use real butter

Well I am a bleeping idiot. I spent so much time fussing over the making of this cake that I didn’t read the last bit through and now I’m waiting for the glaze to crystallize the way it was supposed to. I guess you will find out by the end of the post if it worked out or not!

lemon and orange zest

While flipping through some of my old cookbooks, I was struck by the recipes that appeal to me today as opposed to the recipes that appealed to me three years ago. Funny how our tastes and preferences change as we cooks and bakers evolve… perhaps I dare use the word mature? Nah, screw that!

whisking eggs and vanilla

Lately I’ve had orange on the brain. Don’t worry, I will get around to my chocolate bundt cake experiment soon enough, but not until I’m out of the chemo forest (5 more days, technically). So this recipe for Crystal Almond Pound Cake from Flo Braker’s The Simple Art of Perfect Baking struck my fancy because it has orange and lemon in it.

almond paste and sugar

Each effort to bake the cake this week was thwarted. Fatigue, then no oranges, then no almond paste, then medical appointments up the wahzoo… When I finally got around to making it today, I read through the directions and thought they were a tad fussy. I mean, I really love cake recipes that read: mix everything together and dump it in the pan to bake. These instructions were more picky in the way that hints at disaster if you should deviate in the slightest.

stir in the zest

Flo has her reasons for the specific instructions and I followed them exactly while thoughts of dumping everything together all at once tickled the far corners of my brain. I didn’t make any adjustments to the recipe since the first rule of high-altitude baking is to leave the recipe as is just in case it works.

batter in

But it didn’t work. The damn thing cratered because the cake structure was too weak to support itself during the rise. I read on a high-altitude baking forum (after the fact) that I should use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour because the cake flour doesn’t have enough protein for structural support at this elevation. Great. You know, I’ve used cake flour successfully on just about every other recipe I’ve baked with. But that’s okay, because the cake still tasted fantastic.

glazing the cake

It wasn’t okay though, because in my impatience, I hurriedly glazed my “tunnel of nothing” cake and then sent Jeremy to the neighbors’ house with half of it. I overlooked the part of the recipe that said to wait 4 hours until the glaze crystallized. Aesthetics… aesthetics… The simple art of perfect baking really hinges on not being an impatient dipshit.

While I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs, I noticed that my dear Helen made mention of hosting Sugar High Friday… and citrus. I have never participated in SHFs, founded by Jennifer, The Domestic Goddess. These days, I can barely keep up with the Daring Bakers as it is. Imagine my dumb luck to have baked a citrusy, sweet something the day before the SHF citrus deadline. So this is my SHF submission and after waiting 4 hours, I see the cake looks the same as it did (more or less) 4 hours ago. Okay, whatever… It tastes Damn Good with a moist and dense crumb that mingles almond and citrus in a deceptively light flavor. I say deceptive because it contains a half pound of butter.

slice of sunshine

Crystal Almond Pound Cake
The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker

3/4 cup (75 g) sifted cake flour (use all-purpose flour at high elevation)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 lemon, zest of
1 orange, zest of
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
7 oz (3/4 cup) almond paste, room temperature
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

citrus glaze
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp orange juice
3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 8.5 inch tube pan or other 7- to 8-cup decorative baking pan with solid shortening. Dust generously with all-purpose flour, tilt to coat evenly and tap out the excess.

Pour the flour, baking powder, and salt in that order into a triple sifter. Sift onto a sheet of waxed paper to distribute the ingredients evenly; set aside. Grate lemon and orange rinds for the zests; set aside. Crack eggs into a small bowl and add the vanilla. Whisk together briefly just to combine yolks and whites. Place the almond paste in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer.

With the paddle attachment on low speed (#2), break up the almond past for about 30 seconds. Maintaining the same speed, slowly add the 1 cup of sugar in a steady stream and beat until incorporated (if you add the sugar too quickly, the almond paste jumps out of the mixing bowl). Continue on low speed while adding the butter one tablespoon at a time, taking about 1 minute. Stop the machine after all of the butter has been added, and scrape the sides of the bowl. Increase speed to medium and cream until the mixture is lighter in color and fluffy in appearance (about 3 to 4 minutes).

With mixer still on medium speed, pour the egg mixture in a little at a time (tablespoon by tablespoon). Don’t add more egg until the previous addition has been incorporated into the batter. If the batter gets too watery or shiny, increase the speed until it is smooth and silky, then return to medium speed and resume adding egg mixture. Continue mixing, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl at least once. When batter is fluffy, velvety, and white (mine was always beige), and has increased in volume (after about 2-3 minutes), detach the beater from the bowl.

Use a rubber spatula to stir in the zests. Stir in half of the flour mixture until incorporated. Then stir in the other half, mixing until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the sides begin to contract from the sides of the pan, the cake springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Place the cake on a rack to cool for 5 to 7 minutes. Mix the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl. Turn the cake out of the pan onto a cooling rack (take care that it isn’t stuck - loosen with a metal spatula if necessary) positioned over a baking sheet to catch drips. Brush the entire surface of the cake with all of the glaze. Let the cake sit for at least 4 hours or until the glaze has set like a sheet of crystals (oops, I didn’t do this) before moving it from the cooling rack to a plate. Serve at room temperature.

I am approaching the end of chemo season, about to start radiation season. That’s part of the reason I haven’t been able to cook much lately. Too many appointments for X-rays, blood draws, port removal, consultations, etc. It’ll settle down eventually. Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to ready the patio furniture for the season of unrelenting sun and thunderstorms:

oil rejuvenates

Another unfortunate occurrence this time of year is the inevitable crashing of little hummingbirds into our vast expanse of windows. We’re in the midst of searching for decals to deter the crashes, but not soon enough to prevent one this morning. Luckily, the little dude was merely shocked and had not broken his neck like two others this past weekend.

a little male broad-tailed hummingbird

He took about an hour to regain his balance and strength, but it was delightful to watch him get feistier and twitchier until he buzzed away in a green blur.

chinese eggplant

I grew up eating what I called skinny eggplant. I wasn’t really familiar with those chubby eggplants until I left home because my mom used the Chinese or Japanese varieties to make fish-flavored eggplant - a fragrant and spicy stir-fry of ground pork and that lovely purple vegetable. It’s called fish-flavored (yu shian) eggplant even though there isn’t any trace of fish in the dish. It has to do with the combination of flavors to give it a fish flavor (but it doesn’t taste fishy to me…)

mise en place the main ingredients: eggplant, garlic, ginger, pork, green onions

If you’ve ever fried eggplant before, you know the stuff can absorb about ten times its weight in oil, leaving a saturated mess. My mom wilts the eggplant over a hot, dry pan first so it loses that spongy capacity for oil.

wilting the eggplant

Once the eggplant is sufficiently softened, I remove it from the pan. With the heat turned up to high, I brown the ground pork and then add the garlic, ginger, green onions, and hot bean paste. You can find a jar of spicy bean paste in any Asian market.

stir-fry the pork with other goodies

When the mix becomes fragrant, return the eggplant to the pan and sauté for a minute.

dump the eggplant back into the pan

Add the soy sauce, broth, sugar, vinegar, and sherry. Let this simmer a bit and then add the cornstarch and water to thicken the sauce.

a little cornstarch and water

This dish is great over steamed rice. You can make it as spicy or as not spicy as you like. Instead of hot bean paste, you can always use regular bean paste. Or you can make it spicier with the addition of chili garlic paste. If you like this, you might like fish-flavored pork, which is one of Jeremy’s favorites.

hot, spicy, and delish

Fish-Flavored Eggplant

1 lb. Chinese eggplant, cut into thick matchsticks
3 oz. ground pork
1 tbsp hot bean paste (found in Asian grocery stores)
1 stalk green onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger, minced
2 tbsp soy sauce
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tbsp cooking sherry
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water

Heat frying pan over medium high heat. Add eggplant and toss until the pieces begin to wilt and soften. Remove from heat and set aside. Add oil to the pan and set on high heat. Stir fry the ground pork, then add garlic, ginger, green onions and bean paste. Stir in eggplant and add remaining ingredients except for the cornstarch and water. Stir-fry for a minute while mixing cornstarch and water together. Add the cornstarch mixture to the eggplant and let sauce thicken. Serve hot.

I haven’t been cooking much lately because we’ve spent the weekend polishing off leftovers, planning our summer, enjoying my return to normalcy, and taking it easy (not really in my vocabulary, but sometimes it is worse to fight it). This morning we packed up the dog and camera and set off down the canyon for a stab at the blooms in Boulder.

a lesson in geography, weather
I realize there may be some climate confusion for folks who see pictures of snowy mountain ridges posted alongside beautiful wildflowers in my entries. For clarification: we live in the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 8500 feet. Don’t try looking anywhere on the US East Coast for a point that is 8500 feet, because there isn’t one. Our bathroom is higher than their highest peak Mount Mitchell (6684 ft.) in North Carolina. [That’s right, the highest peak on the East Coast is not Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, even though many New Englanders would like you to think as much.] The town of Boulder, Colorado lies to the East of us by 18 miles and is nestled against the Front Range at 5430 feet.

satellite imagery by Google

The terrain abruptly transitions from mountainous to flat when you arrive in Boulder from the West. From here on out, you’re on the Great Plains. The 3000 foot elevation difference between our house and Boulder usually translates into approximately 16°F difference in temperature for dry air. Boulder is typically warmer unless there is an inversion. Large scale weather moves from West to East here and as the air masses descend over the North American Continental Divide, they release their moisture on the western slopes of the mighty Rocky Mountains (orographic precipitation). That is why there is so much great skiing in this state.

a sample temperature profile based on USGS professional paper 1019

While we sit in the rain shadow of the Rockies, we still tend to receive some leftover moisture. It can snow a foot at our house and Boulder can remain bone dry. On occasion we have upslope events when the air masses arrive from the East instead of the West. That is when Denver and Boulder get whacked with snow and we usually enjoy a nice Big Dump Snow Day at home too. But usually, Boulder is enjoying weather that is 1/2 season warmer than ours. Their winters are milder, their summers are hotter and drier, and their flowers bloom earlier.

We were greeted with a veritable rainbow of wildflowers this morning! Already, some of the varieties are past prime while others are just getting started. Here’s a tour:

sand lily

common mouse ear chickweed

buzzy bee on golden banner

western wallflower

spring beauty

wild iris

blue flax

Boulder hit the 80s today, but we were there early because we hate the heat and we loathe crowds. Early morning starts are a necessity for mountaineering because you want to ascend while the snowpack is still firm and frozen as well as get off the mountain before afternoon thunderstorms roll in, but we also like to apply it to our hikes. Most people just don’t get out early, and I like it that way.

a blooming cherry in front of flatiron #3

Something that I quite love about Boulder is how green it is - in more ways than one! For a city of about 100,000, full of buildings and homes, you’d never know it from the views. I didn’t quite realize this until Jeremy pointed it out from a nice vantage point today.

you see a lot of trees

Looking to the West of that shot is where Boulder abuts the foothills - the gateway back home for us.

the view north along the front range