Strawberry Orange Ricotta Cake with Almonds

All summer long, my mom had been really wanting to try out some dessert recipes using ricotta cheese, but we never seemed to find the time. For her birthday, I thought I would try a cake recipe I found on Epicurious.com called "Strawberry Orange Ricotta Cake with Pistachios", but when I went to the grocery store in Harbor Springs, I couldn't find any natural unsalted pistachios. I decided to substitute the pistachios with almonds (which I prefer anyways). To make this cake I had to enlist not one, but two, sous chefs in order to get this done in a reasonable amount of time. (There are A LOT of steps to this one!) In the end, the cake was very well received, but it is probably not one that I would make again. With strawberries, oranges, chocolate, ricotta, Grand Marnier, almonds etc. there was just too many flavors going on for my personal taste. It did however, turn out to be a totally beautiful cake (again, thanks to my sous chefs Matt and Michael!!).

Recipe!

(I substituted all pistachios with almonds.)

I also wanted to post a picture of the amazing table my aunt Judy set for the birthday dinner...

sooo lovely...

Tuxedo Cupcakes

A few years ago my mom, neighbor and I took a cooking class at Central Market with Rebecca Rather of the Rather Sweet Bakery in Fredricksburg. We picked up a couple of her new cooking books, "The Pastry Queen" and have found tons of tasty recipes in it. The definite favorite has been the Tuxedo Cake, which has been a favorite in our household for years now. This summer I was looking for the perfect chocolate cupcake recipe when I remembered the Tuxedo Cake...

(those yellow cupcakes in the background are some of the lemon cupcakes from the previous post, un-iced)

Recipe!

The cake recipe translated to absolutely delicious cupcakes. I used the same whipped topping recipe, as well as the chocolate ganache. The yield was about 4 or 5 dozen cupcakes, and they were all gone in one night...

*If you don't have Lyle's syrup, which I didn't in Michigan, corn syrup is a totally acceptable replacement. Also, the whipped topping does not save well so it's best to only top the ones that you plan on eating within the hour.

Korean BBQ in K Town and Lemon Cupcakes with a Lemon Cream Filling

Before I get into this summer's cupcake creations, I have to document what could have been the most amazing meal I had all summer. Sunday afternoon, after watching the India Day parade from Hye's apartment window while playing with her 3 baby kittens, we headed over to Don's Bogam BBQ on 32nd Street between 5th and Madison. Since we were there at an off hour, around 2:30 pm, we had the place almost to ourselves and were able to sit in one of the amazing booths (really bad pic below). Hye ordered for us since I wouldn't know what I getting, and we decided on both pork belly and the marinated beef. Sooo delicious. The side dishes were all wonderful, and a couple of them were a little bit different than what I've seen before. I'm going to get Hye on here to describe in detail everything we ate... so delicious.

I forgot my camera so I borrowed pics from here.

OK! Back to summer. In Michigan, our fridge was consistently filled with farm fresh berries the entire summer. In an effort to use some up I started looking for a good fruity cupcake recipe on epicurious.com. I eventually decided on this lemon cupcake recipe. Since the yield is a ridiculous 4 cupcakes, I multiplied the measurements by four. I also seriously upped both the lemon juice and zest in both the cupcakes and the lemon cream filling.

The recipe I came up with was:

3 cups of cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

~1/4 cup freshly grated lemon zest

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.

2 cups + 4 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons + 8 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

8 large eggs

8 ounces of cream cheese, room temp.

I then came up with a tasty cream cheese frosting for the top:

2 1/2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temp.

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon almond extract

After the cupcakes cooled, I put a generous swirl of icing on each one and then topping them with a few fresh blueberries... These were a huge hit with all the guys in the kitchen at my night time hostess job. I really wish I had pictures, but they were all eaten waaay too quickly! (I barely got half of one!!)

Delicious chocolate cupcake recipe to come, but I've got to get ready for Sue's bday dinner at Saigon Grill in Union Square!

Texas Peaches

I just returned from a summer spent in Harbor Springs, located in Northern Michigan. As the primary goal of my summer was to bank as much money as possible in a month and half, I didn't have too much spare time to spend in the kitchen. Just being in the presence of my mom however, is inspiration enough to throw an apron on and start baking...

I made a quick pit stop in San Antonio to see my sister graduate from high school and to bake a Coconut- Peach Layer cake for a dinner party my mom was throwing. I wanted to take advantage of the locally grown Texas peaches that are completely amazing. The cake was a huge success- easy to make, absolutely delicious, perfectly summer-y and different!

Coconut- Peach Layer Cake

My dad was such a fan that he chose the recipe for the annual Men's Cake Baking competition at our church... I believe he won second place, which he contends is solely because the judges were teenagers who didn't appreciate the fruit. Lame.

More summer baking and eating to come, as soon as i get back from the comme des garcons sample sale...