Catching Up On Cake

Happy Friday the 13th!  It's been over a year since my last post, and though there's been more procrastibaking in that time than this blog would suggest, there has been - clearly and admittedly - less procrastiblogging.  As my last post was also on a Friday the 13th, an auspicious day, it seems high time to get the creative juices flowing...

... creative grapefruit juices, that is.  Summer looked like it might finally be setting in when I had a dinner party to bake for, and the warmer air and sunnier skies made me crave citrus.  I remembered that some time back a friend had suggested that I try making blood orange curd, but as I wasn't able to find any of the fruit in stores and the juice was quite expensive, this will have to remain an experiment for another day, perhaps when there's a sale on.  Still, I was looking for something different, and it occurred to me that while lemon and orange are go-to citruses for baking (and of course key lime if you're lucky enough to be able to get your hands on those little green gems - I miss key lime pie), grapefruit is rather underused.  I wanted to bake something simple, so had already thought about making a bundt cake (no messy layers), and once I decided on grapefruit the cake baking in my mind became a grapefruit pound cake.  Throw in some poppy seeds, and not only do you get added texture to the grapefruit twist, but also alliteration in 'pink grapefruit poppy seed pound cake'.

For the cake, I used this Epicurious recipe - substituting grapefruit zest of course - and doubled it because I like my bundt cakes to be tall (I used a 10" pan that's 4" deep).  To finish it, I made a grapefruit glaze following Martha's recipe for the lemon equivalent for this cake.  I used pre-squeezed juice for the glaze, and since I don't have a strainer I removed some of the pulp by running the juice through a pour-over paper coffee filter.  I'm not sure I'd recommend doing that; it wasn't terribly effective, and I think a pulpy glaze would've been just fine.  I thought I was being pretty clever with my combination, which is never a thought to have.  I say this because yesterday I stumbled across this recipe from BBC Good Food and for a split second thought I was losing my mind.  Ok two seconds, or the time it took me to check the publication date...

For once in my life, I'd actually finished the cake with time to spare, so while I was waiting I took my remaining grapefruit and peeled it with a paring knife to make a rose for the centre of the cake.  I essentially already knew how to do this, but nevertheless found this youtube tutorial to be a useful demonstration - it's probably best watched with the sound off if you want to avoid a sexist anecdote.  To hold the rose together for travel (I didn't want to insert the rose before pouring the glaze, which I did just before serving), I pinned it with a couple toothpicks.

Continuing with the theme of simple, summery cakes, this week I tried this Martha Stewart recipe for strawberry cake.  The idea of baking a cake in a pie dish was weirdly appealing, and as with the bundt cake - no layers!  I've also been scoping out the ruby-red berries that have been appearing in the market lately, and this recipe seemed as good an excuse as any for taking some home.  For as beautiful as they are in the box, I thought they'd look even better arranged on top of a sugary cushion of cake... and perhaps they would have if they hadn't all sunk to the bottom.

pre-bake

The only alteration I made to the recipe was multiplying it one and a half times to fill my deep dish pan.  As it turns out, the other alteration I should have made was flouring the cut sides of the berries before arranging them on the cake.  I'm not certain that this would have kept them from sinking entirely, but I suspect it might have made a difference; further investigation is warranted, and welcome considering how well the cake came out despite this small snafu.  It was an excellent afternoon pick-me-up with ice cream and coffee, but would be equally great for dessert, or even breakfast...

Pie in July

This isn't National Cake Week, and today wasn't Pi Day, but I went ahead made a pie this morning anyway.  Because pie is delicious.  Also because it was the 4th of July and it seemed appropriate.

Strawberries and blueberries are in season (not to mention conveniently coloured) so I decided to make a strawberry-blueberry pie.  I used recipes from Joy of Baking and Martha Stewart as guidelines, and my recipe is in the Recipe Box.  It was really very tasty, but to say that it was runny would be an understatement; it was fruit soup on the inside.  I don't know if it hadn't had enough time to set when I cut into it, or if it needed more tapioca or cornstarch, but it would be worth adding more tapioca or cornstarch, or both... I was delighted, however, to find that despite all the juices there was no soggy bottom!  I think baking on a hot sheet might make quite the difference.

I used 1 1/2 times Martha's recipe for pâte brisée, and I was as happy with it this time as I was the last time.  There is probably more cutting to this pie than anything else, and it begins with the pâte brisée.  Chop up cold butter and cut it into the flour and salt mixture until it resembles a coarse meal.

Add 1/4-1/2 cup ice water to the dough just until it sticks together.  Split the dough in half to form two disks, cover them, and chill them in the refrigerator for at least an hour (I left mine overnight).  When it's ready roll one disk to about 1/8" thick and place it in a 9"-10" pie dish.  Spread a thin layer of butter over the bottom of the shell - this will form a barrier between the filling and the crust to prevent a soggy bottom - and return to the refrigerator.  Roll out the second disk and return it as well.

I made a new-to-me discovery while getting ready to make this pie: tapioca is 'ground arrowroot' in the UK.  At least I think it is.  While the tapioca my mom uses to firm up her pies is not ground, tapioca starch is the only ingredient in ground arrowroot so it seems to be the right thing.  I decided to give it a try anyhow.

Whisk the sugar, cornstarch and tapioca together and set it aside while you hull and cut the strawberries.  When the strawberries are all sliced up, mix them in a big bowl with the blueberries, and then stir the sugar mixture into the berries.  Let the berries sit about fifteen minutes, and while they're doing that take the disk of dough back out of the refrigerator and cut it into 1" strips.  When that's done, remove the pie dish, and pour the berries in.

Form a lattice on the pie, starting by laying half of the strips over top of it.  Fold back alternating strips, and lay another strip perpendicular over the remaining strips.  Unfold the folded strips back over the perpendicular strip.  Repeat until the lattice is complete.

Nearly lastly, beat an egg and brush it over the pastry, and then dust it with sugar sprinkles.  None of this step is necessary, of course, but it looks pretty and the sugar adds a nice crunch.

Then pop it in the oven!  Make sure, especially if you decide not to bake the pie on a baking sheet, that you cover the bottom of the oven with tin foil.  The pie will drip, and it will be a sticky mess.  A tasty, sticky mess.

And the best part?  This red, white and blue pie can do double duty: preheat your oven for Bastille Day, July 14th.