Pomegranate Poundcake

It's basically winter up here in New England, now that snow has fallen twice in a week. Unfortunately, my kitchen is not ready to give up on autumn yet--pumpkin in the fridge, pears on the table, pomegranate pips in the freezer.

I was inspired to make poundcake after watching the Good Eats episode on the subject. I'm inspired to make anything Alton Brown tells me to.

Naturally, vegan poundcake presents a problem--I didn't think a pounds worth of Ener-G eggs would cut it (they are great, but not exactly like eggs), so I started blog surfing to find a vegan version. Lo and behold, The Blooming Platter. The picture perfect slice on her poundcake post sold me.

And now for that pesky pomegranate. I had pomegranate juice before I ever ate a pomegranate pip, which is a shame, because I like the pips better than the juice. I mean, if you're trying to pound in a ton of nutrients lickity split, then the juice is the way to go, but if you like to take your time eating your food, pomegranate pips are awesome.

When Corey and I were sick we had no appetite whatsoever, but we drank cold or hot water constantly to relieve our fevers or chills. I found that I could stomach frozen pomegranate pips during the last day of my illness--it gave me the fluids I needed to stay alive, it was cold so it cooled me off, and it was in such tiny quantities that it didn't make me nauseous.

Not only does pomegranate pack a lot of fluid and antioxidants, which is what is making it famous these days, it also has a lot of vitamin K, fiber, and folate, plus iron, calcium, and B vitamins. It's got it going on.

The cake itself is very sweet (feel free to reduce the sugar by a half cup if you use the silken tofu I recommend) and the texture is perfect: moist and spongy, and the crust has a crispy, buttery flavor. I used frozen pomegranate pips, but you can use fresh ones, too. They add a slight tang to each bite. Warn your guests that they will encounter seeds--Corey was unpleasantly surprised by them. Lastly, if you have an airtight container your can fit the loaf into, I'd recommend storing it in the fridge that way--refrigerator flavored poundcake is gross. Otherwise, tightly wrap it in plastic wrap.

Pomegranate Poundcake
(Yields 1 5"x9" loaf)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Earth Balance, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup silken tofu, blended or food processed until smooth (I like Nasoya's vanilla flavored silken tofu) 
2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup water
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup pomegranate pips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 5 x 9 loaf pan.

2. Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer at medium high speed until soft and fluffy. Add half of the tofu and beat for 1 minute. Add the second half of the tofu and beat for another minute. Reduce the speed. Add half of the cake flour and stir to combine. Add the water, extract, baking powder, and the rest of the flour and beat on medium high speed for 1-2 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, fold in the pomegranate pips gently.

3. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top cracks and browns. Separate the loaf from the sides of the pan, but allow to cool before removing it.

Pear-Cardamom Coffee Cake

When Corey and I moved in together, I talked about wanting to always have some sort of coffee cake around to snack on with tea. In the real world, lunches and dinners for the next couple days comes first, so coffee cake has taken a backseat to lasagna, fried rice, and chili-mac.

Not. Anymore.

With this really easy recipe, I'm confident I can whip up a coffee cake a few times a month. Enter the pears!

Let's talk about cardamom. Cardamom is one of those spices that you encounter the first time (if you're a Westerner) with total delight. The first time I had chai, it was the cardamom that held my attention. I haven't had an opportunity to use it in a recipe recently, so I decided that coffee cake was it's time to shine.

This is a super simple recipe -- no creaming of butter and sugar, you just mix together everything dry, throw in everything wet, and stir. It turns into more of a dough than a batter, so don't keep mixing to thin it out or it will become too chewy. The cake is very light in flavor, almost white, and incredibly moist. The pears slice under your fork like butter, but hold their shape under the deliciously sweet, spicy topping.

As you can see, mine developed a really sturdy crust. That's because I baked it for an hour (I was waiting for the topping to brown). I changed the original recipe to include more Earth Balance and sugar in the topping so that it would brown faster.

Pear Cardamom Coffee Cake (adapted from Lanier B&B)

(serves 9)

Ingredients:

Cake: 
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Earth Balance, melted
3/4 cup soymilk
2 Ener-G Eggs
1 tsp almond extract

1-2 firm pears, sliced

Topping:
2/3 cup flour
5 Tbl Earth Balance, melted
5 Tbl brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp salt

1. Grease and flour an 8" x 8" pan. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients for cake, add wet ingredients and mix. Spread in the bottom of the pan.

2. Arrange the pear slices on top of the cake.

3. Mix the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the pears evenly. Bake for 40 minutes. Serve very warm.

Voila! A Pumpkin Roll!

Yes. That is (Better Than) cream cheese filling.

 Yes. Those are walnuts encrusting the top.

And yes, that is spicy pumpkin cake rolled up for easy slicing.

This is not an easy recipe. It requires many ingredients, many steps, and careful handling. It requires patience, of which I have very little, especially when it comes to food (which is why Corey handles the pancakes and grilled cheese--it makes the difference between hastily cooked burnt messes and beautifully browned gems of deliciousness). However, the result is well worth the effort. It has wow factor.

Now, you'll notice that there are walnuts on the roll. I've recently, as in two months ago, had a revelation about nuts.

They don't suck.

I don't know how it happened, but one day I bought cashews and walnuts and made plans to cook with them. Cashews ground up into a vegan cauliflower chowder, walnuts toasted and sprinkled on butternut squash soup. That's all it took, and now I don't mind nuts. Now, for some reason, I need a combination of textures to stay interested in what I'm eating. The extra protein doesn't hurt either.

I use canned pumpkin, mainly because I can't be bothered to gut a pumpkin for the very little meat you get out of it, though pumpkin seeds are a lovely snack. I know it's not legit, but there you have it. 
Be very generous in your powdered sugar towel. The sugar is meant to keep the cake from sticking to the towel as it cools. It's also very important to roll up the cake while it's still hot--this prevents it from breaking when you roll it the final time. I've done it by myself in the past, but Corey is going to be home this time, so he'll be my pumpkin roll partner. Hopefully that will make it easier!
When you make this recipe you will come to a point when you need to decide if you want the walnuts on the outside of the roll or the inside. I like the outside for two reasons: 1) It covers up any cake deformities and 2) Many of our friends have nut allergies. Hiding them is just dangerous! When you turn the cake onto the sugar towel, turn it so the walnuts are in the sugar.

Pumpkin Roll (adapted from Libby's)
Serves 10-15, depending on your slicery

Ingredients:

Cake:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3 Ener-G Egg Replacer eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Filling:
1 8 oz container Better Than Cream Cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Earth Balance
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Also:
1 jellyroll pan
Parchment or wax paper
Nonstick cooking spray
Thin cotton towel

For the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare baking pan with sides (aka jellyroll pan): grease the pan with non-stick cooking spray. Cut the parchment or wax paper to fit the pan and spray with nonstick cooking spray, place on the pan sprayed side up. Use the 1/4 cup powdered sugar to dust the cotton towel well, more if needed.
2.Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a small bowl. Beat the Ener-G eggs and sugar in a large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in the pumpkin. Stir in the flour mixture. Pour into the prepared jellyroll pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped walnuts.
3. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until top of cake springs back when touched. It should not be browned. Immediately loosen and turn the cake onto the prepared sugar towel. Loosely roll up the cake and towel together, starting with the narrow end, and allow to cool on a rack.

For the filling:
1. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, Earth Balance, and vanilla extract until well mixed and smooth. Keep cool in the refrigerator.

Putting it together:
1. Once cake is cool, carefully unroll it. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the middle, leaving about 2 inches on each side to allow for natural spreading as you roll the cake. Reroll the cake and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

If your cake breaks as you roll or unroll, not to worry. The filling acts like a glue and will hold it together once you refrigerate it.

We enjoyed our pumpkin roll and shortbread (recipe coming soon!) with Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea.

Apple Butter

Apple picking is, to me, the quintessential New England day trip. I've lived here for a few years, but I never had the chance to go. And, to be perfectly honest, apples are my least favorite fruit.

There. I said it.

I don't like crunchy or crispy foods, and as a child I hated the texture of the skin. I also find most apples flavor to be distinctly boring. So what changed my mind about apples? Apple butter.

In the Chesapeake Bay area, we do not have apple butter. I'd never had or heard of it until I moved up here. It is spreadable and jam-like. Texture issue, resolved. And, you add a myriad of spices to it . Flavor issue, resolved. And it's sweet, but not super sweet, so it's versatile. Great on toast, English muffins, or crackers. Also pancakes and waffles. And also vanilla ice cream. Yum.

The thing with making your own apple butter is that you have to can it. At first I was completely intimidated by the idea, so I looked for ways to do it without canning, but the alternative is just having a lot of apple butter and having to use it in a few days, or risk poisoning yourself and your loved ones.

Awesome.

What really turned me on to the idea is that I could make great gifts. (Last year I made peppermint patties, coconut drops, and cherry bonbons, but they are time consuming and turned me off to powdered sugar for 6 months. I might never forgive them.)

Canning is not difficult if you have the right tools (holler, Amazon!), but you need to follow recipes to the T, and they have to be tested for safety purposes. Also you get points for domesticity.

I'm using a recipe adapted from www.preservefood.com; it's essentially the same but I spice it up more. I've used between 1 and 2 cups of sugar in the recipe, and I like it both ways, but if you don't care for the tartness of apples, use 2 cups. I've also left the cores in the first part of the cooking process. Along with the skin, that's where most of an apples flavor is. I also recommend using a combination of different apples. Pie apples like Granny Smiths and Cortlands will give you a traditional tart apple flavor, apples like MacIntosh, Empire, and Winesaps have a wine-like, or vinous, flavor. Use apples that you like, and you can't go wrong, though very sweet apples like Red Delicious won't give you much of an apple flavor, due to their high sugar and water content.

My first time making this recipe I used whole cloves. They look really pretty suspended in the jars, but if you want a really even consistency, I suggest sticking to ground spices. And usually I'm a stickler for fresh ginger, but its stringy texture will break up the smoothness in your apple butter.

Apple Butter (Recipe adapted from Preserve Food)
Makes about 4 pints

Ingredients:

15 medium sized apples (I like a combination of Cortlands and Empires)
4 cups apple cider
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cloves

1. Wash and quarter the apples, removing the stems. Place them in a Dutch oven or a heavy bottomed, large pot. Add the apple cider and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, turning the apples occasionally to cook evenly and to prevent sticking.
2. Press the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove skins and seeds. Return about 10 cups to the Dutch oven or pot.
3. Add the sugar and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until mixture has thickened and turned brown.
4. Spoon the apple butter into hot, sterilized jars, leaving a 1/4 inch head-space. Wipe rims, place the lids on, and screw the bands tightly.
5. Place in a boiling water canner and process for 5-10 minutes (5 for half-pint, 10 for full pint). Carefully remove the jars and allow them to cool on a towel.

Enjoy on oatmeal, cookies, ice cream, or toast!