Blackberry Jam Cake with Caramel Icing

Sounds crazy, No? But it's so good!

I keep telling Jeff, "I've learned how to make desserts that taste really good. But how do you make desserts beautiful?!" Even when I start with something beautiful, I can usually ruin it by cutting it. The pieces snag and come out all jagged. The icing smears. You get the picture.

This is how my "Blackberry Jam Cake with Walnuts and Caramel Icing" (courtesy of Cuisine Magazine) first looked:


Either I didn't let the icing (Caramel icing - so good) harden in the fridge long enough, or I didn't add enough powdered sugar to it to make it thick enough. Whatever the cause, after I put the icing in between the layers it started sliding, and when I put the icing on the top and sides it shlumped right off. I let it sit in the fridge until it really hardened, then sliced off the extra icing and saved it for future graham cracker sandwiches. The resulting cake was slightly more presentable:


I only try these recipes in the first place because I see some gorgeous Cuisine magazine photo that makes me drool. I worry that my second-rate attempts won't elicit as much desire to try the recipe. But you should! Cause it's good!

Here it is:

Ingredients:

Cake:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamom (I used ginger)
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar (light)
6 large eggs
1 cup seedless blackberry jam
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup walnut pieces, toasted and chopped

Icing:
1 1/2 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
1 cup evaporated milk (which you can totally make with 3/4 cup water + 2/3 cup powdered milk)
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 T. mild-flavored molasses
1/4 tsp. salt
6 1/3 cups (about 1 3/4 pounds) powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Sift the first 6 ingredients into a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in jam. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions. Fold in walnuts. Divide batter between prepared pans.
Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

For icing: Combine brown sugar, evaporated milk, butter, molasses and salt in a heavy medium saucepan. Whisk over medium-low heat until blended and smooth. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Cool to lukewarm, whisking occasionally, about 15 minutes. Working in batches, sift powdered sugar into mixture, beating until smooth after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Cover and refrigerate icing until firm enough to spread, about 30 minutes. (Or longer! Make sure it's firm!)
Place one cake layer, flat side up, on serving platter. Spread 1 1/2 cups icing over top. Top with second cake layer, flat side down. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover cake and refrigerate. Let cake stand at room temperature 2 hours before serving.)

Nanaimo Bars and Hatch's Hot Chocolate

Well, I'm back to desserts. They are my favorite, after all.


These brownies are nummy. The coconut flavor is nice, and the very vanilla-y frosting is delicious. They're the ones I was talking about in my summer mish-mash post where the first time I made them I didn't have graham crackers and so I substituted with honey nut cheerios (painstakingly hand-ground with a garlic press by Jeff). You can make them with cheerios, but they're a little too sweet. I've since acquired graham crackers, but I was still silly enough to crumble all the crackers by hand, only remembering at the end my Aunt Vicky's good advice about making crumbs with a food processor. Sigh...

Anyhoo, here are Nanaimo Bars, from the Sunset Magazine best-ever cookies issue.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sweetened flaked dried coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 T. milk
1 T. vanilla
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

Directions:

1. In a 1- to 2-quart pan over low heat, melt 6 T. butter; let cool. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat melted butter, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and the egg until well blended. Stir in graham cracker crumbs, coconut, pecans, and cocoa powder.
2. Press dough evenly into a buttered and floured 8x8-inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven until slightly darker, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat 1/2 cup butter, remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, the milk, and the vanilla until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over cooled crust.
4. In a 1- to 2-quart pan over very low heat, stir remaining 2 T. butter and the chocolate until melted. Spread over filling. Cover and chill until the filling is firm enough to cut neatly, at least 2 hours. Cut into 25 squares.

(196 calories, 13 g fat per square).

I find that most baking mishaps I have come from not following the directions exactly. Maybe I didn't have enough time, maybe I thought that direction (preheating, cooling, whatever) couldn't really matter that much. Whatever it was, some silly little thing is what usually messes me up. The first time I made these, I didn't let the brownies cool before putting on the frosting, so of course the frosting melted, and then when I poured the chocolate on top it all melted together. It actually gave it a kind of cool marbled effect, but I like it better the way it was intended.


This next one is for anyone who has been to Hatch's family chocolates in Salt Lake. They sell the most amazing hot chocolate. Jeff and I went there once after I'd made him a birthday dinner before he went on his mission. We split a hot chocolate but we still had to lie on the couch and moan for a while. It's extremely filling. This isn't quite as rich, but it's close, and it gives you an idea of what must be in the real thing.

Simple enough recipe. Jeff made it up, which makes me extremely proud of him (for being such a chocolate lover, not for making up a recipe):

Heat up enough water or milk to make a normal serving of hot chocolate (milk is creamier, of course).
Empty a hot chocolate packet or scoop a serving of hot chocolate powder into a cup. Add a whole Hershey's chocolate bar.
Pour the hot water or milk into the cup and stir until everything is dissolved.

Enjoy!

Not Pictured Here: Roast Beef and Balsamic Onion Panini

I didn't take a picture of this one because I burned the top and bottom and it came out pretty mangled. Once I scraped off the charred outer crust, though, this panini was amazing. The recipe comes from a Williams-Sonoma catalogue, and, no, I didn't buy the $430 worth of fancy specialized cooking gadgets and pre-made ingredients the recipe required, but it still turned out great.

First, here's a recipe I found online for the 'wichcraft balsamic onion marmalade, which I could have bought for $14. I made a quarter recipe for the panini, which made just over 5 T. :

Balsamic Onion Marmalade:

- makes 2 to 3 cups -

Adapted from 'wichcraft by Tom Colicchio with Sisha Ortuzar

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 medium onions, thinly sliced (about 8 cups)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Procedure

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it slides easily across the pan. Add the onions, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until the onions are soft. Add the sugar and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, until the onions appear dry. Add the vinegar and reduce the heat to low. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until the onions are soft and dry. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store the marmalade in the refrigerator. It will keep for several weeks.

As for the panini itself:

Ingredients:

1 piece ciabatta bread, about 9" long, halved horizontally
5 T. 'wichcraft balsamic onion marmalade
4 tsp. Dijon mustard
8 oz. thinly sliced roast beef
2 oz. white cheddar cheese, grated
4 oz. mild blue cheese, crumbled (I don't think our blue cheese was mild. It was pretty strong, and I would have halved the amount.)

Directions:

Preheat electric panini press (or, if you're me, frying pan for the bottom and oven on broil for the top) to medium-high heat. Brush outside of bread halves with oil. Lay bread, oiled side down, on work surface. Spread onion marmalade on bottom half of bread; spread mustard on top half. Arrange roast beef on bottom half; top with cheeses. Cover with top half of bread. Place sandwich on panini press; close lid. Cook 7-9 minutes (or fry/broil until browned, watching carefully so your fire alarm doesn't go off). Transfer to cutting board; cut into 4 pieces. Serves 4. (Served 2.5 for us)

Beautiful Soups

My family once rented a live version of Alice in Wonderland that was full of celebrities. Whoopie Goldberg was the Cheshire Cat, Christopher Lloyd was a wandering knight, and Gene Wilder was the Mock Turtle. In the movie he sings a song called "Beautiful Soup" that has become one of my very favorite ways of bothering Jeff. The chorus of the song (if you imagine big and little Us as the top and bottom notes of an extended trill) goes like this:

"BeuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuuUUtiIIfuUUl SouUUuuUUuuUUuuUUuup."

It drives Jeff totally bazonkers. If I start singing it he'll recognize it and yell Stop! before the second syllable. It makes me feel pretty powerful.

Anyhoo! This is relevant only because we've been eating a lot of good soup lately. The only one I have a picture of is the African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans from Cooking Light. But I'll also include the recipes for Braised Lamb Stew with Ginger (so yummy! and also from Cooking Light). These were both really delicious. I know it's a little too hot for soup right now, but I'd recommend them anyway.

African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans:


Ingredients:

2 tsp. olive oil
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
4 c. (1/2 inch) cubed peeled sweet potato (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 1/2 cups cooked small red beans
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 c. chopped red bell pepper
1/2 c. water
1 tsp. grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 (14.5-oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 (4.5-oz) can chopped green chiles, drained
3 T. creamy peanut butter
3 T. chopped dry-roasted peanuts
6 lime wedges

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until tender.
2. Place onion mixture in a 5-quart electric slow cooker. Add sweet potato and next 10 ingredients. Cover and cook on Low 8 hours or until vegetables are tender.
3. Spoon 1 cup cooking liquid into a small bowl. Add peanut butter and stir well with a whisk. Stir peanut butter mixture into stew. Ladle stew into individual bowls, top with peanuts, and serve with lime wedges. Yield: 6 servings. Calories: 308. Fat: 8.8g. Fiber: 10.2 g.


Braised Lamb Stew with Ginger:

This was, I think, my favorite of the soups. So soothing. And BeauUUuuUUuutiful.

Ingredients:
1 lb. lamb stew meat
2 T. cornstarch
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. dry sherry
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c. boiling water
6 dried shiitake mushrooms (I used one 4-oz can with its liquid instead of dried mushrooms and boiling water)
1 T. canola oil
2 T. minced peeled fresh ginger (I used 1 T. grated)
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 c. chicken broth
1 1/3 c. sliced carrot
2 T. oyster sauce (I omitted this since I didn't have any)
4 c. hot cooked rice noodles (I didn't have these either, so I put a package of Ramen noodles minus the seasoning in with the soup for its last 5 minutes of cooking).

Directions:

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl.
2. Combine 1/2 c. boiling water and dried mushrooms in a bowl. Let stand 15 minutes; drain, reserving soaking liquid. Discard stems; thinly slice caps.
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add ginger and garlic; saute 30 seconds. Add lamb mixture; saute 4 minutes. Stir in broth; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat; simmer 40 minutes. Uncover; bring to a boil. Add carrot, mushrooms, and reserved liquid. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add oyster sauce. Ladle into bowls; serve with rice noodles. Yield: 4 servings. Calories: 451. Fat: 10g. Fiber: 4g.

Chicken Tetrazzini

(This picture stolen from a Cooking Light page online. I'm not that good.)

In an effort to eat more healthily, I've started adding more fruits and veggies to my diet, and I've been trying more recipes from my Cooking Light book. I've also developed a 7-star point system to reward myself for doing good health things. If I get 7 stars in a day, I get a bonus star. For some reason, the goal of having an 8-star day has been really helpful for me. And rewarding myself for the good things I do instead of getting down on myself for the one or two slip-ups has been really nice, too.

Of the many healthy recipes we've tried lately, this one was definitely a winner.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Ingredients:

1/2 T. butter
Cooking spray
1/2 c. finely chopped onion (I used a whole onion)
1/3 c. finely chopped celery
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
3/8 t. salt
12 oz. presliced mushrooms (I used 2 10-oz. packages)
1/4 c. dry sherry
1/3 c. flour
1 1/2 (14-oz) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth (I used an equivalent amount of broth from bouillon cubes)
1 1/8 c shredded fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 c. block-style 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
3 1/2 c. hot cooked vermicelli (about 1/2 a pound) (I used a very thin spaghetti, and it was fine)
2 c. chopped cooked chicken breast (about 3/4 pound)
1 slice white bread (I used wheat)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large stockpot coated with cooking spray. Add onion, celery, pepper, salt, and mushrooms, and saute 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add sherry, cook 1 minute.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup, level with a knife. Gradualy add flour to pan, cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk (mixture will be thick). Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.
4. Add 7/8 c. Parmesan cheese and cream cheese, stirring with a whisk until cream cheese melts. Add pasta and chicken, and stir until blended. Place in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray.
5. Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs form. Combine breadcrumbs and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle evenly over pasta mixture.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; let stand 15 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings. Serving size: about 1 1/3 cups. (This was originally a double recipe for 2 casserole dishes, but I halved it all. Sorry if that makes some of the measurements a little wonky.)

Calories 380, fat 12.2 g, Fiber 2g.

Holy Jicama!

(Hint for non-Spanish speakers: Those words start with the same sound.)


This is a jicama. Until this week, I had never eaten the "Mexican potato," but I had a recipe from Julie's slowcooker book that called for some as a topping to yummy beef tacos. So I bought a big one. Much bigger than necessary. And I was left with a load of jicama and no idea what to do with it.

This is one of my favorite situations: having odd leftovers that I must somehow use, for, lo, I am loath to waste even the smallest bit of food.

It's potato-like, I thought, so why not make mashed jicama? I looked up a recipe on line that turned out to be a no-cooking, raw foods kind of recipe, but the ingredients looked yummy. So I modified it into a cooked version to suit my own tastes. I was very pleased with it. Here you go. What to do when you have too much jicama:

Rosemary Garlic Mashed Jicama

Ingredients:

4 cups peeled, chopped jicama
1 1/2 cups cashews (I omitted - for lack thereof - with no detrimental effects)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (or dried)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1-2 T. butter, softened
Black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Boil jicama, as you would potatoes for mashed potatoes, for 20-30 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Blend in a food processor (It's a little tougher and chunkier than potatoes--or maybe I just didn't boil it long enough...), along with the rest of the ingredients. Blend till combined.

I had to get rid of some sour cream, so I had the mashed jicama with a very easy Sour Cream chicken and gravy. The gravy was nice, because it counterbalanced the spicy jicama concoction with its mildness. Any similar dish will do, but here's the one I did just for the heck of it.

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup white wine
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I just used three huge ones)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine the sour cream, soup and wine. Mix well. Place chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour sour cream mixture over chicken and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.

Lemon Rolls

(Cool pattern, eh? This is pre-frosting.)

This is my problem. I have a drive to bake--especially if it carries the added challenge of experimenting with something new: trying a new recipe, modifying an existing one, substituting ingredients and such. In this instance, Jeff wondered if we could make orange rolls, but we had neither oranges nor orange juice. So we decided to try lemon rolls. It was delicious, and I'll include the modifications in the recipe below, but here's the thing: the full recipe made 24 rolls.

And there are two of us.


So when I make something delicious, we each end up eating much more than we should.

How do I solve this problem?! We ended up taking the rolls over to a party at a friend's house and distributing them around. Good thing, too, because they just weren't as good on the second day. Can I freeze the rolls and bake them 4 at a time? Can I use a partial packet of yeast? Ideas on smallifying recipes for two would be appreciated.

This recipe, like so many of my favorites, is from the Ivy Bake cookbook. Honestly, next time you are in Nauvoo, you must jog (drive, really) on over to Ft. Madison and go to the Ivy Bake Shoppe. It's a Shoppe, after all. And it's scrumptious.

Now that I've advertised for them, my conscience is clear and I can feel free to share this recipe. [Modifications in brackets.]

Orange Rolls [Lemon Rolls]

Ingredients:

Rolls:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 T. (1 pkg.) yeast
2 tsp. salt
7 cups flour, divided
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. lemon extract [1 tsp. lemon juice-but only because I didn't have lemon extract]

Filling:
2 T. grated orange [lemon] peel
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup orange juice [I used 1/2 cup lemon juice mixed with 1/4 cup water, but it ended up kind of funny. The lemon curdled the butter into little bits so it didn't really blend, and the lemon/water combination was very watery, so when I spread it on the dough, it started leaking off. I had to dump as much liquid as I could back into the bowl (though I used it later for the glaze) to keep it from spilling off of the dough when I rolled it up. I don't know if it's that runny with the orange juice. If I made the lemon again, I'd probably use half as much liquid.]

Glaze:
4 cups powdered sugar
Orange juice [I used the leftover lemon/water combo, but straight lemon juice would have made a more flavorful icing. But what am I saying! My end result was completely mouth wateringly scrumptious. I don't know that it needs changing.]

Directions:

Heat milk, sugar, and shortening in a saucepan to 115 degrees [I just made sure it was all melted]. In mixing bowl with paddle attachment, place yeast, salt, and 3 cups flour. Pour in heated liquid and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.
Add beaten eggs and lemon extract. Slowly add rest of flour and beat until dough pulls away from side of bowl. Pour into a greased bowl, and turn one time. Cover with a damp towel, and let rise about 1 hour. Pour out of bowl onto floured table. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a floured board into a large rectangle.
For the filling, mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Spread dough with filling and carefully roll up, tucking in the ends. Slice and place on a greased baking sheet. [I learned this trick in the Family Living Center on my mission in Nauvoo: slice by wrapping a string of dental floss around the rolled loaf and then pulling the ends - crossed over the top - to slice it through. Does that make sense? It's like pulling the strings on the hood of your sweatshirt to make the sweatshirt small. Kind of. Anyway, it prevents the loaf from squishing.] Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Make glaze while rolls are baking. Combine powdered sugar with enough orange [lemon] juice to make a glaze consistency. Glaze rolls while still warm. Makes approximately 20 small rolls. [yeah, right! More like 24 big rolls!]

These are best warm. Enjoy!