Fresh Plum Cake

Oy. This would have been perfect if I used a bigger pan.  It turned out to be a cakewreck, overflowing in the pan and making a mess in the stove! Ina's recipe also called for peaches, but I used plums instead. I think the substitution worked great, especially with the addition of the pecans, which paired nicely with plums. I also think this would be great with apples or pears. The butter, eggs, and yogurt I used were all at room temperature and the batter was so light, fluffy and perfect that I am even more disappointed that this didn't come out well. 

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temo
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 cup Greek yogurt, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups fresh plums, diced
1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Preheat oven to 350. Ina says to grease a 9" square pan, but this was not big enough. Definitely use a 9 x 11 or even a 9 x 13.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 1 cup of the sugar for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add eggs, one at a time, then the yogurt and vanilla, and mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix just until combined. In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar with the cinnamon.

Spread half of the batter evenly in the pan. Top with half of the plums, then sprinkle with 2/3 of the sugar mixture. Spread remaining batter on top, arrange the remaining plums on top and sprinkle with remaining sugar and pecans.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

No photos of the finished product because, cakewreck! But here are a couple photos of the gorgeous plums I had:


                  

Fresh Plum Gratin

Dorie Greenspan makes perfect desserts. Her book, Baking Chez Moi, is essentially a dessert bible. I got a lovely batch of fresh plums from my CSA and knew that Dorie would have something plum-based in her book and this plum gratin was the answer. So easy, so delicious, and endlessly tweak-able based on what kind of fruit and nut combination you want to use (the original recipe is for raspberries and pistachios; but I really enjoy the plum and almond variation). Would be good with ice cream or whipped cream fresh out of the oven, or with a few spoons of plain Greek yogurt for breakfast the next morning.

Ingredients

Fruit:2 1/2 cups fresh plums, washed, pitted, and cubed1 lemon, juiced2 teaspoons sugar

Almond Cream:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature⅔ cup sugar¾ cup ground almonds or almond meal2 teaspoons all-purpose flour1 teaspoon cornstarch (I accidentally put 2 teaspoons in, but it turned out fine!)1 large egg2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions
Prepare almond cream: In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat butter until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for 1-2 minutes more. Add the ground almonds, flour, and cornstarch and beat until the mixture is smooth once again. Drop in the egg and beat for a minute or so, until it is thoroughly incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface and refrigerate for an hour.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the plums in a bowl and squeeze the juice of a lemon over them. Add the sugar, mix everything together and let sit, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, until a little syrup has developed.

Spread fruit evenly over the bottom of a 9" pie plate. Spoon almond cream on top and use a spatula to gently smooth the cream evenly over the fruit. 

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the gratin is golden and the fruit is bubbling. Serve at room temperature. (Also tastes good directly from the fridge the next day!)

Peach Beer Sorbet

This sorbet is so ridiculously easy to make, and full of concentrated peach flavor. I am not that good of a writer to convey how perfect it is. You don't taste the beer flavor at all, but I imagine the beer helps to add some kind of depth to the sorbet. In her book, Jeni has other variations - like using fresh cherries with cherry beer - and since there are a number of lambic beer flavors (I used this brand), it will be fun to try out other fruit and beer combinations to make other sorbets. This is such a refreshing treat to have on a hot summer night.

1 pound fresh stone fruit (cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, etc). I used 3 1/2 peaches (the other 1/2 was too perfectly ripe not to eat standing over the sink!)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3/4 lambic beer, chilled

Peel peaches or apricots, if using. Remove stones and puree fruit in a food processor until smooth.

Combine the pureed fruit, sugar and corn syrup in a 3-quart saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Add the beer, and chill a bit more.

Pour sorbet into the frozen canister and spin until it is the consistency of softly whipped cream.

Pack into a storage container, and freeze in the coldest part of the freezer for at least 4 hours.


                              

Roasted Pistachio Ice Cream

Man, this was delicious. It was so good that I declare it is the best pistachio ice cream I have ever tasted. This is another one from the Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream book, and in her description she writes "this is a highly satisfying ice cream with nearly savory qualities." That sums it up well.

Did not get a photo of it, though (not like I am able to convey how delicious this ice cream is with my terrible photography anyway).

Ingredients

1/2 cup shelled unsalted pistachios (I used salted and it was fine); plus 1/4-1/2 extra if you want to add whole ones to the ice cream

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1¼ cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

Toast 1/2 cup of the pistachios on the stovetop or in the oven, just until fragrant and starting to brown. Remove from oven and pulverize in a food processor until the pistachios become a very smooth paste.

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese, pistachio paste and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

COOK

Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

CHILL

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Add the mint. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set into the larger bowl (filled with ice and water). Let stand until cold, about 30 minutes. 

FREEZE

 Pour ice cream base into the frozen canister of your ice cream maker and spin until thick and creamy.

Pack the ice cream into a storage container,  and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Scarlet and Earl Grey Ice Cream

I went kind of crazy making ice cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream these past few weeks. This recipe calls for 1/4 cup of loose tea leaves. I didn't have that, so I used 6 tea bags of Earl Grey that I had. The result was a delicate Earl Grey flavor. In the future if I make this, I will use at least 8 tea bags if I don't have loose tea on hand. I really love this combination of Earl Grey and cherries; two very familiar flavors that go so well together. Note! I forgot to freeze my canister thoroughly before I made this ice cream. It had been in the freezer for about 4-5 hours before I tried to use it. As it was churning, the ice cream remained a frozen soup and never got creamy. Discouraged, I put the mixture in the fridge and forgot about it for a few days, until I realized I could just re-churn it in a thoroughly frozen canister. (The canisters really DO need to be in the freezer for at least 24 hours to work properly.) So I took to ice cream mixture out, let it completely melt, and then poured it into a frozen canister and it revived perfectly! The ice cream was saved. 

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1¼ cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup earl grey tea leaves (I used 6 tea bags instead)
2 cups sugar-plumped cherries

Directions

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

Boil 1/2 cup of water with 1/2 cup of sugar. Add dried cherries. Let cool to room temperature. 

COOK

Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the tea and let steep for 10 minutes.

Strain the milk mixture through a sieve, pressing on the tea bags to extract as much cream as possible.
Return saucepan to the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.

Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

CHILL

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth.  Pour the mixture into a bowl and set into the larger bowl (filled with ice and water). Let stand until cold, about 30 minutes.

Drain cherries. Pour ice cream base into frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy; add the cherries almost at the end of spinning.

Pack the ice cream into a storage container,  and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.