Toot Toot, Beep Beep

I'm not one to toot my own horn, I mean I try to be modest: "Oh you think that chocolate hazelnut cheesecake really was good? Oh, thanks...well, it was sooo easy..." even if I know the dessert was a dance on the taste buds.

But on this one I'm definitely tooting. Maybe because it's kind of a surprise, not in my usual play book. I'm gonna tell you right now, it's banana cake. Those words kind of make me a little nauseous, to tell you the truth. But I'm not done. It's more like an Elvis special. And it all started with some very mature bananas at work that were going to have to be thrown out. So I got to town making banana bread and then banana cake. And to make it bearable (and by bearable I mean amazingly rich and dreamy), I layered it with chocolate ganache and iced it with peanut butter frosting.

I am a sucker for peanut butter and bananas, and chocolate and peanut butter (or chocolate and anything), but for some reason, a dessert of banana cake falls to the bottom of my list. But it ended up being some of the moistest cake, on its own, that I've made. And dressed up with heavy chocolate ganache and some salty, whipped, peanut butter frosting, it's hard not to like this cake.

So toot toot.


Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Peanut Butter Frosting

banana cake
2 ¼ c flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 c (4) very ripe bananas bananas
¼ c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 stick butter
1 1/3 c sugar
2 eggs

Preheat an oven to 350F. Grease and one 9” springform pan or two 8” rounds (the first will provide three layers, the second four). With the butter at room temperature, cream it with the sugar. Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mush up the bananas and then add other wet ingredients, mixing everything well. Then add to the dry ingredients and incorporate everything, including the butter and sugar mixture. Pour into the pans and bake until a toothpick comes up just about dry, about 20-30 minutes. Let cool and then remove from pans. If you are using one pan, cut with a serrated knife into three portions. If you have used two pans, cut each in half.

chocolate ganache
1 ½ c heavy cream
1 lb good dark chocolate

Bring the cream to a simmer over the stove. When it’s just under a boil, remove from heat and stir in chocolate, until it’s completely melted. After you have cut the cakes and they have cooled, frost each layer with the ganache and stack.

peanut butter frosting
1 c creamy peanut butter
3 Tbsp butter, room temperature
2/3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

In an electric mixer, cream the butter and peanut butter together. On a low speed, at the powdered sugar a little at a time, and the vanilla and salt, until everything is mixed well. Taste and make sure you like the flavor. You can always tweak by adding more sugar or peanut butter. Your cake should be stacked now and layered with ganache. When you have the frosting ready, simply take a spatula and ice the outside of the cake. Now dig in.

P.S. This cake freezes very well, just defrost it and let it come to room temperature, or if you’re eating slice by slice, pop it in the microwave.

Wedding Shower Cake Good Enough to Be Wedding Cake

So I’m back in Austin now and I will blame the move and the readjustment for the long absence in writing. But now I’m back to it, and it does make me sad that I’ve had the same post at the top of my page for over a month.

Part of the readjusting is finding a job, deciding what you’re going to do with yourself now, in a new city. Cooking would be an ideal way for me to go, but it’s not a career you can just jump into, nor is it very lucrative (not that I’m in it for the money, but it’d be nice to not live with my parents forever). So one way I’m starting small is by cooking for friends at their events and functions. One of my sister’s friends is getting married and we were throwing a wedding shower for her, so I offered my services. My full and complete services, which means not just dessert but dinner too. It was a lot of fun and kept me busy for a few days, but I have to thank the people that cleaned the dishes for me. That would’ve been a whole lot more.

The beauty of arranging this myself was picking and choosing exactly what I wanted for the menu, not having to report for work and be given a to-do list that was already mapped out for me. For desserts, I knew I would do a cheesecake, and went with a chocolate coffee one that I had made before. At the last minute, I decided to do a peach pie for good measure. It was something I had made a lot before and definitely couldn’t hurt. For the third dessert, I picked something new from the Macrina Bakery cookbook, in Seattle, given to me by my friend Leah who has discovered the food scene up there. My one quibble with the book is that it doesn’t have any pictures of the food. I love to see big, colorful pictures of the finished product. And it would’ve been great for this recipe especially as it turned out beautifully. Just reading the name committed me to it: almond cake with mascarpone cream and fresh blackberries.

I changed a few things, as I tend to do. First of all, I was making this the night before the shower, you can’t wait till the last minute for everything. It tells you to put blueberries in between the cake layers, but I didn’t want them running and bleeding everywhere, especially through the icing, so I didn’t put them there and waited until just before serving to top the cake off with them. Also, I didn’t use just blueberries, but blackberries too and I think that’s even better, a mixture of flavors and sizes of berries. Oh, and it didn’t make enough icing but I had run out of mascarpone, so I used a bit of sour cream as a substitute. But a note on that: I couldn’t taste the mascarpone at all, and it tasted just like a regular whipped cream icing, so I was a little disappointed with that, although there were no complaints from any of the guests. This was by far the most popular, a surprise to me, and there was barely any left at the end of the night. Someone even said it could and should be a wedding cake. I think I’d try different icings with it though, cream cheese or perhaps just a regular whipped cream. I was also surprised that it was such a hit after only about 24 hours prior having almost thrown it away completely and ripped all my hair out. Words of warning: this cake is very fragile. You’re supposed to bake it in a springform pan and cut into three rounds, but my springform was occupied (cheesecake), so I put it in two round pans and cut those in half. It did not come out very thick, and one of the layers fell apart completely when I tried to lift it so I couldn’t even use it. So it ended up being three layers for me anyways, but handle with care.

Almond Cake with Mascarpone Cream and Blackberries and Blueberries
Adapted from Macrina Bakery Cookbook

cake
3 eggs
¾ c plain yogurt
2 tsp pure almond extract
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
1 ½ c cake flour
1 ¾ c sugar
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ c finely ground almonds
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

almond syrup
1 c sugar
½ c water
2 tsp pure almond extract
pinch of salt

mascarpone cream (I would double this)
1 c heavy cream
¼ c powdered sugar
8 oz mascarpone, room temperature (you can try other cheeses or sour cream)
pinch of salt

blueberries and blackberries
1 c fresh berries
1 tsp lemon zest
pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease and flour your baking pan(s). Combine eggs, ¼ yogurt, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Mix well with a whisk and set aside. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and almonds in a medium bowl. Place butter in the bowl of your stand mixer and using the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed for 5 to 8 minutes. The butter will be light and fluffy (unless you’re in Texas and room temperature is more like boiling so the butter will be more melted than fluffy). Add the dry ingredients and the remaining ½ c yogurt. Turn the switch on and off a few times to start bringing the ingredients together, then increase speed to medium and mix for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture and mix well, stopping to scrape down the sides and continuing until fully combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake on center rack of oven for about an hour or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick come out almost clean. Let cool on a wire rack for at least an hour.
For the almond syrup, combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan and mix with a whisk to dissolve the sugar. Cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, then remove from the heat and add almond extract. Let cool slightly before using.
When the cakes are cool you can make the icing. Whip the cream and sugar until medium-soft peaks form. Whip the mascarpone with a whisk for 1 to 2 minutes, and then fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone.
When you’re ready to put the cake together, I would suggest macerating the berries first. The book says just for a few minutes, but I did it for a few hours and it turned out great. So mix the berries, ¼ c almond syrup, and lemon zest in a bowl and put in the fridge until ready to top off the cake. Now take the cake and cut in half (if using two pans, very carefully), or in thirds (if using one springform pan). Put a layer on a cake stand and brush with the syrup, then spread icing on top. Top it with another layer, more almond syrup, and icing, until you finish the layers. Ice the top and sides (although the book says not to ice the sides and I would have left it too, but it did not look pretty uniced). Store in the refrigerator and when about to serve, pour the berries on top, letting some of the juice run down the sides. Enjoy. my trio of desserts

Hazelnut and Lemon Stuff

I have this book, Le Champignon Sauvage. Actually it’s not my book, I’ve borrowed it for an extended period, and actually it’s called Essence, but that doesn’t matter. It’s recipes from David Everitt-Matthias. It’s fancy stuff, we’re talking multi-step recipes, for example: roast grey-legged partridge with chicory caramelized in maple syrup, and elderberry gastric, or brill fillet with salsify and artichokes, hazelnut emulsion, and red wine and tarragon jus. Yes, you’re lucky if there’s a dish that contains only one word you don’t know or only one ingredient you don’t know how to obtain. And so with all those emulsions and juses and confits and stuff, comes a long process. There was actually one main that I thought to myself, “hey, it’s only got three parts, and I have access to all of them!” so I gave it a go. It was brandade (poached cod, garlic puree and potato gnocchi). Alright, the gnocchi turned out not so great, might just be me. And the fish was not cooking, and we kept thinking it should only be poached for a few minutes but wasn’t flaking like it should, so that didn’t come out well. So then I got discouraged.

But no, this post is not about that dish, because in the back of the book are desserts and not all of them are as complicated as the savory food. They’re still multi-part, but little things, and I made two of them. Well, I took two different desserts and stuck them together. Pistachio and olive oil cake plus lemon and pine nut iced mousse, or semifreddo, with one tiny change, I had perfectly good ground hazelnuts and I do love them, so I substituted them for pistachios. And I should mention that about a year ago I made the cake with pistachios and it’s an amazing color. The hazelnut isn’t as pretty but darn good. And I thought of making these two random desserts together because they seemed like they would compliment each other and they did. The hazelnut was sweet and extremely moist (probably because it contained both olive oil and butter) and had a nice orange flavor to it, and the semifreddo was really tart with a bit of crunch. I ended up liking it more than I had expected because I don’t go for lemon/lime flavors in dessert very much, but it was somewhat addictive, and I kept spooning more onto my plate. Next time, though, I would cut back on the lemons. It used six. Six! That’s a whole lot from such a powerful fruit, and it kinda made you pucker. I remedied that with a bit of powdered sugar, but there’s no way to really hide six lemons. So I’ve made the changes for yall, and added and subtracted a few other things from the original recipes.

Hazelnut Olive Oil Cake and Lemon and Pine Nut Iced Mousse

cake
250 g ground hazelnuts
50 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
salt
125 ml olive oil (a little over ½ c)
100 g unsalted butter, melted
1 vanilla bean
3 eggs
200 g sugar
juice and zest of 1 orange

Mix the hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt together. Add the olive oil to the melted butter, then scrape in the vanilla bean seeds. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale, then slowly whisk in the oil and butter. Whisk in the hazelnut mixture, then add the orange juice and zest. Pour into a springform pan with parchment paper on the bottom. Bake at 160C/325F for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out almost clean.

semifreddo
juice and zest of 3 lemons (not 6)
200 ml double cream
100 g caster sugar
30 ml water
4-5 egg yolks
100 g pine nuts, toasted

Put the lemon juice and zest in a small pan and boil until reduced (he says until 75 milliliters, but it’s not that easy to measure, so just reduce). Whip the double cream until it forms soft peaks, then set in fridge. Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil until it reaches soft-ball stage (115C, be careful, this happens very quickly). While it is boiling, whisk the egg yolks in a mixer until thick, airy, and very pale. When the sugar syrup is ready, slowly drizzle it on the egg yolks with the machine running on high. Whisk until cold. Fold in the lemon juice, then the whipped cream and finally add the pine nuts (his pictures have pine nuts perfectly dispersed, but mine ended up at the bottom). Pour into a bowl or pan and freeze until set, at least six hours.

Happy Birthday Dough Ball!

The Dough Ball is one today. And it happens to be my 56th post! Can you believe it? On the same day. Really a milestone we're talking here. Now if it’s my birthday, I’m going to want chocolate to be involved, but I thought for my blog’s birthday, I would get to be a little more creative and make something I don’t normally make. Honestly, I don’t normally crave it and I would never go out of my way to get it, but this cake was pretty darn good, and I might be making some changes in my life now because of it. Drumroll...it was carrot cake.

I don’t know if it just sounds too healthy, it definitely doesn’t imply the richness of chocolate, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t give it a chance. So I went through my usual process of searching recipes on epicurious and there were lots, but I found one that looked simple enough, with only the good, necessary things (carrots, nuts, a couple spices) not with any of those randomly thrown in things (pineapple? coconut? orange?). And it came out really beautifully. It did take a while to cook completely, the outsides were done long before the center, which is usually the case, so I was afraid it would be dried out, but it was so moist. Even days later, and not even keeping it in the fridge, it kept really well and never lost that just-baked moistness. And it’s already been requested again.

If you’re like me, and you’re afraid carrot cake is the ugly step-sister, just remember, she’s got some amazing, brilliant hair. Translation: carrot cake usually comes with a shimmering coating of cream cheese icing, my favorite. How could you lose with that? I told my roommates that it was healthy cake because it had carrots in it, and they were thinking ok, good. And then they saw me making the icing. With the butter. And sugar. And cream cheese. So maybe not such a healthy cake, but still delicious, and I think it would go over well as a real birthday cake. Lots of layers could be fun.


Carrot Cake
Adapted from epicurious.com

cake
4-5 carrots, peeled and grated
2 c flour
2 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 c vegetable/corn oil
4 eggs
1 c chopped toasted walnuts
½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F/170 C. Butter and flour 2 9-inch cake pans (I used one springform and cut the cake into layers). Mix sugar, oil and eggs until well mixed. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt and mix everything again. Stir in carrots and walnuts, it may seem really thick and packed with carrots, but it doesn’t come out so dense like that. Pour into pan(s). Bake until a toothpick comes out almost clean, for me it took a really long time and the edges and top of the cake were definitely done, but the center just wouldn’t cook, but still don’t take it out raw. Let cool and remove from pan. If you have two layers, you can leave as is, or cut them in half for a four layer cake, or if you do one like me, cut into three layers and let cool completely while you make icing.

cream cheese frosting
16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
½ c butter, room temperature
1 ½ c powdered sugar

First of all, this does not have to be exact in any way. I usually like a little more cream cheese and a little less powdered sugar, so alter as you please. Blend everything together until it’s a nice smooth consistency. Frost the first layer of cake, add the next, layer it, and then top it with the final layer. Frost that and the sides. Eat immediately, if not sooner.

The Black Beast (in a good way, think chocolate)

There’s sometimes where you’re craving something sweet, and there’s sometimes (more often than not) when you’re craving something chocolate, and no other sweet or sugary thing will do. Well, here ya go. Bête Noire. This is pure chocolate, you can, and should, eat it straight up, it doesn’t need to be cut with anything like cream or sauces or fruit. It’s basically a flourless chocolate cake, but it has one ingredient I’m not used to seeing, which is water. Butter, yes. Sugar, yes. Eggs, yes. Chocolate, please, obviously. But water? I’m not saying this is a bad thing, just something I was surprised to see. As far as I can tell, major difference it made was the fact that it wasn’t as heavy as eating flourless chocolate cake, perhaps the kind you might need to take with a bit of crème fraiche or something because it’s so dense. But Bête Noire was extremely rich, shot of pure chocolate but still able to be consumed completely on its own (although I always take my desserts with a glass of milk). I should do a side by side comparison, but I’d be willing to say same richness, just a bit lighter than your standard flourless cakes.

I actually got this recipe from the back of a card. You know that stationery with pretty drawings of desserts on the front and then the recipe on the back. One amendment: the recipe says bake for ‘exactly’ 30 minutes. I did this. Exactly. And I was so excited, and in one of my needing-chocolate moods, and it was not done. And I am the queen of underdoing desserts, purposely, because I like them soft and moist, but this was runny. I cut myself a piece and removed it in spoonfuls as the batter ran out from either side of the slices. Definitely needed more time. Not that this is a bad way to eat it, spooning warm cake batter into your mouth, but to serve to other people, I thought they might want it a little more done. So when it says ‘exactly’ 30 minutes, I think that’s more of a suggestion than an obligation. I popped it back in for 10 more minutes or so and it came out perfectly moist, with a crispy top as the recipe promises.


Bête Noire
From a lovely card which has now been mailed

8 oz unsweetened chocolate
4 oz bittersweet chocolate (total of 341 g chocolate…I just used all 70%)
1 1/3 c sugar (270 g)
½ c water (120 g)
2 sticks (8 oz) butter (227 g)
5 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F (170 C) with rack in center position. Lightly grease a 9” layer cake pan and then line the bottom with a 9” circle of parchment (I used a springform pan and lined it with foil so the water didn't leak. Then I didn't have to grease, or do the inverting-business at the end). Lightly grease the parchment. Set the cake pan in a jelly roll pan or roasting pan.
By hand combine one cup sugar and the water in a medium-sized saucepan and stirring occasionally, cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a vigorous boil. Turn off the heat and immediately add the chocolate to the boiling syrup and stir until it is completely dissolved.
Stir in the butter, one chunk at a time, stirring until each chunk is incorporated before adding the next. Beat the eggs together with the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar until they are foamy and slightly thickened and then whisk them into the chocolate, beating well to incorporate all the ingredients. Pour and scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and level the batter with a rubber scraper.
To bake place the cake pan and jelly roll in the oven and pour hot water to the depth of about one inch into the larger pan. Bake the cake for exactly 30 minutes. The top will have a thin dry crust on top, but the inside will be very moist. Carefully remove the cake pan from the oven (leave the water bath until it cools). Cover the top of the cake with a piece of plastic wrap and invert the cake onto a flat plate or cookie sheet. Peel off the parchment. Cover with a light, flat plate and immediately invert again. Serve hot, warm, or at room temp (I would suggest hot/warm).

Last Berlin Kuchen

Alright, about a month after the fact, let’s see what I remember: I love hazelnuts. I love trying new desserts. I think that about sums it up. But really, I was looking in some Bon Appetit or Gourmet a couple months ago and found a cake called Gateau Breton, a regular, buttery, sugary cake with the added bonus. I like cake enough, but hazelnut cake caught my eye. That’s one thing that I will miss when I’m back in America, the lack of hazelnuts because they’re everywhere in Europe and it’s great. They're Europe's peanuts.

I wanted to try out the Gateau Breton earlier, but for some reason you can find hazelnuts everywhere in Spain, but ground hazelnuts are a different story. I searched high and low (the Boqueria Market and Pakistani shops) and no beans. So I shelved the idea of Gateau Breton until I could get a hold of a food processor or already ground hazelnuts. Enter Berlin.

Oh Kaiser’s, how I love thee. Just a big old grocery store in Berlin but it’s cheap and it's got loads of stuff. I can ponder over the multiple Ritter Sport candy flavors (pfefferminz, cappuccino, praline, etc.) and they have little, almost powder-like hazelnuts in a handy package, Gateau Breton-ready. So I figured it was my perfect opportunity.

The good thing about Bon Appetit and Gourmet is that it’s all online, so I had only to search on epicurious.com and found the recipe immediately. Most of the reviews that I read said it was very dense and rich, it was like shortbread, it was buttery, all promises which were delivered upon making it. Some said to serve with fruit like strawberries, others said flavored whipped cream, or simply crème fraiche. I threw some Kahlua into a container of crème fraiche and I got a few pleased tasters who asked ‘did you make the cream? It’s delicious.’ No, no. That’s the store-bought part. But the cake was well-received too. The cool, smooth cream is a good livener to the dense, buttery gateau.

My one change? Put in more hazelnuts. The recipe only called for a ½ cup, which wasn’t nearly enough. I think the cake was perfect if you’re in the mood for something rich but simple, but the hazelnut didn’t come out enough. Next time I’d at least double it, putting in a cup or more, and taking away some flour. Other than that, perfect.

I’m posting the recipe straight from epicurious.com because the only change I made at the time was using regular sugar because I didn’t have vanilla sugar on hand.

Gateau Breton

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup hazelnuts, lightly toasted, husked
6 large egg yolks (preferably organic)
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, melted
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 large egg yolk beaten with 2 teaspoons water (for glaze)
crème fraiche flavored with liquor (Kahlua, Frangelico, etc)

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F (170 C). Butter and flour 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and hazelnuts in processor; blend until nuts are finely ground but not pasty (or if you have already ground, just mix with a fork). Combine 6 egg yolks and remaining 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar in large bowl; whisk until well blended and slightly thicker, about 2 minutes (do not use electric mixer). Whisk in hazelnut mixture. Gradually whisk in melted butter. Sift flour over batter; stir just until blended (batter will be thick; do not overmix or cake may be tough).Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top with offset spatula (layer will be thin). Brush top generously with egg glaze.

Using back of tines of fork, deeply mark crisscross pattern atop cake, marking 3 times across in 1 direction and 3 times in opposite direction (I’m guessing this was just for decoration, I did it lightly and it didn’t really matter. I served it with a big blob of crème fraiche on top anyways). Bake cake until deep golden on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes, then remove pan sides and cool cake completely.

German Kuchen

It’s been a while. I was on a short “hiatus” in Berlin, but only from writing, not from cooking. It was a bit harder than here in Spain, although I didn’t expect the oven knob to have a number system from 1 to 8, or no visible numbers at all. This didn’t get me down, only a little burned (or a lot burned) at one point. But my first attempt at baking with the specially-numbered German ovens turned out as a success. Another problem to overcome was the fact that I didn’t have a scale, so it was fun throwing in what I guessed was the right amount and seeing how it ended up.

First on the list was a plum cake I used to make when I was in middle school. I remember it as being more like a cheesecake made with flour that had plums on the top. The recipe came from a Southern Living, and lately I’d been thinking about that cake, so my mom emailed me the recipe.

In Berlin there were plums everywhere, and even many pflaumen torten, at bakeries, at market stalls, more than I’m used to here in Spain. Getting my ingredients wasn’t so hard, the only thing I had a bit of a problem with was cognac. I got some cheap, tiny, airplane sized bottle of some not-so-good cognac because it was all I could find without buying a whole bottle.

The interesting thing about this cake was it turned out totally different than I had remembered it. Like I said, I remember a dense, cheesecake-like concoction with plums lining the top, and when I pulled this out of the oven and served it, it was a bit like a soufflé with plums that had sunk to the bottom (as you can see below).

And I’m not quite sure which is right…I only now started to wonder. Either way, make sure you use enough sugar, because if you don’t then the cream cheese is a very subdued flavor and you won’t taste much except a bite with plum. So, let me know how yours turns out: heavy, cheesecake topped with plums, or light, airy soufflé with a base of plums…


Plum Cake

½ (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cup sifted cake flour
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs, separated
1 pound small plums, cut into thin wedges
¾ cup powdered sugar, divided
2 tablespoons brandy
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

First beat the cream cheese with a whisk until fluffy, then add the sour cream and mix in well. Now beat yolks and ½ cup sugar in a separate bowl at medium speed until thick. Then add the cream cheese mixture and brandy, beating until blended.
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed until foamy (or if you don’t have an electric mixer, find a male and hand him a whisk). Add remaining ¼ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves. Combine flour and baking powder; fold into cream cheese mixture. Fold in egg white mixture. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9-inch springform pan, and arrange plum wedges on top (I always remember them resting on top and staying there, however, this most recent time they sunk to the bottom as I took my time placing them in a nice pattern. Maybe when I was younger I didn’t understand the concept of “beating egg whites” and this could explain my denser cake…). Now bake at 350 F (or oven knob Low, somewhere around the 2 I think it was) for 45 minutes (or until you open the oven and realize it’s cooking extremely fast, browning on top after 10 minutes). Cool in pan on a wire rack 5 minutes. Remove sides of pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar; serve warm or at room temperature.

unfortunately my pictures did not come out at all for this....I think the best one I got was on the floor in someone's room, you might be able to see a hint of oriental rug under the clear plate in a few of these...