and the winner is...

“It’s a pie!”  “No, it’s a cake!”  This was the argument I somehow got in the middle of when I asked the culinary director and her assistant at my workplace for the pumpkin cheesecake recipe that has been such a hit lately.  They were getting into the process, what is in it that makes it a pie or for that matter a cake.  I really don’t know what the final decision was, and honestly, I didn’t really care.  Thankfully though, I did get the recipe and a disgustingly huge slice to take home for snacking on that night after work.  

This pumpkin cheesecake has a gingersnap cookie crust that is so buttery, it just melts in your mouth.  The filling has of course cream cheese (a boat load), pumpkin, some spices and a splash of bourbon, just because it sounds good.  It is so creamy and delicious, and the pumpkin adds a beautiful color as well. The topping, which I think just makes this “pie” is the praline top.  A pecan, brown sugar, butter mixture that is baked until bubbly, hardens as it cools and then is crumbled on top to give an extra texture and flavor bump. It is so good.

This recipe serves twelve, so invite the gang over, and call it whatever you want, they won’t care.  They’ll just think you’re a rock star!

Enjoy!

Shannon

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

from Bon Appetit

For praline
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans

For crust
2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 9 ounces)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For filling
4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 large eggs
1 15-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
3 tablespoons bourbon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Make praline:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking sheet with foil. Stir sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar melts and mixture comes to boil; boil 1 minute without stirring. Mix in pecans. Spread mixture on prepared baking sheet. Bake until sugar syrup bubbles vigorously, about 8 minutes. Cool praline completely. Break into pieces. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight.)

Make crust:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Stir cookie crumbs and cinnamon in medium bowl to blend. Add butter; stir until crumbs are moistened. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Bake crust until set, about 8 minutes. Cool. Double-wrap outside of pan with heavy-duty foil. Place in large roasting pan.

Make filling:

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in flour and spices. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin, bourbon and vanilla. Transfer to crust.

Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to reach 1 inch up sides of springform pan. Bake cake in water bath until center is just set, adding more water to roasting pan as needed, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Remove cheesecake from water. Cool in pan on rack. Remove foil. Run small sharp knife between cake and pan sides. Chill until cold; then cover and chill overnight.

Release pan sides. Place cake on platter. Sprinkle praline over, leaving 1-inch plain border at edge. Cut cake into wedges.


Serves 12

a perfect paring

I’ve been reminiscing about my childhood. Being raised by two loving Grandparents, I have many fond memories of them and that little pink house that Grandpa had built. It’s interesting that food, even in its simplest form can bring back former days or moments, sometimes good and bad. Lately for me it has been rhubarb and strawberries.

Growing up in Idaho I remember when the spring days would get longer and the temperatures would begin to climb; produce from the garden began to increase. The garden was my Grandfathers pride and joy and probably a place of solace as well. He would bring in armfuls of greens, still warm from the sun with the smell of fresh soil still hugging at the roots. But what really got me excited was when it was time to harvest the rhubarb. It was a very short period during the spring when our few plantings of rhubarb would be ruby red and ready for harvest and the strawberries were heavy, bright red and sweet. This was the time for strawberry and rhubarb pie. And boy, did my Grandma know how to make a pie.

Like most Grandmothers there wasn’t a recipe only intuition and her hands that new the task well. I loved to watch her. We didn’t talk much when she was baking, but she would hum and I would kneel on the kitchen stool sneaking a berry or taking a leftover stalk of rhubarb and dip it into the sugar bowl. Grandma would scoop her coffee cup into the flour tin then into the sugar, giving the mix a turn with her hands. Adding the shortening and butter, (at what ratio I will never know) she would use her fingers to blend the ingredients. Then came the iced water drip by drip until it was the consistency she needed. When it was time to roll the dough the decks would be cleared and a toss of flour went onto the board, then the rolling pin was produced to finish the job. It all seemed so easy, and I relished the entertainment. But probably even more I enjoyed the results. The tender, flaky crust that encased the sweet tart blend of freshly harvested rhubarb and strawberries is a combination that cannot be improved upon.

If the prospect of baking a pie sends you running in the other direction, but you still want to enjoy the perfect paring of rhubarb and strawberry, try this recipe. It is a delightfully simple crisp with a hazelnut oatmeal top that is sure to please. Serve the crisp warm in bowls with freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

I think even Grandma would have liked it.

Enjoy!
Shannon

Rhubarb & Strawberry Crisp
Serves 8

1 lb. rhubarb, sliced in 1 in. pieces
2 pints strawberries, hulled, sliced in half
Zest and juice from 3 blood oranges (or whatever oranges you have on hand)
¼ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
Topping:
1 stick butter, chilled, cubed
¾ cup all purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup oats
Pinch of salt
¼ cup toasted hazelnuts, skins removed, chopped coarsely

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 8 x 11 baking dish and set aside. In a bowl combine sliced rhubarb, strawberries, zest and juice from the oranges, flour and sugar. Toss gently to incorporate flour and sugar throughout. Pour into prepared baking dish.

For the topping I like to use a food processor, but a pastry cutter, fork or even your fingers work as well. Combine chilled, cubed butter, with the flour, sugar and salt, pulse a few times until butter is the size of small peas. Add oatmeal and pulse once or twice, just enough to get it mixed through, but not chopped too small. Crumble mixture over the top of the strawberry rhubarb mixture. Top with the roasted hazelnuts and bake for 45 minutes until the top is browned nicely and the mixture is bubbling through the cracks.

Serve warm with freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

a cup of tea

If we drink coffee to get us up and moving, we drink tea to wind us down. So it should come as no surprise that there are health benefits in the consumption of tea. Many scientists agree that tea; both black and green contain important antioxidants and contribute to a healthy lifestyle.

But did you also know that tea like wine can be paired with foods to enhance your baking, cooking, and your dining. And this recipe is proof that tea and cake definitely go together. I came across this recipe in my ever expanding file of “things to make” and decided it was time to get baking.

The recipe, a dense chocolate cake that has an infusion of earl grey tea could be served easily for brunch, afternoon tea, or for dessert.

Produced in Sri Lanka, China and India, Earl Grey is traditionally scented with bergamot oil, which gives it an orange-citrus flavor. And when paired with rich dark chocolate it can’t be beat.

Enjoy!

Shannon

Chocolate-Earl Grey Cake
Adapted  from a recipe in Real Simple Magazine 2007

6 Earl Grey tea bags or 2 Tbsp. loose Earl Grey
1 cup water
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. kosher salt
½ cup crème fraîche
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Heat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8-cup fluted tube pan with cooking spray. Brew the tea in the water 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the tea bag or strain the leaves and set the brewed tea aside. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together, set aside. Using a mixer, beat the butter, eggs, and granulated sugar until fluffy. Blend in the chocolate. Beat in the flour mixture, crème fraîche and brewed tea. Pour into pan and bake 50 minutes, or up to an hour, until a cake tester comes out with a few crumbs attached. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then turn out of pan and cool.  Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Makes 10 servings

christmas cake

Okay, I admit it even though I’m calling it a Christmas Cake … it's a fruitcake. And yes I have heard all the jokes told about the poor thing and the uses it should have instead of having a prominent place of honor at the end of the Christmas feast. I believe the list goes something like this:

Use as a doorstop

Use as a paper weight

Use as a boat anchor

Use as bricks in fireplace

Build a house with them

Use it to hold up your Christmas tree

Give it to the cat for a scratching post

Put it in the back yard to feed the birds and squirrels

Hold up your car when changing tires

Use as a replacement for a Dura flame log

Replaces free weights when you work out

Well, I am hoping to change all that…especially since I found this recipe in Nigel Slater’s cookbook Kitchen Diaries.  I was so excited to give it a whirl.  My family doesn’t share in my exuberance yet, but once they taste it I’m sure it will win them over. After all Nigel says in his cookbook that he is “extraordinarily fond” of making Christmas cake and looks forward to it for weeks. Apparently there is nothing as lovely as the heavenly fruity cakey aroma coming from the oven. The sweet tart flavor of the Turkish apricots, to the plump black figs, moist and sweet prunes, mouth watering dates, along with the nutty crunch of the hazelnuts; how can we resist? Then if that is not enough the recipe calls for “feeding” the cake with brandy every week until Christmas Day, so that it is moist and delicious. Before serving the cake, it is covered in Marzipan and then if you desire to “gild the lily” top it off with a beautiful snowdrift of frosting made from unrefined powered sugar and egg whites laced with a touch of lemon juice. He said that this recipe is requested from him more than any other recipe. So it seemed like something I should definitely give some consideration too.

Feel free to change up the dried fruit and nut combo as you like. I actually didn’t add the glacé cherries or the currants and substituted dates instead. And for the brandy, I chose to use Belle de Brillet. It is one of France’s classic and great liqueurs, and is the original blend of Brillet Cognac with the essence of pears. The perfectly matured pears are picked at their peak of ripeness, macerated, and then blended with Fine Brillet Cognac. About twenty pounds of pears for each bottle!

So if you dare, give this cake a try. But just between you and me, you might just want to refer to it as “Christmas Cake”.

Enjoy!

Shannon

Christmas Cake

from Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater

Butter- ½ lb. plus 2 tbsp
Light brown sugar ½ cup plus 2 tbsp
Dark brown sugar ½ cup plus 2 tbsp
Dried fruits-prunes, apricots, figs, candied peel, glacé cherries (I used dates instead of cherries)
4 ½ cups total
3 large free range eggs
Ground almonds ½ cup
Shelled hazelnuts 2/3 cup
Raisins, currants, cranberries, 2 1/3 cups in total

Brandy- 4 tbsp. plus extra to feed the cake

The zest and juice of an orange
The zest of a lemon
Baking powder ¾ tsp
All purpose flour 2 ½ cups

You will need a deep 8 in. cake pan with a removable base, fully lined with a double layer of lightly buttered baking parchment which should come at least 2 in about the top of the tin

Set the oven to 325°F. Beat the butter and sugars till light and fluffy. Don’t forget to push the mixture down the sides of the bowl from time to time with a spatula

While the butter and sugars are beating to a cappuccino-colored fluff, cut the dried fruits into small pieces, removing the hard stalks from the figs. Add the eggs to the mixture one a time-it will curdle but don’t worry-then slowly mix in the ground almonds, hazelnuts all the dried fruit, the brandy and the citrus zest and juice. Now mix the baking powder and flour together and fold them lightly into the mix. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top gently, and put it in the oven. Leave it for an hour, then, without opening the oven door, turn the heat down to 300°F and continue cooking for one and half hours.

Check whether the cake is done by inserting a skewer into the center. It should come out with just a few crumbs attached but no trace of raw cake mixture. Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool before removing it from the pan.

Fee the cake by pouring brandy into it every week until Christmas. Pierce the cake with a skewer and drizzle in some brandy. Cover tightly and leave in a cake pan till needed. It will keep for several weeks.

Almond paste
To cover a cake of this size you will need 1 ¾ lbs. marzipan. Brush the cake with apricot jam or marmalade to help the almond paste to stick to it.

The icing on the cake
You can ice the cake if you’d like or not. If so, beat the whites of two eggs very lightly with a fork until bubbles start to appear. Then sift in 5 cups golden unrefined confectioners’ sugar in two lots. While beating in the second lot add two teaspoons of lemon juice. I prefer my cake to sport a rough, snowdrift look rather than to have smooth icing, so I simply spread the icing thickly on to the top and sides of the almond paste covered cake with a spatula, then make snow peaks with the end of a spoon.

serves twelve

my submission

I recently heard about a contest that Bon Appétite magazine is having for bloggers. It is the Bon Appétit Blog Envy Bake-Off. Readers will vote for the tastiest-looking treats in each dessert category—cakes, cookies, pies, and more. The Bon Appétit Test Kitchen will bake the top scoring dessert in each category and select an overall winner. The winner will receive a trip for two to New York City and dinner with Bon Appétit Editor-in-Chief Barbara Fairchild and Restaurant Editor Andrew Knowlton.

Voting began Sunday, November 1st. Entries are rolling. The contest will end Sunday, December 13th.
If you would like to cast your vote for this entry or another just go to Bon Appétit Bake-Off. 

I have been searching through recipes finally landing on this Baba au rhum. A rum baba or baba au rhum is a small yeast cake saturated in liquor, usually rum, and sometimes filled with whipped cream or pastry cream. It is most typically made in individual servings 100ml-capacity dariole moulds, but sometimes can be made in larger forms similar to those used for Bundt cakes.

This particular recipe came from The Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel.  Chef Mouchel’s career has been stellar to say the least. He was raised in Normandy, and began his career at 16 at French Michelin starred restaurants such as Restaurant Roger Verge in Mougins, and it wasn’t long before he was working under the legendary French chef Paul Bocuse at his restaurant in Lyon. He traveled around the world opening one greatly acclaimed restaurant after another, before landing in Melbourne to open his most recent restaurant, The Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel, along the riverside at Crown Casino. Philippe’s fresh take on contemporary French cuisine has established the brasserie as a favorite among Melbourne’s dining set.

This lovely cake with the orange cream and citrus salad to me is a fresh twist on a very traditional holiday dessert.

Even if this doesn’t win the Bon Appétit Bake-Off challenge, it is a winner none the less.

Enjoy!

Shannon

Baba au rhum with Bitter Orange Cream and Citrus Salad

Cooking Time Prep time 35 mins, cook 45 mins (plus proving, soaking)

Ingredients

210 gm.  flour
¾ tsp. dried yeast
3 eggs
2 Tbsp. Butter, softened
1 tsp. honey
1 Tbsp. apricot jam

Citrus salad

300 gm. sugar
600 ml.  fresh orange juice
2 each of orange and grapefruit, peeled and segmented

Bitter orange cream

3 egg yolks
50 gm. Super fine sugar
25 gm. Flour
1 cup milk
125 gm. Fine cut orange marmalade
150 gm. whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

Citrus syrup

250 gm. Sugar
1 orange and 1 lemon, rind removed with a vegetable peeler
1 vanilla bean, split and sees scraped
200 ml. Golden rum (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine flour, yeast and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add eggs, butter and honey and mix until dough is elastic. Divide dough among 4 lightly greased 100ml-capacity dariole moulds, cover with a damp tea towel and stand in a warm place until double in size (30-40 minutes). Bake until golden and babas sound hollow when tapped (15-20 minutes). Remove from moulds and place in a shallow dish. Keep warm.

Meanwhile, for citrus salad, heat sugar in a frying pan over medium heat until dark caramel (10-15 minutes). Add juice (be careful as it will spit), bring to the boil and cook, stirring to dissolve caramel, until reduced by one third (5-10 minutes). Cool, add citrus segments, cover and refrigerate.

For bitter orange cream, whisk together yolks and sugar in a bowl until combined, then add flour and whisk to combine. Bring milk just to the boil over medium heat (5-7 minutes); gradually pour over egg yolk mixture, whisking to combine. Transfer to a clean saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until thick (3-5 minutes). Set aside to cool, then refrigerate until chilled. Stir in marmalade to combine and fold through cream. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Makes 2 cups.

For citrus syrup, combine all ingredients except rum in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and syrup is warm (3-5 minutes). Add rum; pour over warm babas and turn frequently to soak in syrup until almost all is absorbed (10-15 minutes).

Meanwhile, combine jam and 2 tsp water in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until jam dissolves. Brush over babas, and then serve with citrus salad and bitter orange cream.

shared experiment

We have been taught since we were knee-high that it is “good to share”. There is a joy to receive but as we’ve learned it is a joy to give as well. And I am so thankful for friends that are willing to be “guinea pigs” so to speak and share with me all of these cooking endeavors I am exploring.

The credit for today’s experiment goes to Nigel Slater, in whose cookbook Kitchen Diaries I found this particular recipe for Passion Fruit Roulade. It is a pretty straight forward recipe, the only ingredient that might be a challenge to find is the passion fruit. But in Southern California right now I can find them at my farmer’s market, but probably only for a couple more weeks. In the recipe Nigel calls for lemon or orange curd which you can buy already prepared, which is completely fine. But I have a recipe I am particularly fond of for lemon curd, so I made mine from scratch. I tweaked the recipe slightly to make it a lemon-orange curd to take it a little sweeter, since the passion fruit is on the tart side. I think the combination is a winner.

Enjoy!
Shannon

Passion Fruit Roulade

the cake:

6 large eggs

½ cup superfine sugar
2 lemons
2 heaped tablespoons all purpose flour
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
For the filling:
1 cup lemon or orange curd (for homemade version see below)
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
8-12 passion fruits, ripe and wrinkled
Superfine sugar to finish

You will need a jelly roll pan measuring approximately 14x12, with shallow sides. It doesn’t matter if it is just a few inches out either way.
Set the oven to 400°F. Line the pan with a piece of parchment, making sure it comes up the sides.
Separate the eggs, putting the yolks into a food mixer and the whites into a bowl large enough in which to beat them. Add the sugar to the yolks and whisk until thick, pale and creamy.

Grate the zest from both the lemons, taking care not to include the bitter white pith underneath, and squeeze the juice of one of them. Beat the egg whites until they are thick and capable of standing in a soft peak, and then fold the juice and zest into the egg yolk and sugar mixture, followed by the sifted flour and then the egg whites. Add the egg whites slowly, firmly but gently, so the air is not knocked out of them as you mix them in. It is crucial not to over-mix. Scoop the mixture into the lined pan, smoothing it gently out to the edges.

Bake for about ten minutes, until the top is very lightly colored and it feels softly set. Let is cool for a few minutes.

Put a piece of wax paper on a work surface, cover lightly with superfine sugar, and then turn the roulade out on to it. The cake should be crust side down. I find this easiest to do if you are fairly forthright about it, just tipping the roulade out of its pan in one swift movement. Carefully peel away the paper and cover the roulade with a clean moist dish towel. It will be fine like this for an hour or two (I have even left them like this overnight and they have come to no harm).

When you are ready to roll the cake, remove the towel and spread the lemon or orange curd over the surface, then whip the cream until it will stand in soft peaks and spread it over the curd. Cut eight of the passion fruits in half and spread the juice and seeds over the cream. Now take one short end of the wax paper and use it to help you roll up the roulade. It the surface cracks, no worries just dust with confectioners’ sugar and cut into thick slices, use the remaining passion fruit juice and seeds squeezed over each slice.

Enough for 10



Lemon-Orange Curd
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup orange juice
Grated zest of 1 orange
½ stick unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 8 pieces

Choose a saucepan that will hold the bowl from your mixer (or a heatproof mixing bowl) in a double-boiler arrangement. Fill the pan with 2 to 3 inches of water and bring to a simmer.

Put the eggs and sugar in the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip at high speed until very light and fluffy. (or put in the mixing bowl and use a hand-held mixer.) Still whisking, add the lemon and orange juice and grated zest. Set the bowl in the saucepan, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the simmering water, and cook the mixture, whisking constantly by hand, until it is smooth, thick and custard like. Be patient; this can take a while. Transfer the bowl to the counter and whisk in the butter piece by piece. Press plastic wrap against the top, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled and set. The curd can be made up to a week in advance and kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Once the curd is set, it should not be stirred again.

it's all about the frosting

There is just something about frosting that makes me happy.  And once you try this particular recipe you'll agree.  I love using this as a frosting or filling because it is light and creamy, and less sweet than the Classic Americana Icing.  It tastes like whipped cream.  I found this recipe in Sarah Magid's book Organic and Chic. This frosting can be adapted in so many ways; I start with Sarah's basic Vanilla Whipped Buttercream and then depending on my whim I add flavorings.  This version works beautifully as a filling with a dark-chocolate frosting or as pictured above, add raspberry purée to make a lovely sweet, yet slightly tart frosting to go with these yummy white chocolate cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Shannon


White Chocolate Cupcakes With Raspberry Frosting

10 Tbsp. soft unsalted butter
1/2 cup  superfine sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
6 oz. white chocolate, melted
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then add white chocolate and stir to combine.  Sift flour and baking powder over cake batter and fold in until combined.  Line two 6-hole (1/3 cup-capacity) muffin tins with 8 paper cases, then divide mixture among cases and bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly pressed.  Cool on wire racks.

Raspberry Frosting
This is a slight adaptation to Sarah Magid's recipe for her Vanilla Whipped Buttercream.

2 sticks (1 cup)  unsalted butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup raspberries, puréed and strained

Cream the butter on medium speed, 3 to 5 minutes, in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer until soft.  Add the sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.

In a small saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat for a minute or so, then while whisking constantly, sprinkle in the flour slowly so to avoid getting any lumps.  Continue to whisk and cook the mixture until it comes to a low boil.  Then reduce the heat to low and keep whisking a few more minutes, until the mixture starts to thicken.

Immediately remove pan from the heat, but keep stirring. Place the pan over a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.  If you overheat the mixture and get small lumps try passing it through a fine-mesh sieve.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the cooled milk mixture into the butter-sugar mixture. Increase the speed to medium to combine thoroughly about 2 minutes.  Then lower the speed and add the vanilla and  raspberry purée and blend until completely combined another 2 to 3 minutes.

Spread frosting over cupcakes using an offset spatula and serve.  Cupcakes will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

the vow

I love the tang of buttermilk. But unlike my father who can drink it straight from the container, I need to have it as an addition within a recipe. I find myself buying that familiar yellow quart container frequently as I either make biscuits, cakes or dressings. But inevitably I use only part of it and then the rest sits in the fridge, slowly making it's way to the back behind the juice. Until the day comes and I come upon it...smelly and past it's expiration.

I am making a vow. "I promise I will finish using the buttermilk in the container before it goes to curdled smelliness." I will scour through my myriad of cookbooks to find yet another delicious recipe.

Recently, I stumbled upon an old one from Bon Appétit. It has to be the simplest cake ever, because with the exception of beating the egg whites, it is made in the blender, so there is little cleanup. Which I love.

There is a strange baking phenomenon that happens to this cake. Although it is completely blended when it goes into the prepared dish, it ends up having a cake like top and a lemony pudding on the bottom. Served with a little freshly whipped cream and some sweet berries it makes the perfect casual summer dessert.

Enjoy!

Shannon

Lemon Buttermilk Pudding Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 cup sugar, divided

4 large egg yolks

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/8 tsp. salt

3 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter 8x8x2 inch glass baking dish. Blend buttermilk, 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, flour, butter, and salt in a blender until smooth. Transfer buttermilk mixture to a medium bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gently fold buttermilk mixture into whites in three additions (batter will be runny).

Pour batter into prepared dish. Place dish in roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of dish. Bake until entire top is evenly browned and cake moves very slightly in center but feels slightly springy to touch, about 45 minutes. Remove dish from roasting pan.

Cool cake completely in baking dish on rack. Refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours and up to 6 hours. Spoon pudding cake out into shallow bowls. Serve with freshly whipped cream and berries.