Julie Makes A Carrot Cake - or, Finger Food

I made my first carrot cake this past weekend! It was one of my more eventful baking sessions.

Bon Appetit's recipes are rather rewarding, since they force me to grow my kitchen skills (by requiring a new ingredient or technique in the preparation) and never end up less than delicious (a readership of foodies would expect no less!). So, I knew this carrot cake recipe was worth a try.

Preparing this cake felt more like cooking than baking.

• I had to use more counter surface and kitchen implements than the standard two-bowl baked good.
• You use oil, no butter. The initial mixture of oil, sugar, and eggs had a peculiar consistency, at once both gooey and stiff. They blended together effortlessly into a slick, grainy liquid base for the cake.
• I washed, peeled, and grated multiple carrots and ginger roots! Grating is a very satisfying and productive repetitive motion. I had three cups' worth of bright orange vegetable bits in no time, and a gloppy pile of ginger too. The ginger was an unexpectedly off-putting yellow.
• I chopped nuts with my beloved chef's knife. I couldn't find chopped walnuts at Whole Foods (?!), so I got to work with a cutting board, piles of entire nuts, and the 8" Wusthof. I was making good progress against the recipe's goal of 1.25 cups, and about ready to call it quits, when I decided the batter looked like it could use maybe a few more nutty bits. (Why would I ever think that? Stupid girl.) So, I put a few more nuts on the board and thrust the knife downward...

...into my left middle finger.

I didn't feel any pain at first. But then there was blood flowing onto the cutting board, and I understood that something bad was happening - because, why, look, that was a sizable flap of flesh hanging away from the finger itself. Cue running water over the wound. applying pressure to it, and holding the whole thing above my heart. After 20 minutes of that did nothing to staunch the flow, I switched to a hack-ish apparatus of bandaids, paper towels, and tightly wrapped rubber bands. While this ultimately did the job it was intended to do, it made my left hand useless. Your impatient blogger loved that! Buttering and flouring the pan, pouring the batter, and cleaning up the dinner-scale mess were all challenges. But I got it all done, with my finger throbbing out a frustrated heartbeat in accompaniment.

I also managed to whip up the maple cream cheese frosting! I especially love how the maple syrup replaced some powdered sugar.

So, how did it all turn out?

I was very happy with the output, as was its birthday-celebrating recipient! The cake had a pleasantly autumnal, slightly toasted taste. The toastiness came from the nuts, which surprised me a little; I did not roast them at all prior to baking. The spices I used - fresh and ground ginger; cinnamon, tripled - were pungent before I put the cake in the oven, but they mellowed out while baking and made a pleasantly even, subtly aromatic contribution. The carrots softened considerably, and weren't too noticeable in the finished product. The cake's edges were a tad crispy, while the insides stayed soft and chewy. I would not attribute this to overcooking - instead, the results were consistent with other oil-based baked goods I've seen (1369's peach granola muffin, anyone?), and I actually like that oily kind of crunchiness! The frosting wasn't too sweet, in keeping with the somewhat savory nature of the cake. It was very soft, both at room temperature and when chilled. The maple syrup only gave it a hint of maple flavor, which was just enough of a distinctive, sweet taste to offset the tang of the cream cheese - but, I would have liked a little more. You can't have too much maple syrup! 

The finger is also fine, healing marvelously. Consider my lesson learned re careful use of extremely sharp knives.

Lastly, I have recopied the recipe here in case anyone is interested in repeating it, with my minor modifications in italics. Happy (safe) baking!

• 2 C flour
• 2 t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1 C sugar
• 1 1/4 C canola oil
• 4 large eggs
• 3 C grated peeled carrots
• 1 1/4 C coarsely chopped walnuts
• 2 T minced peeled ginger
• dash of ground ginger
• (frosting) 10 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• (frosting) 5 T unsalted butter, room temperature
• (frosting) 2 1/2 C powdered sugar
• (frosting) 1/4 C maple syrup

1. Butter 2 9"-diameter cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with wax or parchment paper. Butter and flour the paper.
2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground ginger together.
3. Whisk the sugar and oil together in a large bowl until well blended. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Add the flour mixture to the oil mixture, and stir until blended.
5. Stir in the carrots, walnuts, and fresh ginger.
6. Divide the batter between the pans, and bake them for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.
7. Cool the cakes in their pans for 15 minutes; then, turn them out onto cooling racks and remove the wax or parchment paper. Let them cool completely.
8. (frosting) Beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy.
9. (frosting) Add the powdered sugar and maple syrup; beat until well blended.
10. (frosting) Chill until just firm enough to spread, roughly 30 minutes.
11. Frost and assemble the cake. Keep it chilled until 30 minutes before serving; the flavors do best at room temperature!

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 Sunday of Old Favorites

Or rather, new things sampled at old favorites!

I love spending time in the South End, with its cobbled streets, quaint brownstones, and amazing restaurants. An unexpectedly warm Sunday gave me the perfect excuse to head down there and wander around. I stopped in for a snack at the South End Buttery, one of my favorite bakery-cafes. A rare window seat overlooking Shawmut Avenue opened up as I arrived, so I settled in for an hour or so of eating, reading, and people-watching.

The baked good is a "cinnapuff" muffin. What an adorable name! It looked, and tasted like, a puff of cinnamon. Imagine an airy, fluffy cinnamon coffee cake, in muffin form, brushed with a thin glaze and dusted in cinnamon sugar. A hearty crumb, just enough sweetness, and faint spice flavor made for satisfying eating. This was the most unique muffin SEB had that day; the others – blueberry, walnut, corn – just weren’t as inspiring. The beverage, predictably enough, is a mocha. SEB’s espresso is not the strongest, so while I wouldn’t rely on it to power me up in the morning, it provided just enough caffeine for a midafternoon perk. They use quality chocolate in the drink, too!

I hope I’m in more of a dessert mood whenever I’m next at the Buttery, because they have significantly expanded their cupcake range since my last visit…

I was in more of a dessert mood as the day went on. Post-dinner dessert happened at Athan’s, where I got to eat the (very last!) Bolero dessert. In it, we have milk chocolate mousse set on top of a sheet of chocolate genoise. The mousse is covered with layer of slivered almonds, and the whole thing is then drenched in milk chocolate ganache. A dollop of chocolate buttercream frosting with a piece of bittersweet chocolate garnishes the top. The mousse was a delight, fluffy and flavorful. The cake was forgettable; Athan’s genoise is always so boring compared to what’s around it. The slivered almonds added a nice depth of flavor, but they were slightly soggy from their proximity to the mousse. I would have preferred crisper, crunchier nuts – if there had to be nuts at all. All outer chocolates were great!

At right is a semifreddo. My partner in desserting described it as “bland-ish, light, milky ice cream.” Semifreddos are meant to be that way – traditionally, they are a mixture of gelato and whipped cream, partially frozen and set atop a cake. Apparently the syrup-soaked cake at the bottom was the best part – Athan’s has some great sugar/brandy syrups, most frequently drizzled on their breakfast breads, and one of those was most likely used here. The cake, of course, was their typical (vanilla) genoise. Far too many almonds were used as toppings.

One thing I love about Athan’s is their chocolate selection. They're the best desserts to go! I left with a piece each of dark chocolate mint and milk chocolate with crisped rice.

If The Bakery Has 'Flour' in Its Name...

...I'm going to love it.

Greg has now recommended two establishments with this fortuitous word in their name. First came the Flour, over 2.5 years ago; this blog is pretty much a testament to how that introduction went! Then, just a few weekends ago, came Clear Flour Bread on the Brookline/Allston line, a happy discovery from his recent move to that area. I knew as soon as I smelled the buttery, doughy aroma of the block surrounding the bakery that we would have a memorably delicious breakfast!

The bakery itself has a tiny corner storefront, so tiny that there is room for maybe only 6 patrons inside. We lined up in an orderly fashion along the sidewalk with the rest of the to-be-patrons, and awaited our turn to be granted access. Such lines are a test of my patience, particularly when I can smell the delights I'm waiting for - but, we got there early enough that the line wasn't too long, and we had a box of four pastries ready to go in less time than I've waited in many lines at the other Flour. That Saturday morning was unusually bright and warm for October, so we repaired to a nearby park to share the spoils. Here they are, with their backdrop of Brookline grass.

This sampling of pastries really illustrates Clear Flour's versatility...and excellence. From the upper left, moving clockwise:

• Currant donut - this is easily the most substantive donut I've ever seen. It was breadier than most donuts, too, forsaking all cake-like elements for a more rustic, natural taste. The currants were plump and moist, a far cry from the raisin-like items you usually see in scones. I don't know if they absorbed the batter's moisture, or if this bakery simply uses fresher fruit? Either way, this item was unique. My one bite was more than enough.
• Gruyere croissant - I must wax rhapsodic about this. The croissant was the epitome of flaky, buttery, crisp yet chewy, melt-in-your-mouth pastry goodness. Imagine butter being spun into thin filaments or films, and then made solid, with so many warm, creamy flavors in each delicate flake. And then, to think - they filled that already-perfect baked item with cheese! Gooey, subtle, savory cheese! My tastebuds are whimpering for more as I write this. I challenge anyone to mention a better Bostonian croissant in the comments!
• Chocolate croissant - the same buttery glory of the above, filled with bittersweet pastry chocolate. The chocolate was evenly distributed throughout the croissant's base, leading me to enjoy pastry and filling in most bites. A rare treat.
• Plum tart - this rustic fruit tart was really exemplary, and it puts all daintier fruit pastries/danishes to shame. Heavy puff pastry dough formed the base and sides of the tart, which was then filled with plum slices, the occasional puff pastry dollop, some crumble topping, and a dusting of powdered sugar. Overall, the pastry was sweet, but no one component was overwhelmingly sugary. The puff pastry dough had an almost-sconelike taste, even. The dough touching the plums, and the plums themselves, were pleasantly gooey. I eat plums so rarely that their flavor and texture were an enjoyable surprise. Then, the topping crumbled nicely upon eating. I felt well sated, yet refreshed, after eating the tart.

Here is a close-up of the plum tart. Mmm!

There are few things for which I would gladly hop the T at 9:00AM on a Saturday morning, and honestly, with a Flour location within walking distance of my apartment, I didn't think another bakery 45 minutes away would be one of them. However, Clear Flour has now won that distinction. (As if there were any doubt, with a name like that!) I can't wait to go back.

New North End Eats

Alrighty, readers - it's catch-up time! I'm presently writing about desserts you should have heard about weeks ago. But hey, delayed "real" posts are better than another Dessert Dump, right?

I've known of Modern Pastry, in the North End, for years - after all, what college eating excursion didn't end on Hanover Street, happily clasping a box of cannolis to go? Some friends really liked Modern's filled-to-order cannolis and their custard-like cream; I've never been a "traditional" cannoli, let alone custard, person, so I always chose Mike's chocolate-mousse-filled cannoli and passed over Modern entirely. I never considered the other treats within Modern's pastry case...until fairly recently, thanks to Adam! Take a look at this tempting box of treats.

Here they are again, cut for eating.

• Carrot cake - talk about a classic, Julie-style carrot cake. There were no nuts or raisins in the actual cake! It was robustly flavored with carrots, spices, and that necessary hint of pineapple or citrus zing; it was also quite moist, most likely due to fresh carrots and fruit juice rather than overly-abundant oil. The whipped cream cheese frosting had the right amount of tangy flavor, and was not so heavy that I felt sick afterward. I hardly noticed the walnuts adorning the cake's exterior, the rest of it was so good.
• Chocolate cake - This bakery version of the Hostess cupcake was a winner. Moist, crumbly dark chocolate cake; I'm guessing some pudding mix factored into it. A puff of vanilla cream filling at its center. A thin layer of bittersweet chocolate ganache enrobing it all. Wow!
• Hazelnut torrone - The. Standout. Of. The. Bunch. (...which is saying something, based on the above comments!) We thought it was biscotti at first, but there was nothing dry or cookie-like about it. Torrone, it turns out, is an Italian dessert of nuts mixed in nougat. This particular version had three layers of nougat - semisweet, milk, and white chocolate - with the occasional hazelnut mixed in the top nougat layer. This nougat was not whipped to the airy, sticky point of an American nougat; I thought I was eating smooth, multi-flavored fudge instead! It melted in my mouth...and on my fingers...and disappeared all too quickly. The hazelnuts were almost forgettable because the nougat was so exceptional. It drastically expanded my understanding of nougat as a dessert...and made me realize that a nut-based dessert could be enjoyable.

Also consumed, but not pictured, were:

• White and milk chocolate peanut butter cups - these massive candies were overwhelmingly sweet...and delicious! The half-inch-thick chocolate casing was extremely creamy and soft, so that it approximated fudge, and the dollop of peanut butter at the center was so gooey and sweet that it could have been a nutty caramel. The white chocolate PBC also had a garnish of maybe 6 peanut butter chips. Too cute!
• Espresso and marzipan torrones - the above-mentioned torrone experience made me eager to try Modern's other torrones. The densely-nutted appearance of said other torrones should have given me pause, but no - we chose them and were promptly displeased with their overwhelming almond content and sparse, dry nougat. No amount of water-swishing could clear the sense of dry almond shards in my mouth for some time afterward...and the brittle nougat was suggestive of dry paste. Then, I don't think any leftover dessert has sat untouched in my fridge as long as those torrones. (For the record, they remained untouched until they were moved to the garbage.) Still, I can't fault Modern for a dessert that clearly isn't my thing.

So, I give 5 stars to this bakery, and will stay away from their blatantly non-Julie products if I'm ever back!

While on the subject of North End desserts, this blog needs a post on what I droolingly refer to as "THAT THING" from Bova's, the chocolate/oreo/PBC mash-up at Salem Street's 24-hour bakery which has been the goal of many a late-night pilgrimage over the years. It's funny, all the dessert stories that could come out of that neighborhood...

Summer Drinks and Desserts

Earlier in August, Finale hosted another tasting at their Coolidge Corner restaurant. Katie and I were eager to try the desserterie’s seasonal confections and libations – or, to use the simpler words of the event’s official name, “Summer Drinks and Desserts.” The theme meant we were in for lighter, often-fruity, and always-indulgent treats. Executive Pastry Chef Nicole Coady described each dessert in detail, and a fellow staff member shared the ingredients of each tasty accompanying cocktail. Here are close-ups of the 5 miniature desserts, with drinks standing at attention in the background.

So, what did we enjoy?

• Cheesecake – this light, silky dessert was probably the farthest thing, cheesecake-wise, from a New York-style cheesecake…and I was happy with that. It had a whipped, even frothy texture and a sweet, creamy taste that was buoyed up by a base flavor of Mexican vanilla. This earthier vanilla was a great contrast to the usual cheesecake ingredients, and added an unusual and unexpected depth to the dessert. I ate this dessert with very small bites to make it last as long as possible!
• Lemon Tart – this tart consisted of a spoonful of lemon curd in a thin, crunchy sugar dough shell. Lemon curd has only a handful of ingredients – lemon juice, eggs, butter, sugar – but takes approximately eight hours to make. (That’s a lot of stirring over a double boiler!) Nicole uses European butter with 82% butter fat in her curd; it has a slightly sour and creamier taste compared to American butter, which has 80% butter fat. My palate is not refined enough to have noticed a difference in butter taste, but I appreciated learning about it. I absolutely love citrus desserts, so I was very happy with the curd. The flavorless sugar shell, on the other hand, was nothing special.
• Crème Brulee – I had never really liked crème brulee…until I tried this happy spoonful. Similar to the lemon curd, it only has four ingredients: eggs, cream, sugar, and Tahitian vanilla. Tahitian vanilla is known for its floral, fruity taste, and while I couldn’t exactly pick such notes out in the dessert, I could appreciate that it had more depth of flavor than brulees I had tried in the past. The burnt sugar crust was pleasing, too.
• Tiramisu – I’ve always been indifferent to tiramisu, and this one was no exception. You can see the layers of ladyfingers drizzled in coffee syrup, with a sweet mascarpone cheese mixture in between, and a thorough dusting of bitter Valrhona cocoa powder on top. Perfectly adequate, but not rave-worthy. Maybe more coffee syrup, and perhaps some cocoa powder dusted between each cake or cheese layer, would have made it stand out?
• Chocolate Decadence – this champion of a dessert is a fixture of Finale’s to-go pastry case. While you buy it refrigerated, Nicole recommends eating it at room temperature or warmer. Why? This flourless, truffle-like cake is robustly flavored with 70% cocoa and a hint of coffee, both of which pack more of a sensory punch when not chilled. The cake as a whole is then coated in a slightly sweeter chocolate ganache, which is smooth and creamy. Our pieces had been sitting out for the length of the event, so I experienced the richness and complexity of flavor that comes with a warm, aromatic dessert. It really was like being sucked into a vortex of chocolatey excellence, with enough bitterness and coffee tang to keep you on your toes. Decadence, indeed!

The drinks were tasty, too. I enjoyed a tropical sunset cocktail, a wild berry mojito, a St. Germain sparkler (my clear favorite, unsurprisingly), and Finale’s signature Chocolate Bliss cocktail. Less enjoyable was the espresso martini, which was just too strong for the tiny portions of food.

So, Finale did it again! Their tastings really are a great way to try a variety of desserts in one sitting. My appreciation for cream-based desserts has grown, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll be treating myself to a full Chocolate Decandence sometime soon.

A Weekend of Celebratory Desserts

I had a really fun birthday party the other weekend! Not surprisingly, I enjoyed a few desserts in the hours preceding it.

A cliff-diving event at the ICA – where, yes, people voluntarily plunged nearly 100 feet off the museum into Boston Harbor!?! – brought Greg, Rob, and me to Boston's Fort Point neighborhood. We had to eat lunch at my favorite outpost of Flour Bakery prior! I departed from usual Flour protocol this time, eschewing my tried-and-true favorites and ordering two untested items. Their BLT sandwich was truly exemplary, and will become part of my regular sandwich rotation. The purest joy, however, came with a new dessert offering! I hereby introduce you to Flour's Congo bar. Here is its richly textured surface…

…and here is the glory that lies beneath.

The bar’s rather thick base is a brown sugar cookie thoroughly marbled with pastry chocolate. A thinner layer of the same chocolate, mixed with caramel and coconut flakes, covers the cookie base. Then, the treat is covered in more coconut flakes and topped off with a few caramel drizzles. This was a very sturdy, dense, rich dessert. However, each bite melted into creamy, sweet goodness soon after I took it.  Just think – a warm, buttery cookie; fudgy, fragrant chocolate; fluffy, sweet coconut; and milky, silky caramel, all mixed and layered together to create one ultimate dessert. Wow! I’ll surely be scanning Flour’s displays for this whopper of a treat in the future.

(You shouldn’t be surprised that I loved the Congo bar, since my weakness for robust layered cookie bars has already been documented. Speaking of which, I was in Belfast the other week…and had two Caramelitas. That’s right. Two.)

Party time was upon us before we knew it, so we hastily traveled back to Cambridge and considered Inman Square “dinner” options. I put the word dinner in quotes because Christina’s Ice Cream shouldn’t have fit the bill, but I guess one is allowed to get away with extraordinary indulgences on one’s birthday. Look at this most delicious of sundaes!

Coffee oreo ice cream, with an honest, unsweetened coffee flavor and large oreo chunks? Check. Peanut butter chip ice cream, with a similarly natural, nutty base flavor and tasty chocolate pieces? Check. Crushed peanut butter cup topping, made of candies that put Reese’s to shame? Check. Homemade hot fudge and whipped cream, both of which make you rethink all notions of what these toppings should be, in the best way? Check. The resulting amalgamation gave me all the energy I needed to dance the night away. And boy, did I dance :-)

But wait – there’s more!

Linda and I spent the following day putzing around Harvard Square. We dropped by Sweet for a cupcake later that afternoon. I enjoyed the Red, White, and You cupcake, which I first tried two years ago! It’s a vanilla bean cupcake injected with mixed berry jam, topped with a towering dollop of vanilla buttercream frosting, and garnished with an avalanche of crunchy red sugar. It’s still rather delicious, though the frosting was significantly lighter than I remember; they must be whipping it nowadays?

Lastly, here’s a huge shout-out to my wonderful friends, who made my birthday so special! Y’all are amazing. :-)

Summer Restaurant Week 2011

With another Restaurant Week period over, I can cross two long-standing entries off my restaurant list! Both dinners piqued my curiosity, while serving tasty but not overly memorable food. The same goes for the desserts – they were good enough, but not rave-worthy.

Adam and I finally tried Toro, Ken Oringer’s trendy tapas bistro in the South End. It was a beautiful, balmy Boston night, so we sat on Toro’s sidewalk patio and enjoyed the relative quiet compared to the din within the brick-and-steel dining room and attached visible kitchen. How do RW’s three courses get figured out at a small-plates restaurant? It turns out that each person picks an appetizer; then, the table gets a certain number of tapas by occupancy (5 dishes, in the case of two people); and lastly, we each choose a dessert. I had an appetizer of tuna tartare garnished with cilantro, which had an excellent taste but an unusually chewy texture. Our tapas were:

• Jamon serrano – the ham was a bit fattier than I like, and cured for less time. I was not impressed with this most favored of tapas.
• Patatas bravas – the dish I always order when trying a new tapas place! Toro’s sauce is probably the spiciest I have yet encountered on this dish, and the large potato pieces were grilled to perfection.
• Uni sandwich – I totally forgot that this fishy-tasting paste was actually sea urchin. It was tasty enough, and represented our most unusual order. Sadly enough, Toro was out of the octopus!
• Garlic shrimp – some of the largest shrimp I’ve ever seen, sautéed with garlic. I wish there had been more than two per person.
• Short rib – delectable, flaky beef in a red wine sauce. My sudden appetite for red meat continues to surprise me this summer!

Dessert came next. I had a churro dusted in a copious amount of cinnamon sugar, with a side of Mexican chocolate sauce for dipping. The doughnut stick was chewy and warm, with a faint vanilla flavor. I love how the dusting’s sugar crystals added a bit of grit and crunch to the otherwise soft dessert. I also liked the balance of flavors in the Mexican chocolate; neither too bitter nor too spicy, it was just enough of a contrast to the sweet pastry. Still, a churro is a fairly typical dessert at Spanish and Mexican eateries, so I would have rather been intrigued by a different – even if less delicious – option. Well, maybe I should take that back; Adam was underwhelmed with the Manchego cheese.

I would go back to Toro if the opportunity presented itself. Eating in the bustling dining room would be a lot of fun, as would trying the more atypical offerings on their standard menu.

Katie and I continued the Restaurant Week fun at Gaslight the following week. This cheerful, flame-lit French brasserie is owned by the same group as Aquitaine, a restaurant that has never disappointed – so, we knew the grub would be good. We somehow found opportunities to chew our food amid a few hours of rapid-fire catching up. :-) My appetizer was a field greens salad tossed in hazelnut vinaigrette, with chunks of fried Brie. The Brie was delicious as per usual, and I enjoyed the dressing’s subtle nuttiness; I would have preferred fewer bitter greens in the salad, though! I ordered trout almondine with beans and potatoes for dinner. The trout was pleasantly pink and flaky, with that freshwater fish taste I so love, but I was surprised at how thin the fillets were; I had seemingly equal parts meat and skin. The sliced almonds were a really great addition, as were the soft and savory vegetables.

I ignored my usual chocolate craving when it was time for dessert, opting instead for a strawberry layer cake with strawberry ice cream! I enjoyed this sweet and delicate cake. Its texture reminded me of genoise, but its crumb was a bit larger than that sponge cake. It had three layers, which were separated by mashed strawberries. (I appreciate that Gaslight uses fresh fruit, as opposed to the frozen slop you often see in, say, custard cups!) The thin layer of tart frosting on top used crème fraiche – so, this sugary treat got an unusual but welcome infusion of sourness – and was garnished with more strawberries. As if all those components were not enough, I got a scoop of strawberry ice cream on the side! It was more creamy than fruity. I chose to let most of it melt, so I could dip each forkful of (rather dry) cake in the resulting “soup”. Yum! Katie reports that the flourless chocolate truffle cake with espresso ice cream was also yum-worthy.

I would go back to Gaslight, too, though a different cuisine may win out if I were given options. This RW meal was mostly a hit, but I sometimes miss entirely with French food.

Now, about that restaurant list…

Weekend Wontons

Here's a dilemma. It's 9:30PM on a Sunday. You last ate at 3:30PM, enjoying a later Friendly Toast brunch of monstrous chocolate-toffee pancakes, or a breakfast burrito with homefries. What are you going to make for dinner?

As I found out this past weekend, the correct answer is...wontons! Berry, chocolate, and bacon wontons, to be exact. It was a good answer. These dessert-like interpretations of the savory Asian appetizer are really easy to make, and they're tasty to boot! Here are the ingredients and process.

• wonton "skin" / wrappers
• frozen mixed berries (fresh berries risk turning into mush during the frying process)
• chocolate chips
• bacon, cooked
• canola oil
• powdered sugar (optional)

1. Lay out a wonton skin. Rub its edges with water.
2. Put a small amount of frozen fruit, chocolate chips, and/or bacon crumbles in the middle of the skin (for square wontons) or slightly toward one corner (for triangular/trapezoidal ones). I made berry chocolate or bacon chocolate wontons; never did the berries and bacon mix.
3. Fold the wonton skin over the filling onto itself, and press the wet edges against each other to form a seal.
4. Fold the sealed parts together, and press them securely. This extra step will help secure against breaking and bursting during the frying process.
5. Experiment with shapes and sizes! Multiple wrappers can be secured together, etc.
6. Heat approximately 1.5 inches of oil in a saucepan.
7. Drop the wontons in the hot oil, and fry them until done.
8. Remove the wontons from the hot oil, and let them cool to an edible, yet warm, temperature.
9. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
10. Enjoy!

Behold, our happy little confections! You bite through the crunchy outer shell, with its characteristic taste of oil and salt, and are met with a burst of warm fruit filling and melted chocolate. I was surprised at how much air snuck into the wontons, since they were folded rather tightly; this also disappointed me a little, because then I imagined the air space being filled with that much more gooey chocolate. Alas. Maybe the solution will be to stuff them more next time? The bacon chocolate wontons were also great, though obviously less gushy. If I make that variety again, I'll cook the bacon for less time. Chewier bacon may be a better complement to a crunchy shell than crunchy bacon. Either way, the salty sweetness was great.

It could be fun to start a series on dessert versions of traditionally savory foods. Heck, I'll even create a special tag for such posts. Anyone have suggestions to that end?

Another Foray Into Portsmouth Desserts

The uncomfortable New England heatwave broke this past Sunday, and coastal New Hampshire experienced a beautiful day of temperatures in the mid-80s with a cool breeze off the ocean. I celebrated this pleasant change in weather by walking around Portsmouth, a favorite seaside town that I have raved about previously. I tried two new - or, in the first place's case, non-blogged - eateries this time around.

Bostonians may have heard of The Friendly Toast, a diner-style establishment originally in Portsmouth that recently opened an outpost in Cambridge's Kendall Square. I tried the Cambridge restaurant prior to the Portsmouth one, and loved its food enough that I just had to go to the original. I should make a note that delicious breakfasts are not the only things that make the restaurants memorable. The tacky decor is overwhelming, to say the least. Consider the fact that this ominous fellow may be overseeing your Cantabrigian meal of granola cranberry chocolate-chip pancakes drenched in Grand Marnier sauce:

The kitsch is more extreme in Portsmouth. It's densely packed and somewhat abrasive, with animatronic feet advertizing socks alongside eerily spinning farm animal caricatures. Still, all that clutter and noise should not distract you from appreciating the excellent food.

The Friendly Toast serves The. Best. Pancakes. I have ever had. They taste pleasingly of buttermilk, and have a texture that is difficult to categorize - soft yet sturdy, they soak up any nearby syrup and only flake slightly when cut. Their mixins are also the most creative pancake fillers I have ever seen. The above Grand Marnier example is a perfect illustration of their uniqueness, but their willingness to make veritable desserts out of their pancakes is what keeps me coming back. That's right, I indulged in toffee chocolate pancakes! Huge milk and semisweet chocolate chips melted alongside jagged toffee pieces to create a meal that was more candy bar than pancake. Unlike many purveyors of innocuous chocolate chip pancakes, the FT does not skimp on the good stuff. Copious drizzles of maple syrup pushed the meal ever closer to heaven. Another huge plus is these pancakes' size. One pancake is enough for one (large) meal, so I ordered two and got to enjoy the Toast's bounty all over again as leftovers.

I was too full after my pancake to eat another baked good, but there was a new bakery next to the FT that was just begging for me to take something home. The Portsmouth Baking Company had a simple sign outside their store - "NOW OPEN for LUNCH and CUPCAKES." I saw that last word and couldn't walk away. Enter an adorable modern bakery - as if Boston's beloved Flour chain were to get 25% more cutesy - where massive, picture-perfect cupcakes are displayed with geometric precision. Ah! I wish my phone had not died so I could share pictures with you. Fortunately, though, I have a picture of the cupcake I ate at home later that evening.

This chocolate tangerine cupcake held so much promise. (I love chocolate and orange together almost as much as I love chocolate and mint.) I breathed in the cupcake's rich aroma and hoped for a dark, bitter chocolate cake with intense orange peel flavor, and a sweeter orange buttercream frosting neutralizing the strength beneath it. The reality, however, was nothing like that. Instead, the cake itself was a particularly heavy and dry devil's food, and the odd-tasting frosting had no trace of orange within it. The only citrus I detected came in the form of two small pieces of candied orange peel atop the frosting. I am not kidding when I say I tasted more toothpaste than buttercream in the frosting. I don't know how I muddled through the entire dessert. I don't think I have ever known a cupcake to be so disappointing.

I wish the Portsmouth Baking Company luck, if only because (1) their store is the epitome of modern baker chic, and (2) their cakes are pretty to look at. Maybe I'll try their artisan breads at some point - but, I can safely say I will never willfully eat their "buttercream" again. Let's hope my next Portsmouth dessert experimentation is more successful!

The Dessert Dump - Or, What I Should Have Written

Wow, my last post was in May. I've had many desserts since then, but I have not been so coordinated in my enjoyment of them to commit them to the blog within a reasonable timeframe. So, consider this "Dessert Dump" a woefully brief overview of what I should have documented in the past two months.

Something from Athan's...which probably happened after something from Publick House! Brookline's Washington Square is a favorite place to overeat. Chocolate and vanilla genoise cakes and mousses, layered and drenched in ganache, plus fig (?) gelato. Eaten at my favorite corner table.

Iced mocha and turtle hot chocolate from Davis Square's Diesel Cafe! Smooth, deep, chocolatey win. WIN in caps, even.

Some sort of flourless chocolate torte from Posto, also in Davis Square. Good, but not as awe-inspiring as their pastas and pizzas. The non-raisiny port wine glaze was a plus.

Shabby Chic's chocolate blackberry cupcake. Similar to their chocolate raspberry cupcake, but with blackberry! Who could say no to that purple frosting? Of course, both frosting and cake were out-of-this-world delicious, and SC remains the best cupcakery I have had the pleasure of sampling.

An array of finger desserts from Dante's Al Fresco Fiasco. I consider it a miracle that I made it to this early-afternoon event, since I was up through the sunrise the "night" before. My efforts were completely worth it, though - these macaroons, mousses, and fritters were exemplary, as were the savory non-desserts. I can't wait to have a real meal at Dante sometime!

An unbelievably rich triple chocolate cupcake - that's right, chocolate cake + chocolate frosting + chocolate bar - from a mystery bakery in Stoneham. An unexpected treat courtesy of my colleague Shannon! The frosting defies categorization, it was so dense and fudgy; the cake could barely stand under its weight! Taste buds were similarly overwhelmed by its robust chocolate-ness, though in the best possible way.

Next up: a real post, with more words on fewer desserts...

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!

Bell the Cat's Caramelita Bar

One of the best things about business trips to my company's Belfast, Maine office is getting lunch at Bell the Cat. The emporium is a strange, yet instantly endearing, hodgepodge of cafe, sandwich shop, bookseller, and music store...in a way that is the epitome of mid-coast Maine, and nothing like a Barnes & Noble Starbucks. When I talk about BtC's excellent local flavor, though, I'm referring to more than its unique atmosphere - I'm complimenting some of the best sandwiches, and cafe-style baked goods, I've ever had. Even my favorite sandwich from Cambridge's beloved Darwin's doesn't hold a candle to Bell's Californian, a delightful assortment of my favorite veggies and cheeses piled high or melted on a toasted croissant. What, you'd rather hear about the baked goods? :-)

Well...one is immediately met with a stunning array of cookie jars, and bars piled on bars, upon entering the shop. The variety of cookies is really impressive - think any combination of chocolate, nut, spice, jam, etc - but if I had to single out one baked good to rule them all, it would be the Caramelita bar. I have enjoyed this treat on each 4-hour trip back to Boston since discovering it last year!

What makes this bar such a delight?

• The base cookie is a rich, buttery blend of shortbread and oatmeal cookie. Dense, textured, and surprisingly warm and creamy, it's a perfect support structure for the decadence to follow.
• A very thick layer of soft milk chocolate coats the base cookie. The chocolate is incredibly even and smooth, almost fudgy. Small semisweet chocolate chips are mixed throughout for flavor and textural contrast.
• Large walnut chunks dot the chocolate's surface. Drizzled swirls of thick, milky, slightly-salty caramel coat and secure the nuts to the chocolate, and help meld the delightful dessert flavors.
• Sugar cookie crumbles, with a hint of cinnamon and perhaps more brown sugar than usual, form the top layer of the bar. The crumbles are soft and give in easily to my teeth. They are the lightest characteristic of a bar that gets denser and more delicious the deeper you go.

So, each bite includes two distinctly delicious cookies, some of the best chocolate to be put near a pastry, hearty nuts, and gooey caramel. What's not to love?

Somehow, the Caramelita manages to combine an at-home look and feel with big-time bakery flavor. I could probably replicate the bar in my own kitchen without too much effort, but there is something to be said for letting it keep its place of honor in my Downeast gastronomic repertoire. I will always have something to look forward to, and my stomach can growl in anticipation, whenever I travel to Belfast!