Category: Pastry

One Hundred Cakes

It was a full morning of cake baking in my parish kitchen this morning. The Pastor and I mixed and baked 100 Sarah Lee box cakes in preparation for the big Oktoberfest the church is hosting this weekend. The irony is that the parish is mostly Latino now, yet the congregation (which is variously Mexican, Cuban, Argentine and Colombian) has jumped on the Oktoberfest bandwagon with true German gusto.

This is our celebration! We are Germans! the pastor proclaimed in a heavy Puerto Rican accent this past Sunday, and a cheer went up as various parishioners stood up to volunteer their time for the cause. OK…Pablo llevará los bratwurst…Ernesto invitará la banda de polka…

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Apfelkuchen Recipe

This is based on a recipe from a reader’s Oma — I’m not saying whose so as to protect Reader X from a little old lady’s wrath. An apple kuchen recipe like this is properly called a “versunken apfelkuchen” because the apples are immersed into the batter. I like the presentation with apple halves, but you can slice the apples and arrange them any way you wish. You’ll need:

2 pounds apples — a firm, sweet apple like Golden Delicious
juice of 1 lemon
9 ounces (scant 1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking power
½ teaspoon salt
5 ounces (10 tablespoons) butter, softened
8 ounces (1 cup + 1 tablespoon) sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest of 1/2 a lemon
10 ounces (1 1/4 cups) milk

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Three Layers, One Pan

Reader Erin writes:

I have a question about layer cakes. I am baking a three-layer cake, but I have only one pan. Is it bad to let the batter sit while each layer is in the oven? Or will the cakes turn out fine? The alternative is to divide the recipe into thirds, and only mix one third at a time, but that might be tricky.

Hey Erin! It’s a less-than-ideal situation, no question. However if the leavening is baking powder (versus baking soda) you’ll have a better chance of the last layer coming out alright. Double acting baking powder is called “double acting” for a reason. One action starts to kick in when the batter is moistened, the other doesn’t start to happen until the batter is heated.

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Cake Syrup Q

Reader Christine writes:

I have been reading that invert sugar preserves moisture in cakes. Which brings me to my question: Do you make/use your own invert sugar in cakes? For most tortes that I make, I use a basic “sponge” I guess you would call it in English. I use only flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, a little lemon zest sometimes, and eggs—separated—no hot water bath mixing. I have a hard time keeping the sponge layer moist, so I’m curious about what you do to achieve satisfactory moisture in a such a layer cake.

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Next Up: Apfelkuchen

I made a pledge to several readers that I’d get into some German apple bakery this Fall. Apfelkuchen is one of the recipes I promised, so I figure, let’s get to it! Now that my Dog Days of Summer Savory Baking Festival is over, it seems like a fruitful direction (no pun intended). Recipe submissions […]

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Making Torta di Bietola

Though this Italian pie is made with Swiss chard (“bietola”), I should point out that the general approach I’ve laid out here can be used with a wide variety of greens (spinach, broccoli rabe, etc.). Or you can banish the vegetables entirely, add more cheese, diced ham and/or Italian deli meats and you’ll have a torta di pasqua, an Italian Easter pie.

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More Cast Iron Q’s

Reader Stephanie writes:

Two questions for you. Is cast just cast, or is some cast really better than others? I’ve just always gone with the standard lower budget brand, both because I am wary of all things name-brand and over-priced, and because I don’t ‘get’ the enamel on the exterior since I do all of my cooking on the interior of the pan.

I remember a few years ago a friend of mine (a lawyer and I’m a teacher, so clearly different tax brackets) was worried about her young son being anemic. I kept telling her to cook with a cast iron skillet and she kept saying it wouldn’t be worth the expense. Obviously we were talking about different cast iron skillets, but it also made me wonder if there is some information available on how much iron actually leaches into the food.

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