Autumn Birthday Cake

The fact that my birthday is the last day of summer/first day of fall actually has more to do with the name of this recipe than the color scheme does. Chocolate and orange just happen to be one of my favorite flavor combinations. I’ve also been blessed with a contrary gene. As much as I enjoy apples, it seems like everyone has apple recipes at this time of the year. So of course I had to do something different.

There is a nostalgic element in the cake itself. Chocolate raisin cake is one of my dad’s favorites. (Usually a 9” x 13” sheet cake with chocolate frosting or icing.) It was often made by my grandmother, and one of my aunts still makes it occasionally. Since my family lives four states away, when I do see them, it’s often in the summer. I haven’t spent my birthday with them in many years. Tweaking and enjoying a family favorite was the next best thing.

Here’s something for you to consider before starting this recipe. This version is large enough to make a 3 layer cake. I decided to make cupcakes instead, so I could easily share with my older daughter and the veterinary clinic she works at. When you reach a certain age how much birthday cake do you need, really? Besides, we’ve been taking our pets to her boss for several years. They always get good, reasonably priced care there. I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of some birthday cake. Feel free to bake this in the format that suits your needs the best.

Cake

1 c. Raisins

½ c. Triple Sec

4 oz. Baking Chocolate Bar (I used Ghirardelli 100% Cacao)

1 tsp. Instant Espresso Powder (to intensify chocolate flavor)

½ c. Butter

2 ½ c. All-purpose Flour

1 ½ c. Sugar (I used Coconut and Cane)

1 ½ tsp. Baking Soda

¼ tsp. Salt

1 ¼ c. Buttermilk

3 eggs

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 tbsp. Orange Zest

At least 1 hour before, and as much as one day, put the raisins in a small container and pour in the Triple Sec. Cover with a lid if doing a day before. Pre-heat oven to 350°. Melt butter, baking chocolate and espresso powder together and allow to cool a bit while combining the remaining ingredients. This cake is forgiving enough that you can put everything into one bowl and let a mixer do the rest. But it doesn’t hurt anything to stir the dry ingredients together before adding the wet. Add the chocolate and raisins, along with any liquid that hasn’t been absorbed by the fruit.

Baking time will be determined by the pans used. Standard-size cupcakes should be checked in 20 minutes. If still wet in the middle after tested with a tooth-pick, add another 5 minutes until done. Layer cakes will take 30-35 minutes. Start checking a sheet cake in 40-45 minutes.

Frosting

½ c. Butter, softened

4 ½ c. Sifted Powdered Sugar

1 tbsp. Orange Zest

4-5 tbsp. Orange Juice

Combine the frosting ingredients. If it seems a little dry, a small amount of Triple Sec can be used to reach spreadable consistency. Start with 1 tbsp. or less. Apply to cake when it has completely cooled.

The Project Queen

Eternal Butterflies

A few weeks ago, I was treated to the sight of two Giant Swallowtail butterflies flying together. One was just a few inches below the other, and it seemed like they were doing a synchronized dance. Though it might actually be very common butterfly behavior, I can’t recall ever seeing them fly together like that. I saw them from my kitchen window while making supper. It was a lovely way to end the day.

Since we live in world that seems increasingly bleak, it can be hard to notice the small blessings we are gifted with everyday. Sharing them with others is another matter altogether. Sometimes, you don’t immediately realize you have been given a blessing you need to share. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera in reach to make a video of my unexpected butterfly performance. I will always be fortunate to possess the memory. But how to share it with someone else?

You never know what you might be doing when a small voice tells you to reach out to another. I was actually cleaning my bunny cages. Due to the purchase of our Airstream trailer, I know of someone who is ill. While doing my chores, I kept getting the feeling I needed to reach out to her and let her know someone is thinking of her. However, I have never met her in person. Sending a card didn’t seem very meaningful. Then it occurred to me I did have a way to immortalize my butterfly blessing, by using a lifelong blessing I’ve been given. (And which provides the subjects for this blog.)

Making butterflies is actually one of my favorite small projects. For some strange reason, I don’t make them frequently. I also haven’t made any for myself.  The last time I made some was about two years ago. (See the Beautiful Butterflies post). They were a gift for a coworker who had just experienced a loss. So maybe there’s a trend here.

Top view of my Giant Swallowtails.

They are made with inkjet shrink film, then hand painted with metallic watercolors.

The bodies are made of black yarn.

If you want to make realistic butterflies, you can't ignore the underside of the wings.

For many butterfly species the underside is often very different from the top.

The Project Queen

Strawberry Margarita Cream Cheese Pie

Technically the end of summer is a bit later in September, usually on or around my birthday. But most of us tend to think of Labor Day as the end. What better way to say “goodbye” and enjoy a 3-day weekend than with slightly boozy pie? (Spirits are completely optional, and the pie is still delicious.)

If you are a child of the 1970s or 80s, you may be acquainted with a mostly no-bake pie that contained a graham cracker crust, cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice. It was topped with canned cherry pie filling. I believe the recipe was on the inside label of Borden’s condensed milk, and perhaps in a few ladies’ magazines.

This recipe shares some similarities, such as a graham cracker crust (my favorite) and cream cheese in the filling. And there the similarities end. The great thing about this pie is the ease with which it can be customized. Start with the crust. If you want something saltier, use crushed pretzels or butter crackers.

Crumb Crust for 9” pie dish

1 ½ c. Cookie or Cracker Crumbs

1/3 c. Sugar

¼ c. Butter

2 tbsp. Organic Coconut Oil

1 tbsp. Lime Zest

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Crush your cookies or crackers into fine crumbs. If you end up with more than needed for your crust, save them to top something else. Melt the oils (I usually do this in my glass pie dish) and add the sugar. When the sugar has melted a bit, stir in the crumbs and lime zest. Press the mixture over the bottom and up the sides of the dish. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.

Filling

(2) 8 oz. Packages Cream Cheese

(1) 8 oz. Carton Mascarpone Cheese

1 c. Powdered Sugar

¼ c. Fresh Lime Juice

½ c. Strawberry Syrup (I used Torani)

1 tbsp. Triple Sec

Put all the ingredients in a bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat the cream cheese until smooth, but before turning on, mash the beaters down into the cheese several times to break it apart and minimize splattering. Pour the filling into the crust and let it chill at least 6 hours, but overnight is better. It’s best to allow the pie to set before topping with fruit.

Strawberry Topping

1 lb. Fresh Strawberries

¼ c. sugar

1/8 c. Fresh Lime Juice

1 tbsp. Triple Sec

1 tsp. to 1 tbsp. thickener (Your choice. I use tapioca starch, but corn would be fine)

Hull and quarter the strawberries into a small bowl, preferably one that has a lid. Add remaining ingredients and stir to coat the berries. Cover and chill. There should be juice in an hour or two. If adding thickener, drain off the juice. Stir a small amount of juice into the starch, then stir the mixture into the juice. Once no trace of the starch remains pour the juice back into the strawberries. If using tapioca, it isn’t necessary to heat the juice. Put the topping on the pie when ready to serve.

 

Not feeling the use of an oven? Cream pies with crumb crusts are great

for the deconstructed treatment.

(I believe the British call them trifles.)

Small jam jars are great for individual servings.

Layer crumbs, filling and fruit. The number of layers will be determined

by the number of servings you want.

Bonus! With this method you can cut the sugar and fat that binds a crumb crust.

If you feel the need to cut further, use lower fat cheeses.

I make desserts like this once or twice a year, so I don't worry too much

about removing the fun stuff.

 The Project Queen

Passion Flower

This exotic beauty is one of the few plants in my garden that seems to enjoy 95°+ heat. It’s been blooming for about a month now, opening one or two flowers at a time as the plant creeps up my arbor. When I got home from South Dakota a week and a half ago, it had 5 buds at the top. The last flower bloomed today. So I’ll see if the plant stretches to make anymore. I’ve also been leaving the spent buds in the hopes that there might be fruit.

The Project Queen

Know Your Caterpillars

 Depending on your geographic location, this post might be a bit late for some people. I took the above photo almost a month ago. (Don’t know where the summer went, but it seems like I should have gotten a lot more accomplished.)

Why caterpillars as a subject? If you garden, or even keep a few container plants outside, you probably understand. Sooner or later, you will find the many-legged creepy-crawlies on your leafy babies. Let’s be honest here. Mankind has a love-hate relationship with caterpillars. The nature of the relationship depends on your age and interests. (Play with wooly caterpillars as child? I did.)

When it comes to dealing with these “pests” you find devouring your favorite plants, the first thing you need to do is identify them. I am not going to make any moral judgments here about how anyone decides which of nature’s creatures have value or not. I will say this however. Most creatures we label as pests have remarkable survival skills and don’t require any help from us. But in the insect world, some creatures are truly fragile, as well as beneficial (pollinators). Butterflies are a prime example. Why not give them all the assistance we can?

I first noticed these caterpillars when I went to cut some herbs in my raised bed. It had only been a few days since I had last visited, so imagine my surprise when I discovered the bronze fennel and flat leaf parsley were covered with the same larvae in varying sizes. It made me a little sad to see my plants practically eaten to the ground, but I was pretty sure my visitors were butterfly babies. Before doing anything about the uninvited dinner guests, I did some research to identify them. I suspected they were Black Swallowtails. A few weeks prior to the caterpillar explosion, I noticed several butterflies visiting my yard. I wasn’t sure what was attracting them since I didn’t have many blooming plants at the time. (Unless a plant is a true heat lover, things either die or go dormant during a Texas summer.)

My research confirmed my suspicions and taught me something I didn’t know. Fennel and parsley are much loved by Black Swallowtail caterpillars. I wasn’t intentionally planning a butterfly garden by including those plants. This brings up an important point for those of you who want to plant a butterfly garden. Educate yourself on the butterfly species that visit your area, and make sure you include food for the caterpillars. Yes, the adults are beautiful, but you can’t have them without the voracious babies. If you have those favorite food plants mixed in with things they won’t bother, the damage won’t be as obvious. In my case, the fennel and parsley were starting to feel the heat anyway, meaning I would need to cut them back. The caterpillars just beat me to them. In any event, they won’t be in your garden very long. Within a week of my noticing them, they were suddenly gone. I’m hoping most of them got to make a chrysalis. I haven’t made an effort to find any of them, but once fall finally arrives, we have plans to upgrade the raised bed with masonry products. Perhaps, I’ll discover a few then.

The Project Queen

Summer Fruit Thumbprint Cookies

About a month ago, I went blueberry picking. It’s a bit of a drive from my house to the blueberry patch, so I usually tend to stock up when I’m there. And since the price is so much better than grocery stores, you’d be crazy not to put some in the freezer.

When it comes to preserving summer fruit and berries, I’m kind of a hoarder. A stingy hoarder, especially of anything I’ve picked or purchased locally. For those who like to keep their food sources local where possible, you know how fleeting “in season” really is. We enjoy some of the harvest right after we get it, then the rest hides in the freezer until a few months before the next harvest. I did that with blueberries I picked two years ago. In my efforts not to use them too quickly, I almost forgot about them.

This year, I resolved not to do that. And while baking isn’t always popular during the summer, sometimes you have to make an exception for a delicious, fruit-filled cookie. The following is a recipe adapted from an old cookbook that belonged to one of my grandmothers. (The cookbook is featured in the filled sugar cookie post I did about a year ago. Not including the index, the thing has 975 pages. It’s quite educational to see what’s changed between 1950 and now.) The recipe I played with this time is “Sour Cream Sugar Cookies”. Unlike the sugar cookie most of us know, this one contains spices, and either nuts or raisins. I eliminated those ingredients in my version.

“But you eliminated all the flavor!” I can hear someone wail. Well, actually those ingredients were exchanged for something else; orange zest and oil. (Oil is far more potent than extract.)

Since the original recipe didn’t include a fruit filling, I had to guess on amounts for mine. This is a large cookie recipe, and two cups of berries wasn’t quite enough. The following recipe is adjusted. To fill the remaining cookies I used apricot jam from the grocery store. If you don’t want to make your own filling, there will be no judgment here if you use store-bought jam.

Filling

3 c. Blueberries, fresh or frozen

¾ c. Cane Sugar

Place berries in a saucepan and cover with lid. Place over medium-low heat and keep covered until they start to produce juice. Once you have juice in the pan add the sugar. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. If you don’t want chunks of fruit in the filling, the mixture can be pureed with a stick blender or counter-top blender. (I used the single-serve container on my Ninja.) Put the pureed filling back on the heat and allow the liquid to reduce until the consistency is like a soft-gelled jam. Remove from heat and set aside.

Cookies

4 ½ c. Cake Flour

½ tsp. Salt

1 tsp. baking soda

3 tsp. Baking Powder (I prefer aluminum-free)

1 c. Shortening (Spectrum)

2 Eggs

2 c. Sour Cream

1 1/3 c. Brown Sugar

1 tbsp. Orange Zest

½ tsp. Orange Oil

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix and sift dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until you have fine crumbs, pea size or smaller. Combine eggs, sour cream, sugar, zest and oil. Add to dry ingredients. Portion dough onto cookie sheets. Use a small spoon to make an indention in the center of each cookie. Place a spoonful of filling in each center. Bake 15-20 minutes.

The original recipe says it yields 7 dozen cookies (2 ½”). I got a little over 5 dozen. Most of my cookies were about 3”. I use a “tablespoon” from the silverware drawer and eyeball my portions. Your yield may be different, depending on the method you use to portion your dough.

These are soft, cake-like cookies. Especially during the summer months, I would recommend storing them in the refrigerator. You may like icing on them, but I would recommend one that dries hard. Otherwise you might have soggy cookies. I like them with cinnamon sugar. Use demerara sugar. It has large, crunchy crystals and tastes like brown sugar.

The Project Queen