Dinner At Sheila's

This is a fabulous holiday cake I initially made years ago for a coworker’s birthday.  It was the first time I had ever tried my hand at making candied orange peel, which I discovered isn’t as difficult as you might think and adds dramatically to the presentation and taste.

It’s a cross between a spice cake and carrot cake in some ways, but has its own distinct flavor.  The addition of the cranberries and walnuts add texture and color while the sweet potatoes make it moist.

The smooth cream cheese frosting with a hint of orange flavoring perfectly complements the cake.

This year it was an elegant addition to my Thanksgiving dessert buffet.  

Sweet-Potato Layer Cake with Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting     

(adapted from Bon Appetit, November 2001)

Yield:  makes 10-12 servings

Cake

2 pounds tan-skinned sweet potatoes (about 3 medium)

3 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt (kosher)

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup vegetable oil or canola oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs

2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup dried cranberries

Frosting

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup(1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 and 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Decorative Topping

Reserved toasted walnuts and dried cranberries

1/4 cup sliced candied orange peel (may be purchased or make your own)

3 tablespoons sugar

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Pierce potatoes with fork; place on small baking sheet.

 Roast potatoes until soft, about 1 hour.  Cool, peel and mash potatoes.  Measure 2 cups mashed potatoes; cool to lukewarm (reserve any remaining potatoes for another use).

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides; line pans with parchment. 

Sift flour and next 6 ingredients into medium bowl. 

Combine oil, 1 cup sugar, and brown sugar in large bowl; whisk until smooth.  Whisk in eggs 1 at a time, then mashed sweet potatoes.  Whisk in flour mixture in 3 additions. 

Stir in 2/3 cup walnuts and 2/3 cup cranberries.

Divide batter between prepared pans.  Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.  Cool cakes completely in pans on racks. 

Slide knife around pan sides to loosen; turn out cakes.  Peel off parchment.  Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on platter.  Spread 3/4 cup frosting over.

Tip:  When frosting a cake slip pieces of parchment or waxed paper partially under cake and fully covering the platter so that any frosting or crumbs that fall will fall on the waxed paper.  When finished frosting these papers can be pulled out gently leaving behind a clean platter on which the cake stands.

Top with second layer, flat side down.  Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.

For Frosting

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until fluffy.  Beat in powdered sugar, scraping down bowl often.  Beat in orange juice concentrate and vanilla.

For Decorative Topping

Reserved toasted walnuts and dried cranberries

Combine orange peel, 3 tablespoons sugar, remaining 1/4 cup walnuts, and 1/4 cup cranberries in small bowl.  Stir to coat with sugar. 

Transfer to sieve;sift off excess sugar.  Sprinkle fruit and nut mixture decoratively atop  cake.

If you choose to make your own candied orange peel, here’s the recipe I used for candied zest which comes from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Citrus peel makes a flavorful and attractive decorative touch when cut into fine strips and sweetened in a sugar syrup.  This candied zest is particularly suited to decorating a cake containing citrus fruit.

Candied Orange Peel (makes 1 cup)

Ingredients

3 large thick-skinned oranges

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon corn syrup

optional: 1 teaspoon grenadine syrup

With a small sharp knife remove strips of peel, avoiding the bitter white pith beneath.  If any pith remains on the zest, scrape it away.  Cut the peel into fine julienne strips.

Place in a saucepan of boiling water and simmer 15 minutes to soften and remove bitterness.  Drain and rinse under cold water.

In the same saucepan combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Stop stirring, add the zest, and cover tightly.  Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes without stirring or uncovering.  Remove from the heat and cool, covered.  To brighten the color, add the grenadine if you choose.

Refrigerate the candied zest in the syrup in an airtight container up to 1 month.  When ready to use, drain the zest. 

If you wish to use the syrup for cakes, add water to equal 1 and 1/2 times the volume of the syrup to dilute the sweetness and add an orange-based liqueur to taste.

Note:  the corn syrup prevents crystallization of the sugar when the zest is added.

As promised I am posting my menu for this year’s Thanksgiving Feast.  Many of the items as you will see are the traditional foods I’ve been serving, at the family’s request for the past 33 years.

Over the years I have slipped in some newer dishes along with the treasured oldies.  I have added an interesting  salad (like this year), or a soup (a wild mushroom soup, a pumpkin soup, crab bisque), or once I served Coquille Saint Jacques as an appetizer.  Last year I served roasted root vegetables as an additional side.

That being said Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving if certain foods do not appear on our buffet.  Among these,  Mom’s challah stuffing

Mashed Potatoes (this year I used a food mill, and kept them warm on top of the stove ala Julia Child’s method).  Or to make them in advance you could try Mom’s Mashed Potatoes

Sugar-glazed onions (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

Brussel sprouts (this year, roasted, some years glazed along with the onions)

Candied sweet potatoes (different versions throughout the years, but I love using the yellow fleshed sweet potatoes instead of the orange yams, a tip from my brother-in-law, Bill)

Cranberry Jello Mold, which I made the first time I prepared Thanksgiving dinner…it became my husband’s favorite, and now  everyone’s favorite (recipe to follow)

Homemade whole berry cranberry sauce

and  Cope’s Corn, a regional dish unique to our ties to growing up in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  My sister has been preparing it every Thanksgiving for us (recipe to follow).

And now that I’ve acknowledged our family’s traditional dishes, I will share with you my

THANKSGIVING MENU FOR 2011

Cocktails and Nibbles

Ingredients

Makes 1 drink (plus extra apple jam and simple syrup)

For the apple jam and simple syrup:

• 2 honeycrisp apples
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

For the cocktail:

• 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
• 2 ounces rye whiskey, preferably Rittenhouse (we couldn’t find this so we used Bulleit Rye American whiskey)
• Dried apple slice, for garnish

Directions

Make the apple jam: Peel, core and cube the apples. Combine in a saucepan with the cinnamon sticks and 2 tablespoons sugar; cover and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Meanwhile, make the simple syrup: Combine 1/2 cup each sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Make the cocktail: Combine 1 teaspoon of the apple jam, 1/2 ounce simple syrup, the lime juice and whiskey in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a dried apple slice.

HAPPY (Thanksgiving) HOUR

I served these delicious cocktails with the nibbles below a few hours before the meal

*Chilled shrimp with cocktail sauce and Louie sauce for dipping, garnished with parsley and lemon wedges  ( I cooked them the day before with lots of salt, a couple bay leaves, whole black peppercorns, parsley and lemon wedges) . Tip:Do not overcook or undersalt the water.)  Chill til very ,very cold.

*Crudite platter of celery sticks, red pepper sticks, and cucumber slices

*Smoked Trout Spread

*Assorted crackers and small toasts

*Platter of assorted cheeses and grapes

*Toasted pumpkin seeds, roasted almonds and cashews

*Olives

THE DINNER MENU

Salad of Bibb, Radicchio, and Mache greens with sliced Forelle pears and pomegranate seeds dressed in a white balsamic vinaigrette

Roast Turkey with an apple cider glaze (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

Gravy

                                                                                                                                      

Mom’s challah stuffing

Mashed potatoes

Candied sweet potatoes

Roasted Brussel sprouts

Glazed white and red Cippolini Onions and small white onions

Cranberry sauce

Cranberry Jello mold with apples, mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple and walnuts

Desserts

Pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream (my sister bakes this every year)

Skillet apple crisp

Pear tart (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

Sweet potato layer cake with orange cream cheese frosting and garnished with dried cranberries, candied orange peel and walnuts        (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)                     

Mom’s Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting (my sister baked this for the chocolate lovers)    (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

Choice of Vanilla, Dulce de Leche, or Butter Pecan ice cream

After dinner liqueurs, chocolates, and coffee

The leaves are only just beginning to turn, Halloween is a couple of weeks away, and yet thoughts of the upcoming Thanksgiving are already spinning inside my head. 

In our family it’s become “my holiday”, the one that I’ve been happily hosting for some 30 years now, and the one that no matter where we’ve lived my family has always found their way to our doorstep for the long weekend.

  It’s really the one time of year we know we will all be together.

For me the planning is as much fun as the executing, and I’ve learned through the years that planning is key.  Which leads me to this post for The Barefoot Connessa’s French Chocolate Bark.

This is  a delicious confection that can be made weeks ahead and stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.  I made it for the first time several months ago for guests, and thought it would make a great addition to a Thanksgiving dessert buffet.

I followed Ina’s recipe pretty closely, but the nice thing about this recipe is that you can customize it to your own taste, substituting your choice of nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate.

French Chocolate Bark (Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten)

1 cup whole, salted roasted cashews

6 to 7 ounces good quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

6 to 7 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 cup finely diced crystalized ginger

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup finely diced dried apricots

1/4 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using a pencil, draw a rectangle that is approximately the size of a standard sheet of paper (8 and 1/2 inches by 11 inches) on a piece of parchment paper placed on a sheet pan, then thurn the parchment paper over.

Spread the cashews in a single layer on another sheet pan and bake for 8 minutes, until just toasted.  Set aside to cool.  (you will not need the oven after this.)

Place the semisweet chocolate and half the bittersweet chocolate in a microwave-safe glass bowl and microwave on high power for 20 to 30 seconds.  Stir with rubber spatula. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second intervals until the chocolate is just melted.  Immediately add the remaining bittersweet chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.

Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper and spread it lightly into the drawn rectangle.

Sprinkle the top evenly in the following order:  ginger, cashews, cherries, apricots, raisins.  Set aside for 1 to 2 hours until firm.  Cut or break the bark in 18 to 20 pieces and serve at room temperature.

Store in airtight container in a cool, dry place for several weeks.

Yield:18 to 20 pieces

My best friend’s birthday was this week.  We’ve been friends for twenty-two years, going back to when we first moved into our new homes on the same street of a spanking new development.  Although she and her family moved from Cleveland, and we moved from Chicago, we were each experiencing the same feelings of excitement, ambiguity, and trepidation that such a move can elicit.  Our husbands were beginning new jobs, our children new schools, and all of us were leaving old friends behind.

Long after the crates are unpacked and everything in its new place seemingly settled, the unsettled feeling within us can remain.  I don’t know of a better fix for that than to find a new old friend.  And thankfully, my friend and I  found each other.  We are drawn to others initially because of similar interests, but a lasting friendship is ultimately based on much more.  It is life’s experiences, both good and bad, shared over time that create the bonds of friendship.  And of that my friend and I have many.  So naturally when one of our birthdays comes around it is a cause for celebration, and for me celebration is a cause for eating!  That, by the way, is another thing we agree on. 

So what to make for my best friend’s birthday?  Something special for someone special, and this year it was Salted Caramel Apple Pie!  This recipe I found online after having seen and read much about the two sisters from South Dakota who opened their pie shop called Four and Twenty Blackbirds recently in Brooklyn.  It’s a fabulous pie.  The apples  are flavored with fresh lemon juice and spices before layering them with the caramel sauce, balancing the sweetness with the tartness.  The  buttery caramel also adds just the right amount of richness to the pie. And the addition of sea salt and raw sugar sprinkled on the crust before baking adds a wonderful crunch to the pastry.

Although they prefer using an all butter pastry for the crust, I have used my favorite   pie crust recipe which includes vegetable shortening along with the butter for extra flakiness.  Otherwise I followed the recipe pretty closely, with a few exceptions that are noted.  And if I’m ever in Brooklyn I plan to stop by Four and Twenty Blackbirds for a piece of pie and a cup of coffee.  I hope you’ll do the same.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Recipe courtesy Melissa and Emily Elsen

Prep Time:

1 hr 30 min

Inactive Prep Time:

1 hr 30 min

Cook Time:

55 min

Level:

Intermediate

Serves:

1 (9-inch) pie

Ingredients

• Pie Crust
• 1 recipe your favorite (2-crust) butter pie crust
• Salted Caramel
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) fresh unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup fresh heavy cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (recommended: Maldon sea salt flakes)
• Apple Filling
• 4 to 6 lemons
• 5 to 6 medium to large apples*
• *Cook’s Note: A mixture of Crispin, Granny Smith, and Cortland is nice if you can.
• 
• Apple Filling Seasoning
• 1/3 cup raw sugar (castor, unrefined, large granule sugar)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters
• 
• Assembly
• 1 egg beaten
• Raw sugar, for sprinkling on top
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (flake)
• Special equipment: Mandoline for slicing, and a pastry brush.

Directions

To make the pie crust:

Prepare one 2-crust batch of your favorite all butter pie crust. Roll the bottom crust to fit a 9-inch pan, and cut the top crust as a lattice, approximately 1-inch in width or as desired. Chill the rolled crust while you prepare the salted caramel and apple filling.

To make the salted caramel:

Cook the sugar and water together over low heat until just dissolved. Add the butter and bring to a slow boil. Continue cooking at a low boil until the mixture turns a deep, golden brown color, almost copper.

Cook’s Note: This process can take awhile depending on the heat source. Keep an eye on it, if the caramel begins to smoke, you’ve burned it and you’ll have to start over.

Once the mixture has turned a copper color, remove it from the heat and immediately add the heavy cream - the mixture will bubble rapidly and steam - be cautious as the sugar will be very hot.

Whisk the final mixture together well over low heat and sprinkle in the sea salt. Set the caramel aside while you prepare the apple filling.

To make the apple filling:

Juice the lemons into a large mixing bowl. Core, peel, and thinly slice the whole apples. Cook’s Note: A mandolin works great for producing very thin slices.

Dredge all the apple slices in the freshly squeezed lemon juice to prevent browning and to add flavor. Set the prepared apples aside.

To make the apple filling seasoning:

In a large measuring cup or small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and Angostura bitters. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples in the mixing bowl. Use your hands to gently mix and coat the apple slices.

To assemble the pie:

Preheat the oven to 375 to 400 degrees F (depending on the hotness of your oven).

Gather your rolled pie crust, salted caramel, and apple mixture. Begin by layering 1/3 of the apples in the bottom of the crust so that there are minimal gaps. Pour 1/3 of the caramel over the apples. Add 1/3 of the apples and caramel for a second layer, and then add a third layer of apples, and then the caramel again. Cook’s Note: Save a small portion of the caramel to pour on top once the lattice is assembled.

Assemble the lattice crust and flute the edges of the crust. Pour the last bit of caramel on top. Brush the crust with the beaten egg and lightly sprinkle with raw sugar and sea salt.

Bake the pie on a baking sheet larger than the pie pan for 20 minutes (otherwise the caramel will bubble over and burn on the bottom of your oven). Reduce the oven temperature to 325 to 350 and bake for 25 to 35 minutes. You can test the apples for doneness with a long toothpick or small knife. The apples should be just soft.

Let the pie cool, then slice and enjoy.

Note:  I made the following changes:  I made a 10 inch pie so I increased the number of apples to 7.

I used sugar in the raw (natural cane turbinado sugar).

I used 4 large lemons.

I used my regular sea salt that I had, but ground it .  (I’ll look for Maldon next time)

I used a combination of granny smith, stayman, and honey crisp apples.  The honey crisp may be a bit too juicy, but it worked. 

I doubled the amount of spices to accommodate the larger amount of apples.

I carefully sliced the apples with a sharp santoku knife because I don’t have a Mandoline.

I omitted the Angostura bitters. (didn’t have it in my bar)