Nutmeg Cake

We all have our favorite spices that are used often in baking, however, there are some that rarely come to mind. One of these is nutmeg. While nutmeg is used in holiday baked goods, it usually is only one element of a combination of spices called for in a recipe. This particular recipe focuses on nutmeg being the primary flavor.

Do not let the plain appearance fool you. Moist, light and packed with the special taste of nutmeg, one slice will make you a true fan. A delicious choice if you have not yet experienced nutmeg as singular spice. Also, if you make this, do not omit the rum syrup - it is an important flavor component to the cake.

Nutmeg Cake
Adapted from Warm Bread and Honey Cake

Ingredients/Syrup Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs water
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbs rum

Ingredients/Cake
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
9 tbs butter
1/2 c plus 1 tbs light brown sugar/packed
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup flour

Start by making the sugar syrup. Place sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Whisk together then heat at medium temperature on stove. As it cooks, let it come to a boil then reduce heat. The sugar will dissolve and the the mixture will come to a simmer. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until it reaches room temperature.

As the syrup is cooling, prepare a standard size loaf pan by buttering the interior. Then line the bottom and two sides with parchment and butter the surface. Dust the inside with flour and tap out excess. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium size bowl, sift together baking powder, salt, flour and nutmeg. Set aside. Fill a bowl of a stand mixer with butter and beat at medium speed until smooth and silky. Then add sugar and cream ingredients together, beating at medium speed. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl at intervals during the process.

Using a small bowl and a whisk, blend the eggs with the vanilla extract. Add half of this mixture to the sugar/butter blend. Beat at 30 seconds and then add the remainder. Blend together, beating another 30 seconds.

Fold 1/3 of the sifted ingredients into the batter. Then mix in 2 tbs of the milk. Blend in half of the remaining flour mixture. Add the last of the milk, mix and then the remaining flour blend. Once all is thoroughly mixed and batter is smooth, fill the prepared pan.

Bake until tester comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Place pan on cooling rack.

The sugar syrup should now be at room temperature. Add the rum and stir until completely distributed in the syrup. Take a skewer and poke holes in the top of the cake, all the way to the bottom of the pan. Then pour the rum syrup over the top. Let the syrup soak in and the cake cool for about 5 minutes in the pan and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For the best flavor-wait 24 hours before serving.

                              **LAST YEAR: Favorite Cookie Round Up**

Cocoa Almond Pound Cake

Chocolate cake..I recall one story from Bill Cosby about this dessert. Apparently, he was unwillingly in charge of breakfast. He did not want to get out of bed, but eventually was booted to the kitchen. Slamming around getting the pan and eggs out, in walks the youngest daughter. He asked her what she wanted and she pointed straight to the big chocolate cake on the counter. That was his cue for a shortcut. Well, the end result was all the kids eating cake for breakfast and the mother quite furious. It was Saturday, so I am sure they weren't sitting around quietly.

I do not recommend it for breakfast, but I will admit that there is something about a chocolate cake that makes it a choice favorite of all ages. When you find cake on the menu at a restaurant, there is very little chance that it is not chocolate. If there is a variety, chocolate flavor is always included. As far as type, milk chocolate has definitely taken a back seat to that deep, dark bitter or semi sweet chocolate.

So with that in consideration, this particular recipe reflects that dark chocolate that we all favor. In addition to chocolate, it is paired up with almond flavor. The almond paste in the batter and the crunchy almonds on top make this chocolate pound cake extra special.

If you are hosting a dinner party or are craving some dark chocolate, this is a good choice. It does make 2 loaves, but an extra loaf is good to have on hand. However, if you have kids, do yourself a favor and make sure it is not on the table at breakfast time!

Cocoa Almond Pound Cake
adapted from The Great Book of Chocolate

Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup or 2 sticks butter (room temp)
1/2 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup or 7 oz of almond paste
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sliced almonds

Prepare two loaf pans (8 1/2 inch) by buttering the interior and lining the bottom and two long sides with parchment. Leave some over hang of parchment on the long sides. Butter the surface of the parchment paper. Dust with flour and empty out the excess. Preheat the oven to 350.

Start by taking the almond paste and breaking it up into small pieces. Add it to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until broken up into finer pieces. Then add the sugar and the almond extract. Beat the mixture on medium speed for about 5 minutes. The mixture should still be crumbly and have some pea sized pieces in it (it will not be all fine crumbs) Set aside.

Take out another bowl and sift the baking powder and flour together. Then whisk in the salt and cocoa, distributing evenly.

Cube the butter and drop into the bowl of the almond mixture. Cream the ingredients together with the mixer on medium high speed for 2 minutes, stopping at intervals to scrape down the size of the bowl. This should result in a less dense, airy batter. Add one egg and beat for 30 seconds to incorporate into batter. Repeat this process with the remaining eggs, adding and beating one by one.

In the next step, the dry ingredients are to be folded into the batter in increments. In between the increments, whisk in the milk. Start and end with folding in the dry ingredients.

Measure out half of the batter and fill one of the prepared loaf pans. Smooth the top and repeat, filling the other pan. Lastly, cover the top of each loaf with the almonds, making sure the amount is evenly distributed.

Place in oven and bake until tester comes out clean, turning pans at the halfway point in baking. The recommended bake time is about 45 minutes.

Tips and Notes:
1. You are welcome to try this recipe with marzipan, but be aware that it contains more sugar than almond paste.

2. As usual, the higher quality of cocoa yields a much taster cake.

3. Dark chocolate is very strong in flavor, so the almond flavor is subtle.
                                 *LAST YEAR:Almond Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies* 
 

Chocoate Banana Loaf Cake

Today's post is a little about what I call the family of people. We all have our own family, but then there is other people outside of that. These are people that you interact with, either on a regular basis or randomly.

Sometimes I like to think about the random people. These are the people that are not part of your family and have no impact on your income, so there is nothing to gain. How you interact with these people can reveal a lot about yourself. Some people go through life very self centered and not focusing on the things or people around them. Others may use a chance meeting with strangers as a door to let them vent their frustrations.

Chance meetings are actually an opportunity. You get this one little opportunity to help someone, make them smile or make them laugh. If that happens it is a nice feeling. Today, for instance, in the produce section an older lady looked at the jackfruit on display and said, "My word, I have never seen such a thing!" I laughed and told her what it was and what it tasted like. Then she commented on how big each of these fruits were and that she would not be able to eat all of one. I responded by saying that once the big and tall shop closes their employees come in and buy them all. She gave me a funny look at first and then we both started laughing.

So, as you go about your day, take notice of the people around you and have a friendly interaction with them, you will be glad you did.

Now I bring you a recipe that has 2 elements that interact deliciously with one another-bananas and chocolate. This marbled loaf comes together easily and has a moist texture with a tender crumb. In each bite there is a hint of unique flavor that stems from the third element of nutmeg.

Chocolate Banana Loaf Cake
adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours

Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs rum
1/2 cup and 2 tbs butter
zest from 1/2 lemon
squirt of lemon juice
1 1/2 ripe bananas
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)
3 oz bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Prepare a 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 X 2 1/2 inch loaf pan by buttering the interior and dusting with flour. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Set up a double boiler and fill top pot with 2 tbs butter and chocolate. Let the water in the bottom pot come to a simmer. The chocolate and the butter should start to melt. Stir to blend and remove from heat and separate top pot from bottom once all is melted and blended.

Fill a medium sized bowl with the zest and lemon juice. Using a fork, mash the bananas until they have the consistency of applesauce. Then stir in the rum and set aside.

In a second bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set this bowl aside also.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle blade, beat the remaining butter (1/2 cup) at medium speed until light and smooth. This should take about 3 minutes. During this process, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides at intervals.

Continue mixing the butter and add both types of sugars. Follow the 3 minute process outlined in the previous paragraph. Then beat in each egg, one at a time. Add the extract and mix until distributed throughout the batter.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients. Stir in the milk and once blended with the batter, fold in the rest of the dry, sifted ingredients. Pour in the mashed bananas, mixing so there are no dry ingredients on the side of the bowl. The end result will be a lumpy, somewhat curdled-looking batter.

Separate out 1/3 of the batter to another bowl. Add the chocolate to this little bit of batter and mix until completely blended.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out some of the ivory batter and empty into one corner of the pan. Then take a scoop of chocolate and empty into pan, next to the ivory batter. Continue with this process, alternating the batters, so that all has been scooped into the pan.

Place loaf pan in oven and bake until tester comes out clean. This should take about 1 hour and 20-30 minutes. However, take a moment after baking for about 30 minutes to check for over-browning of the surface of the cake. If you find that it is getting too toasty, cover lightly with foil.

Once completely baked, remove from oven and place on cooling rack. After about 15 minutes invert pan onto cooling rack to empty out the cake. Then carefully flip the cake so the right side is up and let cool completely onto rack.
                                      **LAST YEAR: Hummingbird Cookies**