Peanut Butter and Julie

Toasted Coconut Macadamia Bread

Here are three things that I learned today:

One: I learned about "smash cakes."  Up until last week, if you would have asked me what a smash cake is, I would have likely guessed that it is the name of an uber-hip up and coming college rock band.  In reality, a smash cake is a second smaller cake for a child's first birthday, which possesses the sole purpose of being smashed beyond edibility.  The cake is placed in front of the birthday girl/boy, who is then encouraged to go nuts, smearing buttercream everywhere while mom and dad snap photos.  Before smash cakes were invented, the other party guests were pretty much out of luck in the dessert department, forced to nibble on grapes or Tic-Tacs for their sugar fix. Thank goodness someone with a sweet tooth wised up. 

I spent part of today, longer than I had allotted for, making a smash cake for a friend's daughter's first birthday.....which leads me to the second thing that I learned.

Two: I learned that I should never bite off more than I can chew the day before I am supposed to leave for a trip that could earn me some major moolah and one of those really big checks that I have always wanted to hang on my wall.  Ironically, I smashed the smash cake.  There I was, practically done with my toddler-sized masterpiece, when I overestimated the length of my counter, resulting in the cake taking a nosedive onto my kitchen floor.  Splat.  Completely unsalvageable.  Back to square one.  Grrrrrrrrrr.

The second cake turned out perfectly, but I had lost a few hours in a day that was already overbooked.  Tomorrow morning, I am leaving for Napa to compete in the annual Sutter Home Build a Better Burger cook-off, where I have a one-in-five chance of bringing home the coveted $50K grand prize, not to mention an appearance on The Today Show the following Monday.  In other words, this is a big deal.  I have been practicing my Blue Corn Desert Oasis Burgers with Cactus Corn Salsa, Ancho-Honey Bacon, and Pepita Guacamole (I'm not big on short titles) for weeks, as I obviously want to be as prepared as possible for this gig.  I was planning on using the balance of today to get organized for the trip, pack all of my equipment, etc.  I figured that one simple little cake would be no problem.  Ha!  On the bright side, I'd rather be dropping things today than on Saturday afternoon, when the big prize is at stake.  Hopefully such clumsiness is now out of my system.

Three:  I learned that my friend, Leah, could be in the running for (assume Dr. Evil voice here) one MILLION dollars (evil laugh, stroke evil-looking cat.)  Now a $50k prize is nothing to sneer at, but a $1 million prize is in a league of its own.  Leah is a potential finalist in the biannual Pillsbury Bakeoff, the grand-daddy of all cooking contests, which is taking place next year.  Her recipe, Coconut Cream Almond Brownies, was selected from thousands of entries to compete against one other recipe for a spot in the Bakeoff, where the grand prize is--you guessed it--$1 million buckaroos.  Here's the thing--she needs to get the most votes in order to get that golden Pillsbury ticket.  SOOOOO, if you have a minute, pop on over to the link above and give Leah a virtual shout-out (in other words, vote for her.)  Just think, if she wins, YOU will have had something to do with it.  YOU will have helped make someone a millionaire, just like Regis!  Feels pretty good, doesn't it?

Personally, I adore coconut.  Looking at Leah's recipe got me in the mood to fill my kitchen with that distinctive toasted coconut aroma.  Because I was short on time this week, I decided to make one of my favorite quick bread recipes, featuring the tropical mix of coconut, coconut milk, toasted macadamia nuts, and orange zest.  Actually, I made two loaves--in case I dropped the first one.  Enjoy! Here are some extra tips for making this tropical-inspired treat:

• The bread should be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.  It can also be tightly wrapped and frozen for up to two weeks.
• You can also pre-slice the bread, wrap each slice, and then store the individual slices in the freezer.  That way, you can take a slice out as you need it, and you can toast the slices directly from the freezer.
• The bread can be a bit crumbly when you slice it fresh from the oven.  It slices best after it has been tightly wrapped overnight.
• In my opinion, this bread tastes the best when it has been toasted.  The coconut-macadamia flavors really come through when the bread has been warmed.
• If you like dried fruit in your breads, stir in 1 1/4 cups of chopped dried pineapple, apricots, golden raisins, or a mixture.
• Full-fat coconut milk works better than the low-fat version for this recipe.

Toasted Coconut Macadamia Bread

Makes 1 large loaf

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

Zest of one orange (optional)

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

1 1/2 cups lightly toasted shredded sweetened coconut

1 1/4 cups lightly toasted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.  Spray a large loaf pan with nonstick baking spray.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt into a large bowl. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar at medium speed until well combined.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla and coconut extracts, orange zest, and coconut milk.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed until just incorporated.  Stir in the toasted coconut and the macadamia nuts.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top with a spatula.  Bake the bread for 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean. 

Place the pan on a rack to cool for 15 minutes, and then invert the loaf onto the rack to cool completely. 

Mini Chocolate-Orange Poundcakes

I seem to have a pretty decent handle on this cooking and baking thing, but when it comes to decorating my house I am a massive train wreck.   

Just the seemingly simple task of selecting a duvet pattern and sheets for the guest bedroom recently became a project of monstrous proportions.  I scoured dozens of web sites and catalogs, having absolutely no idea what I wanted or how something would look on the pair of Restoration Hardware twin beds.  Should I go for minimalist W Hotel chic or a whimsical Pottery Barn beachy pattern?  Bold colors or pastels (with two dogs, white is unfortunately out of the question)?  Eric certainly wasn't much help, other than to advise me to avoid selecting something "gold."  Huh?  Er, thanks.  What if everyone hates what I choose?  Even worse, what if Martha just happens to stop by and declare that my duvets are most definitely not a "good thing?"  This is all so stressful!!

Finally I just chose something, mostly because I was tired of looking, and I really wanted to cross "Buy guest room bedding" off of my to-do list.  Since decisions such as this one are an exasperating undertaking, you can only imagine how long it is going to take us to get our home fully furnished.  We've lived here for 6 years, and our large upstairs living area is still basically blank.  Sometimes I think that we should just hang a disco ball from the ceiling and turn it into a dance floor.  I'm tired of people asking me if we just moved in.

Thank goodness that my mom is a decorating wizard, and thank goodness that she is arriving in two weeks, because I need serious assistance with my summer-to-fall decorating transition (Mom, of course I am happy that you are coming for other reasons too--not just your interior design prowess.)  It's thanks to my mom that I have a garage full of seasonal tchotchkes, wreaths, table runners, and flower arrangements.  I just can't seen to arrange them so that they look as good as when she works her magic.  It's sort of like when my hairdresser effortlessly styles my hair to perfection, but when I try the same technique at home I end up looking like a cross between Amy Winehouse and Medusa.  Not pretty.

Oh well, at least I have a well-decorated kitchen pantry and refrigerator, so at the very least I can contribute to my mom's efforts with some fall-themed edible decor.  One of my favorite sweet flavor combinations is dark chocolate and orange. Yummmmmmmmm.  As luck would have it, orange and black are perfect for fall and Halloween.  Yes, Halloween is over one month away, but it's never to early to taste test, right?

These individually sized pound-cakes are a variation on Ina Garten's Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake from Barefoot Contessa Parties.  Ina can do no wrong with her decadent desserts, so I didn't change much, mostly just the size, a nip here, and a tuck there.  The fresh orange zest paired with bittersweet chocolate is To. Die. For.  Decorate them simply with candy corns for autumn, or create a spider-web design for Halloween (similar to cupcakes to the right.)  Here are a few extra tips for making these tiny chocolate orange treats:

• In the original recipe,the batter is doubled and poured into a Bundt pan and baked for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean.  The glaze and ganache are then drizzled over the top.
• The cakes can tend to stick to the bottoms of the cupcake tins, even if you use a good non-stick baking spray.  To avoid this, cut out mini rounds of parchment paper and place them on the bottoms of the pan.  Alternatively, you can bake the pound-cakes in cupcake liners.
• The baked pound-cakes can be tightly wrapped and frozen for up to 1 week.  Put the glaze and ganache on after thawing.
• If you find that the ganache is not thin enough, then add some warmed cream, one teaspoon at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency.  Cold cream will cause the mixture to seize up and harden.

Mini Chocolate-Orange Pound-cakes

Makes 12

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

Zest of 2 oranges

1 1/2 cups flour plus 2 tablespoons

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons buttermilk

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

For the glaze

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup orange juice

For the ganache

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.  Spray a 12-cup cupcake tin with nonstick baking spray (I love Pam for Baking!)  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Mix in the orange zest.

Into a medium bowl, sift together 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate small bowl, mix together the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.

Toss the chocolate chips with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour, and then mix the chips into the batter.  Divide the batter among the prepared cupcake tins and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the pound-cakes emerges clean, 20-25 minutes.  Allow the cakes to cool in the pan set over a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the syrup.  In a small saucepan set over medium heat, mix the sugar and the orange juice until the sugar dissolves.  Carefully remove the pound-cakes from the cups, and set them on a rack over a piece of foil.  Brush or spoon the syrup over the cakes, allowing them to cool completely.

Prepare the ganache:  In a small saucepan, combine the chocolate, cream, and vanilla.  Melt the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until it is smooth.  Spread the ganache over the tops of the cakes, allowing it to drip off the sides. 

Maple-Glazed Apple Spice Cake

Ah, September!  It's the month that marks the end of summer with the onset of crisp, cooler weather.  Leaves start to make the transition from green to an array of vibrant jewel tones.  Roadside stands replace the bins of green beans and heirloom tomatoes with ones containing Macintosh apples and sweet sugar pumpkins.

Well, that stuff doesn't really happen here, but it does occur in many other places across the U.S., and of that I am very, very, jealous.

The other day, I was on the phone with my mom, who lives back east.  The inevitable subject of weather came up: "Last night the temperatures dipped down into the low 60s--or maybe it was even the high 50s!" she said.  "We slept with the windows open so that a cool breeze could come in, and your father even needed an extra blanket at one point.  It was just so nice and refreshing and--"

O.K. mom, I get it.  Your weather is awesome.  Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go turn the air conditioning up.  We just hit triple digits.....again.

Yes, the grass is always greener.  Come March, there is nothing I love to do more than to sit out by the pool and call my friends who live in Minnesota and Vermont just to ask them what they are doing on "this fine spring day" (they usually grumble something about shoveling snow.)  But during the fall, all this east coast born-and-raised girl really wants to do is jump into a pile of freshly raked leaves and then warm up with some hot spiced cider.  I absolutely love the fall season and all of the sites, smells, and tastes that come with it.

We have one apple orchard that I know of in Las Vegas, but it's a good thirty miles away.  Our version of "pumpkin patches" can be found roped off in the parking lots of various Targets and Home Depots throughout the city, complete with trucked-in bales of hay, fake Indian corn, and the sorriest excuses for scarecrows that I have ever seen.  Thanks, but I'll pass. 

O.K., so maybe I can't get all of the sites of fall, but I can still get the smells and tastes.  Because I love sweets made from apples, pumpkins, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and maple, I become a baking machine from September through the end of the year.  The house constantly smells like cinnamon, and all of Eric's coworkers gain about 10 pounds. 

My first venture of 2009, this moist spiced apple cake, is bananas (B-A-N-A-N-A-S!)  In the even that you're not up on Rachel Zoe/Gwen Stefani slang, bananas is a good thing.  After I took one bite, I knew that it was a keeper.  Now, this might have been because I have been on a no bread-no sugar-no alcohol-no fun diet, and yesterday was my weekly day off, so any dessert would have tasted amazing, but I took another diet-breaking bite this morning, and I still felt the same way.  I might have to take just one more diet-breaking bite tonight, just to verify.  You never can be too careful.

While the cake itself looks rather ordinary, the maple-apple-spice combination is one that is quintessentially autumn--just what I needed.  The grated apples in the batter keep it moist along with the glaze that soaks into the warm cake.  Here are a few extra tips for making this seasonal spiced cake:

• Whenever I bake something that uses grated apples, I do not peel them.  I find that it doesn't really make a difference in the end, and it eliminates a step.  Feel free to do it either way!
• When you squeeze out the excess juice from the apples, don't throw it away.  It actually makes really delicious apple juice--sip on it while you finish the recipe.
• This cake is very moist, so it will keep, tightly wrapped in plastic, for 3-4 days at room temperature.
• You can opt to omit the maple glaze as this cake is still moist and sweet without it, but I love anything with a glaze, and like I said, the maple-apple-spice combination tastes just like Fall.
• Feel free to stir some lightly toasted chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts into the batter prior to baking.  Chopped cranberries, or rum-soaked golden raisins would also make a nice addition.

Maple-Glazed Apple Spice Cake

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

2 pounds tart apples, cored and grated

12 ounces unsalted butter, softened

1 cup golden brown sugar, packed

1 cup sugar

Zest of one orange

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the maple glaze

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup golden brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup cream

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Prepare the cake:  Preheat the oven to 325F degrees.  Spray a non-stick 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and all of the spices into a medium bowl.  Squeeze the excess juice from the grated apples.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, sugar and orange zest at medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Mix in the vanilla.

Beat in the flour mixture on low speed until well incorporated.  Measure out 2 1/2 cups of the grated apples and mix them into the batter.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. 

Bake the cake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted into the center emerges clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert onto a rack set over foil.

Prepare the glaze while the cake bakes:  Combine all of the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan.  Cook the mixture over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and stir constantly for 1 minute.  Remove the glaze from the heat.

Using a toothpick or a small skewer, pierce holes all over the top of the warm cake.  Pour the glaze over the top, allowing it to be absorbed into the holes for 30 minutes.  Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.