a farewell to fruit.

Well, it appears that summer is over. While technically the seasons do not make the switch till further into the school year, it is clear to me that days of lying lazily on the beach have past. Now I must focus my attention to college applications and unhealthy amounts of homework, leaving my lovely summer fruits behind me. Fortunately, I have two summery birthday cakes to post so I may celebrate summer vicariously through them. The first belonged to my mother, who requested the raspberry-marsala cake that I've made many times before. The second was my brothers, who surprised me with his sophisticated taste with a request for lemon cake with raspberry garnish.

(As a side note, sorry for the picture quality, these were taken at night and I had to toy around with them in iphoto, with less than successful results.)

The raspberry cake comes from epicurious, and is available here. The frosting, meanwhile, is from AllRecipes, available here. I have used both recipes many times in the past and LOVE them both, the cake is extremely moist with a completely unique taste (not overly sweet with a marsala slap) and the frosting is the perfect consistency, with not too much sugar.

The next cake was one of the more ambitious cakes I've ever set out to make: lemon layer cake with classic vanilla frosting. Alright, so maybe not so ambitious, but the recipes were rather nit-picky.

The recipes for both the cake and the frosting came from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. Admittedly I've never eaten at the Magnolia Bakery, though this book makes me want to! (A side-note though, are their buttercream frostings so unbearable sweet in real life? Because I have made their buttercream frosting with half of the sugar called for and I had to throw the cake out it was so sweet.)

So there it is. Goodbye summer. While I am always a little sad to say goodbye to summer, I must admit that I am excited for this year to begin. This is my last year in high school, the last year before I become a legal adult, and admittedly this scares me a bit. But I feel that I will be ready to move on when the time comes, away from high school, from my family, from Massachusetts. But I am beginning to realize that I will be ready when the time comes, and cooking has become a factor in this realization. I love to cook, and it was only this past summer that I really realized it. It's cheesy, I know, but having the responsibility of cooking dinner for my family multiple times a week this past summer has made me feel that I will be ready when the time comes to live on my own, that if I'm scared or lonely, at least I won't starve.

But for now, for this last year, I will let my mother make me pancakes in the morning, as long as I can make her dinner at night. And I'll face winter and my lack of precious fruits, knowing that next summer their taste will mean something different to me. Goodbye my precious raspberries, see you next summer!

orange you glad?

I used to bake orange cake more frequently. Every August throughout elementary school my mom and I would scurry to the kitchen to make my brother's annual birthday cake. I remember feeling so proud that I got to make my little brother's birthday cake. I would crack the eggs with extra care, zest the oranges slowly and meticulously, and take those extra five minutes to whisk all the lumps out of the batter. And then he would race in, begging to help us prepare his birthday treat and whining when we told him to wait for later. It was a yearly ritual, one I loved, so I was very excited to find another summery orange cake recipe. 

I don't even really know what chiffon cake is supposed to look or taste like, so for all I know this was a giant flub. A giant, tasty flub! (So tasty, in fact, that a mouse chewed his way through a slice. Gross! Stay out of my kitchen, mice!) This cake was really like eating sweet citrus air, a perfect dessert for sticky summer nights. Ok, so maybe dessert is a loose definition. Breakfast, anyone? Lunch? I swear, a slice of this cake with yogurt and fresh berries will perk up even the least morning-ly among us. So without further ado, another citrus cake for summer.

Orange Chiffon Cake

via Epicurious - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Orange-Chiffon-Cake-11583

Ingredients (the page also gave a recipe for a frosting, but I wanted something more simple)

2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

7 large egg yolks

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

2 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest

2 teaspoons vanilla

9 large egg whites

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Into a large bowl sift together the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, and the salt. In a bowl whisk together the oil, the egg yolks, the orange juice, the zest, and the vanilla and whisk the mixture into the flour mixture, whisking until the batter is smooth. 

In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are foamy, add the cream of tartar, and beat the whites until they hold stiff peaks. Add the remaining 3/4 cup sugar, a little at a time, and beat the whites until they hold stiff glossy peaks. 

Stir one third of the whites into the batter to lighten it and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, 4 inches deep, with feet and a removable bottom, and bake the cake in the middle of a preheated 325°F. oven for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Invert the pan immediately onto a rack and let the cake cool completely in the pan upside down on the rack. Run a long thin knife around the outer and tube edges of the pan and turn the cake out of the pan onto the rack. Using a serrated knife cut the cake in half horizontally.

Oh golly. How I love my fruit. Coming up is... unsurprisingly another fruity cake. My Mom's birthday is Tuesday, and she's requested a cake in advance. Maybe eventually this blog will have a little more confectionary diversity, but for now all I want is refreshing, summery fruit.

Hope you're finding a way to beat the heat!

call of the oven.

First of all, please oh please tell me why on earth I decided to bake on such a hot day. Really, it is mid-nineties right now and my oven is at 350 degrees. I suppose it is because I am completely unable to resist when a recipe calls my name. Really, it's pathetic, but I have a recipe addiction. Last night when it finally cooled down a bit, I made some delectable margarita pizza.

Maybe it's even a little to simple to brag about, but sometimes when it's this hot out all you want is something simple. And mozzarella cheese is the perfect hot-weather cheese, it always tastes so fresh The homemade lemonade in the background is also super easy: 1 lemon, 1 cup of water, and 2.5 tablespoons of sugar. 

Then, this morning, I woke up feeling a little more adventurous. Maybe it's because I just returned from a trip where I had no access to an oven for a month, but in this past week I have been a cooking fiend. Last week it was peach cobbler and blackberry ice cream for the fourth, now pizza and now... (drumroll, please) Lemon Yogurt Cake! To me, this is the quintessential summer dish, it's so moist and light and is really only good when eaten cold. Perfection! Thanks to Ina Garten and the food network website for this most glorious of recipes. 

Lemon Yogurt Cake

What you need

- 1 1/2 cups of flour

- 2 teaspoons of baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

- 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

- 1 1/3 cups of sugar, divided

- 3 large eggs

- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (I always use more than this, but it depends how lemony you like your cake)

- 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

- 1/2 cup of vegetable oil

- 1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

(For the glaze)

- 1 cup of confectioners' sugar

- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 8.5 x 4.25 x 2.5 inch loaf pan. Line bottom with parchment paper. Grease the pan. (I usually don't flour it, you can if you want!)

Sift together the flous, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup of sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. (Confession: I have never sifted anything in my entire life and it's never seemed to cause a difference. Maybe I am just impatient.) Slowly whisk the dry into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool. (Note: This step makes the cake very, very sweet. If you are not completely committed to the sugar overload, this cake is just as good plain, trust me.)

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake. Immediately scarf down cake like a hungry animal. 

(recipe from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-yogurt-cake-recipe/index.html)

Look at that baby! Simply delicious. Some excellent toppings for this cake include (but are not limited to)

- Raspberries

- Blackberries

- Blueberries

- Berries, berries, berries!

Although it's no fun to bake on a hot day, I suggest you make this immediately because it's one of the fun foods to eat on a hot day. So if you'll excuse me I've got to go find some shade and gain 10 pounds before the sun sets. 

welcome to the bittiest blog.

Hello to everyone, thanks for visiting! This domain is the soon-to-be-home of weekly massachusetts-based crafty exploits, so stay tuned! (In case you're wondering, 'crafty exploits' will most likely include (but not be limited to) cooking, sewing, drawing, writing!) Stay tuned!