When London Isn't Sweet...

...it's fresh, and ripe, and bountiful, and meaty, and hearty. Or so I found when enjoying various pub meals and browsing an open-air market. Let's leave the desserts behind for a moment and focus on some savory delights.

First of all, I was eager to try a traditional Sunday Roast. A Roast usually includes one's choice of roasted meat, roasted potatoes and other veg, Yorkshire pudding, and gravy; all in all, it promised to be a satisfying meal that would fortify me for the busy days ahead. We repaired to The Holly Bush, tucked up a hilly side street in the gorgeous neighborhood of Hampstead, and settled in among the friendliest-imaginable set of fellow-diners, -drinkers, bartenders, and waitstaff. (Remind me to tell you, in detail, just how wonderful British pub culture is sometime...) The scene was set for enjoying the perfect Roast, but I couldn't go through with it. No upstanding comfort-food lover could settle for mere meat and veg when those things could be presented to them in...

...

...a POT PIE.

Behold, The Holly Bush's jaw-droppingly-good fish pie! It was filled with salmon, whitefish, and spinach, and topped with spring onion mashed potatoes. The fish was fresh and flavorful, and the mashed potatoes were so thick and creamy and pungent and just browned enough that my taste buds could barely process it all, it was so tasty. Mixed greens served on the side in a light dressing balanced out the heaviness nicely, and a pint of Aspall cider washed it all down. I loved this meal so much that I had it a few days later, after exploring the nearby Heath.

Later in the trip, I went to Borough Market for their baked goods. Surprisingly enough, I left equally impressed with their produce. I don't usually wax rhapsodic about veg, but I couldn't get over this colorful bounty!

Just looking at these makes me want to eat a salad! (No, I'm not referring to the shredded lettuce that Brits put on sandwiches...) And here, an assortment of mushrooms, some of which I had never seen before.

Wandering among the different stalls made me think back to my 2010 Revels show, which opened with Orlando Gibbons' Cries of London. Each cast member was assigned a different "cry"; mine was a line or two about turnips. Here are Borough Market's turnips, photographed in homage to Revels. Aren't they pretty, so cheerfully white and purple? If only a chorus had been on hand to sing of the Market's other delights... 

Look at all this Turkish delight! I'm not a fan, but anyone who is should check out this unmatched variety of flavors.

Lastly, what is a trip to London without fish 'n' chips? Rock & Sole Plaice's fantastic rock, fried in plenty of seasoned batter, was a standout. Rock is a thick and chewy, yet light and fluffy, whitefish. It tastes like cod, but it has the most unique texture I have encountered in fish; if the prior description doesn't make sense, try imagining an airy...steak...of fish. Toothsome and tasty! The accompanying chips were a bit overwhelming, just massive hunks of taters that had been fried with minimal salt and no seasoning. Fortunately, plenty of ketchup and tartar sauce were on hand to add flavor and moisture. A true standout situated near Covent Garden, but away from the tourist crowds.

So, what should be on my my next London trip's eating list, in addition to repeats of the above?

London's So Sweet

I recently spent 9 days in London, my favorite place in the world! The vacation - or "holiday", if I'm being a proper wannabe Brit - included numerous architectural and historical wonders, museums, gardens, and parks. But I'm here to tell you about the food.

Snacking Bars

Marks & Spencer's Simply Food stores are ubiquitous, but that doesn't mean they sacrifice quality in their quantity. Far from it, in fact. These convenient stores sell surprisingly fresh grab-n-go eats, making them a favorite of lunch-eating professionals and tourists looking to nosh on the move. I'd get their apple beverage as part of breakfast every morning - imagine a drink somewhere between juice and cider, made from the island's sweet, refreshing Pink Lady apples - and a snacking bar whenever the hunger so moved me.

One bar was the flapjack with Belgian chocolate. In America, a flapjack is a pancake. In Britain, it's an oat-based bar, with a texture somewhere between a granola bar and an oatmeal cookie, that's sweetened with honey or golden syrup. M&S' flapjack seemed a tad too soggy with fluid sweetener, and the flavor was...bland, at best. I missed the presence of cinnamon, and brown sugar's molasses notes; I guess the Brits don't really spice their oats. The chocolate chunks mixed throughout were tasty, but they didn't really blend with the oat mixture. Overall, I'd say the flapjack was forgettable. Maybe I would have had a different opinion if I weren't so set in my comparatively spicy American ways?

Millionaire Shortbread, however, is a dream!

This king of bar cookies has 4 layers: a shortbread base, milk caramel, milk chocolate, and white chocolate drizzle. All textures and flavors are spot-on, and mix so well together that I can't really think of a better snack. The shortbread is buttery and flaky; the caramel tastes of sugar and salt; the milk chocolate bursts with cocoa and cream; and the white chocolate is smooth, essential vanilla. One bite gives you all those flavors, as well as crumbs, some crunch, and some melting in your mouth. It even looks beautiful!

This is one Oxford bakery's take on the bar. Taylors' Luxury Shortbread differed from the M&S standard in two ways - the shortbread cookie was packed with brown sugar, and the caramel was more of a sugary, milky peanut butter. I also plan to mirror Taylor's ingenuity and make my own, though my ideal end product will more closely resemble M&S'! Until that happens, I have three Millionaire bars to tide me over.

Chocolate Bars

British chocolate is formulated differently. Americans can't use vegetable oil in the product and legally label it chocolate; in Britain, that oil routinely replaces some fraction of cocoa butter. The resulting "chocolate" feels unusually smooth, if not a tad slippery, and has a slightly tangier taste. Another difference is how the chocolate is processed. Our candy bars primarily use solid chocolate, while our friends across the Pond enjoy aerating and rippling the confection into all sorts of unusual configurations. I have Wispa and Ripple bars on reserve for future enjoyment; I'm sure they'll be discussed in these pages soon!

Regional Pastries

England's many "shires" have retained distinct accents over the centuries; it's no surprise that their cuisines are similarly resistant and unique. I was fortunate enough to sample a regional pastry at the London Bridge neighborhood's Borough Market! Here is one vendor's assortment of such treats. (And no, I don't think their name, The Flour Station, is mere coincidence. My theory, that any bakery named "Flour"-something has to be excellent, remains uncontested.)

This Eccles cake was significantly tastier than last trip's Chelsea bun. The top of the cake was crusted with turbinado sugar. The dough was flaky like a croissant at the edge, but it became fluffier and cake-like toward the center. The cake's sizable interior was filled with a mincemeat-style assortment of currants and candied citrus bits, all tossed in a buttery, spicy sauce. The overall effect was a very pleasant combination of sweet, spicy, and butter flavors, cased in that chewy and crunchy dough and sugar.

Also, in case you can't tell - these things are huge, approximately a palm's width across! One cake became my lunch, and kept me full well past the half-life of the average Pret a Manger boxed sandwich.

Jubilee Pastries

The 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's reign inspired many things across this happy land, including food items. Take Harrods' food halls, for example. I didn't plan to enter Harrods, but their fanciful storefront displays drew me in. Not only had various couturiers designed elaborate crowns commemorating the Jubilee, letting one walk down Brompton Street in line with royal razzle-dazzle, but their food and party people had created festive, elaborate spreads, recalling everything from formal banquets to exuberant street parties, all in the space of a few shop windows. Oh, sure, I thought, why not go inside and see these items up close? I should have known I'd be leaving with a sweet treat! Behold, a donut from Harrods' bake shop.

This is no ordinary donut, though. It is a chocolate raspberry Jubilee donut! The dough was sweet and chewy; the filling was syrupy, tasting of raspberries and cream. The donut was coated in a sugary vanilla glaze, topped with a dollop of hardened chocolate raspberry sauce, and dusted with edible red glitter! I'm assuming that last touch is what made it a Jubilee treat; the country as a whole seemed decked out in sparkles for the occasion. :-)

Lastly, I will leave you with some eye candy - or rather, eye cake? - from Oxford's Cake Shop. Not only do we have the Radcliffe Camera rendered in cake and fondant...

...but several festive Jubilee desserts as well!

This last dessert depicts a traditional British street party. I love the miniature fondant cakes decorating the larger cake! I now know where to get a cake in Oxford, should I ever have such a need in such a place.

Are you sugared out yet? I hope not; there is plenty still to come. This sweets-focused post is one of three total London posts I have planned; stay tuned for articles on savory delights and the ultimate dessert indulgence, afternoon tea!

A New Hampshire Easter

Happy belated Easter, friends! I thought I'd share a few treats from my holiday at home.

To start, the Easter Bunny was very generous - again! - this year. I've written before about how I absolutely love the Easter color palette, so resplendent with whites and pastels and soft metallics. This close-up of my Easter basket should convince you, too, to love these spring shades. The candy, of course, is wonderful, sourced from the Midwest's beloved Fannie May chocolatier. (Once my family establishes a food tradition, it's hard to unseat it, even if it's been over 18 years since we lived where FM was readily available. Thank you, Internets!)

Next up was the Easter breakfast. Ina Garten's enthusiastically citrusy lemon cake made a repeat appearance, and I think this was its best year yet! I was nervous to bake it at first, since my parents just installed a new oven; while my mom testified to the oven's capabilities, already producing such classics as a chicken pot pie and from-scratch brownies without a hitch in its week of existence, I was afraid my contribution would go awry. Fortunately, it didn't. Why do I love this cake so?

• The recipe makes two loaves. So much dessert, indeed! This allows me to bring several breakfasts' worth of cake back to Boston, while leaving my family with the same.
• It uses the zest of eight lemons. A citrus lover's dream.
• It has two lemon-sugar glazes! The first is a warm sauce made of heated lemon juice and dissolved granulated sugar; it is poured over the cakes as soon as they are removed from their loaf pans. The sauce sinks into the porous loaves and infuses them with moist, tangy, citrusy joy. Then, once they have cooled, they are coated with the second glaze. This traditional decoration, of much confectioners' sugar mixed in significantly less lemon juice, covers the cakes' surfaces in solid white, almost like fondant. It has a bright, sweet, concentrated lemon flavor.

The overall effect is one of increasing lemon intensity. The base of the cake is light and fluffy, with a definite lemon presence from all that zest - but, it's still comparatively dainty, and perfect for tea. As you move up the cake, you encounter more of the sugared lemon juice; it makes the cake moister, chewier, and stronger. The very top of the cake is thoroughly soaked in the juice, and then crowned with the fondant-esque glaze for the most robust lemon experience yet. I always save the top bites for last, never tiring of their cheerful citrus zing. That flavor conquers anything else near your palate, even a cup of strongly-brewed Royal Blend!

Never one to be still when there is an excuse for extravagant baking, I did not begin and end my Easter exploits with Ina. It was time to work on the Easter dessert...with Joanne.

My family had fallen into a habit of ordering gourmet cakes from California bakeries as our holiday desserts, with Easter being the latest casualty (after Christmas succumbed to this ravishing buche de Noel). My desire to bake, plus a fortuitous outing to Flour's Fort Point location, changed that for 2012. I ate a carrot cake cupcake at that Flour, loved it, and excitedly found the recipe for the equivalent cake in Flour's cookbook. It took hardly any effort to persuade my parents to let Perfect Endings lie, and grant me a mission in its place.

What a mission it was! Carrot cakes are always time-intensive, but Joanne's recipe - like any good kitchen challenge! - let me try and see new things. Here are some observations.

• The recipe asks for token amounts of spices. I added significantly more of each spice per usual custom, and the cake absorbed them without any trouble. Heck. I could have quadrupled the cinnamon and everything would have still turned out alright! I like a cake that can soak up so much flavor.
• I used pre-chopped walnuts. Enough said.
• I left out the raisins (so gross!), and swapped in the equivalent volume of grated carrots. There's no such thing as too many carrots in a carrot cake.
• You bake the entire cake in one 8" round cake pan. This pan is filled to the brim when you put it in the oven, and looks as though it might spill over while baking its (oddly lengthy) 1 hour and 20 minutes. Fortunately, no spillover occurred - though the final product was also level with the pan's rim.
• The baked cake is probably the densest dessert I have ever made.
• You split the cooled cake into two layers. Baked-good surgery, anyone?! It turns out that all you need to perform this invasive procedure are a quality bread knife, a steady hand, and careful rotation of the cake in question.
• The frosting is a simple mix of cream cheese, butter, and confectioner's sugar. I believe the desired effect is barely-sweetened cream cheese; the ingredients' proportions definitely accomplish this, but I would have preferred a sweeter, more traditional frosting. If I want a cream cheese spread, I'll leave the butter and sugar to the side, and pick up a bagel instead of a cake. (It did taste much better with the cake than by itself, though.)
• The recipe suggests chilling the frosting for 2-3 hours before spreading it. I found that was entirely too much refrigeration; I had to let the frosting warm up for an hour or so post-chilling before it was comfortably usable.
• The split and frosted cake ends up looking pretty close to a "normal" two-layer cake. I was pleasantly surprised! (And anyway, two "full" layers of this cake would have been too much, so I'm glad it passed as is.)

Here's a slice of the cake, followed by what was left after Easter dinner.

Like I mentioned above, the cake's density may be its most noteworthy characteristic. So much is crammed in that one (split) layer that what's normally considered a small-ish slice is actually rather filling. The same could be said about its flavors - in a single tiny bite, you can taste the freshness of the carrots, the roastiness of the toasted walnuts, the warmth of the brown sugar, and the depth of the extravagant spices. Those flavors, in all their variety and richness, remind me of the seasons, which may be why carrot cake always seems like a timely dessert. (Of course, we exploit the carrot content for Easter/spring.) The texture stands out, too - it's extremely gooey and moist thanks to canola oil and buttermilk, but still cake-like. My only complaint, or area of potential improvement, is the frosting. I'm glad it'll be easy enough to just add more confectioner's sugar to the mix next time, and maybe a hint of vanilla extract, too. Here's to yet another sweet success courtesy of Flour!

If you want to see the actual recipe, I cannot recommend the Flour cookbook enough.

I hope you enjoyed a similarly delicious and fulfilling Easter! Are there any particular treats you'd rave about?

Publick House Desserts

No, craft beer drinkers, not that Publick House. I'm talking about the colonial-style inn and restaurant in Sturbridge, MA. My family had our Thanksgiving dinner there this year, and the sumptuous 4-course meal plus the general holiday cheer of the place were really worth the 3-hour round trip. The dessert course involved a liberal slice of pumpkin pie topped with an even more liberal dollop of fresh whipped cream. The pie was smooth, pumpkin-y, and  thoroughly spiced.

The restaurant kept on giving after the meal, too…and not just with turkey leftovers. We stopped by their top-notch bakery and chose 6 treats to bring home! We stretched them out over multiple days by cutting each dessert in threes for all to try. Here they are in their bakery box; please excuse the occasional wax paper obstruction.

I really enjoyed the majority of the desserts! The reviews are below, starting with the bottom right of the picture and moving counterclockwise.

• Oreo roll cake – The first treat I tried ended up being my favorite. Here we have a slice of a fudgy chocolate cake log that had been rolled with a layer of sugary vanilla buttercream. That refrigerated filler frosting made for a particularly smooth, creamy, and refreshing eating experience. (Perhaps it was PH’s approximation of Oreo filling?) Said glorious slice was placed on its side, and coated all around with a lighter, more whipped vanilla frosting. The “side” of the cake was then rolled in Oreo crumbs, which stayed dry and crunchy despite their moist environment. Then, its “top” was finished off with a large dollop of Oreo buttercream! It had an occasional crunch from the cookie crumbs tossed on top, but overall it was like eating an Oreo…in frosting form. Seriously, the perfect cookies ‘n’ cream confection.
• Turtle cheesecake – What a delicious miniature dessert! Its base was a thin graham cracker crust, topped with a slightly thicker layer of bittersweet chocolate fudge. The cheesecake itself had a good, creamy consistency, and a lot of subtle flavor; it was sweet and a tad tangy, with caramel notes. The whole thing was then topped with chopped walnuts and a pool of gooey caramel. Of course, the best forkfuls incorporated crust, fudge, cake, and caramel! Mmm, so many distinct yet complementary flavors in one bite.
• Key lime pie – This little pie had a very sweet custard filling with a hint of lime flavor. It wasn’t nearly as strong as I like citrus desserts to be. You can see that it had a squirt of airy whipped cream on top, with a small piece of lime candy. The crust was made of (flavorless) sugar dough – sturdy, yes, but oh so boring to eat.
• Spice roll cake – This dessert had so much promise! – but I was disappointed. It consisted of dry, crumbly spice cake rolled the thickest cream cheese frosting I have ever encountered. The cake was barely spiced, with no lingering flavor, and the frosting was barely distinguishable from actual cream cheese! Hardly any sugar or milk must have been added. The cake’s exterior was a bit better; we had whipped vanilla frosting coating the entire slice, which in turn was dusted with graham cracker crumbs.
• Carrot cake – This cake showed me that PH can get cream cheese frosting right! The frosting here was much lighter and sweeter, without sacrificing cream cheese’s pleasant tang. The cake was moist and robustly flavorful, with lots of spices, visible nut crumbles, and plenty of tender carrot gratings. No raisins, huzzah!
• Gingerbread bar – I was most excited to try this, since it looked and smelled so unique! I didn’t like it at first, but each bite grew on me to the point that I’d rate it a close second behind the Oreo roll.  Three layers of dry, spicy gingerbread were separated by moister, slightly sweeter fillings, and topped with cream cheese frosting dotted with cranberries and drizzled in white chocolate. Fillings included sweet, chewy caramel; tart, juicy cranberries; finely-chopped nuts; and gooey molasses. This hearty dessert’s flavor range was one of the greatest I’ve experienced, straddling from the very sweet to the nearly savory. Textures were similarly varied. A distinct offering worth eating again.

So, if you’re ever passing through south-central Massachusetts, I’d recommend a diversion to this bakery. (The restaurant, too, for hearty American fare.) Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pre-Thanksgiving Feasts

Sometimes I'll digress from this blog's dessert focus and talk generally about awesome food. What better time to post such digressions than around Thanksgiving, when nearly every day involves epic eats?

Friendsgiving!

This is one of my favorite college traditions, which many of us BC alums still in the Boston area have kept alive in the years since. It all started our sophomore year, when we were living in suites and had access to our own kitchens for the first time. What could be better than a friendly potluck the weekend before we all went home for Thanksgiving? Mary offered to do the turkey and stuffing if the rest of us contributed sides…and as a result of these efforts, the common areas of Edmonds 333 were filled with feasting and fun.

8 years later, we still gather at someone’s apartment for Friendsgiving; Pat and Alyssa were kind enough to host this year. Here is my dinner plate!

As you can see, my portions were in no way moderate. (How can they be, when there is so much deliciousness to be had?) This made eating dessert difficult, as I had hardly any room for it. However, I managed to fit in a slice of my apple spice cake, a chocolate peanut butter cookie, and some chocolate pudding pie with an interesting cookie and nut crust. The only thing missing? One of Lena's "drunk pies". For the record, I would have had the chocolate-Frangelico pie!

*Burp.* I did not eat for 16 hours following that meal. I then broke the fast the following day with…

Sausagefest!

Dante regularly hosts spectacular food events. I had a blast at their Al Fresco Fiasco, so when Laura suggested we attend another event on November 20, I obviously said yes. Their yearly pre-Thanksgiving events have focused on a particular type of food – for example, a Ravioli Rumble or Soup Slurpdown – and this year’s sausage-themed event was…the Sausagefest. Chefs from area restaurants served bite-size portions of sausages and accompaniments throughout Dante’s restaurant space and patio.

I’m not traditionally a fan of sausage. I could rattle off a list of why: its composite nature, fashioned from what I consider the reject parts of its source animal(s); nausea-inspiring collegiate encounters with “street meat”; its (gross) best friends Onion and Pepper, and so on. However, I ate well at this event. I think the variety of meats presented – like wild boar! – and creative accompaniments – like cranberry jalapeno salsa! – piqued my interest. Also, Dante!

My favorites were:

• ArtBar’s wild boar sausage in a miniature hot dog bun,
• Stella’s pork sausage with pickled onion, citrus aioli, and crispy potatoes, and
• Prezza’s mild fennel sausage with polenta, tomato sauce, and grated Parmesan.

Many attendees also liked these; Stella’s Evan Deluty was crowned “Sausage King” at the end of the event!

I then moved on to Brighton for…

Short Ribs and Dreamy Apple Pie!

Greg is an impressive cook! I knew this as soon he made me steak over the summer…and I was actually happy to eat it. (Believe it or not, your foodie blogger had never enjoyed a steak until then.) There have been many more delicious meals since that first cooking adventure. All the while, though, he has said that his short ribs are one of his best dishes. I got to see, and taste, that for myself this weekend...after quite the cooking process. The ribs were prepped with some oil, salt, and pepper, and then stewed in a savory sauce of red wine, tomato juice, onions, and shallots, all in a stock pot in the oven, for nearly 4 hours. The pieces of meat had fallen off their bones by the end of that time, and the sauce had taken on a deep, complex flavor. 

Imagine tender, flaky, flavorful beef, with creamy mashed potatoes and the sauce the ribs had cooked in. If it’s possible for meat to very nearly melt in your mouth, I think that’s what happened here. I enjoyed mixing everything together for the best of all meal components in every bite!

Dessert, courtesy of yours truly, was supposed to happen after dinner. We ended up being too full to enjoy it then, but fortunately the next day – today! –  has restored my appetite. One slice in, I know this is a go-to recipe. What is this dessert, you ask?

I came across this Dreamy Apple Pie recipe online, and was instantly intrigued by the creamy sauce used to coat the apples, as well as the pie’s substantial crumble topping. I followed the Pioneer Woman's guidance exactly, with these exceptions:

• Trader Joe’s pie crust instead of homemade – I know, she who prides herself on from-scratch baking really needs to suck it up and just make a crust already. However, I thought the premade version would be easier to work with.
• Cortland apples instead of Granny Smiths – would you have expected anything else?
• Moar cinnamon. Obv.

A few comments on the making of the pie:

• The heavy-cream-based filling, oh my! A nectar of the gods. This syrupy sauce smelled warmly of vanilla and sugar; my extra cinnamon was not enough to overwhelm the more subtle flavors in the mixture.
• I assembled the crumble topping in the food processor as instructed. Wow, that thing can make perfect crumble topping…in less than 10 seconds! I actually over-processed the ingredients and ended up with larger, sticky chunks of topping; I manually broke them apart to achieve a more typical crumble appearance.
•  The premade crust was a tad too thin. I tore it in several places as I tried to get it in the pie dish. I can see homemade crust having an advantage here, since I could roll it to an acceptable thickness.
• The pie baked for 1 hour, and was gently covered in foil up to the last 10 minutes. Those last, uncovered 10 minutes were all we needed to pleasantly brown the pie’s surfaces.

And now, thoughts on the finished pie! The crust was fairly typical and pleasingly buttery. The apples softened an appreciable amount but did not turn to mush, and some of their juice merged with the sugar-cream mixture. In fact, the Londonderry Cortlands' slight tang provided a pleasant and necessary contrast to that sauce. The sauce added a creamy heaviness to the pie, which wasn't a problem in a small slice - no ice cream topping needed! - but would have been overwhelming in a larger one. Still, it was very smooth and sweet, and just apple-y enough. The crumble topping was the best part. Of course, the crumble layer being nearly as thick as the apple layer immediately won me over. There was more to appreciate than just quantity, though. The chopped pecans added a nice nutty depth in both flavor and texture, and I'm still so impressed with the topping's consistency as achieved with the food processor. Overall, I love what this recipe does in terms of taking standard pie ingredients, doing something slightly different to them or adding new twists to the old favorites, and finishing with a really unique and memorable pie.

My only complaint? There is absolutely no way to serve a clean slice of this stuff. Instead, you may expect a plate of pie...slop. It's all good slop, I promise!

~~~

After all that indulgence, I'm going to give my stomach a break - until Thanksgiving, that is. Stay tuned for more on that holiday in these pages!

A Carrot Cake for Easter

This Easter presented its first-ever dessert dilemma.

After two Christmases with Perfect Endings' perfectly chocolatey buche de Noel, I was determined to make a vanilla, lemon, and raspberry log for Easter. I wanted to flex my baking muscles by attempting such a complicated dessert, and it was easy enough to make a spring equivalent to the wintry treat by using citrus and berry flavors. However, I had forgotten that I would be making our traditional lemon cake for Easter breakfast...and the family decided that two lemon baked goods would be too much for one holiday. So, I had to find a replacement dessert...quickly.

I checked Perfect Endings' site on a whim, and instantly fell in love with the appearance of their carrot-shaped carrot cake. Their product description did not go into detail - for example, I had no idea whether the item would harbor copious amounts of undesirable nuts and raisins - but I decided to fly blindly and take the risk, since (1) PE had already proved their mettle with the aforementioned buches de Noel, (2) I have met more carrot cakes I've liked than disliked, and (3) seriously, a carrot-shaped carrot cake for Easter - how much cuter could you get?!

Well, the risk was beyond worth it. Behold the newly-cut dessert, plated with jellybeans for effect.

Carrot, as the anthropomorphized cake was named, was perfect in every way, and was one of the finest desserts I have ever consumed. It had two layers of cake, plenty of cream cheese frosting, and festive fondant.

• The cake itself was light yet moist, and positively bursting with flavor. Sugars, spices, and finely-shredded carrot bits, along with the daintiest-possible pieces of nuts and tiny flakes of semisweet chocolate, all blended together to create a baked item of incredible depth and complexity. No single flavor overpowered another; instead, the wealth of savory and sweet bakery flavors were all represented equally...and perfectly. I knew before I had swallowed my first crumb that this was the best carrot cake I had ever had.
• Cream cheese frosting filled the space between the cake's two layers, as well as coated the assembled cake. This frosting was neither heavy nor overpoweringly creamy. It was light, fluffy, and sweet, with just a hint of tang.
• The smooth orange coating and decorative green leaves were made of a smooth, sugary, faintly almond-flavored fondant. The fondant was rather dense and heavy, even in thin coating form, and I was surprised that the cream cheese frosting could support it! For all the conceptual fanciness of a carrot-shaped and -decorated cake, I love that this simple, tasty coating concealed a wonder within.

Perfect Endings has really raised the bar for bakery desserts! In fact, I would say that Carrot was more impressive than Buche. I would order it again, without entertaining the Buche-style folly of attempting to recreate it at home. Some things are best left to the professionals - and, in this particular case, I am more than happy to do just that.

Clearly, the dessert dilemma was resolved in the best possible way. I hope your Easter dessert(s) were similarly memorable and delicious!

Easter Treats

I love Easter candy. In a way, this love is less about its taste and more about its appearance. The Easter palette and decorative motifs – gentle creamy colors, shimmering pastel foil wrappers, flowers, spring – are all so lovely, and are particulary welcome after harsh winters and muddy March deluges. (If I could embellish my life with pale metallic purple accessories, I just might; I already own some [but not enough!] floral-printed/inspired clothing and jewelry.) However, this year’s Easter treats introduced me to some new tastes worthy of appreciation, as well as whisked me back to childhood with a few nostalgic basket fillers.

My family purchased this nest to be the centerpiece of our Easter table; the nest’s advertized purpose, as a home for hazelnut truffle eggs, was purely incidental. Still, the speckled eggs looked just perfect in the nest, and they tasted good too! The pale blue candy coating with darker blue speckles was pleasantly sweet, and it softened in my mouth to produce the faintest crackle at my tongue’s pressure. The coating’s slight roughness was evocative of an actual eggshell. A sweet, smooth layer of white chocolate was immediately under the candy coating, which eventually gave way to the hazelnut filling. The filling had a grainy texture, though I could not identify actual fragments of nuts. I ascribe this more to the use of a powdery, nonassertive milk chocolate, but regardless the centermost part of this treat was pleasantly earthy and substantial. I do wish the milk chocolate had somewhat mitigated the hazelnut flavor, but its nuttiness was tamed by the egg’s sweeter outer layers.

Our official Easter desserts were these petits fours, ordered from California’s Divine Delights bakery. The tiny treats were enrobed in the prettiest icing, which was surprisingly resilient but still smooth. Each petit four involved a rich, buttery cake and a variety of creams or fillings. The purple eggs were a base of dense chocolate cake topped with a mound of thick vanilla buttercream, while the light-green duckling squares were vanilla cake with a central layer of almond paste. Lemon cream and raspberry jam added flavor to other petits fours. Yet the bunnies stole the show by containing vanilla cake, chocolate ganache, and a heap of strawberry buttercream. The cutest treat had to be the nest, which sheltered several chocolate-covered sunflower seed eggs.

And lastly, my Easter basket was filled with the sweet treasures of my suburban-Chicago upbringing. When we lived there, my family enjoyed Fannie May candy at special times. The lack of Fannie May stores in the Northeast caused concern whenever the first holiday rolled around after our move to New Hampshire, but my parents kept the tradition alive through mail order. Each Easter, I look forward to the treats I have known since I was a little girl. Sure, pretty much any candy shop can sell you pretty foil-wrapped eggs, jellybeans, and a solid (yes, solid) chocolate bunny. Some may even have milk chocolate eggs filled with vanilla buttercream, or coconut-cream-coated chocolate buttercream eggs. But only the Fannie May versions of those confections taste “right.” To me, they’re the best-tasting candies ever, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy belated Easter!

Yule Love This Log

...trust me!

The centerpiece of my family’s Christmas (dessert) table was a Buche de Noel, or French yule log cake, courtesy of Napa Valley’s Perfect Endings bakery. The cake’s description in Williams Sonoma’s holiday catalog was just too mouth-watering to ignore, so we summoned the delicacy in its dry-ice-cooled and bubble-wrap-protected glory from the Left Coast. It lived in the freezer after its arrival, and then thawed in the fridge starting Christmas Eve so it would be ready for eating on Christmas Day. We brought it out in the open at dinnertime so it could warm further while we ate. Here she is!

The dessert was a thick roll of cake and ganache, which was then covered in frosting sculpted to look like bark. Sprigs of evergreen and white meringue mushrooms dusted with cocoa powder were also arranged around the log to enhance its woodsy design. And oh, the smell! A variety of chocolate aromas with a hint of pine floated up from the uncovered cake, inspiring the best thoughts of winter and tasted decadence.

The cake came with very detailed handling instructions (temperature of knife to cut cake, best way to cut, etc), so we attended to it with reverence. The reverence deepened into nearly-religious devotion upon eating the dessert. The cake itself was spongy semisweet chocolate genoise, which felt light and airy despite its tiny pores and obvious sturdiness. Rolled along with the genoise was a thick layer of sweet ganache. This dense milk chocolate filling complemented the semisweet cake well. The softened surfaces of the cake that touched the ganache – or, the ganache that was barely integrated with the cake! – was my favorite part of the Buche. Lastly, the surface frosting was a rich, bitter chocolate buttercream. The chocolate had a pungent bite, which was largely subdued by the frosting’s butter and cream and transformed into a smooth, lingering meditation on the depth of dark chocolate. I did not eat many of the meringue mushrooms, but the few I did enjoy melted instantly in my mouth, leaving behind the crunchy residue of sugared cocoa powder.

Since the cake was so rich, we cut ½”-thick slices; as a result, we enjoyed 5 days’ worth of Buche after Christmas dinner and subsequent leftovers. I am fairly confident in saying we will reorder this dessert for Christmases future, unless I make my own version!

In other Christmas dessert news, I must mention 2009’s version of our holiday dessert traditions first mentioned in this Christmas 2008 post. We reverted to vanilla sugar cookies this year, which I thoroughly enjoyed. They, plus the chocolate-butterscotch peanut candy and some peppermint bark, are the best holiday nibbles! And, I shall leave you with an image of the happily glazed and sugared cranberry coffee cake. Some things just taste like Christmas, and this is surely one of them.
Happy New Year; may only the best desserts come your way!

Not Your Average Thanksgiving Dessert

My family challenged me to make a “lighter” Thanksgiving dessert. This was a reasonable request – Thanksgiving dinner is a huge affair, and even I have trouble coaxing the “dessert stomach” open after heaps of delicious turkey and plentiful, delectable sides. So, it was out with the pumpkin pie, and in with a flavorful, holiday-appropriate, and deceptively light treat from Martha Stewart’s Great Food Fast cookbook. Here’s how to make the Cranberry Upside Down Cake:

• 8 T unsalted butter
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground allspice
• 1 3/4 C cranberries
• 1 large egg
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 C milk
• Sweetened whipped cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the bottom and sides of an 8" round cake pan with 2 T of the butter. (Note: this degree of buttering is not necessary, but give the pan a better-than-normal coat.)
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 C of the sugar with the cinnamon and allspice. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan, and arrange the cranberries in a single layer on top.

3. Cream the remaining 6 T butter and 1/2 C sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until well combined.
4. In another bowl, whick the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
5. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, until well combined.
6. Spoon the batter over the cranberries in the pan, and smooth the top. Place the pan on a baking sheet, and bake it until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (30-35 minutes). Then, let it cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. When it is time to remove the cake from the pan, run a knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto the platter.

There was not enough bursting of cranberries to significantly soak the cake with juice – so, this is more of a tea cake with a well-secured cranberry-sugar topping than an upside down cake proper. You can see from the post’s first image that the recipe’s recommended amount of berries did not completely cover the pan. I wonder if adding additional cranberry coverage would improve the juiciness - I'll test that out when I bake this next. The topping is a refreshing combination of sweet and tart, with the allspice providing a hint of bite that initially catches you off guard. The caramelized sugar is somewhat crunchy, and that plus the warm, soft berries is a textural treat. The cake below has a pleasant buttery vanilla flavor, and its texture is somehow creamy and light. Whipped cream is not necessary, but it doesn't hurt to add another light, sweet flavor (and texture!) to the dessert.

It goes without saying that I was able to make room for this after the holiday meal!