Good Old Lady Cake

This cake, adapted from a recipe from Baker & Spice in this book, is perfect for a cold afternoon. I baked it for a dumpling party this weekend and the best compliment was one from my friend's cute date. He said "this is good old lady cake!" .....There you have it folks.

Olive Oil Citrus Cake

1 1/4 C flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t fine sea salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
zest of 1 grapefruit
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
tad of lemon juice
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1 C extra virgin olive oil

Choose a fruity olive oil that you like and don't skimp on the zests- go big on the citrus.

Preheat the oven to 350. Coat a 9 inch by 2 inch round baking pan with olive oil and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt twice. In a separate bowl beat eggs, sugar and zests on high speed for 5 minutes. Add vanilla and a tad of lemon juice. Drizzle in olive oil and mix at medium speed and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix slowly until just incorporated. Pour batter into pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake is golden.
Cool to room temp. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or glaze.. maybe the glaze is the old lady part?

Grapefruit glaze

3/4 cup confectioners sugar
3 T freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

Whisk to combine and pour over cooled cake.

One Piece Missing

A New Year. January is always a bit of a challenge for me. The charm of the holidays is over, it is still very cold and we still have a long haul before spring. It is a good time to read, bake, and dig in to the part of me that craves silence and darkness.
I bought this puzzle second hand for Lucien and he actually finished it! (with some help from his father.) I love that there is one piece missing. There is always one piece missing, isn't there?

I ♥ school holidays

We hosted a holiday party this weekend and it was good fun. I made eggnog, rum punch that would have made my grandmother proud and a persimmon pudding that was a big hit. This pudding is dense, dark and rich but it has no butter and only a bit of sugar in it. The key is to start with very ripe hachiya persimmons.

Persimmon Pudding

4 persimmons
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons canola oil
4 large eggs
2 t vanilla extract
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 t ground cinnamon

Oil a 3 quart pudding mold ( I used a bundt pan) with veg oil.
Peel and mash persimmons. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until fluffy, then all persimmon pulp. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add to the persimmon mixture and mix just until smooth.

Pour the mixture into pudding mold and cover tightly with a round of parchment paper and a rubber band, then with foil. Place on a rack in a large pot (I used my canner) and add boiling water until it comes halfway up the mold. Cover the pot, bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 1/2 hours, adding boiling water as necessary to maintain level.

Remove mold from pot and uncover pudding; the top should spring back when touched. Cool pudding for one hour, then loosen from the mold and invert carefully onto a serving platter. Serve with Sour Lemon Sauce.. this is a must!

Sour Lemon Sauce:

1 cup sugar
1 1/4 T cornstarch
Pinch of salt
1 1/4 C hot water
3 1/2 T unsalted butter
5 T fresh lemon juice
3 t lemon zest

Combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt in the top of a double boiler. Add the hot water and cook until it starts to thicken. Add the butter, lemon juice and zest and continue cooking, stirring gently, for about 5 more minutes. Cool slightly before using, but do not refridgerate or re-heat (it will get aspic like.) You have to eat it all in one go- good news!

It is finally snowing!

On the merits of singing

Last night we went out caroling with a lovely group of people. The night was chilly and the moon was almost full. My favorite song was soul cake but we also sang some x-mas classics and the dreidel song. The look of wonder on children's faces when we showed up in the dark singing to them was a gift. It is good to knock on strangers doors.