TWD: Lemon Loaf Cake

 
Hi All! Apologies for missing the last TWD post. I had just catered my first wedding (three-tiered cake, 5 types of petit fours, and take home boxes) and was feeling pretty baked out. Between my normal job, my part time job at the restaurant, and baking all of the stuff for the wedding, I really just needed to take a breather!

That said, I WILL be making up the post for Pizza Rustica (dough is already chilling in the fridge), but in he meantime, what could be easier and more fit for spring then a lemon loaf?

I don't really bake quick breads at home much. While I really like the idea of them, or muffins, for breakfast, I always feel like they do more harm then good. I think, "Great! I'm saving myself money because I'm not buying breakfast!" but then I'm hungry again after an hour, so I go have a bag of pretzels, and then realize that I have eaten way more carbs/sugar/calories than if I had just bought a Starbucks greek yogurt parfait on the way into work.

But I do really like lemon loaves, the good ones have that nice sweet/tart taste where the sugar plays off of the nice lemony flavor. This loaf was not one of those. It had a very nice crumb, very moist and tender, but the lemon flavor was a little lacking. I had suspected this, thanks to all the other TWDers that had tried the recipe ahead of time, so I decided to augment the cake a bit. I made a simple syrup flavored with hibiscus flowers and doused the cake in it as soon as it came out of the oven. Doesn't the pink look pretty?

The hibiscus simple syrup served a dual purpose, as it also allowed me to use up something in my kitchen. Using up things is going to become a pretty serious goal for reasons I can't really say just yet, but trust me, there is going to be a lot more "cleaning out my cupboards" baking going on soon.

So, hibiscus simply syrup really added a nice color and boost of flavor to the cake, amplifying the lemon while adding its own fruitiness. I think it would probably be even better with a cake that, at its base, was much more lemony. But I enjoyed it for breakfast (and managed to fend off the pretzel snacking) and everyone at work was very happy to have an unexpected treat - at least, I think they did based on the "yums" I could hear from the other side of the office.

Please head over to the blogs of Truc (Treats) and Michelle (The Beauty of Life) for the recipe and to check out their lemon loaf posts.

I will leave you with a picture of my first wedding cake - I made everything on the cake but the ribbons!

TWD: Happy St. Paddy's Day - Irish Soda Bread!

 
With a last name like Kelly, you would think I would have had Irish Soda Bread many times in my life. But, you would be wrong.

Being of Scottish descent, we had lots of scones, shortbread, raisin squares, but never soda bread. And, truthfully, if this recipe is any indication, we weren't really missing anything.

With only four ingredients, the recipe was dead easy to put together (which was good, as I was mostly occupied with making sugar flowers this past Sunday). I added chopped dates, which I had originally bought for the rugelach, but it just didn't deliver the flavor for me that I hoped for. Without the chopped dates, the bread itself would not have really tasted like anything.

Though the bread was tender, it was also a bit dry. It was fine with a bit of jam and a cup of tea, but I think in the future, I'll just make my grandmother's scones.

For some different takes on the Irish soda bread, and the recipe, head over to My Culinary Mission (she made hers with gruyere!) or Chocolate Moosey.

Next time on TWD - Pizza Rustica! I'm already thinking of yummy toppings...

TWD: Rugelach

As with any new endeavor, mistakes are a given along the way. There is apparently some weird glitch with word and blogger and internet explorer that, while very long and boring, was why some people were unable to view my blog entry last time. Well, at least, at first. Now you can't view my blog post because I accidentally deleted it trying to figure out the problem and had no back up.

A fitting entry to this week's Baking with Julia post. The recipe was rugelach and, like the blog post before hand - no matter how well prepared you think you are, trying something new always leaves room for a few glitches.

There was a lot that I liked about this recipe. For example, it really appealed to the type A organization freak in me as this was NOT a recipe you can just throw together (like chocolate chip cookies, where my record is under ten minutes). This is a recipe that, while you could take a day and do, lends itself to being set up and prepared over a number of days - making the dough and the fillings one day, filling and chilling the dough on a second day, and finally, on the third day, baking the dough.

That said, even with all the prep time, and the perfect way they looked on the tray, there was still a glitch - instead of staying in the lovely pinwheel shape that they started in, the majority of them exploded, looking more like commas than nice swirly periods.

I can't attest to the taste (they were actually baking as I wrote this post, I wasn't THAT organized), but they smell wonderful. I think with a few parchment paper rolling tricks and a firmer squeeze at the end, the next batch may remain in their traditional shape (and there will be another batch, I only rolled out half the dough). So, as with the mishap with the previous blog post, hopefully I will solve the glitch and come away smarter than I was before.

If you would like to see some very nice rugelach (that don't look like commas), or if you would like the recipe, please head over to My Baking Heart, which is hosting the recipe this week.

I really DO intend to post next week - I recently made a lovely Ginger cake that I would just love to share, so keep your fingers crossed that I get my act together! Otherwise, the next recipe from Baking with Julia is Irish Soda Bread (Happy St. Patty's Day), and you know you can count on me for that one!

TWD: Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

TWD: White Loaves

I think it is natural that my first blog post is about bread. It is the first thing I remember my mom baking and the first thing she taught me how to bake. I used to bake a loaf every Sunday for my boyfriend to have during the week.

Then lots of things happened - culinary school, crazy PR job hours, restaurant internships, and I haven't baked bread in a while.

But, now, in a new apartment, in a new borough (Brooklyn!) a new kitchen, and an opportunity to become part of the awesome baking blogger circle Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia, it was time to take a Sunday afternoon and make bread.

First, though, I have to share with you the conditions I am baking in. As I mentioned, I have just moved, which is tough enough, BUT my new kitchen is about a quarter of the size of my old one. So, until we get a bit more storage space, here is what our living room:



And dining room:

Look like!

Ok - now you can envision me trying to find loaf pans! So White Loaves was the first recipe in the book Baking with Julia that the Tuesdays with Dorie group decided to make. The key to the group is that we are all going to bake together, each of us posting pics/sharing tips of how the recipe came out for them. If you want the recipe, the best place to go is either Laurie's or Jules' blog. You can look at their lovely loaves and get the recipe. Or go buy the book - which I highly recommend.

So - how did my loaves turn out? Pretty awesome! Apart from worrying whether my poor kitchen aid was going to overheat, it was a very easy dough to mix, and I had no trouble with it rising or baking up. It has a nice crust and a creamy inside. My boyfriend has already made french toast with it, and I had it with some baked eggs for dinner.



The one thing I will say is the the recipe calls for either AP or Bread flour. Now, these flours are pretty different in terms of their protein content, so I made loaves with both AP and Bread to compare. Both were lovely, and the differences are subtle - I felt that the dough came together and rose better with the bread flour. I haven't cut into one of them yet (we now have 3 loaves in the freezer), so can't report on the actual texture, but I CAN say that the loaf made with AP flour is delicious!

The Tuesdays with Dorie group posts every 2 weeks (next time is chocolate truffle tartletts!), but I am hoping to make blogging about my baking adventures at least a weekly event. I have a massive amount of cookbooks, and my boyfriend never complains when I "practice." I also hope to build out the site a bit more with pictures of other items I've baked for different occasions. I hope you will come back and see what is new!