STRAWBERRY & YOGURT LOAF CAKE

Posted on by Laura Geraty – By

This Strawberry and Yogurt Loaf Cake is my latest obsession. While the yogurt batter itself is only barely sweet, the cake is baked in a crust of turbinado sugar and its top is dolloped with both super sweet strawberry jam and fresh strawberries. As the cake bakes, some of the jam falls to the bottom, some gets suspended in the middle and some stays right on top. The cake around that jam becomes a little custardy. So much to describe here but, really, you’re going to have to trust me…make this cake.

In addition, there is something about *loaf* cakes that speak to me. Like, if you give me the option of a slice of a loaf versus a traditional cake, I’ll always choose the former. My ranking is loaf cake > round cakes > sheet cakes > cupcakes. I’m sure that hierarchy is controversial. Anyone with me here?

Origin Story

This recipe in a combination of my own Strawberry Snacking Cake, Alison Roman’s Chocolate Banana Bread (that’s where I got the genius idea of lining the loaf pan with sugar), Smitten Kitchen’s Strawberry Summer Cake (another perfect recipe if you don’t agree with my cake shape hierarchy), and Julia Turshen’s Greek Yogurt Cake with Jam.

As an amateur baker with an amateur understanding of baking science, it took some tweaking to get right. (Read: I had to clean the bottom of my oven more than once while developing this recipe.) I did that hard “research” so you don’t have to.

Serving Suggestions

I hope this Strawberry and Yogurt Loaf Cake finds its way into your baking repertoire. It deserves center stage after a dinner party topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, or a place on your brunch table served with plain yogurt and fresh fruit. Guests will want the recipe and you’ll know where to send them.

As always, tag me in your food photos on Instagram @whatweeat.nyc and report back here.

Happy cooking!

STRAWBERRY AND YOGURT LOAF CAKE

Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup turbinado sugar (aka demerara sugar or sugar in the raw) plus 1 tbsp to top strawberries
  • 6 tbsp butter plus 1 tbsp for coating loaf pan, room temp
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (you can be heavy handed here)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup plain, whole milk yogurt
  • Very scant 1/2 lb strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered (little less than half a box, or ~1.5 cups)
  • 1/4 cup strawberry jam
Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.* Generously butter a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Sugar the inside of the pan with 1/4 cup of the turbinado sugar, tapping out excess. Get right up to the lip of the pan because the cake will rise to the tippety top.
  2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer**, beat the butter and sugar together for ~5 minutes until light in color and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and eggs. (Reserve yogurt until end.)
  3. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Hull and halve the strawberries.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Using a spatula, fold in the yogurt until fully incorporated but not over mixed.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top. Use a small spoon to dollop the strawberry jam over the batter, keeping the jam more towards the center of the cake than to the sides. (If you push it to the sides, it’s a little hard to turn out the cooled cake because the jam gets sticky.) Use the back of spoon to swirl it here and there. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
  6. Finally, top with the halved strawberries, Tetris-ing them in so every square inch of the top is covered. If you have extra strawberries, those are your chef’s treat. Sprinkle the top with the last heaping tablespoon of turbinado sugar.
  7. Place loaf pan on a sheet tray (just in case) and bake until the sides of the cake start to pull away and the cake is baked through in the center, about 80-90 minutes. It should spring back slightly when pressed in the center.
  8. Cool on the stovetop or on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Use a knife to encourage the sides away from the pan. It will be a little sticky here and there but should eventually pull away. Turn out a place on a serving platter to cool for another 30 minutes before slicing.**
  9. The cake is delicious for a couple of days in an airtight container so can be made ahead. Mine has never lasted more than two days.

Serves 8-10 people

*I use my convection setting here. If you don’t have one, the cake might take closer to 90 minutes to be fully cooked.

**You can do this by hand but you really want to aerate that butter (make it extra fluffy) and this is MUCH easier with some equipment.

***To be honest, I’ve of course turned this out and sliced this within 30 minutes of it coming out of the oven. We’re just talking “ideally” here.

Want more dessert recipes?

Hygge Holiday Mulled Wine

Posted on by admin – By

Being Scandinavian, I was raised on my father’s stories of his childhood in Sweden. He described long winters accented by warm and comforting meals, lots of social interaction, and a good amount of singing. I remember my grandfather bouncing me on his knees while singing to me in Swedish, mocking me for disliking herring and deeming me “knickity pickity.” He called me this as if it were my name, accompanied with a devilish grin and a poke in the ribs. (If only he could see me now, and understand how deeply I took his insult to heart by forcing myself to become the adventurous eater and cook that I am today.)

Nordic people have a beautiful outlook on life. A big part of that is something called hygge, a concept that is hard to grasp and difficult to define:

“Generally, hygge is defined as a feeling or mood of comfort, wellbeing, coziness, happiness, charm, safety, friendship. Simplicity, pleasure or intimacy. Hygge means living in the moment, savoring all that it has to offer.”

I try my hardest to embrace this part of my heritage, especially during the holidays. I light candles and put up twinkly lights, savor every moment spent with family and friends, and make dishes that fill my home with familiar scents and memories of holidays past. Food is central to hygge afterall.

But beverages can be hygge too! What is a dense shortbread cookie without eggnog to chase it with? How can one send wishes of good health without a toast to raise in accompaniment? Beverages, especially ones spiked with a little something extra special, refresh the palette, warm the soul and add to the jolly mood of all holiday social gatherings.

Every Christmas since I can remember, the evening’s focal point has been a slow-simmered mulled wine called Glogg. This is a Swedish holiday tradition that I refuse to skip. The concoction is warm from spices, barely sweetened by dried fruit, and deeply nutty from the addition of slivered almonds. It is also deceivingly strong due to the addition of vodka. This combats the loss of alcohol content when cooking the wine, or so my ancestors say. All of this goes into a pot over low heat to marry the ingredients together. The biggest obstacle is being patient enough to wait until it is ready!

So, for this holiday, my gift from me to you is my own family recipe for Swedish mulled wine.

With Love,  Kristina

 

Ingredients

  • 2 bottles dry red wine
  • 2 cups aquavit or vodka
  • 8 oz chopped dried figs
  • 2 oranges peeled without the pith
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 6 cardamon pods
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 whole star anise pods
  • 1/2 cup sugar

Method

  1. Pour the wine and the vodka into a pot and heat on very low, just below a simmer.
  2. Add the chopped orange peel, dried fruit and spices to the mixture and continue to cook on low for two hours in order to let the flavors marry.
  3. Stir in the sugar until dissolved and adjust to taste.

Pumpkin Pie Spice and Everything Nice!

Posted on by admin – By

There are a lot of things I love about the fall. Football, colorful crunchy leaves, thick socks and most of all – the abundance of pumpkin EVERYTHING. As I was going through Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cook book, “Sweet”, I stumbled upon a delish spice cake recipe that uses pumpkin pie spice! So in the spirit of Halloween, I had to test it.

Growing up, my mom would make the most delicious spice cakes every year (she’s an amazing baker and constantly gets asked to make her famous rum cakes, spice cakes and chocolate rolls). So, as I try to channel my mom and Ottolenghi, here is what I came up with! Of course I had to give it a flare, so I added toasted hazelnuts, fresh sage and dates to the batter. And let me tell you, the kitchen smelled AMAZING.

Recipe

¾ cup butter, at room temperature

¾ packed cup dark brown sugar

¾ packed cup light brown sugar

finely grated zest of 1 large orange

3 large eggs

½ cup sour cream

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 heaping tsp pumpkin pie spice (YUM)

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

¾ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp apple cider vin

 

Rian’s Mix In’s (add anything you like! )

2 tbsp chopped fresh sage

¼ cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

½ cup sliced dates

1 tsp flour

 

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 375 Degrees. Grease a standard 9×5 loaf pan and line with parchment paper, then set aside.
  2. Place the butter, sugars and orange zest in a bowl and beat until lightened and smooth.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract until smooth

4. In another separate bowl (lots of bowls!), sift the flour, pumpkin pie spice and salt together.

5. In alternate batches, slowly mix the egg mixture and flour mixture in with the butter and sugars. When almost combined, stir the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl until it fizzes and add to the mixture.

6. In my version of the recipe, I added in toasted hazelnuts, dates and chopped sage to the batter! Stir the additional ingredients with a pinch of flour. This will ensure that they won’t sink to the bottom of the cake. Mix to combine.

7. Scrape the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.

8. Allow the cake to cool and serve with a glass of wine or a hot coffee (I prefer the wine). I smothered mine with homemade butternut squash and cream cheese icing, but the cake itself can stand alone. Enjoy! And have the happiest Halloween!!

xoxo,

Rian

 

 

Orange Zest Olive Oil Cake

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Olive oil cake with pistachio, orange zest and ricotta

It was a typical Friday morning. I arrived in Red Hook at around 10am, marketed for my clients** and headed to their studio with plenty of time to casually prepare lunch and clean up for the weekend. As I took my time in the kitchen, chatting with the crew who were stopping in to say hello and pour themselves some much needed coffee, one of them brought up a special request. It happened to be a team member’s birthday and the studio had a tradition of celebrating with cake. Could I throw something together? Sure! No problem.

In fact, there was a problem. After taking a brief inventory, I learned that we were out of milk and butter. Posit you this: How do you make lunch and a cake in two hours for ten+ people with no milk, or butter? Challenge accepted.

One of the most important skills of a private chef is the ability to pivot. There is no saying what obstacles could get in the way. Sometimes a recipe does not go as planned, other instances the grocery store runs out of stock of certain crucial ingredients. (I am on a first name basis with most buyers at the grocery stores I frequent) Finally, there are even times when I arrive at a clients home, only to discover that some of the ingredients I had stocked in prior weeks are now gone.

After a short panic, I enlisted the help of Laura, Rian and Charlotte via group text and true to form they didn’t let me down! Within minutes I got the enthusiastic resolution to my puzzle, make an olive oil cake! They immediately sent me a number of recipes of which I could combine and alter to my needs. Due to my aforementioned pantry issues, I ended up throwing together my own take on olive oil cake, adding in some scraped vanilla bean and orange extract that was on hand.

Mind you, I tend to hate baking. This is a skill completely different from cooking, an enjoyable task in which you can taste and alter your creation at will until you reach the desired result. Baking is a terrible game of precision in which you must measure to a T (literally) without tasting (but really who doesn’t love raw batter?) and then tuck it away in an oven for an hour to do its thing. Little wiggle room for mistake there my friends.

I threw the cake in the oven and went about my lunch duties. I pulled the cake out when the crust was browned and fretted over the cooling process, making a glaze for the first time since culinary school and praying that it would hold shape on top of the barely room temperature cake when I poured it on top. I left for the day feeling victorious that I had prevailed over all the odds stacked against me.

Imagine my shock to come back the following week to rave reviews! Apparently the olive oil cake had been a hit. I was proud but let it roll off my shoulder. Fast forward months later to the new year when it turns out that the memory of the cake had not quite faded in the minds of all others. Within days I was approached by three separate people, all lamenting that they could not find another dessert to stand up to my famous olive oil cake and could they please have the recipe? Once again, panic ensued. I had no idea what I threw together to make the dessert!

Mise en place for olive oil cake

In a pragmatic effort to solve this new mystery, we decided to make a day of recipe testing olive oil cakes to definitively document our own What We Eat signature recipe! We each got a say in different variations and set to work on baking one classic orange zest olive oil cake, one pistachio cake, and one ricotta lavender cake. Once finished, we wrapped and transported the cakes to the office for final scrutiny. (though not before we got a taste ourselves!)

When the time finally came to serve for tasting in the studio, results came back almost entirely in favor of the original version. Though all were tasty and some preferred the nuttiness and delicate profile of the pistachio cake, it seems as though it is best to stick with the original. Why mess with a good thing?

**Note from Laura: You will never miss Kristina in the supermarket. She’s the weirdo with gargantuan headphones that literally dances her way through every aisle. Not a hint of embarrassment. One of the reasons I love her.

 

Orange olive oil cake

Serves 8

1¾ cups All Purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

½ cup marmalade

Grated zest of 2 oranges

1 ¼ cups olive oil

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 vanilla bean, scraped

Glaze

1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

3 tablespoons fresh orange juice, plus more if needed

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 325°F, with a rack in the middle position. Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the paper.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and orange zest and mix well with your fingertips, rubbing the mixture together until well blended. Add the oil to the sugar mixture, and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and marmalade until combined. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, beating on low speed and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl after each batch, until just combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly pressed. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan, peel off the parchment paper, and allow to cool completely on the rack.

To make the glaze:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice to make a thick but pourable glaze; add more orange juice if needed.  Set the cake, on the rack, over a rimmed baking sheet. Pour the glaze on top of the cake, letting it run down the sides. Let the glaze set for at least 30 minutes before slicing the cake.