pear-fectly nuts.

Expectation: Making a breathtakingly beautiful but simple cake that looks exactly like the picture.
Reality: Not following directions and adding this and that and getting a cake that looks "okay"

I guess that's an insane thing to think, especially since I din't even follow the directions. I'm just one of those people that looks at a perfectly good recipe and says, "that's good, but what if I . . .". And that, as they say, is that.

But despite the substitutions and everything, the directions were surprisingly a little hard to follow. While it's stated in very simple terms, I'm more of a detailed baker. How much am I supposed to stir it? Do I whisk the dry ingredients together first then add it to the batter? How am I supposed to put the pear on it? Directions like that would've definitely helped.

While the directions did say to peel the pears first, I figured that leaving the skin on would be okay. I should've listened to the directions. Cutting into the cake was a little hard and the skins pulled slices of pears from the top of the cake. Also, I found that one thinly sliced pear was enough for the topping. Where she put the other pear is beyond me.

Regarding sweetness, this was a lightly sweetened cake. I knew that this wasn't going to be sweet enough for me, so I decided to pour some honey on top to not only add sweetness, but also to caramelize the nuts and pears since they didn't seem to be sinking into the batter like it showed in the picture. But again, this was probably the substitutions at work.

When all was said and done, this didn't turn out too bad. I served this with some additional honey, a dusting of powdered sugar, and some sweetened whipped coconut cream. Below is the "next-time-I-make-this" recipe adaptation:

---- o o o o ---- 

Pear Walnut Cake
(slightly adapted from Tartelette)

2 large eggs
1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup good quality olive oil
1 cup plain, low-fat or whole milk yogurt
zest and juice of a lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large pear, peeled and thinly sliced
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup honey, warmed
powdered sugar, for garnish

 
Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line a 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper sprayed with a little cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar for about 2 minutes until light and lemon-colored. Add the olive oil, yogurt, lemon juice and zest and whisk again so that everything is well mixed. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix just until the batter is smooth. Do not over mix.

Pour the mixture in the prepared baking pan. Place the pear slices on top, slightly diagonal and pressing gently into the cake, then sprinkle with the walnuts. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out free of crumbs. In the last 20 minutes of baking, drizzle the honey on top of the cake and return to the oven to finish baking.

Let cool completely before slicing and dusting with powdered sugar. Serves 8.

getting a little poppy.

Eating healthy was one of those conscious decisions I had made in my early twenties. I was a little bigger that I had imagined myself to be and my self esteem was at an all-time low. So, rather than wine and feel sorry for myself, I gave myself a little slap and said, "Let's do something about this!". So, I started running, exercising, and making healthier food choices. Eventually I felt better about myself and gained a positive self image.

One thing that really helped was cutting out the carbs and turning pescatarian for a while. Also, on the recommendation of my mother, I also started eating grapefruit in the morning with a bowl of plain oatmeal. Lol, that really sucked for the foodie in me, but eventually I started to really like the tart, sometimes bitter grapefruit.

When I met my husband, I fell off the health wagon. He eats like a man, so I found myself eating like one too. Not that there's anything wrong with that...It's just that his metabolism was faster and could take the fat, carbs, and other junk that my body was't used to consuming. It was like giving in and getting lost in a world of greasy double cheeseburgers and fast food takeout. And because I started to not care, I found myself starting to gain the weight that I had lost.

For me, that was a serious wake up call. Standing on the scale one day and seeing my weight brought in a sense on panic, anger, and depression. But rather than wallow in self-pity, I decided that I was going to do what I did all those years ago...do something about it. So now, going to the gym and eating healthy is part of the daily regiment. Realizing that I'm no longer in my twenties also helps with expectations. This time, It's going to be slow and steady and I'm going to have to work harder for what I want.

With that being said, I'm also going for the more relaxed approach of being healthy. It's choices and portions that I've been concentrating on. Like these grapefruit cupcakes. I think of it as combining my long lost love of grapefruit with my ongoing love affair with sweets. Healthy? Probably not. Even if I added those poppy seeds for "fiber". But since I'm all about portions these days, I thought making them into cupcakes would better suit my needs.

It's easier for me to have one small cupcake and be done with it for the rest of the day than having a loaf of cake sitting on my counter and resisting the urge to have "just another slice" as I walk by. :)

---- o o o o ---- 

Grapefruit Yogurt Poppy Seed Cake with Grapefruit Glaze
(adapted from from Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts)

For the Cake:
1½ cups flour
2½ tbsp poppy seeds
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
Zest from 1 grapefruit
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup coconut oil, melted (or vegetable oil)
⅓ cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

For the Glaze:
2 Tbls freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
Approx 1 cup powdered sugar

 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8½ x 4½ inch loaf pan (or line a couple of cupcake pans with liners). Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together yogurt, sugar, eggs, zest, vanilla, coconut oil and grapefruit juice. Slowly add flour mixture, stirring until just combined.

Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean (18-20 minutes for cupcakes). Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

To prepare glaze mix together juice and sugar until desired consistency. Add more sugar if necessary. Once the cake has cooled, remove from pan, and top with glaze.

blame it on boredom...

blame it on boredom...or maybe the lack of things to do in the house. either way, what started with a "i wanna do something!" ended up with "we made a cake, hooraaaay!" by the time we were finished in the kitchen.

it all started when i was perusing pinterest earlier that day. i was going through my dessert board and looking at things that i could possibly do. macarons? no...didn't feel like it. cupcakes? no...no muffin tins or cupcake sleeves. cookies? nah...not enough ingredients. cake? didn't have the patience for frosting the damn thing. so the line of thought went with each passing post until i was tired of looking at them (no matter hos scrumptious they all seemed to be.

after i got home though, i was still itching to make something sweet until i saw the box of pre-made cake mix on the top shelf complete with frosting. an idea pinged and suddenly making cake didn't seem so bad after all! so i got the little suckers from the top and contemplated what to do. mixing the box cake didn't really seem all that challenging and i was never really one to follow the instructions on the back of a box. so went to pinterest for a sec and found this post for upgrading the box mix. bakery style results from a box cake?? heck yeah, i'm in!

so i followed the instructions but made some adjustments for my preferences. the result was a nice and moist cake that was just a little denser and not so fluffy or crumbly like the ones from a regular box mix (which was fine with me since i like my cake a little denser and richer anyway). the milk chocolate frosting we used wasn't half bad either but that one i really just left alone. also, we took some vanilla curd, made little thin stripes, then ran a knife through it to make that pretty little design on top. oh, and the plus side? i made cake flags for it to make it extra purdy to look at! yay for semi-crafting!!

 
Bakery Style Box Cake
(from Shelly, the pastry chef)

Step 1: Take 1 box cake mix of any flavor and look at the directions for making it.
 
Step 2: Add one more egg (or add 2 if you want it to be very rich).
 
Step 3: Use melted butter instead of oil and double the amount (use applesauce, fat-free yogurt, or fat-free sour cream instead of oil to make your cake low fat!). (i subbed with butter but DIDN'T double)
 
Step 4: Instead of water, use milk.
 
Step 5: Add 1 tsp vanilla extract or choice of extract.
 
Step 6: Mix until just combined (don't over-mix or cake will be flat!).
 
Step 7: Preheat at 350 degrees but reduce heat and bake at 325 degrees until toothpick inserted comes out clean (your cooking time will be longer but cake will not dome).

chocolate and wine.

it's always interesting what kinds of things that can get combined in food. cookies with savory herbs. sweet apples with pork. chocolate and wine. i have to confess...the last one wasn't really a big hit with me. when i purchased a bottle on sale from my local world market, i really didn't like the taste. it was a little weird and not as chocolatey as i thought it was going to be. ialthough, i'm thinking it was the brand, not necessarily so much the taste.

why? because chocolate and wine in cake form is excellent! and because i could really decide how much chocolate i put in the finished product, i can end up with a decadent chocolate cake with red wine notes. :)

for this cake, i ended up using a travel bottle of confectioner's chocolate red wine that i had bought to taste (which was awesome, by the way) since i wasn't about to open a new bottle of merlot. i also added some cinnamon and ancho chile powder to give it a spice boost...and just because i can, lol. i'd have to play around with this recipe a little more as i ended up with a thick crust around the edges (too high a heat, i think)...but all in all, it was a super tasty treat!

Red Wine Chocolate Cake
(barely adapted from 17 and Baking)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
3/4 cup red wine (i used confectioner's chocolate red wine)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder (i used regular cocoa)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ancho chile powder

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Butter and flour a 9×5″ loaf pan.

Beat the butter on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugars and cream until lightened and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg until well combined, then mix in the wine, yogurt, and vanilla. The batter might look curdled, but don’t worry. Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir with a spoon until there are no streaks of flour left, scraping down the sides of the bowl and being careful not to over mix.

Scrape the batter into the loaf pan and bake 60-70 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool the loaf in the pan on a rack for 10-15 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and turn it out.

spice-a-licious persimmon cake.

ah, persimmons. i remember when i was younger, my parents took the kids to a persimmon farm and we were given some shears and a bucket and we got our own persimmons by the pound. i've alwyas loved this wintery fruit, it was a good substitute chicos, my favorite childhood fruit from the phillipines. so, i was excited to try out this persimmon cake i saw on a blog i was meandering through.

first step, i assembled my cast of characters for the play. i had all the ingredients including some over-ripe persimmons i got from my mom the other day. needless to say, i was excited to get started. :D

i decided to tweak the recipe a little and add some rum to the glaze. whoo-hoo for cooking with alcohol! it's probably cuz i'm such a light weight...i can't drink alcohol at all else i'll turn into a red tomato. damn my asian genes!! :( ps, i actually had to go through all six persimmons to get thin enough slices i was happy with.

next, i decided to put the ends and pieces in the blender (because i have no food processor), along with the rest of the wet ingredients. figured i'd put a puree in the cake mix to make it more persimmon-y.

after the blending part, i added the dry ingredients to the wet and poured that sucker on the syrup and persimmons on the cake pan. i got a little nervous about the outcome tho because the batter ended up being too much (hence the extra cupcakies on the side). And for good measure, i put it on a cookie sheet for any spillage. and boy, was i glad i did!

so after i did an allie-yoop, and topsy-turvied the cake, i was rewarded with a caramel top and a cake that was slowly deflating. i tasted the side cupcakes sortly after and it was a little moist, reminiscent of bread pudding. and spicy....lots of nutmeg and cloves spicy. i was a little worried about that part since i'm not too fond of overly clovey, nutmeggy stuff. After letting it cool down for a bit, i took a slice and tasted it.

-it was a tad too much clove

-because the persimmons burned a little during the cooking, it had a slight bitter aftertaste.

the ending result is more akin to a mexican bread pudding than a cake (must be the extra pulp in the batter). *sigh* if i do decide to try this again, i'd probably do without the pulp and reduce the clove and nutmeg by about half. or better yet, do without the spices and make the base from a regular upside-down cake. ah, well....onto the next experiment!

EDIT:
after tasting it an hour later, the consistency is still the same but the flavor is *much* better. definitely not one of those cakes you eat right out of the oven (well, at least for me anyway). and i've been thinking what the taste of baked, glazed persimmons reminds me of and now i got it: it taste like glazed sweet potatoes. i definitely prefer these fruit raw. :)

 
Upside-Down Persimmon Spice Cake
(from Vanilla Garlic)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 persimmons, peeled and sliced thinly
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and spices in a bowl and set aside.

2. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and sprinkle in 6 tablespoons of the sugar and cook, stirring until it comes to a boil. Pour into a 8x2-inch circular pan. Place the persimmon slices inside in a circular or sunburst pattern.

3. Using a stand mixer beat butter on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add the rest of the sugar and beat for another 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for 30 seconds each and being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom. Add the vanilla extract and mix in for 30 seconds. Reduce speed to low and add 1/2 the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated, Add the milk and mix in. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Pour batter over persimmons and level the top.

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cake is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and run a kinfe around the sides. Carefully turn the cake out onto a plate. If some of the persimmon slices stick to the pan scrape them out and place them on the cake. Serve.