CHOCOLATE PISTACHIO CAKE

It seems that there has been one birthday after another, and Ron's is still to come next Sunday. I don't mind,as it gives me an opportunity to try some of the cakes that I have had bookmarked for a while.
When a dear friend told me that her mix/master went kaput, it was only natural to offer to make the birthday cake for her daughter. After all, Seeta has made many an Indian dinner for us, lovingly put it into the tiff'n'carry and brought over to us to enjoy, and   we have enjoyed them immensely.

The Cake had turned out exactly as I had hoped that it would, as the directions,while time consuming were easy to follow.

I did double the recipe as I felt a four layer cake looked more impressive, and to be truthful the single recipe said that I would be able to cut the cake into 3 layers but that was just not the case, as the best I could have gotten out of it would have been 2 layers, not 3.

I always worry that I do not put in enough butter cream in the center or then I worry I've put in too much and then won't have enough for the outside frosting. But in this case it all worked out correctly there was enough frosting for the entire cake and the frosting recipe was NOT doubled. As a matter of fact this was the first time I made a Swiss Meringue frosting and I was quite pleased with the end product.

I wanted to make a special birthday cake for this lovely, beautiful, gal and the Chocolate Pistachio Cake fit the bill.It was one that I was itching to try. I had it bookmarked for a few years now,(since 2008) and if you go to www.userealbutter.com, it's Jenny's recipe modified from Death by Chocolate by Marcel Desaulniers.
The cake was a huge hit and the evening was lovely.

CHOCOLATE CAKE
( I made two of these for my 4 layer cake)
11/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon flour
6 T. unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 oz. butter plus extra for coating the pan
2 oz, unsweetened chocolate broken into pieces
2 eggs
1 tsp.vanilla
1 tsp. raspberry vinegar
1 cup boiling water
Pre heat oven to 325 degrees
Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a sifter. Sift onto wax paper or a bowl set aside.
Prepare your pans ( 2, 9x3 inch round pans) with butter, and parchment paper, I never use parchment paper because my pans are non-stick, and i never have a problem.
Gently melt unsweetened chocolate over water bath or on half power in micro, stirring to prevent burning. Set aside
Beat sugar and butter together in mixer fitted with paddle. Beat on medium for 1 minute, then on high for 1 minute,
Scrape down the sides and beat on high for another 15 seconds, after the addition of each egg.
Add vanilla and vinegar and beat on high for 20 seconds
Add the melted chocolate and mix on low for 10 seconds.
Scrape down the sides .
Boil the water.
On low add the dry ingredients, mix for 10 seconds.
CAREFULLY add the boiling water, continue to mix for 10 seconds on low, then increase to medium speed for another 5 seconds.
Pour into pans and bake for 45 minutes or until center comes out clean. I needed to add an additional 15 minutes for a total baking time of 60 minutes. I usually don't have a problem with my stove temperature, but this cake center was still sticky in the center at 45 minutes.
Cool Pans, then remove cake and cool another 20 minutes. Then put cake in fridge for 1 hour while you prepare the next stages.

PISTACHIOS AND VANILLA BUTTER CREAM
this amount was perfect for the 4 layer cake
8 egg whites
16 oz. sugar
1 pound butter at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 cups shelled pistachios

Blanche the pistachios in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Place nuts in a cotton tea towel and vigorously rub to loosen and remove the skins. Toast the pistachios on a baking sheet for 15 minutes at 325 and allow to cool at room temperature.
Reserve a few whole nuts for garnish and chop the rest.

Combine the egg whites and sugar in a bowl. Whisk constantly over a bain marie until 140F. temperature is reached. Then place bowl on mixer with balloon attachment and whisk until stiff.
Turn down whip speed to 3 and whip until cool to touch, this will take a while.
Change to a paddle and gradually add butter by tablespoon pieces. Once desired consistency is achieved add vanilla.
Take 2/3 of butter cream and fold in pistachios. this goes into the layers. The remainder 1/3 is for frosting the outside of the cake.

Ganache
6 tablespoons heavy cream
4 oz, semi-sweet chocolate chopped
Bring cream to boil and immediately remove from heat. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for 1 minute. Stir until smooth and keep in fridge until firm for piping.

ASSEMBLY
Cut off the dome tops of the cake. Slice each cake into 2 layers. Because the cake is very dense, you could choose to make a simple syrup and soak the layers. I choice to use a raspberry liqueur to soak the cake because  I knew it would be used after the actual birthday and I didn't want it to dry out.
Take 1/3 of the butter cream and spread in-between the layers.
Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer and then frost and decorate as desired. I spread a few pistachios over the top and then piped the ganache over it in swirls and piped some extra rose buds around the cake and put in the whole pistachios. 
Happy Birthday Chetna, Enjoy. 

CHOCOLATE- RASPBERRY TORTE

A very dear friend is celebrating a birthday and because her schedule has been very hectic lately and will continue to be so for another 2 weeks,a nice dinner celebration was not possible. But every birthday deserves a cake at the very least. The arrangements were made and coffee and cake it would be, even though it was only served after 10pm. I felt sorry for the gals that had to work the next day!

Barb loves chocolate and raspberries, so it wasn't very hard on deciding what cake to make, little did I know that I would be making it twice. I still don't quite know what went wrong, but suffice it to say the center of the cake was wobbly , even though I gave it an extra 10 minutes in the oven and then an additional 5 minutes. The end result was that when the cake cooled, it did solidify somewhat in the center and I thought that it would still be ok, seeing that it would have preserves in the center anyways,,, but then when  I cut the cake in half it all crumbled to the point where no amount of patching or covering up with icing would help.Too bad because the cake itself was delicious, almost like a brownie texture.
Sometimes it just goes like that! Ron offered to help me start it all over again, but to be truthful , it was late already, I did not have the energy left to have another go at it and mostly, could not deal with another disappointment. The basement pantry had a box of chocolate Duncan Hines and I knew that this was going to be foolproof. Don't get me wrong I will have another go at the original cake batter, but at another date. Or, if any of you are going to try it do let me know if it works for you.
 The inspiration for this cake comes from the Sachertorte, a famous cake that was created in the kitchen of Vienna's renowned Hotel Sacher.  The dense cake is coated with apricot reserves and then topped with a chocolate glaze.  This version features raspberry perseveres which provide a good counter point to the intense chocolate. Traditionally, |Sachertorte is eaten with lots of whipped cream. ( |While the original cake fell apart we are still enjoying the broken pieces with a cup of coffee as the cake itself is really very delicious and while the first attempt at it did not work for me it dose not mean ,the instructions are bad, as I have made many recipes from this book and they always work.I think it was just me.)

Ingredient's:
1C plain flour
8oz bitter sweet chocolate
3/4C  unsalted butter
1C sugar
6 lg. eggs separated at room temperature
1C seedless raspberry reserves
Chocolate Glaze
Whipped cream optional

Directions:
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9" spring form pan, set aside.

Place the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler placed over barely simmering water.  Stir often until the butter and chocolate melt.  Remove from over the water.  Whisk 1/2 C of the sugar into the egg yolks and then stir the egg mixture into the chocolate.  Using a mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites on medium high speed until soft peaks form while slowly adding the remaining 1/2c sugar.

Using a rubber spatula stir 1/4 of the whites into the chocolate mixture.  Gently fold in the flour.  Add the remaining egg whites, folding gently and thoroughly.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan using the spatula. 

Bake the cake until it puffs up and feels firm to the touch in the center.  25-30 mins.  If the center looks soupy, bake for another 5mins.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 3mins, then release and lift of the pan sides.  Place a wire rack on top of the cake and carefully invert them together.  Lift off the pan bottom and peel off the parchment paper if you used it.  Gently turn the cake back over onto another rack and let cool completely.  Cover the cake with a clean slightly damp kitchen towel so the outside does not dry out as it cools. 

To assemble the cake cut it in half horizontally, remove the top half.  Using a icing spatula spread 1/3c of preserves on the bottom layer.  Replace the top round.  Spread the remaining preserves over the top and sides of the cake.  Refrigerate the cake for 30mins to firm up the preserves.  Meanwhile make thew chocolate glaze.  Refrigerate the cake for 30mins to set the glaze.  Scrape any drippings from the sheet pan, rewarm the glaze and add a second coat.  When the glaze sets up slightly transfer the cake to a serving platter.  Serve immediately with whip cream.

Chocolate Glaze:
12oz semi sweet chocolate finely chopped
1c unsalted butter
2T corn syrup
Place the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in the top of a double boiler placed over barely simmering water and heat until the chocolate and butter melt, stirring often.  Remove from heat and pour the glaze through a fine mesh sieve.  Let cool to 92 degrees before serving.  (Taken from Essentials of Baking Williams-Sonoma)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

OLIVE OIL, YEAST, PLUM and ROSEMARY CAKE

I can't remember from where this recipe came from,only that it was copied quickly on the back of an envelope and something that I was going to do last year. I was actually looking for another recipe when I came across the envelope and thought , "why not try this one?" after all the plums are in season and the rosemary is thriving in the garden.

My mother often made plum cake this time of year. German plum cake is usually made from yeast and prepared on a rectangular sheet with the plums quartered and layered on top and served with a dollop of whipped cream. While other cake batters are fine for the plums I prefer the yeast dough one. This recipe really intrigued me with the use of the olive oil and the addition of the rosemary,

The rosemary is incorporated in the preparation of the dough, can you see the little green flecks?

After the plums are placed on the dough you sprinkle another teaspoon of rosemary with the sugar over the plums.

The plum cake, was a success and a very easy lovely recipe it turned out to be as there was no kneading done by hand. Everything was completed in the mixer with the paddle and dough hook attachment. The only problem with the preparation of the cake is because it needs a double rise you should set aside a huge block of time. The first rise took 2 hours, the second rise in the spring form was 1.5 hours and then it took 1 hour in the oven. But well worth the effort.

Dough Ingredients;

250G flour

66g (1/4c) Milk

6g (2t) Instant Yeast

4g (2/3t) Salt

100g (2) Eggs

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1t chopped fresh rosemary

55g of sugar

113 (1/2c) olive oil

Topping Ingredients;

3 lg firm plums sliced

1t chopped fresh rosemary

34g of fine sugar

In the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle combine the flour, milk, yeast, salt, eggs, lemon zest and rosemary.  Mix at low speed, dough will be stiff at this point.  Remove paddle and insert dough hook.  On medium speed gradually add sugar in about 5 increments making sure sugar is fully incorporated in between each increment.  Continue mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to come together around the hook about 2-5 minutes.  Remove dough hook and change back to the paddle add the olive oil and mix until incorporated (this will take a while).  If dough is still sticky add a tablespoon of flour at a time and lightly knead into the dough.  (I added an additional 3T of flour to get dough not to be sticky)  Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container cover and ferment at room temperature for about 2 hours. 

Press the dough into a disc and with fingers spread it to fill a 10" spring form pan.  Press the plum slices into the dough cover and proof for 1.5 hrs at room temperature.  Pre-heat oven to 400F before baking sprinkle the cake with rosemary and sugar.  Bake at 400 for 10mins and reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 40mins or until cake is golden brown.  Cool on wire rack for 10mins, then release the pan and continue to cool.

APRICOT & ALMOND UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Apricots were in abundance at our local grocery store and to be quite honest it is the only stone fruit that we rarely eat. I couldn't really tell you why, probably because I find then too sweet and prefer to wait for the local peaches and nectarines to come in season. However, when I saw these delectable little jewels I couldn't resist picking some up and trying the recipe that was featured in our LCBO magazine.

The apricots were tart and very fragrant and are truly lovely combined with an almond based cake,making a perfect ending to an early summer meal.

1. 
   
   175 ml unsalted butter, divided
2. 
   
   125ml light brown sugar
3. 
   
   500g apricots, quartered
4. 
   
   200g almond paste
5. 
   
   125ml sugar
6. 
   
   4 lg eggs
7. 
   
   2ml grated lemon rind
8. 
   
   125ml flour
9. 
   
   2 ml baking powder
10. 
    
    1ml salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 9" cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Place 50ml butter in a small pot over medium low heat.  Add brown sugar and stir until sugar is melted.  Spread sugar mixture in a thin layer on the bottom of cake pan.  

Lay apricot in a decorative pattern over top of mixture.

Combine almond paste and remaining 125ml of butter in a bowl and beat until mixture is completely smooth.

Add sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy.  

Add eggs 1 at a time. 

Add lemon rind and stir to combine.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt, stir with a fork to combine. 

 Add flour mixture to almond mixture and beat just until flour is absorbed.  Scrape batter over apricot, use spatula to smooth top.  

Bake for 1 hour or until top is deeply browned and caramel is bubbling up around sides of the pan.

Allow to cool for 10 mins. 

 Run the edge of a knife around the inside of the pan to loosen cake then invert onto a rack to cool or onto a serving plate if serving warm.

Serves 8. 

CLASSIC GENOISE

It's Ron's birthday and one good turn deserves another! He baked a birthday cake for me, it's only fair that I do one for him. Ron's favourite cake is a Frankfurter Kranz torte and naturally he gets one every year, but this year I decided to make something different. They say that mastering a Classic Genoise is arguably the most important cake in a baker's repertoire. Mainly because The Genoise allows you the possibility of making a variety of different layer cakes using this as a the base.




The cake gets its personality from the cake syrup which is used to flavour and moisten it, as it tends to be drier than most cakes. After the cake cooled , I used a tooth pick to perforate the cake so that when it came



time to brush on the Kaluha syrup it would drain and moisten the cake nicely. Actually any simple syrup flavouring would work but the consensus was to booze up the cake.A simple syrup is made with equal parts of water and sucar brought to a boil and the any flavouring added to it. I also decided to go all out with the frosting, attempting a Rich Kaluha Butter cream for the outside and a Pastry Cream filling on the inside. What you don't see is the failure of these two frosting...10 egg yolks and nearly a pound of sweet butter later , suffice it to say that the mixture separated and no amount of trying to safe it (by adding confectioners sugar) did the trick. I still don't know what went wrong but it all went south when I added the syrup , yes this too called for syrup to be added to the mixture . I think it wasn't quite in that ball forming stage that it called for, even though it reached the required temperature. Everything was either still too hot or whatever because the frosting turned to liquid. Or maybe the Kaluha alcohol did something to the mixture. I don't know, but I do know that I didn't have time to figure things out just then, but will definitely try making this again.

In the end I used my quick version of what I make as a butter cream which is basically boiling vanilla pudding, cooling it and then in a standing mixer adding around 1 cup of butter while the mixer is running. As you can see you can add any flavouring to this or even cocoa powder to make it into a chocolate frosting.

All in all the Genoise was a wonderful batter and one that I would certainly make again. I do think that on my wish list would be to take a cake decorating course. Great taste and Ron really loved the cake even if it wasn't a Frankfurter Kranz (see that recipe under cakes.)


CLASSIC GENOISE

3/4 C cake flour

4 large eggs

2/3 C sugar

4 T unsalted melted and cooled butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Position rack in middle of oven and pre heat to 350. Butter a 9 inch cake pan and line the botton with buttered circle cut to fit, dust with flour.

Swift flour on to a plate a set aside.

Put eggs and sugar in a stand mixer and place in a pan in which the bowl will fit snuggly, fill it half way with water and bring it to a simmer.

Set the bowl with the eggs and sugar over simmering water (make sure it is not touching the water) Stir gently with a whisk only until mixture is warm and sugar disssolves (160 F).

Remove bowl from water and bring to stand with paddle attachment beat on HIGH speed until mixture is light and has tripled in size and is thick enough to fall like a ribbon , around 5-7 minutes.

Sift flour a second time over the batter using a rubber spatula fold in gently but quickly with as few strokes as possible while turning the bowl continously (I asked one of the boys to help rotate the bowl).

when incorporated gently fold in the butter and vanilla (I substituted Kaluha for vanilla) be careful not to over fold and deflate the eggs as the batter will lose it's volume.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake until it springs back or comes out clean with a toothpick approx. 30 minutes. Remove cake and plce on wire wrack to cool and remove parchment paper.

Variations

Citrus, oranfe flower, rose water, or alcohol for the vanilla.

I also made 2 of these cakes as I wanted it higher that just one cake cut in half.

RUM CHOCOLATE WALNUT TORTE

Happy Birthday to me! Hubby made me a birthday cake the night before. You should have seen him surrounded by cook books and it was already 9pm! I had my doubts that this cake would materialize. In the end he found his mother's recipe for walnut torte written on a scrap piece of paper in her own version of some kind of shorthand that only she would understand. The amazing thing was that the recipe only had ingredients marked on it no directions what so ever. For her it was not a problem after all she made a cake practically every weekend, but for Ron this was definitely going to be a learning curve. I must say for the man who stayed up until midnight to pull the cake out of the oven and then got up early in the morning to frost it..."The man done good!" the cake was delicious, he is anxious to try baking it again, because he has already figured out that he whipped the egg whites a tad too much, and he would not leave it in the oven for a full hour, because as he said, "I smelled it already after 45 minutes I should have checked it at that time, instead of leaving it in there for the full hour!" Pauline had written at the end of the ingredients... Bake at 350 for 1 hour or less. Ron felt the cake needed Less! He solved the problem by saturating the cake with RUM, which as far as I was concerned made the cake extremely moist and packed a lovely punch!

I think it only fair to give you guys the ORIGINAL RECIPE as it was written by my MIL., but Ron felt that I should write what he did so...

Walnut Torte

8 oz of walnuts (Ground)

12 eggs separated

4 T. cake flour

2 t. baking powder

1 C. sugar

1t. coffee (optional)

4 cap-fuls of rum

Bake 350 for 1 hr. more or less

Frosting

1/2 lbs. of butter

3/4 C icing sugar

3 eggs

5 squares unsweetened chocolate melted

juice from 1/2 lemon

3T. rum

Ron figured out how to assemble the cake by doing the following... he said I should include his directions, so I'm typing as he dictates.

He...

1. Beat the egg yolks with the paddle attachment

2.Add the sugar and continue beating if you are adding the coffee and rum do it at this stage.

3. In food processor combine walnuts, flour and BP and pulse to a fine consistency

4. Beat egg whites until stiff

5. Add walnut mixture to egg and sugar batter

6. Gently fold in egg white to batter mixture do not overwork

7.Pour batter into 2 springform pans greased and floured or in Ron's case he poured the batter into 3 -9 inch round forms.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour or less, as oven temperatures vary check after 45 minutes.

Cool on racks , when cool take a toothpick and poke holes in cakes. pour the rum onto cake layers to moisten before frosting.

Good Luck!

You gotta love men, they think they can do it all... it's easy peasy! I'm not complaining, I got a cake that he made with love !

HONEY BUTTER CARROT CAKE with TOASTED PECANS and CITRUS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Trust me THIS is the one....read on...

Carrots are definitely at the top of the list as a multi tasker root vegetable. You name it and you can do it with a carrot. Eat it raw, shred it , boil it, mash it,bake it.It can stand on it's own, pair it up with other vegetables and of course the number one thing to do with carrots is turn them into a cake. I don't know anyone that does not have a carrot cake recipe in their recipe file. I have an least 3 recipes for carrot cake in my note book. (My mother-in-laws version, my sister's and mine that was given to me by Dell at least 30 years ago made with pineapples along with the carrots and everything else.
Alas, this is not my carrot cake...it's Ron's. He has been home now since the 1st f June, my ,"Honey-Do", list is just about complete and I can tell that Ron is itching to get back to work because he is puttering around the kitchen adding a pinch here and there to my cooking... (he thinks I don't see him do it!) and thus, after browsing through some old cooking and wine magazines came across this version of carrot cake from an L.C.B.O. 2003 Food and Wine edition.
I'll give the man some credit, THIS really is the BEST classic Carrot Cake I've ever had.

Honey Butter Carrot Cake
2C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves or all spice
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C butter softened
1/2 C honey
2 eggs
1 C sugar
1tsp vanilla
3 cups finely grated carrot
1 apple peeled and grated
1 C pecans coarsely chopped

ICING
1 250 g pkg regular cream cheese
1/2 C butter softened
2 T honey
2 T finely grated orange, lemon.lime zest or a mixture of all 3
2 tsp lemon juice
4-5C sifted icing sugar

Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees
Butter 2 ...9 inch pans
Stir flour with all the first 6 ingredients. In another bowl using an electric beater cream nutter until light and fluffy.
Slowly beat in honey the eggs one at a time.
Bear in sugar and vanilla.
Add flour mixture into butter mixture in thirds, stirring until just absorbed.
Stir in carrots, apples and pecans.
Divide batter into 2 pans.
Bake 35-40 minutes or until cake tester inserted into center comes out clean.
Invert and cool then ice.
Garnish with extra chopped pecans around the outer edges and swirls of either lemon or orange strips on top. Or leave as is..as it probably won't last long!

CHERRY-RHUBARB-STREUSELKUCHEN

Kuchen means cake, but this fast and easy recipe is made on a jelly roll sheet.
Last evening Jackie had given me some rhubarb and I knew just the recipe that I wanted to make.
While at my sister's house the other day , I had picked up a magazine that she had brought home from Switzerland. It was the May issue and they had this Cherry-rhubarb streusel recipe for Mother's day in it. I had planned on making it a few days ago, but every grocery store that I went to did not have any rhubarb. Would you believe that at one store they wanted to sell me Swiss chard, as rhubarb, because it had red stems. The funny thing is that it wasn't even a kid, but an adult gentleman from the produce department that kept insisting it was Rhubarb! Can you imagine that!!Anyways the problem was solved with the gift from Jackie.



This morning I set forth and made the cake. Susan, this piece is for you. When you called I was just putting the streusel on. 40 minutes later we could have had a coffee and a piece of cake. Too bad that you are in Montreal and I'm in Ottawa.
Oh well, we still had a nice chat and got caught up on things.

Cherry-Rhubarb-Streusel Cake
1.350 grams drained sour cherries ( my jar was over 500 gr. so I used 2/3 of the jar)
2.500 grams washed and cleaned rhubarb cut into 1 cm. pieces.
3.250 g. soft butter
4.200 g. sugar
5. a pinch of salt
6. zest of one lemon
7. 5 eggs
8.250 g. flour and 1 tsp. baking powder
For the streusel, some butter (40g.) sugar(50g) flour (100g.)and a dash of cinnamon.crumble together.
Drain the cherries and wash the rhubarb and slice into 1cm. pieces. In a mixing bowl cream the butter,sugar and salt and lemon zest.Alternately add the flour baking powder and eggs, until mixture is well blended. Pour into a 32x28 greased baking pan. Sprinkle the cherry and rhubarb over the dough and lightly press into the dough. Prepare streusel and place on top of fruit mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes. Garnish with some whipped cream, or serve as is . Delicious.

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY//Hummingbird cake

For those of you who read my blog you know that I am not someone that spends much time reflecting on the past. I am a firm believer that whatever decisions I made in the past were made with te best intentions and to the best of my ability with the information that I had at the time and therefor, why look back there isn't anything I would do differently and I have no regrets. It is what it is. Thus, I have become someone who tries to live in ,"the present" and looks to always move forward. But that being said, it is time to share how this blog came to be because it is coming up to it's one year anniversary in a few days. I am going to break one of my rules and I am going to look back.
LIFE has a way of sometimes knocking you over, in the fall of 2007 I was looking forward to going back to teaching English to French immersions at my old elementary school.It was a part-time position that I just loved. After 30 years of teaching full time it was a nice to work the mornings and have the afternoons free, (relatively speaking, for those of you who know better, know there is no such thing as part time teaching, as you tend to spend most of your free time preparing for the next day, correcting, planning etc.) but the point was I could leave at noon and do what ever pleased me afterwards.
I had spent that summer with Ron in North Carolina and we had a wonderful rest on the coast in Naggs Head , but deep down I was exhausted and while I couldn't quite describe it I knew I was off. When we returned home I made the usual yearly Dr. appointments before returning to school, one was a routine mammogram. When I had a call back I wasn't worried because these things happen and besides, breast cancer doesn't run in my family. I think you can guess the rest. After the second mammogram everything happened super quick, the phone call, the consult, the biopsy, the surgery ,the treatment, the tears, the recovery. My two sons were absolutely wonderful, in their quiet way, they take after their dad (thank God) they took charge and took care of me. To fill in the empty spaces they encouraged me to start this blog and they put me on Facebook (I haven't quite figured that one out yet, but I'm getting there).This food blog has been such a wonderful surprise, I've turned into a foodie, I've found pleasure in cooking and baking again, I'm even getting interested in photography, but mostly I've discovered a wonderful group of supportive women and men that have inspired me, accepted me and allowed me to share and be a voyeur in their kitchens and life.
I wish I was more computer savvy, there is so much more that I want to do with this blog, but just don't know how. I want to do so much more with my photography but again ...don't know how. I'm a bit afraid of adding things to the blog but then worry if I've overloaded the system and it crashes I wouldn't know how to repair it. So, please bear with me, I'm still learning, I won't be shy anymore I'll start asking for help, hang in there with me I promise I'll get better. Hope you have enjoyed the year so far.Do take a look back, have a cup of coffee and drop me a line rita.stasi@gmail.com.

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE
3C flour
2C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 C vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 (8 oz can ) crushed pineapple with juice
2C diced bananas
1C chopped pecans
1 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan or baking Vessel. Measure and mix first 7 ingredients. Stir in pineapple with juice and next 3 ingredients. Pour into pan.
Bake for 70 minutes.
Cool completely and then ice with cream cheese icing.
Garnish with lemon swirls or pineapple slices or pecans.

ALMOND DACQUOISE

I am at a loss as to where to begin. Since Ron has been home we have been trying to fit it all in . Seeing some friends, dinner out, dinners at home,repairs around the house, taxes, grocery shopping, cooking,laundry, you know too much to do not enough time to do it all before the call comes and he is gone again. Such has been the last few days. Ron bought me a gift, he is such a sweetie, or , I complained way too much when he didn't bring it home from Boston, the much desired ice cream attachment to my Kitchen Aid. So many of my foodie gals make their own ice-cream and raved about the process and end results, so naturally , I was anxious to give it a try. Little did I know that the process takes at least a good 2 -3 days. But this blog is not about the ice- cream (we made coffee)or the THERMOMIX that is next on my wish lists ... but what to do with all the egg whites that have been accumulating as a result of some custards , ice-creams and baking recipes. Originally , I was going to try my hand at some macaroons, but as I mentioned things have been a bit hectic here, so after browsing in my William and Sonoma book called Essentials of Baking, for the macaroon recipe , I came across the Almond Daquoise and thought that this recipe would go much quicker and we could have it with the coffee ice-cream that was now cooling in the freezer.


Not only did this cake recipe solve the problem of the egg whites, but I realized what a wonderful alternative for a flour -free cake, for wheat restricted diets.

In this photo I am applying the butter cream, I will give you the very best butter cream recipe at the bottom of the blog, but I did not use this recipe. Since the cake was just going to be just for us, (not company), I like to look for short cuts,as I did not have the time to make the real butter cream version. A very quick and easy way of making a butter cream is to prepare a cooked vanilla pudding ( I used the Dr. Oetker pudding because I like to control the sugar that I add into the mixture). Prepare it according to package instructions. Cool the pudding, bring 1 cup of unsalted butter to room temperature, then when the butter is soft , in my standing mixer while the butter is being beaten , I add the pudding by the spoonfuls to the butter , and voila, butter cream! When the butter cream is spread between the layers and around the caked then...


Take the almonds and one of the layers of the dacquoise , grind in the food processor and decorate the cake with the crumbs

Lightly dust it with some powdered icing sugar and refrigerate for an hour before serving.

The funny thing is that, after we made the ice cream Ron said not to make the cake as we just finished the lime tart yesterday. As a rule ,we hardly ever have dessert , certainly not after dinner during the week,so to have 2 desserts in one week is quite out of the norm for us, but I have to admit this cake is so light and delish I would recommend that you try ,it should you ever have left over egg whites in your fridge and want to try something different.After he had his dessert, Ron did say that it was light and a good idea afterall.

Looks like we'll be sending some over to the neighbours.

A lovely little slice with the coffee ice-cream I made from scratch with my new ice-cream maker. (More about the ice-cream at a later blog as I plan on making quite a few creams and sorbets over the next few months.)




ALMOND DACQUOISE

1 1/3 C. plus 1/4 C. whole almonds, toasted

1 C. granulated sugar

2 tsp. corn starch

6 large egg whites at room temperature

1 tsp.vanilla extract

rich almond butter cream

confectioner sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 300 F. toast the almonds for 10-15 minutes. When cool put 1 1/3 C. of the almonds and 1/2 cup of the sugar and the corn starch in the food processor and grind to a powder.

Take parchment paper and 2 sheet pans, draw 2 8 inch circles on the parchments for a total of 4 rings.

With your whipping attachment put the egg whites in the bowl and whip until soft peeks form. Continue beating vigorously while adding the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla until the whites are stiff and glossy. Be careful not to over whip as they can become dry and powdery.

Pour the almonds over the egg whites and with a rubber spatula fold the almonds into the stiff egg whites.Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch open tip. Staring at the center of the circle make spirals until you reach the edge of your outline. Repeat this process so that you have 3 complete circles. The last circle will be not as complete as the other 3 because you will not have much batter left . that is Ok because this layer will become your crumbs to decorate the cake. Bake for 50-60 minutes. The batter will be brown and golden cool on racks and remove the paper. They will firm up as they cool.

Prepare butter cream ( or try my quickie version ,listed at top)

when cake is cool and circles are uneven you can take a bread knife and saw edges to make circles even. Butter the first 3 layers with the butter cream. Take the 1/4 C. of toasted almonds the small 4th layer of baked batter and pulse in your food processor to decorate the top of your cake and around the sides. Dust with icing sugar (Optional) It will keep well covered in the fridge for 2 days.

ALMOND BUTTER CREAM

6 large egg yolks

2/3 C. sugar

1/2 C water

1 C. unsalted butter room temp.

2 tsp almond extract

1 C. pastry cream (recipe to follow)

Whisk egg yolks in a bowl and set aside

In a small sauce pan over medium high heat, combine the sugar and the water and bring to a boil. Cover and boil for 1 min. The steam willwash the sugar crystals down the sides of the pan. Uncover and continue to boil until syrup reaches 238F on a candy thermometer, about 5 minutes.

While constantly whisking pour the syrup SLOWLY into the egg yolks. Continue to beat until cool and thick. Beat the butter into the egg mixture until smooth and satiny , You are now ready to beat in the pastry cream to complete the butter cream process.

PASTRY CREAM

1 1/2 cup whole milk

1 vanilla bean halved lengthwise and scraped

4 large egg yolks

1/2 C. sugar

2 T cornstarch

2T butter

Over med heat , heat the milk and vanilla bits until bubbles form around the edges of the pot. Remove from heat and remove the vanilla bean pod. In a bowl whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn starch until smooth. Slowly mix in the hot milk. Return the entire mixture to the saucepan and over med. heat continue whisking until mixture thickens about 3 minutes. Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl, add butter and stir until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Cover with film wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or 2 days.

While this is the real way to make butter cream, it certainly is a long process and absolutely worth it when making a butter cream. Especially when impressing your guests with fine desserts. However, you can see why I choose to make my version of a simpler butter cream, with just the pudding and butter. Actually it was a recipe that my mother often used for her tortes and everybody raved about them and no one was the wiser that she didn't always make the long version.

Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake

Ron is back from Kentucky and it's good having him home. I offered him a week off to relax and sleep in... but the "man", was anxious to get started on my ."Honey -dew list", That's the list of things that need to be done as a result of Ron being gone for 12 weeks. He already put up the blinds in the kitchen, a new bay window was installed while he was gone and the green trash bags taped up just didn't cut it any more, he also took out the old central vac that was broken and replaced and installed the new one, and did some yard work on the days when it didn't rain.

As a result of his abundant energy I felt it only fair that the man get a special treat and as he just had a birthday last month, why not a belated birthday cake.

This cake is a modified version from ," Death By Chocolate ", by Marcel Desaulniers, but I actually found the recipe on Jenny's blog called ,"use real butter". When you have a free moment check out her web site as she has some fabulous recipes and she also has a photo blog and takes wonderful pictures.

We usually don't make a big deal about birthdays at our age, but we have always been fortunate to spend it together with loved ones and special people. Last year Ron was working in California and Kay and Sam Tran and the associates got him a birthday cake and then they sent me pictures to show me that they were taking good care of him,as that was our first birthday apart. This year, alas , no cake and he had a lonely supper by himself , although he made it a little festive by going out to ate at P.F.Chang's one of our favorite places in the US. we don't have any in Canada yet, sure wish we would get one in Ottawa.

So, only a really special cake was in order! This one required a little bit of time, which sometimes is a luxury, but this cake lent itself nicely to being assembled in stages.

One of the problems I usually encounter when frosting layer cakes is that I never really know how much frosting should go in between the layers. I always worry that I won't have enough frosting left to cover and decorate the outside of the cake. As you can see I could have made the middle layer with the espresso ganache thicker. Oh well next time.... and yes there will be a next time as this cake is a keeper.

CHOCOLATE CAKE

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

8 T unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tsp melted butter for pan prep

2C cake flour

2tsp. flour for pan prep

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 C light brown sugar, very tightly packed

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 C water

1 C sour cream

ESPRESSO GANACHE

1C heavy cream

2T unsalted butter

2T granulated sugar 8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1T instant espresso powder

CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO BUTTER CREAM

8 oz semi sweet chocolate , chopped

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 tsp instant espresso powder

1 lb unsalted butter. room temperature

5 egg whites

1 C granulated sugar

CAKE: Preheat oven to 350F. Heat 1 inch of water in a double boiler over medium heat.

Place 4 oz unsweetened chocolate in the top half of the double boiler and heat for 6 minutes.Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Prepare your pans, I used 2 9x2 inch cake pans. Combine together in a sifter the remaining 2 C flour, baking soda and salt. Sift onto wax paper and set aside. Combine the brown sugar and 8 T of butter in a bowl of the electric mixer and use the paddle. Beat on low for 3 minutes, scrape down the sides and beat on high for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and beat on high again for 2 minutes. Add 4 eggs one at a time beating on high for 30 seconds after each egg addition scrape down the sides.Add the melted chocolate and vanilla and beat on low for an additional 30 seconds. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. While the water is heating operate the mixer on low while adding 1/3 of the flour and 1/2 of the sour cream,allow to mix for 30 seconds. Add the other 1/3 of the flour and remaining sour cream and beat for 30 seconds. Add the last of the flour with the 1 cup of boiled water and mix for an additional 30 seconds. With a rubber spatula further mix the batter to make sure that everything is smooth and incorporated. Divide the batter between the 2 cake pans and bake 45-50 minutes . Cool cake and invert onto racks. Refrigerate until needed.

GNACHE: Heat the heavy cream,2 T of butter and 2T of sugar over medium heat stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Place 8 oz semisweet chocolate and 1 T instant espresso powder in a stainless steel bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and espresso . Let sit for 10 minutes, then stir until smooth. Keep at room temperature until ready to use.

BUTTER CREAM: Heat 1 inch of water in the bottom of a double boiler over medium heat. Place 8 oz of semisweet chocolate,2 0z of unsweetened chocolate and 2 tsp espresso powder in top of double boiler. Allow to heat for 10 minutes, transfer to a stainless steel bowl and stir until smooth set aside until needed.

Place egg whites and sugar in mixing bowl. Set bowl over pot with 1 inch of heated water over med. heat Whisk gently until mixture reaches 140 F about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and attach the balloon whisk. Whisk on speed 4 until stiff. Turn down speed to #3 and whip until cool. This will take a bit of time. Change to a paddle and gradually add the softened butter by the spoonful. Mix to emulsify. Once desired consistency has been reached fold in the cooled chocolate until well incorporated.

ASSEMBLY: Trim off the domed tops of both cakes. Slice each cake horizontally into 2 equal layers. Place the top layer of cake onto the bottom of a closed spring form pan. Evenly spread one cup of butter cream over the cake. Place second layer of cake over the butter cream and gently press into place. Pour one cup of ganache over the cake spreading evenly to the edges. Refrigerate remaining ganache. Place the 3rd layer of cake on top of the ganache and press into place. Spread butter cream evenly over this layer. Place the remaining cake layer cut side down onto the butter cream and gently press into place. Cover the entire cake and pan with plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour. (I froze the cake over night and continued the following day). Remove cake from spring form and using a cake spatula evenly spread butter cream over the top and sides of the cake. Fit a pastry bag with a star tip and fill it with butter cream. Fill another star fitted pastry bag with the remaining ganache. Decorate the cake as desired. Refrigerate the cake but bring to room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Very rich, but remember to share and or you can freeze this cake for a rainy day.

Four Roses Apple Kuchen

The Four Roses in the title does not refer to the brand name of Flour, but to a well known Bourbon called, Four Roses Bourbon. Yes, it's time for another entry in Kentucky cuisine.

German immigrants to 19th -century Kentucky brought many of their culinary traditions to the Bluegrass State. This apple cake, also known as APFELKUCHEN, in German is a lovely buttery pastry that combines the best qualities of both a cake and a pie.

The recipe called for Four Roses Bourbon of Lawrenceburg, it is said to be one of the mellowest spirits distilled in the U.S., I am told that it lends a lovely distinctive flavour to this rich cake. Unfortunately, I only came home with a bottle of Woodford Reserve Bourbon from Kentucky, and the only other Bourbon in the house was Jack Daniels, and let's face it that is a Tennessee whiskey, and I am after all, blogging about Kentucky!

The recipe also called for tart apples, and under any other circumstance I would have used a Granny Smith apple as that is a tart apple, but alas, I still had Pink Ladies left over in the fruit crisper from the LCBO recipe I made last week, so Pink Ladies is what I used for this cake recipe. All in all, I'm not following the recipe that well ...so far I used the wrong Bourbon and the wrong apple, but this cake turned out so delicious that when I offered it with vanilla ice cream or I was even willing to whip some cream laced with a little bourbon , everyone just wanted it plain and raved on how delicious it was!

What amazes me is that Kentucky is considered a ,"Bible Belt State", but they sure love to cook with their bourbon! What is going to amaze my Husband when he comes home from Kentucky on Wednesday is the fact that I have used his "GOOD" Bourbon in these recipes, and the poor man probably won't have a dram left to taste!!! A word of caution you REALLY do taste the bourbon in this cake!

As the last recipe I made from Kentucky, this too came from David Domine's book called Adventures in New Kentucky Cooking. This cake is for Rita and the guys and gals at the Richmond store that closed it's doors today, wish I was there with y'all to say good-by, enjoy the cake.

FOUR ROSES APPLE KUCHEN

1 C softened unsalted butter

1 C granulated sugar

2 C sifted all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp.baking soda

1T vanilla

1/2 C Four Roses Bourbon

1/2 C buttermilk

8 tart apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced

2 T lemon juice

1/4 C all purpose flour

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Add to the butter mixture along with the vanilla extract, bourbon and buttermilk.

Mix only until well incorporated and free of large lumps.

The batter should be very thick and dough like. Spoon it into a spring-form that has been greased and floured and spread out.

Toss the apple slices with the lemon juice, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl until well coated.

Spoon over the batter mixture in the cake pan.

Use the back of the spoon to press the apple mixture down a bit.

Bake, covered with aluminum foil, for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes until golden brown or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. ( I have a gas oven and needed to bake it 30 minutes after I removed the foil)

Remove from the oven, cover with the foil again and allow to cool.

Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve with hand-whipped cream laced with bourbon.

Toss the apple slices with the lemon juice,

4 large eggs

FRANKFURTER KRANZ TORTE

Happy Birthday Shirley, a beautiful 85 young sweetheart, cherished mother of my best friend Cindy and surrogate mother to all of Cindy's friends. She deserved a special cake and a favorite celebration cake in our house is this German Frankfurter Kranz Torte. The origin comes from the city of Frankfurt Germany and Kranz means wreath, henceforth, I baked it in a bundt cake form. It does take a little time to assemble but well worth the effort.


Frankfurter Kranz Torte

1/2C butter
3/4C sugar
3 large eggs
rind of 1/2 lemon
3/4C sifter flour
1/3 C Corn Starch
2 tsp Baking Powder
1&1/2 C Butter cream frosting (recipe follows)

Praline, made with
1 T butter
1/4 C sugar
1 C blanched and chopped almonds or hazelnuts


Pre-heat oven to 350. Cream butter & sugar until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time incorporated them into the mixture. Mix in lemon rind, sift flour, cornstarch and baking powder and gradually stir into batter. Pour into a ring cake mould and bake 45 - 60 minutes. Cool thoroughly. Prepare frosting and praline.

Praline:

Melt butter and sugar in a frying pan. When browned add nuts and pour onto a buttered plate. When cooled take a rolling pin and further crush the praline into smaller bits.

German Butter Cream Filling:

Six lg egg yolks at room temp.
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C water
1/2 T cornstarch
1/4 C soften butter
3-4 T flavoring to taste (vanilla, rum etc)

Over very low heat cook sugar, water and cornstarch until dissolved. Bring to a boil. Syrup should be 238F on a candy thermometer. Whisk egg yolks. VERY SLOWLY STIRRING CONSTANTLY in a thin stream add syrup to the egg yolks. DON'T do this quickly or you will scramble the eggs. Beat until mixture is smooth and creamy. Cool thoroughly. To make frosting beat soften butter to the cream mixture adding 3 or 4 tablespoons of your desired flavoring.

To Assemble Cake:

Cut cake either in half or 3 layers, lightly spread butter cream on each layer. Assemble layers and cover entire cake with remaining butter cream. Slowly coat outside butter cream layer with the candied nut praline. Refrigerate cake but take out 30 Min's prior to serving.

BAUMKUCHEN TORTE

Heidi, is my middle sister who loves to bake. She is quite good at it, and her cakes are delicious. Our mother was German, so tortes, were the only cakes we knew growing up. No store bought cakes for our birthdays, but delicious butter cream tortes that were lovingly created by her. Her reference , when she needed one, was a soft covered book called,"Backen Macht Freude", from the Dr. Oetker Backbuch series.

When my older sister Christel came for a visit, Heidi took the opportunity to make a Baumkuchen Torte. The literal translation means Tree Cake, as in the rings of a tree when you get a cross section to see how old a tree is. Heidi doubled this recipe,and made it in a square cake pan, cause we love our coffee and cake, but I will give you the single recipe that you make in a round springform. It takes a little preparation and baking time but well worth the effort.

Baumkuchen Torte

250 g. butter or margarine

250 g. sugar

1 pkg. Dr. Oetker vanilla sugar

2 eggs+4 yolks

1-2 T rum

150 g. flour

100 g. cornstarch

9 g. backing powder (3 teaspoon)

4 egg whites

Glaze(white)

175 g. icing sugar

2-3T hot water

1 walnut size pat of butter (melted)

Glaze (dark)

1 t. of white icing mixture

1 tsp of cocoa ( a drop or two of water to get the same consistency)

Beat butter and gradually add the sugar, vanilla sugar, 2 eggs and 4 yolks and the rum.

Sift with flour, cornstarch and baking powder together and gradually add this to the batter, mix well to incorporate the ingredients.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, carefully fold into the batter.

In a greased and floured springform, make your first layer.Approximately 3-4 T of batter should cover the base. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven,8-10 minutes. Remove from heat.Continue in the same way for the second layer. Repeat this process until you have 7-8 layers. When done cool cake before frosting. I can bake this cake in my oven without making any adjustments, but depending on your individual stove , if you feel that your first layers are browning too quickly, by all mens, adjust your rackes, raising them as you get closer to the last layers. Or place a bowl with water on a lower rack and proceed with the baking of the layer by placing the springform on the rack over the water bowl.

Whisk the whit icing in a bowl and set aside a tablespoon of icing for the dark icing. Cover cake with icing sugar. Take chocolate icing ,and put in a small plastic baggie. Cut the tip off the corner, and proceed to make rows of chocolate circles on the top part of the cake. With a clean knife, run it through the circles to make the design. Remember to clean the knife before making the next ray dissection.You will need to work quickly as icing wants to set.

GINGER BUTTER CAKE

Here in Ottawa, it's a miserable rainy day, and the sun , although forecasted to come out in the afternoon has not arrived. It is warmer outside than in the house, and for some reason a nice cup of tea and ginger butter cake sounded like a good idea. In truth, I am a coffee drinker, but every now and then I enjoy a good cup of tea, and with the ginger butter cake it would compliment it nicely. I am not a tea connoisseur but I have to admit I just love the teas made by "Stash". My favorite is the Double Earl Grey, but for today I made a ,"Goji Berry Green tea with Matcha."yummy!






Stash uses only all natural botanical ingredients.
They are a fairly new company , since 1972 out of Portland, Oregon. Do go online and check out their website. stashteas.com


No, I don't work for Stash teas, just thought I would share this little tidbit, with the folks out there like me who are not real tea drinkers and are looking for a tea experience. I discovered Stash teas, when having lunch at my favorite little reataraunt in Merrickville called Serendipity. Tara ,the owner served me my Double Earl Grey, which was made by Stash and I fell in love with their blend.

Williams-Sonoma, Essentials of Baking, Ginger Butter Cake

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup crystallized ginger, minced
• 1/3 cup Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
• 2 cups cake/pastry flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp grounded ginger
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temp
• 1 1/4 cup icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tbsp light corn syrup
• 4 lrg eggs at room temp
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 3-inch piece fresh ginger peeled and grated
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup whole milk at room temp

In a small bowl, soak the crystallized ginger in the Grand Marnier for 10 mins. Position a rack to the middle of the oven and set oven to 350F (180c). Butter the bottom and sides of a 9"x5" loaf pan. Dust the bottom and sides of the pan with flour. Shift together the cake flour, baking powder, and ground ginger onto a sheet of parchment paper or on a plate and set aside. By mixer: In a large bowl combine the butter, icing sugar, and corn syrup. Using the paddle attachment beat on medium high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 5 mins). Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the orange zest, grated ginger and almond extract. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in 1/3 of the dry ingredients until almost fully incorporated. Fold in 1/2 of the milk, then fold in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by the remaining milk. Add the remaining dry ingredients and the liqueur-soaked crystallized ginger and, using a light lifting motion and turning the bowl continuously fold in until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are incorporated. Do not fold to vigorously or the cake will be tough. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake until tooth pick inserted comes out clean, 50-60 mins. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 mins and lift and remove from pan. When totally cooled liberally dust the top with icing sugar and transfer to a serving plate.