Bye-bye to the 3 lb Caribbean Lobster George and I split on Friday night at Agua on Grand Cayman
I am back home in New Jersey. Yesterday, I walked on the beach, barefoot, for one hour, had breakfast outside in shorts, put on my bathing suit and sat in my beach chair until………suddenly I landed in Newark, New Jersey!!!!! I had that eerie feeling – you know the one when you wonder how you could have been in one place in the morning and somewhere completely different just a few hours later? I still marvel at this reality – even though we do this in our cars all the time. Somehow, flying on a plane to or from a far-away place still amazes me. (I won’t bore you with my reaction to coming home – suffice it to say I had a headache all day from the drastic change in humidity.) In NJ it is foggy, damp and just plain yucky. Ok? You get the picture.
Well, I got up this morning, had a good-bye breakfast with Christin, did at least 6 loads of laundry, went to the grocery store and it wasn’t long thereafter that I wanted to get back in the kitchen and bake something. I still had several blood oranges left from before I went away and, there is just something so grounding for me about baking a cake. I didn’t want anything too involved so I went looking for a Blood-Orange Bundt cake recipe – something easy, would keep well, is a little different and satisfying. This is what I wound up with:
BLOOD ORANGE AND ALMOND BUNDT CAKE – adapted from Adventures in Cooking
4 blood oranges; flesh and zest
4 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried coriander
4 oz sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 350F. Generously grease a large bundt pan and set aside.
Remove zest from the 4 oranges and set aside. Peel the oranges, separate each into quarters and place in the bowl of a blender together with the heavy cream. Blend at high speed for 1 minute, until smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and coriander.
In bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together, on medium speed, the butter, olive oil, and sugar until well blended – about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, buttermilk, extracts and zest and beat for another minute, until completely combined. With mixer on low speed, add 1/2 of the blood orange/cream mixture, blend well, add 1/2 of the flour mixture and repeat, mixing just until the last of the flour disappears.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and blend in the almonds with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour – or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Gently loosen the edges of the cake from the pan with the edge of a rubber spatula. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely. Glaze if desired.
Lovely and De-licious!!!!!!……. Glaze or, serve with a dollop of creme fraiche, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream with some blood orange supremes……..
Glaze (optional)
1 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
3 tblsp hot milk
1/4 tsp Orange Blossom Water *
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Whisk together the hot milk, orange blossom water, and vanilla extract. Add confectioners sugar and mix until glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze over the cake when it is completely cool.
*Orange Blossom Water is available online from Amazon or from other specialty retailers
And so, good-bye to a great vacation. I will longingly look forward to the return of nice weather here and my next trip to somewhere warm and toasty – especially with the kids and George. We had such a great time! But, hello to home – for awhile, anyway. And hello to some new cooking and baking adventures in my own kitchen. It’s always good to be refreshed – to return to your own kitchen with a renewed enthusiasm. More to come!!!!!!
Scenes from Grand Cayman – Seven Mile Beach:
a miniscule conch – about 3/4″ and friend………
And, the most devoted kitchen staff ever:
Couldn’t love them more!!!!!!!!!!