I'm Looking for Corny

The year I turned three, my father died, some months before my actual birthday. That Christmas, there's a photo of the Christmas tree, surrounded with a lavish array of gifts that my mother probably couldn't afford.

One of the unwrapped gifts, the Important Gift, was an Easy-Bake Oven. It was Tiffany blue, or turquoise, and it figured largely in my life for the next several years. I used it to bake my first apple pie (I moved on from the provided mixes soon enough), when I was five. That's when I found out that pastry requires fat, and apples for a pie need sugar, even sweet apples.

I've been cooking and baking for as long as I can remember. It's an urge I inherited from my father, whom I don't remember. Mom would tell us that Daddy was a gourmet cook, but that he would make a wreck of her kitchen. She was a good plain cook, but she didn't really enjoy it, and she grew up in the 40s and 50s; she liked pre-packaged things; scalloped potatoes from a box, Bisquick, and so on. I didn't cook with fresh garlic until I was in college and decided to buy some for the lasagne I was making. I don't think I've used dried garlic since.

Food--especially if someone you know prepares it--is so much more than fuel. It's love, and yes, I know that's a bit corny, but I don't particularly care; as Kate Winslet's character, Iris, says in the film The Holiday, "I like corny. I'm looking for corny in my life."

We could all use a bit of that in these mad times. COVID-19, personal difficulties brought on by the pandemic, or those made so much worse...loneliness, or being driven half-mad because the people with whom you live who are never not there these days--everyday life is more difficult than usual...we all need something comforting.

So we cook, and bake, and make jellies, and jams and chutneys and bread, and cakes and ice cream and cookies, and pickles and pies, even if we have no one else with whom to share them. We'd still like to share them, and while standing in the kitchen, we daydream about putting these things in front of friends and family, and imagine their responses...we plan a picnic, though all the usual events which encompass picnics are off for the present.

Food and cooking and baking are love. Long-live corny!

A is for Apple

In spite of the plans, we didn't get to go apple picking this year. The orchard the group went to see stopped the pick-your-own early; another orchard employee elsewhere told me that a lot of orchards did that this year, due to the odd weather we've been having.

So...today I drove out to a local orchard that still has one (elderly but still producing) R.I. Greening apple tree. These--as I've said before--are my favorite apples. They're tart, crisp, and the best ever for cooking. I think that we'll be having pork and apple pie this week.

I don't have the recipe to hand, but in general: peel and core some sour apples; thinly slice some yellow onions; cook about a pound of ground pork with minced garlic, a bit of onion, some tomato paste, sage, red pepper flakes, sea salt, and black pepper; let the meat mixture cool.

Layer meat/apple/onion (and repeat to the top of the dish); cover with a pastry of your choice; I generally use cream cheese pastry, though Catherine's Pastry (see Fanny Farmer; it's a butter and lard pastry) is also very good.

Cut some slits for the steam to escape and bake at about 425 F until the juices bubble up and the crust is golden.

More ideas: applesauce, apple marmalade, cranberry applesauce, apple pie, Dutch apple cake.

Oh, and apple brownies aren't so bad, either.

Happy picking and eating.

1928 Orange Cake / 2016 Orange-Cocoa Cake

Twice in two days! (The world isn't ending, don't worry...at least, I hope it's not.)

I made this yesterday.

...because on the weekend, my husband and I went to a favorite antiques shop, and I found the cookbook pictured above (and below).

 

I collect old cookbooks, in original and facsimile editions, from about 1650 to 1950, though most fall into the 1900 - 1939 category. I use them, too, though you do need to be aware of changes. For example, what in the world does a gill measure? (Half a cup.)

 

This book was published in 1928, and in 1928, double acting baking powder was around, but not the default leavening agent for quick breads. One could make baking powder at home, with baking soda and cream of tartar, and many people did.

Single acting baking powder starts to rise when it gets wet. Double acting baking powder starts (for the first time) when it's wetted, and begins to rise again when exposed to heat. According to some sources, the amount of rise is the same with both versions of baking powder.

From my own experience, I can say that it is not; if you're using double acting baking powder on an older (1920s or 30s...maybe even 40s), you're liable to end up with something that rises too fast once in the oven, and cracks as a result; in fact, it's possible that it will even fall after the quick rise, as the structure isn't yet hardened enough by cooking to uphold its new height.

 

I have a "feather cocoanut cake" recipe that I've perfected from a 1930s cookbook that took three or four tries to get right. One thing I did was to change from liquid fat to solid fat, and cream it, but even more importantly, I decreased the amount of baking powder.

I got lazy with this cake...and yes, it rose too fast, and cracked. Hence the flat top...because I turned it over. Which works, within reason!

 

Here is the original recipe--I'll post the changes I made after this.

 

 

Orange Cake

 

2/3 c. Crisco

1 1/2 c. sugar

3 eggs

3 cups flour

3 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

3/4 c. orange juice

1/4 c. water

 

Cream Crisco and sugar together. Add well-beaten eggs and mix well.  Mix and sift flour, baking powder and salt and add alternately with the combined orange juice and water to the first mixture.  Beat thoroughly. Pour into 3 greased layer cake pans and bake in a hot oven (400 degrees F) 20 to 25 minutes. Cool.

 

 

 

I only had one orange, which meant I had about 1/4 c. orange juice. I did have orange flavoring, and also some good cocoa on hand. Besides, I love orange and cocoa together.

 

So...

 

I used 2 3/4 flour, and 1/4 c. cocoa; 3/4 c. water, and 1/4 c. orange juice; 1/8 t. orange flavoring, and 1 tbl. freshly minced orange peel. And, as is usual, I decreased the amount of salt to about 1/4 t.

 

 

This makes a fine, velvety cake. It has a pronounced chocolate flavor, because there is no dairy to interfere with the development of the chocolate taste--water will always give you a richer flavor. It is very tender, as well.

 

The glaze on top is made as follows:

 

Bittersweet Chocolate-Orange Glaze

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate

2 tbl. Cointreau

2 1/2 tbl. unsalted butter

 

Melt together over very low heat, stirring constantly. Pour over cooled cake and swirl over top. Dust center of cake with finely minced fresh orange zest.

 

 

 

I did make the full recipe and used the rest of the batter to make four cupcakes and 12 small teacakes, all now in the freezer for teas and picnics of the future. 

 

On to the 4th

Every year (or nearly) for the past 5 years, we have gone to a lulu of a 4th of July party. The friends who host it live in an old farmhouse a bit north of here.

The crowd starts rolling in in the early afternoon, and the last stragglers weave away on the following day (having camped out in the nearby woods).

I like to bring a few food items. Everyone contributes. Sometimes it's booze-soaked fruit on skewers, sometimes a cake, or a salad. Too, we bring spirits or beer, and something for the grill.

Everyone lounges around, talks, has a few drinks, eats to repletion and beyond, plays croquet (on a very uneven lawn) and some bands play. (The host has a band of his own, and many other musician friends.) There's also a chance that some of us will forget we're glad the 80s are past, and we'll bop around to various 80s music...all kinds.

But right now I'm fixated on the dessert I'm bringing. It's going to be a three-layer cocoanut cake with a lavender cream cheese frosting. And my inner cornball is helping freely--one layer is red, one is white...and yes...the third is blue. The frosting is nearly white.

The recipe is delicious. I found it in a 1928 Royal Baking Powder book. Caveat: the damn thing sinks in the middle, whatever I do. I've made it five times so far, so I should know.

The oven is hot enough. Believe me, when your oven dates from 1938, you remember to pre-heat. Two possible culprits remain: the mixing technique, or too much baking powder. I've been following the basic cookbook directions, and melting the butter.

Usually when I make a butter cake, I cream it in with the dry, and then add the liquid gradually, beating for a minute or minute and a half between additions...I think I'll try that next time. And lessen the baking powder amount. It calls for 4 teaspoons! That's a lot for a one-layer cake.

If you're a baker, feel free to sound off and let me know your opinions, and/or what you're done to correct the same problem.

When the cake is assembled, I'll post a photo or two.