Brown Sugar Toffee Cake

Brown Sugar Toffee Cake - made August 7, 2013 from Baking Style by Lisa Yockelson

Sometimes the downside of baking so much is I could swear I've already made a particular recipe because it seems so familiar.  But when I can't find it on my blog or in my "already made" files, it's time to admit I just think I made it but actually haven't.  In my defense though, this recipe is so similar to other brown sugar and/or toffee pound cakes I've made, that it's easy to be mistaken.

Remember how I always seem to need to use up buttermilk so I have to make this cake that uses it or that one which also does before my buttermilk expires? Someone told me I could preserve buttermilk by pouring it into ice cube trays and freezing them until I needed buttermilk again. But I could never remember to buy ice cube trays (in these days of ice makers in freezers, I can't even remember last time I saw ice cube trays in a store) and I kept having to throw out buttermilk on its expiration date.  Well, I finally crossed the chasm and decided to give powdered buttermilk a try. I tried out this one from Hoosier Hill Farm via amazon. It got good reviews and was made in the USA - that's good enough for me.

Although the directions don't say so on the packaging, thanks to the info on amazon, I knew to mix 4 tablespoons of the buttermilk powder with 1 cup of water to get 1 cup of buttermilk.  It was much more watery than I expected.  I think I was expecting something like the thick, creamy consistency of the fresh buttermilk I bought from Trader Joe's but that wasn't the case with reconsituted buttermilk. Nevertheless, I forged ahead.

This was a pretty standard pound cake recipe and it was fairly good although I don't know if I found it particularly memorable, a rare occurrence for a Lisa Yockelson recipe.  Neither the brown sugar or the toffee really came out in the flavor and this didn't even seem that buttery.  It was just a somewhat bland (to me) pound cake. The texture was good but I'm not going to remember the flavor as anything particularly striking. It did go fairly quickly at work the next day so I guess this is another case where my taste buds are annoyingly picky.

3 cups unsifted bleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped toffee bars

½ pound (16 tablespoons or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

2 ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Spray the inside of a 10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.
4. Toss the toffee with 2 tablespoons of the sifted mixture in a medium-size mixing bowl.
5. Cream the butter in the large bowl of a freestanding electric mixer on moderate speed for 4 minutes.  Add the granulated sugar in 2 additions, beating for 1 minute after each portion is added.  Add the dark brown sugar and beat for 1 minute longer.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing for about 20 seconds after each addition to combine.  Blend in the vanilla extract.  On low speed, alternately add the sifted mixture in 3 additions with the buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the sifted mixture.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl thoroughly with a rubber spatula after each addition.  Stir in the toffee, making sure to fully incorporate the candy.
6. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan.  Smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
7. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until risen, set and a toothpick inserted into the cake withdraws clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. 
8. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.  Invert the cake onto another cooling rack.  Lift off the pan.  Cool completely.  Store in an airtight cake keeper.

Restaurant Review: Jang Su Jang

Jang Su Jang - visited July 27, 2013

Since I started including write ups about bakeries and restaurants I've visited in addition to my usual recipe trials (and tribulations), by now you've probably noticed I eat out a lot.  I actually didn't think I did until I started lining up the blog posts and realized I have quite a queue when I include baking experiments, bakeries and restaurants. As in, I could skip baking for the rest of the month and still have plenty of material to keep my blog alive nearly every day.  I think part of it is my birthday was last month and that necessitated a flurry of get togethers with friends to go out and celebrate at various restaurants. And every time I meet with any of them, I have to bake something to bring to them, right? Also, let's not kid ourselves: my social life revolves around eating out with friends. Then I have my bakery run group, Sugar Rush, at work with my colleagues. Plus I bake to try out new recipes.

Not the best interior shot

Oh well :).  The best part about this though is I've become much more aware of my culinary surroundings and keep realizing how fortunate I am to live where there's a plethora of eating places to try.  In my perpetual quest to support local small businesses, restaurants and bakeries are natural choices to enable that goal quite easily.  Or at least I assume most of them are small businesses; sometimes the websites don't say but I'm going by whatever information I can find.

 

Although I had gone to ToBang Korean BBQ the night before with my friend Cindy, I didn't plan very well and had also made plans with my niece, my cousin and her son Vanilla King to try out Jang Su Jang, another Korean BBQ place and a Michelin Guide recommendation for the last couple of years.  Good thing I like Korean BBQ since I was about to have it two nights in a row. Jang Su Jang has a 4-star rating on yelp plus a couple of friends also personally recommended it so I was looking forward to trying it.  We got there at 6:30 but it was already crowded and we ended up having to wait almost 45 minutes for a "regular table" as the BBQ tables where you could cook your dinner at your table were going to be an even longer wait.  When you have an 8-year-old with you, it's not a good idea to wait any longer than necessary, although I must say he bore up surprisingly well.  We amused ourselves by watching K-Pop on the TV in the foyer while we waited for our pager to announce they had a table for us.  (side note: I know nothing about Korean pop stars but it's always startling to see blond Asians on TV.)

Steamed Dumplings

Inside the restaurant, it was pretty busy but the tables were sectioned off with fairly high dividers so we actually seemed more enclosed and it was nice to have some privacy.  We each put in an order for a dish to share with everyone else.  The steamed dumplings came out first and I liked that they had a fairly thin wrapper so each one its own wasn't too filling.  The other dishes came out fairly quickly and the service was good.  When Vanilla King speared another dumpling, I teased him and asked if that was his third one.  His response: "no, my seventh".  LOL, there's an endorsement of the dumplings for you.

We also had a tasty noodle dish with glass noodles, common in most Asian noodle dishes, and one I prefer to more traditional wheat noodles.  The seafood pancake wasn't free like it was at ToBang but I have to admit it was really good.  They served it hot on a cast iron skillet so it was crunchy and had a light crispy texture.  I normally don't like all that "stuff" in my food but even I enjoyed the seafood pancake.  Now I know what the yelp reviewers were talking about when they praised the pancake.

Crispy Seafood Pancake

Since we were at a Korean BBQ place, we had to have the marinated short ribs, which is probably what got me hooked on Korean BBQ in the first place, many years ago.  Jang Su Jang's version was delicious, very flavorful and tender.

Marinated Short Ribs

And I'm not going to lie - the Bul Go Gee (marinated beef) was spectacular. Also tender, also full of flavor.  If I'm ever on a low-carb diet, I could live on this stuff alone, even without rice. My Asian ancestors are probably disowning me for that one but it's true.

Bul Go Gee

Probably the only two downsides to Jang Su Jang were the wait time for a table and the cost.  The food was delicious but rather pricey. For two entrees, a noodle dish, two appetizers, steamed rice and a couple of sodas, it was just under $100 for the four of us with very little leftover food to take home.  I don't mind spending money for good food but this probably isn't somewhere I'd go to that often because it would get cost prohibitive to patronize regularly.  Plus I like trying new places so I'd rather try a spendy new place than to keep going back to a spendy place I've gone to before. However, I'm glad I tried it and know there's a good place for Korean BBQ I can always fall back on. 

And there are many other people who feel differently and wouldn't mind spending the money or waiting for a table; by the time we left the restaurant a little after 8 pm, there were even more people waiting for a table than when we had gone in and not only was the foyer crowded but there was also a lot of people milling around outside waiting for their pagers to go off announcing their table was ready.  Wow.  Clearly people know good Korean food when they come across it and they don't mind waiting for it or paying more for it. All good news for Jang Su Jang.

Buttery Brown Sugar and Oatmeal Shortbread

Buttery Brown Sugar and Oatmeal Shortbread - made August 5, 2013 from Fearless Baking by Elinor Klivans

I'm on my endless quest to try out the recipes from my baking books, especially ones I've had for awhile and have been meaning to try.  I had a day off last week so it seemed like a good time to knock out some recipe experiments.  Starting with this shortbread recipe.

As with most shortbreads, this was easy to throw together; the hardest part about making shortbread isn't mixing it up but baking it properly.  Take it out too soon and it won't be baked enough to have the "snap" of good shortbread and will be chewy instead.  Leave it in too long and it'll be too crispy and have a slight burnt butter taste.  This was my first time making this recipe and I baked it for exactly 25 minutes as the recipe directed.  Normally I'm never not that precise but I happened to notice I put it in at 35 minutes past the hour so I remembered to take it out at the top of the hour.  Although it was nicely golden brown when I took it out and appeared done, when it cooled, it was more chewy than crisp so it could've used a little more time in the oven.  

I thought this was pretty good although just a trifle too sweet for me.  But the oatmeal gives it a nice chewiness and the butter flavor came through loud and clear. At work, when I put something out in the communal kitchen, I gauge how well my coworkers liked something by how quickly it goes and whether anyone comments on it.  My theory is if it isn't very good, it'll last throughout the day (no one takes seconds) and they'll be too polite to say anything about it.  For this shortbread, it was gone by lunchtime and I got a thank you email and 2 stops in the hallway to tell me how good it was.  By that measure, I guess people liked it.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) soft unsalted butter

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

¾ cup oatmeal, not quick-cooking

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Butter a 9 x 9 x 2-inch or 11 x 7 x 2-inch pan.
2. Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and cinnamon together onto a piece of wax paper or into a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Put the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute until the mixture looks smooth.  Stop the mixer and scrape the mixture from the sides of the bowl and any that becomes caught in the beaters as needed throughout the mixing process.  Decrease the speed to low and mix in the flour mixture, mixing just until the dough holds together and forms big clumps.  Add the oatmeal, mixing just to distribute it evenly.  Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the top is lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and immediately use a small sharp knife to cut 6 rows lengthwise and 4 rows across, cutting through to the bottom.  Cool thoroughly.  The shortbread will become crisp on the outside and remain slightly soft on the inside when cool.  Use a thin spatula to lift the shortbread pieces from the pan.

Restaurant Review: Tobang Korean BBQ

Tobang Korean BBQ - visited July 26, 2013 (click on the title link to go to the yelp review and the address)

For the dinner where I made my personal cake wreck Lemon Drop Cake, I was meeting my friend Cindy for dinner at a new-to-us Korean BBQ restaurant called ToBang.  Neither one of us had been there before but it has a 4-star rating on yelp so it was a plausible culinary adventure to try.  It wasn't too crowded for a Friday night (we went at 6:30) and we got a table right away.  There was a barbecue "grill" (really a cast iron skillet on top of a burner) at our table where our meats would be cooked.

Since it was our first visit, we weren't sure what to get but opted for the family-style choice that supposedly was good for "1.5 people". In case that wasn't going to be enough, we ordered pork dumplings as an appetizer.  That "1.5 people" order turned out to be the joke of the night because they brought us so much food, we could've brought Cindy's husband and 3 kids along with us and probably still had enough to go around.  The order included 2 meats (we ordered the sliced beef and the marinated chicken), a soft egg soup, a bean paste tofu stew, steamed rice and the usual accoutrements that accompanies a typical Korean meal.  I can't even begin to identify all the little dishes but there was something kimchi, bean sprouts, and.....at least 4-5 other little dishes that I have no clue about.

Seafood pancake appetizer

They even gave us a free seafood pancake appetizer before all the other dishes started rolling in.  According to the reviews on yelp, this seemed to be the norm but I still thought that was nice of them to do.  The beef slices were cooked at our table and they were thoughtful enough to cook only half of it at first to give us a little time to eat some of the meal before cooking the other half and even re-heating what still remained from the first half so it'd be hot again.

Dumplings

Not that we could finish it all.  The fried dumplings were good and the wrapper wasn't too thick so it didn't fill you up after only 1 or 2.  The soft egg soup was delicious although unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it.  I don't know how they cooked it to make it so good but Cindy said it could be done by steaming the scrambled egg.  The beef slices were the only weak link as they actually didn't have much taste or seasoning.  However the marinated chicken more than made up for it as it was delicious, wonderfully flavored and tender.  I don't think I've had chicken quite that good before.

Marinated Chicken

Overall, this was a good dining experience.  The wait staff was very friendly and attentive and although it began to get more crowded as the night went on and more people showed up to wait for a table, we never felt rushed.

Bean Paste Stew

My only cautionary tale is it's probably better to go with a larger group for the amount of food you get.  Or, if there are only two of you and you get the order for 1.5 people, expect to take leftovers home - not a bad problem to have.

Cream Cheese Cookies

Cream Cheese Cookies - made dough July 22, 2013, recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies

The original recipe was called Cream Cheese Walnut Cookies and called for walnuts to be added to the batter and for the cookie dough log to be rolled in chopped walnuts before slicing and baking.  But I don't like walnuts (too bitter) so I originally opted to substitute cashews instead.  While I'm not big on nuts in my cookies, I have a higher tolerance for cashews (and macadamia nuts) if I am going to add them in.  However, in the end, I decided to forego even the cashews and just went with a plain cream cheese cookie, mostly because I had leftover lemon frosting from my cake wreck Lemon Drop Cake that I decided to frost the cookies with and I just wanted a plain cookie with the frosting.

Turns out that was the right decision to make.  I really liked these cookies for their simplicity and straightforward goodness.  Be sure to bake them long enough for the bottoms and sides to get golden and the middles to "dry out" on top but not get more than lightly golden brown.  That'll ensure they've baked long enough for a good "snap" to the texture.  The cream cheese taste was very subtle but contributed to the nice crisp texture of the cookie.  It paired well with the lemon frosting but I also think it would've been good unfrosted.  This is a good tea cookie to go with coffee or tea and/or be served at an afternoon tea or as a light dessert after lunch. Er, "light" assuming you only have one, that is.

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 ¼ teaspoons coarse salt

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

6 ounces cream cheese (not whipped), room temperature

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 ½ cups walnut halves, 1 ½ cups toasted and coarsely chopped, 1 cup finely chopped (optional)

1. Whisk together flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Put butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Mix in sugar and vanilla.  Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture, and mix until just combined (do not overmix).  Mix in toasted walnuts, if using.
3. Transfer dough to a work surface.  Divide in half; shape each half into an 8 ½” log about 2” in diameter.  Wrap each log in parchment paper; freeze until firm, about 30 minutes or up to 2 weeks.
4. Preheat oven to 350˚F with racks in upper and lower thirds.  Unwrap one log, and roll in ½ cup chopped walnuts, coating completely (optional).  Cut into ¼” thick rounds.  Space 1” apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
5. Bake cookies, rotating halfway through, until golden around edges, 18 to 20 minutes.  Let cool on sheets on wire racks.  Repeat with remaining log and remaining ½ cup chopped walnuts, if using.  Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Bakery Review: Cake Monkey

Cake Monkey Bakery - order received July 17, 2013

My old college roommate, Caroline, gets points every year for always, always finding a new-to-me bakery to send me a birthday gift from.  Last year it was mini cupcakes from Baked by Melissa.  The year before, cupcakes from Crumbs Bakery.  This year, she sent me mini cakes from Cake Monkey.  I'm always fascinated by all these bakeries she discovers all over the country that ship.  I try to do the same thing when I need to send a present and I have the hardest time finding good ones who ship and (if possible) don't charge an internal organ for shipping.

Cake Monkey makes these mini layer cakes, frosted and filled in different flavors, enrobed completely in chocolate.  Think of them as high class Ding Dongs, just a little taller and a lot better quality (yes, I'm snobby about Ding Dongs too).  On their website, they bill them as individual-sized layer cakes and that's pretty accurate.

Caroline sent me the Cakewich Collection which is 4 cakewiches in 4 flavors: Black & White, Raspberry Red Velvet, Peanut Butter & Marshmallow and Strawberries & Cream.  They come nicely packaged in a sturdy shipping box with those frozen gel packs that ensure the products arrive still cool and not a melted mess, even during warm summer shipping months.

An explanatory sheet lists out the flavors and what's in them so you know what to expect as you unwrap each one.  They're individually wrapped and labeled on the bottom so there's no guessing which flavor you're about to indulge in.  Since even *I* am unable to consume 16 mini cakes in one sitting, I was able to pick out the ONE (yes, just one) cakewich I wanted to try first and put the rest of freezer bags to keep in the freezer until I was ready for the next one.

The packaging is simple and cute with their label on the top and the flavor and ingredients (in tiny type) on the label on the bottom.  You unwrap it and behold a good-sized chocolate-covered, high-end mini layer cake.

The first one I tried was the Black and White.  It's a chocolate layer cake filled with vanilla cream and studded with Valrhona crunchy pearls.  Which I had never heard of before but I discovered I like crunchy pearls.  The cake layers were good and I didn't even mind the vanilla cream (I'm not normally a cream person).  The crunchy pearls were my favorite part of the cake in terms of both flavor and crunch texture.  I also like the cakewich slightly chilled as the cream part seemed more like a chilled pudding or a soft ice cream.

Black & White

I tried the second flavor, the Strawberries & Cream, on a different day and this time I thawed it completely.  The cake layer was still good but I have to admit I wasn't a fan of the strawberry jam.  I don't like jams or jellies and I'm not big on fruit in my cakes or most of my desserts.

Strawberries & Cream

Not surprisingly, I had the same reaction to the third flavor, Raspberry Red Velvet.  I like strawberries more than raspberries and although I liked the red velvet cake layer even more than the vanilla cake layer from the Strawberries & Cream cakewich, I couldn't get into the raspberry jam stuffed in the middle of the cakewich.  I would've probably felt differently if it was caramel but alas, it wasn't.

Sorry for the bad picture resolution on the last flavor, Peanut Butter & Marshmallow but I was in my office, had packed the cakewich for lunch and didn't have my camera with me so the picture taken with my ipad is somewhat grainy.  Again, the vanilla cake layer was good but I'm not into marshmallow and I'm indifferent to peanut butter so this didn't trump the Black & White as my favorite.

Overall, this is a cute gift idea and a great way to try a new bakery.  Cakewiches are clever and a little bit different if you need something beyond the norm.  They have many other enticing flavors so it's not outside the realm of possibility that I would put in my own order to try out their other offerings.  But I thank Caroline for once again broadening my horizons, especially with another small business bakery I can support, even from afar.

On the Fence Brownies

On the Fence Brownies - made July 28, 2013 from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion

I first made these brownies almost 8 years ago and, according to my notes, they were pretty good so I thought I'd make them again so I could post them on my blog.  I'm single-handedly trying to prove you can't have too many good brownie recipes.  Besides, also according to my notes, when I made these back then, I had run out of Pernigotti cocoa so I had to substitute in Hershey's (eek).  So they deserved to be made properly this time.  Although I did use half Pernigotti and half Scharffenberger for this batch as I've found that if I use that much Pernigotti cocoa in one recipe, the results will be a really dark chocolate flavor.  I prefer something not quite so bittersweet so I subbed in the Scharffenberger for half the cocoa.

For the most part, it worked pretty well although I think next time I would do 2/3 Pernigotti and 1/3 Scharffenberger instead of half-sies as I wanted a little more dark chocolate flavor.  Although the pictures make the brownies appear really fudgy, they're actually a little bit cakey too.  Which is what the name implies because this is supposed to be for people who are "on the fence" over whether they want a fudgy brownie or a cakey brownie.  This is both.  I'm a "give me fudge" kind of brownie girl so I prefer something just a trifle more dense but for your average brownie lover, this is a pretty good compromise.  Actually,  I suspect most people wouldn't notice it's either/or and would like it anyway.  I just happen to be a brownie snob in both taste and texture. Fudgy for me all the way.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 ¼ cups sugar

1 ¼ cups Dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional, I left them out)

1. In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine.  Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it’s hot but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it.  Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
2. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla.  Whisk in the eggs, stirring until smooth; then add the flour, chips, espresso powder and nuts, again stirring until smooth.  Spoon the batter into a 9 x 13-inch pan lined with foil and lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Bake the brownies in a preheated 350˚F oven for 28 to 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.  The brownies should feel set on the edges and in the center (barely).  Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

"Bakery" review: Cream - home of ice cream cookie sandwiches

Cream - July 21, 2013 (first visit sometime in May 2013)

Usually a good sign when there's a line out the door

While Cream may or may not technically be considered a bakery, I'm willing to include them in a review, both to publicize a good, local small business and because they make great products.  Cream was founded in 2010 in Berkeley, CA by Jimmy and Gus Shamieh and family. I love places like these that are family-owned and succeed because they make great products.

If you like ice cream cookie sandwiches made with fresh, slightly warm cookies and creamy ice cream, you may already be part of Cream Nation.  If you aren't, you don't know what you're missing.  My niece first told me about Cream a few months ago so of course we had to go there when I visited her.  Cream is perfect for any college town.  The ice cream sandwiches are cheap, you can choose which cookies you want for your ice cream sandwich (can be two different cookies for the same sandwich) and which ice cream you want between the cookies.  They open "late" (noon) and close anywhere from 11 pm to 2 am, depending on the day. Plus both their cookies and their ice creams are really good. And did I mention cheap?? $2 for an ice cream sandwich if you're paying with cash and $2.50 for non-cash transactions

Not the best pic but I had to take it fast before my ice cream sandwich melted

If you just want a cookie without the ice cream, they're something like 3 cookies for less than $2.  Which is what my niece brought me when she came to visit.  If I couldn't have the ice cream, I could at least have the cookies.

It's no wonder there was a line coming out of the shop when we first went there.  Once we got in line, it got even longer.  Inside the shop was a flurry of activity as the counter people waited on the customers. As you might expect in a college town, the counter was staffed by mostly college kids but the customers were a diverse bunch of all shapes, sizes and ages.  Because good cookies, good ice cream and great ice cream cookie sandwiches are universal.  At the moment, Cream is only in Berkeley, CA and (to my pleasant surprise because it's closer to me) in Palo Alto but they have plans to open at Davis and Walnut Creek.  So be on the lookout for a Cream near you.