Another Family Fave: Beef Stroganoff

Another family classic, and often requested for birthday dinners is Beef Stroganoff. I use beef tenderloin for mine, and it is meltingly tender and utterly decadent. You could substitute sirloin, but be sure to simmer it longer so it becomes tender before adding the sour cream.

OUR OWN BEEF STROGANOFF

This will serve 6. Make early in the day for best flavor, or make without the sour cream, and refrigerate overnight. The next day, warm the mixture slowly in a large skillet until it simmers, then add the the sour cream. Serve over noodles.

1 1/2 pounds of beef tenderloin, cut across the grain into 3 inch long strips that are 1/4 inch thick or so
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

1 smallish onion, chopped
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
6 tablespoons butter + an additional 2 tablespoons or so for browning the meat
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and mince

12 ounces beef consomme
2 to 3 tablespoons ketchup
salt and pepper to taste
1 or 2 bay leaves
1/4 cup or more of dry sherry

8 ounces sour cream
8 ounces wide egg noodles, cooked al dente

Dredge the meat in the flour/salt mixture to coat well, then shake off the excess flour and place on waxed paper. Set aside.

In a large steep sided skillet, melt the 6 tablespoons of butter, then cook the onion for 10 minutes or until soft. Push to one side, and add the mushrooms and cook until they are browned, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 4 minutes. Remove the veggies with a slotted spoon to a bowl, and pour back any butter/juices back into the skillet.

Reheat the skillet and add another few tablespoons of butter to what is already in the pan, and over medium heat, add the dredged beef strips and cook in a single layer until all sides are browned. If it seems dry, add more butter so that all the beef browns evenly. Remove beef from pan.  To the pan drippings, add the beef consomme, stirring to incorporate all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, then add the ketchup, salt and pepper to taste, and the bay leaves and sherry. Stir well, bring to a boil, then return the beef to the pan and simmer on low, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes. At this point, remove from the heat and allow to stand at least an hour before resuming the recipe.

After resting (so the flavors will marry well), return the pan contents to simmer on a burner, and cook the egg noodles as it returns to simmer. Once the mixtures gently boils, reduce the heat to low and add the sour cream. Don't boil the mixture after this -- the sour cream will curdle. Just allow to simmer very gently.

Serve on a platter over egg noodles and garnish with fresh minced parsley if desired.

The Pie Edition: Kentucky Derby Pie

Why in the world am I posting this in November, instead of May? Because my brother loves it and it has replaced a cake as his birthday dessert. And his birthday is coming up soon. And everyone loves this pie. And it's time to get crackin' on those special desserts for holiday parties. Who doesn't love chocolate, pecans and bourbon? Really.

Kentucky Derby Pie

1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar 
3 large eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup light corn syrup (Karo)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 tablespoons of the best bourbon
9" unbaked pie shell

Make your favorite recipe for a pie shell. If you wimp out and buy one, don't tell me about it. Learn to make one -- they are so much better tasting. Anyway, have it ready and waiting for your scrumptious filling.

Cream the butter and sugar, about 5 minutes will make it nice and fluffy. Add eggs, corn syrup, salt and vanilla and blend well. Stir in the chocolate chips, pecans and bourbon by hand. Pour into the prepared pie shell, and bake in a preheated 375 degree Farenheit oven (350 degrees if using a glass pan) for 45 minutes or so ... the center should barley jiggle and it should look baked through and deep golden brown. Serve slightly warm with whipped cream. Traditionally served on Kentucky Derby Weekend in Louisville, KY ... or at my brother's annual birthday dinner. Enjoy whenever you like!

Picnic Cake: Chocolate Sheet Cake

Need a cake for a crowd, picnic, reunion or other summer event? Sheet cakes are the answer. Here's one from my friend Nancy in New Braunfels, TX:

Mom's Chocolate Cake
from The Houston Chronicle

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup vegetable oil 
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in large bowl. In a saucepan, combine butter, oil cocoa and water; bring to a boil, remove from heat. Pour the boiled mixture over the dry ingredients and mix. Add buttermilk and stir just until blended. Add eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat well and pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until at toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool.

For the frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa or 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 tablespoons buttermilk
16 ounce box confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine butter, chocolate or cocoa and buttermilk in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Add the powered sugar a little at a time, beating well between additions; add salt and blend well. Add vanilla and mix. Frost cake after it has cooled completely.

Pavlova!

Hands down, one of our absolute favorite desserts. It's Australia's national dessert, much like apple pie is our American national dessert. 

Even people who *say* they don't like desserts love this. It's beautiful and looks impressive. It has a deep, dark secret, too: It looks like it took hours to make, but actually it's very easy and takes very little time. 

Angela's Pavlova

6 egg whites
pinch of salt
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 pint (16 ounces) heavy cream

A pint of fresh red raspberries
A pint of fresh blueberries
A pint of fresh blackberries
2 cups fresh sliced and sugared peaches
Note: this is the fruit I use; you may substitute your own fresh favorites.

Beat egg whites intil foamy; add the salt, then add the sugar gradually. Mix in vinegar, then add the vanilla last. Beat until stiff but not dry peaks have formed.

Cover a LARGE rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper, and lightly butter the parchment paper.  Pile the meringue into an 8" mound in the center, making an indentation in the top. (It should look like a volcano crater with it's top blown off.) The meringue will spread out a lot while baking, so be sure to make the meringue very tall and the indent quite deep. 

Bake for 40 to 43 minutes at 300 degrees, --do not peek!-- then turn off the oven and leave the meringue in it for an additional 40 minutes longer, making sure not to open the oven door. Remove from oven to cool completely. Very carefully remove the pavlova shell to a very large round serving platter.

At serving time:
Whip the heavy cream until stiff, and mound the whipped cream into the center crater of the meringue. Top the whipped cream with the fresh fruit; not all of it will fit onto the top of the pavlova. Slice into generous wedges and add additional fruit to each serving. 

Bliss!

Serves 8 to 10 with generous slices and lots of fruit


Any leftover pavlova can be refrigerated overnight, loosely covered. It must be eaten within 24 hours; the whipped cream is fairly fragile. 

A Cake Among Cakes: Yes, it's Nicki's Carrot Cake!

Hard to believe this recipe hasn't made it up here yet! Thanks to Claire, it's finally getting its place of honor.  I tried a lot of carrot cake recipes, and slowly evolved my own over time. This one, if I do say so myself, is perfect. We've been making it for a couple of decades now. It's a darn big cake, so it's a good recipe to use for a big birthday party or family gathering.

NICKI'S CARROT CAKE

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Grease and flour 3  8" round cake pans

combine and set aside for 30 minutes or so:

• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel (fresh orange zest is best, but dried peel can be used)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/3 cups vegetable oil (Wesson!)

4 eggs

sift together:

2 1/2 cups flour (I use King Arthur All Purpose flour)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg OR mace

pinch of ginger

pinch of cloves

pinch of allspice

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 cups grated carrots

3/4 cup shredded coconut

3/4 cup finely cut or chopped walnuts

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat together the sugars and oil until well blended. Add eggs, one at at time, beating well after each addition. SLOWLY  add sifted ingredients and beat well. Add soaked orange peel and any remaining juice, then the carrots, coconut, walnuts, and vanilla.  

Pour into the greased and floured pans, and stagger the pans on the same middle rack of a preheated 325 degree oven. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the center is not sticky. Remover from oven, cool 7 minutes (no more!) then remove from pans and finish cooling on a rack.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

one 8 ounce brick of cream cheese PLUS one 3 ounce brick of cream cheese

1 1/2 pounds (24 ounces) confectioners sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks butter (6 ounces), melted and room temp

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat the cream cheese bars together well, then add the confectioners sugar and salt slowly on very low speed. Gradually increase speed and combine well. Add the melted butter very slowly, incorporating the butter as you go, and then add the vanilla. Beat the frosting on high speed for several minutes until smooth and creamy, then spread between the cooled cake layers and on top and sides of cake. 

Makes a large 3 layer 8" cake, serving at least 12

Bright, Brilliant Flavors: Citrus Cake

Last night at WiNKS, my local knitting group, we were asked to list which cake we loved most for our personal birthday celebrations. The list included, no surprise, many that simply said "chocolate anything!". And while I love chocolate cake (obviously, since it's part of the title of the blog), my favorite cake for my March birthday is Citrus Cake. It's luscious orange and lemon notes are perfect just when the weather can't get much worse and the days more dreary. It's bright flavors and cheery color are the perfect antidote to winter and more pedestrian cakes. This is one cake that benefits from being made a day in advance. Overnight, the orange and lemon juices and zests work their magic to infuse the cake so that it bursts with brilliant flavor.

Amazingly, I have never put it here on the blog! So it's time to remedy that.


CITRUS CAKE

Grease and flour 2 9" round cake pans; set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp
4 eggs
the zests of 1 lemon and 1 orange
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ~or~ 2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk

Cream butter and sugar in large mixing bowl on medium low speed. Add eggs one at a time; beat well until blended in. Add the zests of the lemon and orange, stirring to blend. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl, and add alternately with the buttermilk, mixing well. Pour into prepared pans, and bake on a lower middle rack of the oven at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes, just until a wooden pick inserted in the center is clean. After removing from oven, run a knife around the edges of the cake layers, and prick the layers with a fork all over. Immediately pour the Infusion Glaze over the layers. Cool for 5 minutes, then turn cakes out of pans onto waxed paper and allow to cool completely. Frost top, sides and middle with Citrus Buttercream Frosting. Best if flavors can marry overnight, but don't feel bad if you just can't wait. (Confession: I usually can't wait!)

Infusion Glaze:
juice of 1 LARGE lemon
juice of 1 LARGE orange
1 cup sugar
a smidge of salt

Combine juices in a small saucepan over medium low heat and bring almost to a boil; add sugar and salt, and stir well just until sugar disappears into the juices. Remove from heat. Refer to recipe for use, which is immediately after cake comes from the oven.

Citrus Buttercream Frosting
zest and juice of 1 large lemon and 1 large orange
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp. salt
10X (confectioners) sugar - (4 to 5 cups)

Zest the lemon and orange, then juice them; set aside. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and  salt, beating at medium speed until very light and fluffy. Add 2 cups of 10X sugar and beat for several minutes. Slowly add the juices and zest, and beat with additional confectioners sugar until the consistency is right for frosting and filling the cake, which is usually  2 to 3 more cups of the 10X sugar. Beat three to five additional minutes  after reaching desired consistency.   Place a cake layer, glazed side up, on a cake plate and use 1 1/2 cups or so of the frosting to fill the cake. Place the other cake layer, glazed side down, over the frosting and frost the cake sides and top, swirling the frosting into lavish curls. If possible, keep in a cake safe overnight. If you just can't wait, enjoy!


Makes 10 to 12 generous slices.

One Year Ago Today: The Beginning - Guittard Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

One year ago today, this blog was born. Although none of us are prolific posters, it's important to have a space where we can celebrate small things. So far, FOOD dominates our posts ... that's not much of a surprise, is it?

Here's our FAVORITE celebratory cake; now you can find the recipe 24/7. We seem to make this more often than any other. So often, in fact, that the aging recipe is permanently taped to inside of the spice cabinet door! It's also the cake that appears in the masthead photo for this blog.

GUITTARD CHOCOLATE CAKE

• 3/4 c. butter
• 1 2/3 c. sugar
• 3 lg. eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 c. water
• 2 c. unsifted flour
• 2/3 c. Dutch processed unsweetened cocoa (Guittard is BEST, but Ghiradelli is good too)
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt

Sift together the dry ingredients and set them aside. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well (for several minutes). Add the vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the water.

Pour the batter into well-greased and floured cake pans lined with wax paper. Makes three 8" layers, or two 9” layers. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Cool on wire rack; remove from pan after 6 minutes to finish cooling.

White Chocolate Frosting

6 tablespoons heavy cream

4 ounces white chocolate, chopped (baker’s)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup butter

4 cups powdered sugar

Bring cream almost to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add white chocolate, stirring until completely smooth. Stir in vanilla and water. Cool, stirring occasionally. Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add powered sugar and beat for at least 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. On low speed, add white chocolate mixture and blend until desired consistency is reached.

Frosts and fills a 9” layer cake.

Note: Dark chocolate curls are beautiful on top of the cake!