On the mend

Breathe in.....breathe out. Sometimes I forget these two simple tasks. Taking the time to take it all in has been a lost art as of late. I looked up from my powdered sugar - covered counter top one day, and the summer had ended without my knowledge. My favorite time of year was passing me by without a second to enjoy it. That transition period between the hot humid summer, and the crisp cool fall, that's the best part, and I was missing it.

Not this week. I am taking the time this week to sit on my deck with a big spicy glass of zinfandel, in a big cozy sweater, and read or write, or do nothing at all besides sit, stare, and sip my wine. I just wrapped up another quarter of school, and it all finally caught up to me. The five hours of precious sleep a night, the guilt of not having talked to my parents or friends in weeks, the constant streaming to do list in my head, it can wreak havoc on one's body.

So this week, I am on the mend. Catching up with the emails and the phone calls, catching up on my sleep, taking some time to relax, and putting some good food into my body, that is all that is on my to do list now.

This cake, although I made it over a month ago and am just now getting around to posting it, would be near the top of my list of nourishing foods right now. It is just chocked full of blackberries, so you almost feel like you are eating something healthy (even though we all know it is still a cake). With a little bit of ice cream, and it is perfect for those lingering warm afternoons, and ever so slightly chilly evenings. Here's to the last days of summer, and a big warm welcome to the autumn months.

Blackberry Buttermilk Upside Down Cake
recipe from Bon Apetit Magazine

The original recipe calls for making this cake in a deep spring-form pan, I made it in two 9 inch cake pans for a thinner cake. I actually liked the thinness of my cakes, because there was a higher blackberry to cake ratio that way. If you would like to use both of them, you could sandwich some freshly whipped cream in between the two stacked layers, or just serve a single layer by itself, with some ice cream like I did.

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/3 cups cake flour, sifted
2 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
1 1/3 cups sugar + 1/4 cup for dusting blackberries
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs, room temperature
1 vanilla bean
zest of 1 large orange
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 9 inch cake pans with parchment, and then butter and flour pan. Toss berries with the 1/4 cup sugar, and spread them in an even layer on the bottom of each pan.

Split the vanilla bean and with the back of a knife, scrape out the seeds and mix them with the buttermilk. Set aside.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and remaining sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl and mixing well after each addition. Beat in the orange zest.

On low speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk, then another 1/3 of the flour, and the other half of the buttermilk, scraping down the bowl and mixing well after each addition. Mix in the last 1/3 of the flour just until incorporated. Split the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the top for even cooking.

Bake cakes on middle rack until golden brown, and the cake springs back when pushed gently with a fingertip, or a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 30-45 minutes. Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack with the berries facing up and let cool completely.

Tough Decisions & Tender Biscuits

I have been sitting in front of a blank post form for about 30 minutes now. I think I have started a first sentence at least ten times and promptly deleted the boring, meaningless words. Maybe it's the day-quil giving me serious writing block or, it could be all the butter I have consumed in the last few days.

The writers block and lack of posting in the past few weeks is more likely due to the slightly drastic changes my life has taken in 2011. It is almost February and all of the sudden I find myself once again with one job. I officially quit my design job (you know the one that I was laid off from, and was rehired to, all in the past 15 months) after a lot of pushing for some commitment and security, which turns out was all in vain. Hard decisions had to be made. What was best for my soul, my sanity, and my career? Was it better to take a part time job in a environment that wasn't healthy but where I was using my degree, or is it better to keep my job as a food server where my managers care about my well being and my sense of job security?

This dilemma was something I had been struggling with for about 3-4 months, but the issue was pushed front and center when I decided to enroll in a baking and pastry certificate program here in Chicago. This is something I have wanted to do for a long long time, and I finally decided to take the plunge and go for it. I am three weeks in, and besides a long and boring weekend sanitation class, it is everything I hoped it would be and more. We have made scones and biscuits, focaccia, challah, french baguettes, and other goodies. I have learned so much in the little time I have been in school and can hardly wait for what the rest of the year will bring.

I have come to feel really good about the tough choice I felt I had to make, and cannot wait to be able to put all my positive energy into school and the many baking jobs I have lined up for the spring. So, let's kick off what will probably be a long string of baked goods here on the blog with some delicious buttermilk biscuits. I have never made biscuits before, and for some reason had gotten it in my head that they were a difficult thing to make. I don't know what I was thinking, they are incredibly easy, and so fast. Most importantly though, they are buttery and flaky and taste amazing.

Buttermilk Biscuits
adapted from Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen


2 lbs. 8 oz. all purpose flour (if you have them available, use half bread flour and half pastry flour for better results, but for the everyday home cook, AP still produces an excellent biscuit)
.75 oz. salt
2 ounces sugar
1.5 oz baking powder
.4 oz baking soda
14 oz. unsalted butter, cold and cubed into 1/2 inch pieces (plus some extra melted for brushing)
1 lb 10 oz buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Sprinkle the cold butter over the dry mixture and with your fingers, break up the butter into smaller pieces to evenly distribute throughout flour (you can also use a pastry cutter, but using your fingers is way more fun). For flakier biscuits, do this until you have chickpea sized pieces, in other words, leave fairly big chunks of butter in your mixture. Just walk away, stop touching the butter (I know it's hard). For more mealy textured biscuits, you can break up the butter until it is in very teeny pieces, but I recommend the layered flaky goodness.

Add the buttermilk to your flour and butter mixture and mix with a spoon until dough starts to come together, then get in their with your hands and form the dough into a rough ball. Turn out onto a clean, lightly floured surface, and knead just a few times until you form a cohesive dough.

Gently press into a rectangular shape, and roll out with a rolling pin until about 3/4 inch thick, being sure to keep your surface underneath the dough floured to prevent sticking. Cut into 12-16 rectangles, depending on how big you would like your biscuits, and place on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. You can either keep them together in a tight rectangle for soft interior sides, or spread them out for a evenly baked, crispier biscuit. Brush tops lightly with a bit of melted butter. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown and have puffed up.