Caramel Cake

I clipped this recipe out of Gourmet magazine almost two years ago and ran across it recently. Boy, have I been missing out. This shy little cake sounds good generally, but doesn't seem to shout. But it so deserves to be center stage. It's a soft, moist, cloud-like cake made so very tender and slightly tangy with buttermilk. Top that with a gooey caramel glaze and it becomes transcendent. It's the kind of cake you want to crawl into and roll around and pull around you like a warm quilt on a cold winter day. Like that.

I made this to take to some friends we were having dinner with. It was just the right size for our small group. It bakes in a square cake pan and makes about nine pieces if you cut it squarely.

I thought it was best eaten the day it was made, especially when the caramel glaze is still soft and gooey. The cake is its best that way, still moist and dense. And next time, I think I'll save a bit of the caramel to drizzle over the cut pieces when serving. It would look really pretty that way. Who can resist caramel oozing all over their plate?

Be sure to use cake flour for this so it will be truly tender. And remember to take out your butter and eggs beforehand so they can reach room temperature before you start to mix your batter. The cake needs to cool for an hour before glazing, so plan accordingly.



Caramel Cake

For the cake:
2 cups + 2 tablespoons cake flour, sift before measuring
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, shaken well
cooking spray
parchment paper

For the caramel:
1 cup cream
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
salt
candy thermometer


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray an 8- or 9-inch square cake pan with cooking spray and line with a square of parchment paper. Then spray the parchment. Set aside.

Whisk together sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

With your mixer, beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix in. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each. On low speed, add in the buttermilk and mix until just combined. (Gourmet says it may look curdled here, but mine didn't.)

Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing just until each batch is incorporated.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and tap on your counter to make sure there aren't any air bubbles in the batter.

Bake approximately 35 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Then let cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from pan. (Tip: place a plate or platter over your cake pan, then flip the cake over on to it. Lift the pan off and remove parchment, if necessary. Then you can use another plate to flip it back over on to it's bottom.) Let cool one hour before glazing.

While the cake is cooling, make the glaze.
In a heavy saucepan, combine cream, brown sugar, corn syrup, and a pinch of salt. Bring up to a boil over medium heat. While it's coming to a boil, stir it until the sugar dissolves. Boil until it reaches 210 degrees on your candy thermometer, about 12-14 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

With your cake on your serving platter, gently pour hot caramel over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. I did this a little at a time instead of all at once. I didn't want it just running off completely, so I poured it on a bit at a time to let the glaze cool a little and stay more firmly on the cake. Let cool a few minutes so glaze can set a bit. Or who am I kidding? Cut into that bad boy and get runny caramel all over your face. Just don't burn yourself! It's so good. I dare you to eat just one piece.

Approximately nine servings.

Adapted from Gourmet magazine, January 2008.

Menu for Hope Six

The Menu for Hope annual fundraiser has begun. The campaign was started five years ago by Chez Pim in response to the tsunami in Southeast Asia. She wanted to do something to help and has since hosted Menu for Hope every year with other food bloggers. In just the past three years, they've raised nearly $250,000, $10 at a time.

The idea is simple, but brilliant. Food bloggers from around the world offer amazing food-related items in a raffle that you bid on. The money goes to the UN World Food Program, the largest food aid agency in the world, feeding hungry people and helping them become more self-reliant. Money is collected by a third-party site, First Giving, who handle the collections and send the money to the World Food Program. For more information about Menu for Hope and the World Food Program and the kinds of programs this campaign supports, check out Chez Pim's site.

Prizes are donated by bloggers and come from all over the world. This year, I bid on everything from photo equipment (a camera bag and a light set), to food treats (a spectacular vanilla basket, Japanese delicacies, a giant chocolate sampler), to a couple of food photography classes and even this groovy sculpture made by Food Woolf (I can see that one hanging in my kitchen). Truly, the prizes were so tempting, it was hard to rein myself in. Tickets are $10 each and with each ticket you get a chance to win one item.



Check it out and place your bid today. It's such a fun way to do some good in the world.

Chocolate Almond Toffee

A few years ago, I took a baking class from David Lebovitz when he visited Austin. As expected, everything he made was to die for.

Lebovitz, once the pastry chef at Chez Panisse, now lives and blogs in Paris. He is also hilarious. If you ever get an opportunity to take a class from him, don't miss it. He has written all kinds of books to satisfy your sweet tooth. You know how with some cookbooks, you pick out a recipe here and there to try? But with David's books, you can count on every single recipe being a knock-your-socks off hit. If you only have one book on chocolate or one book on ice cream, they should be his.

I've wanted to make this recipe ever since I took the class. I can't believe it took me this long to try it myself. I love toffee and the combination of buttery toffee with just the right amount of salt to set it off, paired with toasted almonds and chocolate is so simple yet each element enhances the others. The sweet, buttery toffee, the crunch of the salted, roasted almond nuttiness and then the chocolate to bring it all home. Oh yeah.

And even better, this is incredibly easy to make. Just don't get intimated by the need for a candy thermometer. It's only a few ingredients and you can whip up a batch in minutes. Huge return on investment. And this time of year, who am I kidding... ANY time of year, it makes a great gift. Just be sure to package it up quick before you eat it all yourself.

I still had some vanilla sea salt from Boulette's Larder in my baking cabinet, so I sprinkled some on top. You could also use fleur de sel.

This recipe appears in David's ice cream book, The Perfect Scoop, in half this quantity. But if you're going to make it, especially this time of year when you can share it as a gift and be the most popular Santa around, why not make the bigger batch?

Chocolate Almond Toffee

2 cups toasted, salted almonds, chopped
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted or unsalted butter, cut into pieces
a nice, big pinch of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips
vanilla sea salt or fleur de sel
cooking spray or silpat
candy thermometer

Line a baking sheet with your silpat nonstick mat, parchment paper or spray it with vegetable oil.

Put 1 cup of the almonds on your prepared baking sheet in a single layer forming a rectangle about 8x10 inches. Set aside.

Measure out the baking soda and vanilla and have them sitting next to the stove.

Put the water, butter, salt and sugars into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir together. Heat over medium flame until the candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees. Stir as little as possible during heating. When you reach the magic 300 degree mark, remove pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda immediately.

Move quickly here... then pour the hot toffee evenly over the almonds on your baking sheet.

As soon as the pan is back on the heat, sprinkle your chocolate evenly over the top of the hot toffee in the pan. Let sit for several minutes to melt.

While you're waiting for the chocolate to melt, you're going to spy the toffee pan with it's bits of toffee turning into concrete and thinking what fun that's going to be to clean up. But take this tip from David: fill the pan with water and put it back on the heat and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and let sit until the candy bits melt and then clean up is a breeze.

When the chocolate has melted, spread it evenly over the toffee with an offset icing spatula. Then sprinkle the top with fleur de sel and the remaining almonds — pressing lightly so they'll stay put in the chocolate.

Let cook completely until the toffee becomes solid and the chocolate sets up. Then you can chop it or break it into shards.

Wrap it up in cellophane bags with some pretty ribbon to give as gifts or serve it yourself crumbled over ice cream. To die for!!!

Adapted from David Lebovitz.

Check out David Lebovitz blog here.
Check out his schedule here to find out when you can take a class from him.
Check out his books here.