Cakes and mix and match

I've been breading it up big at home lately - I realize just how much I seriously love to make breads.... But on the other hand I've also been playing around with cake ideas. I have my final quarter coming up at school early next year and I have a project called "Chef Of the Day" and I have to make a tart, a breakfast pastry, a chocolate (or a petis four), a bread, and a cake. Needless to say I'm worried about the cake portion as I feel it's something that I haven't really done much of.

As I've been learning more this quarter about cakes I've been liking them a whole lot more. There are so many variations to make, not only that but you can take parts of one cake you like and apply it to another one - it's really easy to integrate, and mix and match.

This cake is one I've been thinking about for a few weeks, sort of a baklava cake: the base is a walnut sponge, this is covered in a honey syrup. On top of this is a roasted pistachio and vanilla bavarian, then a layer of praline, and then a milk chocolate and honey yogurt mousse. I was pretty happy with the way it came out. I do need to work on presentation (it's a tad bland in looks), and also I'm going to change the bavarian layer to a roast hazelnut layer, but it's not bad. Al

so, all the layers are from different recipes, just proving you can make whatever you like as long as you have the basics down (ie. know how to make a sponge, a mousse and a bavarian).

Plum and Walnut Cake

These are really stunning. They are moist, slightly sweet, just a tad nutty and get better with age. I had some of this gorgous cake at Quillisascut farm. We used walnuts from the walnut tree they had as well as plums they had gathered and dehydrated late last year. It was so good, so I thought I would try making this at home.

I also made these for my good friend Tricia's birthday - she said she liked them!

This recipe is from the book: 'Chefs on the Farm: Recipes and Inspiration from the Quillisascut Farm School od of the Domestic Arts' by Shannon Borg, Lora Lea Misterly and Karen Jurgensen.

Lekach: Old-Fashioned Honey Cake

This recipe makes two loaves. This is a dry, slightly sweet bread-like cake. It has some textural differentiation due to the ginger and walnuts (you don't have to have either in this recipe) and as it is a rather dry cake it pairs well with tea or coffee.

Ingredients
6.25 cups of plain flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1.5 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1.5 cups packed dark brown sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup honey

1 Tbs. salt

2/3 cup strong hot coffee

3 large eggs

1.5 cups walnuts pieces

1.5 cups chopped crystallized ginger

Method

1. Oil two 9x5inch loaf pans.

2. In a large bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder and baking soda.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together the brown sugar, oil, honey, salt, and hot coffee. Mix until the brown sugar is dissolved.

4. Add the eggs to the brown sugar and coffee mixture, whisk until well blended.

5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.

6. Fold in the nuts and ginger.

7. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula, and if you desire sprinkle some crystallized ginger across the top for decoration.

8. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8-24 hours.

9. Preheat oven to 325F.

10. Bake the cakes for 1 hour (at 30 min turn the cakes around so that even baking is achieved), or until well browned and when a thin knife is inserted in the center it comes out clean.

11. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack, then remove from the pan.

These cakes keep for weeks wrapped in plastic in the fridge.

Taken from "A Blessing of Bread: Recipes and Rituals, Memories and Mitzvahs" by Maggie Glezer pp.153-5.

Zucchini & Apple Bread

I had a challenge this week, I was given 1/2 a beautiful, huge, home grown zucchini to use. I used half of it for a roast zucchini stuffed with brown rice, and the other half for this bread.
I know what you're thinking, boring, tasteless, dry bread - but this isn't. It is a moist, flavorsome bread that tastes more like a cake due to the addition of freshly grated cinnamon and nutmeg. Really very nice; nice to make (quick preparation) and tasty as well.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (50 grams) pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 cup shredded raw zucchini (1-2 zucchini)
1/2 cup peeled and grated raw apple, (about 1 large apple)
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup (120 ml) safflower or canola oil
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Grease (or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Set aside.

2. Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

3. Grate the zucchini, using a medium grater, and then peel and grate the apple. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes).

5. Beat in the grated zucchini and apple.

6. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined.

7. Then fold in the nuts and coconut.

8. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes.

9. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan.

Well wrapped, this bread will keep for several days at room temperature or for several days in the refrigerator (if frosted).

Taken from The Joy of Baking http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/ZucchiniBread.html