Strawberries and Cream Spectacular!  This recipe comes from the Time Life Series of Books called The Good Cook/Techniques and Recipes published in 1981.  I had the entire collection in those days,  and through the years I have donated many and  sold some at yard sales, but this particular one simply called Cakes remains on my shelf.  

It is a great resource for anyone who loves baking cakes as I do.  This particular cake is one that I love and continue to make today. I have made it for many special occasions, including a bridal shower for my best friend’s daughter a few years after we had moved here.

It is a great springtime cake and I served it at the brunch we had a week ago. 

Now I’ll confess I use a pastry bag and tip to decorate occasionally, but my skills are from from that of a professional. 

Somehow with this cake even if you stray as I do from using 3 different tips as the recipe suggests, this cake always ends up looking yummy and tasting yummier.

And, if you don’t run out of whipped cream as I did this time, you can also pipe rosettes around the bottom edge of the cake for a more finished look.

But you know what,  nobody said, “Hey, where are the rosettes?”

The cake itself is light as a feather with just enough lemon flavoring that complements the ripe strawberries and vanilla flavored whipped cream.

May is around the corner and with it strawberry season, so find an occasion and do make this delicious spectacular cake.

Strawberries and Cream Spectacular

(The Good Cook, Cakes from the Time Life series, Elise W. Manning, Farm Journal’s complete home Baking Book)

 To make one 9-inch cake

2 and 1/2 cups cake flour

1 and 2/3 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 and 1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 egg yolks

4 cups strawberries

2 cups heavy cream, whipped with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup red currant jelly

Sift together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl.  Add the shortening and half of the milk.  Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for two minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.

Add the remaining milk, the lemon extract, the vanilla extract and the egg yolks.  Beat with the electric mixer for another two minutes.

Pour the batter into two buttered layer-cake pans that have been lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centers of the layers comes out clean.

Cool the layers in their pan for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks.

While the cake is cooling, wash and hull the strawberries.  Chop enough strawberries to make one cup; reserve the remaining berries.  Fold the chopped strawberries into one cup of the whipped cream. 

Place one cake layer, top side down, on a serving plate.  Spread it with the strawberry-cream filling.

Top with the second cake layer, top side up.

Slice the reserved strawberries lengthwise.  Arrange the sliced strawberries on top of the cake, starting at the outer edge and placing the slices with their pointed ends toward the edge of the cake.

After the first circle of berries is completed, continue placing the strawberries in this manner until the top is covered.

Refrigerate the cake for 10 minutes.

Melt the red currant jelly in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.  Carefully spoon or brush the hot jelly over the strawberries

Spread some of the remaining whipped cream around the sides of the cake.

Spoon the rest of the whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a No. 190 drop flower tube.  Pipe rosettes between the strawberry points around the rim of the cake.  then change to a No.24 star tube and fill in the spaces.  Finally, change to a No. 71 leaf tube, and piupe a border around the bottom edge of the cake.

If you do not wish to decorate the cake with  decorating tips, spoon the remaining cream in small puffs on the top of the cake between the strawberries. 

Refrigerate the cake until time to serve it.

In addition to the Passover Lemon Cheesecake which I made this year I also took this Chocolate Sponge Cake Roll with Raspberries and Cream to the seder at our aunt’s home.

I am not a chocoholic by any means ( I usually prefer desserts without chocolate with a few exceptions), but i know that for many people it is not dessert if it’s not chocolate. So I always like to include something with chocolate when there are several desserts at a holiday meal.

This recipe is an adaptation of a lemon sponge cake roll I have made numerous times at Passover. (See the post from April 2011) .  

Instead of the lemon juice and zest I added cocoa powder and vanilla extract, filled it with some fresh raspberries and whipped cream, and covered it in with a chocolate frosting.

Passover Chocolate Sponge Cake Roll with Raspberries and Cream

(serves 8 to 10)

For the cake roll

1/2 cup sifted Passover cake meal

1/2 cup potato starch

6 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Line a 10”x 15” rimmed baking sheet with buttered parchment paper.

Sift together cake meal, potato starch, and cocoa powder and set aside.

 Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until thick and lemon colored. 

Gradually add the dry ingredients, stirring to make a thick batter.

Add the vanilla extract and mix well.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff but not dry.  Fold very gently into the batter.

Turn into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Test with cake tester, or press gently with finger to see if cake bounces back.

Remove from then oven and turn onto a lightly sugared towel.  Gently remove parchment paper. 

Roll up with the towel while warm and let cool completely on a rack.

When cool, carefully unroll and spread the whipped cream, dot with the raspberries.  Reroll and place onto serving plate.

Cover with the chocolate frosting.  Garnish with extra raspberries.

Whipped cream filling

1/2 cup heavy cream for whipping

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Whip cream and sugar with whisk attachment in an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. 

3/4 cup fresh raspberries, (sweetened with 1 tablespoon sugar, optional)

Chocolate frosting

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 cups sifted confectioners sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 to 4 Tablespoons hot water

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

Blend sugar with melted butter, vanilla, and chocolate.  Stir in hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until proper consistency.

I wake up early every day, whether I need to or not.  That’s just my body clock. 

But I can’t really start the day until I’ve had my second cup of coffee.  I love my coffee, and have since I began drinking it in college.

(I’m so thrilled that the recent health pundits have been touting the benefits of caffeine!  Whew!!!)

Although I do love croissants, muffins, scones, danish pastries (especially cheese), and all kinds of coffee cakes along with a cup of coffee I really try to avoid them and have something healthier for breakfast.  

Although I may cave later in the day I can get through breakfast most days without succumbing to those high carb sugary cravings.

Not so this past Sunday morning.  For some time now I have had visions of sugarplums in the form of coffeecakes dancing in my head. 

And this Sunday I adamantly announced to my husband that I was making a coffee cake for breakfast! That’s it…just coffee cake, my coffee, and the Sunday paper, and I would savor it guilt free.

I found the perfect coffee cake to accomplish this.  It is from Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman’s blog.

It is called The Best Coffee Cake.  Ever.
And it is.        

See for yourself.

Just don’t make a habit of it.

The Best Coffee Cake.  Ever.  (from The Pioneer Woman’s Blog)

(16 servings)

Ingredients

For the Cake:

1 and 1/2 stick butter, softened (I used unsalted)

2 cups scant sugar

3 cups, flour, sifted

4 teaspoons powder

1 teaspoon salt  (I used kosher salt)

1 and 1 and 1/4 cup whole milk  (didn’t have whole milk so I used 1 cup non-fat milk and 1/4 cup half and half.  It worked)

3 whole egg whites, beaten until stiff

For the Topping:

1 and 1/2 stick butter, softened (unsalted, again)

3/4 cups flour

1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar ( I used light brown, dark brown would be okay, too)

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 and 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat egg whites and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar.  Add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined.  Don’t overbeat.

Fold in beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula.

Spread in a well-greased 9x13 baking pan.  A cake pan with higher sides would be best.

In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until  crumbly. 

Sprinkle all over the top.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until no longer jiggly.  Serve warm.  Delicious!

Our good friends from our “Chicago Days” who now live in Rhode Island spent the night with us on their way down to Florida yesterday.  It was so wonderful to spend some time with them. 

They were a  part of a close knit group of friends we had who, like us, were all transplanted to the Windy City from the east coast in the 70’s. We were all beginning our own families at this time, and before long we became family to each other filling the void that living far from one’s roots can create.

So we celebrated holidays and birthdays together, formed a gourmet club, had play dates for our kids, went apple picking, pumpkin picking, and strawberry picking, and the dads even took the kids on camping trips (without the moms).

As is life, eventually we all found ourselves relocating, many of us back to the east coast, but all to different cities.

But those were days we cherish, and no doubt the memories of those good times for our children (now adults, and some with their own children), have impacted their lives.

As luck would have it,  it was also my husband’s birthday yesterday, and what better way to spend it than with good friends!

I made a birthday dinner of Greek Chicken and Potatoes, Greek Style Green Beans and Tomatoes, and a Greek Salad, all of which was gluten free as our friend must adhere to this diet. 

While dinner was not challenging at all, I was not so confident about making my husband’s favorite chocolate birthday cake with a gluten free twist. 

I confess I have never made a gluten free cake other than the sponge cakes I make at Passover which are gluten free by nature since I only use potato starch in them, and an occasional flourless chocolate cake.

But I wanted this to be a real birthday cake, 2 layers with a special filling between the layers, and a decadently rich chocolate glaze. 

When I found a bag of gluten free flour at Trader Joe’s I thought I just might be able to pull off a gluten free birthday cake worth celebrating.

  I decided to follow the recipe for my chocolate cake, substituting the gluten free flour for the cake flour called for. 

A Chocolate Cake That’s Got It All

Butter, for coating cake pans

2 cups sugar

1 and 3/4 cups cake flour      1 and 3/4 cups gluten free flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, preferably Dutch process

1 teaspoon instant coffee ( I used instant espresso powder)

3/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

14 tablespoons (13/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, but not hot

2 (8-inch) cake pans

Directions

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Generously grease the cake pans with butter and dust with flour.  (I prefer to line the bottom of the pans with buttered parchment as well to prevent any sticking).

Whisk sugar, flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt in a large bowl; set aside.

Place cocoa and coffee in a medium bowl.  Whisk in 3/4 cup boiling water to form a smooth paste.  Stir in sour cream and vanilla and set aside.

With a hand  or electric mixer in  medium bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks.  Without cleaning the beaters, mix melted butter into dry ingredients until mixture is smooth.  Immediately add cocoa mixture, and beat until batter is smooth, 2-3 minutes.  Carefully fold egg whites into batter until just incorporated.

Divide batter evenly between pans and bake until a skewer inserted into center comes out with wet crumbs, 30-35 minutes.  Remove from oven, and let cakes sit in pans to cool slightly, about 5 minutes.  Invert each cake onto a plate, then onto a cooling rack. 

For the filling I whipped up some heavy cream into which  I folded some frozen (partially thawed) raspberries, making it a pretty shade of pink, and then covered the whole cake with a rich chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Fudge Glaze

1/4 cup (60ml) water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 ounces (170g) sweet cooking chocolate, broken into pieces

1/2 cup confectioners, sugar (2 ounces, 55g)

1 and 1/2 tablespoons dark rum (or Chambord Liqueur)

Pinch of salt

Bring water and butter to boil in a small saucepan.  Keep at simmer until needed.

Metal Blade:  Pulse the chocolate with confectioners’ sugar 5 times, then process continuously until chocolate is as fine as sugar.  With machine running, pour water and butter through the feed tube and process until chocolate is melted, stopping once to scrape the work bowl.  Add the rum or Chambord and salt and process for 5 seconds.

With the remaining glaze (I made 1 and 1/2 x the recipe) I decorated the top of the cake with a pastry tip.  Allow the glaze to chill a bit to thicken it enough to do this.

Some raspberries for the finishing touch, and I would say it was a delicious success!

And by what was left I think you might agree.

I’m now a believer that gluten free doesn’t have to be taste free!

The classic fruitcake has been the brunt of many jokes.  The often ridiculed cake popular at Christmas is typically a heavy, dense, overly sweet cake laden with artificially colored candied green and red cherries as well as other fruits and nuts.  It has usually been soaked in rum or some other liqueur.

Supposedly, Johnny Carson poked fun at this holiday dessert on the Tonight Show years ago  when he said that there really is only one fruitcake that gets passed from family to family!

I must say I’m not a fan, and don’t know many who are except for my father-in-law who always seemed to enjoy a piece of fruitcake.  To this day I’m fairly certain it was the rum he really liked, and the cake was just the vehicle!

When I saw this recipe for a White Fruitcake in the Washington Post last week I decided this was a fruitcake I could love.

It is a recipe from the southern cook Nathalie Dupree.

One of her editors at Atlanta Magazine gave her this recipe years ago, after she revealed herself to be anti-fruitcake.  She fell in love with it.  “This one will be eaten, not re-gifted, ” she says.

I wholeheartedly agree.

This is a light cake loaded with dried apricots, crystallized ginger, golden raisins, toasted pecans and the zest of fresh orange and lemon.  I added some dried pineapple to the fruits called for, and was happy with the results.

Flavored with vanilla, almond and lemon extract the batter has a heavenly scent signalling the yumminess to come. 

Besides tasting delicious, it’s also pretty to look at…here’s the recipe…

White Fruitcake

(adapted from “Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking,” by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart)

MAKE AHEAD:  The cakes  can be tightly wrapped and stored at room temperature for 3 days or frozen for up to 4 months. 

Ingredients

2 and 1/2 cups golden raisins (I used only 2 cups of raisins)

1 cup dried apricots, cut into quarters (about 7 ounces)

1 cup chopped crystallized ginger

1/2 cup dried pineapple, cut into small pieces

2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose or cake flour (I used cake flour)

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

2 cups chopped pecans, toasted and cooled (see Note)

Steps

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Spray two 4 and 1/2 -by-8 and 1/2-inch loaf pans with nonstick oil-and-flour spray.  Line with 2 pieces of parchment or waxed paper, one cut to the width of the pan and the other to the length of the pan plus 4 inches of overhang to use as handles to lift the loaf from the pan.

Toss the raisins, apricots, pineapple and ginger in 1/4 cup of flour until evenly coated.

Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces, add them to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low speed until soft, about 3 minutes.  Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 or 2 minutes, until the mixture looks like lightly whipped cream.

Reduce the speed to low and add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, gradually increasing the speed and beating until well whipped, 5 or 6 minutes. 

Combine the eggs and extracts in a small bowl, then add to the butter mixture in four additions, beating for 1 minute on medium-low speed after each addition. 

The mixture might look curdled, but all will be well.

Sift the remaining 2 and 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder and salt onto a piece of waxed paper.  With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture to the batter, beat well, then add the remaining flour mixture and beat.

Once the flour is incorporated, use a flexible spatula to fold in the grated zests,

then the nuts, and dried fruit.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.  Tap each pan once against the counter to remove any air bubbles, and smooth the tops.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 and 1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  (The cakes will be white and might give the appearance of being underbaked even though they are not.)

Transfer the pans to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. 

Carefully run a knife around the inside of the pans to loosen the cakes.  Use the parchment paper handles to remove the cakes from the pans and transfer them to the wire rack.  Remove the parchment or waxed paper and cool the cakes thoroughly.

Note:  to toast pecans, spread them on a baking sheet and place in a 350 degree oven, shaking the sheet occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes.  Watch carefully; nuts burn quickly.

If you are looking for a simple coffee cake recipe that will also satisfy your chocolate cravings this one’s for you.

The recipe comes from a book I purchased from a good friend and co-worker years ago when I was working at The Chef’s Catalog store in suburban Chicago.

The book called “Specialties of the House…And More” was compiled by the North Suburban Guild of Children’s Memorial Medical Center, of which my friend was an active member, and all proceeds from the sales went to the hospital.

I have many books of this sort in my cookbook collection, all fund raising tools from worthwhile groups or organizations sharing recipes while at the same time promoting a good cause.

These books, usually soft cover, are comprised of favorite recipes from home cooks that are simple, use relatively few ingredients, and are easily followed even by the novice cook. I contributed a few of my recipes to this book as I recall.

Anyway, this coffee cake is the first cake I baked after we moved to Maryland from Chicago in 1988 while we were staying in a small apartment waiting for our new house to be completed.

My husband’s aunt and uncle who were our only family living somewhat near us (they were in Virginia), and whom we were especially close with had come over for brunch.

That apartment kitchen was extremely tiny, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from entertaining.  As I recall it was a brunch of bagels and lox, fresh veggies and fruit, but hey, it isn’t brunch without some kind of coffee cake or sweet rolls, right?

So with my limited resources at the time (most of our things were in storage),  I found this recipe in one of the few cookbooks I had decided to keep handy.

It turned out to be really good, and of course quick and easy.

For some reason the other day I came across this book and looked up the recipe and there it was.  With a bag of chocolate chips in my freezer with only about a cup remaining that’s all the motivation I needed to bake this cake.

It is a deliciously moist  cake complete with a chocolatey marbleized streak and a nutty, chocolatey crunch on top.  But I actually believe it tastes even better because of the sweet memories I have attached to it.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

(contributor, Evelyn Sugarman, The Best Specialties of the House…And More, by The North Suburban Guild of Children’s Memorial Medical Center in Chicago)

1/4 pound of butter, softened (I used unsalted)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling

1/2 cup nuts (I used walnuts)

1/2-3/4 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs.  Sift flour with baking powder and baking soda.  Add alternately with sour cream.  Stir in vanilla.

Pour 1/2 of batter into greased 10-inch tube pan.  Add half of the filling and marbleize with a knife.  Cover with the rest of the batter and top with remaining filling.  Marbleize slightly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.  Cool; sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar if you like.

The Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow evening at sunset.  As is traditional we usher in the new year with a delicious meal abundant with all kinds of sweet dishes symbolizing our wish for a sweet year ahead.

As I’ve been busily preparing all week for this special dinner I realized that much of the menu I will be serving  I have already blogged in previous posts over the past couple years since I began Dinner at Sheila’s.

It is the food of my youth, the food my mother cooked and baked for the many New Year dinners she hosted while I was growing up.

And it has been the food I’ve continued to make at the holidays since I first hosted the New Year dinners at my home many years ago.

It is the food everyone expects and wants to eat.  The nostalgia we feel and the memories we share of such past holiday meals only serve to whet our appetites for those familiar tastes once again.

Although I try to add something new each year there are some things that never change.  So this year again we will have..chopped liver, chicken soup, matzoh balls, brisket, apple noodle kugel, honey cakes, and apple cake.

I’ll break with tradition and serve roasted fingerling potatoes with carrots, fennel, and onions, and this delightful plum cake pictured above.

This Crunchy-Topped Whole Wheat Plum Cake is a recipe from Melissa Clark which had been featured in the New York Times a couple of years ago that I recently spotted online.

It’s in keeping with serving sweets for a sweet new year, but with the addition of whole wheat flour it reinforces that familiar greeting at this time of year to not only have a sweet year, but a healthy and happy one as well.

Who knows, this could become a new tradition!

Crunchy-Topped Whole Wheat Plum Cake (Melissa Clark)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more to grease the pan

1 and 1/2 pounds plums, (several varieties if you want), pitted and sliced

1 and 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons Demerara or Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

Place the plum slices in a bowl and gently toss with 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour. 

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining whole-wheat flour with the baking powder and kosher salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together 1/2 cup butter, sugar, Cognac or brandy and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and beat until thoroughly combined.

Add half the flour mixture and beat until just combined.  Pour in the milk and continue beating, scraping down the bowl as necessary.  Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Scrape the dough into the pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

Scatter on the plums in an even layer.  Sprinkle the sugar on top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving, with whipped cream if you like.  Yield:8 servings

On a recent trip to Costco I spotted a huge carton of beautiful Meyer lemons.

These fragrant lemons, a cross between a lemon and a mandarin or regular orange, bear a deep yellow hue with an orange tint when ripe.

Meyer lemons are sweeter and less acidic than the lemons we usually buy.

They are not always available, so when I find them, especially in bulk as most items at Costco are sold, I buy them. 

And look forward to exploring the many options of what to make with them once I get them home.

Last December I bought a carton of Meyer lemons, again at Costco, and turned them into a fantastic Meyer Lemon Curd which I shared with friends as holiday gifts.

This time I decided after much research to bake this Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake. 

For some time now I have been curious about cakes I’ve read about that include olive oil rather than butter in the ingredients, unsure whether it would be to my liking.

Somehow the combination of Meyer lemons with a fruity olive oil and the simplicity of this single layer cake made in a springform pan won me over. 

It produces  a deliciously moist crumb with lemony tones that don’t overwhelm balanced with just the right amount of sweetness.

Served plain with a cup of tea or coffee, or fancied up with some fresh berries this is a cake I will definitely be making again.  Hope you will try it!

Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake ( adapted from Healthy Green Kitchen’s Blog)

(serves 8)

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of sea salt

2 teaspoons Meyer lemon zest

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup fruity olive oil

For the syrup:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice

For the icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9-inch springform pan with olive oil, and flour the bottom of the pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add the lemon zest and mix well.

In a large bowl, combine the sour cream, sugar, eggs and olive oil.  Whisk well to combine.  (You can use an electric mixer with the whisk attachment or whisk by hand).  Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk again to combine.

Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center cones out clean.  To avoid overbaking check it after 25 minutes.

Cool the cake for 15 minutes and then remove the sides of the pan. 

Prick the cake all over with a fork, whisk the syrup ingredients together, and then drizzle the syrup all over the cake, allowing they syrup to sink into all those fork holes.

Allow the cake to cool for another 30 minutes.

Then whisk the icing ingredients together.  Using an offset spatula or a spoon. cover the top of the cake with the icing, allowing it to run down the sides somewhat if you like.

Serve the cake immediately or wait 45 minutes to an hour and the glaze will harden.

Enjoy!

The bundt cake above is the perfect vehicle for the summer berries in abundance now at the farmer’s markets, produce stands and local groceries.  In celebrating the bounty of summer in the menu I served last week (or in the case of the gazpacho, almost served), this was the dessert that made the cut. 

 The  raspberries, blueberries and blackberries weave their way throughout the moist yet light cake which is blanketed in a sweet yet tart lemony glaze.  This Triple Berry Summer Buttermilk Bundt Cake would be just as perfect served for brunch as for dessert, or served with a cup of tea or glass of lemonade.  Go crazy!

Triple Berry Summer Buttermilk Bundt (from www.smittenkitchen.com)

For The Cake

2 and 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt

1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

3 large eggs, room temperature (extra large worked for me)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 cups mixed berries (I used 4 cups)

For The Glaze

2 cups powdered or confectioner’s sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, very, very soft

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan, either with butter or a nonstick spray.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk or sift 2 and 1/2 cups flour (leaving 2 tablespoons back), baking powder and salt together and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and impossible fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Then, with the mixer on low speed, add your eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition.  Beat in vanilla, briefly.  Add 1/3 flour mixture to batter, beating until just combined, followed by half the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk and remaining flour mixture.

Scrape down from time to time and don’t mix any more than you need to. 
In the bowl where you’d mixed your dry ingredients, toss the berries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. 

With a silicon spatula, gently fold the berries into the cake batter.  The batter will be very thick and this will seem impossible without squishing the berries a little, but just do your best and remember that squished berries do indeed make for a pretty batter.

Spread cake batter-you might find it easier to plop it in the pan in large spoonfuls, because it’s so thick- in the prepared baking pan and spread the top smooth.  Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, rotating the cake 180 degrees after 30 minutes (to make sure it browns evenly). 

The cake is done as soon as a tester comes out clean of batter. 

Set cake pan on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, before inverting onto a serving platter to cool the rest of the way.  Cool completely.

Once cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth and very, very thick.  (If you’d like it thinner, add more juice, but I like the thick drippiness of it, seen below.)  Spread carefully over cake, letting it trickle down the sides when and where it wishes.  Serve at once or keep it covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.

 Mother’s Day began for me on Friday when my husband thoughtfully brought home some gorgeous orange tulips.  I have become partial to orange flowers lately, and tulips are one of my favorites.  He figured I might as well enjoy them for the whole weekend, and he figured right.

Then on Saturday I received a floral delivery from my boys on the west coast.

They have been sending me flowers for Mother’s Day for several years.   I think they know by now that if I can’t have them with me on Mother’s Day (they were both here last year for a fried chicken , grilled baby back ribs, and  blackberry cobbler dinner), then sending me flowers will definitely lift my spirits.

They have even had flowers delivered to Crate and Barrel where I worked part time for a few years. I invariably forgot to request Mother’s Day off early enough and ended up having to work!  I can’t tell you how surprised, touched, and proud I was when amidst the flurry of customers and sales staff in walked the delivery guy carrying a huge floral arrangement and asking for me!!!

This year’s arrangement was just perfect!  Hydrangeas and roses in a color palette that I love!  It’s incredible that these men I’ve raised who have zero interest in flowers have pretty much figured out to a tee what I love!

When I woke up on Mother’s Day I decided to make my Mom’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake.  This was one of the cakes she made quite often.  It ‘s a  quick butter cake,  moist and delicious with a cinnamon sugar and walnut ribbon running through it.

It seemed so right to me that on Mother’s day I bake one of my mom’s cakes.  We had it for breakfast along with smoked salmon, bagels , veggies, fruit , and my husband’s fresh squeezed orange juice.

After breakfast… an afternoon of gardening with my sister (who had come to visit for the weekend),  dinner out at a favorite restaurant, and two special calls from the west coast made for a pretty wonderful Mother’s Day.

Mom’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Makes one 9 by 13 inch pan

Cream together in an electric mixer:

1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 and 1/2 cup sugar

3 extra large eggs

Whisk together in a separate bowl the dry ingredients:

3 cups flour ( scooped and leveled carefully in measuring cup)

1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

In a separate small bowl combine:

1 and 1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream and vanilla to the creamed mixture, stirring with the electric mixer after each addition, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Combine just until moistened. 

Topping

Mix together :

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Butter and flour a 13 by 9 inch baking pan. Put half the batter in the pan.

Sprinkle generously with half the sugar-cinnamon mixture.

Add the remaining batter, and spread carefully to cover.

Sprinkle the top with the remaining sugar cinnamon mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or till the top bounces back when gently touched, and a cake tester comes out clean.