My life and lunch in alliterations

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

More Than A Trifle

Several Saturdays ago, Hilarity gave me a ride home from Olive’s birthday party at a totally trashy Belltown venue. Giggling and somehow setting off her car alarm and breaking my umbrella at the same time, I bid Hilarity and the night adieu, always a hard thing to do. Arriving home alone (or hand in hand with myself, as I like to think of it. Thanks, Lou Ree) to an apartment rich with possibilities, I knew the night was not yet through. Turning on the lights, the space seemed quiet, just faintly buzzing, waiting for me to make the floors and bed creak and stir up something delicious in the kitchen.

With several dark beautiful hours still ahead before the sun and I began our struggle, I decided to bake a cake for a trifle. I used towels to muffle the sound of my egg beaters, which have woken the neighbor below me before.

I've definitely been indulging my sweet tooth lately. Beating my butter, whipping my cream and licking up the leftovers, I've been delighting in the days and nights, letting each one unwrap slowly like a concealed piece of candy. Taking delight.

Admittedly, midnight baking is a coping method of mine, a reverted-to routine during every breakup. I remember staying up all night once, baking batch after batch of prettily piped meringues and watching Wes Anderson movies. I was giving tupperwares of chewy, heart-shaped meringues to friends for weeks. All for the memory and forgetfulness of red-headed androgynous Jamie. Sometimes egg whites and sugar are a girl's best friend.

Especially considering "Dessert at my place?" rarely fails as a pick up line.

The following recipe is just one of my favorites from Piper Davis and Ellen Jackson's Grand Central Baking Book, which I purchased at 30% off from Powell's Book Store. If you're going all the way and converting this cake to a trifle, the recipe says to refrigerate for 24 hours before eating. I only prepared the trifles 10 hours in advance. Though tasty, I have to admit that the following evening's leftovers were even better, so stick to at least 24 hours marination time if possible and know that the leftovers will still be delicious for a couple days. I don't recommend champagne glasses.

According to Davis and Ellen this “rich white cake is glazed while it’s still warm, giving it a doughnut-like appearance. It gets volume from additional egg whites and longer whipping… Use the leftover egg yolks to make a simple crème anglaise, which you can use, along with fresh berries, to dress up this cake.”

That’s exactly what I did the first time around, cutting cake slices with a glass and stacking them with the crème anglaise, raspberry lavendar jam and fresh raspberries for a tasty, whip cream-topped trifle.

*I've been procrastinating posting this because I really wanted to include photos. I had them, good ones, and picture to add to past posts, too, but I somehow deleted all the photos on my phone, include those of my trip to New York. I was trying so hard to overcome my fear of technology and do a simple thing like upload photos on my own and I failed completely. Now they're gone. Poof. Le sigh. Maybe some cake will cheer me up. Here's the recipe:


Glazed Vanilla Bundt Cake


I scaled down the original recipe (intended for a 12-cup bundt pan) for a tea-loaf sized cake, perfect for 4 servings of trifle. If you’re making one though, you might as well just make a second cake for consumption on its own. I’ve made three so far. One for trifle, one for the boss, and one for my pears poached in red wine.

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1/3 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoons salt

1/8 8teaspoon ground nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

1/2cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

3 egg whites, room temperature

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

2/3 cup whole milk, room temperature


Glaze

1/ 4 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract


The first time baking, my only deviation was to use vanilla bean instead of extract in the batter. The second time, I used the extract along with just a touch of almond extract. Also, since I had taken to storing my leftover vanilla bean pods in my sugar, I had vanilla-sented sugar.

Preheat the oven 350. Grease and lightly flour a 4-cup loaf pan. I tried cooking 2 cakes together. I don’t recommend it, but it works in a pinch.

Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg into a bowl and sift or whisk to combine.

Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until very light in color – almost white – and the texture is fluffy, 7-10 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl a few times during the process.

Combine the egg whites and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup. With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg whites slowly (about ¼ cup at a time) completely incorporating each before adding the next. Scrape the bowl several times.

Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and incorporate on low speed, then increase the speed to medium. Add 1/3 cup of the milk and mix briefly to incorporate. Reduce the speed to low again and add half of the remaining dry ingredients. Mix and repeat with the remaining milk and then the remaining dry ingredients. Stop mixing just before the flour is fully incorporated. Finish mixing by hand using a sturdy spatula, scraping the bowl.

Pour into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 35 minutes, then rotate the pan and lower the over temperature to 325. Bake about 30 minutes more. It’s ready when the sides pull away from the pan slightly and it springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The top will probably split. Use a toothpick to check for doneness.

Make the glaze while the cake is in the oven. Whisk the confectioners sugar, cream and vanilla until smooth. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before turning it out. Whisk the glaze again until completely smooth, then apply immediately. The authors recommend using a pastry brush, but I like the effect of drizzling it, too.

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I'm young and live in Seattle and love to eat. Please, come in, peer through my kitchen window.

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