Keturah's Cake and My 5th Grade Science Fair

I know, I know, I’m supposed to be packing for Haiti, taking a bath in deet or something like that. Instead I’m baking cake. What? I was hungry, and a bit stressed, and nothing cheers me up like a little nerdy recipe testing cake. 

It was like my 5^th grade science fair. You know the kind - with those 3-fold cardboard things and the colorful construction paper haphazardly glued all over. The kind where where you secretly want to win real bad, even though you know winning will pretty much make you the ultimate science geek of your entire 5^th grade. (It didn’t help that you made the unfortunate choice of permed hair.) Doh.

I chose baking bread for my project that year.

The experiment: Bake a loaf with yeast. And one without. (My mother helped on this one.)

My hypothesis: The one without yeast wouldn’t rise. My results: Success!

Guess what? I won the science fair! And heck yes that was me with the perm. What? It was circa 1991. 

So today when I should have been packing for Haiti I channeled my permed self and went to Keturah’s collection… This fuscia card grabbed me. The purple pen and stick of butter sealed the deal.

The 1 cup of ice water had me puzzled though. I would have thought milk… I mean they did live on a dairy farm after all. That just seems too cheap economical.  

So clearly I needed to take what I know of cake and make not one, but two cakes. Clearly.

One with ice water.  One with room temperature milk. What's nice is that either way - I win! And don't have to suffer permed hair photo memories for it. 

The results:  Milk. All the way - Milk. Maybe it's just preference, but I found it had better consistency, color, and flavor. To be fair, milk baked second round and thus had the advantage of taste adjustments – up the vanilla, up the lemon zest, decrease the oven temp. I opted for a rhubarb jam topping and found the citrus and sweet rhubarb married wonderfully. 

I’ll do the ice water again soon and tweak a couple things… and of course I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime... 

Keturah’s White Cake

Ingredients:

½ cup butter (softened)

1 2/3 cup sugar

1 cup milk (at room temp)

4 eggs

2 ½ cups cake flour, sifted

1 Tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla

lemon zest from 2 lemons

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a round cake pan and set aside.

2. In medium bowl whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside.

3. With either a hand mixer or kitchenaid type mixer (using the paddle attachment), cream together butter and sugar till homogenous, about 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Slowly add the milk and mix at medium speed till combined. Then add the dry ingredients in thirds, allowing each addition to mix in. Scrape the bowl between each addition.

5. When all the flour is just combine, add the vanilla and lemon zest and mix for about 30 more seconds. You don’t want to overmix. Note: You can also fold the flour in by hand. Or alternatively fold the wet ingredients into the flour. Just make sure to do it gradually to prevent lumps of flour. 

6. Pour the batter into the buttered cake pan and place on a baking sheet. Put this in the preheated oven on middle oven rack. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until it is golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out dry when inserted in the middle. Rotate the cake halfway through the baking to ensure even browning.

7. When done, place on baking rack and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then gently run a knife around the edge of the pan, and unmold onto serving platter.

Voila!

I opted for rhubarb jam as a topping. The citrus and sweet were a perfect union. 

Variations on the topping theme... 

- While the cake is baking, make a simple syrup with 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water. After you've removed the cake from the oven, poke 3/4 inch holes all over cake and gradually pour the syrup all over, allowing it to absorb. This will make for an amazingly moist cake!

- I'm not a huge fan of icing myself (hence the jam), but if you're into that sort of thing you could do this from Keturah's collection... 

Ok, now I'm packing. 

Haiti, Service, and a Supper of Rice & Beans

Next week, on October 11^th to be exact, I board a plane, mosquito repellent in hand, bound for Haiti. The reason for this trip is not tourism, rather is it to volunteer as part of a medical team for 12 days in Terre Blanche, a small village in the northern, rural part of the country. The medical clinic we'll be working in (and avoiding mosquitoes in) is run by Haiti Foundation of Hope, the steadfast, leading organism behind the bustle of the clinic that has been there for 15 years. They affectionately call it The Clinic of Hope.  To me the name rings of an optimism that I imagine is required to survive in this impoverished community. I am not totally sure what to anticipate, but anticipating I am. 

The Clinic of Hope 

 In case you were worried... the answer is NO. I will not be wielding any stethoscopes or scalpels; this writer/nanny/cooking type will likely be assisting the nurses and docs, counting medicine in the pharmacy, helping with children, and hopefully, if I'm lucky, with the cooking of some rice and beans. 

The Pig Roast and Pulled Pork

When I wrote my profile for this blog 6 months ago, it seemed intuitive to include my adoration of pork, and I have realized quite quickly in the last 6 months that I am not at all alone in this adoration. The size of the crowd that gathers for a pig party is one piece of evidence of this. The amount of writers dedicating their pen to the likes of the pig is another. A recent article in Slate provided a sharp reflection on this point - why these hoards of pig-adoring individuals exist. 

I admit... it's weird. Ridiculous even. 

But now is not the time for lengthy reflections on the subject of swine. Now is the time to talk about last night's ridiculously happy Pig Party. Its timing seems to symbolize the end of summer... the peaches are almost over. The apples have begun. Yesterday was sunny. Today was cloudy, cool, and my morning walk had a breeze that could only mean one thing - it is autumn. 

The celebrated pig sat in a brine of water, salt and herbs until Friday night when it was placed on a Traeger grill. Slow & Low is the theme of this technique.

An enthusiastic group of marimba players graced the party with their rhythmic presence... Neighbors of the hosts, Janan & Levi, are not only the makers of the instrument, but also the teachers. So an eclectic group of teachers and students joyously played throughout the evening. What is it about marimbas that just makes me cry a just little bit? Well they do.