things to try: September 2008 Archives

We have all this beer in the fridge, and while it's not bad, we just don't prefer pumpkin ales. I figure it's a good excuse to experiment with more beer bread flavors. To the basic recipebasic recipe I added cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and raisins. I also substituted brown sugar for the white sugar and added quite a bit more to make a sweeter loaf and counteract the bitterness of the beer a little. I was pleasantly surprised with the result. Sweet, but not too sweet, with warm spices and chewy raisins scattered throughout. This would be good with some oats added also. I would cut back the flour to 2 cups then add about 1 1/2 cups rolled oats. I might double the amount of raisins too.

This bread is especially good toasted and buttered.

Edit (9/24/08): Text message from my younger brother (who was here yesterday to mow the lawn), "I had a little piece of your bread oh my god." It seems to get better every day.


» Recipe for Raisin Spice Beer Bread

My second attempt at this cake was better, but still not perfect. I used whole milk yogurt, which was extremely rich, resulting in a very moist cake. I made all of the changes I wrote about last timelast time, except that I decided not to add any spices to the batter. I don't think it needed it. I still don't really like the almond flavoring, even though I put half the amount in and mixed it with vanilla extract. I would leave it out altogether next time. Maybe replace part of the flour with finely ground almonds.

I don't know if I would use whole milk yogurt again. I'll probably try lowfat next time. Or buttermilk. I haven't really been loving cakes made with yogurt, although it's probably good for this recipe, because the dense cake stands up to the apples.

The layer of apples between the two batter layers was probably unnecessary. It seems that the batter under the apples didn't rise at all. Putting all the apples on top seems to be the best approach. Also, letting the apple slices macerate in the cinnamon sugar while mixing up the batter created a wonderful apple-cinnamon syrup that I drizzled over the cake before baking it.

I ended up baking it for just over an hour. At 45 minutes the center was still gooey.


» Recipe for Almond Apple Cake: Attempt #2

This is the third year in a row that I've made an apple-inspired cake for my mom's birthday. Two years ago it was an applesauce spice cake. The cake was dry and tasteless, and the frosting was way too sweet. Last year it was a velvet spice cake with an apple-raisin filling and seafoam icing. The icing didn't hold up and slid off the cake - even in the fridge. The filling was good but it wasn't the right consistency for a cake with icing that needed to be refrigerated.

I don't seem to have much success with cakes. They always leave something to be desired. I thought this one was going to be different. It looked and smelled so good, but it turned out to be slightly overdone and dry. I even took it out a couple minutes early.

It's surprising that my family still lets me bring dessert.

I really think this could be a great cake though. I have plenty of apples left so I'm going to give it another shot this week, with a few changes:

• Full-fat yogurt, for starters. I think that's why I haven't really liked the yogurt cakes I've made. Fat-free yogurt just doesn't have the same effect. That should help with the moisture. Substituting buttermilk would probably work well also. I love buttermilk-based cakes.
  
  
• More apples. I used four apples in this one because they were pretty small, but I still think it could use even more. I would also toss them in a little cinnamon-sugar mixture before layering them on the cake, and instead of putting all the apple slices on top, I would put half of them between two layers of batter.
  
  
• Less almond extract. I'm not a huge fan of almond extract. It tastes a bit fake and overpowering to me. I remember thinking that when I made the Honey-Almond Yogurt CakeHoney-Almond Yogurt Cake, but this recipe called for half the amount so I didn't think cutting back on it would be necessary. It might be good with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp almond extract. Real Amaretto would be even better, but I didn't have any on hand.
  
  
• Add some spices to the batter. Some cinnamon, a pinch of cloves, a sprinkling of nutmeg. Nutmeg makes everything better.
  
  
• Adjust the baking time. One hour was way too long. The bottom and sides of the cake got too dark and tough. Maybe 45 minutes would do it.

» Recipe for Almond Apple Cake

Matt loves lasagna with a passion, and I rarely make it because not only is it so time-consuming, but even an 8"x8" dish is way too much for 2 people. I can only stand eating leftovers for so long. I decided to try making a bunch of 2-3 serving mini lasagne to keep in the freezer for nights when I don't feel like cooking.

This version has eggplant and broccoli hidden in the sauce (because I like to force my love for vegetables on others). I found the tiniest eggplants at the farmer's market today - 3 of them, about 1" by 3", all attached to the same vine. I was thinking about peeling them first, but then I decided that the purple flecks of skin would look pretty in the sauce.

I think next time I will make enough noodles to have one more layer on top, then top it with more sauce and cheese. I think that if I make 4 instead of 5 pans I'll have enough sauce and cheese. Then I would need 8 noodles to make 3 layers.


» Recipe for Mini Lasagne