Dining Around with Gene Burns

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Cakes and Pies

MINCEMEAT CAKE

1 cup sifted flour

1 cup white cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, separated

½ cup milk

1 1/3 cups mincemeat

Mix and sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Cream the shortening until soft and smooth; gradually add sugar creaming until fluffy, then beat in egg yolks. Add flour-cornmeal mixture alternately with milk, beating until smooth after each addition; beat in mincemeat. Fold in thoroughly the stiffly beaten egg whites. Turn into a greased eight inch square cake pan and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) about one hour. Cool and remove from pan. Cover top and sides with any desired icing.

From the Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery

1 package dark-chocolate cake mix

1 cup vegetable oil

1 (3 oz.) package instant chocolate pudding

4 eggs

¾ cup strong coffee

½ cup crème de cacao

¼ cup Kahlua

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons strong coffee

2 tablespoons Kahlua

2 tablespoons crème de cacao

For the cake, combine cake mix, oil, pudding mix, eggs, coffee, crème de cacao, and Kahlua in a large bowl. Beat for 4 minutes until quite smooth. Pour into a greased 10-inch tube pan until three-fourths full. (Save remaining batter for cupcakes or to simply eat on the spot.) Bake 45 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from pan and invert onto a serving plate. Punch holes throughout the cake with a skewer or ice pick. Prepare the topping by combining confectioners’ sugar, coffee, Kahlua, and crème de cacao. Mix well and spoon over warm cake.

From Intercourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook

by Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge (Terrace Publishing)

JAMAICAN BLACK CAKE

1 pound raisins, minced 2 pounds dark brown sugar

1 pound pitted prunes, minced 4 ¼ cups flour

1 pound dried currants, minced 4 teaspoons double-acting baking

1 pound glaceed cherries powder

6 ounces glaceed lemon peel, minced ½ teaspoon nutmeg

6 ounces glaceed orange peel, minced ½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 bottle (750 ml) Manishewitz Concord Grape 4 sticks unsalted butter, softened

Wine 10 large eggs

1 bottle (750 ml) dark rum 1 teaspoon vanilla

2 pounds 1 ½ cups almond paste (3/4 pound)

(if desired)

FOR THE ICING

7 cups confectioners’ sugar (about 2 pounds), sifted

6 large egg whites at room temperature

2 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice

silver dragees for decorating the cake (avail. at specialty food or grocery stores.)

In large bowl combine well raisins, prunes, currants, cherries, peels, wine and rum and let fruit macerate, covered, at room temperature for at least two weeks.

In a heavy skillet combine 1 pound brown sugar and 1 cup water, bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring and washing down sugar crystals clinging to side with a brush dipped in cold water until dissolved, and boil syrup swirling the skillet occasionally for three to four minutes or until reduced to 1 ¾ cups. Let the burnt sugar syrup cool and reserve it.

Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon. In a large bowl of an electric mixer cream together remaining 1 pound brown sugar and butter until mixture is light and fluffy and beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, the flour mixture and 1 1/3 cups of the reserved burnt sugar syrup, reserving the remainder for another use. In another large bowl combine well flour mixture, fruit mixture and divide the batter between two buttered floured 10-inch springform pans. Bake the cakes in middle of preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2 hours or until cakes are set and a tester inserted in the centers comes out with some crumbs adhering to it. (The centers of the cakes will be quite moist.) Let cakes cool in pans on a rack, remove the sides and bottoms of the pans, and wrap the cakes in foil or waxed paper. Let cakes stand a room temperature for one week.

Roll out half the almond paste between sheets of plastic wrap to form a 10-inch round and remove the top sheet of plastic wrap. Fit the almond paste layer over one cake, trimming the edge if necessary, and remove the other sheet of plastic wrap. Roll out and fit the remaining almond paste onto the remaining cake in the same manner.

Icing:

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat 4 cups of the confectioners’ sugar, egg whites and the lemon juice for 4 to 6 minutes or until mixture holds soft peaks. Beat in the remaining 3 cups confectioners’ sugar and beat the icing until it holds stiff peaks.

Transfer 2 cups of the icing to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip, spread the remaining icing on the tops and sides of the cakes with a long metal spatula, and pipe the icing in the pastry bag decoratively onto the caked. Arrange the dragees on the cakes. Makes 2 black cakes.

Gourmet Magazine November 1988

SUMMER FRUIT GRATIN

½ lb. peaches, peeled, pitted and quartered ½ lb. cherries, pitted and halved

½ lb. apricots, pitted and halved 6 cups sugar

½ lb. red plums, pitted and quartered 3 ea. Vanilla beans

½ lb. green plums, pitted and quartered 2 ea. Cinnamon sticks

Can the above fruit. The vanilla beans should be cut in half and placed in the canning syrup when it is brought to a boil. For flavor leave the vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks in the jars of fruit when they are sealed.

To serve as: SUMMER FRUIT AND MARSCAPONE GRATIN

8 frozen marscapone

8 pieces shortbread discs

mint chiffonade

mint sprigs

jarred fruits and their liquid

Combine the peaches, apricots and plums with a small amount of the canning liquid in a pan and heat to a boil. Reduce heat and add the cherries and enough canning liquid from the cherries for a sauce. Keep hot. Distribute the fruit in the individual bowls and place a piece of shortbread with a disc of frozen marscapone gratin in the cente. Place the bowl in the oven long enough so that the marscapone just starts to melt. Garnish with mint chiffonade and mint sprigs.

Marscapone

12 ounces superfine sugar 24 ounces Marscapone cheese – room temperature

12 ounces egg whites juice of 1 lemon

Heat sugar, lemon juice and water to 240 degrees. Add to medium to stiff egg white peaks while whipping on high speed. Mix until cool. Fold into marscapone into half batches. Do not overfold or marscapone will break. Pipe into mold. Freeze overnight.

Vanilla Shortbread

8 ½ ounces all-purpose flour ½ pod vanilla bean seeds

4 ounces powdered sugar pinch of salt

6 ounces cake flour 10 ounces of butter

Mix with dry ingredients. Paddle on speed one. Add butter in cubes. Mix until dough pulls off sides of bowl. Roll on lightly floured surface, ¼ inch thick. Cut out desired size circle. Refrigerate at least 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.

As prepared by Michael Mina, Executive Chef Aqua Restaurant, 252 California St., San Francisco

HONEY-CHEESE PIE WITH STRAWBERRY COMPOTE

CRUST FILLING

¼ cup unsalted butter 2 8-ounce pkgs. cream cheese, room temp.

2 tablespoons honey 1 15-16 ounce container whole milk ricotta cheese

35 vanilla wafer cookies ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

¾ cup whole almonds ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon honey

¾ cup walnuts 4 extra large eggs

¼ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon lemon extract

COMPOTE

3 12-ounce baskets small strawberries, hulled and quartered

1/3 cup honey

Additional honey

Strawberry blossoms or other small nonpoisonous flowers (optional)

For Crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap outside of 10-inch diameter springform pan with 2 ½ inch-high sides with foil. Bring butter and honey to boil in heavy small saucepan, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Finely grind vanilla wafers in processor. Add nuts and salt to processer. Add butter mixture and process until nuts are finely chopped. Press mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of prepared pan. Bake until golden. (12 min.) Transfer to rack and cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325.

For Filling

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and ricotta cheese in large bowl until smooth. Mix in sugar and honey. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and lemon extracts. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie until puffed, golden and center moves slightly when pan is shaken, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. Cover and chill. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead.)

For compote

Mix quartered strawberries and 1/3 cup hone in large bowl. Cover and chill. (May be made 4 hours ahead.

Run small sharp knife around sides of pan to loosen pie. Release pan sides. Drizzle additional honey over pie in zigzag pattern. Transfer pie to serving platter, Using slotted spoon, transfer some of strawberry compote to top of pie, if desired. Garnish pie with strawberry blossoms. Cut pie into wedges and serve with remaining strawberry compote.