Nectarine and Plum Upside-Down Cake

This is going to sound slightly irrational, but I changed my mind about fall. Right after explaining how I attempted to make fall happen by baking with apples and pears, it occurred to me that I hadn’t baked with plums yet this year. So, if we could just hit pause on fall for a moment while we enjoy this cake, then we can get back to letting the change of seasons happen as it may. And, this isn’t my fault. I blame all the other food blogs out there that are showing off gorgeous baked goods with plums. Everywhere I looked, I saw tarts and cakes brimming with late summer fruits, and I had to bake something with them too. I rushed out to grab some pretty, red plums and yellow nectarines so I could attempt my first ever upside-down cake. The recipe is from Deborah Madison’s Seasonal Fruit Desserts, and the upside-down part was not at all as scary as I thought it might be.

The process began by making a caramel in a cast-iron skillet with melted butter and light brown sugar. After cooking for just a few minutes, the heat was turned off, and the sliced nectarines and plums were layered into the caramel. The cake batter was started by mixing together butter, sugar, orange zest, vanilla and almond extracts, and eggs. Multiple flours were used here, and those included all-purpose flour, corn flour for flavor, and whole wheat pastry flour for sturdiness. The flours were combined with baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and that was added to the butter mixture in parts alternating with buttermilk. The batter was spread over the sliced fruit in the cast-iron skillet, and the cake was baked until golden. After removing the pan from the oven, you want to flip the cake out of it while it’s hot to prevent the fruit from sticking to the bottom. Running a knife around the edge helps loosen the cake from the sides, then cover the skillet with a platter, lift with a towel or oven mitts, and invert it. I was sure I was going to have a sticky mess all over my kitchen and myself for that matter after attempting that maneuver, but no, the cake plopped out without any issues.

The reds and yellows of the nectarines and plums fade a bit while baking and meld into the color of the cake, but upside-down on a platter, the sliced fruit shines in the caramel. The mix of flours did give the cake itself good character. I served whipped cream on the side which was a nice contrast with the warm, just-baked cake. I’m glad I grabbed those summer fruits before they were gone, and now I’ll let fall resume its schedule.

Crostata with Pears, Apples, and Taleggio

I was flipping tv channels a couple of weeks ago, and I caught the very end of a segment in which Giada was making a rustic crostata with dried apricots, walnuts, and cubes of taleggio. It sounded like such an interesting mix, and it sounded so autumnal, I was sure I could make it seem like fall around here by baking it. By the time I was ready to get baking, we had received some apples and pears from our CSA, so I changed the plan just slightly by using those fresh fruits instead of dried apricots. Now, about that cheese, yes, it is usually a savory cheese. Taleggio is a soft, washed rind cheese that’s relatively mild-flavored, and I was curious about how it would work in a sweet dessert. As it melted into the fruit and nuts, it added richness and interest, and if you weren’t told it was there, you might not realize there was cheese in the filling at all. The crostata was perfect served warm from the oven, and I preferred the leftovers re-heated rather than served cold from the refrigerator.

There wasn’t just cheese in the filling, there was also mascarpone in the crust. The dough was made in a food processor by combining flour, salt, sugar, and butter. It was pulsed until the butter was coarsely mixed into the flour, and mascarpone and lemon juice were added. The machine was pulsed a few more times, and then it was left running briefly while ice water was added. The dough was wrapped and refrigerated for 30 minutes before being rolled out on parchment paper cut to the size of a baking sheet. That was a great tip by the way. By rolling the dough on parchment paper, it was very easy to lift the paper and move it with the dough to a baking sheet in one fell swoop. Then, the dough was topped with a mixed of chopped pears, apples, walnuts, half of the cubed taleggio, a little flour since I was using fresh fruit, lemon zest, cinnamon, sea salt, and honey. The edges of the dough were rolled up and over, and the remaining cubed cheese was scattered on top. The dough edges received an egg wash, and the crostata baked for about 40 minutes.

I will say this is not a dessert for ice cream or whipped cream on the side. It requires no embellishment, but it was delicious with a glass of wine. Nuts, honey, fruit, and cheese were enveloped in a golden, flaky crust, and the warm, sweet flavors were accented by the mildly tangy cheese. It’s still about 95 degrees, so I didn’t make fall happen, but the flavors made it seem like fall should be coming soon.

Key Lime Bundt Cake with Margarita Frosting

I’m always mentioning my CSA, but what I currently receive isn’t a share from a single farm. I’ve been receiving a box every other week from Farmhouse Delivery, and they combine produce, meat, dairy, eggs, and local artisanal products in a flexible plan. The boxes are delivered to your door, and you can choose to receive one every week rather than every other, but that would be a little too much for a two-person household. Because the items are gathered from a few different local farms, each box is filled with varied and interesting things. There's always something exciting and unexpected. A couple of weeks ago, our delivery included some key limes, and a few ideas came to mind immediately. I knew I’d seen a key lime cake I really wanted to try. After a little searching, I found it again on Cookie Madness. This is a great summer cake. It’s a sturdy but tender bundt with lots of flavor from the key lime juice and zest in the batter, and the frosting has all the basic ingredients of a good margarita.

The cake is made with cake flour which gives it a velvety texture. The dry ingredients were sifted together, and then eggs were separated. The egg whites were beaten to soft peaks in a separate bowl and set aside. The yolks were combined with softened butter, sugar, and lime zest. As usual, I used all butter here rather than a mix of butter and shortening. The dry ingredients were added to the butter mixture alternately with lime juice and sour cream. You know a cake is going to be good when sour cream’s involved. Last, the egg whites were folded into the batter, and it was poured into a prepared bundt pan. For the frosting, softened cream cheese, butter, and confectioner’s sugar were mixed, and tequila, Grand Marnier, and lime juice were added. The frosting should be thin enough to run down the sides of the cake but thick enough to hold some shape. Tasting and testing the frosting is a fun process as you can add additional lime juice, tequila, or confectioner’s sugar to achieve the margarita taste you want and the thickness that seems right.

Bundt cakes are so low-maintenance with their built-in good looks from the pan in which they’re baked and their need for just a simple drizzly frosting at the most. Add to that great flavor like key lime, and you’ve got a fantastic dessert. Getting to use some locally grown citrus in this delicious cake was a bonus for me, and well, the familiar flavor of a margarita was, you know, icing on the cake.

Blackberry Gratin

While I was making dinner from Sunday Suppers at Lucques, I noticed a simple, summery dessert that I could whip up at the same time. And, coming to think of it, I never do that. I never set out to make a meal including dessert all in one go. Dessert, or most of it depending on what it is, is always made in advance, but this one really is easy enough to prepare right along with dinner. It’s a custard with creme fraiche that’s poured over berries and then gratineed under the broiler. Once browned, it can sit patiently at room temperature while you enjoy your main course. Now speaking of that browning step, I’ve noticed that organic sugar doesn’t behave quite the same as regular sugar. In this case, confectioner’s sugar was suggested, and I used an organic brand, and I don’t think it browned as well as it could have. Deborah Madison confirmed the fact in her book Seasonal Fruit Desserts that for browning or bruleeing, regular sugar works better, but I’m not sure why that is. At any rate, these little desserts only sit under the broiler long enough to become bubbly and a little browned, so it didn’t matter much here.

An easy custard was made with warmed milk slowly whisked into a mixture of egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. That was returned to a saucepan and thickened. Butter and salt were added while it was warm, and then the custard was chilled in the refrigerator for a bit. Once cool, creme fraiche was folded into it. In the book, the dessert is made with raspberries, but I had blackberries, and any kind of berries or really just about any fruit would work. In the intro to the recipe, sauteed apples or pears with dried fruit is suggested for a winter version of this. The blackberries were tossed with a little granulated sugar and then scattered in ramekins in my case. The dessert can also be made in one, larger gratin dish. The custard was spooned over the berries, more berries were placed on top, confectioner’s sugar was sifted over each ramekin, and they were placed under the broiler for about seven minutes. I dusted them with a little more confectioner’s sugar before serving.

What you get is a warm, vanilla pudding with a partially browned, set surface, rich, tangy flavor from creme fraiche, and warm, juicy berries. If you wanted to do what I usually do which is to have dessert mostly ready long before I start tackling dinner preparations, you could just refrigerate the gratins until you’re ready to broil them right before serving. Either way, it’s a simple dessert that has me looking forward to other seasonal variations.

David Lebovitz, What Are You Reading?

After working as a pastry chef at several restaurants in San Francisco, including almost thirteen years at Chez Panisse, David Lebovitz now lives in Paris where he leads culinary tours and writes books that we all know and love. A couple of the latest of those books are The Perfect Scoop, which is a favorite of mine, and The Sweet Life in Paris, which is a great read with great recipes like dulce de leche brownies. His brand new book is Ready for Dessert, and this one brings together the best of his desserts with new photos and additional recipes. On David’s blog, there’s always something entertaining, delicious, or informative and probably a combination of all three. I had to ask him, what are you reading?


David:

Right now I'm reading The Belly of Paris, a new translation, and what I'm particularly enjoying about it is that it brings the city of Paris from a whole different era back to life. The giant market, Les Halles, must've been amazing and the descriptions of the piles of food and the people who worked there are so vivid and make me a bit sad that the market was torn down in the name of "progress."

I recently read Kitchen Chinese, by Ann Mah, a novel about a young woman moving back to China and rediscovering her identity by becoming a food writer.

I also enjoyed The Tenth Muse by Judith Jones. A lot of people don't realize how important she's been to modern cooking; she discovered and was responsible for getting everyone from Julia Child to Marcella Hazan published. She lived in Paris, too, which made the book a nice reminiscence of a time when French cooking was still loaded with cream-soaked gratins and bustling bistros.

Am looking forward to baking my way through Farmers' Market Desserts, by Jennie Schacht. It's filled with things like cobblers and pies, using all those wonderful fruits that are starting to appear at my market this month.

On deck, is The Butcher and the Vegetarian by Tara Austen Weaver. Am looking forward to diving into her story about her conversion from vegetarian to meat eater. She's a great writer and when I pull myself out of the kitchen, I'm devouring this book next.








Thank you for participating, David! Check back to see who answers the question next time and what other books are recommended.

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Blueberry Kefir Ice Cream

I was already a big fan of drinkable yogurt when I was asked if I would like some samples of Lifeway kefir. Kefir is also a drinkable, fermented dairy product, and I was happy to get to taste several different flavors. In addition to the health benefits of the calcium and live and active cultures in kefir, it also lasts a nice long time in the refrigerator. The samples I received arrived at the end of January, and the expiration dates on them are in mid-April. I immediately popped open the strawberry kefir to have a taste, and it was well-flavored, not too sweet, and pleasantly thick while very drinkable. Kurt and I could have happily and easily just enjoyed all of those samples as beverages, but I decided I needed to get a little creative. I thought a frozen yogurt kind of concoction would be a good direction to take, and I set about finding some sources for inspiration. First, I looked at the blueberry frozen yogurt in The Perfect Scoop, and then I found Clotilde’s recipe for lemon kefir ice cream.

In The Perfect Scoop, the blueberry frozen yogurt is made with lots frozen blueberries. I started with that idea. I pureed three cups of frozen blueberries with some blueberry flavored kefir in the blender. In the book, since plain yogurt was used, additional sugar was added to the ingredients to be blended, but since my flavored kefir was already sweetened, I skipped the sugar. That puree was then pushed through a strainer to remove the blueberry seeds and skins, and the result was a very smooth, purpley, and tasty puree. In Clotilde’s recipe, lemon zest and limoncello were added to the mix before the ice cream was churned. My limoncello still wasn’t ready, so I added some orange liqueur and orange zest instead. Then, the finished mix went into the ice cream maker for 35 minutes.

It wasn’t as icy as a sorbet, but the frozen fruit content took it in that direction. The texture actually fell somewhere in between sorbet and ice cream, and the subtle bit of orange offset the blueberry flavor well. To take it one step further, I also used the blueberry kefir ice cream in a shake blended with some peach kefir since I’ve been a fan of that combo since I first had blueberry-peach pancakes many years ago at Kerbey Lane Cafe. That was a glass full of frozen, fruity goodness. It was fun to mix and match the flavors and make frozen treats, but the remaining samples will be great instant breakfasts too.