Plum Upside-Down cake

Yesterday, my one-year-old threw two meals on the floor and her shoe in the toilet. The highlight of my day was the company of friends and this Plum Upside-Down cake.

 

I copied the recipe from Alice Waters' lovely book The Art of Simple Food ages ago and finally got around to making it yesterday, at great expense to my sanity. As I beat the egg whites (my pet peeve), I told myself that this cake had better be worth it.

Well, it was. The cake was impossibly moist and tender, and while not exactly "easy", the cake is indeed "simple" as she says, and my favorite use so far for fresh plums. I used Santa Rosa plums from my parents' tree and Elephant Hearts from the Farmer's Market. I also used almond milk in place of whole milk as it was on hand, with great success.

Upside-Down Plum Cake

Adapted from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 c. brown sugar
3 Santa Rosa plums and 3 Elephant Heart Plums, pitted and cut into eighths, lengthwise
2 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/2 c. whole milk, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 c. granulated sugar
1 t. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350.

Melt the brown sugar and 1 stick butter in an 8-inch cast-iron skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the butter melts and starts to bubble. Let bubble for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Arrange the plums, in a ring around the outer edge. Working inward, make concentric circles with the plums until you fill up the pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl or in a stand mixer, beat the remaining 1 sick of butter to lighten. Add granulated sugar and cream until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.

When well mixed, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, starting and ending with one-third of the flour. Stir just until the flour is incorporated.

Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold one third of the egg whites into the batter and then gently fold in the rest. Pour the batter over the plums and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. (Mine cooked for 45 and came out perfectly).  Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a serving plate. 

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake - Revisited

 I attended a family reunion for my dad's side this weekend. My assignment was to make this lovely Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in Cast Iron Skillet. The recipe originally came from my Grandma through my aunt, and I have blogged about it before, but it came out SO much better this time around (as you can see). I like to think my photography skills are ever so slightly improved, and I edited the recipe to make it more clear.

I HIGHLY recommend using the Trader Joe's Vanilla Cake mix mentioned in the note. I'm not normally a Trader Joe's person, but this mix was amazing. It actually has flecks of vanilla bean (!!!) and no chemical junk in the ingredients. It made me wonder why Duncan Hines can't do something as simple and tasty with their mixes. But I digress! This cake is classic and fantastic- try it!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (in Cast Iron Skillet)

Trader Joe’s has a good vanilla cake mix that works as a substitute for the dry ingredients. Just mix  1/4 cup pineapple juice in with 3/4 cup milk in place of the 1 cup of milk it calls for.

Cake:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
5 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
One can pineapple slices in juice
Buttermilk (or sour milk made with lemon juice and milk works fine) plus juice from drained pineapple to make 1 1/4 cup liquid
Maraschino cherries, halved (optional)
Chopped nuts (optional)

Topping:
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar

Cake:
Cream white sugar and butter together. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Alternate adding the buttermilk/pineapple juice mixture and the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture until mixed without lumps.

Topping:
Put ½ cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar in a cast iron skillet. Heat on stove top over medium heat until bubbling. Then reduce heat while bubbling softly and thickening slightly, about 3 minutes total. Don’t burn the sugar/butter mixture. Turn off and lay drained pineapple slices decoratively on top. (Add cherries or nuts if desired.) Pour batter over slices. Bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes until done. Let cake rest for 10 minutes and invert cake. Leave upside down for a minute or so. Lift pan.

Apple Hill Cake

My good people: Today I realized that I have been holding out on you. Not intentionally, but more due to a lapse of memory. You see, I assumed that I had already shared with you my family's favorite recipe for apple cake, which is in my mind, the best ever. I have shared several other forays into the apple cake realm, but not the one recipe that our family always makes year after year.  This recipe is so well-loved, I assumed it was put on the blog long ago, but when I went to look it up today on the blog before using up the last of the apples I picked last month, I saw my folly.

 I shall correct this oversight immediately! To me, this will always be the king of apple cakes. It is impeccable in its simplicity, the instructions being easy enough for a child to make it. (I made it as a child many times myself!)

 In appearance, it is humble and unassuming, but the texture is sheer genius - crackly crisp on top with moist, juicy apple-laced cake underneath. The smell that fills your kitchen while it bakes, that spiced apple one - it is heaven on earth. Oh, and the name comes from the local Apple Hill farms that are a popular autumn destination. The farms sell little cookbooks and this is one of their signature recipes.

I made the cake tonight with whole wheat flour and it worked quite well. I also halved the recipe and baked for 40 minutes in a square baking dish.

Apple Hill Cake

Mix:
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs

Add:
4 c. diced apples (6 or 7)
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

Bake in a 9x13 greased pan at 350 for 40-60 minutes, when a tester inserted into the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Apple Custard Cake

Here's what I did with those neat apples I picked myself at Apple Hill: I made Apple Custard Cake. I got this recipe from an amazing blog by a girl named Brandi, better known as The Person Responsible For The Best Dessert I Ate Last Year at Seattle's Delancey.  She's an amazing chef, and she actually shares recipes for her creations on her blog. It's a beautiful thing! This particular recipe is basically from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table- tweaked a little.

Who doesn't want a simple apple cake this time of year, especially one that looks as gorgeous as this, with those tantalizing chunks of apple? I subbed about a teaspoon of real vanilla for the vanilla bean. I also don't own a food scale  and I am including my conversions as parenthetical notes. Feel free to drizzle with caramel sauce and top with whipped cream.

APPLE CUSTARD CAKE
From Look I Made That

3.75 oz AP flour (between 3/4 and 1 c.)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 lb 2 oz chopped apples (I used 4-5 apples)
2 large eggs, room temperature
6 oz sugar (3/4 c.)
1/2 vanilla bean
3 TBSP apple cider
4 oz unsalted butter, melted (1 cube)
unrefined sugar for sprinkling

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter an 8-inch springform cake pan and line it with parchment paper. Sprinkle unrefined sugar on the sides of the pan and tap it around.

- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl.

- In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until they’re foamy. Rub the vanilla bean seeds into the sugar and add to the eggs. Whisk until well blended. Whisk in the apple cider. Whisk in half the flour and when it is incorporated, add half the melted butter, followed by the rest of the flour and the remaining butter, mixing gently after each addition so that you have a smooth, rather thick batter. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the apples, turning the fruit so that it’s coated with batter. Scrape the mix into the pan and poke it around a little with the spatula so that it’s even. Sprinkle the top of the cake with unrefined sugar.

- Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 30 minutes.

- Carefully run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the springform pan. Allow the cake to cool until it is just slightly warm or at room temperature. If you want to remove the cake from the bottom of the springform pan, wait until the cake is almost cooled, then run a long spatula between the cake and the pan, cover the top of the cake with a piece of parchment, and invert it onto a rack. Carefully remove the bottom of the pan and turn the cake over onto a serving dish.

- Eat with a generous dusting of Maldon sea salt. And caramel and whipped cream if you’ve got it.

Fuyu Persimmon Bundt Cake

We had some friends come in from out of town and visit us this weekend. We made a Korean-themed dinner for them after learning that they enjoy Asian food, and finished off our feast with a not-Asian-at-all-but-still-delicious cake.
As a side note, I have had a canker sore on my tongue all week, which meant that I couldn't take a bite of food, chew, talk, or exist without mild to severe discomfort. And in case you're thinking about herpes, do note: a canker sore is not a contagious virus like a cold sore. But it sure does make life miserable.
The healing of said canker sore couldn't have come at a more welcome time, because it allowed me to fully enjoy (without pain!) the Fuyu Persimmon Bundt Cake we made with the persimmons we foraged and froze last month. Recipes for Fuyu persimmons were hard to come by, but this one (originally published in Sunset magazine in the 1970's) is a winner, so I want to share it with anyone else who has or will have a persimmon surplus on their hands.

This cake is my kind of dessert - old-fashioned, humble, unassuming, yet fabulous in an understated way. The warm spiced cake is marbled with moist chunks of fruit, raisins and nuggets of walnut. I added on a simple cream cheese frosting to dress it up a bit and it was a perfect conclusion to a January evening.

Fuyu Persimmon Bundt Cake

Grease and flour a bundt cake pan. Preheat oven to 350.

Blend 2 tsp. baking soda into 3 cups of chopped firm Fuyus. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup soft butter with 1 2/3 cups sugar. Add 2 eggs, 2 tsp. lemon juice, and 2 tsp. vanilla and beat until fluffy. Stir in Fuyu mix.

Sift together 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. ground cloves, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg. Stir flour into Fuyu mixture just until blended. Add 1 cup chopped walnuts and 3/4 cup raisins.

Pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 55 - 60 minutes or until toothpick tests clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Turn onto rack.

Pumpkin Citrus Cake

What I love about this cake:
- The colors look gorgeous on a platter - bright orange mandarins and ruby red pomegranate seeds set against the orange-flecked white frosting!
- The flavors are perfect for fall - citrus, pumpkin, and pomegranate!
- The cream cheese frosting is totally low-maintenance, and you don’t have to frost the sides of this cake, just the bottom and top layer.
- It’s light! But you can substitute whole eggs and milk if that doesn’t matter to you!
Note: This cake is best eaten the day it’s made, and does not travel well. The layers tend to slide... So enjoy at home for best results!

Pumpkin Citrus Cake
Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated fat-free milk
Cooking spray
3 cups sifted powdered sugar, divided
3/4 cup (6 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 cups mandarin oranges in light syrup, drained
1 cup pomegranate seeds (about 2)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F.
Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add pumpkin; beat well. Add egg substitute and vanilla; beat until well blended.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through nutmeg), stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Pour batter into 2 (9-inch) round cake pans coated with cooking spray; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.
Place 1 cup powdered sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add remaining powdered sugar and rind; beat until fluffy.
Place 1 cake layer on a plate. Spread 2/3 cup cream cheese frosting evenly over top of cake. Top with remaining cake layer; spread remaining cream cheese frosting over top, but not sides, of cake. Arrange orange slices in a ring around outer edge of top cake layer. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over center of top cake layer. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator.

Pear Cake

A friend requested the pear cake recipe I mentioned in my earlier post on pears. This may well be the most simple cake recipe I have ever made. I didn't take a picture because it went pretty quick... It's essentially a slightly crunchy, golden, round, flat cake with slices of moist fruit throughout. Very simple and very good. You also experiment with the fruit, substituting apples or whatever is in season.

Pear Cake

3 or 4 ripe juicy pears
Peel, core and cut into sixths or eighths

Cream:
1 stick butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Add:
2 large eggs, one at a time

Combine:
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Add to butter mixture

Spray an 8" springform pan with Pam. Spread the batter in it. Now, in a pinwheel pattern, press the slices of pear, peeled side up, into the batter. Cream in as many as you can. The more pears, the moister the cake will be.

Bake at 350 degrees until a skewer comes our clean, 45-60 minutes. (With this cake, it's better to underbake than overbake.)

Mother's Day Brunch

My sister-in-laws and I collaborated to serve a special Mother's Day Brunch for our mothers and grandmothers today as an expression of appreciation. I feel like it was an inspired idea; between the delicious food and the fun get-to-know-you game we played, it was a delightful bonding experience for all of us! Cheers to Chelsea for hosting.

What are you doing for your mother on May 9th (or before)?

The Orchid Table

The Rose Table

Lemon poppyseed bread with lemon curd, petit fours, pumpkin cookies, and assorted herbal teas

Top: Cucumber sandwiches; Bottom: Leek and Bacon Quiche

Fresh fruit plate and mixed greens

Lemon-Poppyseed Tea Cake

2 large lemons
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour two 9- x 5- x 3-inch metal loaf pans, knocking out any excess flour.

Finely grate enough zest from lemons to measure 2 teaspoons and squeeze enough juice to measure about 1/2 cup. Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter, 2 cups sugar, and zest until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low speed add flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until batter is combined well. Beat in poppy seeds and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and divide batter between loaf pans, smoothing tops. Bake loaves in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, about 1 hour.

While loaves are baking, in a small bowl stir together remaining lemon juice and remaining 1/2 cup sugar until sugar is dissolved.

Cool loaves in pans on a rack 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert loaves onto rack. Turn loaves right side up and pierce tops all over with a thin skewer. Repeatedly brush lemon glaze over tops of loaves until all of glaze is absorbed.

Cool loaves completely. Tea bread keeps, wrapped in wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days or, wrapped in foil and frozen, 1 month.

The Secret of the Best German Chocolate Cake

When I was a young girl, my father’s birthday meant Esther Stinchfield’s German Chocolate Cake. At that time, my dad was a bishop in our church and watched over the elderly widows as part of his duties. One sweet, energetic woman called Esther Stinchfield, then in her late 80's, never tired of expressing her appreciation for his help by making his favorite concoction for him each year for his birthday.

The cake she presented him with annually was not a typical German chocolate cake that would weigh one down; instead, it seemed to float in a heavenly manner down to your stomach where it would settle with a great deal of satisfaction. Outside, the cake was smothered in creamy white whipped cream frosting; inside, the moist double-layered cake contained a thick coconut pecan filling.

For years we wondered how she made it taste so good and begged her for the recipe, but she usually just smiled in response to our requests. Finally, when I was a teenager and she was in her 90's, I struck a deal with her. She had been in poor health, so I offered to clean her cute little house if she would teach me the ways of the German Chocolate Cake- and she agreed! I enthusiastically cleaned, then we made her cake step by step, side by side.

As it turned out, she was quite the little tiger and had been using boxed cake mix and canned frosting all those years! I still say her cake is the best - maybe it’s the frosting! The silky, light whipped cream (slightly sweetened with powdered sugar) balances out the dense filling so that overall cake is not too heavy. In recent years, I have learned that if I dot the top of the cake with walnut halves and sprinkle generously with toasted coconut, it makes an extremely impressive dessert. I made this cake last week for a co-worker’s birthday and everyone loved it. It reminded me to be grateful for that wonderful, giving woman who has since passed away. Thanks, Sister Stinchfield - for the "recipe".

My Grandma's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

My aunt passed on this family recipe to me, relating that her mother (my pateral grandmother) used to make this cake for her family of six kids. Ever since the same aunt bought me a deep cast-iron skillet for Christmas and gave me this heirloom recipe, I have been itching to make it.

This week finally I tried it out, using what I happened to have in my pantry, including a white cake mix. I know it would probably be about twice as good if I'd made it from scratch, but it was still tasty indeed.

The pineapple slices kind of slid around in the baking process and if you're wondering why I didn't add more fruit, it looked full before I added the batter! I think it would be fun to use cherries, nuts or coconut in addition to the pineapple. We just loved the thick, caramelized topping. Yum!

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Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (in Cast Iron Skillet)

Trader Joe’s has a good vanilla cake mix that works as a substitute for the dry ingredients. Just mix  1/4 cup pineapple juice in with 3/4 cup milk in place of the 1 cup of milk it calls for.

Cake:

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

5 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

One can pineapple slices in juice

Buttermilk (or sour milk made with lemon juice and milk works fine) plus juice from drained pineapple to make 1 1/4 cup liquid

Maraschino cherries, halved (optional)

Chopped nuts (optional)

Topping:

½ cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

Cake:

Cream white sugar and butter together. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Alternate adding the buttermilk/pineapple juice mixture and the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture until mixed without lumps.

Topping:

Put ½ cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar in a cast iron skillet. Heat on stove top over medium heat until bubbling. Then reduce heat while bubbling softly and thickening slightly, about 3 minutes total. Don’t burn the sugar/butter mixture. Turn off and lay drained pineapple slices decoratively on top. (Add cherries or nuts if desired.) Pour batter over slices. Bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes until done. Let cake rest for 10 minutes and invert cake. Leave upside down for a minute or so. Lift pan.

Nathan's Lemon Cake

Last week at church, a member brought a huge bin of lemons to share. I grabbed a bag and snagged a few, then began to search for a recipe in which I could make the most of these citrusy fruits. I found a recipe for Nathan’s Lemon Cake, and made it for our family dinner last night. It was super sweet and tart at the same time, a double layer delight! I sprinkled the top with leftover lemon zest and my family loved it! I think this was originally a Cooking Light recipe, named for the guy who loved to eat it every year as his birthday cake.

Nathan’s Lemon Cake

Ingredients

Cake:

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 large eggs

1 cup nonfat buttermilk

2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Icing:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon lemon rind

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Lemon rind strips (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare cake, coat 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms of pans with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray. Dust pans with 2 tablespoons flour, and set aside.

3. Lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

4. Place granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and nonfat buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon rind and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

5. Pour batter into prepared pans; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 32 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack; remove wax paper from cake layers.

6. To prepare icing, combine powdered sugar and the remaining ingredients (except lemon rind strips) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread half of icing on top of cake. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining half of icing over top of cake. Garnish with lemon rind strips, if desired. Store cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Molten Cakes with Raspberry Sauce

I wanted to bake a delicious, rich dessert for my husband for Valentine's Day. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and couldn't resist the idea of making one of my favorite restaurant treats at home for my hubby! This recipe is incredibly convenient because you can make the batter up to 6 hours ahead of time!

I changed the recipe a little bit (as usual) by using bittersweet chocolate and an extra tablespoon of sugar. Instead of unsalted butter, I substituted regular butter and omitted the salt.

Chocolate Molten Cakes with Raspberry Sauce

1 cup unsalted butter

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into bite-size chunks

5 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

4 teaspoons flour

8 extra-large paper muffin cups (or use regular paper muffin cups, which will make 12 cakes)

Garnish:

1 bag frozen raspberries, thawed and combined with

1/2 cup sugar

Directions

Melt butter and chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; remove from heat. Beat eggs, sugar and salt with a hand mixer in a medium bowl until sugar dissolves. Beat egg mixture into chocolate until smooth. Beat in flour until just combined. (Batter can be made a day ahead; return to room temperature an hour or so before baking.)

Before serving dinner, adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a standard-size muffin tin (1/2 cup capacity) with 8 extra-large muffin papers (papers should extend above cups to facilitate removal). Spray muffin papers with vegetable cooking spray. Divide batter among muffin cups.

Bake until batter puffs but center is not set, 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully lift cakes from tin and set on a work surface. Pull papers away from cakes and transfer cakes to dessert plates.

Top each with raspberry sauce and serve immediately.

The Lesson of the Lemon Cake

The most poignant lessons in life usually flow from our mistakes. Last night I searched for a recipe for a lemon cake, as a kind neighbor gave me quite a few lemons over the weekend. Unable to find a simple recipe for a homemade lemon cake in any of my numerous cookbooks, and feeling in an experimental mood, I turned to the internet.

I found a recipe for one Lemon Drizzle Cake that appeared in an apparently British magazine. I converted the grams to cups and even found a so-called substitute for self-rising flour (frequently used in British kitchens but less common in the states). Several different sources claimed that this substitute could be created by combining flour with baking powder and salt.

What happened? The cake looked about half the size of the picture I saw when it came out of the oven, and the bottom was markedly over crisped. Did I drizzle away with the lemon glaze and eat it anyway? Of course! I’m no quitter, especially when flour, sugar and butter have been combined and sit in front of me begging to be eaten.

What has this experience taught me? Either my baking powder is flat, or the substitute is incorrect, or British magazine food editors don’t know what they’re talking about. But I still have lemons if you have a recipe to share with me!

German Apple Cake

Now that I've given my soapbox speech on nutrition, I shall proceed to share a recipe for... German Apple Cake! One of the best things about balance is you can still indulge occasionally, and this one really satisfied my sweet tooth. It's so simple, but when the quality of the ingredients is high, so is the finished product. I made this for dessert tonight when the missionaries came over and it was delicious. My husband insisted it was "a must" for the blog and a culinary "success". (I think he liked it; what do you think?) This recipe comes from my "Rustic Fruit Desserts" cookbook. I used Gala apples, my Microplane box grater to do the zesting work, and FYI: turbinado is coarse/raw sugar, which adds a wonderful texture to the top of the cake.

Mimi's German Apple Cake

1 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature, for pan
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. sugar granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 apples, peeled, cored, and each cut into 6 pieces
2 T. turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9-inch round baking pan.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Using a handheld mixer with beaters or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest on medium-high speed for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at once and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it smooth.

Score the peeled side of the apples with the tines of a fork and arrange the apples atop the batter around the perimeter, with 1 slice in the center. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the cake and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Sometimes the batter around the apples looks slightly underdone, but not to worry; it's just the moisture from the apples.

Storage: Wrapped in plastic wrap, this cake will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days.