Nancy, You Sure Are Neat! (Upside-Down Fig Upside Down Cake)

It's Nancy's Birthday!

Do you know Nancy Romero? You should, you really should. Her hair always smells like happy apples and she owns one of those backpacks with a water bottle connected to a giant hose/straw built in. She deserves a cake. She actually needs cake because she bikes a gazillion miles a day.

No seriously, Nancy is a very wonderful person.

For her birthday I thought about making Nancy Cake again but I think the occasion called for a bit of celebratory experimentation. You may have noticed that I am obsessed with figs. I wanted to make a hazelnut fig upside down cake but very stupidly placed the figs upside down, creating an upside down-upside down cake. This was a shame because it would have looked so pretty with the open fig flesh all caramelized. And because I placed the open flesh into the batter I am scared that the cake became too moist with fig juices. I'm going to blame my stupidity on lack of sleep. My body keeps waking me up at 7:30 in the morning for no reason, even though I haven't been able to fall asleep before 3 a.m. lately.

I hope it tasted okay. The problem with baking birthday cakes is that you can't swipe a bite and test if they turned out well. You just have to hope for the best.

Oh also, while I was making this cake this morning I must have been making too much noise trying to get rid of air bubbles in my batter and the people living below me came up to complain. They thought I was angry at them and was trying to send them a message with my loud noises. It was embarrassing.

Happy Birthday Nancy Romero.

Ingredients:

Topping:

1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

25 figs, depending on size (halved)

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)

3/4 cup of brown sugar (I used dark because that's what I had but I think golden would be better)

Cake:

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups and 2 tablespoons of all purpose or cake flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)

2 eggs

1 cups of sugar

1. preheat oven to 350

2. melt the butter for the topping over low heat

3. add the brown sugar and whisk together until fully incorporated

4. pour the butter and brown sugar mixture into a greased 10 inch cake pan

5. sprinkle the hazelnuts over the brown sugar syrup

6. arrange the figs halves, open flesh side down

7. set aside pan

8. in a large bowl beat the sugar and butter together until pale and fluffy

9. add the eggs one at a time

10. add the vanilla extract

11. sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder

12. alternate 3 separate additions of the flour mixture and buttermilk into the egg/sugar/butter mixture

13. pour the batter into the pan and over the figs

14. tap the pan down on a hard surface to get rid of air bubbles

15. bake in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly and the top of the cake in golden brown (it looks almost like the color of cornbread)

16. let the cake cool for 10 minutes

17. place a flat pan or plate over the top of the cake pan and then flip

18. the juices will run down the side of the cake, this is a good thing

19. let cool before serving

Honey Whole Wheat Fig Muffins

All these ingredients, together, make a world of sense to me. Iced with cream cheese frosting makes it all the more exciting.

I think I still have to experiment with the recipe a little because it was just barely too moist. Perhaps less buttermilk.

Because I made an enormous amount of batter I also tried to make loaf cake with this batter but they didn't set quite right and so I sliced the loaf up (biscotti style) and re-baked them just slightly to make breakfast bar type things and I really like them in that form. They're still soft and chewy but the honey has sort of caramelized around the outside. Quite nice with morning coffee.

Sable Cookies

Hurray for another order! Hansoul, a former co-worker of Saeyoung's, ordered a dozen chamomile apricot sable cookies. I love sable cookies. The dough is a little testy and the measurements have to be very precise, so precise that I prefer to use a digital scale but when it works the cookie is a very delicate, buttery, and not-too-sweet.

The chamomile apricot combination seems to be popular but while I was at it I thought I'd experiment and make other types of sable dough. Sable dough freezes perfectly for up to 3 months so when making it, it's probably smart to make in large quantities. I try to avoid extracts if possible and so when including ingredients like lavender or chamomile I buy the flowers dried and then grind them in a coffee grinder right before using. I think it makes a difference.

The types of sable dough made:

1. chocolate

2. lemon

3. lavender

4. chocolate lavender (i'm thinking chocolate lavender cookies with cream cheese filling)

5. vanilla

6. vanilla cinnamon

And also, did you notice the pretty gift wrapping?

Email me if anyone wants to order any sable cookies! sprout.bean.food@gmail.com

Caramel Apple Cake

Jee Hyun, co-worker is moving to Korea tomorrow due to the evil nature of U.S. immigration. We had a small going away party for her today and I provided dessert.

Saeyoung and I had a caramel apple the other day and it tasted incredibly comforting and was just plainly fun to eat. Going off of that I thought I'd use the caramel apple as inspiration.

It's all in the trimmings here. The cake is a very reliable recipe for yellow cake. But the caramel is not overly sweet and the roasted apples give it a little tartness. And the peanuts bring everything together.

I like this one very much.

I am sad to see Jee Hyun go. Good luck in Korea.

Ingredients:

for cake:

1 cup buttermilk

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour (you can use all-purpose in a pinch)

2 large eggs

for caramel:

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

for apples:

4 large granny smith apples

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

other:

chopped peanuts for topping

1. preheat oven to 350

2. beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes

3. add in eggs one at a time

4. add vanilla

5. sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder

6. alternate 3 separate additions of flour mixture with 3 additions of buttermilk

7. pour batter into a buttered and parchment lined 10 inch cake pan (you can use 8 inch as long as it's a high walled pan)

8. tap the pan a few times to get rid of air bubbles

9. bake in the oven for about 35 minutes

10. let cool for 10 minutes and then invert and let cool completely

11. in the meanwhile bring the oven up to 400 degrees

12. peel, core, and slice the apples into about 1/2 inch wedges

13. combine the apples with melted 3 tablespoons of butter, 4 tablespoons of brown sugar, and vanilla

14. lay out the slices in one layer

15. bake for 30 minutes or until slightly golden and fork soft

16. while the apples are in the oven make the caramel

17. bring the heavy cream, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup to a low boil over medium heat

18. use a candy thermometer to measure when the caramel reaches 220 fahrenheit (about 12-15 minutes)

19. take the caramel off the heat and mix in the vanilla extract

20. pour the hot glaze over the center top of the cake, the excess should drip over the sides

21. arrange the apple slices in a concentric circle around the top of the cake

22. top with peanuts

23. let cool completely-about 30-45 minutes

Adzuki Red Bean and Coffee Brownies

Okay, let's just say this right at the beginning. Let's say it like we're ripping off a bandaid.

This was a failure.

Conceptually, this is something I've been wanting to experiment with for quite a while. I've been slowly planning this for two weeks.

Red bean is a very commonly used ingredient in Asian desserts. Good. Coffee. Good. Chocolate. Undoubtedly good.

Here's where the problem was: I decided to make this gluten-free, which is dumb because i love gluten. Yay for gluten! The complete lack of flour made these brownies very heavy, rich and intense. If I could cut the heaviness in half, I think I'd be pretty happy.

I am not discouraged. I am going to re-work this recipe, perhaps tonight. I can make this work. I think there is potential here. And watch out world, when I figure this out I'm going to be throwing red bean into everything.

Honeyed Marscapone Fruit Tartlets

I am amazed at the varieties of figs. Incredible. It isn't just a matter of color. Some taste more tart, almost raspberry like. Some taste like pure honey. And the textures are dramaticially different. The Calimyrna fig has a thicker skin and a seedier bite. Some are less seedy and have flesh that resembles a thick jam.

There's a man that I'm utterly devoted to when it comes to buying figs. I suppose I should find out his name and the name of his farm but all I know is that he's slightly crabby and surprisingly generous (he'll throw in a few freebies here and there). Also, I know that he is of Portuguese descent. I don't know why I know this.

Most farmers market vendors sell either Brown Turkey figs or Black Mission figs but my favorite fig man seems to add new varieties every week.

He is at the Hollywood farmers market and the Echo Park farmers market.

Though I love figs and fruit in all forms, when the fruit is really good it seems like a shame to bake it or to sugar it up. For the most part I ate nearly 2 1/2 baskets of fresh figs all by myself but to use up the last few figs I made tartlets with marscapone cheese.

I had some leftover dough from my quiche so I baked those into tartlet form and filled them with the marscapone cheese and fruit and topped the whole thing with a generous dripping of honey.

Here is the recipe for the marscapone filling:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup marscapone cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons honey

pinch of salt

1. combine all the ingredients together

2. spoon into tart shell

Saeyoung and I should perhaps consider competitive eating as a plan B...

chicken nachos and mixed seafood ceviche

mahi mahi salad

blackened swordfish nachos

lobster taco, fish taco

done and done

saeyoung and eli

There's just no excuse for the quantities of food saeyoung and I eat when we're together. It's pretty disgraceful actually.

We went to Taco Loco with Eli for dinner today and while Eli ordered like a normal human being and had one tofu mushroom burger, Saeyoung and I thought we'd share a sampling of more or less the entire menu. Between the two of us we ordered a mahi mahi salad, mixed seafood ceviche, a lobster taco, a fish taco, blackened swordfish nachos, and chicken nachos. Right, one type of nachos was not enough for us. We basically ordered a meal for 4-5 people for the two of us.

...and we cleaned house. We ate everything.

But wait, let's put this into context. This is after having an enormous Chinese dim sum brunch a mere 4 hours prior. And after having snacked on sour patch kids and gummy worms at the movie theater. Also there was a popsicle and fruit somewhere in there.

Here's the truly disgusting part: right after Taco Loco, we walked down the street and had a white chocolate covered caramel apple.

No wait, there's more. There is talk of frozen yogurt later...

China Garden Dim Sum

duck

shrimp shumai

broth filled shumai

almond souffle

bbq pork bun

here is a question: where is the best place for dim sum in southern california? I am willing to drive wide and far for good dim sum. My family went to China Garden in Irvine today, which is decent but is nothing compared to the dim sum we've had up in the Bay area.

Also, Chinese food is a mystery. It's so greasy and heavy but I usually don't feel like I'm going to keel over after having eaten it.

The Hollywood Farmers Market

...made better with friends

Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Quiche

I had leftover filling from my butternut squash mini galettes and I also had frozen some tart pie dough that I had made a couple weeks ago. Easy easy.

Basic recipe for quiche:

Ingredients:

tart pie dough or any dough of your choice or store bought pre-made dough

filling of your choice (it can be something as simple as gruyere cheese or chives or steamed asparagus with goat cheese

2 egg yolks

1 egg

1 cup heavy cream (or milk if you don't want to consume heavy cream calories...but I recommend the heavy cream)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. preheat oven to 340

2. whisk together egg, egg yolks, and cream

3. add nutmeg

4. arrange filling of your choice in a half baked tart pastry

*note, if you don't want to bother making your own dough you can buy puff pastry, fit it into a cake pan, bake it at 400 for about 15 minutes and then fill it and bake until done

5. pour the egg mixture over the filling

6. bake in the oven for 30 minutes