Lemonade Cake with Raspberry Lemonade Frosting

All of the recipes I've posted so far on this blog have been savory ones, but my real specialty is desserts. I've been anticipating the arrival of spring pretty much since last October, so I decided to make a Lemonade Cake to last me through the last week of winter. Also, Andy and I just recently finished all of the desserts I got for my birthday and I always keep a little sugar pick-me-up somewhere in the apartment.

This cake was super easy to bake, mostly because I used a cake mix from a box. Let me explain: the oven in our apartment is a little unstable (if you set it for 350F, it usually ends up around 400-450F, but if you set it at 325F it gets around 300F). As a result, it tends to burn anything I bake (easily fixed by covering items with tinfoil) or it really dries out my homemade cakes.

First, I took one box of cake mix and I mixed it with all of the recommended ingredients (oil, eggs), except for one change: I substituted thawed lemonade concentrate for the 1 cup of water in the cake. I greased and floured (or rather, used that flour/oil in a spray can stuff) a 9x13 cake pan, and poured the ingredients in.

While the cake was cooking, I whipped up a quick lemonade raspberry buttercream frosting. It's basically one stick of butter (room temp), around three cups of powdered sugar, two tablespoons of pureed raspberries (I just happened to have some left over from my Darwin Day Chocolate Raspberry cake), and two tablespoons of the leftover lemonade concentrate. Since it's a buttercream, leave it out at room temp to make it easy to spread over the cake.

I got the cake out of the oven and I tasted a little bit of it and it didn't quite have the lemon taste that I was looking for. So I took the rest of the lemonade concentrate (probably around 1/4 cup), and I added 1-2 tablespoons of water to it. I pricked the cake all over with a toothpick and dripped the lemonade mixture over the cooling cake, just to moisten it up and give it an extra kick of lemon. Later, when the cake was cool, I spread the frosting over it and put it in the fridge to let the frosting set.

I really enjoyed this cake because it was easy, and the extra lemonade I poured over the cake made it super moist and tart. If you don't have any raspberries to puree laying around the house, just regular lemon buttercream frosting would be good as well. Next time, I think I'll use a smaller pan or double the cake recipe because the cake was only around 1-1.5 inches thick.

*****

Recipe: Lemonade Cake with Raspberry Lemonade Frosting

Cake Ingredients

1 box of yellow cake mix (plus all of the ingredients it calls for except for water)
1 c. of thawed lemonade concentrate (or enough to replace any water the cake mix calls for)

Frosting Ingredients

1 stick butter (room temp)
3 c. powdered sugar
1-2 T. lemonade concentrate
1-2 T. pureed, de-seeded raspberries

Directions

Mix all cake ingredients together and pour into greased pan. Bake according to directions on box. Mix together all frosting ingredients until you get a creamy consistency. Set aside and wait for cake to cool. While cake is cooling, prick all over with toothpick and drizzle over the extra thawed lemonade concentrate (with a little water added if you don't have enough to cover the cake). Frost, refrigerate for an hour, and serve!

Baked Ziti

I got this recipe from the latest issue of Cook's Illustrated. I didn't change much from their original recipe, except I added extra cheese on top and I used dried basil instead of fresh because apparently everyone else at the store bought all of the fresh stuff. I'm already looking forward to eating these leftovers all week!

To start, mix together 2 eggs, 16oz cottage cheese, and 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese in a medium bowl. (Use the fancy cheese instead of the stuff that comes grated in a can, because it adds a lot of flavor to the dish.) The magazine cooks decided to use cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese, because the ricotta caused the dish to be bland and grainy. Set aside for later.

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive or canola oil over medium heat in a large skillet, and add 5-6 medium cloves of minced garlic until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add one jar of tomato sauce (I keep a few jars of Bertolli Tomato & Basil sauce handy in a pinch), one can of diced tomatoes, and a little oregano and basil to the skillet. Let it sit and stir occasionally until the sauce thickens (about 10 minutes). Take off the heat and stir in 1 tsp. sugar, and season with salt and pepper.

Now to boil the noodles: bring four quarts of water to boil in a large pot, add 1 T. of salt and 1 pound of ziti or any other tube-shaped noodle. The trick here, according to the magazine, is to only cook the noodles halfway (so for dried noodles, about 5 minutes), so that they don't become overcooked when you bake them in the oven. Drain the noodles and set aside in a colander.

Take anywhere from 8-16 ounces of real mozzarella cheese (in ball form, not pre-shredded), and chop into small cubes (I did about 1/2 inch). The reason you use the moist cheese instead of the shredded cheese is because the shredded cheese has extra cornstarch added, in order to keep the cheese from clumping, and this doesn't melt as smoothly in the dish as the moist cheese. The original recipe calls for 8 oz. of cheese, but I love mozzarella so I added some extra cheese I had taking up space in my fridge.

Mix together 3/4 t. cornstarch with 1 cup of heavy cream in the large pot you just drained, and bring to a simmer over medium heat until slightly thickened (3-4 minutes). Remove from heat, add your cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup of tomato sauce, and 3/4 cup of mozzarella. Mix together, and then stir in the ziti noodles until coated.

Add the noodles to the bottom of a 9"x13" baking dish. Top with the rest of the sauce then the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover dish with tinfoil and bake at 350F for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Let cool on the counter for 20 minutes before serving.

This dish smelled really good when it came out of the oven. The cheese was browned perfectly, without that gooey layer on top like I usually get from shredded cheese. I've already reheated a slice from the fridge for lunch, and it was just as good as when it was fresh from the oven.

The recipe turned out excellent, as usual, which is what I expect from every Cook's Country or Cook's Illustrated recipe. These magazines are best for cooks who want reliable recipes with good explanations for why certain ingredients are added or omitted. I've tried reading other cooking magazines, but they seem to focus on exotic or complicated recipes, and they don't always work out right. (Don't even get me started on the bread recipes from French Women Don't Get Fat, ugh.) The articles that come with the recipes are just as fun to read as the recipes are to make, plus they have product reviews in the back.

If you don't like a bunch of magazines, subscribe to the online version. You get access to the archives and the most recent magazine, and it's nice to be able to search through the archive when I'm stuck for meal ideas.

Recipe: Baked Ziti (source: Cook's Illustrated)

Ingredients

16 oz. whole milk or 1% cottage cheese
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 oz.)
Table salt
1 lb. ziti (or other tube-shaped pasta)
2 T. olive or canola oil
5 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 jar (28 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried basil (or a heaping 1/2 cup of the fresh stuff if you have it)
1 t. sugar
Ground black pepper
3/4 t. cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
8-16 oz. mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)

Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup Parmesan together in medium bowl; set aside. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta begins to soften but is not yet cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain pasta and leave in colander (do not wash Dutch oven).

Meanwhile, heat oil and garlic in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until garlic is fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and oregano; simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in ½ cup basil and sugar, then season with salt and pepper.

Stir cornstarch into heavy cream in small bowl; transfer mixture to now-empty Dutch oven set over medium heat. Bring to simmer and cook until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pot from heat and add cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup tomato sauce, and ¾ cup mozzarella, then stir to combine. Add pasta and stir to coat thoroughly with sauce.

Transfer pasta mixture to 13- by 9-inch baking dish and spread remaining tomato sauce evenly over pasta. Sprinkle remaining ¾ cup mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan over top. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and continue to cook until cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer. Cool for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil and serve.

Quick Breakfast: Hearty Steel-Cut Oats

Like most people, I usually don't have time in the morning to cook a fresh, healthy breakfast. I either eat a quick bowl of cereal or nothing at all. Until I found out about steel-cut oats. Unlike instant oatmeal, steel-cut oats take about 30 minutes to cook, but the difference in flavor makes up for the extra cooking time. The oats are a little puffy and they pop right in your mouth. I usually make a large batch of oats on the weekend, and then pop it into the microwave for a good, quick breakfast during the rest of the week.


To start with, I add four cups of milk to a pot and heat over medium heat (to prevent burning the milk on the bottom) until boiling. Don't turn your back on the milk or you'll end up running over to the stove to prevent the milk from foaming up and boiling over the edge of the pot (as seen on my wooden spoon). The recipe on the box says that you can either use milk or water, but I use milk to add some protein and make my breakfast more filling.

Next, I add one cup of the steel-cut oats, turn down the heat to low, and let the oats and milk simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Since I used milk, I really had to scrape the bottom of the pot to prevent the milk from scalding on the bottom. But even if it does, it's no big deal. You just end up with funny looking orange chunks of milk in the oatmeal when you're done (but they're perfectly edible).

After 30 minutes, the oatmeal will have thickened and will be deliciously creamy. I didn't add any sugar or anything else to the oats, because I like to leave them in the fridge as they are and add sugar right before I reheat my bowl of oats. My favorite ingredient to add to my oats is a ripe, mushed up banana. Andy likes to add brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. I tried adding a little jam once, but it made it too sweet for my tastes.

This dish is perfect for all of the lazy weekday cooks like me. I never have enough time in the morning for anything, but at least I can still have a hot, healthy breakfast.

Caprese Salad & Pesto Sandwich

I was inspired to make this sandwich because I'm always looking to add more vegetarian options to my diet, and I had a mid-winter craving for some simple summer food.

I made some pesto this past summer, but instead of basil leaves, I used garlic scapes (the flowering part of the garlic plant). It added a lot of flavor to the pesto, like a garlic-buttery taste. The pesto freezes excellently, so this summer I'm going to make sure to stock up on plenty of garlic scapes. (I got mine from the excellent farmers at Meadow's Mirth, which is an excellent organic farm if you're in the area.)

Anyway, I haven't used up much of my pesto this winter. I spent a good portion of the summer freezing my vegetables and sauces so that I would have something to cheer me up in the winter, but instead I have a whole freezer of great food that I haven't used yet.


Originally, I wanted to use ciabatta rolls, but the local supermarket has excellent onion rolls and the extra flavor went really well with the caprese salad. I also bought some small tomatoes and a roll of mozzarella cheese. I sliced a few thick slices of each, spread some thawed pesto sauce on my onion roll, and stacked the tomato on top of the mozzarella.

The sandwich turned out really well. The oil from the pesto soaked into the bread, and the tomato and mozzarella didn't get squished out of the sandwich when I was eating it. This is a nice sandwich to prepare for a bag lunch. I just sliced up some mozzarella and tomatoes ahead of time, put a few slices in a tupperware container, put a little pesto in small container, and bagged up a sliced roll. (I know refrigerating tomatoes takes a lot of the flavor out, but the pesto I used was flavorful enough to make up for it.)

This sandwich was definitely a refreshing change from my usual turkey-and-cheese. And now I can finally start to whittle away at my frozen leftovers!