Serendipitous Saturday Brings You Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Quick Caramel Glaze

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back for the weekend (I know you missed me!!) and I'm not deterred in the slightest after that pie fail. I have another book I bought as a giveaway and decided I needed one, too. 

I let Ana choose which cake she wanted to make and she chose Brown Sugar Pound Cake with glaze. Hm. Not what I would have picked, but I was game! Preheat the oven at 325F and mix together in a bowl and set aside:

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

(I like this picture. It wasn't raining, can you tell? My little prism is casting rainbows!)

You'll need:
3 sticks butter
2 3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (eek, I'm almost out!)
1 cup milk

Oh, look! Rainbow bright! Ok, not quite, but I thought it was cute. His expression says, "Mama, you're killing me softly with this whole rainbows and butterflies stuff."

Yes, mothers are annoyingly bright and cheerful. We should be more down to earth, logical, cut and dried. He was right... Except, when I wasn't watching, I caught him talking to Thor.

And then a kiss for good measure! I mean, really! I hardly get kisses and THOR gets a smooch?

Anyway, beat butter in the mixer until fluffy. (For some reason, I only have one picture of Thor in action. Perhaps jealousy...)
When the butter is fluffy, add the brown sugar 1/3 at a time, then all of the white sugar. When that's mixed, add the flour, but only half. When it's incorporated, add half the milk. This is like the dump cake recipe that needed to be alternated. When the flour and milk are in, pour into a greased bunt pan, or two greased loaf pans.
After about an hour and ten minutes, check to see if the top is spongy when touched, and a toothpick comes out clean.
Set it on a wire rack for 30 minutes, and then carefully invert.

OK, I have to include this picture. Makes me laugh! He was inhaling deeply over the warm pound cake. I must look exactly like this, eyes rolling back into my head and all.

This is his "I'm ready for cake" face.

But we still had to make the glaze. So the cake was left to cool on a platter while we whipped up the glaze.

Melt one stick of butter and one cup light brown sugar on low heat until combined. Stir for five minutes, until it's smooth, not gritty. Add a 1/2 cup evaporated milk and bring to a boil. Take it from the heat and add 4 cups of confectioner's sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.
(I have to say, this made A LOT of frosting/ glaze. Even my kids, who love frosting, barely made a dent in this. I may have to make cinnamon rolls on Sunday to use up some of this. So, maybe half the recipe? I think it would still be more than enough.)
  Anyway, after the powdered sugar is added, stir or whip (I used an egg beater) to blend it until it lost some of its sheen and turned thick.

Ta-dah! A bucket of Caramel Glaze! We'll never do without again!

So, hubby was putting up trim in the living room and I invited him into the kitchen for a cake date.
Isn't that sweet?
Mmm-hmmmm, we nibbled our cake and drank our coffee with pinkies outstretched while kids bumped into our knees and toddlers pulled at the table cloth. If we ignored the towering pile of dishes (strangely, he was really good at that) and the steaming stove, it was almost romantic!

Ahhhh, nothing says togetherness like cake.

The glaze set up almost immediately so it didn't run all over the plate, but I was watching!

Come on over, Serendipitous Saturday folks and grab a piece! There is a lot left over! Not as much as the glaze, but you can take some of that home with you when you go. Like Amish friendship bread, but sweeter and you don't even have to bake it.

And this is a gratuitous shot I took of the moon tonight. Isn't it lovely? I always ehard about the man in the moon, but my husband says in his country they say 'el conejo', which is the rabbit. See? He's sort of standing up right, with his two ears to the right? Yeah, me either...

Banana Cream Pie.... or maybe not.

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a delicious recipe for banana cream pie I got from a fun book. Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies has all the old favorites, along with quite a few I've never heard of, including a recipe for "weepless" meringue. (You know, it gets those little droplets of sugar water and it doesn't look as pretty. Apparently, you can fix that!)

I thought this book would be a fun giveaway on my blog but as soon as it showed up, Thor took it over. 

I could hear him mumbling to himself as the pages flipped by...

So, first of all, we need a banana. Ooooo, lookey here!

 It was sort of sunny... but sort of not. I was trying to get a good picture, and it started to rain. I'm not sure whether I like the before rain sun, or...

 ...if the sunny-while-raining picture is better. So, here they both are and you can choose.

 (You can see the reflection on the wall where the water was running down the window. I should have gone out to look for a rainbow, but I was determined to have PIE!)

 One banana, 3 cups whole milk, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 3 egg yolks, one cup sugar.

 Also, 1 TBS unsalted butter, 2 tsp vanilla. For the meringue four egg whites, 4 TBS sugar, and 1/4 tsp cream of tartar.

 Mix three egg yolks, corn starch, and one cup sugar.

This is my vintage pie tin and she's quite the chatterbox. When she and Edna get going, you wouldn't believe the stories she tells: being forgotten in the oven until she thought she'd melt, overflowing with bubbling berry juice and filling the house with smoke, left on the windowsill and being snatched away by thieves, sitting in the cool shelter of a pie safe.

 So, I filled Miss Pie Pantry (her nickname is "peaches" but I just can't call her that, she deserves more respect) with pie crust. Preheat the oven to 350F.

 I sliced the banana and lay it inside. Miss Pie kept trying to say something, but it was so muffled under all that dough. I was in a hurry, so I gave her a little pat and  just kept on...

 Now, bring the milk to a boil, and then add in the egg/corn starch/sugar mixture, cook 4 minutes. (I have to say it looked a little lumpy. Edna said I added everything when the milk was too hot. I made another batch since the little guys loved this custard so much, and it was much smoother the second time).

 After 4 minutes, remove from the heat and add the TB of butter ad the 2 tsp of vanilla. YUMMY. The kitchen smells so good!

 Pour into the crust like so. Miss Pie Pantry was still talking. She sounded sort of insistent. I resolved to get her out of the cupboard more often. She must be very lonely.

Whip the four egg whites with the 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, When soft peaks form, add the sugar one TB at a time. I think I could have whipped this a little longer.

Enlist small boy to spoon the meringue onto the pudding.

 Gentle, gently.

 Miss Pie Pantry was still making noises, but soon she was completely muffled under all that crust, banana, pudding, and meringue.

 (This is the second batch of vanilla pudding I made. I had to share this shot because, int he upper left hand corner, there is an EYE. Creepy, eh? This is what happens when you cook pudding in a house with six kids. Random photo-bombing will happen.) Anyway, of course Edna was right and this was MUCH smoother.

 Thirty minutes in the oven and the pie is done! Perfect!!!

Happy boy! He can't wait to eat the pie! But it has to cool in the fridge for 3-4 hours, so I tell him that tomorrow morning, we'll cut into it...

Except, that night, right around midnight... I cut into the pie. Just to check, you know. It was HORRIBLE!! How did this happen??? 

Once I'd cleared a space, Miss Pie Pantry informed me that I needed to BAKE THE CRUST FIRST. Oh.... that's what all the muffled yelling was about. Edna's bowls were rattling with laughter and even Thor let out a few low chuckles. 

Hm. I think it's the cookbook's fault. They should have highlighted that bit. And a bigger font.  I mean "prebaked" is such a small word and no wonder I missed it.

So, until nxt time my friends. I wish you success in the kitchen and remember to BAKE THE CRUST if you make this recipe.

Everything is Better in Texas, including the Espresso Kahlua Chocolate Cheesecake

Helllooooooo, Yankee Belle Cafe!

 The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got the most delicious recipe. I think the original title is Cappuccino Cheesecake, but I didn't think that was descriptive enough. That sounded a bit like a lightly flavored coffee. NOOOO, this is some seriously STRONG cheesecake. The original blog post where I found it is over on Smitten Kitchen. I think she said one might need to take a break and jog around the block a few times while consuming a slice. This isn't for the faint of heart! 

Now, before I get started, let me just say that my Texas friend Christalee was also trying out this recipe AT THE SAME TIME. I made that all caps because I said I was going to try it, and she said she would too. All is well and good, yes? But we're homeschooling moms and juggling households and writing and kids and appointments and hungry peeps, so when we SAY we're going to do something, it doesn't always mean RIGHT THIS MINUTE, or even sometime in the next week. But oddly enough, we actually ended up making the cheese cake almost simultaneously, two thousand miles apart. 

(Here she is with her handsome husband, Greg. Aren't they adorable? This was at something called a Denim and Diamonds themed Christmas party. I'd never heard of such a thing. I had to Google. Like with a foreign language. Google translate said it had nothin' so I went ahead and asked.... The answer is basically: BLING. And more BLING. But she took off her blinged out jacket for the pic, so just use your imagination.)

Anyway, so, I think we started making cheesecake-making noises on a Monday. And then I got distracted, and then I had to go shopping, and then someone ate some of the ingredients and then I had revisions and then I made something else and... finally, I got everything together. 

And this is only some of it. 

MMMMM. Gratuitous chocolate picture.

So, starting with the crust, as all good cheesecakes do: 

1 9-ounce box chocolate wafer cookies 

(I used graham crackers because I couldn't find any wafer cookies that came in chocolate. Apparently, Oregon is a vanilla wafer state.)

6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup  dark brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

7 tablespoons hot melted unsalted butter

 Crush the cookies and add in the brown sugar, butter, and chocolate. I used a tiny little grinder I have and almost killed it. A food processor would be dandy. Press into the bottom of the pan and push a few inches up the sides.

Uh oh. A lego criminal is scaling the side of the cheesecake pan!

 Now, there's a thick layer of ganache at the bottom of the cheesecake. (What is ganache? Heaven. that's all you need to know.)

1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
20 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup Kahlúa or other coffee-flavored liqueur
Melt the whipping cream and chocolate together, and add Kahlua.

Pour TWO CUPS of the ganache into the bottom of the cheesecake and let it chill for 30 minutes. (You'll need the reserve for the decorations.)

 Ok, now we're ready to assemble the filling. Preheat the oven to 350F.
Beat together the first three ingredients first, then add all the rest, one at a time, mixing well after each.

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder or coffee crystals
1 1/2 tablespoons espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons mild-flavored (light) molasses (all I could find was the normal stuff)
3 large eggs

 (Christalee used egg substitute and  everything worked just perfectly.)

 Here I am, holding up a spoon of cheesecake batter for Edna's approval. She said, "A few more minutes." So Thor kept a-going.
Wait, you don't remember who Thor is?
                                              
He's been working VERY hard to learn all the ins and outs of being a good mixer. Here, he's reading Edna's Sunbeam manual. See?  No bitter rivalry! Edna is the kind of mixer that will help you out when you need it.

 Here, she says the ganache is set and read for the cheesecake to be poured in!

 Mmmmmm...... Put the cheesecake on the middle rack and bake until browned at the edges, and moves just a little at the center, about one hour.

 Sour cream topping:

1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 Oooooh, looking pretty!

 Now leave it to cool for 15 minutes. Don't turn off the oven, we'll need it.

 Spread the sour cream mix on the top and pop back into the oven.

Bake until the topping is set, about 15 minutes more.

 Chill the cheesecake for about 3 hours. Now put the ganache into a piping bag or tool and decorate. Add espresso beans.

 Hm. Well, I wasn't really sure about this cheesecake. I admit I didn't wait the entire 3 hours. And the flavor was VERY strong.

Huh. Even worse. the kids were loving it, and I was thinking I'd wasted $25 on a cheesecake that tasted like a gingerbread cookie soaked in coffee.

So, I was whining to Christalee about the cheesecake. (Specifically, I said, "Don't make the cheesecake! BAD! BAD!")

But she was already started! We were living parallel lives. (Except one of us was a lot cooler because she was TEXAN. I think it makes a difference in the kitchen. It's a genetic thing. Something you pick up in the air or something. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I bet The Tex will back me up on this.)

 Can you believe this?? This is hers. Gorgeous, tall, not sloppy and oozing. (P.S. Note her cornflower blue mixer in the background. That's Alice Leavitt (that means 'baker', of course), but you can call her Alice for short. She and Thor have been having Skype dates. Thor doesn't talk much, but I don't think Alice minds.

 Another picture of perfection.

A slice, note the specks of espresso. Funny, I think Christalee had to take this at 3AM because every other attempt was marred by photo-bombing children. Mostly fingers and spoons but I did see one whole face headed in with the mouth wide open. I don't blame them. I would have elbowed her out of the way, too.

 Shot of the inside. No oozing. No mess. THIS is what happens when you make an uber-complicated recipe and you're Texan.
                                                

To be fair, I did let it chill overnight and tried it again. It was MUCH better the next day. Still not a flavor I was crazy about, but I tend to like my cheesecakes fruity, not chocolaty. As for everyone else, they devoured it. Gone in two days. 

OK, I hope you enjoyed this transnational bake-a-thon! And many thanks to Christalee for sharing her photos (especially the Denim and Diamonds one!). 

Until next time!