Kids Make Coconut Cake

January 13th, 2012by Ed Bruske · kids, Recipes

It tastes as good as it looks

Coconut cake is a tradition in southern parts of the United States, but it also reminds us that somewhere in the world it’s warmer, even when the snow flies here.

Traditional coconut cake calls for at least two layers. That presented a bit of a problem for our baking classes, since a whole cake made according to the original recipe would have been far more than we could have eaten. I talked about this with my wife, the baking expert in our family, and we decided to cut the recipe in half, but use a smaller, taller cake pan so that we could cut the finished cake in half and still end up with two layers. So instead of baking in two standard 9-inch pans, we chose a single 6-inch pan that’s 3 inches tall.

The only problem with this approach is that it throws the cooking time off a bit. The taller cake takes somewhat longer to cook all the way through the middle. After a bit of experimentation, we came up with an ideal cooking time of 58 minutes in a 350-degree oven. I also placed a sheet of aluminum foil over the cake when there was about 10 minutes left on the clock to prevent the top from browning too much.

The result is just a teensy bit of crustiness around the edges of this cake. But no one notices when the cake is finally frosted. And the finished cake is just the right size for a class of 12 kids, and more than enough for the typical family. Otherwise, you can simply double this recipe and go back to making two layers in separate 9-inch pans.

Start by creaming together 1 1/2 sticks butter (16 tablespoons) and 1 cup sugar. Most people would do this in an electric mixer, but we do everything by hand. I make it easier by allowing the butter to come to room temperature and soften overnight. After incorporating the sugar into the butter, beat at least five minutes with the back of a wooden spoon or a firm rubber spatula until the mix is fluffy and lighter in color. Then, beat in 3 eggs, one at a time, as well as 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and 3/4 teaspoon almond extract. At this point, the mix will look like scrambled eggs but smell more like marzipan.

Creaming butter and sugar

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, sift together 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour along with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Fold about 1/2 cup of the flour mix into the batter, followed by 1/4 cup milk, then another 1/2 cup flour mix and another 1/4 cup milk. Finally, fold in the remaining flour mix until it is just incorporated. Stir in 2 ounces shredded, sweetened coconut.

Prepare your can pan (or pans) by greasing well with butter or oil spray. We also cut a piece of parchment paper to fit into the bottom of the pan and gave it a spray of oil as well. Scoop the batter into the pan and tap it hard on your work surface to smooth it out. Place in the middle of a 350-degree oven and bake 58 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Then use a sharp knife to trace around the edge of the pan. Invert the pan to remove the cake and place it on a wire rack at least an hour to cool. If making a smaller, taller cake as we did, slice the cake cross-wise to create two layers.

Cutting parchment paper

For the frosting, cream together 1 stick butter and 1 8-ounce package cream cheese. As I did for the cake, I left the butter and cream cheese out overnight to soften. Creaming them together with a rubber spatula is easy at that point. Add 3/8 teaspoon vanilla extract and a dash of almost extract. Stir well, then work  1/2 pound sifted confectioner’s sugar into the mix and stir until very smooth.

Spread frosting over one of the cake layers, top with the second layer and spread the frosting all over the top and sides. Sprinkle the top of the cake liberally with shredded coconut and pat more coconut along the sides.

Hard as this may be to believe, some kids don’t like coconut. But the ones who do will love you for making this cake. (So will your adult friends.)

 

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Kids Make Orange Poppyseed Cake

January 6th, 2012by Ed Bruske · kids, Recipes

A delicious cake with seasonal fruit

What kind of fruit is seasonal in January?

That’s the question I put to the kids in my food appreciation classes this week. The answer, of course, is citrus fruit. And where can you possibly grow fruit in the middle of winter? That’s how cooking becomes a lesson about geography and  climate. Toss in baking soda, baking powder and buttermilk and you also have a science experiment.

Everyone who tries this cake has the same reaction: “It’s not too sweet.” That’s because the final flourish isn’t a thick layer of sugary icing, but a drizzle of orange and lemon juice with just enough sugar added. It’s an incredibly simple cake with just a few ingredients, but the poppy seeds also set it apart. The kids thought they looked like tiny blueberries, but then they remembered seeing them on bagels. Come to think of it, you don’t see poppy seeds in many other foods.

Start by creaming 11 tablespoons room-temperature butter (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) along with 1 cup sugar, the grated peel of 2 oranges, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. We grated the oranges on our old-fashioned box grater. It doesn’t take long at all. But you could do the same thing with a micro-plane. And while we did the creaming with the back of a wooden spoon, most people would opt for an electric mixer. Just keep beating until the mix turns a lighter color and becomes somewhat fluffy.

Grating orange peel the old-fashioned way

To the butter mix beat in 2 eggs, one at a time. Then add 2 tablespoons poppy seeds. Mix in 2/3 cup buttermilk, then gently add 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour. Stir, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, until the flour is completely incorporated.

Grease a 9-inch bunt pan (we used Baker’s Joy) and pour in the batter. Actually, this batter doesn’t really pour. We scraped it out with a rubber spatula, then smoothed the top even. Give the pan a good tap on your table top to help spread the batter around.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Invert the pan over a wire rack and let the cake cool.

To “ice” the cake, poke it all over with a toothpick. This will help the orange-lemon mix seep into the cake, rather than running off the sides. Then, in a measuring cup, squeeze out 1/4 quarter cup orange juice and the juice from 1/2 lemon. Add 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and stir until the sugar is complete dissolved. Carefully drizzle the liquid all over the top and sides of the cake. Slice and serve.

This cake would go perfectly with a cold winter’s afternoon tea.

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Food Gardens for Condos?

December 18th, 2011by Ed Bruske · garden, Sustainability

There used to be a garden here

When I wrote recently about my old garden being torn up to make way for condos, my friend Pattie Baker, author of the Foodshed Planet blog, was so distraught she wrote the developer to plead the case that he ought to offer garden plots to the new condo owners.

In fact, I had suggested the very same thing before we closed on the deal selling our house to Capital City Real Estate, which is turning our former home into six condominiums. The developer, Scott Zimmerman, sounded receptive at the time. And in response to a beautifully worded e-mail from Pattie, he again said he would consider making this proposal to the new buyers.

With would-be gardeners waiting months or years for plots at local community gardens here in D.C., a ready-made garden right outside your condo door would seem to be a great marketing tool, to say nothing of the message of sustainability it sends to the rest of the city.

When we sold the house, we had eight big garden beds established in the yard, all rich with years of compost amendments. That’s all gone now, of course. Much of it has been excavated to make room for parking. And today I had to report to Pattie that a crew of workers armed with shovels and a Bobcat were busy on Saturday re-grading the yard.

The garden area used to sit about four feet above sidewalk level with a large plateau for the vegetable beds, dropping off steeply around the edges toward the curb. That made cutting the grass around the edges a real pain in the butt. But it was perfect for vegetable beds.

What the crew was doing yesterday was sloping the yard from the house toward the curb, removing that flat area that was so convenient for gardening in order to smooth out those steep edges. Add in the new entrances that  have been excavated for two basement apartments and the space available for food gardening is rapidly shrinking.

What the garden looked like, with Pattie

If you want to get an idea of what the garden looked like in July 2010, check out the post Pattie wrote after her visit. She also took some video that you can link to there.

Pattie is one hell of a fighter. While you’re at it, order a copy of the remarkable self-published book she’s written about her life as a sustainability activist, gardener, and mom, Food for My Daughters. If you’re looking for an exquisitely written manual for living more harmoniously with Planet Earth–not a bad Christmas gift, I’d say–this is it.

The Kindle edition is only $1.99.

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