Molasses Layer Cake

I made some gingerbread today (without ginger) and the Wengers were over for pinochle tonite.  Are using red sugar now - sort of like molasses in our cooking and baking - its much cheaper.  Have certainly cut down on our cakes - haven't had a pie for months.  - Annette, April 1943

I have always loved gingerbread.  It breaks my heart a little that we consider it a 'seasonal' flavor, because I could eat gingerbread any day of the week.  My dad loved ginger snaps, and anything molasses-based.  I wonder if his love of molasses came from Annette.  Many of her recipes use molasses - perhaps, because it was cheaper and easier to acquire in China.  Maybe she continued to bake with molasses once they were stateside.  In honor of Father's Day today, I baked this Molasses Layer Cake from his mother's recipe.  I wonder if he grew up eating this very same cake.

Once again, Annette's recipe is not the most forthcoming.  I made a small adjustment with the amount of butter - the entire cake only used 2T!  I doubled that amount, to better facilitate creaming the butter and sugar.  I'm guessing the baking soda dissolved in buttermilk gives it lift while adding a bit more fat.  I baked the cakes at 350degrees for 30min, then turned off the oven and let the cakes sit for another 4 minutes.  After 2 minutes of resting in the pans, I turned them out onto a wire rack, then let them cool completely.  The cakes are so tender and fluffy.  I made a quick Cinnamon Buttercream Icing, to compliment the cinnamon in the cake.  Recipe and photos below!

Molasses Layer Cake

1 cup sugar

2 tablesp butter (I used 4T - half a stick)

2 eggs

1 teasp cinnamon

1 teasp soda diss. in 1 cup sour milk

1 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups flour

Cream together butter + sugar.  add eggs and molasses and flour + milk alternately.  Bake in 2 layers.

Standard ingredients shot. I added a bit of salt to the batter, just to balance the molasses sweetness.

Pans greased and floured.

Baking soda - buttermilk mixture. I love that it used to be called ‘sour milk’!

I added the cinnamon to the dry ingredients for more even incorporation.

Go mixer go!

Batter evenly spread between the two prepared pans.

The cakes were so light and delicate, but packed with big molasses flavor.

Cinnamon buttercream to finish it off! Yum!

Clean + Straighten

Mending - baby dress, Bug's overalls, darn hose

Wash blanket - sweaters

Clean rooms - windows, rugs, curtains, wash wicker chairs, pillows, bed sp.

Porches

Plan menus

Guest room - flowers, peanuts, air closet, hangers, etc

Middle room - clean + straighten

Make plenty cookies, peanuts, puffed rice candy ahead of time

Clary's study

- Annette, 1941-1944?

Most people get the Spring Cleaning bug in March/April.  No matter how hard I try, I can never seem to catch that bug.  Between playing gigs and getting students ready for juries and recitals, I am just barely keeping my head above water during early Spring.  For me, it's all about Summer Cleaning.  Students are on their summer break, and that means I finally have some time during the day to get the house in order.  I know, I know, it is technically still Spring, but with temperatures in the 90s and what feels like 400% humidity, I'm going ahead and calling it Summer.  Now, instead of teaching schedules, my mind is full of closet organization techniques and recipes for homemade cleaning products.

It's easy to get overwhelmed with house projects.  Enter Lists!!  Annette often made lists in the back of her diary, but she never wrote the date.  I can only guess what event she was preparing here.  It seems like company was coming, with the Guest Room and Middle Room both making the cut.  Of course, she had baking on the list as well - plenty of cookies!  I would be one happy house guest if my visit involved fresh flowers and puffed rice candy!  Of course, there was always sewing to be done as well.  In China, they did not have the luxury of getting new clothes when the old ones wore out.  Every item of clothing had to last, and even when it was in tatters, Annette turned it into something new - like dolls or blankets for the kids.  It was a waste-not way of living.

I feel like more and more people are turning towards self-sustainability.  One of my friends has a garden that produces more green beans than they can handle.  Another is re-working old t-shirts into a quilt.  I have spent a few evenings darning socks, myself.  Just like Annette, we can all make the most of the resources we have.  Sometimes, all we need to get started is a list.  

Messed Up The Icing - Or, Wedding Cakes For Everyone!

Still no sunshine.  Had our wedding anniversary dinner tonite.  I made a nice devil food cake but I messed up the icing.  Had a nice supper - Doc + wife came over and we played monopoly.  Even Miss Simon played with us tonite.  - Annette, March 1943

I have had weddings on the brain lately!  My favorite part of weddings is always the cake.  Well, the whole 'love and commitment' thing is pretty great, too, so I guess cake is a very close second.  My own wedding was just a few weeks ago, so the cake was crucial.  None of that inedible fondant, thankyouverymuch.  Luckily, I found an amazing baker in Atlanta - Amanda Faber, the Season 2 winner of the Great American Baking Show on ABC.  Amanda made a beautiful cake and it was DELICIOUS!  It was my favorite wedding cake - and wedding - by far.  :)

Annette and Clary were married on Leap Day, February 29, 1940, so they celebrated their first 4 anniversaries in China.  Annette made a cake for every single one.  In 1943, on their third anniversary, she baked a devil's food cake.  I love that she wrote about her 'messed up' icing.  In our social-media world, it is so tempting to only share the perfect parts of our lives - the perfect Insta shot or Facebook post.  Annette's diary was her safe place, her honest place.  She wrote about her real experiences and feelings.  I can completely relate to a less-than-perfect baking experience because....

This past week, I caught Royal Wedding Fever!  I just could not get enough of the details, the story, and of course, the cake!  As soon as I heard the cake description, I knew I had to give it a shot.  Lemon elderflower sponge cake with Swiss meringue buttercream.  I've never made either of those, so I jumped right in!  I did a bit of research to narrow down the cake and icing recipes.  To honor Harry and Meghan blending English and American families, I used a sponge cake recipe inspired by Mary Berry, queen of English baking, and a buttercream recipe inspired by Martha Stewart, an American baking master.  Spoiler alert:  not my best bake.  By far.  Check out the pictures for all the ways I went wrong!  

Regardless of the missteps, the cake was delicious.  I woke up early to watch the Royal Wedding celebration, and had delicious lemon elderflower cake for breakfast.  As Rev. Michael Curry said during the ceremony, "There's power in love."  That is always worth a celebration.

Since I didn’t have access to elderflower syurp made with Queen Elizabeth’s elderflower bushes, I used Belvoir Fruit Farms elderflower cordial. Much easier to get - at World Market.

I weighed out all the ingredients for the sponge. I had great intentions. Instead of buying caster sugar, I blitzed regular sugar in the food processor so it was extra-fine.

Here I am, adding the ingredients separately. This was not the best plan. Mary Berry said to combine all ingredients, then mix, which I did not do. I decided to cream the butter and sugar first, then add eggs one at a time. Except two eggs plopped into the bowl at once, thus breaking the emulsion I had just made.

Here, I added the flour mixture slowly. And then proceeded to overmix the batter. Not great.

The cakes are out of the oven, and they both sank in the middle. I did not spin or tap the pans, so they were tough little cakes with some sizable air bubbles. Mary Berry would not approve. Oh well! Good thing I planned to drench them in syrup and cover in icing!

Speaking of icing, hand-whisking is no joke. Especially over heat. My tiny kitchen was quite warm.

The stand mixer whisking was MUCH more fun. The egg white/sugar mixture was glossy and smooth and beautiful!

Add the butter a little bit at a time, then the flavorings. You could swap out the lemon juice and elderflower cordial for any other flavoring you like - vanilla, almond, etc.

The finished product! I used a ton of icing to fill in the sunken middles of the cakes, but overall, it turned out ok! A few swirls and some silver sanding sugar added a bit of Markle-sparkle.

You can see the extra-thick icing in the middle, and the extra-tough sponge cake texture. But hey, it’s still cake! And after all that work, I earned my ‘messed up’ slice!

Lemon Elderflower cake with Elderflower Buttercream

Lemon Sponge Cake:

4 eggs, room temperature - weighed

Caster sugar

Butter, softened

Self-rising flour

1 T baking powder

Zest of 1 lemon

Elderflower Soak:

1/4 c elderflower cordial (I used Belvoir Fruit Farms Elderflower Cordial)

1 T fresh lemon juice

Elderflower Buttercream:

5 large egg whites

1 cup plus 2 T caster sugar

1/8 t table salt

1 pound butter, softened

2 t fresh lemon juice

1 T elderflower cordial

Preheat oven to 356 degrees F (or 350 - Mary's recipe required 180 degrees Celsius).  Grease two 8in pans with butter, line the bottom of each pan with a circle of parchment paper. 

Weigh the eggs, and place in a large mixing bowl.  Weigh the same amount of sugar, butter, and flour in separate bowls.  Add the baking powder to the flour and sift together.  Add sugar, flour mixture, and butter to large bowl with the eggs.

Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, mix all ingredients until just combined.  Stir in lemon zest. 

Divide batter between two pans.  Spin or lightly tap the pans on the counter to remove air bubbles.  Bake for 25 minutes, until the cake tops spring back when pressed lightly with your fingers.  Remove cakes from oven and set on a wire rack - cool in pans for a few minutes.  After cakes have cooled slightly, turn the cakes out, remove the paper, flip over, and allow to cool a bit more. 

While the cakes are cooling, prepare the elderflower soak.  Once the cakes have cooled for 30min, use a wooden pick to poke holes in the tops of the cakes.  Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the cake with the elderflower mixture.  Allow cakes to cool completely.

While the cakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream.  Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in a heatproof bowl of stand mixer and set over a pan of simmering water.  Whisk by hand until mixture has reached around 140 degrees F.  Mixture should feel smooth when rubbed between your fingers.

Move the bowl to stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high, whisk mixture until soft peaks form.  Continue whisking until glossy and the bowl is completely cool to the touch (about 10 minutes).

With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter a few tablespoons at a time.  Once all the butter has been added, whisk in lemon juice and elderflower cordial.  Switch to the paddle attachment.  Continue beating until all air bubbles are gone (about 2 minutes), and icing is completely smooth.

Prepare a piping bag fitted with a star tip (or other design).  Fill the bag with buttercream and set aside.  To assemble the cakes, place one cake on a cake stand.  Add buttercream to the top and smooth out.  Add the second layer, and add enough buttercream to cover the top and sides of the cake.  Once the cake is covered, use the remaining buttercream to pipe designs on the cake.  Garnish with lemon slices, fresh edible flowers, sprinkles - anything that feels festive!  

Honey + Nut Bran Muffins

I've been baking up a storm lately, so Annette's Honey + Nut Bran Muffins fit right in to my wheelhouse.  I had most of the ingredients in the pantry already, and I bet you do too!  Once I tracked down some oat bran, I was ready to roll.  I made this recipe as directed, but after just one batch, I could see endless variations.  Let's dive in!

The ingredients - basic pantry staples, for the most part.

I chopped the walnuts into smaller pieces, so the muffins wouldn't be so chunky.

The only instructions given were "Bake in quick oven 30 minutes."  I followed my baking instincts and mixed the dry ingredients first, adding the walnuts so they would be coated with flour and not sink to the bottom of the muffins.

Adding the wet ingredients

Mix until combined.  I used a whisk at first, but then switched to a spoon, in case Annette didn't have her whisk handy.

I portioned out the batter into an ungreased muffin tin, which Annette must have had, since other recipes call for a muffin pan.

"Bake in quick oven" - referencing the wood-burning oven they must have used.  "Quick" or "fast" ovens correspond to about 375-400 degrees Fahrenheit.  I baked the first batch at 400, but they only needed 22 minutes.  I tried the second batch at 375, and they took about the same time.  Good results, either way.

Nice and brown!

The finished muffin!  These little guys were SO tasty!  They were light and fluffy - not at all what I expected with the wheat and bran base.  If only I had some of that homemade butter left....

This recipe really surprised me.  The muffins were delicious!  Wheat flour and oat bran goodies can sometimes be heavy or dense - not these!  Great texture, great flavor, not too sweet.  What is really surprising is how well this recipe would do in these modern times.  No refined sugar - only honey (local, small batch if you've got it).  Wheat flour and bran for extra fiber.  No eggs, and minimal dairy that could easily be swapped out for a dairy-free or vegan option.  Nuts could be replaced by raisins or other dried fruit, or even chocolate chips.  The possibilities are endless, and would all be delicious! 

Once again, it seems like Annette turned to comfort food during her time in China.  I often find myself baking when I am stressed out.  Maybe it's in the genes!  Next time you need a hearty breakfast or brunch pot-luck dish, give this recipe a try.  Everyone loves a treat with a little history.  Enjoy! 

Pretty Good Muffins

We are giving our guy a holiday every Friday and I'm gonna cook.  It was lots of fun.  I made meat loaf and some pretty good muffins.  Cooked up some tomatoes for juice too.  Fixed a cold supper - potatoe salad and stuff.  - Annette, July 1941

I haven't made one of Annette's recipes in a while, so when I came across this entry, I figured it was time to bake again!  I love how much she enjoys cooking.  On her cook's day off, she jumped at the adventure of cooking in a new place!  

I am intrigued by her meat loaf - what kind of meat, where did they get it, how did they grind it up - but she didn't leave any clues.  I have a recipe for Canning Tomatoes, so maybe in the future, I'll try something similar for the juice.  She did, however, sketch a recipe for Bran Muffins with a Honey Nut variation.  Her bran muffins called for wheat flour and sweet milk, so I'll use that for this recipe as well.  I looked up 'quick oven,' and learned that the term comes from wood-burning stoves without temperature gauges.  The conversion for a 'fast' or 'quick' oven ranges from 375-400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Now, I just need to locate some oat bran.  Stay tuned!

Honey + Nut Bran Muffins

1/2 cup honey

1 cup flour

1/2 teasp soda

1/2 teasp salt

2 cups bran

1 tablesp melted butter

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup walnuts

Bake in quick oven 30 minutes