Cranberry Cheese Cake

Many years ago I was one of three judges at a cheese cake contest sponsored by a local cookware shop. We were told that 50 people had entered and would be bringing their cakes over.

Fifty cakes!

Fortunately only 32 people showed up. My first thought was about what might have happened to those other people. Did they just decide not to bother or had their cakes not come out right?

My second thought -- how am I going to eat -- even small samples -- of 32 cakes!

But, I was younger and thinner then and so I soldiered on.

There were some incredibly elaborate versions -- one was swirled with gorgeous white chocolate leaves, another was drizzled with thick, viscous drippings of autumn-leaf-colored caramel.

But frankly, we all thought the best cakes were the simplest ones. The ones where you could actually taste the cheese in the cheese cake. Like classic New York Cheese Cake. Or, if adorned, only simply, with some glazed fresh fruit.

And so, in this season of cheese cakes (it's the number one food for Shavuot), I offer a simple cheese cake. You can absolutely taste the lush, creamy cheese. It isn't overloaded with sugar or chocolate. There is a fruit top, made with fresh cranberries, which are tart and acidic and do a fabulous job balancing out the dense, rich cake beneath.

Or, you can serve the cake plain, maybe garnishing with a sprinkle or two of confectioner's sugar.

 

Cranberry Cheese Cake

• 1-1/2  teaspoons butter
• 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1-1/2 pounds cream cheese (3-8 ounce packages)
• 2 teaspoons grated orange peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/3 cup dairy sour cream or unflavored yogurt

 Topping:

• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in one tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the butter on the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Sprinkle the inside of the pan with the graham cracker crumbs. Shake the pan to coat it evenly. Beat the cream cheese in an electric mixer at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until softened and smooth. Add the orange peel, vanilla, cream and sugar and beat for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the sour cream. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place the springform pan inside a larger pan. Fill the larger pan with enough hot water to come at least 1-inch up the sides of the baking dish. Bake for 70-75 minutes or until the top of the cake is tanning lightly. Remove the springform pan from the water and let the cake cool. When the cake is at room temperature, refrigerate it at least 4 hours or until thoroughly chilled. Remove the sides of the pan. Spread the topping over the cake.

 Topping:

Place the cranberries, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, for about 3 minutes or until cranberries start to pop. Stir the cornstarch mixture and add it to the pan. Mix for about one minute or until the topping thickens. Stir in the orange peel. Let cool.

 Makes one cake serving 8-10

Aunt Kate's Cheese Cake

My Mom always talked about what a good cook Aunt Kate was. She'd say "Kate could make franks and beans taste like a gourmet dinner."

Truth is, Aunt Kate (Kate Winter) was actually not my biological or married-in aunt; she was our neighbor when I was a little girl in Bridgeport, CT. In those days it was the custom to call your parents' good friends aunt/uncle, out of respect. My parents and the Winters remained close friends, even after my parents moved away.

Recently, while going through a purge of my recipe files, I came across Aunt Kate's recipe for cream cheese cake. It was on an index card, in her handwriting, complete with instructions, including the reminder to place the finished, cooled cake "in the ice box."

Naturally, I had to try it.

My Mom was right. This was one fabulous recipe. Creamy, rich cheesecake -- but lighter and fluffier than most. It doesn't need anything but itself, although Aunt Kate apparently garnished it with strawberry topping (frozen strawberries mixed with cornstarch and sugar). I preferred to use fresh berries so I changed that part.

Otherwise, in all its delicious glory, here is the recipe for Aunt Kate's wonderful cheese cake.

AUNT KATE'S CHEESE CAKE

• 2 teaspoons butter or margarine

• 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

• 1 pound cream cheese

• 1 pound cottage or farmer cheese

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Topping

 TOPPING:

• 2 cups dairy sour cream

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 GARNISH

• 12-15 strawberries

• 1/4 cup apricot or currant preserves

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the butter on the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Sprinkle the inside of the pan with the graham cracker crumbs. Shake the pan to coat the bottom and sides of the pan completely. Beat the cream cheese and cottage cheese in an electric mixer at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until they are thoroughly blended. Add the sugar and blend it in. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat the ingredients for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking, make the topping by mixing the sour cream, sugar and vanilla extract together until well blended. When the cake has baked for 20 minutes, remove it from the oven and carefully spoon the topping over the cake. Return the cake to the oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off but leave the cake in the oven until it has cooled to room temperature.

When the cake has reached room temperature, (“place it in the ice box”) refrigerate it at least 4 hours or until it is thoroughly chilled. Wash and trim the berries and cut the in half. Place the halves attractively on top of the cake. Heat the preserves in a small saucepan and brush the melted preserves over the berries. Remove the sides of the pan to serve the cake.

Makes one cake serving 12-16

 

Rich, Dense, Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I've been experimenting with cream cheese lately, mostly because I had some extra left over from creating and testing recipes for Philadelphia Cream Cheese at JoyOfKosher.com. (You can find the recipes here, where there are recipes also from Tamar Genger and Jamie Geller).

But also because the Jewish holiday of Shavuot is coming and this particular holiday usually involves a lot of cream cheese.

I've made several cheesecakes. You'll read about them here soon.

But I decided to make a pound cake too. With the addition of cream cheese, this plain old cake is outrageously dense, moist and rich.

You don't need to add frosting, powdered sugar, any sort of glaze, accompaniments of any kind like ice cream or fresh fruit. Although, of course, none of those would hurt.

But this one is good just the way it is.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

• 1-1/2 cups butter
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 2-1/2 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 10-cup bundt pan. Beat the butter and cream cheese together in the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium for about 2 minutes, or until well blended. Add the sugar gradually and beat for about 2 minutes or until thoroughly incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally to keep the batter smooth and uniform. Add the vanilla extract and lemon peel and stir them in. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat the ingredients for about 1-2 minutes or until smooth, uniform and well-blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1-1/2 hours or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes one cake serving 16 people

Plum Cake with Oat Streusel

Plum Torte with Oat Streusel 

It wouldn’t be the Jewish High Holiday season if you didn’t see at least one recipe for Plum Torte.

I suppose it’s because the holidays come at around the same time as the harvest for those small, dark purple Italian prune plums and what could be better than dessert made with the newest, freshest, soon-to-disappear seasonal fruit? (Although the torte recipe is so versatile that my niece Rachel Vail, renowned children’s book author, once made it with pears.)

I’ve made several versions over the years, including the NYTimes recipe and my Aunt Beck’s famous apple cake made with plums.

This year I’m baking a new variation for the holidays. If Plum Torte is so delicious, can’t it be even better — and lovelier looking — with a streusel top?

Yes!

Here it is:

PLUM CAKE WITH OAT STREUSEL

CAKE: 

• Streusel (recipe below)

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons grated fresh orange peel

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup milk

• 12 Italian prune plums, pitted and sliced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the streusel and set it aside. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange peel in the bowl of an electric mixer. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and beat for about one minute, until smooth. Turn the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top with the plum slices. Cover with the streusel. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the outer ring from the pan and let the cake cool completely.

Makes one cake serving 8 people

STREUSEL:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Red Velvet Cake

Last week a New York Times article bemoaned the fate of Red Velvet, which, like so many other American products, got twisted and turned and commercialized beyond repair and has been reproduced in so many gimmicky ways — red velvet candles, red velvet body mist, and so on — that it has become preposterous.

We’ve all seen this happen before. When something, anything is popular, there are going to be those who want to cash in on it in ways never intended.

They can sell it, but of course we don’t have to buy it. And if we don’t buy it, they will stop selling it and we can move on.

But that doesn’t mean that the original product was outlandish. There is a reason that Red Velvet Cake has endured. People love how it tastes. It has a miraculously soft texture. In its article, the New York Times, while ridiculing the commercialization, deemed Red Velvet Cake a classic.

Truth to tell, I never understood the wow in the whole red velvet cake thing. To me the versions I tasted seemed as if they couldn’t make up their minds about whether to be a vanilla cake with too much color and too-little cocoa to make a flavor difference or a devil’s-food cake.

But after experimenting somewhat with recipes, I came up with one that’s mighty good! So, now I get it. It isn’t vanilla cake. Or devil’s-food. Or chocolate cake. It’s its own thing. A classic. Here’s the recipe, plus a recipe for frosting that’s way less sweet than most:

Red Velvet Cake

• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  1/3 cup cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
  1 teaspoon salt
  2 cups sugar
  1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
  3 large eggs, at room temperature
  1 ounce red food coloring mixed with 6 tablespoons water
  1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  1-1/4 cups plain yogurt
  2 teaspoons baking soda
  2 teaspoons white vinegar
  Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 3 9-inch cake pans. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl and set aside. Beat the sugar and vegetable oil together at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the food coloring mixture and vanilla extract and stir the ingredients at low speed until thoroughly blended. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the yogurt, beating the ingredients after each addition. Mix the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl, pour it into the batter and blend it in thoroughly. Spoon the batter equally among the cake pans. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool for about 10 minutes, then insert them onto a cake rack to cool completely. Before serving, frost the cake.

Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
  1/2 cup butter at room temperature
  2 cups confectioner sugar
  1 tablespoon lemon juice
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon peel

Beat the cream cheese, butter, confectioners sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract and lemon peel together at low-medium speed until smooth, creamy and well blended.

Makes 10-12 servings

Tagged: red velvet cake, cake, dessert

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Mandelbrot

See these slices of Mandelbrot? I offered one to a friend of mine who is Italian-American and he said “I love biscotti. Thanks!”

And of course he was right. Mandelbrot is the Jewish version of biscotti: cookies (or biscuits) that have been baked twice. First you bake the sweet dough in the form of a low cake and when it is finished baking and cools, you slice the loaf and toast the slices until they’re dry and crispy.

In my family we prefer the slices soft, so I serve Mandelbrot after only one baking, which means they actually aren’t exactly bi-scotti. But they are really good. At your house you can do it either way of course.

Mandelbrot (like biscotti) can be plain or be swirled with chocolate or contain chopped nuts and/or fruit. This is our favorite family version. 

It freezes well in case you want to make some in advance.

Mandelbrot

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 2-1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 tablespoon brandy or apple juice

• 1 teaspoon almond extract

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

• 1/3 cup cut up candied cherries

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

• 1/3 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a mixer set at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until creamy and well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add 2-1/2 cups of the flour, baking powder, brandy, almond extract and salt and beat at medium speed until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Blend in the remaining flour if the pastry is very sticky. Fold in the nuts, cherries, chocolate chips and raisins. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into thirds and shape each piece into an oval loaf about 1-1/2 to 2 inches thick. Place the loaves on the cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool. Serve sliced, as is, or toast the slices for extra crispness.

Makes 3 loaves. 

NOTE: sometimes I cut the dough in half, rather than thirds, to make larger loaves/slices. These need a few more minutes of baking time.

German Apple Cake

German Apple Cake 

I was away recently, traveling through Germany and the Czech Republic, which means two things.

First, it was a great trip and I had a good time, learned a lot, saw a lot and met a lot of nice people.

Two, I gained weight.

Of course I gained weight. That’s what happens on a vacation.

Is it just me or does everyone add a few pounds this way?

I gained weight even though I walked probably 6-8 miles each day. Think of what would have happened if I taxi-ed all over the place!

But when you’re in a place that’s famous for its Apple Kuchen, schlag, dark beer and potatoes, well, you’re gonna gain weight. Especially if you like Apple Kuchen, schlag, dark beer and potatoes.

Which I do.

Okay, so I have to lose four pounds that got added on over 22 days.

But how do I do that when I felt absolutely compelled to try out recipes for Apple Kuchen?

Like the kind we had at a marvelous little coffee house in Potsdam.

The cake was tender and vaguely lemony, with a layer of soft baked sliced apples and crusted with mocha-brown crumbles of streusel.

Perfect.

Like this:

German Apple Cake

Streusel:

• 1/4 pound unsalted butter

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Place the sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and mix until well blended. Pour in the butter and blend it in. Let stand for 4-5 minutes, then crumble the mixture using your fingers. Set aside.

Cake:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup milk

• 2 tart apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored and sliced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the streusel and set it aside. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon peel in the bowl of an electric mixer. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and stir only to combine: do not overbeat. Turn the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top with the apple slices. Cover with the streusel. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the outer ring from the pan and let the cake cool completely.

Makes one cake

Apple Cake

Sometimes simple is best. This is the time of year I buy a load of apples and bake pies and fancy cakes and gorgeous French apple tarts.

But, with all the cooking and baking I’m doing now, I also try to make a few really easy desserts that are light and fresh tasting so we can eat them even after a heavy holiday meal.

This one is a classic. Good plain, with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Or with ice cream of course.

I think I could write a whole book about different kinds of apple cake.

Apple Cake

3-4 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/4 cup apple, orange, peach or mango juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 10-inch springform pan (or a 9”x13” cake pan). Combine the apples, 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside. Place the flour, baking powder, salt, 1-1/4 cups sugar and vegetable oil in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the juice, lemon peel and vanilla extract. Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan. Spoon some of the apple mixture on top. Repeat the layers. Bake for about 65-75 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes one cake

Classic Strawberry Shortcake

I know it was Julia Child’s 100th birthday this week and she was an important person in my life. Although it was my Mom who taught me the basics, Julia taught me to take giant leaps beyond. I didn’t cook every recipe in her first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but I did make many of them. A boyfriend had given me that book — a treasured first edition — which is now gravy stained and coverless and signed by Julia herself on one of my favorite recipes (I met her when I took a cooking course along with several hundred other people like in some College 101 class).

So, Happy Birthday Julia.

But this week was also a friend’s birthday. A what you call “round number” birthday, so I invited her to my house, along with another friend, who recently celebrated that same round number birthday. We had a few hors d’oeuvre with a nice few glasses of wine, then grilled fish with Grilled Pineapple Salsa (and a few vegetables) for dinner.

SO healthy. We are all at that nice round number watch-what-you-eat age.

But dessert? Oh well. Why count calories when summer strawberries are out and you can eat Strawberry Shortcake?

Which is what I made instead of baking or buying a birthday cake.

Not a morsel was left on our plates.

Classic Strawberry Shortcake

2 pounds fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar
orange, mango or papaya juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon peel
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Wash the berries and slice them into a bowl, sprinkle them with 2 tablespoons sugar and a few tablespoons of juice and set aside. In another bowl, mix the flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt, baking powder and lemon peel. Add the butter and work into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat the egg and milk together until well combined. Add the liquids to the flour mixture and mix until a soft dough forms. Roll or press the dough to 1/2-inch thick circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut out 8 circles with a cookie cutter. Place the circles on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12–15 minutes or until puffed and lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool. Whip the cream with the remaining teaspoon sugar until the mixture stands in soft peaks. Cut the biscuits in half and place each bottom half on a serving dish. Place the berries and any accumulated juices on top. Pour some of the cream on top. Top with the remaining biscuit halves. Makes 8 servings.

Chocolate Yogurt Pound Cake

"This is just like room service!"

That, from my almost 6-year old grand daughter Lila (who apparently already knows about room service!?!) after I let her have her dinner in the family room and watch TV.

This is something I didn’t allow my own two daughters.

But honestly, after 35 years I was a little out of practice. And, like bike riding, you may not forget how, but you also may not race through the streets or peddle yourself up a steep hill quite as often or as easily either. 

So, when the kids came for a visit, sans parents, from Friday through Sunday, there were occasional, let’s say, concessions. If my daughter Gillian, their Mom, is reading this now, I say, don’t worry. These kids are terrific and 2 meals in front of the TV won’t harm them.

As you can see from the photos we did lots of stuff like draw, have a pedicure, blow bubbles outside, ride bikes, have a fashion show. We also frosted a birthday cake for their cousin Nina’s birthday party on Saturday (although the top decoration, an Ariel rice-paper scene, was store-bought).

The little one, Remy, age 21 months talks a blue streak although sometimes it’s difficult to understand his pronunciations. However, one of the new words he learned this weekend was “chocolate cake,” which he mentioned to his parents as soon as they walked in the door Sunday night.

"Tzockickcake!" he told them, with his tongue literally licking his lips.

When a kid is this young you can’t depend on “what happens at Grandma’s stays at grandma’s.”

I had baked the chocolate cake for a Hadassah Tea and was cutting it into slices. There were a few not-so-lovely pieces that I didn’t include on the platter I sent over for that event. Remy had a small sliver of the leftovers. He liked it, that’s for sure.

Can’t say I blame him. Smart kid!

Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Yogurt Pound Cake

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces butter at room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 10-cup bundt pan. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix at medium speed for 3-4 minutes or until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, blending each one in. Stir in the vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the yogurt, until the flour mixture and yogurt have been used and the batter is well blended and smooth. Gradually add the boiling water, beating slowly, for 2-3 minutes or until the batter is smooth and well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 65-70 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Makes 12+ servings