Chris:

In our extended family, January is a month of birthdays: on New Year’s Eve ( yes, that counts!), Jan. 5, 15, 18, 27, and 30. Pretty fitting, wouldn’t you say, for the birth month of the new year?

This January, especially, we’re hoping to celebrate a rebirth of hope, as we try to move forward from a monumentally challenging 2020. Sadly, early this month, on the 6th, we suffered in our Nation’s Capital a terrifying example of what the moving-backward culture is still capable of. But, amazingly, the hopes for the new year prevailed that night and into the early hours of the morning, as a brave Congress showed the power of the American spirit of democracy. And then, on the 20th, only 2 weeks later, the new year really began for the nation by affirming one of our best features: a peaceful transfer to a new administration, as elected by a record number of voters.

In this month’s blog, which we’ll publish in two parts, we celebrate the birth, and birthdays, of this hopeful new year, first in our kitchen (Part 1) and then in our garden (Part 2). Celebrate with us!

Our Kitchen: Birthday Cakes and More

Jean:

January is my birthday month, and also my older sister’s.  She passed away last month, about five weeks before her birthday.  My sister and I were great friends, although she and I were very different.  She did not have children or enjoy domestic pursuits.  She was a very quiet type and had more of a scientific mind than mine, earning master’s degrees in medical technology and pharmacy.  She spent two years in the Peace Corps in Kenya working with tropical diseases, a number of years working in hospitals, and finally in the state diagnostic laboratory.  The most painful disease I was aware of her catching as a result of her profession was salmonella.  By the time COVID came around, she was too far gone with Parkinson’s and other ailments to have much of a conversation with me about what it all meant.  Ironically, she might have caught it in the nursing home where she lived the last few years of her life, but she remained COVID free, finally dying of a cancer we didn’t even know she had.

German Chocolate Cake

My sister’s favorite cake, and the last thing I cooked for her, was German chocolate cake.  I made one of those this month to celebrate her birthday.  (I must confess I used a mix this time.  I figured she wouldn’t mind.)

Chocolate and Orange Spice Cake

I followed that cake with a chocolate and orange spice.  I wanted to start using our garden oranges in a new way.  I had also been streaming old episodes of the Great British Baking Show and ran across Mary Berry’s “Whole Orange Spice Cake” and thought I’d try it.

Forgive the British terminology and metrics if you are not familiar with them.  I’ve gradually been learning.  This is a type of British sponge cake, but it is somewhat unusual in using whole eggs with no separate beating.  It makes a rather heavy cake but it stays quite moist, and we enjoyed every slice.

The following recipe is mostly Mary Berry’s, but also includes my changes, which are noted.

Ingredients for the Cake

Get all the ingredients below ready because this is one of Mary’s “all in one” recipes, where she dumps almost everything in at once, rather than starting by beating the butter and sugar first.

Start with 1 small thin-skinned orange

• 275g (10 oz) self-raising flour
• 3 level teaspoons baking powder
• 275g (10 oz) caster (fine) sugar
• 225g (8 oz) butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice

For the Filling

• 50g (2 oz) butter, softened
• 175g (6 oz) icing sugar, sifted, plus a little extra for dusting
• 2 level tablespoons orange pulp, reserved from the cake

For the Ganache

• 150g dark chocolate (2/3 c.)
• 150ml double cream (heavy cream) (2/3 c.)
• 3 tbsp apricot jam

Instructions for the Cake

Preheat the oven to 180oC/Fan 160oC/Gas 4 (325-350 Fahrenheit), depending on whether you use convection, which takes the lower temp. Grease two 20cm (8 in) tins with greased greaseproof paper.

Place the whole orange in a small saucepan, cover with boiling water and simmer until soft, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

When the orange is ready, cut in half and remove any pips/seeds. (I also cut out excess pith.)  Process the whole orange, including the skin, until medium chunky. Reserve 2 level tablespoons of the orange pulp for the icing and put the rest back in the processor.

Add the remaining cake ingredients and blend until smooth. Avoid overmixing.

Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25–30 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tins for a few moments, then turn out, peel off the paper and finish cooling on a wire rack.

For the Filling

To make the orange filling, cream the soft butter, then add the sifted icing sugar and reserved orange pulp.  (I also stirred in some orange marmalade I had, plus some orange liqueur to intensify the orange flavor.)

Sandwich the cakes together with the icing, and sift icing sugar over the top of the cake.

For the Ganache

That’s not what I did with this cake, however, because I had a chocolate and orange Lindt bar, so I was determined to make ganache, the easiest frosting there is.  I’ve listed Mary’s ingredients, but I used marmalade instead of apricot.

Candied Orange Peel Topping

You could also decorate the top with candied orange peel. This is Mary’s recipe, but I either forgot, was too lazy, or got distracted by all the scrumptious chocolate, so these are not shown in the photo of the cake below.  You can just imagine how nice they would look.  And someone would surely find them fun to eat. After I made this cake, one of our sons, a very good cook himself, made some of these candied citrus peels for my birthday. See below.

Instructions: Pour 300ml/10fl oz water into a small pan, then add about 10 oz granulated or fine sugar and heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

Cut strips of orange peel, avoiding the pith.  Add the peel to the hot syrup and simmer uncovered for 30-45 minutes, until the peel is soft and translucent.  Let dry and cool spread out on a baking sheet and sprinkle with dry granulated or fine sugar.

Black Forest Cake

Jean’s whipped cream Black Forest cake with dark cherry filling

Then I made a Black Forest Cake to celebrate Chris’s German father, who passed away when Chris was young and whose January 18th birthday he and his sister still celebrate every year. 

I used a recipe for whipped cream cake from my old Betty Crocker cookbook, the one with the cover falling off.  Just by coincidence, one of my daughters sent me a replacement.  (It has the same traditional recipes but in the new notebook format.  I can maybe retire the old one now, although it has notes I entered from experience with the recipes.)

Anyway, I had never made a cake where the moisture was provided mostly by whipped cream.  It seemed strange trying to fold in the flour, but it made a very yummy cake.  (I decided to forego Mary Berry’s chocolate sponge version because Chris had had enough chocolate for a while.) We’re now sold on this version.

Coffee and Cream Coffee Cake

And as if we weren’t eating enough cake this month, I wanted to make a coffee cake to bring still more cake to our breakfasts.

I saw this coffee cake on the New York Times Cooking site, and I made it as pictured because it looked like a big cup of cappuccino, which I love.  I belatedly read the comments, which should be taken into account.  I am integrating the comments with the original recipe here to give you alternatives and reasons at each step of the way.  To give you a sense, one commenter said, “This cake was delicious and very large. It will feed an army. Making it for a party of two during quarantine was a blessing and a curse.”  I would also say that this coffee cake is a challenge because you have so many gluey bowls and mixing implements going.  I felt I needed more hands as well (Chris’s), particularly when trying to assemble the final cake.

Ingredients

For the Cream Cheese Filling

•   12 ounces/340 grams cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup/100 grams granulated sugar
• 1 large egg

For the Streusel

• 1 ½ cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
•  ½ cup/50 grams old-fashioned oats
• ⅓ cup/75 grams light or dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder (or instant espresso)
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 10 tablespoons/140 grams cold unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks)

For the Cake Batter

•   2 ½ cups/320 grams all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons espresso powder (or instant espresso)
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¾ cup/170 grams unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
• ¾ cup/165 grams light or dark brown sugar
• ¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup/180 milliliters coffee, cooled
• ½ cup/120 milliliters sour cream

Instructions and Alternatives

Set the oven at 350 F. (or 325 convection)

Prepare the pan, either springform, Angel food, or bundt.  Commenters found it overflowed the recommended 9-inch springform, necessitating the catch pan under it; my scaled down recipe just fit a 7-inch springform pan to the hilt.

Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray. Line the edge of the pan with 2 strips of parchment paper cut to the height and diameter of the ring, then spray the ring again. Place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Making the Streusel:  (Original recipe) In a medium bowl, stir the flour, oats, brown sugar, espresso powder, baking powder and salt to combine. Cut the butter into tablespoon portions and drop it into the bowl. Mix with your hands or a pastry cutter until the mixture is thoroughly combined and comes together to form large clumps; set aside.

(My changes) Commenters said there was too much streusel, and I found that to be true even though I tried to cut these ingredients down by about a third.  In other words, I used one cup flour to one cup butter and cut the white sugar to 1/3 cup.  It was still a lot.  You could probably do with ¾ cup flour to ¾ c. butter and ½ c. sugars altogether.  The oatmeal is nice; I wouldn’t cut that down much, and I also added chopped nuts and a little cinnamon.

Making the Cream Cheese Filling:

 (Original recipe) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese and granulated sugar on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl well, then add the egg and mix until fully incorporated. Transfer filling to a medium bowl and clean out the mixing bowl. (My comments) You can instead beat this in a small bowl with a hand mixer so you don’t have to transfer it.

(My changes) I used one 8-oz package cream cheese with 1/3 c. sugar and half an egg, and it was still a lot.  However, it made a dramatic, cheesecake surprise in the center of the cake and did get cooked properly.  If you follow the suggestion below about splitting this into two layers, you can use the 12 ounces at least.  Some commenters said they would double it.  Up to you. 

Making the Cake Batter:

(Original Recipe) In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt to combine.

(My changes) I used 1 ½ cups of flour and cut the other ingredients down commensurately.  (You do the math, or just guess at it; not that important.)

(Original) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in yet another a medium bowl using a hand mixer), cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix, scraping the bowl well after each is incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.

(My changes) I cut this down to half a cup each of butter, brown and white sugar, and two eggs.  That’s easy math if you’re trying to cut it by a third.  And you can surely use less sugar plus some gluten-free flour to suit yourself.

(Original) Add about one-third of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. With the mixer running, gradually pour the coffee into the mixture in a slow, steady stream, mixing until fully incorporated.

(My changes) ½ cup should do it, if cutting down by 1/3.

(Original) Add half of the remaining flour mixture and mix on low speed to combine. Add the sour cream and mix to combine, then add the remaining flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl well to ensure the mixture is homogenous.

(My changes) 1/3 c. if cutting back; I used part coffee yogurt I happened to have.

Baking the Cake: (Original) Finally, pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle half of the streusel over the surface of the batter. Dollop the cream cheese mixture by the heaping tablespoons all over the surface of the batter, keeping it about an inch away from the sides. Spoon it over as evenly as you can, but don’t try to spread it once it’s on top of the batter. You might add chocolate chips on top. Pour the remaining batter over the cream cheese and gently spread into an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining streusel on top.

(My changes) Commenters said: Use a 10″ angel food tube pan and place on a sheet pan. Zero problems with timing or overflow. Cake should be done at 1 hour, 20 min., rotating the pan midway. 

(Original) Transfer to the oven and bake until the cake springs back slightly in the center when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, checking it at about 1 hour and 20 minutes, then baking another 10 minutes if necessary. If your streusel is becoming too dark before the cake is done, loosely cover it with foil.

Run a thin knife around the outside edge of the parchment paper ring to loosen it from the edge of the pan. Cool the cake for 20 to 30 minutes inside the pan, then remove the outer ring of the pan and the parchment paper and let cool completely. If desired, gently loosen the cake from the base and transfer to a platter, or simply leave it on the base to serve.

Garnish with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

If you want to read about the triumphs and travails of our garden this month, go on to Part 2…