Pound Cake with grapefruit glaze

My mom is pretty convinced that I am this close to being diagnosed with diabetes. She has begged me to stop baking for my own good before the decision to stop eating sweets is taken away from me. I tried. I really did. I just don't get the same thrill cooking as I do when I bake.  So I've just taken to baking without letting her find out.  The only problem is that I can't hide that extra 10 - 15 pounds I've gained from "taste testing" the goods.

Having to taste test this recipe was tough.  Sweet tart grapefruity goodness.  Dense.  Rich.  Just my kind of dessert.  Or it would be if I partook of this.  But I wouldn't think of it.  My mom would kill me and I wouldn't have to worry about diabetes.

In an effort to appease my mother's concern I've taken up eating grapefruits instead.  Low in sugar compared to other fruits, I thought that this would be the ideal fruit to use.  [Let's ignore the fact that I added a ton of sugar to the grapefruit juice for the glaze]

Pound Cake:
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon finely grated grapefruit zest
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 300  degrees.  Butter & flour pans.

Combine butter and 3 cups of sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one by one, beating thoroughly until well blended.  Beat in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Add zest, mix well.  Beat flour mixture into butter mixture, alternating with buttermilk.  Be sure to scrape down sides of bowl every so often to combine.

Pour batter into pans.  Bake until golden brown and you can poke a wooden skewer into the cake and it comes out crumb free [for loaf pans, approximately and 60 minutes; for bundt pan approximately 90 minutes]

Transfer cake in pan to wire rack.  Poke cake through in several places using wooden skewer.  Brush with half the glaze [recipe below].  Keep in pan for approximately 10 minutes, then release and brush cake with remaining glaze.

Grapefruit Glaze [i used an Oro Blanco so used less sugar, same for ruby red]
1/2 cup grapefruit juice
1/2 cup sugar or to taste

Hide cake from mom and enjoy!

Daring Bakers Challenge: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

I'll admit it. I'm still in Japan mode. My family and I are still coming off our high so when I saw this month's Daring Bakers' Challenge, I decided that I needed to make something with some of my spoils from the trip - Green Tea, Sakura Essence, and Azuki.  

The July 2010 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita's world - life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that's then used to make a bombe with hot fudge.  Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I love Japanese pastries - never overly sweet but rather light and fluffy in nature with just enough sweetness to let the eater know that it was dessert.  I saw a recipe for a Green Tea Roll in Orange Page, a Japanese Magazine and thought I'd give a variation a try.  The Sakura Ice Cream came out as a screaming pink concoction mainly due to very shaky hands.  The fudge layer was mixed with azuki beans which I started to eat by the spoonful.

In my  mind's eye, I pictured a perfectly layered creation that was even all around, smooth without bumps and creases. The reality was much different:

This pink sakura ice cream that managed to seep through?  It was a lot worse on my first attempt - the  whole thing was pink.

I have to say, when i took a bite of it, it was really good.  I was a little surprised seeing as how the combination was a little crazy but it married together well. I'm still tweaking the recipes a bit and will post up when I'm happy with it. 

Lilikoi Chiffon Cake

Nothing conjures up the taste, smell, and images of Hawaii than the taste of Lilikoi [passion fruit].  Well, nothing except for the smell of salty sea air, warm balmy breezes, tuberose, shave ice, and plate lunches, of course.  Combine the tart sweetness of Lilikoi curd, airy clouds of whipped cream, with a chiffon cake and you've got yourself a recipe for a little taste of fluffy heaven.

Chiffon cakes are deceptively easy to make [especially if you've tried your hand at macaronage].  One way to help ensure that the cake achieves its airy and fluffy consistency is the use of cream of tartar, which will help stabilize and give more volume to the egg whites.  Of course, the first time I made it, I was so focused on  whipping the egg whites  to perfection that I completely forgot to add the baking powder and salt.  My victims co-workers actually liked it though so no harm was brought to my victims co-workers. I've made it twice for them and they cleared it up both times.

Lilikoi Curd
6 eggs
6 egg yolks
1 1/3 cup sugar [I used a little more than 3/4 of a cup, i don't like it too sweet]
1 1/4 cup lilikoi puree [not sweetened]

Whisk together the eggs with the egg yolks in a heatproof glass bowl.  Add the sugar and lilikoi puree.

Set a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water [the bottom should not touch the water].  Stir mixture constantly until it thickens.  Mixture should coat the back of a spoon.  Pour through strainer to get rid of lumps.

Chiffon Cake

9 eggs, separated

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup + 1/2 cups sugar 
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract [or you can use 1 teaspoon of lemon zest]

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until it reaches the soft peak stage.  "Shower" in 1/2 cup of sugar while beating until stiff and glossy.  You should be able to turn the bowl upside down without the egg whites falling out.  Set aside.

Sift together remaining cup of sugar, cake flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add egg yolks, water, oil, and extract [or lemon zest].  Beat until smooth.  

Add the egg whites to the yolk mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold the mixture  gently in a circular motion until combined. 

Pour into three 8 inch round pans [I set parchment paper on the bottom of each of the pans], baking 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Use skewer or toothpick to test for readiness.

Flip the cake over to cool upside down [still in the pan].  When its ready I like to squish the cake down so it tears away from the sides of the pan.  It's a chiffon so can withstand the "squish" techniques. [If it seems to be sticking too much to the sides, simply run a knife along the edge to separate.]

Whipped Cream Frosting
taken from Joy of Baking
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar

I'm not sure if there's a difference but they said to chill the whisk, bowl, and ALL the ingredients to achieve maximum volume.  So I did it.  I whisked the above ingredients together.  This reminds me of the whipped cream frosting that they use at Angel Maid Bakery [my very first real job!].


*I used the organic heavy whipping cream from Trader Joe's since it's not ultra pasteurized. It tastes MUCH better than the Ultra Pasteurized variety.

Assembly:
I cut the 8" rounds in half so that each cake pan gave me 2 rounds [there was something oddly too dense about this chiffon cake that i made above so I decided to re-do it again.  Turns out I forgot to add in baking powder.  Thus, the actual number of rounds should be 3].  I started with the lilikoi curd on the first layer, stacked on the next cake, then layered the whipped cream, stack on the next cake, so on and so forth until it's fully assembled.  Frost cake around using the whipped cream frosting.  Try not to eat the majority of it like I did.