Blue Cayenne

Austrian Plum Cake

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Ingredients

• 1 C. (130 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C. (107 grams) white sugar plus 2 T.
• 3/4 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 8 T. (1 stick) salted butter (cut into 8 pieces, room temperature)
• 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 pounds ripe but firm medium plums (halved and pitted and cut into 3/4 inch wedges )
• Powdered sugar to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Set your baking rack on the middle shelf in the oven. Prepare a springform pan for your cake by lightly spraying it with an oil spray and then dusting the pan with flour (tapping off the excess).
2. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, 1/2 C. sugar, baking powder, salt) in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix briefly. Keep your mixer running and add the butter one piece at a time. Continue to mix the ingredients until the flour takes on the consistency of moist sand. This will take 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and egg yolk to the flour. Add the vanilla. Beat this mixture at medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy. This will take about 1 minute. You can scrape down the sides of the bowl as you are doing this to be sure that you are incorporating all the ingredients.
3. Spread the batter across the bottom of your prepared springform pan using an offset spatula. Then, arrange the sliced plums in concentric circles across the top of the batter. The cut sides of the plums should face up. Sprinkle the remaining 2 T. sugar on top of the cake and put the cake into the oven to bake. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. The original recipe called for baking the cake about 1 to 1 1/4 hours but my cake was perfectly done after one hour. Remove the baked cake from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes, after which you can remove the sides of the springform pan.
4. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Zucchini: An embarrassment of riches

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Ingredients

• 1/2 C. unsalted butter (plus more for greasing the pan)
• 3 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 2 t. kosher salt
• 1 1/4 t. baking powder
• 1 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. freshly-grated nutmeg (or 1/4 t. ground nutmeg)
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 C. light brown sugar
• 3/4 C. granulated sugar
• 3/4 C. canola oil
• 3 medium zucchini (grated)
• 1 C. chopped walnuts
• 1/4 C. fresh orange juice
• Grated zest of 1/2 orange

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease baking pans and line them with parchment. I used three small baking pans. My baking pans are ancient, so your sizes may vary. My pans measure about 4 inches by 7 1/2 inches.
3. Melt butter in a small pan and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes until the butter starts to brown and smell nutty. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat. Set aside.
4. Whisk dry ingredients together (flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg) in a medium-sized bowl.
5. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, light brown sugar, granulated sugar and canola oil. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps.
6. Prepare the zucchini by grating it. I used my food processor but you could use a box grater. Squeeze as much water out of the grated zucchini as possible. I used my hands and then put the grated zucchini in a dish towel and squeezed out as much liquid as possible.
7. Add the zucchini and browned butter to the egg mixture. Whisk to blend.
8. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into that well. Use a spatula to mix the wet and dry ingredients.
9. Pour the batter into your prepared pans. Smooth the top of the batter and tap the pans on your counter to settle the batter into the pans.
10. Bake, rotating once, until your zucchini bread is golden brown on top and until it pulls away from the sides of the pan. This should take between 50 and 60 minutes. My bread was baked at about 55 minutes. When done, the bread should measure about 200 degrees F. on your thermometer when inserted into the center of the bread. Alternatively, you can check the doneness of the bread by sticking a toothpick into the center of the bread. It should come out clean.
11. Remove bread from the oven and let it cool completely on wire racks before removing from the loaf pans. Slice and enjoy. Sprinkle tops of the loaves with powdered sugar.

Notes

Banana Cake

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Ingredients

For the Cake
• 1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C. cornstarch
• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 1/8 stick unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 C. granulated sugar
• 2 t. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 t. lemon juice (fresh)
• 8 oz. Greek yogurt
For The Frosting
• 2 1/4 stick unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 C. cream cheese (softened)
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 5 C. powdered sugar (sifted)
• 1 to 2 t. lime juice
• Chopped pecans for sprinkling on top of the cake

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare a springform pan by greasing it with butter and lining the bottom with parchment paper.
3. Measure dry ingredients into a bowl. (flour, cornstarch, salt and baking powder)
4. Cream butter with sugar and vanilla extract (in a different bowl) until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time alternating with the dry ingredients.
5. Mash bananas and add the lemon juice to the bananas. Add the yogurt and mix. Add the banana/yogurt mixture to the batter and stir to combine.
6. Pour batter into your prepared springform cake tin and bake the banana cake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan (sitting on a wire rack) for approximately 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, carefully remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting by beating butter, cream cheese and vanilla until you have a smooth mixture. Add the powdered sugar to the mixture and continue to beat until you have a thick and smoooth icing. Add the lime juice to your taste. Spread the icing on the cake and sprinkle chopped pecans over the top of the cake to decorate. This recipe makes a lot of frosting (and uses a lot of powdered sugar). The cake is delicious smothered in the icing but you could choose to halve the frosting and have a wonderful cake, too. Your call.