Currently baking from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.

This wasn’t the last recipe I had intended on trying. I had a cinnamon banana cream pie recipe earmarked, but then I realized if I didn’t use up the pumpkin I had left from the Pumpkin Walnut Bread recipe, it was going to end up in the trash.

As I read through the recipe, it seemed fairly ordinary, so I wasn’t expecting too much from it. I had everything it called for in my kitchen, so that was a plus. The recipe called for a maple cream cheese frosting, but I was feeling particularly lazy and decided to go with a simple sprinkling of powdered sugar instead.

The batter came together in no time and, surprise, it tasted fantastic! It was smooth and creamy and tasted perfectly of pumpkin. The spices didn’t overwhelm the pumpkin flavor but complimented it nicely. I reluctantly poured the batter into a greased and floured bundt cake pan and put it in the oven. I ended up baking the cake for about 45 minutes; the recipe called for one hour.

Once the cake cooled, it came out of the pan easily, which, for me, isn’t always the case with my bundt cake pan (the knife scars on the bottom of the pan testify to my frustration). It was everything the batter had promised it would be (don’t you hate it when a great tasting batter bakes up into something mediocre?). I didn’t even miss the frosting, although I have a feeling that the frosting would be . . . the icing on the cake. Hah! I can’t wait for an occasion to bake this cake for somebody (hint, hint).

And since I can’t leave well enough alone, I want to try adding some chocolate chips or nuts (almonds!) to the batter next time I make it.

So that’s it for “The Art & Soul of Baking.” My final thoughts on this particular cookbook? Well, there were some hits, but also some misses. I found several recipes I’ll add to my favorites list, like the herbed fougasse and the salted peanut caramel sauce, but overall, I don’t think it was a homerun cookbook. Next up, I’m going healthy! I’ll be cooking out of  ”Whole Grains, Every Day Every Way” by Lorna Sass.

Currently baking from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.

One of my good friends in Michigan, Linda, is having a long-distance love affair. Any time she gets within a 100-mile radius of Providence, RI, she has to detour to a little cafe/bakery called Pastiche and have herself a slice of their lemon mousse cake. She let me have a bite, once, and it was good. Really good.

So whenever I see a recipe for a lemon cake, I think of Linda and finding her a recipe that does her favorite lemon cake justice. Unfortunately, I don’t think this one is it. It wasn’t bad. It was just ordinary. I don’t know about you, but when I’m eating something lemony, I want to be bowled over with the lemon flavor and this cake was too timid.

It has some things going for it, though. I made the lemon curd, the lemon soaking syrup and the cakes in the space of two hours on one day, then made the frosting/filling and assembled the cake the next day. The cakes, themselves, are on the dry side and really need a soaking syrup.

The lemon curd is a standard lemon curd. Nothing fancy here. I actually don’t like most lemon curds because I think they are too eggy, and I had the same problem with this one. Once it was layered into the cakes and mixed in with the filling, though, it was okay. Next time, I’ll stick with my regular lemon curd which has only half the amount of eggs as this one.

The lemon mascarpone filling does double duty as the frosting and is made up of mascarpone, whipped cream and lemon curd. I didn’t think the mixture was lemony enough, so I added some more curd to it. This left me with less curd to add between the layers which really would have helped up the lemon flavor. Next time, I’ll double the amount of curd. I liked Mushet’s tip about blending a little bit of mascarpone with the whipped cream. She says it helps stabilize the cream and allows the cream to hold it’s shape and texture for a couple of days. I don’t think the mascarpone, itself, added much flavor to the cream, so this is a tip that will come in handy on other projects.

Mushet also says that the cake is better the day after assembling, once the flavors have had time to meld. I have to agree. When I tried a slice the next day, the cake was more moist and the lemon flavor seemed much stronger. The whipped cream mixture was holding up very nicely with no weeping.

Currently baking from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.

I was excited to make these recipes. I’m always on the lookout for a good, basic chocolate cake recipe and the idea of turning it into homemade Ding Dongs (I’ve actually never heard them called ringers) sounded fun. The result was . . . so so.  Continue reading →