Well here we are – 2016 – a whole New Year of opportunities – in the kitchen, in the garden and near and far!
my little crop of hellebores this morning
On Wednesday, I made a stop at Eataly and picked up yet another bag of blood oranges. There is such a wonderful array of winter citrus in the markets right now and we should really take advantage of it! I spent a full minute luxuriating over a basketful of kumquats and sadly passed them by. Maybe I will go back today and take another look.
A visit to Eataly can be both a blessing and a curse. Well, maybe curse isn’t the right word. You just have to prepare yourself for the full blown experience that it is by bracing yourself before you fling open the door. And, it is a very good idea to try to be very selective about when you go there – like not on weekends if you can help it. The Eataly on Broadway and 23rd Street in New York is a grand affair, even if it is a challenge to your sensibilities. It can be both exciting and overwhelming at the very same time. The store is always packed with many, many visitors to New York – I hate the negative connotation of the word “tourist” since I am so often a tourist abroad and I dislike the idea that I am considered some sort of a pest in the pedestrian landscape. So, I like to be kind and understanding when I observe all the people who come to New York to enjoy the spectacle that it is – just as I hope others will afford me the same kindness and indulgence when I am traipsing all over in all of my favorite places abroad.
I began visiting here in earnest when I was in Pastry School as it was very easy to pay a visit right across the street either before and after my school day. It was indeed a bonus to have the New York Cake Company outside one side of the building on 22nd and Eataly across the other side on 23rd. Now that ICE has moved downtown, this isn’t the case any longer. Just reminiscing.
You know me, I love the energy of a huge market. This one, indoors as it is, doesn’t quite have the same vibe as an outdoor market, but it is certainly invigorating – actually more often than not, bordering on chaotic. Most of the time when I visit there it is very crowded and Wednesday was no exception. You have to carefully make your way around the place and almost wait your turn to get a spot next to the items you want to look at. This is truly feasting in the full-on shopping sense of the word as you can find so many great gadgets to use in your kitchen, a grand array of cookbooks, olive oils from all over Italy that you can spend an hour by itself just reading up on, pastas, sweets, condiments, meats, seafood, prepared foods and several sit down options – and on and on. Truly, you could easily spend a half of a day in here, just familiarizing yourself with all the offerings. I had to keep myself from buying several gadgets – even though I didn’t already have them – I decided to be the wiser and just bought my bag of blood oranges and a mango. Be prepared for heady – bordering on insulting prices – but, if you can get by this, you can enjoy all that they have very carefully assembled here. Indeed there are many items that can not be found elsewhere in New York, at least as far as I am concerned.
As I posted last week in my Winter Citrus post, I have been wanting to work on this cake for awhile now. In today’s case, this will have to be the New Year’s Cake as I’m a week behind schedule.
In today’s iteration, I’m going to do a little different version than I originally posited – I’m not going to use the Rosemary today. (hmmm, is was this a good decision? I’m torn) Instead, I am going to make a center of Candied Orange Peel. This cake will send wafts of lovely aromas throughout your house. The candied orange peel adds just an extra touch of surprise and flavor. I was hoping that the finished cake would have a slightly pink hue, but, it did not. I am tempted to say that the topping is indeed the best part of this cake recipe – but when you take in the aroma of the cake itself, you will see that it’s a very tough call.
If you have house guests this weekend – give them a treat! Get up early and pop this in the oven and see what happens. It’s worth the experiment!
THE BLOOD ORANGE CHRISTMAS MORNING CAKE –
topping:
8 tblsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup sugar
6 tblsp brown sugar
2 tblsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
*if the mixture looks dry, sprinkle in a tsp or two of the blood orange juice
cake:
4 blood oranges, peeled and cut into quarters
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
8 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 oz candied orange peel, chopped (store bought is ok)
Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and lightly flour an 8″ springform pan in which you have set a parchment paper round on the bottom. Set aside.
Make topping: In a medium bowl, mix together the sugars, cinnamon, salt with a fork. Add the melted and cooled butter and mix together with a fork. Chill.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Peel 4 blood oranges and cut into quarters. Add to blender with 1/4 cup heavy cream and puree until smooth. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, extracts, and the purée. Add the melted butter and whisk until blended. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon just until the flour disappears. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with an offset spatula. Add the candied orange peel, distributing evenly over the batter. Pour the remaining half of the batter over the top of the orange peel. Smooth with an offset spatula. Remove topping from refrigerator and crumble over top of batter. Bake for 1 – 1 1/4 hours or until cake tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan. Remove collar and serve. Note: next time I might just combine the candied orange peel with about 1/2 cup crushed sliced toasted almonds – just to add a little more to the filling layer
While my Rosemary version will have to wait until next time, I am anxious to try it. I will add 2 tblsp of minced fresh rosemary to the batter and sprinkle a bit more over the center.
Hope you enjoy this cake. It is a good sturdy textured cake – perfect for breakfast or a nice afternoon snack with tea.