Wordless Wednesday - Stone fruit lattice pie

(recipe here)

Summer into Fall

It's September.  We're past Labor Day.  Kids here have been back in school for three weeks already.  These should be signs that fall is pretty much here.  Except that, according to the thermometer, it's still summer.  *sigh*  The one thing I really miss about the northeast (where I grew up) is fall.  The crisp air in the mornings.  The apples.  The changing leaves on the trees.  Here, in September we're lucky if the temperature only makes it into the high 80s instead of the 90s.  Genuinely cool weather is at least another month away.  We had a little bit of slightly cooler weather last week, but that was courtesy of tropical storm Hermine, which brought plenty of other problems (like flooding and schools being closed for a day).  My dad is here to visit this week and he's sure to enjoy the weather since he likes it warm and it's about 20 degrees warmer here than in Pennsylvania.  Me, I'm wishing he could have found a way to bring the 50s and 60s with him. =)

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe definitely makes me think of fall.  Sabrina of Superfluous picked the Cranberry Upside-Downer for us to make this week.  Unfortunately, it's a bit early for fresh cranberries for a lot of people, but from the comments on the P and Q, most were able to come up with good solutions for that.  In the book, Dorie gives a peach variation, and also suggests frozen cranberries.  I actually planned ahead for a change last winter, and stashed a whole bunch of cranberries in the freezer at the end of last year's season.  So I originally planned to just make the cranberry version.  Then I realized that I had a whole bunch of plums that needed to be used up.  Also, I wasn't that thrilled with their taste, but figured that cooking them (especially with the skins on) would remedy that.  So I decided to use both cranberries and plums for my cake.  I didn't add any nuts, since I knew that B&G wouldn't like them.  The other change that I made was to play around with the spices.  I kept the cinnamon, but reduced the amount to half a teaspoon.  For the other half teaspoon, I went with cardamom, since I really like it with plums.  

The verdict?  Well, my original thought was that with this much cake, I could always take some to the daycare.  Then I sampled a piece, and decided that I didn't want to share!  I haven't made an upside-down cake in a long time, and had forgotten just how tasty they can be.  I love the combination of fruit and moist cake.  And I was very happy with my choice of fruit.  The flavors of the plums and cranberries played well together, and I liked the contrasting textures of the two.  Adding a little homemade vanilla ice cream didn't hurt either.  Everyone else here liked the cake, too, although Brianna did say she liked the cake and fruit separately, but not together.  (So I did share a little.)

If you'd like to try this cake for yourself, head over to Sabrina's blog for the recipe.  To see what variations the other TWD bakers came up with, check out this week's Links.  And while you're at the Tuesdays with Dorie page, don't forget to check out the info for French Fridays with Dorie, the new group forming to bake through Dorie's new book!

Ready for something new

I've been trying to do a better job of blogging lately, and I think that for the most part I'm succeeding.  One thing I've been trying to do is get myself on a more consistent posting schedule, about three times a week.  Tuesdays, of course, are pretty much reserved for Tuesdays with Dorie.  I'm also trying to post some sort of bread about once a week (either BBA recipes or other breads).  The third category is more random.  I've been making an effort use some of the many cookbooks on my shelves more frequently.  So while I'm sure I'll continue to make some of my old favorites (like these scones that we had again for breakfast this morning), I want to make and share some new ones, as well.  

While we're still seeing pretty good strawberries (and I keep buying them), more stone fruits are showing up at Central Market as well.  I need to remember to look at the farmers market next weekend, too.  I haven't had much luck with peaches yet (a lot of them are still rock hard and not smelling like much), so I've been checking out the plums (and relatives like plumcots and pluots) as well.  I saw some red plums last week that seemed good and not too expensive, and brought them home.  Unfortunately, I wasn't thrilled when I sampled one--the texture was fine, but it didn't have much flavor other than sweet.  It reminded me that I usually buy darker plums with red flesh.  Then it occurred to me that maybe they'd be better if I baked them.  The question was, what to make?  I wasn't in the mood for something like a crisp, and I was a bit leery of a cake, since I've had bad experiences with the Dimply Plum Cake from Baking From My Home to Yours.

A couple months ago, I bought myself a copy of David Lebovitz's newest cookbook, Ready for Dessert.   I read through it after I got it, but have only made a few recipes from it so far, for chocolate cookies and caramel ice cream.  But I knew it had a lot of fruit desserts, so I pulled it off the shelf and took a look.  In the first section (cakes), I found a recipe for Spiced Plum Streusel Cake with Toffee Glaze.  In the introduction to the recipe, David says, "This cake combines everything I crave: tangy plums, toffee with a bit of salt, and buttery cake."  I stopped searching right then.  Sounds good to me!

The streusel consists of sliced almonds, brown sugar and spices, with a bit of flour and some melted butter to hold everything together.  I don't usually have almonds on hand, so I went with some pecans that were in my freezer.  The spices (both in the streusel and the cake) are cinnamon and cardamom.  I don't use cardamom nearly enough, so I was glad to try it in this recipe.  The cake batter is made with the creaming method--butter and sugar are beaten together until fluffy, then eggs are added.  Finally, the dry ingredients (AP flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and cardamom) are added, alternating with some buttermilk.  (I left out the vanilla extract by accident, but used vanilla sugar, so it was okay.)  The batter is spread into a 9-inch springform pan and slices of plums are pressed into it. Then the streusel is scattered on top.  My cake took 50 minutes to bake.

It was late when I made my cake, so I let it cool overnight and added the toffee glaze the next morning.  The glaze is made by melting together butter, dark brown sugar, heavy cream and a bit of salt.  The mixture is brought to a boil and simmered for a minute, then allowed to cool to room temperature.  The glaze seems thin at first, but thickens as it cools.  Once it's cooled, a bit of vanilla is added, then it's drizzled over the cake.

The verdict?  Well, the cake barely survived 24 hours, so that should be a good indication of how much everyone liked it. =)  Knowing that fruit desserts don't keep that well and not wanting to try to eat it all at home, I took the cake to work with me.  Only about a third of it survived to go home again, and we polished that off pretty quickly.  One of my employees commented that this cake might just be the best thing I've ever brought in.  So it's safe to say that this cake is a new favorite.  While it was excellent with the plums, I suspect it will be delicious with other stone fruits as well.  Next up, peaches! (That version of the cake is in the oven as I type.)

If you'd like to try this cake for yourself, I highly recommend that you get your hands on a copy of Ready for Dessert.  Edited to add: I did find the recipe on Google Books, here.  (Don't forget to check your local library if you want to try before you buy!)  I look forward to making and reviewing more recipes from it.