Chocolate Apple Zucchini Picnic Cake and Oxbow Farm

I love supporting our local farms, shopping at farmers’ markets and seeking out locally grown produce in grocery stores. Among the best ways I’ve found to support our farmers is to participate in a CSA (community supported agriculture).  Joining a CSA ensures that you receive the freshest veggies in season each week, and also challenges you to use new produce that you might not normally pick up at the market.

Oxbow Farm is a marvelous farm here in Washington that offers tours, education and CSA membership in addition to growing their beautiful fruit and vegetables. This season they created The Oxbow Box Project and have invited local food writers and cooks to share how they are cooking with the farm’s bounty.  I am excited to join in the fun!

I picked up a complimentary box of produce (thank you, Oxbow!) and in it found carrots, Chioggia beets, fava beans, red cabbage, Jericho romaine lettuce, collard greens, Walla Walla sweet onions, zucchini and Pristine apples.  As I unpacked the box, various questions began floating around in my mind. Can I bake something? What to do with favas? How do I incorporate chocolate?

CSA boxes have pushed my cooking boundaries in new directions.  Last year, when I encountered fava beans, I tediously shelled, boiled, peeled and cooked the beans.  A lot of work for a few pounds of beans!  This summer, I’ve seen several references to roasting or grilling fava beans whole ... love this idea and that is what we did (think edamame on the barbecue).  This makes a wonderful, interactive appetizer in your backyard!  As we were also grilling hamburgers, some of the Walla Walla onions made their way to the toppings buffet (these onions are so sweet you could eat them like apples!). Another evening, I shredded the red cabbage and mixed it with sliced onions, honey, red wine vinegar and salt and let it sit to marinate for a few hours. A simple, refreshing slaw!

I also baked a chocolate cake.  I began by grating the zucchini and apples, then mixed in brown sugar, some whole wheat flour and olive oil.  Rather than adding cinnamon or nutmeg for a more traditional spice cake, I stirred in cocoa powder to create a dark, chocolaty batter.  I couldn’t decide if I was going for healthy or indulgent, so I decided to shoot for both and topped the cake with pepitas and chocolate chunks.  The cake emerged from the oven smelling divine.  It has a tender crumb, moist texture from apples and zucchini and light chocolate flavor. Neither heavy nor rich, it was quite welcome on a hot day.

Simply put, this is picnic cake, nothing fancy, no plates, forks or adornment needed.  Just grab a few napkins and start cutting.

Chocolate, Apple and Zucchini Picnic Cake
Makes 1 8x8 inch cake

1 cup (packed) shredded zucchini
1 cup (packed) shredded apples
2 eggs, lightly mixed
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chunks
1/2 cup raw pepitas

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter an 8x8 inch cake pan and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the zucchini, apples, eggs, brown sugar, olive oil and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl, sift together the flours, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Gently stir this mixture into the zucchini and apple mixture until mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan.  Sprinkle the chocolate chunks and pepitas over the top.  Bake for 25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.  Let cool before slicing.

Oxbow Farms provided me with a complimentary box in return for sharing my experiences using their produce. All photographs, recipes and opinions are my own. Stay tuned for Part Two!

Raspberry Angel Food Cake for Bake Together

I’ve been thinking about this cake all month and have been excited for the moment I could get in the kitchen and bake it.  This month, Abby Dodge shares her terrific Angel Food Cake for April’s Bake Together recipe, along with some tempting variations.  Yes, angel food cake ... that airy, eat-way-more-than-you-intend-to cake.  My family has been known to devour an entire angel food cake in one sitting, pulling off one pillowy hunk after another.

For my version, I mashed fresh raspberries to dollop in the batter, reserving some of the juice to mix into whipped cream to frost the cake.  Mixing up an angel food cake is a gentle process – you want to keep it as light as possible.  And I love the way angel food cake cools, suspended upside down on a wine bottle to keep the cake tall and majestic.

This is the first time I’ve baked an angel food cake and I can safely say I will not be buying a store-bought one again.  After sneaking a small bite of the cake, my plan to wait for my family to come home went out the window and I had to sit down and enjoy a slice immediately. Softly textured, snow white, studded with raspberries and slathered in blush pink whipped cream ... definitely the food of angels!

This stunning cake would be lovely for a Mother’s Day brunch, a summer birthday, or just because.  I can tell you it is divine eaten straight from the pan, and is heavenly with berries and cream.  I can’t wait to bake it again!

Raspberry Angel Food Cake
Adapted slightly from Abby Dodge’s Tangerine Angel Food Cake
Serves 10-12

1 cup cake flour
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
11 large egg whites, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup superfine sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
1 cup fresh raspberries, mashed lightly and juices reserved
2 cups whipping cream, chilled

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pull out a 10 x 4–inch angel food cake pan (do not butter or grease the pan). Have a wine bottle ready to hold the pan in a level, upside-down position for cooling.

Sift the flour, 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar and salt together three times (Abby says “no joke – THREE times”) onto a piece of parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium-low speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, increasing speed to medium, and beat until whites are opaque and climbing about half way up the bowl (the tracks from the whisk will be beginning to hold their shape) forming very soft peaks. Continue beating while slowly and continuously adding the superfine sugar. Beat on medium high until the whites are thick, shiny and form medium-firm, fluffy peaks. (The peaks should droop over gently.) Do not over beat. You want to leave some room for those whites to expand in the oven. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat just until blended, about 10 seconds.

Sift 1/4 of the flour mixture over the beaten whites. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the whites. Repeat with remaining flour mixture, one quarter at a time.

Using the spatula, spoon 1/3 of the batter into the cake pan and spread around the bottom.  Gently dollop 1/2 of the mashed raspberries on top of the batter.   Spoon the next 1/3 of batter on top, then dollop with the remaining raspberries.  Spoon the last 1/3 of the batter on top and smooth. Bake until the cake is light golden brown and the cake is springy when touched, about 40 minutes. Immediately invert the pan onto the neck of the wine bottle and let cool completely.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the chilled cream until soft peaks form.  Add the reserved raspberry juice (about 1/8 cup), 1 tablespoon powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Beat on low until mixed.

To remove the cake, rotate the pan, gently tapping the bottom edge of the cake pan on the counter as you turn it until the cake loosens from the pan. If necessary, run a long, thin knife between the cake and the pan and around the inside of the tube to loosen the cake. Slip the cake from the pan and gently lift it up from the center of the pan and arrange on a flat serving plate.  Frost the cake with the whipped cream, or serve the cream on the side with slices of cake.

Carrot Cake for Rebecca

I’m feeling emotional as I sit down to write and am having a difficult time knowing how to begin. Today is my dear friend Rebecca’s birthday. Rebecca died of cancer three years ago.

Rebecca and I met the beginning of freshman year at Boston University. She danced and twirled into English class that first day and I was struck by her glowing, happy confidence. We immediately bonded over big hair, nail polish, jean skirts and sun worship. I was drawn to Rebecca’s joyful embrace of life, her gracious and kind spirit, her distinctive snorting laughter. I soon learned Rebecca loved bunnies, Italy, lemon poppy seed scones, the color green, bananas, classic films (I’m listening to the soundtracks for Casablanca and Breakfast at Tiffany’s as I write), her friends and, most of all, her family. She was full of thoughtful gestures, like slipping a cute card into your statistics notebook, calling to take a walk in the first snowfall or knocking at your door with a bottle of Kahlua (don’t tell the R.A.!) and a bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies.

We ate dinner together most evenings while at B.U. and often discussed the merits of a particular dish in great detail, even if said dish was being served in the dorm cafeteria. After college graduation, we lived together in Los Angeles and our eating and cooking rose to new levels (having a real kitchen and jobs helped immensely!).

Over our years of jobs, graduate schools, living in different cities, our weddings and our children, Rebecca and I made plans. We continued to dream of where we would travel in order to gather stories and recipes for our cookbook together. Rebecca collected quite a few recipes that I’ll share with you in future posts.

She lived her life with grace, humor and dignity. She was full of gratitude and never wavered in her belief of “how truly sparkling life is.” Rebecca is always with me and still inspiring me. She was a big motivation for me to take a leap and start writing Blue Kale Road. She would have loved this chapter of my life.

To celebrate Rebecca’s birthday, I am baking her favorite carrot cake, one that has been baked in her family for many occasions. This really is a marvelous cake – I love that the carrots are cooked and pureed before being added to the batter, infusing the cake with a smooth, carrot flavor that is punctuated with toasted walnuts, fruity pineapple and tropical coconut. I double the cream cheese frosting since I like to slather it on in thick layers.

As I write, the scent of the baking carrot cake fills the house. I’m sipping rooibos tea with honey. Rebecca feels close by. I know the best way to honor her is to live in the moment, to share time with loved ones, to see each day as a gift and not to let the noise and clutter creep into my life. Today is a day to celebrate a beautiful friend who lived life well. And loved to eat cake.

Rebecca’s Carrot Cake
From the recipe created by Sheila Lukins’ mother, Berta
Serves 12

2 cups all-purposed flour
2 cups sugar (I used 1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup corn oil (I used canola)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/3 cups cooked, pureed carrots
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
Cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of two 9 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and butter the sides. (You can also bake in a 9x13 inch cake pan as is instructed in the original recipe.)

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the oil, eggs and vanilla and beat well. Fold in the carrots, walnuts, coconut and pineapple.

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake until the middles of the cakes feel firm when gently pressed, about 35 minutes. (The original recipe calls for baking 1 hour, but mine were done in 35 minutes.)

Remove cakes from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cakes, unmold and remove the parchment paper. Continue to cool on a cake rack for 1 hour.

Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread half of the cream cheese frosting evenly over it (I like the contrast in color, so I don’t frost the sides). Gently set the other cake layer on top and spread the remaining frosting on top.

Cream Cheese Frosting (this is doubled from the original recipe)

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar (I ended up using only 2 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

In a mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Slowly sift the powdered sugar in and beat until mixed well. Stir in the vanilla and lemon juice. Generously frosts a 2 layer cake.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake and Awards

First the cake! Earlier this week, I entered the Pie vs. Cake Rematch hosted by Jenise Silva at Vermillion in Seattle. Twelve pies and twelve cakes from local bakers were entered to see whether pie or cake is the most popular. Last year, Jenise hosted the first Pie vs. Cake Contest (pie won) and it was so much fun she hosted it again this year. When I first heard about it, I immediately wanted to join in!

I normally choose to eat pie (or a pie-like dessert such as cobbler) over cake, but I was feeling inspired by cake. With fall flavors in mind, I created a Pumpkin Chocolate Cake with Caramel Glaze (and caramel corn!).

I wasn’t sure what to expect when Bob and I arrived at Vermillion, cake in hand (safely transported in my friend, Julie's, marvelous cake dome that belonged to her grandmother).

The room soon filled up as all the bakers arrived and set their baked goods on either the pie table or the cake table. After I set up my cake, Bob and I grabbed drinks at the bar, mingled with the bakers and other guests, and admired the baked creations. These were some gorgeous cakes and pies! Check out some amazing photos of them.

Judges were present to taste and vote on the pies and cakes while we chatted and kept a close eye on whichever pastry was at the judges’ table at the moment. There was a mix of excitement and nervousness in the air.

Then the announcement came that the judges had cast their votes. We gathered around and clapped and cheered as different bakers were called out. And in the end ... pie was victorious again!

We all brought plates and forks from home to taste these luscious treats. I sampled two of the winning pies, Apple-Pear and Honeyed Plum with Basil, and oh yes...they were award worthy! All in all a delicious night with fun people, and Bob and I went home in a sugar coma. Next year? I hope there will be another rematch! Still deciding if I'll bake a pie or a cake ...

(The recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Cake is below.)

Now on to the awards! Recently, a food blogger I admire and enjoy very much passed on two awards to me and I am honored and thrilled! Thank you to Katherine Martinelli for the Versatile Blogger Award and the Cherry on Top Award. Katherine’s blog is inspiring, with her creative recipes, fun food adventures and stunning photography.

The rule for the award is to share seven facts about me and pass on the awards to 15 other bloggers. So, here are seven facts about me:

1. I used to be a social worker in foster care and adoption (I have a Master of Social Work).
2. My favorite beverages are sparkling water (love our Soda Stream), kombucha and champagne (I like bubbles!).
3. My brother is in the Foreign Service and his next posting is in Hanoi. Yes, I will be visiting him and eating my way around Vietnam!
4. I’ve been getting into country music and am loving Neko Case’s album The Virginian, especially the title song.
5. Growing up, my heroines were Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott and Amelia Earhart.
6. I am an avid reader and always have a stack of books on my nightstand. Currently in the stack are:
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (I’m always inspired by her writing)
Organic Inc. by Samuel Fromartz (for the Slow Food Seattle book club)
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (we’re going to Australia in December)
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller (I loved her first memoir Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight)
The Little House Cookbook by Barbara Wilder (see #5)
A Game of Thrones by George Martin (reading with my son)
7. My favorite movie is Pride and Prejudice (BBC version with Colin Firth). And my husband and sons have watched it with me, too (and secretly liked it).

Now I’m delighted to pass on the Versatile Blogger Award and Cherry on Top Award. I feel fortunate and honored to be part of such an amazing, supportive, gracious blogging community. Thank you to all of you!

1. Baguette Taste - Wonder Bread Budget
2. Cheap Beets
3. Crackers on the Couch
4. Five and Spice
5. My Darling Lemon Thyme
6. My Pantry Shelf
7. Not Derby Pie
8. One Hundred a Week
9. Pranee’s Thai Kitchen
10. Talk of Tomatoes
11. The Past on a Plate
12. The Wimpy Vegetarian
13. This Little Piggy Went to the Farmers Market
14. Three Clever Sisters
15. Toast

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
Adapted from MarthaStewart.com
Serves 8-10

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups canned pureed pumpkin
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 stick, plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup dark chocolate, chopped
Caramel glaze (recipe follows)
1/2 cups caramel corn, roughly chop 1 cup (for filling and garnish, optional)
1/8 cup roasted cocoa nibs (for garnish, optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the pumpkin and milk together in a smaller bowl. Beat the butter and sugars with a mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla.

On low speed, add the flour mixture and the pumpkin mixture, alternating between the two. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Divide the batter (it’s a thicker one) between the two pans and spread evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes, until a tester just barely comes out clean. Let cool.

Caramel Glaze
From The Week’s Food & Drink

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat. Stir until smooth. Add the milk and let it come to a gentle boil. Remove pan from the heat and whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. This glaze will harden rather quickly, so be prepared to use it soon. If it does harden, you can soften it with a little more evaporated milk.

To assemble cake
Place one layer of cake on a serving plate. Slowly pour almost half the glaze over it (it’s okay if it drips off the sides). Sprinkle the 1 cup chopped caramel corn evenly over, then pour a little more glaze on top. Place the second layer of cake over and pour the rest of the glaze over evenly. Decorate the top with the whole caramel corn and cocoa nibs. Slice and enjoy!

Honey Apple Cake: The Sweet Flavors of Rosh Hashanah

Apples dipped in honey ... I love this tradition that celebrates Rosh Hashanah. The crisp, juicy apples pair beautifully with sweet, floral honey. What a wonderful way to bring sweetness to the New Year! During the Rosh Hashanah dinner, we say blessings and pass trays of sliced apples around the table to dip into bowls of honey. (It is also a favorite after-school snack for my boys – a perfect way to welcome apple season.)

Food for this holiday focuses on sweetness. You can use sweet dates, carrots, apples, honey, prunes, maple syrup or dried apricots in stews, meat and vegetable dishes. For dessert, apple cake or honey cake are festive choices.

While I love apple cake and have baked different versions over the years (always in a happy search for “the one”), I am not the biggest fan of honey cake, even chocolate honey cake. Often, I find honey cake too dry and not a cake I want to indulge in to begin the New Year. Since apples and honey are a natural pairing, I decided to combine these two in a single cake that I hoped would yield dense, moist slices for us to sigh over and savor.

Traditional honey cake recipes call for liquids such as coffee, orange juice, whiskey, or a combination of all three. I decided to substitute pear juice and chunky applesauce for these liquids to increase the fall flavors. I also subbed out part of the usual vegetable oil for fruity olive oil. The ultimate addition, though, is layers of apples tossed with cinnamon. Moist and dense? This cake is that, and more. It is a tall, majestic cake that sings of apples and honey, cinnamon and cloves, and sweetness for a New Year.

L’Shana Tova! Wishing you a sweet and healthy year.

Honey Apple Cake
Serves 10

6 large apples (I used a combination of local Honeycrisp and Sansa)
6 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey (I used fireweed)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pear juice
3/4 cup chunky, unsweetened applesauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or oil a angel food cake pan. Peel, core and slice the apples into eighths. Toss the apples with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, remaining 4 teaspoons cinnamon, cloves and allspice.

In another bowl, stir together the oils, honey, sugars, eggs, vanilla, juice and applesauce.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and mix the wet ingredients in.

Spoon a quarter of the batter into the prepared cake pan. Place a row of apple slices in a concentric circle around the pan. Spoon in another quarter of batter to cover the apples and place another row of apples on top. Repeat two more times, finishing with the apples.

Bake the cake for about 1 1/4 hours. If it begins to brown or darken around the edges too much, place some foil on top. This is a deep, dense cake and you want to be sure it is fully baked. Test in a few areas to see if it is done all over. Let cool completely before removing it from the pan. It is a heavy cake. Slice and enjoy!

Pumpkin Cake with Salted Honey Caramelized Pears and Whipped Cream: Hello Fall!

There is a crispness in the air and, despite the calendar saying summer is here for another week, I say fall has arrived. My sons are outside throwing a football around, leaves are blushing red on the maple trees, Honeycrisp apples are in the market and I am craving autumn cooking with apples, pears and squash. Lots to look forward to!

With thoughts of fall cooking, this past week’s recipe contest on the Food52 site was Your Best Pears. As always, there is a tempting list of recipes to drool over and save (my “saved” list is huge!). One of the pear recipes leaped out at me – Salted Honey Caramelized Pears...these four words evoked an immediate taste that I needed to try. The timing was perfect since I was making dessert to bring to Shabbat dinner and was imagining sweet fall flavors.

Pumpkin cake is a favorite of ours. I love its dense, moist texture and fragrant scents of cinnamon, cloves, ginger and allspice. Mmmm, the flavors of comfort. In the past I’ve served this pumpkin cake with sautéed apples and caramel sauce. This time, Salted Honey Caramelized Pears seemed a perfect accompaniment (with a dollop of whipped cream, of course) and a warm way to welcome fall.

The recipe for Salted Honey Caramelized Pears can be found here (thank you to EmilyC for sharing!). I adapted it slightly since I was using six pears and do not have a sauce pan large enough to fit twelve pear halves. Instead, I made the sauce on the stove top, poured it into a 9x13 baking dish, arranged the pears on top (cut side down), basted with the sauce, then roasted the pears for 15 minutes. I flipped the pears over, basted again and roasted for another 15 minutes.

Simply put, the pears were divine with the pumpkin cake! This dessert combination is definitely a new fall favorite. I hope you enjoy it! This recipe is linked back to a lovely list of pumpkin recipes, too.

Pumpkin Cake
Adapted from The World Of Jewish Desserts
by Gil Marks
Serves 10-12

3 cups organic, pure canned pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs, room temperature, beaten
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Whipped cream for serving
Salted Honey Caramelized Pears (I multiplied the recipe by 3)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a Bundt pan well.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the pumpkin puree, sugars, maple syrup and oil until combined. Mix in the beaten eggs.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until just mixed.

Pour into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes. This is a moist cake and will have a few crumbs stick to an inserted tester. Let cool and then invert pan to release cake.

Serve with softly whipped cream and Salted Honey Caramelized Pears.

Banana Yogurt Cake for a Lunch Box Treat

For many, Labor Day weekend signifies the end of summer and a transition to the new school year. This past weekend was a fun last hurrah for us, a time to reflect on the relaxing summer months off while preparing to jump into a busy schedule. My sons do not return to school until tomorrow, but I have lunches on my mind today as I start planning what they’ll take.

Growing up, my mom packed school lunches for my brothers and me, and Bob’s mom did the same for him. I bought milk at school (5 cents for regular, 6 cents for chocolate!) and occasionally ate the hot lunch (usually on pizza days). When my sons were in elementary school, they went to a small school that did not serve a hot lunch program so lunches had to be brought from home. As they entered middle school and high school, though, buying lunch became an option for them, an option they quickly discarded.

Both Sam and Isaac prefer to bring food from home rather than eat what is in the school cafeteria and I can’t say I blame them. I’m in the middle of reading Free for All: Fixing School Food in America by Janet Poppendieck for the Slow Food Seattle Book Club and it is eye-opening. I highly recommend it if you have school-age children or an interest in nutrition in our schools.

Good nutrition is an important part of lunch, vital to refueling our children’s bodies so they can focus and learn during the day. In addition to the healthy food I pack for Sam and Isaac, I like to include a treat now and then. One of our favorites is this Banana Yogurt Cake. The original recipe comes from Cooking for a Healthy Family by Simon Hope. The cake is full of wholesome goodness from bananas, whole wheat flour and yogurt.

It’s a cake you can dress up with cream cheese frosting or toss in some chocolate chips or blueberries for a little decadence, but we usually enjoy it plain. It’s moist and flavorful and a nice alternative to banana bread when you have speckled bananas sitting on your counter (you can also freeze overly ripe bananas in their peel to keep on hand for baking). I usually double the recipe and bake it in a Bundt pan so it’s easy to slice a hunk and wrap up for lunch.

Cheers to a new school year! (And I can't resist sharing this pic of Boots and Bess hanging in the sun together.)

Banana Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Cooking for a Healthy Family
By Simon Hope
Makes an 8-inch cake or you can double the recipe for a Bundt cake

1/2 cup plain yogurt (I like to use Greek yogurt)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch cake pan or Bundt pan.

In a medium size bowl, stir the yogurt and brown sugar together. Whisk in the vegetable oil, followed by the bananas, eggs and vanilla. Slowly stir in the flour, baking powder and salt until mixed.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 40 minutes, until firm to the touch (this is a moist cake, be careful not to over bake). If baking in a Bundt pan, increase the time to about 50 minutes. Let cool and remove from pan. The cake will keep, well wrapped, at room temperature for 2 days.

The Sweetness of Chocolate Cake and Friendship

My dear friend, Julie, celebrated her birthday yesterday and I was honored to make a cake for her. Julie has been in my life for many years now. Bob and I met her and her husband, Mitch, when I was pregnant with my older son and soon after we bought houses on the same street. That was 16 years ago and since then we have raised children, taken vacations together, shared holidays and Shabbat dinners and become family. Their children, Sophie and Jake, are close with my children, almost like cousins. In fact, Julie and Sophie (5 months old at the time) were in the delivery room when my younger son, Isaac, was born. Sophie and Isaac like to say they’ve known each other since birth!

A special friend like Julie deserves a decadent cake to celebrate her birthday and it must be chocolate. My go-to chocolate cake for the past 10 years is one from Cook’s Illustrated. You can bake it in a 9x13 inch pan and take it on a picnic, no frosting needed. Or you can use two round cake pans, layer it with a rich filling and slather on frosting for a festive occasion.

Pondering a new cake idea is so much fun! I’ve been dying to try this chocolate bourbon whipped cream and thought it would provide a heavenly cake filling. It did, and I’ll admit to sneaking quite a few spoonfuls while assembling the cake. The icing on the cake was a tangy, rich one of chocolate and sour cream. Yum!

A balmy evening, tiki torches burning, sipping chilled wine, indulging in cake and ice cream and celebrating friendship.... just a few of life’s moments to savor. Cheers to a lovely friend!

Chocolate Sheet Cake
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated
Makes one 9x13 inch cake or two 9 inch round cakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering baking pan(s)
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar (a little less if using semi-sweet chocolate)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat bottom and sides of baking pan(s) with butter.

Sift together cocoa powder, flour and salt in a medium bowl. Heat chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring until melted and smooth (or you can use a microwave). Whisk together eggs, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl.

Whisk chocolate into egg mixture until combined. Combine buttermilk and baking soda and whisk into chocolate mixture. Then whisk in dry ingredients until batter is smooth and glossy. Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake until firm in the center when lightly pressed, about 30 minutes for 9 inch cake pans and 40 minutes for 9x13 inch pan. Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. This cake freezes well, too. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze up to one month.

If assembling a layered cake, set one cake on a serving plate. Layer with Chocolate Bourbon Whipped Cream, place second cake on top and ice with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting (recipes follow).

Chocolate Bourbon Whipped Cream
From food52.com
Makes about 2 cups

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon bourbon

Combine cream, cocoa, sugar and bourbon in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour to allow the cocoa to dissolve. Whisk by hand or beat with a hand-mixer until stiff peaks form. Take a taste (or two!). Chill until ready to use.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
From Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups sour cream, room temperature

Melt the chocolate chips over low heat or in a microwave. Let cool to room temperature. It’s very important that the chocolate and sour cream be the same temperature or the frosting will be gloppy and grainy (this has happened to me before ... still delicious but not as pretty). Stir the melted chocolate and sour cream together until smooth. Frost away!

Blueberry-Raspberry Pound Cake, Tomato Soup and Staying Connected

My lovely friend, Christine, celebrated her birthday last month. She and I met in high school and have not lived in the same city since then, but all these years have maintained a special friendship that I cherish. As a birthday gift I gave her Molly Wizenberg’s delicious memoir, A Homemade Life. I have been a fan of Molly’s food blog, Orangette, for quite some time and when her book appeared a couple of years ago I naturally devoured it (in more ways than one!). Thinking of Christine and her love of good food and essays, my thoughts turned to A Homemade Life so I pulled my copy off the shelf to read again. Lounging with the book, I felt like I was spending the afternoon visiting with a friend hearing heartfelt stories from her life and sharing recipes.

The connection between food, friends and family is just beautiful, isn’t it? Food (the cooking, eating and discussing of it) is one of many ways Christine and I stay connected. We are on opposite sides of the country, but sharing about what we feed our families gives us another opportunity to feel like we are just down the road from each other.

Christine loved A Homemade Life, as I knew she would. We started cooking, baking and comparing notes on the recipes, she in Boston and me in Seattle. Two recipes that stand out are the Blueberry-Raspberry Pound Cake and Tomato Soup with Two Fennels. It’s berry season now, so pick up a luscious flat at your farmer’s market and don’t delay in baking this moist, rich cake. Perfect to enjoy in the shade of a tree! And for those of you experiencing a heat wave at the moment (not the case in Seattle...please send some warm sunshine our way!) the tomato soup is quick to make and marvelous to slurp chilled. The licorice undertone is pleasing and refreshing.

Cooking my way through A Homemade Life is a delightful way to celebrate friendship!

Blueberry-Raspberry Pound Cake
Serves 10-12
From A Homemade Life
By Molly Wizenberg

2 cups plus 8 tablespoons cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature
2 tablespoons kirsch (I didn’t have kirsch and used Chambord)
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Butter a standard –sized 9-cup Bundt pan and dust it with flour, shaking out any excess.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups plus 6 tablespoons flour, the baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of a food processor, blend the eggs and sugar until thick and pale yellow, about 1 minute. Add the butter and kirsch and blend until the mixture is fluffy, about 1 minute, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. If the mixture looks curdled, don’t worry. Add the dry ingredients and process to just combine. Do not overmix. The batter should be thick and very smooth.

In a large bowl, toss the berries with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Pour the batter over the berries, and, using a rubber spatula, gently fold to combine, taking care that all the flour is absorbed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly across the top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the cake’s center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours. (My cake was finished at about 1 hour.)

Transfer the cake to a rack and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Carefully invert the cake out of the pan onto the rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Tomato Soup with Two Fennels
Serves 6-8
From A Homemade Life
By Molly Wizenberg

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, quartered and thinly sliced
2 medium fennel bulbs (about 1 1/4 pounds), trimmed, quartered from root to stalk, and thinly sliced
4 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2-28 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes
Water
3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Sugar, to taste
Red wine vinegar, to taste

In a large (5 quart) pot or Dutch oven, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and fennel and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion just starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently-garlic has a tendency to burn-until the onion is translucent and very soft, 5 to 8 minutes more. Add the thyme and fennel seeds and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Using your hand to hold back the tomatoes, pour the liquid from the tomato cans into the pot. Stir well. Crush the tomatoes in their cans, using your hands or a potato masher to tear and mash them into small chunks. Add the tomatoes to the pot. Then fill 1 empty tomato can with cold water and pour it in, too. Bring to a boil. Then adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes.

The soup is ready when the fennel is very tender and a spoonful of the tomatoey broth tastes like a good, full-bodied soup. (If it hasn’t cooked long enough, it will taste watery and raw, like tomatoes straight from the can.) Add the salt. Taste and adjust as needed. If the tomatoes need a little sweetness, add a pinch or two of sugar. If the soup tastes a little bland, add a small splash of vinegar. Serve hot (or as I mentioned, chilled is quite good, too).