Lemon Cake with Black Tea Frosting

This past Saturday, I spent most of the morning baking & photographing this cake. Hours spent in the kitchen, singing along with Daisy May, measuring out flour, standing over bubbling pots, peeking through oven windows. It’s been too long since I’d done that. It felt good.

You see, life has been a little more stressful than usual lately. Mostly, it’s the normal every day sort of stress, with a few real humdingers (trips to the hospital (everyone is fine!), etc) thrown in. Whenever things get like this, I feel creatively drained & unmotivated. I don’t want to pick up the camera, get in the kitchen or blog. Then, when I do, it’s like a revelation. “Oh THIS. This is where I’m happy.”. I feel so silly for having spent so much time away.



Let me tell you about this revelatory cake. Oh, my friends, it is good. It’s base is one of my favorite cake recipes by Dorie Greenspan, made extra lemony by a glaze poured over while it’s still warm. The frosting is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I was trying to figure out how to make tea frosting happen using the leaves (I’ve done that, and while it tastes good, the texture can be a bit off-putting). Seven minute style frosting seemed the perfect solution - I made the simple syrup with tea instead of water, and added just a little bit of super strong tea straight into the frosting. I had no idea if it would work, but it did! It came out the perfect consistency and flavor - you can definitely tell it’s tea, but it’s not overwhelming. This is easily one of my favorite things I've ever made.

Perfect Party Cake
from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

 Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.

Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.

Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.

Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

While still warm, poke each layer all over with a fork, and pour over lemon glaze (recipe follows). When cool, frost cake with black tea frosting & garnish with candied lemon slices.

Lemon Glaze

1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon juice, stir with a fork.


Black Tea Frosting

2 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup strongly brewed black tea
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup strongly brewed black tea

Beat egg whites in a mixing bowl until foamy & thick, they should mound, but not peak.

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cream of tartar, black tea & salt. Bring to a boil. Boil for 3-4 minutes, or until a candy thermometer reads 242 degrees F and all sugar is dissolved. 
Begin beating the egg whites again and slowly pour in boiling sugar syrup in a slow steam. Continue to beat on high for 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

Add 1/4 black tea by the tablespoon, beating after each addition.

Continue beating until frosting reaches desired consistency, about 2 minutes. Use immediately.


Candied Lemon Slices
From Martha Stewart

1 large lemon

1 cup sugar

    Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, cut lemon into 12 paper-thin slices; discard seeds and ends of rind.

    Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat, and add lemon slices; stir until softened, about 1 minute. Drain, and immediately plunge slices into ice-water bath. Drain.

    Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium skillet, swirling to dissolve sugar. When liquid is clear and bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low. Add lemon slices, arranging them in one layer with tongs. Simmer (do not let boil) until rinds are translucent, about 1 hour.

Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Let stand until ready to serve.

Things I'm loving

Hi everyone! Happy Saturday. I’m going to share a few things I’ve been loving lately. Stay tuned for a new recipe post first of the week!


This print from Keep Calm Gallery.

These blogs:
dash and bella
vk rees
la buena vida
happyolks

My dream home on Garden and Gun.




And on that note, Garden and Gun magazine has become a favorite lately. I particularly like this article on southern women.



Winter colors.



Great cards from Sugarboo Designs.



Clementines. Winter sunshine.



This honey jar from Merchant No.4.



Douglas Fir Tea.

For more of my favorites, check out my pinterest account.


Tell me, what have you been loving lately?

Sweet Potato Biscuits with Caramelized Shallot & Sage Butter (Plus a giveaway!)

I’m snowed in today. I’ve always loved snow days. The world slows down a bit, gets quiet.  Snow days always mean baking for me.

A few days ago, I mentioned on twitter I wasn’t sure what to bake next. If you’re ever out of ideas, turn to twitter, seriously, crowd-sourcing is the way to go. I got lots of suggestions, but sweet potato biscuits grabbed my attention (thanks, tim!).



I love sweet potatoes - probably more than your average person. I have them several times a week, in every different form, baked, roasted, as fries, I should have probably turned orange by now, but I’d never tried sweet potato biscuits before.



The biscuits are very mellow in flavor, and just a touch sweet. They go really well with the savory & flavorful caramelized shallot and sage butter I threw together.

What also would go great with these biscuits are the goodies in Eat Boutique's breakfast box. A couple of months ago, Maggie, the owner, asked me if I’d like to host a giveaway and I jumped at the opportunity to share this business with you. I’ve been a huge fan of Eat Boutique since it’s creation and I’ve loved watching it grow.

Eat Boutique is an online marketplace for handmade, artisanal foods. They create well thought-out seasonal gift boxes, full of handpicked goods. The one you can win today is the breakfast box, which will contain coffee, maple syrup (so good on biscuits!), and lots of other delicious things. (Yours may vary just a little from the one listed on the site.)


How to enter:

It’s simple. Just leave a comment here saying you'd like to be entered (I'll only count the ones that mention they'd like to be entered, since this is a US only giveaway. If you're not from the US but you'd like to comment anyway, feel free. ;).

Enter a second time by becoming a fan of Eat Boutique on Facebook, come back here and leave another comment saying you’ve done so.


Enter a third time by tweeting about this giveaway (be sure to include @honeyandjam and @eatboutique) and leave another comment saying you’ve done so.

No entries after 11 pm EST this Sunday, January 8th. US residents only. Winner will be picked at random and announced the 9th.



Sweet Potato Biscuits
From Martha Stewart
Makes 8

Ingredients
    1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
    2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
    2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    1 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus 1/2 tablespoon melted butter and more for pan
    3/4 cup Sweet-Potato Puree, chilled
    1/3 cup buttermilk

Directions
Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some pea-sized lumps of butter remaining. In a small bowl, whisk together sweet potato puree and buttermilk; stir quickly into flour mixture until combined (do not overmix).

Shape the biscuits: Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead very gently until dough comes together but is still slightly lumpy, five or six times. (If dough is too sticky, work in up to 1/4 cup additional flour.) Shape into a disk, and pat to an even 1-inch thickness. With a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits as close together as possible. Gather together scraps, and repeat to cut out more biscuits (do not reuse scraps more than once).

     Bake the biscuits: Preheat oven to 425 degrees, with rack on lower shelf. Butter an 8-inch cake pan. Arrange biscuits snugly in pan (to help them stay upright). Brush with melted butter. Bake until golden, rotating once, 20 to 24 minutes.

Caramelized Shallot & Sage Butter

1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room tempature
1 shallot, finely minced
2 tablespoons sage, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small saucepan, over low heat. Add the shallot and cook until brown & soft. Let it cool completely.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter, shallot, sage and salt until combined.

You can place this mixture in a bowl, or scrape the butter onto a piece of plastic wrap, mold into a log shape and refrigerate.

The giveaway is now closed. Jacqui has won! Congrats Jacqui, your package is on its way!

Maple Buttermilk Tarts with Hazelnut Crust

You’re probably sick and tired of sugar, aren’t you? The last thing you want to think about is something sweet. All those christmas cookies, puddings, pumpkin pies. But I’m going to ask you to give these little tarts a try.



Earlier this month, I received a couple of products from Gilt Taste. One was a most likely  delicious pork shoulder - that I accidentally left on the counter overnight instead of in the fridge. But we’re not going to talk about that, okay? (Yes, I am a total dunce some days.)



The other product they sent over was BLiS maple syrup. I’d been wanting to combine buttermilk & maple syrup for a while now, so this seemed the perfect time. (Although I could have eaten the maple syrup by the spoonful - it's that good.)



We’ve got very simple flavors here. Hazelnut, buttermilk, and maple. That’s it. It's not hard to make, you can pull together the crust up to a week ahead of time if you put it in the freezer, and the rest just requires a bit of whisking. The custard filling is creamy & comforting, and the maple syrup flavor is enough of a change from the sugaryness of the season to make it perfect for January.



Maple Buttermilk Tarts with Hazelnut Crust

Makes 1 large tart or 4 small ones

For the crust:
1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup toasted hazelnuts
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the filling:
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the whipped cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream, optional
1 tablespoon powdered sugar, optional
1 teaspoons vanilla extract, optional


Preheat oven to 350.

Place 3/4 cup of hazelnuts and powdered sugar in food processor. Pulse until nuts are finely ground, about 30 seconds. Add flour and salt, pulse to combined. Add butter; pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few pea-sized chunks of butter.

With the machine running, add the yolk. Pulse just until the mixture begins to clump together. If the dough is dry, add cold water, 1 teaspoon at a time, and pulse until moistened.) Press dough evenly into bottom and up sides of prepared pan. Prick dough all over with a fork, freeze for 20 minutes.

Bake crust for 10 minutes. Remove and press down bottom and sides. Bake for 10 minutes more.  Let cool for 15 minutes.


In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, melted butter, flour and salt. Add in the eggs, maple syrup, buttermilk and vanilla extract, stir to combine.

Pour mixture into pre-baked tart crust and bake for 45-55  minutes, (25-30 minutes for smaller tarts) or until outer edges are set, the middle will still bit a bit wobbly.

If using, whisk the heavy cream until lightly whipped, add the powdered sugar and vanilla, stir to combine.

Top with remaining 1/4 cup of toasted hazelnuts and lightly whipped cream.