Groom's Cake

This post really falls under the art category more than the food one.  Because of health issues I sadly was not able to go to my jewelry class this spring, so I haven't really been making much in the art realm of things.  However, it seems I always have a friend getting married, and I am happy to lend my artistic or planning talents.  Usually I'm in overdrive for weddings making invitations, jewelry, purses, hairpieces, etc.  Believe it or not, this was the first time someone asked me to make food.  I've done catering before, and I've even done cake decorating way back in my 4-H days, but this was a first for a wedding.  Matt and Amber asked me to do two chocolate groom's cakes.  They were a very easy couple to work with since they didn't care what it looked like or even ask to taste it first.  As long as it was chocolate, Matt was happy.  They also gave me several months notice so I could try out a number of practice cakes.  That turned out to be a good thing, because wedding cakes are complicated for more reasons than just decorating them.

It probably would have been simpler, but wedding cakes are sort of a soap box of mine.  I have this revolutionary idea that they should taste good.  Crazy, I know.  I understand all the reasons they need to be pretty, but I firmly believe they can be both beautiful and delicious.  Most wedding cakes, even if they are sheet cakes, for logistical reasons have to be made at least a day ahead, and usually it's a few days ahead of time.  I'll admit, this makes it much more difficult to achieve a good tasting cake.  There's a reason most wedding cakes and even restaurant cakes are dry:  they were made at least a day ago and they've been stored in a fridge.  Most cakes are made with oil or butter and those kinds of cakes should be stored in a fridge for freshness, but they should be removed at least 30 minutes before serving so the cake can soften back up again.  So you're combating dryness and hardness.  Most bakers, I think, just accept that the cake isn't going to taste great and concentrate on making it look good.  However, they don't help the taste issue by using fondant.  I don't care how pretty it makes your cake look.  I don't care how smooth the cake is.  It tastes like poo.  Sorry.  Like I said, it's kind of a soap box with me.

Anyway, it took a lot of looking, but I finally found my cake.  I could make it ahead of time and it would still stay moist because the cake was soaked in a milk chocolate ganache syrup.  Then it was iced in dark chocolate ganache (much tastier than fondant), and the whole thing was covered in a chocolate lacquer that gave it a smooth, shiny surface that also held up well in the heat of an outdoor wedding.  I topped it off with fat chocolate curls for a simple decoration.  I won't post the recipe here because it's five typed pages, takes multiple days, and is easily the most involved cake I've ever made.  Trust me, unless someone is getting married, you don't want to make it.  If you'd like to try it, it's called Deep Passion Chocolate Wedding Cake and it's in the cookbook Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Finally, I'd like to make a plug here for my friend Hannah Kline.  She made the wedding cake.  Here's a picture of the two of us at the wedding in front of our masterpieces.  I have had the pleasure of eating several of Hannah's creations, and they have all be very good.  She doesn't normally do weddings, but made an exception for Amber.  She normally does cupcakes, cake balls and pops, cookies, and other small cakes.  Sadly, she just moved from the Durham area, but if you live in Houston, TX, check out Hannah Kline Cake Design.

Horseradish and Caramelized Onion Pork Sandwiches

This has been a family favorite since it appeared in Cooking Light way back in September of 2004.  I'm not sure what even drew me to the recipe as I have mentioned before that pork is something I have only started liking more recently, and the same goes for horseradish.  Even more bizarre, the very first time I made this, I altered the recipe by adding a ton of ginger, another spice I was wary of for a long time.  Yet somehow, all of those things combined made for a fantastic sandwich.  Sarah said that eating these sandwiches was a religious experience.  Below, Daniel tried to capture the religious experience of eating them on camera for me:

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups vertically sliced onion (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1 (8-ounce) loaf French bread, halved lengthwise (or other crusty bread of choice.  I made sourdough.)
1 cup torn lettuce leaves

8 oz pork tenderloin

4 oz tube of Gourmet Garden squeeze ginger (found with fresh spices at most grocery stores)

salt and pepper

Preparation
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and next 6 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; cook 30 minutes or until onions are golden, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; let cool.

To make pork, slice the tenderloin thinly and season with salt and pepper.  Then cook all the way through on a griddle or in a skillet, basting both sides generously with the ginger.  I usually end up using most of the tube of ginger, although I usually double the amount of pork. This usually takes between 10-15 minutes.

Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and horseradish in a small bowl; spread evenly over cut side of top half of bread. Arrange lettuce over bottom half of bread. Arrange onions and pork over lettuce. Top with top half of bread. Cut stuffed loaf into 4 pieces.

Spicy Asian Greens

This is another one from Everyday Greens.  The recipe calls for bok choy, which is what I used here, and they mention that you can substitute a variety of other greens.  I had friends visiting who brought their weekly CSA share with them, which included spinach, kale, and collards.  I made this again with that assortment of greens, and I didn't like it near as well.  I think it would have been fine with the spinach, and maybe even the kale, but it wasn't good with the collards.  With the baby bok choy, it was delicious.

Ingredients

2 lbs baby bok choy (it cooks way down)

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon fermented black beans or black bean paste (found at Asian food stores)

1/4 teaspoon salt (taste before adding as the black beans are very salty)

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

Trim the stem end off the bok choy and remove the bruised outer leaves.  Cut the head in quarters and trim away the inner core to separate the leaves.  Cut the larger leaves lengthwise through the stem, leaveing the small, inner leaves whole; you should have about 10 cups.

Heat the canola oil in a large saute pan or wok over medium-high heat and add the ginger, garlic, and fermented black beans.  Cook for about 30 seconds; add the bok choy, the salt if needed, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, using a pair of metal tongs to toss the greens.  The leaves should be tender and the stems translucent and crisp.  Stir in the sesame oil and soy sauce just before serving.

Focaccia with Roasted Eggplant

This recipe is from my favorite vegetarian cookbook, Everyday Greens by Annie Somerville.  My main purpose for making it was because it used a basil aioli spread, and I've had a very prolific basil plant this summer.  It was very, very good, although pretty labor intensive for a sandwich.  Still, it's an excellent way to use a lot of fresh summer vegetables.  

Ingredients

Reduced Balsamic Vinegar (see below for recipe)

1 lb globe eggplant, ends trimmed, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds

garlic oil (you can make this yourself, but it's handy to have, and most stores sell it premade now)

salt and pepper

1 store bought focaccia, about 1 pound (or I made Olive Focaccia)

1/2 cup sliced or julienned sun dried tomatoes
A large handful of arugula (I love Trader Joe's bagged Wild Rocket Arugula)
6 oz fresh Asiago cheese, thinly sliced (fresh Asiago is slightly creamy and can be difficult to find.  I can get it pretty regularly and reasonably priced at Costco.  This time I actually got Fontiago, a ridiculously expensive cross between Fontina and Asiago that was absolute heaven.)
Basil Aioli (see below for recipe)

Make the Reduced Balsamic Vinegar.  To do this, simply pour a cup of balsamic vinegar into a saucepan and over high heat reduce the vinegar to half it's original volume.  Let cool and set aside.  Whatever you don't use on the eggplant, store in a sealed container in the fridge and use it to flavor all kinds of grilled veggies or meats.  I found it tasty on mushrooms and squash.

Preheat the oven to 375.  Lay the eggplant on a baking sheet.  Brush both sides generously with garlic oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast about 10 minutes, turn the slices over, and roast until completely tender, about 6 minutes.  Brush the warm eggplant generously with the reduced vinegar and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Set aside to cool.

Make the Basil Aioli.

Ingredients
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup basil leaves, packed
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon minced grlic
1/4 teaspoon salt

It's important you follow these steps exactly.  If you do, it's easy.  I got distracted the second time I made this and added all the lemon juice at once, and it didn't work at all.  I had to pitch it.  Place the oil and the basil in a food processor or blender and puree.  In a separate bowl, whisk the yolk with a few drops of the lemon juice and whisk in the basil oil a little at a time to start, then a little faster as it begins to emulsify.  Once all the oil has been added and it's sort of the consistency of mayo, then season with the remaining lemon juice, the garlic, and the salt.  If you have some left over, it's is great with quinoa, orzo, or pasta.

Assemble the sandwich:  Cut the focaccia in half horizantally.  Spread the bread with the basil aioli.  Arrange the eggplant on the bottom half, all the way out to the edges.  Sprinkle the sun-dried tomatoes over, followed by the arugula and the cheese.  Place the other half of the focaccia on top and slice into 6 sandwiches.

Banana Crunch Cake

In the summer months it seems our bananas go from green to rotten especially fast.  I have almost an entire shelf in my freezer right now just for black bananas waiting to be made into baked goods.  I like banana bread okay, but I get tired of it fast, and there are so many other lovely banana based baked goods, including this coffee cake.  It's from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking Book.  If you don't have oat flour handy, just grind up oats in a food processor.  To get a cup of oat flour, you'll need about 1 1/4 cups of oats.  This was very moist and flavorful with great texture.

Ingredients
Cake Batter

1 cup oat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup  Land o Lakes light butter
1/3 cup Splenda brown sugar blend or 2/3 cup regular brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup plain yogurt ( non fat to full fat is fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional) or 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Crunch Topping
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 cup light brown sugar or 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped pecans or 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Grease and flour an 8-inch-square pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For cake batter: Whisk flours, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape the bowl between eggs. Mix half the dry ingredients until moistened, then mix in bananas, yogurt and vanilla. Scrape the bowl down again before adding the remaining dry ingredients and nuts and chips (if using). Mix until everything is evenly moistened. Transfer batter to the prepared pan.

For topping: Combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a small mixing bowl until well blended. Stir in melted butter until large crumbs form. Stir in chopped nuts. Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.
Bake until the edges pull away from the pan and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Remove cake from the oven and place on a rack to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.