STRAWBWERRY BUTTERMILK CAKE ~ SMITTEN KITCHEN

I had a moment of alarm when I got up two mornings after I had made butter ~ and buttermilk. I had the need to make something out of it quickly. I knew the feeling of regret that would sink in if I finished the butter before it had a chance to be a part of something bigger.

So off I went in raid of Smitten Kitchen's kitchen in search of a buttermilk cake. And I found it ~ a  raspberry buttermilk or 'any fruit' cake. I decided to add a generous cup of ground almonds to Deb's recipe. I loved the way it turned out. 

Over the years I have come to learn to decipher recipes. I know a cake is moist by looking at the proportion of sugar in regards to the rest of the ingredients, particularly flour. The more sugar there is in the recipe the more moist the cake will be because as the cake bakes the sugar turns to syrup. Unfortunately that also leads to teeth rot.

Too much butter, on the other hand, makes the cake greasy (denser and heavier) rather than moist so that you swivel to reach for a napkin to wipe your oil slicked fingers and lips with (if your fork went missing).

So in my book ground nuts make the perfect medium for adding that extra moistness and richness to a cake without the threat of wincing sugary-ness or slick greasiness because the oils from the nuts remain in the nuts and does not seep completely into the cake making the cake softly moist, delightfully crumbly and airy, while the addition of an extra non-sweet ingredient cuts through the sugar to make the cake subtly sweet.

What I also liked about this recipe was that it required only one egg. It was just enough to hold the cake daintily together. 

In nine words ~This recipe goes into my Greedy Book of Cakes.

This simple recipe had also produced the kind of cake that I like the look of ~ a cake that requires no adornment because I can always pass it off as rustic, charmingly  rough-hewn and with amusing sink holes. The last, definitely a giggling point.

What a pity the strawberries turned pale as the cake baked. But the cake was deliciously moist. 

This is a cake I will make again and again. Next time with kalaedoscopic bits of tutti frutties on top. Along with a little prayer that they don't all sink in.

The recipe ~ adapted from Smitten Kitchen

This is supposed to be a very thin cake. The recipe called for a 9 inch pan. I used an 8 inch pan. 

1 cup (130 gm) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup of ground almonds
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick (56 gm) butter, softened
2/3 cup (146 gm) plus 1 1/2 T sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (optional) (I opted out)
1 large egg
1/2 cup well shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries or any fruit ( I used strawberries)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Whisk together sifted flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a bowl. Add the ground almonds and mix well. Keep aside. 

Beat softened butter and 2/3 cup of sugar until pale and creamy and light with an electric mixer. Add vanilla and egg and mix well.

At low speed mix in flour/almond mixture in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk and ending with the flour. Spoon into cake pan and spread evenly. Arrange fruits on top as you like and sprinkle the 1 1/2 tablespoon of sugar over the top evenly.


Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

BACK TO BASICS ~ HOME MADE BUTTER

This is a truly inspired post. Inspired by the talented Quinn of  Quinn's Baking Diary. Quinn has not blogged about this yet but she had facebooked it. 

I was smitten and so were many of her facebook friends. And I promised her I would make this since over beating is in my nature. Indeed if there is anything that I will over beat to a hilt and without a quiver of guilt in the future it will surely be cream.

Yes Ma'am. When I had created the butter I felt like a little Miss Dairy Queen who had just milked a cow and who lives on a farm with plenty of know-how.

Some of us, like me, after some googling, will know that cream is the butterfat-rich part that rises to the top of non homogenized cow's milk. It is not made. It is, in the words of www.ochef.com, "an ur-ingredient if you will." "It is not the product of another recipe, it is a naturally occurring food that you cannot make yourself." Like chicken livers, salt and apples" says he.

But butter is something else. Butter is made the way I just did. By over whipping or over beating cream. 

When I had made the butter, the butter made me ~ a little Dairy Quinn.

The Recipe ~ by Quinn of Quinn's Baking Diary

Whip whipping cream. Then, over whip it.

Like magic, the cream will first look as light and as fluffy as a cloud, and then it will go on to become curdly and quite, quite ugly and when, finally, it splits completely, a little like magic again, you will be very pleased to see a solid hump of yellow butter swimming in some swishy, skinny milk which, by the way, is what is called buttermilk. 

You'll be laughing and moo-hooing all the way to the refrigerator. Because you have not just made butter but buttermilk too. Moo-hoo.

Drain the buttermilk from the butter in a sieve and rinse the butter under the tap or by pouring filtered water over it. Pat dry gently with a paper towel. Pat into a suitably sized bowl and keep both butter and buttermilk in the refrigerator.

The after effects of making butter ~

I had a conversation with myself ~

Me : I wonder how long it will keep before it turns rancid? 

Me :  I don't think it'll sit around long enough for you to find out.

Me : And you know what? 

Me : What?

Me : It tastes just like butter! 

Me : Heck.... it is butter.

Me : I still can't believe I've made butter. 

Me : Aren't you're such a clever old cow. Moo-hoo.


Thank you Dairy Quinn. xoxo


Do you always buy a 1 litre box of whipping cream because it's cheaper than buying the smaller 250 ml packs? I do. Only now I know what I'll do with the cream that's always left over after I use part of it. Make butter. Would you?

CREAMED CORN ~ CHUCK'S DAY OFF

 What would we do without passion? I suppose we would exist simply because we do. What kind of persons would we become? Without passion, without desire, without wants that rise above needs and necessities? What kind of persons would we become if we denied ourselves some space and self interest? What kind of persons would we be if we exist wholly for the service and for the pleasure of others or of something? What kind of persons would we be if everything we feel, think and do becomes a duty? Becomes controlled?

We would be persons without passion. We would be mechanical. We would be essentially inhuman. We would live a life devoid of desire, a life lacking of love, an existence empty of empathy and most of all we would be creatures without quirks and impulses, without intuition, without sensibilities, without meaning and without life.

Therefore I quirk. Therefore I make no excuses for impulses that make me do or say or write nonsensical things at nonsensical moments with nonsensical excuses. Sometimes. For making nouns verbs or verbs nouns. For thinking aloud. For clowning around. For making creamed corn. For stringing nonsensical sentences that have no meaning singly or apart. For using words like singly. For following my mind into it's crevices and it's dark turns, for squishing it here and there to test its limits, for agreeing to boggle myself and others, for letting it flow, for letting it go, with the flow, for letting it work without me or me without it. Like when I made creamed corn. A mindless recipe by an impassioned chef ~ Chuck.

Gapped-toothed, springy as a lamb and earnest - Chuck Hughes, with a holey moley basking on his cheek. He made a mindless creamed corn, passionately, and made me desire it too. It was zealously creamy, savoury and delicious. It was passionately umami-ed.

Fresh raw corn is sweet and crunchy and I love nibbling at it raw. The sugar in the corn is sensitive to temperature. So in order to keep the sugar as sugar, buy corn still in their husks, refrigerate them (in their husks) as soon as you arrive home otherwise it will turn to tasteless starch if you leave it lying around too long in a warm room.

Another way I prepare corn is to steam them (shucking just before putting them into the steamer when the water comes to a rolling boil), when cooked, I swipe butter over the cob while still pretty warm, sprinkle some salt all over and sink my teeth in. Juicy. The best. But whichever way you eat corn it's best if it's sweet. So buy fresh with the husks on and keep cool (pun not intended).

Here's the recipe by Chuck Hughes ~


3 ears corn 
1 cup whipping cream
1-2 T butter
Coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper


Husk and slice of the corn off the cob. Place in a medium pot. Add 1 cup of whipping cream. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens, is reduced by half and the corn kernels have plumped up.


Add the butter, salt and pepper. Serve. Juicy!

The result was utterly still sweet corn in a delicious creamy sauce. The best creamed corn I have ever tasted. The family just loved it. Thanks to Chuck and his grandma.

PS ~ The photographs were taken at different times of the morning. I had a hard time. 

Dear Sun, Clouds....dear God,  Peek-a-boo is not fun.

COMING BACK SOON ~

My apologies for the gaping silence since my last post. I offer no excuses because there are simply too many. And too much excitement too. I have been doing things. Some of which I have not been doing since some thirty odd years ago. Because.... I have been doing things with my grandchildren. The list is long ~

~ Shopping

~ Cuddling

~ Cuddling

~ Cuddling

~ a whole day's ride and fright at the amusement park 

~ cuddling

~ bowling

~ cuddling

~ ice skating
~ cuddling

And......... before they leave next week we plan another hair raising afternoon at an indoor amusement park.

Yes... days have been filled with much amusement and it has been a hands on affair. And in the words of my 11 year old granddaughter N, "It was horribly fun". But thank god they have uncles too. 

I will be back soon. Promise. I have some great recipes that I can't wait to share and perhaps a giveaway too. 

Thank you to those of you who have commented and emailed to ask after me. You know who you are. And to those of you who have been visiting in my absence. Blogging ......it's sweet :):):)

Happy Days and Much Love,

Zurin