Grandma's Kitchen Table

Modern Baker: Raspberry Cream Cake

      First of all, I wish to apologize for this photo...I had photos of the outside and the inside and when my computer crashed a few weeks ago, it took the photos with it.  Sigh.  So all I could rescue was one photo from a birthday photo of it on my blog and cropping out the extra stuff didn't really help it all that much.  That said, at least you can sorta kinda maybe see what it looked like...the part to remember is that it tasted so wonderfully delicious...I wish I had a piece right now.

      The 86th recipe I made from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Raspberry Cream Cake, on page 244.  (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us.  It's a great book, full of recipes you will want to use over and over again.)

      The ingredient list for the Classic Genoise Cake (on pages 240-241):  eggs, vanilla, salt, sugar, flour, and cornstarch.  The ingredients for the icing: raspberries, egg whites, sugar, butter, and raspberry liqueur. The ingredients for the moistening syrup:  water, sugar, and raspberry liqueur. The ingredients for filling and finishing:  raspberry preserves, almonds, and fresh raspberries. 

      As you can see from the ingredient list, this cake takes a bit of work in assembling it all but each step is very easy and not as time consuming as you would think.  I needed a special cake for my birthday this year, so this is the one I chose as I love raspberries. 

      I made half a recipe (just one 9" layer) as I figured it was all rich and decadent enough with just one layer, not the whole recipe with two layers.  I sliced the cake in half so that it had two layers in the end and I could fill it with the preserves. 

      The recipe is just wonderful, the raspberry combination sweet and perfumed with those fresh raspberries, and it is so pretty...it was delicious and the perfect birthday cake (might need to make this again next year).  

      Renee has this one posted already with wonderful process photos, check here.  If you would like to bake along or be a part of the Modern Baker group, you will find all that, plus a tab to link to the blogs posting, with the blogroll here.

Sunday's Snippets

 

READING:  Loaded up my library card with a new stack of books for a final "I'm on Vacation Plan" as school starts back up soon enough and gone are the days of swimming and reading and calling it vacation time.  My favorite book in the lineup being a book by Charles C. Mann 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus and am eager to get going on that as Mark has the follow up book by the same author 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Discovered and I'm in line for it next so I don't want to miss my shot at it.   

SWIMMING NEWS:  This weekend was the last of the long course season meets for Matt here in Indy at the Nat with USA Senior State.   He did well, posted some new best times, and swam a new swim for him with a fairly decent showing, the 400 Freestyle, which puts him the beginning of a mid-distance swimming addition to his lineup.  IU swimmers are now training tor the U.S. Open Swimming Championships (in Indianapolis August 7-11) or having a small break before gearing up for college swimming (short course) which starts back up August 11.  Matt is on break for this week and next. Will train this week yet, but next week taking a vacation...his first since April 2011. Some photos from the swim meet today.  First up, one of the guys hanging out waiting for their swims:  Top row:  Matt and Ian watching the action; Middle Row: Ryan listening to music to psych up for his 1500 Freestyle and Mike just relaxing; Bottom Row: Murray texting and Daniel concentrating.

Go Ryan! Lots of team encouragement for Ryan in the 1500 race...and Ryan wins.  (Left to right: Stephanie, Sara, Matt, Guinevere, Murray, and Coach L)

100 Freestyle race...Peter (fellow CSC swimmer all those years), Matt, Daniel, and Hunter.  Mike is further down the line in Lane 7.  Ready to race.
And they are off and racing...Peter in Red, Matt in White, Daniel in Red, and Hunter in Black
The Finish...very very close...a 3-way touch out finish with Matt getting caught between strokes and finishing third...Mike finished fourth, the IU guys showing 100 Freestyle Power. (Hunter was IU as well this past year.)  A very fun race for them all, and a great way to finish the meet.
And what they were all looking at in the above photo: the scoreboard.

COOKING BYTES:   Okay, I actually posted some things. Not nearly enough to meet group requirements, but some things.  The hot weather probably has something to do with wanting to fire up the grill and not the ovens and stove.  Probably.

FAV NEW FIND:  Every so often there comes about A Thing that makes me wonder how I ever lived without it.  This would be One of Those Things.  A new app for my phone called Meet Mobile.  I am absolutely giddy even typing it.  It has USA swim meets listed, you click on it, has each and every swimmer entered in the meet, has their rank, the psyche sheet, the times they are seeded, the time and event they swim, the times they post for swimming their entry, the rank going into finals, all the finals information, the meet information, even has a map on how to get there.  Times/locations/results for all the sessions.  You can mark your favorite swimmer and it alerts you as to when that swimmer is swimming and when his/her next swim will occur.  And you can get this for every single swimmer in the meet. At a touch of a button. You don't need to bring pen paper pencil, etc. ever again.  You don't need to write down your swimmer's time as it is right there seconds after the swim, and it even lists the splits!!  And it is FREE!  I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon and this is it!  For a swim family, there is no greater gift...pure genius.

FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  Matt's swim meet, of course...swimming, it's what we do.  We just ended our 13th year...starting on the 14th now.
WEEK IN REVIEW:  A lot of swimming here at home because it has been dry and hot here and the pool is the best place to be in times like this.  Swim meet started Thursday so Matt came home to stay and motor between here and the meet venues in town and at the Nat.  It's great having Matt around as I have really missed him this year while he was at college, even though we got to see him a lot, it still isn't the same as having him live here and it all takes a bit of adjusting.  He will be around until August 11th so we are looking forward to having the time to just hang out and do fun summery vacation-like things before it's back to the team and college classes.

LOOKING FORWARD TO:   At the IMA, Printmakers in the Cafes in Paris (if you haven't seen it or want to see it again, go now as it leaves August 22), click here for details.  At the ISO:  40 Years of American Pie: An Evening with Don McClean, click here for details.

Modern Baker: Butterscotch Chocolate Chunk Cookies

      The 85th recipe I made from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Butterscotch Chocolate Chunk Cookies, on page 285.  (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us.)

      The ingredient list for the cookies:  flour, baking soda, salt, butter, brown sugar, vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, and eggs. 

      These cookies were a big hit with the guys...actually, chocolate chip cookies are their all-time favorites and these were apparently a nice variation on that theme.  Yep, you guessed it, these are a definite repeat. 

      Check out what the others thought:  Phyl here, Margaret here, Abby here, and Renee here.  If you would like to bake along or be a part of the Modern Baker group, you will find all that, plus a tab to link to the blogs posting, with the blogroll here.

Modern Baker: Honey Peanut Wafers

      The 84th recipe I made from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Honey Peanut Wafers, on page 280.  (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us.)

      The ingredient list for the cookies:  flour, baking soda, butter, sugar, honey, egg, and honey-roasted peanuts. 

      These cookies went together quickly and baked quickly, so in very little time you have freshly baked cookies.  They have a nice flavor from the honey-roasted peanuts and the caramel-like taste to the cookie.  That said, they were not favorites...the texture was a little strange, sort of soft and chewy but not necessarily in a good way.  It could be my error somewhere along the line (although they looked exactly like the ones in the book) or it could just be that these are a sort of an acquired taste.  Probably not a repeat.  Okay, I'll be honest, not a repeat...but that doesn't mean you won't love them! 

      Check out what the others thought:  Phyl here, Margaret here, Abby here, and Renee here.  If you would like to bake along or be a part of the Modern Baker group, you will find all that, plus a tab to link to the blogs posting, with the blogroll here.

Modern Baker: Viennese Raisin Coffee Cake

      The 83rd recipe I made from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Viennese Raisin Coffee Cake, on page 231.  It looked like the perfect opportunity to use my fancy Gugelhupf pan as I always love a chance to use that. (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us.)

      The ingredient list for the cake:  flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, eggs, and golden raisins (I used dried cranberries just because). 

      The mixing takes only a few minutes, the batter goes into the pan, bakes for 45 minutes, and after cooling in the pan 10 minutes, turning it out and cooling on the rack, you have one very wonderful cake.  I sprinkled a little powdered sugar on the top just to pretty it up, but it didn't need a single thing to taste wonderfully delicious.
       We really liked the dried cranberries in it, they gave a nice little tartness to the sweet cake and went wonderfully well with the lemon flavor.  Definitely a repeat, one of our favorites. 

      Phyl has some excellent process photos and observations on his post here and Sara made the official MB blog post here.  If you would like to bake along or be a part of the Modern Baker group, you will find all that, plus a tab to link to the blogs posting, with the blogroll here.

Modern Baker: Blueberry Crumb Cake

      The 82nd recipe I made from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Blueberry Crumb Cake, on page 237.  It looked like the perfect treat to make with some wonderful blueberries I had on hand, and it was.  (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us.  That said, you can also find the recipe at Nick Malgieri's blog here, thank you, Nick.)

      The ingredient list for the cake:  flour, sugar, baking powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, and blueberries.
      The mixing takes only a few minutes and it all comes together nicely. The only technique new to me was that the recipe had us mix the topping and the blueberries together before spreading it on the top of the cake, always before I put on fruit and then the crumb topping on top of that.  It worked fine this way and I actually rather liked it as sometimes a bite would have no blueberries and just topping and sometimes no topping and just blueberries and sometimes a combination of the two...so it was very interesting to eat it this way, a little like eating three separate cakes.  I would do it that way again actually. After I made the cake, I looked at the recipe on Nick's blog and he has the crumb topping going on after the blueberries, so either way works apparently, you get to choose for yourself.

      This is a great cake for breakfast or snacks. I made a half version in my 6" square pan and it was a perfect fit. Definitely a repeat. 

      Phyl has some excellent process photos and observations on his post here and Abby made the official MB blog post here,   If you would like to bake along or be a part of the Modern Baker group, you will find all that, plus a tab to link to the blogs posting, with the blogroll here.

Sunday's Snippets

READING:  Abby's book group was reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, she thought I would enjoy the history bits in it and mentioned it to me, so I read through that, excellent, and then started on another book, March, by the same author,  again, excellent, and now the group is reading The Buddha in the Attic, by Julie Otsuka,  also excellent and I read that quickly in two days. (Click on book titles to see descriptions.)  Abby's book group is widening my reading horizons with novels.  

SWIMMING NEWS:  IU swimmers are busy training for various USA summer meets and quite frankly I have lost all track of who is swimming where when as they are all over the country and some out of the country swimming in meets.  Matt's roommate, Steve, did quite well at the Olympic Trials, as a freshman he finished 11th in the 400 IM, and Cody made the top heat of the 200 IM (finishing 7th overall), swimming with the top guns for a spot in the Olympics (only the top 2 in each swim go to the Olympics with the exception of freestyle relay positions, top 6). Cody managed to make additional national news with this little wardrobe malfunction, click here.  (From the insider's take on that little story, Cody needed a suit and James wasn't swimming in that event, so James did a quick deck change as well and handed over his suit for Cody to wear...of course the IU guys were all saying that it was James' new job at the meet to "cover Cody's a _ _, literally.") Nick is swimming in the Olympics for the Dominican Republic, Margaux is swimming in the Olympics for France, Dorina is swimming in the Olympics for Hungary, and Kate is swimming in the Olympics for the Ukraine, all having dual citizenship from their parents.  You can read about it here.  Lots of other swimmers did lots of other impressive swims, for further information check the News button here.
I love this photo of Matt's roommate, Steve (far right with the white cap) swimming at the Olympic Time Trials.  He did such a great job...11th as a freshman...wow, wow, wow. Congrats to Steve.

COOKING BYTES:   Well, well, well...it remains to be seen if I am going to keep posting to my food blogs as I keep thinking I will fire up but summer is busy and we are grilling and eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables so I'm not looking in the recipe books coming up with things new and different.  I am also cooking quite a bit from Pinterest as I'm using my boards there as recipe storage.  We shall see what transpires.  Hopefully my blog groups haven't given up on me completely.

FAV NEW FIND:  I'm finding that I am enjoying reading novels again after a long bout of not.  When the boys were growing up I found I had limited time for reading so my first choices were history books...still my first choices...but now that I have a bit more time for reading, I am adding novels back in again and enjoying reading new authors. Send me your recommendations!

FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  This week we celebrated some major milestone birthdays...Mark's dad turned 90 July 16th, Mark turns 60 on July 19th, and Matt will turn 20 the last day of the month.  Rolling over the "0"s this year.  Celebrating three great guys always a favorite thing.

MONTH IN REVIEW:  The summer has been speeding by with lots of swimming, a trip to Boston, Symphony on the Prairie is in full swing, lots of swimming here at the house, friends/family/fun. Here are a few photos to catch up...Clarice crashed and I had to get a new hard drive for her, so I am busy hunting to see which photos I have lost and which ones I haven't in that whole process.
Hightlight of Boston Trip for Mark was a trip to Fenway Park to watch the Boston Red Sox.
Matt and fellow IU swimmer Nick S, at Taste of Bloomington trying to decide on what to eat at the food festival...swimmers/food/choices, what's not to love on a summer night.
Alex and Matt at Fourth of July Symphony on the Prairie (no fireworks with the 1812 Overture this year due to dry conditions here in Indiana, but oh, well, music was great anyway).  17 years of tradition and they are still loving it.
Matt, Mark, Alex...badly in need of haircuts but enjoying a hot summer day nonetheless.
Matt loading up Clarice after the big crash.  It's good to have someone around who is happy to fix all computer related incidents.  I'm happy to cook for him, he's happy to computer for me, a great trade in my mind.

LOOKING FORWARD TO:   At the IMA, Snapshot:  Painters and Photography:  Bonnard to Vuillard, read about it here.  At the ISO:  The Best of Broadway, click here.