Apple Pound Cake

I must have a thing for pound cakes. I've made this this and this and they always come out divine. I could live off the scent of butter and sugar working it's magic in the oven, the comingling of different ingredients. I made this weeks ago but never got around to posting it, so here it is. Happy holidays and happy new year friends!

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Coconut Cake with Chocolate Cloud Frosting

What happens if you're not ready to turn 27? When you feel like your life isn't where you imagined it to be in your youth? I didn't have concrete 5 or 10 year goals, but in my head, I had hoped to make decent progress in life. But then again, what defines someone as successful? It's subjective. One person's success might not mean the same thing to someone else. But I can't help but compare myself to my peers. Some friends I've grown up with are now married, popping out babies, or devoted mothers, and/or own a home. I don't have any of those things. I don't even have a dog (something I hope to change next year--hey look, an attainable goal!). I know that those things don't define you and everyone's timeline is different, but how does that reflect about you?

I feel like I haven't traveled enough, I want to eat and drink my way through Italy, stuff my face with platters of fresh pasta made by nonnas with wrinkled hands and sip homemade limonello followed by pistachio gelato. I want to visit New Orleans and blues dance with a hot stranger on the street with a saxophonist crooning in the background. I haven't read enough books! I want to lie on the beach in Santorini and read food memoirs. 

I want to own my own house and paint the bathroom a brilliant shade of pale turquoise to remind me of the Caribbean ocean, hang up a ton of photos I've taken of my friends and family to show off to my friends and family. I want a bright and open kitchen with grayish white marble countertops and host dinner parties like I used to during my Montreal days. I want to have a golden retriever and call him Brinkley (named after Tom Hank's dog in You've Got Mail) and throw frisbees for him to catch and bring back to me. That's only a tiny glimpse of the many things I want to do. I feel like I'm running out of time. Is it just me? Is this what a quarter-life crisis feels like?

Anyway, I made this layer cake for one of my best friend's birthday. I made the cake layers and froze it for a week since I knew there wouldn't be time to make it before her party. I whipped up the frosting which was definitely THE most decadent, buttery, and creamy frosting I've ever made. Other frostings I've made lean towards the sugary side or have sandier texture and who don't the words "Cloud Frosting" just beckon your name? The frosting has a high butter to sugar ratio which makes it uber smooth. I'd prefer a stronger chocolate flavour, but that didn't stop the compliments from flowing at the party. 

The cake is absolutely amaZING. It's moist and the flavour marries well with the frosting, there's just enough shredded coconut to give it some nibbly texture too. I put plenty of kosher salt in the frosting too because I can't resist that sweet and salty combination. There were no leftovers which made us sad, but I suppose it goes to show just how delicious it was. 

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Coconut Bread

I feel guilty for how much I've ignored my blog. My dad came to visit from overseas so I was busy spending time with him. My parents taught Jacques, my boyfriend, how to play mahjong (not the computer game) the real deal, using tiles engraved with various shapes and colours. A week later, I went to see Kings of Leon in concert with my girlfriends (featuring Gary Clark Jr., who is frequently on repeat on my Ipod) and spent the following days belting out this song.

I haven’t baked much lately, but I did cook for my family. I made lasagna and layered fresh pasta sheets with white sauce and meat sauce simmered with plenty of wine and topped with mozzarella so that after 30 minutes of oven time, the edges were crispy and just a couple of minutes away from being burnt. It was perfect. The insides were squidgy and the flavours melded together. What a difference fresh pasta makes! Lasagna-epiphany never felt so good!

On another night, I made pavlovas, something I've been meaning to make for a year or so. I folded in dark chocolate chunks into whipped egg whites and sugar and before serving, laid slices of fresh pears and generous scoops of ice cream. We all dived into them, quiet and eager to stuff our faces with crisp and pillowy goodness.

I also went to a Fabulicious lunch. It’s an event where wineries in the Niagara area get to show off their culinary talents with meals at a set price. My mom and Jacques arrived at Peller Estates an hour late but they were thankfully accommodating. 

There was arugula salad with quail, pan-fried salmon with curried butternut squash, wild boar panini, duck confit with truffled fettuccine carbonara and of course, the best part was when we shared our desserts: sticky toffee pudding with oatmeal ice cream, cranberry and apple crumble, and the best one of all: chocolate cream pie with macerated cherries. I wish I had worn my stretchy pants.

As if all that food wasn't enough, I still felt like eating something sweet. I wanted to make something simple, with the preparation done in less than 20 minutes. I had my eye on this recipe from Smitten Kitchen in a while and it looked doable for my lazy mood. You really can't go wrong with the mixture of toasted coconut, sugar, browned butter, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. This bread can be mixed by hand and comes together easily, I reduced the amount of sugar a little and it turned out fine. Like Deb describes, it has a drier crumb than banana bread and is just as good. You can add nuts, grate citrus fruit into the batter, add chocolate chips, whatever suits your fancy. I like it plain, toasted with Speculoos. 

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Chocolate Pecan Torte (again)

I made a mistake. I baked something, took pictures of it while standing over the table and getting really really excited to share it with you, only to realize days later when I was getting ready to blog it, that I had already done it in 2012. It's no big deal, besides, it's a delicious idea for Valentine's Day if you're into that sort of thing. If not, it's still a fabulous cake to share with your friends and family, it's full of chocolate and still delicately sweet. My parents loved it, we each had a slice with a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream while watching tv. 

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Espresso Cake

I used to drink coffee everyday. I wouldn’t call myself a java junkie, I don’t have to start my day with caffeine, though I do enjoy a latte with lots of silky foam on top. When my dad was here to visit over the holidays, he got me hooked on to black tea with milk. He made it over the stove, throwing in two bags of tea into the simmering water, and since he has a heavy hand when it comes to anything sweet, he went through a litre of raw, unpasteurized honey fairly quickly. If you peeked into the jar, you would find craters of honey where he scooped up the golden liquid.

It doesn’t taste the same when I make it, though that is most likely because of love and affection that goes into making cups of tea for my mom and me. Besides, it’s always better when someone else makes something for you, especially someone I don’t see often. So since the start of the year, I’ve been making milky teas every morning for work. A hot beverage helps keep me wake for my hour long commutes long before the sun rises.

If you are a serious coffee addict though, here’s a cake that deserves the Coffee Fanatic Seal of Approval. It smells amazing, there are teeny bits of ground coffee throughout the cake, my favourite part is the delicately crunchy crust with a tender crumb.

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Chocolate Pecan Torte

The best part of being invited to dinner parties is having an excuse to bake something I wouldn't normally make. Some cakes are too extravagant for a house of two and are difficult to share. Loafs, cookies or bars are easier to cut up and give away to friends. But when an occasion comes around and I have the opportunity to make something fancy, I jump to it.  

This chocolate cake from Alice Medrich is sure to please any crowd. It’s a humble looking cake with a collapsed center, and sprinkled with icing sugar, the crackly top looks even more beautiful in its imperfect way. All through dinner, I eyed the cake, counting down the minutes till we could dive into it. In fact, I saved some stomach space so I could have two pieces of cake, a very good skill to develop for dinner parties.

The torte is even better if it’s made in advance, so I’d recommend making it a day before a craving for chocolate strikes. Basically, butter and sugar are creamed together, eggs are added and beaten until you get a thick, frothy mixture to near pudding consistency. Then, ground nuts and flour are stirred in. Before pouring the batter into the pan, remember to lick the spatula just a little, taste testing is crucial and so very delicious. The torte puffs up in the oven and deflates as it cools on the rack. It’s cakey and crumbly, the middle still dense and moist. The toasted pecans lend a nutty, tender crumb, making it hard to resist having a third slice. It makes a beautiful cake for the holidays and the icing sugar makes up for the snow that has yet to arrive here in Toronto.

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Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake

On a particular baking frenzy during my university days, I was also indulging in my inner fat girl. As I whisked the batter for banana bread and dumped a heaping cup of white, flaky coconut into the pale yellow goop, I couldn’t help but scoop a finger into the thick mixture and bring the cloyingly sweet lump to my lips. It was shamelessly delicious. I did it again, this time with a little more greed, catching twice as much batter. I looked around, like a cat on the prowl and licked the spatula (I'd like to take this moment and thank my five roommates for not showing up at this time, one look at me diving into the goopy mixture was sure to make them regret sharing a roof with this crazy-cake-batter-over-eater).

I’m unsure if the banana bread even baked to a full loaf. I like to believe it did, but I don’t remember, either that, or the excess sugar inhibited my neurons from storing any memory. The glutton in me conquered that day and I haven’t been able to face any banana bread & coconut combination the same way, it makes my stomach churn just thinking about it.

Since then, I have honed my self-control skills and refrain from unleashing my greedy fat lady. Like a civilized baker, I only allow myself to taste test the batter once (maybe twice if there’s chocolate involved). If this lemon poppy seed loaf cake could talk, it would testify that I was very good and stopped myself from licking the whisk clean.

 
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably know I’m a sucker for citrusy desserts. There was a surplus of lemons hanging out in the fridge, leftovers from last week’s tart and it’s just common knowledge that lemons make yummy treats. Lemon poppy seed is one of my favourite combinations, the freshness of zesty lemon plus the nibbly crunch of poppy seeds gets me excited (but not as excited as cake batter).

This ain’t no ordinary cake, it’s a loaf cake, hinging somewhere between a sweet sturdy bread and a delicate cake. Like goldilocks’ third porridge, it has just the right amount of sweetness. The texture is soft and springy with a tight crumb, making it easy to slice and serve if you are kind enough to share. It’s fine the way it is, I wouldn’t change a thing except perhaps sprinkle coarse sugar over the top before baking, because any cake can do with some edible jewelry. I don’t think I need to persuade you anymore, just the words loaf cake are sure to deliver a tasty promise.

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Olive Oil Pound Cake

 
There’s always a mix of anticipation, excitement, and hunger that stirs inside me when I slide cake out of the oven. A puff of hot air hits my face (I always forget to dodge), followed by the magical moment where the cake practically sings “TADA!!” when it’s brought to daylight.

A few times, I’ve baked desserts that I was too disgusted to share. There was an almond citrus cake that looked good on paper, but tasted awful in real life, so awful in fact, it was left untouched on the kitchen counter for a few days till my dad pity-ate a slice everyday for his afternoon tea. I made Earl Grey tea cookies once, carefully selecting a promising recipe, but they ended up looking like cement dog biscuits, a result of my over eagerness in doubling the amount of ground tea leaves to the batter. It was a sad day.

Then there are also happy times when cakes turns out too damn perfect, they looked so good they deserved to be on the front cover of a magazine. Still, watching my friends devour the cakes was the best part of all, how they greedily bit into a piece, leaving a trail of crumbs on the floor, or how they tried to identify all the ingredients in the cake while throwing compliments at me--their mouths still full.

Pound cake definitely falls under the Happy Times category, it has that oomph, that promise to deliver exactly what its name implies: 110% pure richness. This cake is a serious matter, the crumb is undeniably light and airy, yet still carries enough heft to be eaten double-fisted. The golden crust that forms around the cake is my favourite bit, it’s crispy against the teeth, but yields to a dense and moist cake. To sum up: insanely good. 

 

Although I’m a butter purist, olive oil makes for good desserts, its floral flavour is a nice change. This cake is good any time of the day: for breakfast, after lunch when you’re still hungry despite finishing all the contents of your lunchbox, for that time in the afternoon when you’re itching for sugar and even though that chocolate bar sounds really good, nothing else but this cake will curb your sweet tooth. It’s especially satisfying smuggled into a movie theatre because sometimes homemade pound cake is way better than buttered popcorn.

This cake is from Alice Medrich’s latest cookbook, which is sure to be my go-to dessert resource for a while. I made her one-bowl chocolate cake and cocoa brownies with walnuts and brown butter, both were divine and were rewarded rave reviews. I’ve bookmarked other blog-worthy recipes and cannot wait to share them, knowing that they will all be insanely good.

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Maple Banana Bread

I once went out with a boy who enjoys food as much as I do, we bonded over plates oozing with burrata cheese, plate brimming with fresh ravioli and pizzas bubbling straight from chimney ovens (if you live in Toronto or plan to visit sometime soon, you ought to go to Gusto and order the Polpette—meatballs on pizza?! Aww yeaaaah). Another added bonus was he had sweet tooth big enough to rival mine: Soma Chocolate, lemon bars, cheesecakes, ice cream, we devoured them all.

Aside from food, we also shared an interest in the digital arts and decided to try our hand at making a baking video. For a week, we exchanged emails sharing the most saliva-inducing videos we found, getting inspiration from other food lovers. I’m unfamiliar with cinematography since I’m used to the control of a camera, so you can imagine my excitement on this project. We chose Heidi’s Lemony Olive Oil Banana Bread which took nearly two hours to make, not because it was difficult, but because we were having so much fun.

When I bake, I move swiftly along, my Ipod is playing and my toes tap in rhythm to the wooden spoon beating against the metal bowl, there’s minimal flour spill and by the time the cake pan slides into the oven, the dirty spatulas and measuring spoons are soaking quietly in a soapy bowl. But for this project, we made a mess. As my friend hummed to Bon Iver playing in the background, I surveyed the specks of salt, flour, sugar, and baking soda littered on the black table plus excess olive oil that sat in a glass jar, marking our unsuccessful attempts in catching drool-worthy footage. There were spoons upon spoons splayed out, a teetering tower of dishes to be washed, and best of all, there was the cake in the oven. 

As we ran hot water to clean up the mess and the familiar waft of warm, sweet bananas perfumed the kitchen, a sense of ease passed through me. For a fleeting moment, I wanted to do this everyday, the ordinary washing of dirty dishes, the way he tickled me, how I squealed like a little girl, and how he redeemed himself by wrapping his arms around me.

Yet the cake wasn't as spectacular as I hoped, I was greedy with the chocolate chunks and the banana bread ended up being far too sweet. Still, my friend gobbled up two slices in less than five minutes and declared it delicious. We split up the cake, I gathered my baking tools and headed home.

Then something happened since that banana bread, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but my gut knew that perhaps this boy didn’t want to have any more banana-bread-movie-making days. I never blogged about that recipe because I had originally intended to give you the video, I guess you have to accept that sometimes your expectations won't be met. However, one thing you can do is bake when the craving strikes. I was fumbling through food blogs and found this Maple Banana Bread, a no-fuss recipe, the batter comes together easily and turns out incredibly moist. There’s no chocolate, no walnuts and I skipped the frosting because I prefer my cakes uncomplicated. I brought this to work the next day, welcomed by cheers from my coworkers, something I can definitely expect every time.

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Whole Wheat Speculoos Snacking Cake (almost)

 
Around this time last year, I was strolling through the beautiful Jardin des Tuillieres in Paris with my closest friend, all the while still screaming in my head, OHMYGOD I’M IN PARIS!! Then, just as the sun was setting, we set out to locate our mandatory pre-dinner snack: extra large scoops of milky gelato.

My Europe trip was without a doubt one of the best trips I’ve had, though it wouldn’t have been the same without my friend Milos. We get along like nutella and bananas and our trip brought us even closer. To this day, we still joke about unforgettable moments from our trip, including the time he lost his glasses in the wave pool at the Gellért Baths and how we desperately dove into the deep-end endless times, lest he be blind for the rest of our trip, only to find out someone was kind enough to leave it with the lifeguard forty-five minutes ago. 

Milos is one not only a great travel buddy, but an amazing friend as well, he’ll listen to me cry, rant, rave, and go off on a tangent about anything, he'll even stay on Skype video chat after I’ve accidentally fell asleep. He’s the only person I know who can make me laugh so hard I lose control of all my bodily fluids. Despite living six hours apart, Milos does a great job of staying in touch, something I’m wholeheartedly thankful for. We met at a mutual friend’s chocolate fondue party (a good kind of friend to have, in case you don’t have one yet), I was attracted to his wild mop of curls and invited him to a dinner party I was hosting the following week, and since then, we’ve bonded over many more meals, snacks, and desserts (SO many desserts).

One favourite food that we discovered in Europe was Speculoos. Oooh, Speculoos, it’s like music to my ears. If you haven’t tried it already, I beg you to cancel all your future plans and make it your new life goal to get a jar of this cookie spread with a sticks-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth texture and the sensational taste of a cinnamony, gingery, and warm spice. Put simply, pure awesome. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about Europe and Speculoos and for a while wanted to make a cake out of it, so this is what I came up with. Milos, a Certified Speculoos Purist would condemn this, declaring it a fraud, “Liar! This ain’t Speculoos at all!” I know it’s not the real thing, but it's definitely Speculoos-inspired, and that to me, is good enough. 

The cake turned out to be exactly what I hoped for: airy, light, not too sweet and easily shared among friends. I brought half the loaf to work and was immediately greeted with big toothy smiles from my colleagues, I kept reasonably sized snacking pieces in a tin box that sat behind my desk and whenever someone popped it open, the room filled with the warm, inviting spices of Speculoos: cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves. A thick slice is good on its own, but it’s even better slathered with a little lot of Speculoos, something I’m sure Milos would approve. 

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Rosemary Remembrance Cake

In Shanghai, or mostly anywhere in China for that matter, you can get any pet you want. I can count on my fingers all the pets I’ve owned: rabbits, goldfish, turtles, hamsters, puppies, lovebirds, parrots, owls (yes, owls), chipmunks, and kittens. Even though I’m a sincere animal-lover, I don’t have the best track record with pets. For some reason, save for a pair of lovebirds, they all die out on me. 

Before you report me to the SPCA, hear me out. The bunnies were cute and snuggly for a few weeks before they mysteriously got food poisoning, then the goldfish contracted some strange disease and started eating each other, which we figured out when there was a pile of bones in the corner of the tank (to this day, I hate goldfish because of that image forever burned in my mind). The puppy my parents bought me was adorrrable, but we had it for a mere 4 days (four days!!) before it also caught a stomach bug of some sort (do you see a pattern here?). I’ll spare you the details of tragic deaths of the other pets I’d had, but believe me when I say I seriously do love animals.

The moral of my sad pet stories is…I don’t have very good luck with animals or any living thing for that matter. Nonetheless, I was still compelled to pick up a basil plant two weeks ago. I'd swoon over a bushel of basil than a bouquet of roses any day (seriously, am I going to toss a handful of rose petals into my tomato sauce? I don’t think so). I’m proud to say I kept the basil alive for a record-breaking seven days, so when I got a whiff of rosemary at the grocery store I couldn’t help but take it home, because isn’t there that saying? Two herbs are better than one.

Thankfully, both plants are still alive, actually, not just alive, they’re thriving. They sit beautifully on the kitchen counter and motivate me to cook real food instead of reaching into the freezer at dinner for kimchi dumplings.

So this cake, this beauty is the perfect welcome to spring. From the gorgeous Nigella Lawson, comes a rosemary remembrance cake in honor of her grandma, which I think is appropriate since I made this cake in memory of all the pets I had. This golden cake isn’t quite what I expected. I swapped out the all-purpose flour for oat and whole wheat pastry flour which gave it a delicate texture, practically crumbling at the slight pressure of my fork. There is a touch of fruitiness from the cooked apple and an undeniable scent of rosemary, the herb is there just enough to not be overpowering, but rather lingers in the cake’s aura.

The cake is nearly gone, but my herb plants are definitely here to stay. Besides, it’s probably better to practice how to make plants last before graduating on to being a pet owner. 

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Rosemary and Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

For the longest time I’ve been mixing, beating, creaming and aerating cakes, cookie batters and egg whites with an electronic handheld whisk. It’s been with me since my parents bought it for me and has tagged along in the 13 places I’ve called home over the years. When it’s not busy whisking, its bottom can be detached to function as a food processor or a blender (though I sadly lost that part in Montreal).

 

Though my mixer has served me well, I’ve spent many hours on my laptop yearning for KitchenAid mixers. I’ve also hung out at The Bay for much longer than socially acceptable admiring the rows of mixers that light up the kitchen department as if they were trophies.  I’ve swooned over the limited edition satin copper mixer at Williams-Sonoma, a spotlight directly over it, casting a magical aura over it.

Then, as if Santa missed the deadline, a KitchenAid mixer arrived at my doorstep. I was still asleep but roused awake when my mom, confused, repeated to the deliver boy: we didn’t order it, I didn’t order it! Turns out a good friend of mine generously bought it for me and had it sent to my door. I wish I could tell you I tore open the box like a grizzly bear on Ritalin, but I didn’t. Instead, I waited 11 hours later to rip through the packing tape and cardboard, I swear bells and angels sang as I lifted the mixer from its styrofoam shell and placed it carefully on the corner of my kitchen counter beside the rice cooker. It’s a thing of beauty and a lovely addition to my baking arsenal (move aside handheld mixer!)

I would totally spoon it to sleep, take it everywhere I go like a security blanket, and take it out to parties, but I don’t think its what normal people do. I do however, look forward to many years of mixing, pouring and quicker clean-ups with my brand-spanking new mixer, knowing that there will be plenty of breads and desserts (maybe I’ll successfully master macarons) to whip up in the very sweet future.

Take this cake for example, I don’t know what takes me so long to amble my way through my ridiculously long list of Must Make Now, but I’ve got to thank Heidi for this amazzzing creation. The cake is part herby, part sweet and a riddled with chunks of rich chocolate, in other words, nothing could go wrong.

With the recent plummeting temperatures, nothing beats the woodsy, rustic smell of rosemary and in combination with olive oil, it’s simply sensational. Not to mention that this cake is mostly whole grain (which is even better if you’re into that kinda thing). The best part are the crunchy granules of sugar and itty bitty bits of rosemary that you would think is overpowering, but rather, infuses a smoothing flavour in just the right amount. Trust me when I say you ought to make this. Like now. Stat. 1, 2, 3, GO!

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