Happy Birthday with Upside Down Cake

My dear sister-in-law had a birthday 2 weeks ago, but she was busy at the time and we couldn't get together. Normally I make a nice dinner and whatever dessert she prefers. She is in love with peaches. This year I suggested a Peach Upside-Down Cake, something I had not made in ages. We celebrated together yesterday evening.

Peach Upside-Down Cake

Her dinner menu request was the Individual Bacon-Wrapped Meat Loaves, a la Michael Symon, my Green Beans with Gorgonzola and oven fried potatoes of some kind. I made the potatoes in my own version of the Dried Onion Soup potatoes, where you peel and cut potatoes into cubes about 1-inch square and mix them with one packet of dried onion soup mix and ¼ cup oil. Toss well, place into an oven safe casserole and bake at 400 degrees, tossing them once halfway through, for about 45 minutes total. The difference was that I used my own Dried Onion Soup Mix for this.

Peach Upside-Down Cake

As I have been on a no sugar and few carbs menu for about 3 months while adding in myriad fermented foods (and losing 7 pounds so far in the bargain), I didn't want to make a big birthday cake and have too much around the house. Too much temptation for a sweet tooth like mine! This cake was just perfect. While sweet, it was less so than a two layer cake with frosting between and outside the layers. My preference would have been to use fresh peaches, but was unsure of the right timing for those perfectly ripe peaches, so I opted for the safe route and bought canned peaches. 

This cake is made with buttermilk and is very moist and tender. The maraschino cherry garnish was just for a pop of color, more than any flavor. I cut the cherries into quarters and tucked one little quarter at the outside edge of each peach slice, as a sort of punctuation mark. Here is the recipe:

Peach Upside-Down Cake

Peach Upside-Down Cake

Makes 8 servings

CARAMEL TOPPING:

1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
1 (15-ounce) can peach halves 
maraschino cherries, optional
pecan or walnut halves, optional

CAKE:
1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), at room temperature

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon peach flavoring, optional
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup buttermilk


In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and water for the topping. Stir gently over medium high heat until the mixture begins to boil. Cover the pan tightly and cook for about 4 minutes, to ensure all the sugar crystals have melted from the sides of the pan. Have ready a 9-inch cake pan, or an 8 or 9-inch square baking dish and spray with cooking spray. Remove the lid from the caramel and allow it to cook for 8 to 12 minutes more, or however long it takes for the mixture to become a light amber in color. Set the prepared pan onto a surface where the heat will not cause damage (such as a cool burner on the stove. As soon as the caramel reaches light amber color, pour it into the prepared pan. Allow the mixture to spread evenly to cover the bottom of the pan. Let the caramel cool for 4 to 5 minutes, until it has begun to set. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain the peach halves and slice thin wedges, about 5 or 6 per half peach. Once the caramel has set, place the peach wedges decoratively onto the caramel. Be careful, as the pan will still be very hot. Decorate with bits of cherries or nuts if desired.

Make the cake: Cream the stick of butter and add the sugar, beating until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for a few seconds to combine, after each addition. Add in the flavoring(s). In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Begin adding about 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk, then another third of the flour mixture, then buttermilk and then flour, until the mixture is well combined and no remaining dry flour is visible. The batter may be stiff. Spoon the batter carefully over the peach slices, gently smoothing the batter to the edges, being careful not to dislodge the peaches.

Bake the cake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out with only a crumb or two still attached. The top will be deep golden brown. Immediately invert the pan onto a plate large enough to accommodate the cake. Let the cake and pan remain inverted for about 4 or 5 minutes before carefully lifting the pan up and off the cake. This resting period should help all the fruit to release easily from the pan. Serve slightly warm, if possible, though it is mighty fine cold, also!



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.

Maraschino Cherry Cake Revision a Success

I know, cake/frosting/filling recipes two days in a row! There are lots of birthdays in April around here between friends and my family!

Maraschino Cherry Cake, revised, Moist and perfect!

I have been wanting to see if I could make a better version of the Maraschino Cherry Cake I made last August for my husband into something actually moist enough to be edible. I tried one of the tips I found online (using a vanilla pudding mix) in a white cake recipe, but I was less than pleased. While the cake may or may not have been more moist, the flavor was all wrong. Okay, so scratch that particular tip. But the real reason I looked for tips on making a cake more moist was for that Maraschino Cherry Cake. The original cake I made was tasty. Nothing wrong with flavors. It was just way-the-heck too dry. Still, when a friend of ours, Tetiana, stopped over and I offered her a piece, with the caveat that it was far too dry. I had not realized at the time that she also was a cherry fiend along the lines of my husband. For her (she said) the cake was perfect and she loved it!

Tetiana's Maraschino Cherry Cake

Some of the other tips on making a moister cake were things like adding more sugar than the cake called for, adding more butter, adding some oil to the recipe, folding in either yogurt or sour cream at the end, and other things such as substituting brown sugar and using more egg yolks. These last two were not ones I would use in my Maraschino Cherry Cake, because I was basically using a white cake recipe and adding in Maraschino cherries and some of the syrup. I took the recipe I had originally created and looked through the ingredients to see where I could use some of these suggestions. 

The changes I made were minimal. Instead of milk I used an equal amount of heavy cream. I added an extra 4 tablespoons of butter and an extra half-cup of sugar, lowered the baking powder amount by a teaspoon and the salt by 1/4 teaspoon. And lastly, 3/4 cup of sour cream was folded in at the end with the cherries. Looking at these changes, I was worried about the extra butter and sugar making it too thin a batter, so I added one more egg white for binding power. I had forgotten I had some Washington cherry flavor I had gotten at the King Arthur Flour website (and appears to no longer be available). While it is not Maraschino cherry flavor, I figured it would still bring more cherry flavor to the cake, so I added a little dash of that too.

The outcome was absolutely spectacular. I made a smaller cake (two 7-inch layers instead the regular 8 or 9-inch) for Tetiana and then made one tiny 6-inch layer so my husband and I could taste and critique the cake. I divided the 7-inch layers in half, making 4 thin layers. I cut the little 6-inch layer in half also, making it a 2-layer bitty cake for us to try.The cake itself was moist as can be with fantastic cherry flavor and color. The crumb was delicate and fine. It was all I could hope for in a cake.

Maraschino Cherry Cake

Tiny 7-inch Maraschino Cherry Cake

Makes one (2-layer) 8 or 9-inch round cake

6 large egg whites
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup Maraschino cherry syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Washington Cherry Flavor, optional
2 sticks / 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 cups cake flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 (10-oz) jar Maraschino cherries, drained
¾ cup / 6-ounces sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 on Convection Bake). Spray two round cake pans with nonstick spray. Cut parchment rounds to fit the bottom of the pans and set them in place, then spray the parchment. Set the pans aside.

Drain the jar of cherries (keeping the syrup for flavor) and cut the cherries in half or quarters. Set them aside to drain well while making the cake batter.

Whisk the egg whites together in a bowl until just foamy and well broken down. Add in the cream, cherry syrup and extract(s) and whisk well. Measure out 1/2 cup of this mixture and set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in the soft butter (not melted) with the 1/2 cup of liquid mixture. Begin beating slowly, increasing speed as the mixture begins to coalesce. Add in the remaining liquid mixture and beat slowly to combine, then increase speed to medium for about 1 minute to combine and aerate. On low speed, add in the drained cherries and the sour cream. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, spreading evenly. Bake the cake layers for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a crumb or two. Do not over bake! The batter is very light and fluffy soft, so watch carefully.

Cool the cakes in the pans for about 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely before filling and frosting.

MAKE AHEAD: If not using the cakes right away they may be frozen. The 8 or 9-inch cake pan with the cake in it can be placed inside a gallon zip-top bag and frozen for up to 2 weeks. Thaw before filling or frosting. To make the 4 layer cake, slice each layer in half horizontally to make 4 thinner layers.

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In yesterday's blog I gave the recipe for the Blackberry Mascarpone Filling  I made for the birthday cake I made for friend Heidi and myself.  I wanted to do a similar thing with the Maraschino cherry cake's filling, so I used the same recipe, using a cherry jam (again, not Maraschino cherry flavor, and I had to pass it through a sieve to make it smooth enough). To make the cherry flavor more intense, I boiled down 6 tablespoons cherry preserves with about ¼ cup of the Maraschino syrup to make a total of about the same ¼ cup of cherry as there was blackberry jam in that recipe. It worked very well and the cherry flavor was beautiful.

Cherry Mascarpone Filling

Makes enough to fill a 4 layer cake with plenty left over

1 jar (10 ounce) maraschino cherries, drained, syrup reserved
6 tablespoons cherry preserves (not jelly)
¼ cup reserved Maraschino syrup
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cherry flavor, optional
1 carton (8-ounces) Mascarpone cheese

Drain the Maraschino cherries well and cut them in half. Set them on paper toweling to drain while making the filling.

Pass the cherry preserves through a sieve. Measure the amount after sieving. In a small saucepan, combine the measured preserves and the Maraschino cherry syrup and bring to boil. Keep at a steady low boil for about 10 minutes, reducing the mixture to about ¼ cup. Allow to cool while beating the butter.

Left: the cherry mixture cooked down to thick syrup. Right, the finished Cherry Mascarpone Filling

Make sure the butter is soft. If room temperature still has the butter too hard, hold it in warm hands or use the microwave in short 2 - 5 second bursts to soften, but not melt. One or two short microwave bursts should be enough. Place the softened butter into the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed or higher and beat it for 8 minutes, until very, very light and creamy-pale, stopping to scrape sides of the bowl once or twice during the 8 minutes. Add in the cooled cherry mixture and beat to combine. Add in the confectioners' sugar all at once and mix on very lowest setting until it is moistened. Add the flavorings to combine, then increase the speed to medium or medium high and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 or 6 minutes more. Add the softened Mascarpone cheese and beat just to combine.

To fill the cake, spread a good layer of this filling onto a cake layer, setting some of the drained cherry halves onto the filling. Top with another cake layer and repeat, then once more, pressing gently on each cake layer as it is added. If any filling oozes out, use the tip of a butter knife or table knife to scrape away any excess. Refrigerate the cake before frosting to set up the filling so the layers do not slide around.. 

Use this filling between the layers of the Maraschino Cherry Cake for those Maraschino cherry lovers in your life!  And of course, we need Cream Cheese Frosting for this wonderful cake!

Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to frost one 8-inch cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, very soft, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 cups / 1 pound sifted confectioners' sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter and cream cheese into the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer and beat these ingredients for 8 minutes on medium speed, until almost white and very creamy. If the butter and cream cheese are not soft enough, the mixture will not achieve this creamy state.

While the butter is beating, sift the confectioners' sugar with the salt. Once the 8 minutes have elapsed, turn the machine off. Add the confectioners' sugar mixture all at once and begin to mix on very low speed for about a minute, until moistened. Increase speed and add in the vanilla and heavy cream. Beat for at least 6 minutes more. The frosting will have increased in volume and will be very light and fluffy. The texture will be very soft, but hold stiff peaks and any designs piped on.

NOTE: For added vanilla flavor, scrape the beans from ½ of a vanilla bean and add to the mixer bowl when adding in the confectioners' sugar.

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 Time to Make Cookies

I was busy making cookies today. I made Swedish Limpa Rye Bread yesterday. I have made Stollen bread. I've made Slovak Rolls, both nut and poppy seed varieties. But today, I made cookies. I frosted my roll cookies first, I made Bourbon Balls, and then got busy making Cherry Bon Bons for my husband the "cherry fiend". The man loves maraschino cherries. I like them too, but not to the extent he does. His mom loved cherries also, and she gave me the recipe for these cookies, so I could make them.

Because Mom Rawstern loved maraschino cherries so much is likely the reason she gave me the recipe the way she did. It had 4 tablespoons of cherry juice in the dough. I would make these cookies year after year, having never seen any but the ones I made. Mine turned out looking like hats with a wide brim. Reminded me quite a lot of the animated movie about the Little Prince, who drew a boa constrictor digesting an elephant... everyone thought it was a hat. My poor cookies were trying to digest a cherry.

I digress. As it turns out, I found last year from my sister-in-law that the recipe should only have 2 tablespoons of cherry juice.  Much harder to work with the dough, I admit, but now the cookies come out looking far better. They now come out as pretty little mounds, and no longer remind me of The Little Prince.

Cherry Bon Bons

Cherry Bon Bons

26 - 28 Maraschino cherries (one 10-ounce jar)
½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup confectioners’ Sugar
2  tablespoons cherry Juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
Pinch salt

Drain the maraschino cherries in a sieve over a bowl, catching the juice.  Let cherries drain for a few minutes, then place 3 - 4 layers of paper toweling on a large plate and put cherries on the toweling to drain further. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in the cherry juice and vanilla.  Combine the flour and salt and gradually add to the creamed mixture.
Divide dough into approximately 26 - 28 portions. Roll each portion into a ball, then hollow out the center. Fit in one cherry, then seal the opening completely. (At this point, you may roll them in little sprinkles, or colored sugar, or leave them plain and pipe icing over them later). Place on baking sheets about 2-inches apart.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until completely set. Remove to wire racks to cool.

NOTES: Terry’s Mom always rolled her cookies in the little hard multicolored sprinkles.  Online I have seen the same recipe with no sprinkles, but a pretty piped icing over top instead.  Your choice.



My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook and Pinterest.