Cherry Almond Cake

Bing cherries can be a little boring in baked goods, unless they're punched up a little.  Cherry and almond flavors go very well together.  This recipe is great if you find yourself with a bag of slightly aged Bing cherries, as I did last week.  It makes a very moist cake. 

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter

3/4 pound (350 grams) fresh sweet cherries, divided

1 cup (130 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (55 grams) almond meal

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 cup (80 ml) milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9 inch spring form pan and line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Rinse, dry, and pit all the cherries. Take about 14 cherries, cut them in half, and set them aside to be placed on the top of the cake during baking. To the rest of the cherries, cut into quarters.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt. 

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and light colored (about 3-5 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract and almond extract. Then fold in, with a rubber spatula or wire whisk, the melted and cooled butter and milk. Next, fold in the flour mixture just until moistened. Gently fold in the quartered cherries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. 

Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven. Quickly arrange the remaining cherries, cut side down, on the top of the cake. Return the cake to the oven and bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake portion comes out clean. If you find the cake over-browning, cover with a piece of aluminum foil.

Lemon Ricotta Cake

 This quick recipe makes a delicious light cake, not too sweet, very moist.  It’s a great way to use up that last cup of leftover ricotta.  I love using my late mother-in-law's vintage tube pan, it makes me think of her.  

·       9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

·       1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

·       3 large eggs, room temperature

·       1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

·       1 pinch salt

·       1 cup fresh ricotta

·       Zest of 1 lemon

·       1 tablespoon baking powder

·       2 tablespoons poppy seeds (optional) 

·       Confectioners' sugar for serving

1.    Heat the oven to 400° F. Butter and flour a 9- or 10-inch springform pan or tube pan or bundt pan.

2.    Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3.    On the lowest speed, add the eggs one at a time.

4.    Slowly add the flour, salt, ricotta, lemon zest, baking powder, and poppy seeds (if using).

5.    Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and the sides start to pull away from the pan.

6.    Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan and cool completely on the rack. Sift confectioners' sugar over the top, or serve with your favorite seasonal fruit, or make a little drizzle by mixing lemon juice and confectioner's sugar.

Hawaiian Passionfruit Butter Mochi

If you're looking for good gluten-free dessert recipes, one place to start is with cultures that use other grains, like rice and corn, for their pastries.  So Asian, Italian, and Mexican cuisines are often my go-to for inspiration.

I was trying to come up with a dessert to take to my wonderful step daughter, who is gluten-free.  I was GOING to make Tang Yuan, those delicious balls with glutinous rice flour and black sesame inside -- but they aren't really suited to the hurly burly of 20-something life.  So I thought of making mochi, which freeze very well.  Then I remembered a wonderful cross-cultural dish I'd had many years ago in Hawaii -- butter mochi.

Butter mochi are a great combination of western and eastern cooking -- it combines glutinous rice flour, known as 'mochiko' in Hawaii, and the standard eggs and butter of Western desserts.  It's got that great mochi texture and it's not too sweet.  What's not to like?  I love the taste of passion fruit, so for this recipe I substituted passion fruit pulp for the traditional evaporated milk.  If you like, you can sprinkle sugar or a passion fruit-sugar glaze, or coconut, on top to make this prettier, but it's pretty addictive as is.  I think I'm going to try matcha butter mochi, too.

Passion fruit pulp is available in most Hispanic groceries.

Ingredients:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
16 oz glutinous rice flour (mochiko)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 14 oz can coconut milk
3/4 cup passion fruit pulp

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a 10x14 baking dish with parchment.  Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and pour into the baking dish.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown on top.  If you are adding coconut or sugar, you should add it in the last 10 minutes of baking.  If you are glazing, add the glaze after you take it out of the oven, but before it's completely cool.  Cool and cut into whatever size you like.  Note that the texture and taste of the mochi will change quite a bit between when you take it out of the oven and when it is cool, so leave some time between baking and serving.  Mochi stores quite well, but I usually store it in the refrigerator, wrapped up.