Lavender and Lemon Birthday Cake

It was a steamy weekend, perfect for baking right? RIGHT. A fancy cake for a fancy man. And a great excuse to dry run an experimental recipe. A cake made with the herb lavender. I've long wanted to try baking with this relaxing and fragrant flower. I adapted my buttermilk cake recipe and stepped the milk overnight with the flowers to get the aromatic taste in with out being overwhelming. I filled the layers with a lemon curd and infused the frosting with lavender as well. I will be reprising this cake for Kelly's birthday and perfecting the recipe. I will post it then!

Candy for Mother's Day

A friend of mine asked me for some candy recipes that I used over the holidays and I realized that I had never done my Christmas candy blog post. I'm a terrible blogger. Just awful. Why on earth would any one come to such a woefully lapsed blog any way.

Whatever. Here's some just effing awesome candy recipes that are sure to get your Mom all fired up for Mothers Day. Or at least make her feel appreciated for, you know, bring you life, or something like that.

Sea Salt Caramels

if your mother is a salty dog, she'll love these!
1 cup heavy cream
5 tblsp UNsalted butter (very important here otherwise you will go insane, like drinking salt water)
2 tblsp sea salt or fleur de sel
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup (this is not the devil high fructose corn syrup and can't really be substituted in candies. It helps the whole thing hold together)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (REAL, people)

You will need a candy thermometer for this. There's no bones about it.

Simmer cream, butter, salt and vanilla in a small sauce pan.

Put the sugar and water in a large sauce pan over high heat, stirring constantly until it's dissolved. STOP stirring, swirl the whole pan and bring it all to a boil rising to 240-248 on the candy thermometer.

Carefully and slowly stream in the cream. Simmer and stir frequently and lower the heat maintaining a temp of no higher than 250 for at least 15 mins or until you get the consistency you want. Drop a little into ice cold water to test.

Pour into an 8x10 butter pan and cool. Once it's almost totally set but not quite, sprinkle some large salt crystals on the top. Cool all the way. Cut and wrap each in wax paper for the best keep.

Bacon Peanut Brittle

Unless your Mom is a crazy vegan, she will love this. Everyone did. Except vegans and some other religious folks who don't worship at the alter of the smoked pig. Crazy folks right?

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (again, you can't make this without it)
4 tblsp butter or try subbing in bacon grease for that extra kick on bacony flavor
4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
1 lb of cooked bacon, chopped

Combine the sugars and corn syrup over high heat, stirring until dissolved, then stop stirring and swirl the pan if needed, bringing the temp up to 290-300.

Quickly stir in the flavors and baking soda.

Add peanuts and bacon, remove from heat.

Spread very fast on thin grease baking sheets and cool 15-20 until it's hardened. Then have fun breaking off big sweet greasy chucks of candy awesomeness.

Port wine and Hazel nut truffles

if you have an entire Sunday to kill making these for your mom, do it. But she'll never appreciate the tedium that goes into making homemade truffles

10 oz bittersweet chocolate
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate for the coating
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tblsp unsalted butter
1 tblsp light corn syrup
1/4 ruby port wine - you can swap this for brandy
1/2 cup roasted and chopped hazel nuts - you can swap this for cocoa powder, shredded coconut or other nut of your fancy

You really need a melon baller to do these right. I didn't think so, but trust me, you really, really do.

In a double boiler, or my version of one, a glass bowl over a pot of simmer water, combine 10 oz bittersweet chocolate with the butter and heat until lightly melted and the butter just combines. It should still be chunky, but stir it so the butter combines. If you heat it too much it will separate when you add the hot cream. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat the cream and corn syrup over medium heat until simmering. Pour this over the just melted chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes. Gently stir the mixture in concentric circles inside to out until the chocolate is melted into the cream and well combined. Slowly stream in the wine and stir thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a 8x8 (should be at least an 1 1/2 inches high for best scooping). And refrigerate for at least an hour.

Using your handing melon baller, you thought it was good for nothing since who the hell balls melon now a days any way, scoop out the balls (heh, she said balls) on to a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper and put back in the fridge for 30 more mins. They are going to be dipped in hot chocolate so they need to be cold.

In your double boiler, heat up the 8 oz of semi sweet slowly and stirring until melted. Check the temp and never let it get over 92 degrees or it won't have that crunch when you bite into it. It will still taste totally awesome though, just don't get it too hot. You may even want to remove the heat and just use the hot water for this step.

Get you bowl full of chopped nuts ready, because you are going to put your balls in it! Take an ice cream scoop and load it up with melted chocolate , drop a cold ball in it and roll until coated (10 - 15 seconds to set), quickly roll in the nuts (same 10 - 15 seconds to set) and then set to cool on another sheet of fresh wax paper to cool. Let them cool in a cool dry place for at least an hour before wrapping or moving them to boxes!

Annual Fulbright Dinner

One of the perks of my job is the annual Fulbright hosted evening. When the foreign Fulbright students convene on New York City in early spring, we get the pleasure of having these very talented, interesting individuals over for dinner. It is always an evening of interesting conversation and exchange of ideas, two of the things the IIE really stands for.

For this years evening, I was able to host Stephen, a lawyer from Canada, Tim, an English major from Germany and Ari, an Education Administration student, as well as 312 square feet regulars Octavio and Kelly. The conversation ranged from their experiences studying in the US to the current election season, a topic that has been on the lips of most of my friends. We talked about the merits of the No Child Left Behind bill and the drawbacks of high stakes testing.

I served a meal that drew on mainly on the influence of the Wildwood cookbook from the Pacific Northwest and my New England upbringing. It was a successful meal of Two Color Tomato Salad, Herb Salmon Baked over Salt with Fennel Mashed Potatoes and finished off with old fashioned Apple Brown Betty.

Here are some of the recipes that I cooked.

Fennel Mashed Potatoes

adapted from the Wildwood Cookbook

1 fennel bulbed
1 cup cream
2 tablespoons cracked fennel seeds
4-5 Yukon Gold potatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Slice the fennel bulb, add the fennel seeds and cook it over medium-low heat, don't boil the cream, until the fennel is soft, about 30-40 minutes. At the same time boil the potatoes until soft. In a food processor or blender combine, fennel cream mixture and potatoes, add plenty of salt, who doesn't love salty potatoes! and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Apple Brown Betty

5-6 large Granny Smith, Mitsu or other tart baking apple
juice of one lemon
1/2 stick butter
1 1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 granulate sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch ground cloves
pinch of salt

Pre-heat the oven to the 375 degrees. Generously butter a deep baking dish.
Slice the apples thinly and toss with the lemon juice. Combine the sugars, bread crumbs and spices. Layer a third of the bread crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish, put half of the apples and dot with butter. Layer another third of the bread crumbs, then apples and dot with the rest of the butter. Top off with the remaining third of the bread crumbs and bake for 40-50 minutes until the apples are soft and the juices are bubbling.

I served this with ginger ice cream from the Chinatown Ice Cream factory!

Casey's Molé Cake

I love a challenge, especially when it involves a cake. This year for Casey's very special birthday, I was tasked to make a cake for someone who loves savory and chocolate. I wasn't about to make a bacon cake (her other favorite food). We decided on chili and chocolate. Taking influence from Casey's request and 312 square feet's boyfriend, Octavio's homeland, I made a Molé Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting with Pequin Chili. It had a creeping spice and was definitely rich.

I combined a classic chocolate buttermilk cake recipe with the ingredients for a traditional mole. The only thing I couldn't find was pumpkin seeds, so I would substitute with ground sesame seeds or even 2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter.

I also was able to bust out my birthday present for the first time! I got a Quisenart from Octavio and I finally got to use it to grind up the chilies to a fine powder. I was so excited by this gift. I finally get to retire my pour abused blender!

Not for the faint of heart, this adventuresome cake was loved by the birthday girl, but the spice was too unexpected for some palates!

Molé Cake

8 onces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups water
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground pequin chilies
1 whole dried ancho chili seeded and ground
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried cloves
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, ground or creamy peanut butter or 1 tablespoon ground sesame seeds
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 sticks of butter
5 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 375. Grease and flour 2 nine inch cake pans.

Bring the water to a boil and pour over the chopped chocolate and cocoa powder. Let sit for about 1 minute before beginning to whisk until smooth.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Add the ground chilies, cinnamon, clove and if you are using ground seeds add those.

Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl. Add each of the egss one at a time, beating well in between. Add vanilla, buttermilk, peanut butter if you are using it, and beat until well combined.

Add about 1/3 of the four mixture and mix. Add in half of the chocolate and combine. Repeat adding in chocolate and flour until all is just mixed.

Pour into to the cake pans and bake for 45-55 minutes depending on your oven. This yields a very dense rich chocolate cake.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting with Pequin Chili

12 onces good quality dark semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups cream
4 tablespoons butter, sliced into pats
3/4 teaspoon ground pequin chilies
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Heat the cream until just bubbling. Pour over the chopped chocolate and chili. Let stand about a minute to melt the chocolate then whisk until smooth. Add the butter and mix until well combined. Let the mixture cool completely, stirring occasionally. Beat with an electric mixer and sift in the powdered sugar until it has a nice smooth texture.

Assemble the cake by cutting each completely cooled layer in half. See my post on the Black and White Cake for the technique. Layer the frosting and the cake layers. Top with some red sugar for effect!

6th Annual Easter Party at 381

This year marked the 6th year of Kelly and Lisa's annual feast of debauchery in the honor of Easter. There was an excellent cheese platter and dips galore. Of course there was no lack for libations with everyone supplying many wonderful and varied bottles of wine.

I baked up an experimental batch of cupcakes inspired by an amazing cookie that I had at a friends baby shower. Triple ginger cookies with a lime icing, the cookies were sublime. These cupcakes came out pretty well, though I will increase the amount of spice in the cupcakes for more of a gingery bit. In the recipe I will put the amount that I will put in next time! Basically I would double it.

Triple Ginger Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream Frosting

makes 24 cupcakes

2 3/2 all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
2 inch cube of ginger grated and any juice
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon ginger

Pre-heat oven to 350. Cream the sugar with the butter. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds in between eggs. Add in the vanilla, lemon zest and grated ginger. Sift together all the dry ingredients. Add the milk and the dry ingredients alternating between dry and wet in six additions. Fold in the crystallized ginger. Bake for 15 - 18 until they pass the tooth pick test.

For the Icing:
1 lb. confectioners sugar
1 stick butter, room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt
juice of one lime (about 2 tablespoons)

Beat the butter until it gets fluffy and sift in the sugar beating until well combined. Add the lime juice and beat until fluffy. Add more sugar or lime to suit your taste.

Frost the cupcakes with a large ridged pastry tip and decorate with some strips of powdered ginger.

Holiday Cake

Granted this isn't the best photograph, but it was taken in the rush to make it to our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner before the cocktail hour was over! Long story involving families and bikes and rain! But we made it in time for the gracious hosts of Drake and Sailor of Cafe Drake to warm us with a hot rum cider and proceed to wow us with a succulent and moist turkey, A Cafe Drake classic of raisin chutney and fresh cranberry sauce and two, TWO, delicious stuffings. There were many dishes brought by guests including Octavio's roasted Brussels Sprouts and my holiday Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting. A rich holiday treat.

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter and flour two 9in cake pans. In a large bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients. Then sift again to ensure that the spices are even distributed. Toss a tablespoon of the flour/spice mixture with the currant and walnuts.

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add in sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add the flour mixture in 3 pours alternating with milk in 2 pours. Add in the pumpkin. Finally fold in currant-walnut mixture. Pour the batter equally into the pans (it should be about 3/4 deep).

Bake the cakes for about 25minute until they pass the Toothpick Test. Cool on a rack for about 10 minutes then turn out of the pans. Cool the layers completely before frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup Grade A Maple Syrup
2 8-ounce packages chilled cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Beat butter, brown sugar and maple syrup until fluffy. Add in the cream cheese. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat to blend it.

MCQ Listening Party

Delicious tomato, ricotta, eggplant bake.



We ladies love our libations!

Rum Apple Tart.

Bandmate Kelly and illustrious illustrator Lisa Webs came to 312 sq ft to listen to the first cut of the mastered tracks for Macaque's upcoming EP The Chinatown. We started off the evening with listening and sipping on delicious Kir Royals to celebrate this momentous step in the completion of our first release.

Listening Party Menu

Kir Royal

Warm White Bean Dip with Olive Rosemary Flatbreads
Camarones Bravas

Tomato, Eggplant, Ricotta Bake

Rum Apple Tart

Rum Apple Tart

1 Pâte Brisée
3 crisp apple such as Granny Smith peeled and sliced into 1/4 pieces
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons rum
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 apricot preserves
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre-bake the tart shell at 400 degrees for 20 minutes with weights. Leave in pan and cool.
Put the oven heat down to 350 degrees.

In a small sauce pan, bring apricot preserves to a boil, remove from heat, add one tablespoon of the rum and strain to remove lumps. Brush the cooled tart shell with the aprico glaze. this will help keep the tart crisp and add some more flavor.

In a large pan, saute the apples with the butter and 3 tablespoons sugar for about 10 minutes or until they begin to soften.

For the custard, combine the eggs, cream, 1/2 cup sugar, one tablespoon of rum, flour and vanilla in a bowl and beat well.

Arrange the cooked apples in concentric circles in the pan and pour the custard over until it just covers the apples. You don't want it to over flow. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes until the custard is set.

Before serving, sprinkle the top with a generous amount of powder sugar and place under the broiler to caramelize and brown the tips of the apples. But don't argue about what wine you are going to drink next while you are doing this because you may end up with it becoming a "Blackened Cajun Tart"! Watch it carefully!

Tarte au Citron

For the last throes of summer we are picnicing in Prospect Park tomorrow. Since I love to bake I volunteered to make dessert. I was debating making a cake or making my signature tarte au citron. Since it is going to be a picnic, cakes with butter creams or cream cheese frostings are not that good of an idea so I went with a classic!



Start with a good Pâte Brisée. I use one that uses a little sugar and egg yolk as a binding.

Pâte Brisée

Yolk of one large egg
1 1/2 tablespoons cream
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (omit this for a savory crust)
Pinch salt
1 1/2 sticks of chilled butter.

Pre-heat the over to 375 degrees.

Cube the butter and chill in the refrigerator. Beat together the egg yolk and cream in a small bowl and chill. Sift together the flour, sugar and salt. I like to keep the flour in the freezer to make this easier to keep cold. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or using two knives until the pastry reaches the consistency of small crumbs. Slowly add in the egg mixture until the pastry just holds together. Roll into a ball and chill for 30min to an hour.

Because I have such a small workspace I like to line my counter with wax paper and flour that to keep the space clean and the pastry from sticking.

Roll out the pastry on the floured surface until large enough for the tart pan. It will be about an inch wider than the pan. I roll it up on to the rolling pin lined with more wax paper and roll it out into the pan. You don't want to stretch it because it could shrink.

If there is extra pastry, roll the pin over the pan to get rid of it and press the edges into the scallops with your thumb. Chill the pastry in the pan for 20 min.

Line the pastry with foil or parchment paper and weight with beans (no need for fancy pie weights from Williams Sonoma. A 99 cent bag of pinto beans works just as well.

Bake the crust for 10 - 15 if you are going to bake it again or 20-25 min for a prebaked crust for fruit tarts. It will be a nice golden on the edges.

Tarte au Citron

1 Pâte Brisée cooked about 15 minutes
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup fresh lemon juice
Zest of 3 lemons

Lower the heat from baking the crust to 300 degrees.

Whisk eggs, yolks and sugar together and add the cream. Whisk in the lemon juice and add the zest. Put the shell with the pan still onto a baking sheet and pour in the mixture. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes until the custard is set. cool completely and serve with crême frâiche and fresh berries.

My oven is on an angle so when I bake I make sure to shim the pans with about 1/4 of an inch of tin foil otherwise i get lopsided cakes, leaky tarts or uneven custards. It took a while to figure it our but the method works really well!

Look to the Cookie

When my very best friend and band mate's Patriotic birthday rolls around, it is always a big to do. Since this was her second anniversary in New York City, I wanted to make it especially memorable. One of our favorite regional delicacies is the black and white cookie. Immortalized by Seinfeld as a delicious coming together of two cultures, it is not quite cookie and not quite cake. We have had some that were awful and some that we still can not forget.

To commemorate the cookie and my dear friend, I created a six layer Black and White Cake big enough for twenty or so people. It is a white butter milk cake layered with chocolate ganache and whip cream frosting.


Freshly baked.


Demolished! But you get a great view of all of the layers.


Savoring the fruits of my labor.

Black and White Cake

For the cake:
1 cup butter
3 cups sugar
2 cups buttermilk
4 cups cake flour*
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. lemon extract
6 egg whites

For the Whip Cream Frosting:
3 cups heavy cream (it is a lot but this is a big cake)
3 tbs. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the Dark Chocolate Ganache:
8 oz. Good Dark Chocolate chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbs. butter

Fine dark chocolate to shave on the top of the cake

*A note on cake flour. You can substitute by sifting all purpose flour and lightly filling one cup. Remove 1 tablespoon and replace with 1 tablespoon corn starch. But I don't recommend it. Cake flour is ground finer and will result in a much lighter and fluffier batter.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generous grease and flour 3 9 inch cake pans.

In large mixing bowl, combine the 3 cups of cream, 3 tbs. sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla and put in the refrigerator with the beaters and chill.

In a very large bowl, cream the butter, slowly adding the sugar. Alternate sifting (instead of one of those fancy and hard to clean sifters, I use a large mesh strainer ) in the dry ingredients with the buttermilk. Stir in the vanilla and lemon extract. In a none reactive bowl (I like chilled stainless steel), beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (it's always longer than you think). Fold in the egg whites. Pour into the cake pans and back for 25-30 or until it passes the Toothpick Test.

Let the cakes cool completely before removing them from the pans or trying to work with them.

While they are cooling, make the ganache by putting the chopped chocolate in a stainless steel bowl. Combine the cream and butter in a sauce pan heat over medium heat until just boiling. Pour over the chocolate and let stand 5 minutes. Whisk until the desired consistency is reached. Since this is going to be a filling, let the ganache cool to room temperature.

Next, make the whip cream by beating the cream and sugar mixture with the chilled beaters until stiff peaks form. Put back in the fridge.

Now that the cakes are cool, we can begin the real task! Using a good serrated bread knife remove one of the cakes from the pan and put on a plate that you can turn. Work the knife in and saw the cake in half turning the cake around as you go. I find that this works best to keep the cake even. But since my oven is at an angle (tenement!) I have to shore up my cakes and even them out. Hopefully you won't have to do this.

Put the cake half on the plate, layer some ganache put the top on, layer with whip cream. Continue until you have all the layers. Pour any left over ganache on top of the cake and make your crumb layer around the outside. Chill for about 10 min and then frost the entire cake in whip cream! Grate some chocolate on top and celebrate!