Tis the Season for Pumpkin

'Tis the season for Pumpkin in all its forms. My favorite of the squash varieties, when it comes to baking, are either butternut squash or one of those big blue-green colored ones, whether called Jarradale, Jamboree or whichever name they come by. They have such lovely smooth flesh, making them ideal for things like pumpkin pie, pumpkin tarts, pumpkin loaves, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cookies and anything else baked with pumpkin. Another reason I love these two types of squash best for baking is that they are less watery. 

Some Squash Varieties

Most every "pumpkin" (those orange ones, be they round, flat or other) I have ever tried is stringy and/or watery, even the sugar pumpkins. I bake my squash, to avoid having any water added to the equation, but even so, the pumpkin varieties give off so much liquid that by the time you've set the cooked flesh into a colander to drain for use in a recipe, there is not much left to use. 

I try to accomplish a nice, thick puree, similar to a can of "pumpkin." Ultimately, I use either the blue Jarradale type or everyday butternut for this purpose. Just my preference. If you have great luck with another variety, then do use whatever works for you. 

And then, there are always cans of "pumpkin," in case you run out during the year!
 

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

I started off using some of my stash of already baked and pureed Jarradale squash in the freezer. I do this with the big blue varieties in the fall and portion it into freezer zip-top bags in 2-cup portions, suitable for a pie. If I need less than 2 cups for a recipe, then I use the rest added into soup, which gives a nice body (not to mention great flavor) to any thin soup. This time, I decided to make Soft Pumpkin Cookies.

Lard vs Shortening vs Butter

I want to clarify on my reasons for using lard in this recipe. Firstly, I do not like using shortening, which is an unnatural product, and worse for one by far than lard or butter, which are from natural sources. (My own opinion.) I have made these cookies various times using one of all three fats. Butter tastes great, but leaves a flat cookie, just too soft. Shortening works better, keeping shape a bit more and holding their domed shape a bit better. Lard makes these cookies tender and delicate yet still retaining their pretty dome shape on baking. Ergo; lard it is, for me. Just know if you switch the fat the results will be far different. 

These cookies are, as the name states, "soft." They have a most wonderful flavor, and are as delicate as can be. They have a nice glaze icing using browned butter, making these truly irresistible. Next I want to attempt a Pumpkin Sandwich Cookie. I have the cookie part down, but was unhappy with the filling, which was too soft. Back to the drawing board with the icing part, but for now, here are my Soft Pumpkin Cookies:

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

Made 5½ dozen (2-teaspoon) drop cookies

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

COOKIES:
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup lard (or shortening)
1 cup pureed pumpkin/squash, or canned pumpkin
zest of one orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole grain, ground Kamut Khorasan flour (or half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour)
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup ground nuts (walnuts preferred)

ICING:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (no butter substitutes!)
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons milk, as needed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Have ready one or two ungreased baking sheets.

COOKIES: Combine in a mixer bowl the sugars and lard, beating until smooth. Add in the pureed pumpkin, orange zest and vanilla extract and beat to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves. Add the dry ingredients in, beating very slowly until moistened, then beat briskly just to combine thoroughly. Add the nuts and stir to distribute.

Drop the cookies onto the baking sheet(s) using a two-teaspoon measure or cookie scoop, keeping them at least 2 inches apart. Try not to make them any larger, as they come out soft already. Bake the cookies for about 9 to 11 minutes, or until just set. Remove the cookies at once to racks to cool completely.

ICING: Heat the butter in a preferably light-colored skillet, so you can keep track of the browning process. Allow the butter to brown nicely, but not burn. Using a non-butter imitation will only burn. Pour the browned butter into the confectioners' sugar in a bowl and stir to combine. Add in the vanilla and a pinch of salt, if desired. Add milk one tablespoon at a time, only if needed to make an icing that the cookies can be dipped into, leaving with a nice coating. If too stiff, add a little more milk. Dip the tops of the cookies in the icing, then turn upright and let the icing set.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Fun with Cake Decorating

My First Wedding Cake Accomplishment

I took a Wilton cake decorating class back in 1995, starting at three weeks prior to my daughter's wedding. I was planning to make and decorate her wedding cake, with no knowledge of stacking a tiered cake or making a flower with an icing tip and bag. When I entered the store that offered the classes, I went in search of a book that could show me how to do what I needed. The woman who helped me out kind of rolled her eyes when I stated my needs and my intent!

All things considered, the wedding cake turned out pretty well. It was a very small wedding, so I didn't have to make a really huge cake, and aside from the fact that it had the tiniest "lean" to it, it came out great. I made what are termed "drop flowers" and kept it simple. 

Gum Paste Flowers & Fondant

I went on to complete the three part Wilton cake decorating course and was quite proud of my accomplishments, then going on to take a course on fondant as well. That was the last actual class I took, but over the years I learned to make gum paste flowers, some quite realistic, if I do say so myself. I made a lovely wedding cake for my son and his wife, and the theme was beachy. Julia loves all things beach and bright tropical flowers. I made flowers and seashells out of gum paste for their cake. Keep in mind, I had 14 years of experience by this time. Still, it took me countless hours creating all the flowers and shells, making plenty in case of any breakage. 

I have made all sorts of cakes, small and large, in the years since I took that first Wilton class, and the classes kept me learning and trying new things. I don't go all-out in cake decorating unless it is for someone I love and care for. I would never do it commercially - it is just too much work. But I have always been artistic, and this is just one more of many creative outlets for me. 

And then recently I started seeing ads on Facebook for "Russian Icing Tips" and seeing how with one quick squeeze you had a whole flower. Granted, not as realistic as I generally go for, but still, it was intriguing. I finally broke down and ordered a small set through Amazon (where else?). It arrived over a week ago, but I didn't get around to trying them until yesterday. 
 

Maple Pecan Pound Cake with Basic Stabilized American Buttercream

First off, I found a cake recipe I wanted to try. I needed a cake to decorate, of course. I was online, possibly on Pinterest, though I cannot recall exactly, and found a cake called Cold Oven Brown Sugar Whipping Cream Pound Cake. (Quite a mouthful!) Click on the name to take you to see that cake and recipe. I had only ever tried one pound cake that went into a cold oven and it has always and unfailingly stuck to the pan. So understandably, I was leery of trying this, but hey!

The cake sounded awfully sweet, yet called for no salt. I added salt. It called for a TABLESPOON of vanilla! I used one teaspoon, plus a teaspoon of maple flavoring. I was capitalizing on the brown sugar theme with the maple flavor, so I added pecans as well. Another change I made was substituting lard for the shortening. I avoid shortening in anything if possible, and always go to butter first. Still, I know that shortening has a somewhat stabilizing effect. So does lard. Though I had not yet used lard in a cake, I had used olive oil in cakes, so I knew that despite the pronounced flavor of olive oil, it does not remain apparent once the cake is baked. So, lard it was.
 

Making Two-toned Icing Packets

I whipped up the cake and with some trepidation set it into the cold oven and baked it. It took 1 hour and 23 minutes for the cake to be done. The recipe stated "80 to 90 minutes," so I'd say that was about right at 83 minutes. While it was baking, I went on to read a bit about the type of icing needed to accomplish nice flowers with the new Russian Icing Tips. Once set, I used as a basis a Wilton recipe that uses some meringue powder in it. The meringue powder helps stabilize the icing, so that if making flowers, they will hold nice, sharp edges, and stand up under heat if needed. I found a video from Global Sugar Art that really helped me understand a bit more about the hows and whys and some pitfalls with Russian Icing Tips and it also showed about making two-toned flowers using the method I used in the photo collage above. I made one mistake.

Icing Bag with Tip & Icing Bag
with Coupler and Tip

When I ordered the icing tips, I also ordered the couplers. These icing tips are large, so they do not in any way fit with the little regular sized icing tip couplers. The reason for couplers, in case you have not used them before, is to allow the ability to switch out different icing tips, while using the same icing color. For example, if I wanted to write "Happy Birthday" in blue on top of the cake with round icing tip #3, but also wanted to make pretty shells around the border in the same blue icing, I would just unscrew the outside of the coupler, remove the one tip, replace with the next one and screw the outside piece of the coupler back in place. 

Three Tips (top with coupler)
& Three Color Combinations

Since I was trying out three specific icing tips with three different combinations of icing colors, I really didn't need the couplers at all. I combined orange with yellow centers, white with orange centers and yellow with green centers. In the video, Chef Alan just set one of the tips into the bag, cutting just enough off the end of the bag to allow the tip to peek through, then snipped off the end of one of his icing packets (as I've shown above), and dropped the cut end into the icing bag. This way, if you choose to switch tips you can simply turn the icing bag upside down and the whole plastic wrapped tube of icing with the tip still stuck to it just falls out! With a coupler, this was not the case. 

Also, as the tips themselves are really large, the couplers are also very large. VERY large. And with that you end up with a huge amount of icing stuck down in there between icing tip and coupler. You can only squeeze just so far before you are at the rigid edge of the coupler, and then you are left with all that icing down in there and no way to neatly press it out into a flower. Watch the video!!!

Another thing to remember is that the icing for these flowers needs to be far more stiff than what would normally be used to ice the cake itself. The cake will need at least a "skin coat" of icing so the flowers have something to adhere to. When making the icing, first make it without adding any liquids except for the vanilla. It should be the proper consistency, particularly if measuring by weight. If it really is too stiff, add in cream, 1 teaspoon at a time to loosen, but remember it needs to be thick to hold nice stiff edges and not flop over. When piping the flowers, the icing tip must be perpendicular (at 90 degrees) to the cake surface. The tip should be touching the icing on the cake, then squeeze, holding for a second to adhere the base, then continue to squeeze briefly while pulling upwards. Stop at between ½ to ¾-inches high. 

Maple Pecan Pound Cake

Makes one 10-inch tube pan cake

Maple Pecan Pound Cake

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks, 4-ounces each), room temperature
½ cup lard, room temperature
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
¾ cup chopped pecans

Spray the inside of the tube pan with cooking spray and set aside. 

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Separately, measure the whipping cream and stir in the vanilla extract and maple syrup. Set these aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, lard and both sugars for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until each is incorporated thoroughly before adding the next. Ad in a third of the flour mixture and mix on very low speed to combine. Add half the whipping cream mixture and stir in. Add another third of the flour mixture, blend, add the remaining cream and then the remaining flour. Stir in the nuts, then turn speed up a couple of notches to completely blend the ingredients.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan and run a knife or spatula through the batter to release any trapped air bubbles. Set the pan on a baking sheet with rim and place in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 325 degrees and bake the cake for 1 hour and 20 to 30 minutes.  Check for doneness when a toothpick inserted into the center (between middle and edge of pan) comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow the cake to set for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the outer edge and remove the cake from the outer rim. Run the knife between the cake and bottom of the pan to loosen, then check to see that the cake is not stuck to the center post. Carefully turn upside down onto a plate, then reverse so that the cake is again right side up. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Basic Stabilized American Buttercream

Basic Stabilized American Buttercream for Piping

Makes about 4 cups icing suitable for use with Russian Piping Tips

1½ cups (12 ounces / 339 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ pounds / 681 grams confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon (0.30 ounces / 8 grams) meringue powder 
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream, if needed 

Sift the confectioners' sugar with the meringue powder and salt. Place the sifted ingredients in a mixer bowl. Add in the softened butter and mix on low speed until all the confectioners' sugar is moistened, then increase speed only slightly. Beating on higher speeds will incorporate air bubbles. Bubbles will cause breaks in the icing when decorating, causing unneeded headaches. Beat slowly. Add the vanilla extract and continue to beat gently until the icing is very smooth and creamy. 

To decorate as I have in these photos, separate the icing into 4 bowls. Leave one bowl white, and ensure there is just a little more in this white icing bowl than the others. To one bowl add yellow gel coloring to desired color, stirring with an icing spatula or table knife to mix well. Add orange gel color to another bowl and mix, then add green to another bowl and mix. 

Set out three pieces of plastic wrap, about a foot long and set them on a surface with the longer edge towards you. Scoop out about half the white icing onto the center of one piece of the plastic wrap and spread it to about a 6 x 8-inch rectangle. Down the center, perpendicular to you, place a small core of icing (I used orange). Lift one shorter edge of the plastic wrap to help lift the icing from one side to cover the center icing. Release the wrap so it is again lying flat and now lift the opposite side, bringing the icing up to meet over the top, encasing the center color. Wrap the plastic wrap all the way over, and roll to make a log. Twist the ends of the wrap to make a sausage shape. 

Repeat this with the other color combinations. Use the remaining orange colored icing to make the larger rectangle, and lay down a center in some of the yellow icing and wrap as above. For the third color combination, make the larger rectangle out of the remaining yellow, then lay a center of some of the green. Roll as above.

Reserve the remaining green icing and use it in an icing bag with a leaf tip.

To the remaining white icing in the bowl, stir in some of the whipping cream, 1 teaspoon at a time, as needed to make a spreadable icing, then use this to put on a very thin "skim coat" of icing to the top of the cake. Do not do this too long before piping the flowers. This icing will begin to form a crust. If the crust begins to form, the piped flowers will not adhere. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Nutty Valentine Cake

Nutty: the cake, that is. I had been planning a cake (torte, really) of this sort for over a month now. An idea, over weeks, took shape. Lots of time was spent on comparing different recipes, getting an idea of what it might take to get this cake of mine to do what I wanted, i.e. make thin layers that would grow properly in the oven, hold together while stacking the torte, have great texture and flavor.

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

My Goals

1. For starters, I wanted to use pistachio flour, or meal. No easy feat, with pistachios. They just do not like to be ground finely. At the beginning, I wanted to use all pistachios, but that just seemed like too much work. I ended up going to half pistachio flour and half almond flour in the proposed recipe, almond flour being more easily obtainable these days. Ultimately . . . I used 2/3 almond flour and 1/3 pistachio flour. There was still plenty of pistachio flavor, so no problem.
2. Last year's Valentine Treat was Cupcakes (see here for that recipe). They had Middle Eastern flavors, with cardamom, pistachios and other things. I wanted something on that same line, but with a different twist. First that it be a cake and made with mainly nuts; in other words a "torte". Second that the flavors be like . . . and all I could think of is Baklava. 

I love Baklava. I have made Walnut Baklava, Walnut/Pecan/Almond Baklava and all Pistachio Baklava. I love them all. But what was it in Baklava that I wanted? Partly it was the nuts. Partly that chewy and sticky quality. Partly it was the spices and flavors.

I had read recently that true Lebanese Baklava has rose water as one of its flavors. I had just purchased new bottles of Nielson-Massey rose water (right) and orange blossom water. This brand's flavors are quite strong. I wanted to use one of these two new flavorings in this cake. I went with rose water. I may have erred on the cautious side, as I cannot really taste this flavor in the finished cake, though it did have nicely complex flavors, so maybe it was a good thing that all the flavors melded so well.

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

And, OH, did the flavors come out well!

As for the cake itself, I wanted to make at least three and possibly four thin layers to stack. In the spirit of Baklava, I also made a glaze to brush over the layers when they came out of the oven. With Baklava in mind, I mixed water, honey, cinnamon, cloves, lemon peel and a touch of rose water. I hoped that this would also ensure the cake be very moist. And it certainly was. But.

While everything about this cake, flavor-wise, came out perfect, the cake layers puffed and sank in the middle, leaving deep wells. After the glaze, and turning out of pans, I trimmed some of the high edges. The trimmed bits were wet enough that I just slapped them into the center "well" part of the cake and lightly pressed in place. The cake layers held up this way and even sliced neatly. So, while I might have some work to do on making the layers come out right without all this fuss, the end result was still wonderful.

My Grandma's Icing

As for the icing part, I went with an amended version of my Grandma's icing recipe. To tell the truth, I always hated my Grandma's icing. It was the only one she made (in my memory) during my childhood in the 1950s. As a large portion of the icing was shortening, the texture and flavor were just not my thing at all. She had a funny way of making this icing, too, which I will get into in a second. I made her Nut Torta and her Icing recipe a couple of years ago, so I could set it into my website. The cake part was okay, but the icing was just as I remembered: greasy, tasteless and gross. As I thought about it though, I thought maybe substituting butter for the shortening would at least give it flavor. I tried it. It tasted really good, but the texture was funny. It looked almost curdled.

Imagine my surprise - nay, SHOCK! - when in wandering around Pinterest one day I came on a recipe for a "miracle icing", which was, essentially, my Grandma's Icing recipe - with butter instead of shortening!

In reading more as this type of icing recipe seemed to blossom and pop up all over the internet, the main thing is to keep beating the icing until it is smooth and fluffy. If it curdles, it may be too warm, so just chill it for a bit, then keep on beating. I decided to give Grandma's recipe one more try, again with butter. At the end, I added in some honey, in keeping with the Baklava flavors. It came out absolutely perfect. Smooth, creamy, and flavorful. Very rich, but not too sweet.

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

On Making Pistachio Flour or Meal

I placed ¾ cup of shelled, raw, unsalted pistachios in my food processor and let it run for about 2 minutes. Your processor may work differently, but at this point in mine, the nuts had only begun to stick slightly in the edges, indicating it wanted to start being a nut butter. We do not want nut butter, but meal. I stopped the processor and poured the contents into a sieve with not too fine holes. I had a small amount of meal that would not pass through the sieve. I repeated this process with another ¾ cup of nuts. The result was 1¼ cup of nut meal (that passed through the sieve) and about ½ cup left over for decorating the top of the cake.

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

Makes one (2 to 4-layer) 8-inch cake

1⅔ cup granulated sugar

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

 

2 cups almond flour/meal
1¼ cups pistachio meal (see above)
1 cup white rice flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon (preferably true cinnamon, not cassia)
½ teaspoon ground cardamom seed
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rose water
3 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tarter
¼ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 2 to 4 (8-inch) cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment and grease the parchment. Set aside.

In a mixer bowl, combine the first 10 (dry) ingredients. With the paddle attachment or a whisk, combine all these ingredients well. Add the butter and beat the mixture until it makes thick crumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, olive oil, cream and flavorings. Pour these into the nut mixture and beat to combine.

In another mixer bowl, with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tarter to soft peaks. Begin adding the 1/4 cup of sugar slowly, until the mixture has reached stiff, glossy peaks. Fold 1/3 of this meringue into the cake batter to loosen. Add in remaining meringue and fold in gently until no white remains. Divide this batter between the prepared pans. For 4 thin layers, bake for about 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. For 3 or 2 pans, the time will be longer. Watch carefully.

GLAZE:
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 strip lemon peel
1-inch true cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
½ teaspoon rose water

While cake is baking, combine all the glaze ingredients, except the rose water, in a small saucepan. Heat through and then leave to steep while the cakes are baking. Strain the liquid into a small bowl and stir in the rose water. Once cakes are baked, use a pastry brush to apply the glaze. Use all, or some, as desired.

To frost the cake, turn the cakes out onto racks, then with another rack over top, invert, so the tops of the cakes are upwards. Trim edges as necessary to allow for stacking. The layers are quite wet. I have racks with the lines all running one way, which allowed for easy sliding onto the plate and next layer(s).

Honey Butter Icing on Almond Pistachio Torte

Honey-Butter Icing

Makes enough to frost the tops of 4 layers, or tops and sides of 2 layers
 
 1½ cups granulated sugar
⅓ cup cornstarch
1½ cups milk
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons honey

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the milk and set the pan over medium heat. Whisking constantly, bring the mixture to boil and allow to boil for at least a few minutes to cook out the starch. This should take a total of about 10 minutes.

Pour the hot pudding into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat the pudding on medium speed or higher until it is cooled to room temperature, so the butter does not melt on contact. Begin adding in about 2 tablespoons of the softened butter at a time, allowing each addition to fully incorporate before adding more. Once all incorporated, continue to beat until very fluffy and light.

Frost the cake layers as desired. Use some or all of the leftover pistachio bits to decorate the top or sides of the cake.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.