Baked

Hello all! Hope your week is off to a good start.

I've been baking a little more these days, and trying to make things a little on the healthier side while I'm at it. I went off the healthy rails with this one, but every now and then isn't going to hurt. Right? I played around with a basic coffee cake, that I've made forever, by adding orange, almonds and cardamom. It's pretty delicious. Love the light cardamom flavour. 

Orange & Almond Coffee Cake w/ Cardamom - 

To make the streusel topping/filling:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

6 tablespoons chilled butter, diced

1 1/2 cups chopped almonds

Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Blend the chilled butter in with your fingers until small pebble size clumps form. Add the almonds and stir to combine. Cover and set aside in refrigerator. 

To make the cake:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup granulated sugar 

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 large eggs

1-2 teaspoons orange rind

2 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups low fat* sour cream 

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

* this is my attempt at taking a little of the fat out of it ;) 

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Grease two 6"x6"x2" pans or one 13"x9"x2" pan and line with parchment paper for easy removal. 

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. In another large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then add orange rind, ground cardamom, and vanilla. Stir in the flour, a little at a time, alternately with the sour cream.  Add the orange juice stir to combine. If using two small pans (like I did), spread about a quarter of the batter in each pan. Sprinkle about a quarter of the streusel over top each. Drop another half of the remaining batter on top of each cake and sprinkle with remaining streusel. 

Bake for about 25 minutes, then check to make sure topping isn't getting too browned. If you think it is, place aluminum foil, loosely, on top of each pan. Bake for about another 20-25 minutes (total of about 45-50 minutes) until a skewer, inserted in centre of cakes, comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pans, on wire rack, for at least 15 minutes before removing. Enjoy! 

If you try making this cake, let me know what you think. You may find it hard to leave alone! 

Have a great day.

janis

Give-away Winner for Wednesday

Congratulations, Victoria! I'll contact you for your address.

Thanks to all of you that took part, and for all your lovely comments! It means a lot. 

janis

x

Butter Baked Goods Give-Away

It's finally here! Butter Baked Goods, the cook book I shot with Rosie Daykin,  was released this week, and I thought it would be a perfect time to give one away. It was such a fun (and delicious) project to shoot! Random House has kindly given me a copy for me to pass on to one of you. All you have to do is be one of my "followers" (from anywhere in the world) and leave a comment. Easy. I'll make the random draw next Wednesday October 23rd.

Enjoy your weekend!

janis

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Butter Baked Goods

Hello! I hope everyone's week is off to a good start.

I'm pretty excited to be holding an advance copy of the book I shot, Butter Baked Goods, by Rosie Daykin, published by Random House. We started shooting it in April 2012, and after about 20 photo sessions, and much "taste testing" (yum), it feels strange (but pretty great) to be finally flipping through a finished book. Thought I'd give you a bit of a peek...

Are you a baker? I love baking, but I learned so much, working with Rosie on this book.  I can't tell you how much I learned about icing, pastry and tempering chocolate, with all the how-to's. The release date is October 15th, but you can also pre-order here.

Have a lovely day!
janis
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Weekend Observations & Links

How was your weekend? Hope it was a fun one!

Mine made me feel very ladylike which, generally, I'm not ;) Here's a bit of my weekend...

Had pretty much the best high tea ever at the new Butter Tearoom, here in Vancouver. Rosie, you've done it again. The mini buns with tuna and a layer of potato chips, were my favourite. 

I always love shooting "before and after" stories, of all kinds. Gotta love a good transformation. This one was shot for Canadian Living magazine, and designed by Colleen of Vintage Home. She took a run down old shed, some beaten up furniture and accessories, above, and transformed them for a tiny guest cottage. The whole story, with all the little details, is in the new issue of Canadian Living. 

A little link love too:

•Loved this d.i.y. round up at Poppytalk
•I know it's uber trendy, but I do love a little modern cross-stitch. Spotted this at Hege in France
•I've mentioned my Zaishu before, and now I feel it's time for a new one! Take a look at the new designs at Zaishu. 
•Hanging houseplants can be great...in moderation of course. Loved some of these at Decouvrir Design

That's it for today! Back soon.
janis

Baked

Ah, hello sun! We finally seem to be getting a bit of a summer around here. How's your week been so far?

Went to see K.D. Lang last night. My husband, Robert Edmonds, designed her poster (that happens to be her profile pic on twitter), so we received a few tickets to one of her shows, here in Vancouver. I've always appreciated her talent, but I've never been a huge fan, didn't know much about her, but I am now.  Um, well, that voice. She opens her mouth and angels, butterflies and rainbows fly out of it. That woman can sing. Anyone else seen her live?

Ok, on to the chocolate ricotta cake. I had lots of ricotta in the fridge, along with some other things I wanted to use up. Here it all is, in a cake.

Flourless Chocolate Ricotta Cake - makes one 9" cake

500g (one container) ricotta
3/4 cup berry/superfine sugar
zest of 2 lemons
4 eggs, separated
250g almond meal
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Lightly grease a 9" spring form pan and set aside. Melt chocolate, in a large heat proof bowl, over a pot of boiling water. Stir chocolate until melted. Keep the bowl on the pot of boiled water and add ricotta, sugar, almond meal, zest, and cinnamon to the melted chocolate and stir to combine. Stir in egg yolks.

In another bowl, whisk egg yolks until soft peaks form. Remove chocolate mixture from stove and gently fold in egg whites, being careful not to over mix. The batter will be quite thick. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth out top. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out clean. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool in pan before removing. You could glaze this cake, but I had a small jar of chopped pistachios, so I sprinkled them on top along with a little icing sugar.

Have a great day! Back soon....
janis

Baked

I hope you had a great weekend. Were you mothers out there, treated like queens? We had a quiet one around here, filled with a little work and a short baking session. Made a cake for my mom. Super simple and delicious.

Lemon Almond Cake with Coconut - makes one 8 inch cake

1 cup almond meal

1/2 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

4 eggs + one egg white

4 oz. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Zest of one large lemon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Unsweetened coconut for top of cake

Lemon Glaze:

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

To make the glaze: in a small bowl, mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice. 

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Grease and line the bottom of an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper and set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk together almond meal, rice flour, baking soda, baking powder and sugar. With an electric mixer, beat the eggs in another large bowl, until foamy. Add the buttermilk and butter, and beat until combined. 

Beat in the lemon juice, zest and vanilla. Add the flour mixture, a little at a time, and beat for about 2 minutes. 

Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, carefully invert cake onto a cake plate or stand. Top with a thin coat of lemon glaze and sprinkle with unsweetened coconut.  

Have a great day! Back on Wednesday.

janis

Baked

I've baked various versions of this cake a few times now. I found the recipe in Chatelaine magazine, but I did make some changes to make it a little less "gluten free" in taste and texture. You should definitely give this one a shot if you need to bake something chocolatey, delicious, and gluten free!

Chocolate Cake - makes one 9" cake

1 cup milk, at room temp
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup gluten free all purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon guar gum (can find in specialty food stores and it's cheap!)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Glaze:
1 cup 33% cream (whipping cream)
110 g unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons honey

To make cake:
Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Lightly spray a 9 inch round cake pan with oil. You can also use a 10" bundt  pan, but I don't have one of those ;)
Whisk together milk and coffee in a large bowl, until coffee has completely dissolved. Whisk in eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, and guar gum, then add to milk mixture. Whisk well. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake in centre of oven until a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out clean, about 25- 30 minutes. Allow cake to cool in pan, completely, on a wire rack before inverting onto a cake plate.

To make glaze:
Heat cream in a small saucepan until almost comes to a boil. Add chocolate and stir until just melted. Stir in honey. Drizzle over top of cake. Enjoy!

If you make this cake, I'd love to know what you think.  I love it. Another good thing is that it's pretty high in protein and fibre, due to the flour mix. ;)

That's it for now. Hope your week is off to a good start!
Back soon,
Janis

Baked

Hope your Monday has been a good one! It's a very dreary, rainy, day here in Vancouver, which is fine with me. Lots of photo editing to do, so it keeps me inside glued to my computer.

I baked a really easy almond cake over the weekend. So flipping good. It's great on it's own, but adding baked orange slices makes it even better. Next time, I might make the oranges boozy. ;)

Almond Cake with Baked Oranges - makes one round 8 inch cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup almond meal
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

To make cake: Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Lightly butter and flour cake tin, and knock remaining flour.
With a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the almond meal, almond extract, eggs and flour and beat until well combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin, place in oven and bake for about 35 minutes, or until cake is just coming away from edge of pan. Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Baked Oranges

3 large oranges, peeled and sliced

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

remaining juice squeezed from peel

To make baked oranges: Peel and slice oranges, then arrange in an oven proof pan or baking dish.

Squeeze remaining juice from peel, and drizzle over top of sliced oranges. Sprinkle brown sugar over top. Place pan under the broiler and cook until they start to bubble and colour, about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. Place a couple of slices, along with a little juice, on top of each slice of cake. Enjoy!!

That's it for today! Back soon.
Janis

Baked

I'm having the laziest of lazy days. My first full day off in quite some time, so I'm catching up on emails, and doing a little baking. How's your Monday going (or gone!)?

This cake is so good, and perfect for the rainy day we're having here in Vancouver. The combo of the spice cake, pears and walnuts is perfect. I'm thinking of making this for Thanksgiving next week. Hmmm.

Pear Upside Down Spice Cake - serves about 8

For topping (or bottom, depending on how you look at it):

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, sliced in thin pieces

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 pears, cored and cut into thin slices

a handful of walnut halves

For spice cake:

2 3/4 cup whole spelt flour (you can use all purpose flour if you like!)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2/3 cup molasses

1/3 cup whole milk

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

To make the topping: Lightly spray a 9" cake pan with cooking spray. Layer bottom of pan with the 1/4 cup cold butter slices, then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over top. Add the layer of pear slices and walnuts. 

To make the spice cake: Preheat oven to 350f. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. In another bowl, beat the 1/2 cup softened butter, brown sugar, eggs, molasses, applesauce, and milk until well blended. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, into liquid mixture until well blended. Pour cake mixture over layered pears and walnuts, spreading out batter evenly. Bake for 20 minutes at 350f, then lower oven to 325f and bake for another 25 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted in centre of cake, comes out clean. Allow to cool for 30 minutes, before turning out onto a cake plate. Enjoy!!

That's it for today! Back soon.

Janis

Baked

Hope you're all having a lovely Monday! Did you have a nice weekend? For all my fellow Vancouverites, wasn't that sun, well, summery? So nice.

I tried out a recipe that is based on one that I saw in Alive magazine, this weekend. The recipe called for pineapple, but I thought I'd try cherries and pecans.  The cake itself is really moist, and I love the cherries!

Upside Down Cherry & Pecan Quinoa Cake - makes one 8x8 inch cake

Topping: (I just made this up, not the original recipe)
1 lb of cherries, pitted and halved
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cake:
1 cup cooked white quinoa
2 large eggs, separated into yolks and whites
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup plain, low fat yogurt
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

To make topping: Place pitted and halved cherries in a baking dish, with pecans, maple syrup and lemon. Mix together and roast for about 15 minutes in a 375F oven. Watch that the mixture doesn't burn. Place cherry mixture in an 8x8 inch pan (spray pan with a little oil), and set aside.

To make cake: In a food processor, process cooked quinoa, egg yolks, sugar, yogurt, apple sauce, and vanilla until very smooth. About 2 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Add quinoa mixture to flour mixture and stir until no flour streaks remain. With a spatula, gently fold egg whites into quinoa batter until just incorporated. Gently spoon batter over cherries.

Bake in centre of oven for about 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan, for about 10 minutes, before running a thin knife around edges and inverting cake onto a plate. Top with a little maple syrup whipped cream if you like.

This cake is actually pretty good for you (minus the whipped cream that I added!), so I hope you give it a whirl. There are so many options with this one!

Back soon!
janis