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Orange Cornmeal Cake

24 Mar

I love olive oil cakes. Love them. With cornmeal/polenta, with citrus. They are so easy, no fussing with softening butter, melting butter, or having to turn a blind eye when you see how much butter is actually in the cake that you are about to make and then eat way too much of.

Olive oil cakes are sophisticated. They are rustic and fruity and crumbly. This Orange Cornmeal Cake is made with whole wheat pastry flour, which makes it a bit dense, but I like that. Last night I ate this cake spread with orange fig preserves while sipping the most scrumptious blood orange mandarin tea. This morning I ate more cake with a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper. What a treat it is to read the actual newspaper than to stare at my computer screen and read the news online.



Orange Cornmeal Cake

**NOTE: You can use extra virgin olive oil in this cake. It will be more fruity and flavorful (which I quite like) vs regular olive oil’s milder flavor. EVOO is also slightly more expensive. I struck a balance and used 1/4 cup of EVOO and 1/4 cup of canola oil. You can also use vegetable oil if you wish.

2 eggs
1/2 cup of olive oil (see note above)
3/4 cup of sugar + 2 tablespoons sugar
zest of 1 large orange (I used CaraCara pink oranges, because it was what I had on hand)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose)
1/2 cup finely ground (I used medium ground because I like the bite) cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher salt)

  1. Preheat oven to 375F and spray an 8-inch round cake pan (I used a spring-form pan) with nonstick spray.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, 3/4 cup sugar, orange juice and orange zest. In a small bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk lightly until just combined.
  3. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake for 30 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  4. Cool the cake in pan for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge and invert onto a plate. Re-invert cake onto a rack to cool completely.
  5. Serve with marmalade, and a warm drink.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

18 Feb
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It has been a long week of no coffee, bed-ridden sickness, and lots of rain. By last night, extreme exhaustion took over. I fell asleep around 10:30 pm in the depths of a rainy night storm.

So deep in sleep was I that apparently I blurred the lines between reality and dreamworld.

I got a phone call from my good friend, Natasha at 11:30 pm. I answered the phone by saying “good morning” in flirtatious voice over and over and over. Natasha yelled, “Stephanie, it’s 11:30 at night! Go back to sleep!” I replied, “ok, see you in 4 hours.” Natasha and I had no plans to meet up at 3 am. I was indeed sleep talking. I was hypnotic, woken from the depths of my extreme slumber.

And there you have it. Apparently I sleep talk sometimes.

This morning I decided that I needed to get some good strong caffeine in my body. I did just that, and then I baked a cake. Ah, I’m back in business, back to being me. I made a beautiful cake. This beautiful cake has beautiful blood oranges and olive oil in it.


I got to supreme and segment some lovely bloods (see recipe below for definitions/instructions).

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I juiced one of the oranges and mixed it with some plain yogurt to get a pretty pink mixture.


I mixed up the batter and folded in the blood orange segments.

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Beautiful. The taste is all in the name, blood orange with hints of olive oil. Perfect.

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Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

makes one loaf pan

From SmittenKitchen

Butter for greasing pan
3 blood oranges
1 cup (200 grams or 7 ounces) sugar
Scant 1/2 cup (118 ml) buttermilk or plain yogurt I used non-fat yogurt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (156 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups (219 grams or 7 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Honey-blood orange compote, for serving (optional, below)
Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Grate zest from 2 oranges and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until orange zest is evenly distributed in sugar.

Supreme an orange: Cut off bottom and top so fruit is exposed and orange can stand upright on a cutting board. Cut away peel and pith, following curve of fruit with your knife. Cut orange segments out of their connective membranes and let them fall into a bowl. Repeat with another orange. Break up segments with your fingers to about 1/4-inch pieces.

Halve remaining orange and squeeze juice into a measuring cup; you’ll will have about 1/4 cup. Add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs and olive oil.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet ones. Fold in pieces of orange segments. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up. Serve with whipped cream and honey-blood orange compote (below), if desired.

Honey-Blood Orange Compote: Supreme 3 more blood oranges according to directions above. Drizzle in 1 to 2 teaspoons honey. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently.

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Banana Crumb Muffins

24 Dec

Tender muffins made with bananas and a sweet crumb top.

Bananas are delicious in baked goods, in smoothies, in pancakes and with nut butter.

Bananas, why do you sometimes attract little fruit flies? Why do the flies love you so?


Banana Crumb Muffins
from pipandebby

serves 12

Ingredients:

Muffins:
1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 large ripened bananas, mashed
3⁄4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Crumb top:
2/3 cup packed (light or golden) brown sugar
4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

2. In a large bowl, mix together 11⁄2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and 1/3 cup melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 4 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Pour in the butter, one tablespoon at a time, just until moistened. It will resemble coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

>Pear and Cranberry Holiday Spice Cake

28 Nov

>
Studded with pears and dotted with cranberries, freshly grated nutmeg and sweet powdery cinnamon, beautiful bundt lines and a dusty sugar top. If that doesn’t scream cozy fall cake then…well…then I don’t know.

Then go for a walk in New York’s Central Park…


…and when you are done with your walk, come eat my cake. Maybe then the cake will scream “cozy fall day on a plate”.

This cake is dairy-free (it uses oil instead of butter). This cake is not non-fat. This cake is moist and satisfying and just flat-out cozy. Lately I have been craving cozy. A lot. For now, this cake helps fill my cozy void.



30 minutes after the cake came out of the oven, it slipped right out of the pan. It slipped right out of the pan and then I flipped it out onto a platter to cool. It slipped right out of the pan, flipped onto the platter, and later that night and for the last few days, I dipped it into my coffee and popped it right into my mouth.

Thanks for the great recipe, Joy!

Pear and Cranberry Holiday Spice Cake

recipe from joythebaker.com

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 Tablespoon dark Rum (or Bourbon or orange juice)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 pears, peeled, cored and cut into a 1/4 inch dice (you can make the pear slices slightly bigger if you like a chunkier cake)

1/2 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (or raisins or dried cranberries or dried apricots diced or chopped walnuts maybe even chocolate chips)


Directions:

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan, knocking out excess flour.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

Whisk together oil, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum or bourbon and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined. Fold in flour mixture until just combined, then fold in apples and cranberries. The batter will feel thick and heavy. Spoon the batter into pan.

Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Fig Galette aka Figs in my Belly (For Real)

20 Sep


Once upon a time there was a dinner party. After dinner the guests ate dessert. A beautiful purple dessert. A purple dessert with a nice golden flaky crust. Warmed and topped with homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Now that’s a dinner party!

Fig Galette in the making:

Oh, yes, and there was also a lovely yellow nectarine galette:


I used this recipe for my dough. For the fig galette, I spread the bottom of the dough with raspberry jam, topped it with my sliced fresh figs, and then sprinkled a touch of sugar over the top. Super easy, and the result is just gorgeous.

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