Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake

This recipe, from Jamie Schler’s wonderful new cookbook “Orange Appeal,” is originally made with blood oranges, but I used Cara Cara oranges instead. They’re really my favorite variety of orange, and ok, I admit it, I inadvertently bought two large bags of them, thinking one was a bag of grapefruits. So aside from eating fresh oranges a few times a day, I’ve been experimenting with lots of orange recipes.

Truth be told, the first time I made this recipe, it was a flop. Not that it wasn’t edible. It was. But it had a peculiar shape, due to pilot error. I used a loaf pan that was too small and caused the following chain of events: batter spilling over the sides of the pan, leaving a hollow down the center of the cake; crispy, burned bits on the bottom of the oven; smoke billowing into the kitchen and a loud alarm sounding throughout the house.

Still, that didn’t deter me from trying again. I could tell it was going to be a good cake. And remember I had all those oranges to use up. So this time I followed Jamie’s advice and used the proper size loaf pan – 9″ x 5″ by 2 1/2″. I also followed the recipe exactly, since the first time I added the oil to all the liquid ingredients rather than at the very end. Alright, I did forget to pour the syrup over the cake, but it was wonderful all the same, especially with the glaze over the top.

See for yourself, or rather try it for yourself. But make sure to read the directions thoroughly and follow the recipe and above all, use the right size loaf pan. Otherwise, get your oven cleaner ready.

Blood Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake

Author: Jamie Schler (From “Orange Appeal”)

printable recipe here

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (7 ounces/195 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (250 ml) unsweetened plain whole-milk or Greek yogurt
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 blood oranges, zested (I used the zest of 2 large Cara Cara oranges)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) vegetable oil
• Blood Orange Syrup:
• 1/3 cup blood orange juice (or any orange juice)
• 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
• Glaze:
• 2 tablespoons blood orange juice
• 1 cup (135 g) confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Butter a standard 9 x 5 x 2 1/2 inch or 8 cup loaf pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and flour the pan.
2. Sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, zest, and vanilla until blended and smooth.
4. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined and smooth.
5. Fold the oil into the batter, a little at a time, until well-blended and no oil has collected around the edges of the batter.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the center of the cake is moist, but set and a tested inserted into the cake comes out clean.
7. Prepare the orange syrup by placing the orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat.
8. Cook until warm and the sugar has completely dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool slightly.
9. When the cake is done, remove from the oven onto a cooling rack that has been placed on top of a large foil-lined baking sheet and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
10. Carefully loosen the cake from the pan by running a knife around the edges.
11. Turn the cake out of the pan, discard the parchment paper, and then place the cake upright on the cooling rack.
12. While the cake is still warm, pour and brush the warm syrup all over the top, allowing it to soak the loaf and run down the sides. Allow to cool completely.
13. Prepare the glaze by stirring the orange juice into the sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the glaze is smooth. The glaze should be thin enough to spoon or drizzle over the cake but just stiff enough that some of the glaze will cling to the sides.

3.5.3229

 

Lemon Pasta with Roasted Broccoli

I’ll bet a lot of you are like me and decide what’s for dinner by looking in your fridge or pantry to see what’s on hand. In this case, it was a small head of broccoli and a bag of pasta that got my creative juices flowing. But it wasn’t just any pasta – it was this lemon pasta I bought at Claudio’s in Philadelphia a few months ago. I’ve used it before and it’s really as yellow as this photo and perfect for this dish. It’s available by mail order here.

And what better occasion to pick a lemon from my small lemon tree than for this recipe? This plant, which enjoys warm sunshine and moist sea air during the summer, comes indoors for the winter. I’ve had the plant for a few years and while it bore fruit last year too, I waited too long to pick it because I hated to lose the decorative look of the yellow fruit hanging from the branches. By the time I got around to plucking the lemons last year, they had dried out, a mistake I wasn’t going to make this year.

The sauce comes together quickly while the pasta is cooking, so get the broccoli into the oven and start making the sauce, sautéeing the leek and garlic, then adding wine, lemon rind and lemon juice. Add the pasta to the pan just before it gets to the al dente stage, pouring in a little of the pasta water to help it finish cooking.

When it’s al dente, add a small amount of cream and stir to meld all the flavors together. Don’t worry if the sauce is a little loose. Once you add the parmesan cheese, it will thicken a bit.

When the pasta is cooked, add the roasted broccoli, parmesan cheese and mix well. 

Serve in a warm bowl so the pasta doesn’t cool down too quickly.

Lemon Pasta with Roasted Broccoli

printable recipe here

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound pasta
• a small head of broccoli florets, bottoms peeled
• olive oil, salt and pepper to season the broccoli
• 1 leek, sliced (or one large shallot)
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 T. butter
• rind of half a lemon, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine (or Prosecco)
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• pasta water
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (or more to taste)

Instructions

1. Roast the broccoli in a 425 degree oven, smeared with olive oil, salt and pepper, for about 15 minutes.
2. Start the pasta to boil while you make the sauce.
3. Saute the leek and garlic in the olive oil and butter until softened.
4. Add the white wine and cook at high heat until reduced.
5. Lower heat and add the juice of half a lemon (or less if using a “lemon” pasta as I did.)
6. Cook the pasta until it has about one minute to go, leaving it “al dente” or even a little harder.
7. Add the cooked pasta to the pot and finish cooking in the liquid, adding pasta water to continue the cooking.
8. When the pasta is fully cooked, but still al dente, add the heavy cream, and stir in the roasted broccoli florets and parmesan cheese.

3.5.3229

 

Upside Down Pear Walnut Cake

I know, I promised to eat fewer sweets at the start of the new year, but this has three pears sliced on top, so doesn’t that count as health food? (Don’t answer that.)

Seriously, I had to make this cake, if only because I wanted to use some of those delicious boxed pears sent to us for Christmas by our friends Jan and Dave. We still had five uneaten pears left in the box, despite having had a houseful of family and visitors over the holidays. Yes, of course we could have just eaten them raw, but when you have a husband whose idea of the perfect wedding vow includes a commitment to provide cake each night, well, you try to obey (No, neither the cake nor the obey part was part of the vows). Truth be told, I was longing to make this dessert since I saw it being whipped up on the TV program, “America’s Test Kitchen” recently. And with ample pears in the house, it was good timing.

I’ve made a lot of upside down cakes in my life, from my childhood favorite, pineapple upside down cake, to peach, to cranberry, to plum, to fig, to blood orange. 

All of them are made with a basic white or yellow cake, but this one is very different. It does use a little white flour, but it’s got one dominating ingredient that gives the cake a distinct look and flavor.

Can you guess?Maybe now you can, after seeing this cut slice. It’s toasted walnuts, giving the cake a delicious walnut-y flavor. It’s also very moist with a delicate crumb. And it’s easy to make too – using a food processor instead of a mixer.

The only thing missing is perhaps a little whipped cream or creme fraiche.

If you want to be really wicked, maybe a scoop of ice cream. Oh what the heck, go for it. Bathing suit season doesn’t start for a while.

Upside Down Pear Walnut Cake

printable recipe here

Ingredients

• From Cooks Illustrated:
• For the Topping:
• 4 T. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) packed dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
• 2 t. cornstarch
• 1/8 t. salt
• 3 Bosc pears – 8 ounces each – (I used Bartlett and it worked out fine)
• For The Cake:
• 1 cup walnuts, toasted
• 1/2 cup (2.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking powder
• 1/8 t. baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
• 4 T. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 vegetable oil

Instructions

1. FOR THE TOPPING:
2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
3. Grease 9-inch round cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper. (I strongly suggest using a cake pan that is 2″ high, or use a springform pan. The batter is almost too much for a regular 9″ cake pan.)
4. Pour melted butter over bottom of pan and swirl to evenly coat.
5. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in small bowl and sprinkle evenly over melted butter.
6. Peel, halve, and core pears.
7. Set aside 1 pear half and reserve for other use.
8. Cut remaining 5 pear halves into 4 wedges each.
9. Arrange pears in circular pattern around cake pan with tapered ends pointing inward.
10. Arrange two smallest pear wedges in center.
11. For The Cake:
12. Pulse walnuts, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in food processor until walnuts are finely ground, 8 to 10 pulses.
13. Transfer walnut mixture to bowl.
14. Process eggs and sugar in now-empty processor until very pale yellow, about 2 minutes.
15. With processor running, add melted butter and oil in steady stream until incorporated.
16. Add walnut mixture and pulse to combine, 4 to 5 pulses.
17. Pour batter evenly over pears (some pear may show through; cake will bake up over fruit).
18. Bake until center of cake is set and bounces back when gently pressed and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 1/4 hours, rotating pan after 40 minutes.
19. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.
20. Carefully run paring knife or offset spatula around sides of pan.
21. Invert cake onto wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet; discard parchment.
22. Let cake cool for about 2 hours.
23. Transfer to serving platter, cut into wedges, and serve.

3.5.3229