Sour Cherry & Mascarpone Pound Cake

Last night my husband and I took our kids to dinner at Ruby's diner (a family favorite) and then to see Cars 2. We had lots of fun but taking a 4 & 2 year old out for the evening can be a little stressful at times. When we got home I wanted to relax so I tucked the kids in bed, made a pot of coffee and got out this recipe. It isn't an overly hard recipe but it does take time so I would not attempt this one at 9 pm again.  The recipe I followed is from Domenica Marchetti's cook book Big Night In http://www.domenicacooks.com/2011/05/cakewalk/

Sour Cherry-Mascarpone Pound Cake:

1 1/2 cups ( 3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more to grease the pan
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more to flour the pan
2 cups fresh sour cherries, pitted and halved
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces mascarpone or sour cream, at room temperature
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter and flour a 10-inch Bundt or tube pan and set it aside
In a small bowl, mix the cherries with 1/2 cup of the sugar. Let the mixture steep while you prepare the batter for the cake.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Set aside.
Put the 1 1/2 cups butter in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat briefly on medium speed to soften. Add the remaining 3 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and beat at high speed until light and airy, 5 full minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Change the speed to medium and alternately add the flour-salt mixture and the mascarpone and sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until incorporated.
Drain the cherries, reserving the syrup that collects in the bowl. With a rubber or silicone spatula, fold the cherries into the batter.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour & 15 minutes.
While the cake is baking, put the reserved cherry syrup in a small saucepan and boil for about 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Strain and reserve the liquid.
When the cake is done, place the pan on a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan. While it is still warm, brush the top and sides with the warm cherry syrup. The cake will absorb the syrup. Let the cake cool to room temperature.
To serve, transfer the cake to a decorative platter or cake stand. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

I was very happy with how it turned out, so was my husband. I did have to tweak a few things because I didn't have the exact ingredients. I substituted bleached all purpose flour for the unbleached, i used 6 Tbs. of salted butter because I only had 2 sticks & 2 Tbs. of unsalted butter, I used 4 ounces of mascarpone and 4 ounces of sour cream. I also unfortunately do not have fresh sour cherries available near me so I used the canned Oregon Tart Cherries in water (not syrup). It is a great recipe and I will definitely make it again.  

Strawberry Frosting

This is Sprinkles Cupcakes' Strawberry Frosting Recipe:
I tried the strawberry cupcake recipe with strawberry frosting from Sprinkles. I wasn't impressed with the cupcake but I loved the strawberry frosting. I hope you do too.

1/2 c. fresh whole strawberries
1 c. unsalted butter, slightly cold
pinch of coarse salt
1lb. box of Powdered Sugar
1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

Place strawberries in food processor and puree. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment beat butter and salt together on medium speed until fluffy. Turn the mixer to low and add powdered sugar, beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 4 T. of strawberry puree(save any remaining for another use) mix until just blended, do not over mix. Frosting should be dense and creamy like ice cream.


**Frost cakes or cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting then garnish with quartered fresh strawberries for an extra treat **

Brown Butter Shortbread

1 cup butter (I prefer salted)

2/3 cup sugar

1 T. vanilla sugar (If you dont have vanilla sugar you can use 1 T. fine sugar with 1 t. pure Madagascar vanilla extract)

2 1/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

In a small saucepan melt butter on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned. Stir in sugar and vanilla sugar and remove from heat. Refrigerate for about an hour.  

Combine flour and baking powder and beat in cooled butter mixture to form a dough, it's okay if it is crumbly.

Preheat oven to 325* Roll dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter.

Place dough balls about an inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press each ball of dough down using the tines of a fork, you may have to hold the edges of the cookie while you press down to keep it from crumbling. 

Bake at 325* for 18-20 minutes, or until edges just start to turn golden. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 1 minute then transfer to cooling rack.

 

**If you have tried this recipe leave some feed back, I love to hear how your creations turn out**

Vanilla & Chocolate Ganche Cupcakes

1 box of French Vanilla or Vanilla Bean Cake mix
8 ounces of the best Bittersweet or Dark Chocolate (I use Ghirardelli)
1 c. Heavy Cream
2 Tbs. Powdered Sugar

Finely chop chocolate and place in microwave safe bowl with powder sugar and heavy cream. Microwave on medium-high heat for 30 seconds. Stir until smooth, if chocolate isn't melted yet place in microwave 15 seconds at a time until it is smooth. Then refrigerate for 1 hour.

Prepare Cake Mix as directed on the box. Pour batter into lined cupcake tins, each cupcake should be 2/3 full. Place 1 Tbs. ganache carefully on top of the cupcake batter and bake as directed on the box.

Once cool top with Brown Butter Frosting and gold sprinkles.

Brown Butter Frosting

1lb. box of Confectioners Powdered Sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 c.(or 1 stick) of brown butter (see notes below)

Beat milk, vanilla, and brown butter with an electric mixer until mixed. Gradually add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Mix for about 2 minutes.

Notes: Brown 1 stick of butter and refrigerate for about an hour before you make this frosting. It will not turn out if you use brown butter straight from the sauce pan.

Brown Butter Cut-Out Cookies

*Picture Coming Soon*

1 c brown butter (see notes below)
1 c powdered sugar
2 c flour
¼ tsp. salt
1. Preheat oven to 325*. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Beat butter until creamy about 2 minutes. Gradually add in sugar, beating until well mixed.

2. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to mixture, beating until blended.

3. Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut with a 2 inch cookie cutter, and place 1 inch apart on baking sheets.

4. Bake at 325* for 11 to 13 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

5. These cookies are excellent with Brown Butter frosting.

Notes: After you brown 2 sticks of butter let it chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour then follow recipe.

The Amazing World of Brown Butter

   Brown butter is also known as hazelnut butter because of the nutty aroma, flavor, and color that the butter turns after the milk solids have been toasted and any water has evaporated. The best thing about brown butter is the diversity it has. Traditionally it is served over fish or vegetables and some times used in pastry dishes but the possibilities are endless. Simply use brown butter in place of regular butter in almost any recipe.


How to:
Place butter in sauce pan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally.

The butter will begin to boil and making a crackling noise, this is normal. Once the crackling stops you need to keep a watchful eye on the butter because it is almost done. When you are able to smell a wonderful nutty aroma and can begin to see brown flecks on the top of the foam, stir, remove from heat, and pour into a heat safe bowl.

 If you will be using this for pasta, veggies, fish, or anything else requiring melted butter then you are done. If you want to use this in a baking recipe for cookies or frosting you need to refrigerate it for about an hour until it is the consistency of softened butter. Don't worry if you leave it in the refrigerator for too long it will never be as hard as regular butter again.

Making Flavored Sugar

Recently I came across several recipes for making vanilla sugar, I was inspired. I chose mason jars to store my sugar because they are aesthetically pleasing on a pantry shelf as well as nostalgic(they remind me of my childhood summers drinking sun tea and picking cherries).


Vanilla Sugar:

8 cups of granulated sugar
2-3 Madagascar vanilla beans
1/2 gallon mason jar or large air tight container

    Measure out all 8 cups of sugar and place in a large mixing bowl and set off to the side. Starting with one vanilla bean, slice lengthwise down the middle then run the back of the knife over the inside of the bean, removing the seeds, repeat process with remaining vanilla beans. Then place scraped seeds into bowl with sugar and mix well.

Pour into air tight container and allow to sit untouched for a minimum of 1-2 weeks. Use in place of regular sugar when baking cookies, pies, or even in your morning cup of joe.


Orange Sugar & Lemon Sugar:

8 cups of sugar
2 naval oranges OR 2 lemons 
1/2 gallon mason jar or air tight container


   Measure out the sugar and place in a large mixing bowl. Take the zest from both oranges(or lemons) and mix it in to the sugar. Let sit for about an hour before putting it in an air tight container. Use in cakes, cookies, tea...the possibilities are endless.


   These sugars are shelf stable for several months. If you find the sugar is hardened at all you can put 2 saltine crackers in each container to keep any moisture out. Use in place of granulated sugar in any recipe.