It's all about the icing

Recently I made two cakes, one delicious cake and one not so delicious cake. Turns out cake is all about the icing. If you have a bad icing it won't matter how fluffy and tasty your cake is. 

The first cake I made was a poppy seed cake with mascarpone icing and strawberries. The cake turned out a little dense but I think that was due to my impatience and not whipping the eggs and sugar for long enough. But the icing, the icing was incredible. It was by far one of the best icings I've ever had. I made one small change. I didn't have any lemon so substituted fresh orange juice. YUM! I will make this cake over and over again but maybe with a little more patience. 

The second cake I made did not turn out as well. I made Smitten Kitchen's Best Birthday Cake. Not that it was anyone birthday, I just wanted cake. Something about this cake did not sit right. I thought the buttermilk was too dense and added a sour flavor to the cake and the icing was really unappetizing. Maybe it's just my pregnancy taste buds but the sour cream flavor was just not what I wanted. The cake looks beautiful but next time I'll stick with a buttercream frosting. 

New Apartment and Birthday Cake

The past month has been insanely busy. Not only have we have moved apartments, had two baby showers and celebrated a few birthdays. We have also made our apartment into a home, requiring late night trips to IKEA and lots of shopping. I absolutely love our new apartment, it is beautiful, light and airy. The view from the living room is spectacular, I love sitting on the couch watching the sunset over the George Washington Bridge.

It was my mother's birthday recently. I pulled together a quick meal, the highlight being my first ever Blotkake or Norwegian birthday cake. I was amazed at the small amount of ingredients and ease of the recipe. The best part is how easily you can customize it to what's in season. My mothers instructions were so basic, that I ruined it the first go around and had to have her supervise the second round. I'll try and elaborate on her 2 sentence email so that you don't run into the same mistakes I did.

Ingredients:

• 3 Deciliters of sugar plus a few tablespoons
• 6 Eggs
• 3 Deciliters of Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• Milk - a few tablespoons
•  1 quart of Heavy cream
• fruit of your choice: strawberries, bananas, raspberries
• Dark Chocolate - optional

Preheat the oven to 345º

Visp til eggedosis: Whisk the eggs and sugar until they reach the constancy of meringue. It will take about 10 minutes to get the to this stage. This is the most important step, it's what makes the cake light and airy. 

Slowly and carefully sift in the flour and baking powder. Do not over mix, it will deflate the egg mixture. 

Pour into a 9 inch greased spring form pan and bake for about 30 minutes. The middle should spring back when you touch it and the top should be golden brown.

Let the cake cool. If you are feeling brave cut the cake into three separate pieces or you can do just two.  I was feeling bold and managed to cut the cake into three perfect pieces. Sprinkle the cake pieces with a few tablespoons of milk and let it rest for a few hours or overnight. It's best to make this cake the day before so the milk has time to moisten the layers.

Whip the heavy cream with a few tablespoons of sugar and mash 1/3 of the berries (I used Strawberries), save the prettiest ones for the top. Start by spreading the mashed berries onto the cake, then add 1/4 of the whipped cream, a few sliced berries and some shaved chocolate. The different layers allow for texture.

Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top.

 Use the last 1/2 of the whip cream to ice the entire outside. Decorate with pretty berries and chocolate.

My mother did the serving and thought I needed a massive piece of cake! She gave me the top piece and herself the bottom. 

This cake is even better the next day, the layers meld together and the cake becomes very moist. My family traditionally makes it with strawberries and bananas, although my favorite version is raspberries and chocolate but feel free to make any combination you like. My Great Uncle Kare makes his with pears and pineapple.

Pots de Creme

I love vanilla, it's my new favorite flavor. This is an incredibly simple yet versatile dessert. The basic recipe can be updated to add an flavor your craving; chocolate, strawberry or something more creative like lavender honey. Simply add the flavor your desire to the milk and allow it to infuse, follow the rest of the steps and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs plus 1 yolk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split open and seeds scraped out

Preheat your oven to 320º

In a pot, pour in the milk and add the vanilla bean and seeds. Bring to a boil, then stop the heat, cover and let infuse for 30 minutes. Filter.

In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar.

Then add the hot milk slowly, while continuously beating.

Pour the liquid into small ramekins or jars, remove foam from the top. Bake in a water bath for 35 to 40 minutes. The middle of the creams should move a little, they will firm up as they cool down. Cover with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge for a few hours to rest until eating.

Colds and Bradley Classes

I came down with a terrible cold at the beginning of this week. I've spent three days laying bed eating toast, yogurt and chicken soup. My lovely boyfriend is taking me Balthazar tonight to celebrate our time together so I'm refusing to budge from this bed until I have to get ready for the reservation. Since there is no way I'm cooking anything this week (unless if involves defrosting my previously made chicken and rice soup) I thought I would share some of the dietary information I learned about pregnancy in my Bradley Class.

The first thing I learned was that you are NOT eating for two, you only need an additional 150-300 calories. The important thing is what those calories are made up of: fruits, veggies and protein. Protein is extremely important, when you are pregnant you should be consuming at least 80 grams of protein a day. 80 GRAMS!  That's double what you would normally eat. Typically, I don't eat a lot of meat and I definitely don't eat it twice a day, so trying to double my protein intake was little worrisome.

In class we did an exercise where we wrote down what we were eating every day for a week. As it turns out, listening to my cravings for meat and dairy upped my protein intake enough that I was getting over 80 grams. The biggest change I made was eating greek yogurt for breakfast. Greek yogurt has around 20 grams of protein per cup of yogurt, that's a fourth of what you need right there. Greek yogurt is by far my favorite food right now, well other than toast. You can eat it so many different ways: with granola, fruit, honey or add spices and herbs to make a dipping sauce for Sweet Potato Cakes. Yum. I've also been craving meat: chicken, steak, burgers and pulled pork. You name it, I want it, for lunch and dinner. So I guess my theory is, unless you have complications listen to your baby. If the baby wants steak, potatoes and salad for dinner with a milk shake for dessert, go for it. Just try not to eat fries and ice cream everyday, I know you want too but in a few months you will be wishing you hadn't. Personally, I limit my burger and fry eating to once a week.

Overall, I have learned a lot in the Bradley class about nutrition, pregnancy and birth. Being educated about the process is going to help us make better decisions when things start to get a little crazy and I do imagine it will get crazy. Thankfully I have a while until that happens, for now I'm going back to bed. Balthazar here I come!

Sweet Orange Buns

This weeks cravings consisted of citrus and carbs, add a ton of sugar and you have the perfect breakfast. I decided to make these to Sweet Orange Buns subdue the cravings.

INGREDIENTS

1¼ cups milk, heated to 115°
1 (¼-oz.) package active dry yeast
⅓ cup sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, plus 16 tbsp., softened
1½ tsp. kosher salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 cups flour
½ cup packed light brown sugar
⅓ cup orange zest (from about 4 oranges)
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. orange extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. fresh orange juice

Make the dough: Combine milk and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a hook; let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in sugar, melted butter, 1 tsp. salt, and egg; add flour, and mix on low speed until dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high; knead until smooth, about 8 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap; let sit until dough doubles in size, about 1½ hours. Meanwhile, beat softened butter, brown sugar, and zest in a bowl on high speed of a mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add remaining salt, confectioners' sugar, and extracts; beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer ¼ cup filling to a bowl; stir in juice to make an icing. Set filling and icing aside.

Transfer dough to a work surface; using a rolling pin, roll dough into an 18″ × 10″ rectangle

Spread filling evenly over dough

Lift up bottom edge of dough and roll it into a log

Trim ends and cut log into 12 rounds. Transfer rounds cut side up to a greased 9″ × 13″ baking dish; cover with plastic wrap. Chill 6 hours or overnight.

As you can see I didn't mark the dough before I cut and ended up with 11 rounds instead of 12. Oops! 

Heat oven to 375°. Uncover rolls and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Drizzle icing over rolls before serving.

I was surprised at how easy they were to make, the biggest issue became that I was the only one who wanted to eat them. I ended up throwing out the last few before a permanent sugar coma set in.  

Mac and Cheese: the Supreme Comfort Food

It's been a really warm winter in NYC, which has put a damper on my urge to cook wintery comfort foods. So the other day I decided to ignore the weather and make the best comfort food of all time, Macaroni and Cheese. I haven't made macaroni and cheese in years and never from scratch, this probably has to do with my disdain for all things involving pasta. It's strange but true, as a general rule I don't like pasta. I looked up a few recipes to get the basic idea and decided to wing it. Mac and cheese ends up being a basic white sauce with cheese and cooked pasta. Easy and delicious. 

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons butter 
6 tablespoons flour 
1⁄2 tsp. cayenne pepper 
Salt and freshly ground white pepper 
4 cups milk 
4 cups grated sharp white cheddar 
1 lb. short macaroni, cooked 
1⁄2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Melt 6 tablespoons of butter, add flour to make a roux. The roux is what thickens the sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.  Make sure the roux foams and bubbles as it cooks, or sauce will taste of raw flour. 

Stir in cayenne and season to taste with salt and pepper. I used regular pepper as you can see in the photo below, if you don't want black specks in your sauce use white pepper. Whisk in milk, 1/2 cup at a time, and cook on medium heat, stirring, until sauce thickens. This can take a few minutes, I always get impatient and start worrying that I didn't add enough flour. Be patient, it will thicken. Reduce heat to low and stir in cheese, cooking until the cheese is melted.

Stir in cooked pasta.

Pour pasta and sauce into a 8" by 11" baking dish. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet, add bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture across the top of pasta and cheese. Bake until golden and bubbly about 30 minutes at 350°. To avoid cleaning cheese off the bottom of your oven, I would recommend placing a cookie sheet under the baking dish to catch any overflow.

Voila! You will now be eating mac and cheese for the rest of the week :) 

This recipe worked out really well, it was easy, cheesy and fulfilling. The best part is you can mix and match with any cheese or pasta you have laying around. It would work great with penne and a mixture of swiss cheeses. Now it just needs to stay cold for a full week so I can continue cooking comfort foods. I'm actually hoping that maybe we will even get some snow!

Adapting Recipes to what's in the fridge: Sweet Potato Cakes

When cooking an everyday dinner I prefer to use recipes as a guide, substituting ingredients for whatever is in the fridge. The other night was a prime example, I had a ton of sweet potatoes and needed a way to make them the star of the meal instead of a side. I found the perfect recipe in  the cookbook Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.  Below is the recipe, easy substiutions are marked in blue:

2 1/4lbs sweet potatoes

2 teaspoons soy sauce - omit and use salt 

scant 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoon chopped green onion - red or yellow onion very finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh red chile - cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes

plenty of butter for frying 

Sauce
3 tablespoons greek yogurt
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice - Lime
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro - Parsley
salt and pepper

I choose to substitute in parsley for the sauce; red onion, red pepper flakes and leaving out the soy sauce for the cakes. Cumin or cinnamon would also be a good addition to the sweet potatoes.

Peal and steam the sweet potatoes until completely soft, then leave in a colander to drain for at least an hour. I do not have a proper steamer so I just boiled them in salted water.

To make the sauce. Whisk together all he sauce ingredients until smooth; set aside. I substituted parsley for the cilantro and added a few extra tablespoons. I love parsley.

Once the sweet potatoes have lost most of their liquid, place them in a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients, except for the butter. Mix until smooth and even, the mixture should be sticky.

Melt some of the butter in a non-stick frying pan. For each cake, use a tablespoon to lift some mix into the pan and flatten with the back of the spoon to create a little sweet potato cake. Fry the cakes on medium heat for about 6 minutes on each side or until golden brown. 

Serve hot or warm with the sauce on the side.

A  quick and easy way to use left over sweet potatoes. The sauce is also the perfect complement, cutting the sweetness of the potato. In future I may use this same idea for left over mashed potatoes, although i'm not sure what kind of sauce would complement it. Maybe applesauce for a faux latke type meal?

Urban Organics

I just recently discovered Urban Organic. For 35 dollars a week they deliver a box of organic vegetables and fruit to your door step. When you are pregnant and hungry there is nothing better than food showing up at the door!  This week our box contained everything from bananas to swiss chard, it seems to be the perfect amount for my small family. All we need now is protein, lots and lots of protein.. sorry that's the baby talking.

English Muffins

I am new to the blogger world and just getting the hang of pinterest. This is one of the first photo's I found, I was immediately inspired to make them.

Source: vkreesphotography.com via Elise on Pinterest

After a quick google search I came across Michael Ruhlman's English Muffin recipe. It only contains a few ingredients all of which I have laying around the house and the directions look simple. I don't own any rings and my favorite cast iron skillet is in Brooklyn so they will just have to be made free form in my Le Creuset. 


Ingredients: 

• 2 ounces/60 grams butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 16 ounces milk/450 grams)
• 1 package active dry yeast (1-1/2 teaspoons, .25 ounces or 7 grams)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 16 ounces all-purpose flour/450 grams (or four fluffed cups)
• 1-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (.25 ounces or 7 grams)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water
• cornmeal for dusting

Melt the butter small sauce pan,  stir in sugar until it has dissolved.  Add the milk, check to make sure the liquid is warm (not hot) to ensure that the yeast will be happy. Remove mixture from the heat and stir in the yeast and the egg.

Combine the flour and salt in mixing bowl.  Add the milk mixture and stir till it’s all well combined. The dough should be very sticky, thicker than pancake batter. 

 

  Cover and set aside for 1-1/2 hours, or refrigerate overnight (removing it from the fridge an hour before cooking). While the batter is in the fridge it will rise so make sure there is extra room in your bowl.

Heat a griddle or a skillet over medium heat.  If you’re using rings, butter them.  Stir the dissolved baking powder into the batter.  Dust the griddle or skillet with corn meal.  Scoop-pour about 1/4-cup portions onto the griddle, free form or in rings.  Cook for about seven minutes.  Flip them and continue cooking till done, 7 to 10 more minutes.

Allow them to rest for at least 10 minutes, pry in half with a fork, toast and serve with butter. You can also serve them with jam, honey, lemon curd or my favorite, egg and cheese.

Overall, they turned out pretty good. They taste a bit doughy but maybe I didn't cook them for long enough. In the future I would invest in the rings, it would make the muffins a uniform size causing them cook evenly. Since there is no way that I will be able to eat all of these before they mold, I opened them up and put them in the freezer. Now I can have english muffins whenever my heart desires, which given my current stage in my pregnancy is just about every day. Nothing is more satisfying than a toasted english muffin with egg and cheese (maybe bacon, if i'm feeling extra hungry). 

Brød og Smør

Brød og Smør - bread and butter in Norwegian - has been a daily part of my life since I was a baby. I grew up in a Norwegian-American household where 2 out 3 meals consisted of bread and butter. For breakfast we ate bread and butter with cheese or jam; for lunch bread and butter with chicken, ham or whatever last nights dinner was. To this day a dark piece of toasted bread with smooth, creamy, salty butter is my favorite afternoon snack.

I've started this blog in an effort to increase my creativity in the kitchen and decrease the boredom from working at home. My daily conference calls seem to speed by when there is something baking in the oven or bubbling on the stove. I want to share my passion for food and to document my cooking triumphs and failures. I will also be including some personal events as well. In the next few months I will be searching for a new apartment, welcoming a baby and figuring out how to be a working mom in New York City. I look forward to all of the upcoming challenges, especially since I have such an incredible partner and support system.