Meatless Mondays: Plum Upside-Down Cake

Rachel here: Contrary to the photos I'm offering up today, Plum Upside-Down Cake is amazing. This cake is fluffy and light and the perfect amount of sweet. Plums are everywhere around here these days and one of my favorite fruits so I'm always looking for ways to maximize my consumption of them (besides eating them raw...which I can do multiple times a day). Anyway, these photos are from the first time I made this cake, back in the days before M was even an idea...back, you know, when I made cakes for fun. I'm sure those days will return, though right now they seem pretty distant. Anyway, this cake is super easy and incredibly good and I highly recommend you make it as soon as possible. Your only problem will be sharing it.

Get the recipe (and see a better photo!) here. The only thing I did differently was add a squeeze of lime juice to the plums when I cooked them (I'm forever adding citrus to things). I totally suggest doing the same, though I can't imagine the cake isn't awesome without this addition.

Caramelized-Apple Skillet Cake

Rachel here: John's best friend is visiting us this week, an arrival which was conveniently timed with Cake Week. To be honest, when John and I are left on our own with a cake we will eat the entire thing without any difficulty and so it's really best for us when somebody else arrives on the scene to lend a helping hand. Usually my cake repertoire fluctuates between vanilla and chocolate variations but, it being Cake Week and all, I figured I'd push myself a little bit and try a new type. What I ended up with was a cake that was not too sweet, had a little bit of yummy crunch (there's cornmeal involved), and seems like the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea. Plus, I kind of felt like Ma Ingalls because the entire thing is baked in a cast iron skillet. I got the recipe from Karen Demasco's The Craft of Baking. I didn't follow her recipe exactly because it's a little finicky and it was late in the evening when I started, but I did followed the majority of her guidelines. What I will post below is my rendition. The three of us thoroughly enjoyed this cake. I will note, though, that it was much lighter and fluffier the first day (as opposed to the second, though it was still completely edible).


Ingredients
1 c. sugar
8 T. butter, unsalted and soft
1-2 tart baking apples (I ended up only using one very large Granny Smith)
3/4 tspn. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, separated
3/4 c. plus 3 T. all-purpose flour
3 T. coarse yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tspn. baking powder
1/4 tspn. kosher salt
1/3 c. whole milk (I'm confident that you can use whatever kind of milk is convenient)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In an 8-inch ovenproof skillet (I'd use cast iron if at all possible), combine 1/4 c. of the sugar with 2 T. of water. Stir to make sure all of the sugar is damp, adding more water if needed. Over high heat and stirring occasionally, cook the sugar and water until the sugar turns a golden brown caramel. Supposedly this takes about 2 minutes. Mine never turned a beautiful golden brown, though, and after 4 minutes I just stopped. My cake was totally fine. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in 2 T. of the butter. Do this step very quickly as the addition of butter helps stop the sugar from solidifying. If the sugar solidifies, add a T. of water and return to the heat for a few seconds to soften everything back up before adding the butter. (Can you tell I struggled with this step?) Peel and core your apple, cutting it into 1/8 inch slices. Starting at the outside of the skillet, tightly shingle the apple pieces until the entire skillet is filled. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or by hand) fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the remaining sugar, butter and the vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy before mixing in the egg yolks one at a time. Then stir in the milk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Dump this into your wet ingredients in the electric mixer and mix until just combined. Turn this batter out into the bowl you whisked the dry ingredients together in. Clean and dry the electric mixing bowl. Add the eggs whites to the bowl and beat into soft peaks. Fold the whipped whites into your batter. Spread batter evenly over the apples in the skillet. Bake, rotating halfway through, for approximately 50 minutes. The top will be a dark golden brown and feel pretty firm to the touch. Cool in the skillet on a wire rack for about 30 minutes before loosening the edges and turning over onto a plate. Serve and enjoy.

Happy Birthday, John!

Rachel here: This past weekend my beloved partner in crime (and our beloved illustrator) heralded the end of another year and the start of his next. He and I have a deliciously wonderful birthday tradition of baking each other specially requested birthday cakes. In the past, John has made me a cake in the shape of a Life car (like, from the board game...my favorite childhood board game because we didn't own it), tiered chocolate cake, flourless chocolate cake (ok, clearly a theme is emerging around what I usually ask for for my birthday)...the list goes on. Anyway, I, in turn, have dutifully made John a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting every year because, though he's anything BUT vanilla as a person, this is what he asks for. And so, this year I tried to up the ante a little bit, figuring I've been getting off pretty easy with this whole vanilla-vanilla thing year in and year out, and I endeavored to make his cake look like something...

a double chocolate stuffed golden oreo cookie (his latest obsession).

It didn't work.

First, I didn't have an exacto knife (as I was so sure we did) and so the stencil I tried to make had to be completely revamped at the last minute. Then, though absolutely freaking fantastic, the frosting that I made wasn't thick enough to function visually as whatever the "stuff" in oreos is and kept oozing down the sides of the cake.

And yet, the cake is totally totally good. The cake part itself is a little dense, but it's not too sweet which is nice for a cake and allowed for the chocolate, powdered sugar and whipped cream to shine through. Though I was a little disappointed not to have achieved my initial goal from the outset of my cake-baking endeavor, I was quite pleased with the end result (and I think the birthday man was, too). And, of course, I was delighted to celebrate another year in the life of my fantastic partner and best friend. To many more years, John, and many more cakes.

Rich and Tender Yellow Cake
from "The Best Recipe" by Cook's llustrated

Ingredients
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 c. whole milk, room temperature
2 tspn. vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. sifted cake flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tspn. baking powder
3/4 tspn. salt
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 16 pieces

Method
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9x1 1/2 inch cake pans with vegetable shortening. Line the bottoms of each pan with parchment paper and grease as well. Dust cake pans with flour, tapping out excess. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, milk and vanilla. Measure out 1 c. of this liquid mixture and set aside. In your mixer, combine the dry ingredients, blending well. With the mixer running at its lowest speed, add the butter in one piece at a time, mixing until the flour and butter look sandy. Add the 1 c. of egg mixture and mix at the lowest speed until it's incorporated. Increase your mixer's speed to medium-high and beat everything until light and fluffy. Add the remaining egg mixture in a slow and steady stream. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat batter on medium-high until it looks slightly curdled. Divide batter evenly between your cake pans and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, roughly 25 minutes. Remove and cool in pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing and letting cool completely before icing.

Chocolate Cream Frosting
from "The Best Recipe" by Cook's llustrated

Ingredients
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
16 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/3 c. corn syrup
1 tspn. vanilla extract

Method
Bring cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate and add corn syrup. Let rest for 3 minutes. Whisk gently until smooth. Add vanilla. Refrigerate, stirring periodically, until desired consistency is reached. Try really hard not to eat (this stuff is seriously good).

Once everything was cooled, I assembled my two cakes with a layer of frosting between them. I cut out letters and hearts and whatnot and placed them on the top and sifted powdered sugar over to create the design. When I served the cake, I drizzled more of the frosting over it and added a dollop of whipped cream. I took a few pictures of the cake in this state, but they all came out blurry and, well, it was time to eat. It sure was pretty, though. Anyway, what do you like on your birthday?



Janet here: Regular readers know that I don't "do" cakes. (And by "do," I mean bake. Certainly I've been known to eat them.) Instead, we all get the homemade ice cream cake of our desire (click here for recipe). That said, I have nothing but admiration for Rachel and John's birthday cake baking plan and think it is quite a lovely family tradition all of their own creation. I can't wait to see the cakes they make their little bun in the oven.