When Alice announced May's Sugar High Friday theme last month, "Pucker Up with Citrus," I thought, "great -- I'll be all moved and settled by then, and ready to participate!" (in case you haven't noticed, I haven't taken part in a food blogging event in months.)
So two weeks ago (today!), Kevin and I moved into our new place in Cambridge, MA. The kitchen and bathroom were quickly unpacked and set up, as was my cookbook collection. Priorities, you know. The rest of the unpacking is going verrrrrrrryyyyyyy sloooooowwwwwllllllyyyyy. Around 3:30 this afternoon, as I procrastinated a bit more, I was reading through some of my favorite food blogs. It turned out that Sugar High Friday is TODAY! It almost got by me. Almost.
I had already planned to bake cookies and bread today. Suddenly, my plans had changed! I needed to find a recipe that would fulfill the theme, but not require a shopping trip. I'd aleady been to the store once today, and even I have my limits! There's a lime cookie recipe on Epicurious that I've had my eye on for a long time, and I had everything I needed on hand. But I've really been craving cake this week. I searched All Recipes for "lemon cake," and found several prospects. There was a Bundt cake that especially caught my eye. I saved it to my recipe box, but kept looking. Suddenly, I found my recipe: Lemon Custard Pudding Cake. I've always wanted to try my hand at a custardy-puddingy cake, and I had everything I needed right in the fridge! Call me crazy, but I'm a citrus hoarder. I almost always have a supply of lemons and limes on hand. You just never know when you'll get the urge to make hummus or Spicy Fu (which, incidentally, is on the agenda for this weekend)!
It was settled. I had chosen what's probably the fanciest recipe I've ever made. Here's what I ended up with:
Mmm... looks lemony and delightful, doesn't it? Well, surprise! It's actually limey! I like lemons as much as the next person, but I love limes. They're so tart and spicy and complex. So, without further ado, here's my version of citrusy, custardy, puddingy cake:
Lime Custard Pudding Cake
6 tablespoons butter, melted
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
zest of one lime
2 tablespoons lime juice
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 2 quart baking dish. Separate eggs.
In a large bowl, combine flour, butter and 1-1/2 cups of the sugar.Beat egg yolks and add to sugar mixture, along with milk and lime zest. Mix well and add lime juice.
In another bowl beat egg whites until stiff, slowly adding the remaining 1/2 cup white sugar. Fold the egg whites into the batter. Pour batter into the prepared dish.
Place the dish in a shallow pan of hot water and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm, or chilled with confectioners' sugar dusted on top.
I can't tell you how strong the urge was to peek at the cake as it baked (not only does my oven not have an indicator of when it's up to temp, but it has no window in the door, either!). Within ten minutes, the whole apartment smelled sweet and citrusy. I couldn't wait! Never having baked a custard/pudding cake before, though, I had no idea what to look for to know when it was done. So after 55 minutes, thinking the toothpick trick wouldn't apply here, I peeked. It smelled done, had pulled away from the sides of the dish, didn't seem too terribly jiggly, and was nicely browned. I deemed it done.
Impatience was not my friend this evening. I only let the cake cool for about 5 minutes before digging in.
Should it really be that soupy on the bottom? Eh. Whatever. I'm game!
This being a lime cake and all, it seemed only fitting to garnish with a bit of freshly toasted coconut (I know, how sick are we all of that poor song, thanks to the Coca-Cola company?!?).
All I can say is WOW. This is one spectacular dessert. The top "crust" is airy and crispy. The middle layer is light, spongy, and moist. The sauce from the bottom pulls it all together, and the coconut adds a nice crunch factor. When we finally get all unpacked and settled, we want to have a little dinner party. I can totally see this as an Impress Your Friends dessert!
Now I can't wait to taste it chilled. I wonder how much the saucy, custardy layer will set up...
I love limes.
PS: Unfortunately, I'm going to have to opt out of this month's Is My Blog Burning? I don't do gelatin, and agar is just too rich for my blood right now! >SIGH< Maybe next month...
Here's a strange thing: my oven has no indicator of any sort to indicate when it's up to temperature!
But anyway... here's a totally uncomplicated, extremely versatile recipe from my favorite bread book, Smart Bread Machine Recipes. I should probably stop blogging about its recipes before I re-publish the whole book, but here goes...
I call this one "Bread & Steel" (even though the pans are really aluminum!).
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lecithin granules or vegetable oil
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp water
Put everything in the machine's bread pan and turn the machine on. A 1lb loaf makes 12 slices.
I doubled the recipe to make two 1lb loaves, and, of course, baked them in the oven instead of in the machine. At 350, they took about 30 minutes.
I love this bread because it works so well for sweet things like "jelly toast" and pb & J, as well as for more savory uses like grilled cheese... all major staples in my diet!
It's messy, I know, but it works for me. And yes, it's surrounded by unpacked boxes.
I've been using Kevin's computer since we moved, and don't get me wrong -- I love it! I have total Laptop Envy, and there's nothing better than (borrowed) wi-fi, but the laptop is lacking certain software (cough cough -- Photoshop! -- ahem). Plus, mine has all my settings and stored info and whatnot. And a good, old-fashioned modem for that ever-so-desirable dial-up connection that is far slower than (borrowed) wi-fi.
(Mom -- please tell Dad that I did, in fact, figure out how to put the desk back together [all by myself with no directions!], and I didn't even have any leftover pieces! It was touch-and-go for a few minutes, but I succeeded.)
So not only am I blogging from my own computer for the first time in about two weeks, but I baked today! It felt so good to be measuring, sifting, stirring and scooping again! For the inaugural baking event in the new place, Nic suggested the perfect food: corn muffins. Who knew that they're the official muffin of Massachusetts? Well, Nic did. And now I do. And now you do. And you all know me -- I never pass up something made with corn meal!
I searched the 'net for a recipe. I didn't want to blog about the same muffins I made last summer! I was torn between Gale Gand's recipe at Food TV and one I found on Epicurious. As much as I adore and admire Gale, the Epicurious recipe won because it had more corn meal (the cornier, the better!) and less butter (I'm really trying to watch what I eat these days). And, of course, I didn't exactly follow the Epicurious recipe to the letter. The original can be found here, but this is my version:
Blackberry Corn Muffins
1/3 cup coarse yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1-1/4 cups plain yogurt
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
fresh blackberries
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a bowl combine together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl whisk together eggs, yogurt, and butter. Add the flour mixture, and stir until just combined.
Prepare mini-muffin tin. In bottom of each cup, place one blackberry (or half of one if they're as big as the ones I bought the other day!).
Divide the batter among the cups, and bake 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the tins on a rack for 3 minutes, turn them out onto the rack, and let them cool completely. Makes 36 mini-muffins.
View from the top...
... and the cute little underbellies.
They came out great, and were a huge hit with Kevin. Someone wrote a review of the recipe and said the yogurt taste was overwhelming. I couldn't taste it at all! It made for a very light, moist muffin, which is sometimes hard to achieve when working with so much corn meal!
So, a baking success in the new apartment. May there be many more to come!
While frantically searching for my curling iron this evening, I found my toothbrush charger. They were both on top of the bureau, hiding under my fleece blanket. The location of the missing casserole dish, however, is still unknown.
I'm seriously comtemplating making some bread tomorrow. Any recipe recommendations?
I found another "kitchen" box today... which is very good, because it contained my tube pan and my Cathedral Bundt pan, both of which I was really beginning to wonder about... but slightly bad because the kitchen is already overflowing. I prevailed, however, and found places for everything in that box!
On a related note, I love above-cupboard storage:
All the weird, random stuff with no logical home ended up there!
I think I might be missing my favorite casserole dish. Is there yet another "kitchen" box hiding somewhere in this apartment? Argh.
Now... where in the hell is my toothbrush charger?!?
