemon juice/peel in a saucepan and bring to a boil; simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Remove from heat, strain, and return to simmering.

Whisk the dissolved cornstarch into the mixture, bring back to a boil, and simmer for another 5 or so minutes, stirring every now and then.

Remove from heat, add almond extract, and cool completely, giving it an occasional stir until it thickens to an almost jelly-like consistency. You'll probably have more than you need, but that's a good thing.

Buttercream frosting
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening.... look, I know what I said, but shortening helps buttercream stand higher temperatures, and besides, this frosting was only going to be used as a primer here. Stop looking at me that way.
1/2 tsp almond extract (you can use vanilla, but I wanted to stay with the theme)
2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 Tbsp milk

Cream butter and abomination together, add almond extract, and gradually add the sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time. It's okay if it looks a little on the dry side--once it's all mixed, add the milk and then beat until fluffy. Keep it covered with a damp towel until use or it will crust.

And then.......... the fondant.

Tara has a FANTASTIC tutorial on this here, complete with recipe, pictures and techniques.

I've never actually tasted regular rolled fondant, but I know it's got a bad rep. This stuff is actually kind of delicious, if a little sweet. I added almond extract here again--honestly, you'd think it would be overpowering at some point, but it really wasn't.

It's also worth noting that I made the fondant the night before, because they say it's easier to work with if it's had time to rest. I have to say this was one of the most FUN substances I've ever worked with in the kitchen. This recipe made more than twice what I needed to cover this cake, by the way.



Enjoy.

Welcome

As with every project I start, there is always the possibility that this will be no more than a flash in the pan. Pun is probably intended.

I cook a lot, I like to feed people, I like to make up stuff in the kitchen, and more often than not these experiments are successful.

Drop a line, tell your friends, and stop by for a meal if you're in the area.