Jessica's Dinner Party

Archive for the 'cake' Category

Blueberry Crumb Bar Cake

There was dessert! How could a picnic end without something sweet? Before planning the picnic, I read an article in Martha Stewart’s Living magazine about how to prepare a picnic. By chance I have a subscription to the magazine. I think it came as a package deal with something else I ordered or it was a secret friend who thought I would enjoy it, but in any case, I was surprised when I kept on receiving an issue month after month. There were a lot of cute ideas there, including the tomato hand pies that inspired my roasted tomato sandwiches and sour cherry crumb cakes for dessert. I decided to follow the article and make a crumb cake because it’s easy to transport, and the picture looked so scrumptious.

From the time I read the article to the time I went to the grocery store something in my mind changed and I believed that the article talked about raspberry crumb bars instead of sour cherry crumb cakes. I set out to find raspberries and didn’t even look at the cherries. However, when I found the raspberries I was totally shocked at how expensive they were. Half a pint was $4 and since I would have to buy at least three of them to make the bars I would be spending a grand total of $12! It might not sound like a lot to some people, but for a recent college graduate, it’s quite a sum. So, after a good ten minutes in front of the berry stand, I decided to buy blueberries, two pints for $5, instead.

I was really happy about my choice of fruit and could not wait to start baking. When I opened the magazine to read the recipe, I realized that I the whole time I was thinking about crumb bars and that I couldn’t make the crumb cakes anyway because I didn’t have any buttermilk or an acceptable substitute on hand. I quickly scanned the indexes of all the cookbooks I had and searched online for a blueberry crumb bar recipe and found one at AllRecipes.com written about by Smitten Kitchen that was easy and simple. Yay!

August 18 2009 | cake and cookies & bars and dessert and fruit and recipe and thoughts | 15 Comments »

Tiramisu Cake

I really love baking for birthdays. Cakes, cupcakes, frosting, sprinkles, piping…is there anything more delightful than that? My cakes never turn out as pretty and whimsical as I imagine them, but I try not to let that get to me, it’s all part of the fun. I do though get stressed out a little bit before I start baking, when I’m trying to decide what cake to bake. There are so many different recipes out there and so many resources to get them from, that I find it overwhelming to say the least.

There is a sort of thought process that I go through when a birthday starts to approache. I first think of what kind of sweets or desserts this person likes and try to create a list of flavor profiles like: chocolate and strawberries, or lemon and almonds. Then I start the “research.” I look everywhere. I go to food blogs, the Food Network, my cookbooks, magazines, and I also go to the bookstore where I grab any cake/baking book I can see and look through each one of them. This thought process lasts for hours, days, sometimes even weeks and in the end I usually end up with two or three recipes that I like. There’s always one cake candidate that models the flavor profile list pretty well, while the others are more geared towards something I would like or something I think would taste amazing. I mean, don’t some people say you should give a gift you would like for yourself? Well, in the end I usually do the right thing, and pick the right cake.

August 12 2009 | cake and dessert and recipe and thoughts | 5 Comments »

Honey Ricotta Cheesecake

Dessert after dinner is a rare event at my family’s dinner table. Growing up, we usually ate fruit in the evening, a couple hours after the dinner table was cleared. In general, I think this is common amongst many Korean households. However, when special occasions arise, frosted cakes and sweet pastry flakes make an appearance after dinner.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been in San Diego where my Grandparents live. When I was younger, the entire family migrated over here for the summer, and the house burst full of aunts, uncles, cousins, extended cousins, and friends. Now that we are all older, living all over the place, and no longer cute enough to attend summer camp, family reunions and large group gatherings happen rarely. However, a couple of days ago, almost by mere chance, a few familiar faces were able to come together. In celebration of this special occasion, I decided a dessert should be called for.