"Easiest Cake Ever" with Strawberries & Blueberries

Its name is "Easiest Cake Ever"
And it lives up to its name. Easy peasy.

I've scheduled this post to publish as I'm heading up to BlogHerFood in San Francisco! I'm excited to meet fellow bloggers and the speakers they have lined up sound great.

I haven't been able to bake much lately as I'm finishing up the move. I hope to get all settled next week and start pounding out some stuff. I have a big thing planned for the blog in October/November...stay tuned! :)

I'll post about the conference (and food) when I get back!

This cake is so easy to make. Give your KitchenAid a break and pull out a bowl, basic ingredients and a whisk. Any soft fruit will be yummy. I'd like to try it with some fresh peaches next summer!

Mix in a large bowl:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pour into cake pan. I used a 8" pan. Top with any soft fruit, I used strawberries & blueberries. Top with a tablespoon of raw sugar.

As a bonus, it is non-dairy too!

Have a great weekend! See you next week! - mary the food librarian

Recipe:
Easiest Cake Ever adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches

Apple Raisin Noodle Kugel

Happy Jewish New Year - Rosh Hashanah!

My friend Jami's mom makes the best noodle kugel. I've made it twice for Hanukkah in 2008 and 2007.

This year, I decided to mix it up a bit and added one small diced apple and 1/2 cup golden raisins. And luckily, I haven't packed up my 9 x 13 pan and old school electric mixer yet.

The kugel is divine. I can eat it hot, cold, at the table, standing in the refrig in the middle of the night...except this year I can't have dairy so I'm bummed. However, the staff at the library enjoyed it. (And believe me, this is a dairy consortium! Butter, sour cream, cream cheese and cottage cheese!)

There are Parve (non-dairy) kugels that can accompany meat dishes, and I'll definitely try that next year.

Apple Raisin Noodle Kugel
From my friend's Jami's mom, Mrs. S in San Diego!

8 oz. medium egg noodles
6 eggs
1 lb. (16 oz.) carton cottage cheese, small curd
3 oz. small cream cheese [FYI: A regular brick is 8 oz.]
1/2 pint = 1 cup = 8 oz. container sour cream
1/4 lb. = 1 stick butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Handful of cornflake crumbs to thicken the noodle-egg mixture a bit

Optional:
1 diced apple (I used a Granny Smith)
1/2 cup golden or regular raisins (I used golden)

Cook and drain noodles. Beat eggs well, add rest of the ingredients and beat well. By hand, mix in the drained noodles and optional diced apples and raisins. The mixture will be watery. Don't be tempted to add more noodles. They will totally expand while baking.

Topping
Mix together:
1 cup corn flake crumbs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Grease a 9 x 13 pan well and add mixture. Sprinkle topping on. Bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees, uncovered. (Last night, I baked it for 1 1/2 hours, but I think an hour 15 would have been okay too.)

To those celebrating the Jewish New Year, best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful and peaceful year.

And to those who just love noodles, sweetness and lots of dairy, make this yummy kugel!

Mark Bittman's Apple Upside-Down Cake

Switch up Mark Bittman's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with some apples!

Melt 1/2 stick of butter and pour into 8" pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar on top. Then place your apples on top. I used 3 1/2 gala apples.

Wet ingredients: Whisk together 1/2 stick melted butter, 1 cup buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1/2 c sugar.
Dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 t baking soda, 1/4 t salt. Added 1 teaspoon cinnamon for the apple version.

Add the wet ingredients to the combined dry ingredients until incorporated. Spread the batter on top of the apples. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. I baked mine for 55 minutes. After 5 minutes cooling, flip the cake out onto a serving plate.

I made this cake about a week ago and it was a yummy breakfast treat. I am really enjoying Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I picked it up at the library and have renewed it...I'll be getting it after my move! My new bookshelf has an empty space, you know... :)

Okay pastry people...what happened here? Big holes due to overmixing? undermixing? I know it is one of them.

Oh well, it'll be my Swiss Cheese-like Apple Upside-Down Cake!

I did enjoy this cake. It was quick and "light" (only 1 stick of butter! hee hee). However, my favorite upside-down apple cake is definitely the Barefoot Contessa's Apple Tartin Cake. That one has more butter and sour cream...and it uses a caramel layer. You should definitely try both!

Recipe:
I adapted mine from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (10th Anniversary Edition) "Pineapple Upside-Down Cake" with Apple Upside-Down Cake, page 915

Zebra Cake

When I saw the Zebra Cake on Foodgawker, I was intrigued! I couldn't figure out how it was made. Luckily, the instructions were really easy! Just pour alternating batter? I can do that!

The secret is two same size measuring cups and working quickly.

You make the simple batter (see recipe links below). Half the batter is vanilla and half is flavored with cocoa powder. I made mine in a 9" pan.

Carefully pour 1/4 cup into the middle of the pan. Don't wait for it to spread. And, hey, don't grab your camera and take photos! I think mine doesn't look like the others because I might have worked too slowly with the photo breaks! :)

Pour another 1/4 cup of the chocolate batter directly into the center of the pan on top of the previous batter. Repeat until you are out of batter.

It is really neat to see the batter spread out into these circles.

A bit of sugar is sprinkled on top and provides a simple crust.

Okay. I'll be honest with you. I thought the cake was a bit bland in flavor. Next time, I might make it Matcha (Green Tea) and Chocolate. Or, I would add more vanilla extract. However, it is so pretty that the flavor can be overlooked a bit! :)

Recipe and more photos (their cakes look have thinner layers that go all the way to the top):
The recipes are slightly different.
I used this one: Connie Veneracion's Home Cooking Rocks!
Great step-by-step photos: Farida’s Azerbaijani Cookbook

Flaky Apple Turnovers - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Julie or Jules of Someone’s in the Kitchen picked Flaky Apple Turnovers on page 316 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Ah, my life filled with procrastination knows no bounds. I started way late on Monday night, baked them this morning, and came home from work to post it! Each time the schedule of recipes comes out on the Tuesdays with Dorie website, I plan to make everything early. Yeah. Maybe next time! :)

I read the directions. A couple times. Really.

But I was also super duper tired, and completely misread the part about the size of the circle. It is about 4 inches and I used a small biscuit cutter instead! Oops. Therefore, I couldn't fold over my turnover to save my life. Unless I wanted to have one piece of apple in each one...which would turn these into just half moons of pie dough. So, at 4:30 this morning, I made the executive decision to put a circle of dough on top!

I used Gala apples and skipped adding butter to the apples...I figure there was enough in the dough.

I didn't eat them, but the dough was quite flaky. I put sanding sugar on top of an egg wash.

Thanks for this cute selection, Julie!
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, page 316
Jule's blog post here

Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes - Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club

For this month's Martha Stewart Cupcake Club, Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures chose Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes on pages 44 of Martha's fantastic book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book. Tracey is the most awesome baker, cook, and all around nice person! I love her! Go visit her blog!

Martha Stewart Cupcake Club is a new baking club started by Sugar B of Eat My Cupcake and we are going to make one cupcake recipe per month (or more!) Check it out on the new website here.

I made this recipe earlier with a simply glaze, but this time I made it with the recommended Cream Cheese Frosting. It was the first recipe I made from this book, and it's a winner! I was very happy to make it again as I still had lots of zucchini hanging out in the veggie drawer.

The recipe calls for a boatload of cream cheese frosting. I made 1/2 the cupcake recipe and about 1/4 of the frosting recipe. Me thinks Martha and her crew love the frosting way more than me. :)

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcake Club members and their version of the recipe! And be sure to make this tasty treat! (The cupcake is dairy free but the cream cheese frosting...well, is not!)

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes, page 44
Note: The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club doesn't post the recipe. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has it in their collection (hey, I need to put the Librarian in the Food Librarian sometimes! :)

Banana Zucchini Bundt Cake with King Arthur Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites

It's the end of summer.
Sad.
Luckily, I got to go to San Diego over Labor Day weekend and met up with my friend Jami and her new doggie, Maggie. Ain't she the cutest?

When it's summer, it's zucchini time. Kinda like Hammer Time but with a little less dancing.

My blogger friend Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet recently went to King Arthur Flour in Vermont. OMG. When she said she was going to KAF for a baking class, I thought she was kidding. Seriously, I thought KAF was like Oz. A place they mention in their catalog and on their packages, but not an actual place. Well, low and behold, Mary took a baking class with her mom! See her post about her yummy adventures.

After my cat Q-Tip passed away, I received a lovely card and gift package from Mary. She is so sweet. I shook the packet and it sounded like dried cat food! But inside were King Arthur Flour's Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. These are too cool!

I added 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. While they do indeed look like cat food pellets, they are tasty when they soften in a baked good. They are also dairy free! Whoo hoo. (The recipe is also dairy-free).

I found this recipe on Michelle's blog (One Ordinary Day) and Alicia's blog (Confessions of a Bakeaholic ) and it looked so delicious I had to give it a shot. One cup each: raw zucchini, mashed bananas and chopped pecans, along with 1/3 c of the King Arthur Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites.

Yeah. I know. It's a Bundt. Again.
And I have another one that isn't posted yet. I think I'll save that one to space them out a bit! :)

This was yummy. It isn't really rich like Dorie Greenspan's butter and sour cream filled Banana Bundt, but it is a yummy breakfast treat. The King Arthur Flav-R-Bites add a nice cinnamon touch.

Recipe: (three options)
One Ordinary Day who found it on Recipezaar (submitted by Margo59 and baked in two loaf pans) or Confessions of a Bakeaholic

Chocolate Souffle - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Susan of She’s Becoming DoughMessTic selected Chocolate Souffle, on page 406 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. Susan is such an active baker! She is a true artist too...you should see some of her custom cookies and cakes. I don't understand how anybody actually eats her creations, they are too pretty!

I made 1/4 of the recipe and did it all by hand. I have the cutest mini ramekins and 1/4 would have made 5 of them. I baked the minis for 17 minutes at 400 degrees.

Souffles are impressive and yet pretty easy to make! If you can whip egg whites and fold ingredients, you can make a nice souffle. Impress your friends with this delicious dessert.

Thanks Susan for picking a fun recipe! Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Susan's blog: She’s Becoming DoughMessTic
Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, page 406

Fresh Fig Tart on Puff Pastry (You want pies with that?)

For this month's You Want Pies With That? Challenge, Jenn of Piccante Dolce chosen theme is: Summer Vacation.

As a kid, we didn't go away much but I do remember visiting with cousins and grandma on our summer break. One of the relatives had a tree and would bring figs. Oh, the love affair begins. I love figs and I would take a plate of figs over a box of chocolate.

Fresh figs.
Puff Pastry.
Butter and sugar.
Yum Summer Fun.

I used Pepperidge Farms Farms Puff Pastry. This is my first time using it as Trader Joe's doesn't carry their butter puff pastry now (it might be a seasonal item). Um, maybe I'm reading the label wrong, but this PF stuff has NO BUTTER. I didn't know you could make puff pastry without butter. Anyway, I cut this palm oil puff pastry into a few circles and squares, sprinkled on some sugar, and placed the fresh figs atop. I sprinkled the figs with a tiny bit of butter (it needs to come from someplace!) and some brown sugar.

These figs were from a colleague's parent's tree. It's good to have friends in high places, and friends with fig trees.

Be sure to check out all the other delicious summer pies on the You Want Pies with That? website! I hope you are all enjoying the last days of summer!!

Thanks Jenn for picking a fun theme!