Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Happy Life Cake

A healthier white cake with seasonal fruit and homemade whipped cream
Alright yall. Listen up if you want to read a story about the "Happy Life" cake.

I've made two of these cakes in the past month. I made Happy Life cake #1 (aka HL1) at like 12 am during a party in Doylestown, then brought it to Philly. I made HL2 in Philadelphia and brought it to a party in Doyestown where we ate it at 12am. HL1 was made with blueberry compote filling, and HL2 was made with fig compote filling.

This is .... a creative cake. No oil, no butter.

For the cake:
  • 1.5 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup whole yogurt (I used vanilla, but plain is fine)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp packed lemon zest (grated finely... about 1.5 lemons will probably do the job)
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup pear butter (or whatever fruit butter is fine... shout out to friends that live around Medford, NJ... I guess this pear butter is from there)
  1. Mix well together the flour, salt, and baking powder
  2. Whisk yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, pear butter, and vanilla until well blended
  3. Gradually add the dry mix, don't over beat
  4. Pour into whatever baking apparatus you want. Just make sure you grease it up with some kind of fat (I used butter.)
Here are some not-necessarily helpful quips:

  • Ordered from most effective to lease effective pan lubricants: Crisco, lard, butter, spray canola, margarine, canola oil spread with a paper towel, olive oil, grease drippings from your cheesesteak.
  • Note about pan choice: a loaf type pan would probably be great for this since it's a heavy cake, but I used two cake pans. The cake came out thin, but I didn't mind. This cake doesn't really fluff up a whole lot. I could probably change that with amount of levants and whipping the egg whites, but I didn't this time. Just a warning to any of yall who like vertically volumous cakes. Volumous is a word now.

Now for the filling:
Compotes are easy and beautiful to make. No seriously, have you ever watched a pan full of blueberries liquidize before your eyes? You've never seen a prettier indigo. The thing with compotes is that when you mix up fruit, water, sugar, and heat, you'll get a soupy, fruity sauce. Once you let it cool a bit, it will congeal. Why does this happen? Well, there's this naturally
occurring chemical compound in fruit called pectin. Now, honestly, chemistry was never my strong subject. But here's my best guess: Empirical evidence leads me to suggest that heating up fruit isolates the natural fruit pectin. When you add sugar, this must enhance the binding agents of the pectin, because fruits with low pectin require more sugar for jamming and jelling. Then, when the substance cools (and all the heat-energy excited molecules stop vibrating quite so vigorously) the pectin binds the molecules of fruit together. And wohala! Gelatinous! If anyone has a better scientific explanation, PLEASE comment.

Whoa. So THAT tangent aside, here's what you do:
  1. Pick your fruit, and use about 2 cups of it
  2. For larger fruits, slice and dice. For berries and such, skip this step
  3. Throw into a large pan with some water. You're looking for a thin layer of water around the fruits.
  4. Heat on medium heat until the fruit starts to break down.
  5. Once the fruit gets kinda mushy, it's helpful to mash it up a bit with a potato masher or something similar.
  6. Bring to a par boil.
  7. Add about 3/4 c. sugar or 1/2 c. honey, and two pinches of salt. (For the figs, I used sugar and a drop of molasses.)
  8. Bring to a boil. Let it bubble for a minute or two.
  9. Remove from heat and let it cool completely.
  10. Gelatinous fruit should be your prize. Watch this to understand how to pronounce "gelatinous"

Now for the composition of the cake, and the frosting:

  1. Wait until the gelatinous fruit has cooled and congealed.
  2. Layer cake with fruit compote in the middle.
  3. Whip the heavy whipping cream in a perfectly clean bowl. You can do this by hand or with a mixer. If you do it by hand... don't stir it like batter, beat it like you're making scrambled eggs. Tip from a culinary friend says, 'you actually have to beat the air into the cream'
  4. Once peaks have formed, either drizzle 1/4 c. of honey in and stir gently to blend, or add 1/2 c. of powdered sugar and stir gently to blend
  5. Slather on the whipped topping once the cake is fully cooled. Keep in the fridge until you're ready to serve... otherwise any sort of warm day will melt your frosting!
Alright, and voila that's the happy life cake!

I have to admit, the first time we tried this cake it tasted pretty good (blueberry cake). But I made a few adjustments the second time (the plum cake), and I don't know if anyone remembers what it tastes like. Note to self: eat cake earlier in the night next party.
Obviously there was some alcohol involved by the time this picture was taken.


Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Eggplant Parmigiana


Holler. Sometimes I really don't know how to start these things. How about this: I made Eggplant Parmigiana the other day. Did you know that eggplants come in all shapes and sizes? They do! Mine looked like this:

but they can also look like this. Makes mine look like a snoozefest. Whatever.

Here's the quick and dirty breakdown. I bought an eggplant at the farmer's market. I'd never made eggplant parm in my life, and I'm Italian. Even though being American means shedding your heritage to adopt the cultural ideas of a shmorgasborg obsessed with 'living the dream', I just feel like I'm doing my ancestors some kind of injustice. So I made eggplant parmigiana. It turned out really well, which I attribute mostly to the quality of the ingredients.

In spirit of my last paragraph, here's some information I think you should know. In America, we know this dish as Egglplant Parmesan, cuz most people make it with Parmesan. This is simply a modification on an orginal dish that gave no preference for the cheese used. The name is REALLY Eggplant Parmigiana, for different reasons, according to different legends. My favorite (and most probable) is because the Italian word 'parmicana' (which refers to slats of wood that compose a shutter) overlap in the same way that the slices of eggplant do in this dish. Cool. Also, for all of you meat lovers who consider this dish a "vegetarian alternative" to Chicken or Veal Parm, that's a misconception. Well what does an Italian American do to a dish after 'making it' in the promised land of milk and honey? She adds meat to it! The impacts of affluence are shocking. Anyway, I just wanted to subtly champion vegetables... eggplant parm came first!

For this recipe you need the following:
  • 1 medium sized eggplant
  • 28 oz. can crushed tomatos (mine from Jersey!)
  • 3 medium sized balls of mozzarella. If you can get them from a local source and in their original liquid, it tends to be A LOT more tasty
  • handful of fresh basil
  • breadcrumbs (try to get something more real than 'shake n' bake')
  • olive oil
  • eggs
  • flour
My awesome new roommate took some pictures for me. The process went something like this:

  1. Gather goods from farmer's market, and the corner store that sells local goods a couple days before.
  2. Drive like an idiot to the nearest Wine & Spirits' store (before they close) to buy a bottle of vino for dinner.
  3. Get a $76 ticket for having the tail end of my car hanging over the 'no park' line for 8 minutes
  4. Drive like an idiot home thinking about how much I would really need that bottle of wine.
  5. Get home an pour a nice glass of wine.
Ok, for real this time... the instructions:
  1. Crush/mince 3 cloves of garlic.
  2. Sautee in olive oil till just browning.
  3. Add can of tomatos.
  4. Flavor with salt and black pepper to taste.
  5. Drizzle a thick trail of sugar around the pan. Just do this once... it'll cut the acidity of the tomatos.
  6. Give a few shakes of red pepper flakes.
  7. Stir, and let sauce simmer till it thickens a bit. (About 20 minutes.)
  8. Slice eggplant into 1/2" slices. Set aside.
  9. Beat three eggs in a shallow bowl or deep dish.
  10. Put white flour in a shallow bowl or deep dish.
  11. Put bread crumbs in a shallow bowl or deep dish. Hope you get the idea there.
  12. Press eggplant slices into flour on each side. Get it to stick.
  13. Flip into the egg on both sides.
  14. Dredge eggy eggplant in breadcrumbs to coat. Set aside.
  15. Repeat for all slices.
  16. Take some sauce from your sauce pan and spread a thin layer over your baking dish. (Usually best with a glass dish.)
  17. Heat a thick layer of olive oil on high.
  18. Working in batches, fry each side of the eggplant till golden.
  19. Transfer to glass dish when each side has been browned.
  20. Do this for all slices.
  21. Cover eggplant with tomato sauce.
  22. Places lots of slices of mozzarella on top.
  23. Tear piece of basil and place on top.
  24. Cover with aluminum foil if you know what's good for you.
  25. Put in the oven at 350 for about 20-30 minutes. You're looking for the cheese to bubble.
  26. Remove and let stand for a bit, or dig in and burn your tongue. (Due to the wine, or my hunger, or both, I totally neglected to take pictures of the final result!)

So I paired this dish nicely with a bottle of "Goats do Roam" red wine. Sike. More like I was RUNNING through the liquor store when I wondered what South Africa's grapes tasted like. I mean, this bottle was on sale, it had a twist off cap, and was simply labeled "Red 2008". (Evidently it's a balanced mix of grapes.) The shocking thing was that I polished off a whole bottle (with some help), supremely enjoyed it, experienced no headache, and bought the same wine 4 days later to bring to a party. As far as I can tell, South Africa has some nice grapes.

Roam on, goats.


Friday, September 3, 2010

Figs exist outside the Newton


Fig and Plum Compote with Honey Whipped Cream:
A succulent desert with heavy sweetness, and fluffy fairytale cream. Serve hot or cold. Give the fresh figs a try too.

Hello world! The migration from farm to city is complete. Been too busy to blog or cook anything but sprouted whole grain spaghetti. One exception was a dinner made with a cornucopia of backyard farm fresh peppers and tomatoes and such, but haven't gotten the pictures yet.

However! I did find some pretty cute small purple things at Whole Fodder for Hippies. (aka Whole Foods) First, figs. To my understanding, pretty much everyone's relationship with figs starts at age 5 and ends with 'TON'. After that, you may get kinda nostalgic and pick up a pack. They're pretty delicious, but a leave something to be desired. Those little bars just aren't as big as they used to be. (Check out this old school package! "Hi! I'm Big Fun!" Hilarious.)




My relationship with figs went a little further in college, I think-due to my good friend Julia. I really can thank her for her sensual relationship with food, because she brought so many things to my pallet. Whole, plain yogurt, figs, and organic rice cakes with peanut butter and Nutella come to mind. (REALLY, try the rice cakes thing... it's amazing.)

ANYWAY, I started to eat figs. But they were mostly dried figs. I mean, it's pretty rare that you find a fig in any other form. So when little cartons of fresh figs were sitting quietly amongst the mangoes and other common place exotic
fruit, I 'oooooh'd' and bought them without even thinking about it. They look like this on a tree (not my picture)





The other small, purple, curious find is small plums. I first discovered small plums at the farmer's market in Ardmore. I'm not talking about 'The Whackme-is-still-trying-to-sell-plums-out-of-season-and-they're-puny, small. These were to plums as banaitos are to bananas. But the flavor packed in these tiny fruits was equivalent to the intensity of a gusher. Remember gushers? So, I found them again at WFH. Evidently they're from Tioga Farms, 140 miles from the store, as advertised. A little out of season and still a victim of the grocery store, they were a little less red, sweet, and juicy as the farmer market plums. But they were still superior to normal plums.

Long story short, I mixed the two, ate them both fresh and cooked, and served them up for desert. Here's what happened.


  • Sliced 5 figs
  • Sliced 5 plums
  • Put some water in a pan to cover the bottom
  • Put a handful of brown sugar into the water, mixed on low heat
  • Dropped about 1 tsp of molasses into the pan
  • Heated on low to mix
  • Added plums, figs, and a pinch of salt
  • Heated on medium and stirred until that ish started to bubble
  • Kept it bubbling for a good 5 -7, or until the sugar mix was congealing, the color of the mix darkened, and the figs and plums started to break apart a bit
  • Let it cool for about 5 minutes, put on a plate
I ended up eating this with some handmade honey whipped cream I made for a cake the weekend before. Get this: YOU CAN MAKE WHIPPED CREAM WITHOUT AN ELECTRIC MIXER. I never knew!
  • Buy a carton of heavy whipping cream
  • Put into a perfectly clean bowl
  • Using a perfectly clean whisk... whisk it as fast as it's humanely possible
  • Apply a healthy amount of patience
  • Wow! It actually starts to whip up into a whipped cream!
  • Keep whipping!
  • Once the mixture starts to form peaks and becomes a little stiff, STOP. You don't want to over beat the cream and have it break down again.
  • Drizzle about 1 1/2 Tbs (or add and taste to your liking) of your choice of honey into the mixture and stir to blend. Honey has a very powerful flavor, and it won't take much to affect your whipped cream.
Again, I apologize for the crappy pictures. I'm still trying to figure out how to maximize the quality of a camera phone. Oie!