Simplicity

Chocolate and vanilla....where some may see boredom, I see simplicity.  Ask me what my favourite ice cream flavour is, and despite having tried flavours as varied as mango, pomegranate, maple bacon, and Cabernet, I will usually vacillate between chocolate or vanilla.


So when asked by a friend to make mini-cupcakes for a baby shower, vanilla and chocolate was the plan.  A double-barrel shotgun of simplicity.  Singular flavours of vanilla with vanilla buttercream, and chocolate with chocolate buttercream were anything but.  Not all cake recipes are equal, I discovered.  I was like Goldilocks finding the one that was 'just right.'  Over the span of a week, out from the oven came four cakes, two winning recipes, and the end-result of a few dozen  mini-cupcakes.


The winning chocolate cake will be re-visited often.  Not too fudgy and not too sweet, you can enjoy it with a thick layer of buttercream or dusted with confectioners' sugar.


Texas Sheet Cake
Makes 20 to 24 servings
(From Bonny Wolf's 'Talking with My Mouth Full:  Crab Cakes, Bundt Cakes, and Other Kitchen Stories')  


1 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cups chopped pecans (optional)


Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter or line with parchment a 15.5 x 10.5 jelly roll pan.  Combine the butter, water, and cocoa in a saucepan.  Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.  


In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.  Remove the butter from the heat and add to the dry ingredients.  Mix well (either by hand or with a mixer).  Add the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla.  Mix again.  Pour into the pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.


Note:  I halved the recipe and ended up with close to 4 dozen mini-cupcakes.  It will also make an 8 x 8 inch cake.  

A Birthday Without A Cake...

On the Reading List at the moment is 'Talking with My Mouth Full:  Crab Cakes, Bundt Cakes, and Other Kitchen Stories,' by NPR Food Commentator Bonny Wolf.  I didn't know who she was when I checked it out from the library,  but I'm enjoying the book immensely.  Bonny writes in a very easy-going way.  The book is full of anecdotes from her life and is filled with lots of great recipes.  More importantly, they are recipes she's culled from friends and family over the years, so they're unfussy and fall into the 'tried and true' category.  I ordered a copy of the book, so I'll have the recipes close at hand whenever I need them.

What caught my attention the other day was an essay entitled, "Let Them Eat Cake," where she talked about the birthday cakes her friends have made for the their children, year after year, from the times they were little to the not-so-little age of their early adult years.  She writes about the fancy cake she had on her fifth birthday, the cake her mom made that had a doll coming out from the top and the cake looked like a tiered skirt of frilly ruffles.  I remember having one like that myself, probably from my fourth or fifth birthday, and somewhere there's a photo of me in the kitchen, standing next to the table, and looking happily at that cake.

Over the past couple of years, I've taken it into my own hands to have a cake on my birthday.    In 2010, I made lavender cupcakes with a lilac-tinted lemon buttercream, each topped with a single blueberry.  Yes, they look like breasts.  Don't ask me what I was thinking, but I wanted embellishment.  Any kind of psychological insight aside, they were delicious.  Last year, I opted for cupcakes again, this time strawberry with a pink-tinted vanilla buttercream.  They were frilly and girly and I ate too many of them.  May Day arrived this year and I ended up with not one, but two birthday cakes.  My co-workers surprised me with a cake at work.  Red Velvet with melted chocolate artfully strewn across the expanse of bakery buttercream.  Thick white ruffles of icing lining the perimeter.  Remember the bakery cakes from when you were little, the cakes with huge buttercream rosettes?  I was the one gathering more than just those that came with my piece.  That was me again on Monday (since I was off yesterday), with loads of buttercream heaped on my plate.  The sugar rush and crash that day was palpable.

Despite the surprise birthday cake, I still had plans for my own-baked version.  With a load of lemons from a co-workers tree, I made lemon curd.  And because I have a thing for lavender in baked goods, I once again opted for a lavender cake.  So 2012 became the year of the Lavender Cake with Lemon Curd Filling.  A single layer, sliced in two with a thick layer of curd, and lightly dusted with confectioners' sugar.  For the past couple of days, I've had the privilege of having cake multiple times in one day.  (If this doesn't get me back to the gym, I don't know what will!)  The lavender cake is perfect with coffee in the morning and the red velvet makes a great mid-afternoon forkful treat.

As Bonny Wolf so truthfully writes at the end of the essay, 'A birthday without a cake is like a wedding without a bride.'  Wise words...so remember, friends don't let friends have a birthday go by without cake.

Lavender Cake with Lemon Curd Filling
Makes one 8-inch layer cake
(Adapted from a recipe on Everything Lavender.com)


For cake:


3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon culinary lavender
4 tablespoons half and half



Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cake pan with parchment or grease and flour the pan.  In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.  Add remaining ingredients and mix until combined.  Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before tranferring to wire rack. Let cake cool completely before slicing.  


Spread lemon curd in a thick layer on bottom portion of cake.  Carefully place top layer back on and dust with confectioners' sugar.  



For lemon curd:
Makes about 1 1/2-2 cups
(From FineCooking.com--the easiest recipe I've come across for lemon curd)


6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest


Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time and mix well.  Add egg yolks.  Add lemon juice and mix well.  It will look curdled because of the lemon juice, but it's okay.  Heat mixture over low heat in a saucepan until it looks smooth.  Increase heat to medium, cook until mixture thickens, stirring constantly (about 15 minutes).  Do not let mixture boil.  Mixture should easily coat a wooden spoon and leave a clean path when you run your finger through it.  


Remove from heat and mix in lemon zest.  Transfer curd to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing plastic on top of curd so a skin doesn't form.  Chill in refrigerator.  Curd will thicken.  You can make this the day before.  Covered tightly, it will last for about a week.  

From the co-workers

Lavender Cake with Lemon Curd Filling

Birthday 2010:  Lavender Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

Birthday 2011:  Strawberry Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

When Is a Cookie Not a Cookie?

You have a cookie, you decide to grind it into a cream (think peanut butter), and then you spread it onto bread and eat it.  Sounds a little odd, doesn't it?  Over the past couple of months, I had been coming across mentions of this Biscoff spread on other food blogs.  Yes, it piqued my curiosity.  Lotus Bakeries (those crazy Belgians!) took their Biscoff cookie, speculoos, and turned it into a creamy spread.  They certainly don't have a monopoly on speculoos, but they did take it that extra step.  I filed this bit of information in my brain and went along my merry way.

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago.  It's a glorious Saturday afternoon, I'm on the errand run and while my focus should be heading to Petco to find sustenance for the felines, I take a detour into Cost Plus (Hey, I can't help that they're right next to each other!).  This is dangerous territory for me as it is one of my favourite stores.  I am a kid in a candy store here, with their soaps, kitchen gadgets, fancy notebooks, and most importantly, their food and drink section.  They carry foods from all over the world and have a great wine and beer section.  I used to not be able to get out of a Cost Plus without spending at least $50, but I've reined myself in considerably over the past couple of years.  So I'm innocently walking down the aisles in the food section, looking at imported pastas, olives, cookies, and jams...and guess what I spot?  Yes, Biscoff spread.  I snatched that baby up and didn't even debate on whether it was a necessity or indulgence.  I had to try it.  I am also happy to report that I got out of the store only spending $13.00.  Biscoff spread, Italian dry salame, and violet gum...that's a good haul!

No time was wasted once I got home and took a spoon to that jar of Biscoff.  It doesn't look any different than peanut butter, but the taste, well, that is something else.  Caramelly with brown sugar, overtones of ginger and cinnamon...I get it!  I also had to stop myself from eating it by the spoonfuls.  Biscoff on the no-knead bread I'm obsessed with baking??  Wow.  Limiting myself to one slice?  Not easy.  I screwed the lid back on and hid it away before I really ate the whole jar in one sitting.  But it has not been out of my mind.  I really wanted to bake with it.  I had seen recipes for Biscoff cupcakes, frostings, and cakes.  It was earlier this week while at work that I thought 'banana' and 'Biscoff!'

Well, you know what happened on my day off.  Yes, Biscoff and Banana cookies.  I ate four.  I took most of them into work the next day because I would easily eat all of them myself.  They were gone in no time thanks to my co-workers.  Know what I had for breakfast today?  Yep, cookies.  I will unabashedly tell you that I love these cookies.  They are a very cakey cookie.  Soft and dense with a nice balance of caramelly brown sugar and banana.  With a cup of strong coffee they are fantastic.  I don't see it as a tea cookie, but I guess it could be.  I love tea, but to me it's dainty.  This is not a dainty cookie, it's a hearty cookie.

Seek out Biscoff.  I also found out that Trader Joe's makes a version called 'Cookie Butter.'  I will be looking into that too.  Lotus Bakeries makes it easy to purchase online, as does Amazon.com.

Banana Biscoff Cookies
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Basic Drop Cookie)
Makes about 2 dozen 2-inch cookies


1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed (light or dark)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup Biscoff spread
1 medium ripe banana


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugars, salt, vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder until creamy.  Add the egg and mix until fluffly.  Add flour, Biscoff, and banana (break up with fingers).  Mix until batter is well-combined and smooth.  Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet about 1 1/2 inch apart.   Bake for 14-16 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Transfer to wire rack to cool.  

The Note Swap

I love food.  I love art.  How cool is it to have the opportunity to bring the two together in a medium that has to fit in an envelope?  That's the objective of the Art House Co-op's 'The Note Swap.'  Art that fits in an envelope.  Thanks to my friend, Greg, who posted a link to the Note Swap on his Facebook page, I decided to check it out and signed up for it.

You should also check out Greg's artwork.  He does incredible mixed media and collage work.  Find him at Greg Ephemera Trout.  I know my life is richer with him (and his art) in it.

I have become a vintage cookbook collector.  Remember, more than three of anything becomes a collection.  Don't ask me how many vintage cookbooks I've amassed over the past couple of years.  I especially love the ones from the 1950's and 60's.  The graphics and photos are great, as are some of the foods.  I like seeing how tastes have changed over the years, and to see what a hostess could have made for a cocktail party or Christmas dinner.  Some recipes stand up over time, others not so much.  French Endive Salad, yes...Turkey-Tomato Aspic Ring...doubtful.  I sometimes make note cards from the cookbooks, especially those that are in less than decent shape from time.  This is what my contribution for The Note Swap came to be:

My love of stag imagery included, I can only wonder if the lucky recipient of the Indian Tapioca Pudding recipe will actually attempt to make it.  Hmmmm...'Indian meal.'

Stop by for coffee later...the Luncheon Cake will be ready.

A Fitting Name

If I could, I would spend more hours of the day than not cooking and baking away in my kitchen.  I do spend a  lot of time in the kitchen, much more than gets a blog post of the results.  I figure you're not going to want to see everything that I eat, especially since I can eat almost the same things every day.  I don't want to bore you, and I like to share the things that are new to me.

But yesterday I had leftovers for dinner.  I know, I know...there is very little exciting about leftovers, you're thinking.  And I am inclined to agree with you, but it wasn't about being exciting.  It was about a suitable name. You know that I am hoping to have a food-based business up and running sometime in the future.  (The future defined as later this year.)  The name is Semplice Gourmet...'semplice' is Italian for 'simple,' and it really does define how I feel about cooking.  Not boring, but good, simple, and delicious.  I am not one for fancy foods, or eating at 3-star Michelin rated restaurants.  Mind you, had someone offered me a trip to Spain and a seat at El Bulli, I would not have turned it down, but I am the kind of person who loves a good old-school Italian restaurant and likes to seek out a secret neighbourhood diner where they have a killer patty melt.

So I made some lentils the other day.  Do you have any idea what one cup of dried lentils produces?  A whole lot of cooked lentils.  Lentils for days and days and days...on top of a spinach salad, with sauteed mushrooms on top of polenta, and what turned into a very simple dinner the other night:  with orzo, zucchini, tomatoes, red peppers and a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella.  Even the vegetables were leftover from the previous night's  dinner.

Semplice...if only everything in life was just as easy.

Feeling (Un)kneaded

Every now and then I believe that a little indulgence is good for you.  It doesn't have to be big or expensive.  A chocolate bar (with no guilt attached), a new lipstick, or a latte from Starbucks.  I bought myself a little indulgence.  A 14-lb indulgence in the shape of a cast iron Dutch oven.  I know I mentioned it in a previous post and I'm sorry, but I'm still excited about it.  I can make so much in it:  soup, chili, stews, roast chicken, and the primary reason I bought it...bread.

I was having breakfast at a friend's last year and she brought out a homemade ciabatta that was outstanding.  I asked her about it, and she told me how easy it was...no knead, bake it in a Dutch oven and there you go!  So, from that day on, acquiring a Dutch oven was in my plans.  I also checked into the no-knead bread baking and discovered Jim Lahey.  This is where I discovered how easy baking bread can be.  Past attempts have been okay, but this...is fantastic.  You mix the ingredients in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and for at least 12 hours, let the yeast do its work.  It doesn't get easier than this.  I was so thrilled with the first attempt that I have two bowls sitting on the stove now, rising away, that will be bread by this evening.

May I make a suggestion?  Dig out the Dutch oven that you haven't used in ages, say 'thank you' to Jim Lahey, and bake bread.   Don't wait for it to cool and don't forget the butter, plenty of butter.

Click here for the link to Jim Lahey's recipe.

From a sticky, gooey, yeasty mess...

...to deliciousness.

Soup for You

It's taken until March for Los Angeles to get a decent dose of Winter; a couple of good rain storms where the Los Angeles River is more than just a narrow channel of concrete, the surface streets become white-tipped rushing waters, and there's a rare rumble of thunder and flash of lightning.  Those are the days best spent inside, in comfy clothes, rain pelting against the windows, and soup simmering on the stove.

Thanks to an overabundance of onions in the Italian Pantry and a flip through Mollie Katzen's Recipes:  Soups cookbook, it was easy to find a recipe worth trying.  When I first saw my plethora of onions, I was going to make French Onion soup, but the Swiss Cheese and Onion recipe in Katzen's book was really appealing.  There was a small issue though...I didn't have any Swiss cheese (or sherry, for that matter), but I did have horseradish (extra hot!), which was the ingredient that tipped the scales in favour of this recipe.  I could do without the sherry.   But I did have vermouth.  A touch of alcohol is a touch of alcohol, right?  After a search of the refrigerator's contents, I came up with Provolone and Mozzarella.  The soup would take an Italian spin (surprise, surprise!).

This also gave me the opportunity to break in the cast iron Dutch oven I finally bought for myself.  I could kick myself for waiting this long to get one, but I'll be using it frequently now.  Wait until you see the results of bread baking in it!  Okay...back to the soup.  It's a quick soup, coming together in less than an hour.  As I said before, the horseradish really adds a smoky depth and a wee bite.  I added a little more than the required teaspoon because:  1.  I love horseradish and 2.  I like a little bite in my food.  You can add more, less, or not at all, but I think you would be doing yourself a disservice if you left it out altogether.  Provolone and Mozzarella mellowed out the taste, and I will be making it again with Swiss, but it's good to know that the substitution doesn't lessen the deliciousness.

Onion Soup
(Adapted from 'Swiss Cheese and Onion Soup' by Mollie Katzen)
Makes 6-8 servings


2 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, sliced thin
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 tablespoons dry vermouth
1-3 tablespoons flour
2 cups water
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1 1/2 cups warmed milk
1 1/2 cups mozzarella and/or Provolone cheese (grated)
pepper, to taste




Melt the butter in your pot.  Add onions, garlic, salt, and mustard.  Cook over medium heat until the onions are soft (8-10 minutes).  Sprinkle in the flour by the tablespoon, stirring constantly.  The more flour used, the thicker the soup.  Mix well.   


Add the vermouth, water, and horseradish.  Stir and cook for 5 more minutes.  Add the milk and cheese, stirring as the cheese melts into the liquid.  


Let simmer for a few minutes more, adding pepper to taste.  

I followed Mollie's suggestion and served the soup sprinkled with a dash of paprika and homemade croutons.  A swirl of crème fraîche would be lovely too.

And yes....soup reminds me of 'Seinfeld.'