almond layer cake.

Last week, we celebrated M.'s birthday. Yay! 

Yes, that's an exclamation point at the end. It was uncooperative.

This cake was GOOD. How could it not be, with an entire tube of almond paste in it? (Erm, except for the bits that I pinched off and ate. Couldn't resist.) It's also a white cake, so instead of having whole eggs in it, it has 10 egg whites. Yes. 10. In other words, this is definitely not an everyday cake; for a celebration, however, it works. I'd like to try it with other kinds of jam for the filling, and I'd consider scaling the whole cake down slightly. Overall, if you like almonds or are celebrating someone who does, hunt down the almond paste, separate the 10 eggs, and give this a try.

Almond Layer Cake
adapted from smittenkitchen 

4 1/2 c. cake flour (*same thing: 4 c. all-purpose flour + 8 tbsp. corn starch)
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
2/3 c. (7 oz.) almond paste
scant 2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. almond extract
2 1/2 sticks (10 oz.) unsalted butter, room temp.
10 egg whites
1 1/2 c. whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter 3 8" or 9" cake pans; line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.

2. In medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. Place almond paste and sugar in bowl of stand mixer (with paddle attachment); start at low speed to break up paste, then increase speed to med. and mix for 2 mins., until paste is incorporated into the sugar in small particles.

4. Add butter and almond extract and beat well; beat in egg whites in thirds, beating just long enough to incorporate after each addition. (Scrape down sides of bowl regularly to make sure everything is mixed in.)

5. Lightly add 1/3 of dry ingredients and fold in gently with rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in half of milk, then 1/3 more dry ingredients, then rest of milk, then rest of dry ingredients, folding each time until just mixed in. (Don't overmix!)

6. Divide batter evenly among 3 pans. Bake ~25 mins. (a few minutes less if you're using 9" pans), until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cakes in their pans for 10 mins., then turn out onto wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.


Bittersweet Whipped Frosting
7 oz. bittersweet chocolate (*I used 4 oz. semi-sweet + 3 oz. unsweetened)
1 c. heavy cream
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.

1. Melt chocolate with cream in double boiler, whisking regularly. When chocolate is mostly melted, remove from heat and whisk vigorously, until well-blended. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture has cooled and thickened slightly, about 20 mins.

2. Place butter in bowl of stand mixer (with whisk attachment) and beat at med. speed until light and fluffy. Add chocolate mixture and whip at med. speed until lighter and fluffy, about 3 mins. (Don't let it go for much longer than that, as the frosting will start to separate.) 


Assembly
1 c. raspberry jam (*I used seeded, which was just fine. I'm looking forward to experimenting with apricot preserves or even with marmalade.)

1. Place 1 cake on plate or cardboard round; slip strips of wax paper under the edges to keep the base clean.

2. Spread 1/2 c. jam over top of cake, leaving 1/4" border. Repeat with second layer, then place third cake on top.

3. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. (Mine was so soft that I didn't bother with a crumb layer or with making a really smooth surface. If you're going to pipe decorations, you'd need to let it sit for at least 15 mins. first.) I piped the letters with about 1 c. of white chocolate chips melted with about 1 1/2 tbsp. heavy cream.

cucumber salad and spicy cornbread.

Dear friends, it's summer. Or, more accurately, and with apologies to any of you not on an academic schedule, it's my summer. The field exam is well in the rearview mirror, classes have ended, grades are in, and I have a season of research and writing in front of me. [No, this isn't a picture of my reading list. Those are cucumbers. I can tell the difference - must mean that I've learned something!]


It's also a new cooking season, one that coincides perfectly with two new additions to my cookbook shelf: Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty (a gift from the thoughtful C.) and Super Natural Every Day, by Heidi Swanson of 101Cookbooks. Both are gorgeous and inspiring, and I've been settling down with them as pleasure reading. Total cookbook-love-at-first-sight. Especially as more produce slowly makes its appearance on the farmers' market tables, these will definitely keep me happy and busy all summer.

First up, a cucumber-ginger salad to accompany J.'s feast of lemon-thyme salmon and couscous with chives and peas, topped off with M.'s decadent chocolate layer cake. (We're a well-fed bunch.) This salad was fantastic: light, zingy, and refreshing. Plus, you know how I feel about any opportunity to slice fruits/veggies paper-thin.


I also made this cornbread from smittenkitchen. I'd never made cornbread before - so easy! And so tasty! I searched high and low for the aleppo pepper recommended and couldn't find it, so I substituted a little bit of paprika, cayenne, and red pepper flakes. (The next day, I saw aleppo pepper at Williams-Sonoma - go figure - so eventually I'll invest and give this another shot.)



Cucumber-Ginger Salad
adapted slightly from Plenty

Dressing
3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. canola oil [*or sunflower oil, which I didn't have on hand]

Salad
1 small red onion, sliced paper-thin
1 1/2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced 1/8" thick
1 tsp. Maldon (or kosher) salt
2 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely sliced
4-6 small cucumbers (~1 1/4 lb.; Kirby cucumbers worked beautifully), peeled in stripes
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
3 tbsp. chopped parsley

Make dressing: whisk together all ingredients in medium bowl. Add sliced red onion, combine well, and set aside for about an hour.


Place ginger, salt, and garlic in mortar and pound well with pestle (fun!) until crushed but not yet paste-like. Add to bowl with onion and dressing; stir well.


Cut cucumbers into thin - but not paper-thin, about 1/8" - slices. (If your cucumbers are larger, you might want to halve them as well.) Add cucumber to bowl, along with sesame seeds and parsley. Stir and let sit for 10 mins.


Stir again before serving, tipping out a little bit of the extra liquid.



Spicy Cornbread
Adapted slightly from smittenkitchen (original from Red Rooster Harlem)

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. yellow medium-ground cornmeal
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. paprika [*I tried sweet Hungarian paprika - yum!]
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 c. sour cream
1/3 c. buttermilk
2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F; butter non-stick loaf pan.

Whisk together dry ingredients (through salt) in large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.


Stir wet into dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake 25-30 mins., until toothpick in center comes out clean.