Strawberry-Lemon Curd Tea Cake

I know that it's not quite strawberry season in Oregon yet, but strawberries have been popping up in the market and sometimes when one wants to eat them, one just has to buy them :)  Macerate those babies with a bit of sugar and they're good for this cake topping.  The cake is actually a giant scone which is good to serve for a large gathering.  Originally in the recipe the cake is topped with whipped cream but I was feeling ambitious and made lemon curd instead.  Oh, it's a good decision indeed!  Tangy, smooth and luscious curd is always a good pick-me-up; it's one of my favorite things to make with lemons.  I made enough so that I have some leftover in the fridge because it's so yummy with morning toast :)

Strawberry-Lemon Curd Tea Cake

Yields 6 to 8 servings

For the scone:

175 g unsalted butter, frozen

250 g self-raising flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

50 g superfine sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

150 ml cold whole milk

Tiny squeeze lemon juice

1 beaten egg for glazing

For the topping:

350 g strawberries, hulled and sliced

50 g superfine sugar

1 tablespoon strawberry jam

Lemon Curd--see this recipe, just use regular lemons instead of Meyer lemons

Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling, optional

Heat oven to 425F.  On the coarse side of a box grater, grate the butter into a bowl, then place back in the freezer for 5 mins.  With a spatula, quickly mix the butter with flour, salt, baking powder and sugar; add the milk and lemon juice, then bring together until you have a butter-speckled dough.  Knead the dough a few times on a floured surface.  Roll out to a circle, press into a lightly greased 8-inch baking pan.  Then brush the top with egg and scatter with a little sugar.  Bake for 20 minutes until risen and golden, then transfer to a cooling rack.

While the scone is cooling, toss the strawberries in a bowl with a sprinkling of the sugar and the jam, then set aside.  

To assemble the cake, place the scone base on a serving plate, spread lemon curd over, leaving a slight edge of the cake showing, then pile the saucy strawberries on top, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar if you like.  Serve cut into wedges.

Source:  adapted from Good Food magazine, June 2009

Lemon and Ginger Shortbread

I've one more day to enjoy my spring break; after that I'll go back to work.  It's quite sad because this break has been very enjoyable.  My in-laws are visiting from California and even though I'm quite busy tending their needs, I enjoy their company.  We all do, especially my son.  My in-laws haven't seen him for almost 2 years and it's a quite a change really.  Earlier this week we went to Leavenworth for a quick visit; that was pretty nice short road trip.  The weather has also been warm and sunny around here, so yeah, no complain from me.

I've been meaning to post this recipe that I tried before the break.  A lot of what I make nowadays has been some simple recipes.  I feel that I need to go back to basic and learn to make some things right.  So here's a shortbread recipe.  I quite enjoy shortbread because of the crumbly and buttery taste it imparts.  The lemon and ginger combo is very nice indeed, add a cup of tea or coffee and I'm set to enjoy my morning.

Lemon and Ginger Shortbread

Serves 12

100 g unsalted butter, softened, plus a little extra for greasing
1/4 teaspoon salt
50 superfine sugar, plus extra for dusting
Zest of 1 large lemon
8 pieces of crystallized ginger, finely copped
175 g unbleached all-purpose flour


Heat oven to 300F and grease an 8-inch loose bottomed fluted tart pan.  Put the butter and salt in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until soft.  Beat in the sugar, then stir in the lemon zest and ginger.

Stir in the flour and work with your hands to form a soft dough.  Tip into the pan and press into an even, flat layer with your fingers.  Prick all over with a fork and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until pale gold.  Cut into wedges and leave to cool completely in the pan.  Remove from pan and dust with sugar to serve.


Source:  adapted from Good Food magazine, October 2014

New Orleans Shrimp Creole

This is a quick dinner that I made this week.  What I like about it was that the flavor of this dish is really fantastic; it was tangy and assertive especially when I added a touch more of Tabasco in my plate, it surely can kick the tastebud.  I really go for a bold flavor of a food and thankfully my family has a similar taste so if I had to cook something tasty and fast, I wouldn't go wrong with this dish.  

New Orleans Shrimp Creole

Serves 4 to 6

8 slices bacon, diced

½ cup chopped yellow onion

½ cup chopped green onion, including some tender green tops

1 ½ cups chopped green bell pepper

1 cup chopped celery

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cans (14 ½ ounces each) whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice

3 tablespoons tomato paste

½ cup chicken stock or broth

¼ cup red wine vinegar

½ teaspoon dry mustard

4 drops Tabasco sauce, or to taste

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

½ cup dry red wine

1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, fry bacon until crisp, about 6 minutes.  With a slotted spoon, remove bacon to a plate, leaving 2 tablespoons bacon drippings in skillet.

Reduce heat to medium.  Add onions, bell pepper, celery, and garlic, and sauté until tender, about 6 to 7 minutes.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, vinegar, mustard, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper.  Return bacon to pan.  Simmer over medium-low heat, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add wine and shrimp and cook until shrimp turn pink, about 5 minutes.

Source:  The Big Book of Soups and Stews by Maryana Vollstedt

Pecan Sour Cream Muffins

Today's weather is just glorious.  Spring comes a little early to Oregon because it's been warm and dry lately.  I don't complain much, rain or sun is fine with me, but it's actually nice to not to put on layer upon layer of clothing.  Although the rain will come towards the end of the week, I'm planning to enjoy this warmth as much as I can.

For my weekend baking--this has become my thing, bake only on the weekends--I made pecan sour cream muffins.  The recipe comes from Maida Heatter's book, Cake.  I borrowed it from the library and has started to read it back and forth, and I decided to try this for breakfast today.  There's a lot recipes to try from the book and hopefully I can make as many as I can and blog it.  Sometimes weekend baking is just too short of a time for me, but it's the only time I have during the week to bake.  My family loves it when I bake though, they always have snacks for lunch boxes and after dinner treats.

This muffin batch is easy to make and make wonderful moist and rich muffins.  Yes, they look a little plain but they taste pretty special to me!

Pecan Sour Cream Muffins

Yields 12 large muffins

1 1/3 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch of nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
5 1/2 ounces (1 1/3 cups) toasted pecans broken into large pieces, plus 12 large toasted pecan halves


Adjust an oven rack to the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 400F.  Either butter 12 2 3/4-inch muffin tin or line them with cupcake liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg, and set aside.

In the small bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft.  Beat in the sugar to mix, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition.  On low speed, add half of the sifted dry ingredients, then all of the sour cream, and then the remaining sifted dry ingredients.  Beat only until smoothly incorporated.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the 5 1/2 ounces of pecan pieces.

Spoon into the prepared muffin tins.  It is not necessary to smooth the tops; the muffins will do it themselves during baking.  Place a pecan half, flat side down, on each muffin; press them only slightly into the muffins.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the muffins spring back when pressed lightly with a fingertip.  During baking the muffins will rise with high, nicely rounded, golden-brown tops.

Remove from the pans immediately and place on a rack.  These may be served warm or cooled.


Source:  adapted from Maida Heatter's Cakes

Cinnamon Pudding Cake

Okay, so I'm coming back to writing this blog!  Yay!  After a bit of rest (almost two months!) I think I'm ready to bake again.  Last year's Christmas was a great baking moment for me, lots of cookies baked, but I felt that I was ready to take a break from eating sweets.  When school started again in January my schedule was full from the get go.  And February was almost the same pace as in January with some travel to Seattle with a friend from Wisconsin on Valentine's Day weekend.  I did enjoy it, we had a great time as a family as well.

I chose to do a pudding cake this time since I actually have never tried it before.  The cake will get caramel at the bottom which I thought this will go well with a pint of vanilla ice cream in the fridge.  The recipe warned that the topping gets sticky in the pan, so I made sure I used a nonstick pan and sprayed it well with cooking spray.  But, aaarrgg...the sticky part stuck to the bottom of the pan!  I was so happy when it's in the oven, happily rising and baking away.  Maybe I should've waited longer?  I'm not sure but I don't want not to eat this cake even if I can't take a whole cake photo.  Maybe I should take another baking break?  Why so many questions?  

So how come this photo of the cake is still being displayed?  Because I believe that it still tastes delicious with a scoop of ice cream!   

Cinnamon Pudding Cake

Serves 9

For the caramel topping:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup water

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the topping:  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spray the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine the brown sugar, water, butter, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally.  Set aside to cool.

Make the cake:  Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine the butter and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the bowl.  Add 1/2 of the milk and the vanilla.  Add another 1/3 of the flour.  Add the remaining milk and then the remaining flour.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 30 speeds.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.  Pour the topping over the batter (the pan will be very full).  Carefully transfer the pan to the oven and bake until set, 45 to 50 minutes.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, invert it onto a large rimmed serving platter, and serve warm.

Let leftover squares cool completely and store in a cake keeper or airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day or in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Source:  adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman