December 12, 2008

ASK CAKEHEAD: Orange You Glad to Have these Money Saving Tips?

Dear Cakehead,

This warmer-than-it-should-be Thanksgiving weekend, my grandmother informed me that she often freezes fresh oranges and grapefruits sent to her by relatives in warmer climes. Some months (or years?) later, she works this frozen citrus up into marmalade and other unspecified victuals. Being a lover of fresh fruit, and homemade jams concocted out of fruit fresh off the tree, I was a bit dismayed to hear of this use of fresh fruit. But my question: does my grandmother, being a daughter of the Depression, know something I don't know about how to use fresh citrus most thriftily--should I be freezing my tangelos and keylimes now that we're in recession? Clarification and recipes eagerly awaited.

Sincerely,
Lemonhead Wishing He'd Frozen His Assets

Dear Lemonhead,

People who came of age during the Depression do love their freezers. There is nothing my grandmother does not freeze. Cheese, yogurt, apples, I could go on. The link between freezing and the Depression era is an interesting one that I'm still investigating.

If it's a thrifty approach to making marmalade that you seek, there is a case to be made both for and against freezing. The pro-freezer school would suggest that by freezing your citrus, the cellular walls are broken down with the thaw. This breakdown means the time the ingredients spends on heat can be reduced by about five minutes. We're not sure whether you cook with gas or electric, but we're certain that there are savings with the five minutes shaved off cooking time. And although not a monetary reason, research shows that frozen oranges are easier to slice up.

The pro-fresh fruit school would argue that you will need to pay for about 10% more fruit to make a proper marmalade that is not runny. Also, freezing tends to reduce the pectin levels so you'll need to add the juice of one large lemon to each 1lb 2oz of fruit if making marmalade. So you could save paying the cost of a lemon by using fresh fruit. We've also heard reports that if working with frozen fruit, you will need to invest in more sugar.

Five minutes of electric/gas cooking versus 10% more fruit, a large lemon and extra sugar. We would rule with sticking with fresh fruit in these tough economic times. And we'll be sure to update when we know more about the Depression era love of the freezer.

In the meantime, here is a historic recipe for marmalade that has survived many a depression, recession and repression.

Happy marmalading,
Cakehead

Damson Marmalade Recipe:

Hannah Woolley's 1670 recipe for marmalade made with damsons. She said of the recipe that it is, “very pleasant and beneficial to all ingenious persons of the female sex.”

Marmalade of Damsons, 1670
Take two Pounds of Damsons, and one Pound of Pippin apples pared and cut in pieces. Bake them in an Oven with a little Ginger, when they are tender, pour them into a Cullender [sic], and let the syrup drop from them, then strain them, and take as much sugar as the Pulp doth weigh, boil it to a Candy height with a little water, then put in your Pulp, and boil till it will come from the bottom of the Skillet, and so put it up. [from The Old Foodie]

Posted by Cakehead at 12:27 AM | Comments (1)

December 03, 2008

ASK CAKEHEAD: A Mash Hole is Made

Dear Cakehead,

I must thank you for coming through with delicious suggestions in such a timely manner. I am pleased to report that I prepared a batch of mash holes my myself and my husband this evening. Can you believe it? Breakfast for dinner! But it proved a wholesome and balanced meal, since we dressed the mash holes with katsup.

For others interested in preparing this dish, I would warn that I encountered a couple of dilemmas: 1) with the potatoes a little crumbly after sitting in the fridge for the past couple of days, I added a bit of milk to achieve a proper consistency. Careful not to add too much liquid! I did, but fortunately could turn to the remaining leftovers to balance out my error; 2) take care not to make the mash holes too thick; I did and it made the flipping process a bit cumbersome. As an afterthought, I wonder if mixing an egg into the potato mash before making the "donuts" might make the consistency a bit more conducive to forming the balls. Just something to consider.

I've attached a photo for your interest.

Love,
a contented Mrs. Potatohead

Posted by Cakehead at 02:00 AM | Comments (0)

December 02, 2008

ASK CAKEHEAD: Mash Holes & other things to do with your leftover potatoes

Dear Cakehead,

I'm at wits end. Please do advise me: what am I to do with the
excessive amounts of mashed potatoes that I have remaining from
Thanksgiving? Soup? I'm not a fan of shepherd's pie nor the vegetarian
alternative, "gatherer's pie." Please advise. I would really prefer
that those buttery carbs don't go to waste.

Love,
Mrs. Potatohead

Dear Mrs. Potatohead,

We're delighted that you have raised this post-Thanksgiving quandary. We've heard consistent reports that homes across the country are eliminating mashed potatoes from the Thanksgiving spread. This is blasphemy in our book and we're glad to hear that you're not contributing to this strange inexplicable trend. But perhaps the snubbing of the mashed potato explains your leftovers.

Fear not. We have two suggestions. Each will create a destination for the superfluous spuds. (Please forgive the vague measurements. We're not sure how many cups of mashed you have on your hands).

1. Breakfast - Egg in a Mash Hole
If you've driven the Mass Pike you've witness the inept driving abilities of the Mass Hole species. If you get a Mass Hole out of his vehicle, we're sure you'd find a lovely Massachusetts resident who will just love this ode to them.

Heat olive oil in a sauce pan. When the oil is hot, form a donut shape with your mashed potato and place it in the hot oil. Crack open an egg into the "donut" hole. When the egg is cooked to taste season with salt and pepper, then flip the mash donut and egg. Cook to taste.

2. Hors d'oeuvre - Parsley Parm Potato Croquettes
Wash, dry and finely mince 1/2 a bunch of Italian parsley (for every 5 cups of mashed). Mix the chopped parsley, 2 Tbs. of Parmesan cheese and a minced clove of garlic with your mashed potatoes. Beat one egg in separate bowl. With a spoon, form potato mixture into 1 inch balls. Dip balls in egg. Roll in finely chopped bread crumbs. Heat 1/2 inch of peanut oil in a saucepan. When the oil is hot, saute croquettes, rotating until all sides are golden.

Good luck!
Cakehead

Posted by Cakehead at 12:41 AM | Comments (1)

April 29, 2008

Dear Cakehead: Pre Nuptial Cake Dispute

my blue heaven

Dear Cakehead,

My fiance and I are having trouble coming to a compromise. We can't agree on the color of the cake we'd like. Our wedding colors are Cornflower Blue and Champagne, and I'd like our cake to be Ivory, with Blue flowers. He'd like the cake to be Blue with Ivory flowers. Which cake would be best suited? Oh, my dress is Cornflower blue, so tradition went out the window a long time ago. Also, I'm not sure what flowers
would best work on the cake!!
Thanks,
Jen

Dear Jen,

This problem you pose is our most difficult quandary to date. The last thing we want is a bride and groom bickering over cake. Cakes were put on this earth strictly for tastebud pleasure, not to cause any kind of tension.

We want to turn the answer to your question into a metaphor for your marriage. I hope I'm not being presumptuous in assuming you fell in love with your man based on his insides and not the color of his hair, skin, or flower tattoo he made the mistake of inking into his skin.

With this in mind, why not make the inside of the cake the place where the celebration happens? Skip the blue exterior and save the food coloring for the cake's innards. Make the color burst in that private area tucked away under the frosting. (See the photo above for a sloppy example.)

Don't forget, while cake aesthetics deserve a conversation or two, be sure to quit the yapping long enough to put your teeth and tastebuds to work. You want your cake to taste good. The guests won't care about the color scheme if the "cake" tastes like cardboard and sweetened lard. You're the bride so travel far and wide to try all the free cake samples bakeries are eager to offer.

Let us know what decorating route you decide to take and send us a picture of the final results. No matter which exterior you decide on we hope that your tastebuds and marriage do cake dances for many years to come!

Cakehead

Posted by Cakehead at 09:33 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2008

Dear Cakehead: Help me get the pig into my cake

Dear Cakehead,

What cake would taste best garnished with bacon?

Love,
Mira

Dear Mira,

Pairing salty and sweet edibles is one of our favorite activities. To tackle this particular challenge was a special delight since we can think of little that we like to eat more than bacon and cake.

Salivating, we hit our test kitchen. We were pretty certain that chocolate cake would overpower the bacon, but afraid we might miss out on a surprising combination, we decided to give the flavor a chance. Sadly, we were correct. We want the salty fat rind of the bacon to cut through the sweetness. But instead the chocolate flavor was focus.

We whipped up a batch of old fashion yellow cake. Sprinkled with bacon, the cake didn't overpower, but was too sweet and left us very thirsty.

Carrot cake was too busy with the bacon. So finally, we tried a red velvet cake recipe (if you use this recipe replace the pecans with crumbled bacon). Not only was the combination absolute perfection, but we like how the red of the cake references the red of the bacon meat and the cream cheese frosting punctuates the crunchy fat of the bacon. We whipped up a big batch of itty-bitty cupcakes and called them bacon bitty cakes.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

In case your tastes differ from ours, hereere are some links to others who discovered the magic of bacon cake:

Tender Lovemaking (okay, so the name of the blog makes us a little queasy, but they do like bacon cake)

Miss Ginsu likes the chocolate cake with bacon crumble combo.

Jews for Bacon's recipe for chocolate stout bacon cake turns a traif cake into something that's not even Kosher for the gentile gang.

Enjoy!
Cakehead

Posted by Cakehead at 01:14 PM | Comments (5)

April 01, 2008

Dear Cakehead: The Case of the Carrot Cake Conundrum

This photo of the perfect piece of carrot wedding cake comes from Ethicalweddings.com

We're introducing something new to Cakehead. Everyone's been doing it since the dawn of man. But it wasn't until we received a desperate plea in the form of a facebook message that we decided to enter into the advice-giving cakescape (a cakescape is like a landscape but in a world made of cake).

And now, our premiere letter:

Dear Cakehead,

After seeing that you're interested in all things having to do with cake, I thought you might have some ideas for my current cake conundrum.

I'm supposed to be making a carrot cake for the wedding of two friends in a couple of weeks. Although I never make carrot cake, since chocolate is my default mode, I found a recipe I like. My main concern, really, has been decorating with cream cheese frosting. When I did a test run yesterday it was kind of runny.

Do you have any tried and true carrot cake decorating methods? I've thought about doing cream cheese frosting between the layers and butter cream frosting on the outside. Or maybe pressing shredded coconut into the frosting on the sides. But I haven't hit on any solutions that grab me yet. Any advice?

Thanks,
Lucy

Dear Lucy,

We are very impressed with your ambition and you've earned your experimental kitchen street cred with your willingness to tackle a new recipe and decorating method just two weeks before the wedding. Sticking to the tried and true is so Home Ec circa 1952. That said, let's try to help you make a cake that is not only delicious, but has a firm, creamy frosting

My first question is how big is the cake you're making. Are we talking three-layers with multi-tiers and waterfalls? Unless you're hiring an architect and engineer, we recommend that you keep it simple. How about covering a whole table with tube cakes - lots of quantity but not much height? Then you don't have to worry so much about the frosting as an adhesive agent.

As for the frosting, let's troubleshoot. Was the cake really cool when you started the frosting process? Any warmth is gonna melt your icing. But I'm sure you've already thought of that.

Also, make sure you're using enough confectioners sugar in the frosting. That will help that creamy cheese to keep its form, making for a less runny frosting. You could also try making the frosting, then briefly chilling it before beginning to coat the cake. The butter cream frosting may have the same problems as the cream cheese version if you don't get the butter-to-sugar ratio just right.

When it comes to carrot cake and cream cheese frosting, my problem is always an aesthetic one. How do you keep the cake crumbs from getting all mixed up into the white cream? The solution is doing two layers of frosting. The first is the primer and with this layer, allow those crumbs to get mixed in. The second coating is the one they'll see, so make it pretty!

Such tricky stuff -- but very ambitious and I support you all the way!

Let me know what you work out with the cake/frosting combination. And I want to hear how your own wedding planning is coming along.

xo,
Cakehead

P.S. There are enough raisin-haters out there so for a large occasion like a wedding it is considered proper etiquette to make the carrot cake without them.

Hi Cakehead,

Because I was concerned about stacking (and transporting stacked cakes), I have been planning to do a couple of individual cakes instead of tiers.

Thanks for your other suggestions. I didn't let the cake cool completely and I hadn't really considered the effect that would have on the frosting.

I was also a little sloppy making the frosting. It seemed too stiff right up to the end when I added the vanilla and optional lemon juice. Then it seemed too wet, and I thought about adding more sugar, but didn't. Those two considerations give me hope though! When I do the real thing, I'll budget enough time for the cakes to cool -- I'm actually planning to make the cake the night before; hopefully that's not sacrilegious. I'll also check out some other cream cheese frosting recipes to see how much confectioner's sugar they call for and I won't be shy about adding extra if need be.

Maybe if I'm feeling really ambitious I'll try the 'crumb coat' the night before and see if I can minimize the number of crumbs that make it into the frosting that way.

Thanks again for your cake advice,
Lucy

Posted by Cakehead at 04:19 AM | Comments (1)