mix, mix…stir, stir

A cake that can be mixed up in the time it takes for the oven to heat up? That’s just one perk of this Swedish Visiting Cake. It also tastes great.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is nothing short of impressive given how quick and easy it was to put together. What makes it so quick and easy? It’s mixed in one bowl, by hand, and the butter is melted before adding so there is no time spent trying to get the butter to room temperature.  It’s the perfect last minute cake!

The story behind this cake is that you can start mixing it when you see visitors coming up the road and it will be ready by the time the coffee is ready to serve. I can see how this would be true if I could see visitors coming up my road. A more likely scenario these days is, you can start mixing it when you get a text message that friends are on their way over and it will be ready when the coffee is ready to serve.

The recipe calls for the cake to be topped with slivered almonds, which I didn’t have. For a cake that is all about last minute and quick, I wasn’t about to make a trip to the store, plus I didn’t have time for that. A quick rummage in the freezer produced an excellent stand-in, pine nuts. I also added 1 teaspoon of ground lavender flowers for a little flavor excitement. The moment I added the ½ teaspoon of almond extract I knew I likely just obliterated any hope of picking up on the lavender flavor. Almond extract is a bit of a flavor bully and it did tromp right over the lavender. I just wasn’t thinking quickly enough.

I was fearful the cake would be a bit dry, but that fear was put to rest after the first bite. It was not only moist, but tender which made it seem very light despite not using any chemical leveners. So the next time you need to bake a cake in a hurry, or you find yourself without baking soda or baking powder, this is the recipe to turn to.  But please don’t wait for such dire circumstances before giving it a try.

Nancy of Dogs Eat the Crumbs selected the recipe for this week and you will find it posted on her blog.  Thank you Nancy for selecting a speedy project this week; things have been a little hectic around here lately.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 121 recipes completed 100 to go!

A galette is simply a less fussy pie, but the free-form nature seems to add an element of intgrigue to the table. There is something about the just-thrown-together appearance, so rustic, and no doubt handmade, that makes a galette so appealing.

photo by David Peterman

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie baking odyssey was chosen by Michelle in Colorado Springs. I chose to feature apricots and lavender in my mini-galettes. Half an apricot wrapped with dough makes a perfect individual pastry delight. I cut out four-inch rounds of dough and then rolled them a touch larger, spread a bit of apricot jam in the center, added a sprinkle of bread crumbs in place of the graham cracker crumbs that I didn’t have, and plunked the apricot half in the center. A quick fold of the pastry up around the apricot, then a brush of melted jam over the apricot and they were ready for the oven. They looked like little sunny-side-up eggs.

Half way through the baking process a custard is poured over the galette adding a delicious sweet creamy element that played really nicely off the tartness of the apricot. I infused the butter used to make the custard with a tablespoon of dried lavender flowers for a subtle flavor enhancement. Pouring the custard on the hot galettes was a little tricky with these tiny ones because there wasn’t any open space for the custard to fill, so I lifted the apricot and spooned it in underneath. It was a bit messy and offered great potential for burning my fingers, but it did work. Because the custard is so good, next time I might slice the apricot and spread it out like a little pinwheel so more of the custard could be accommodated. In a full-sized galette this would not be an issue as there would be plenty of space between each piece of apricot for the custard to fill. The custard is runny, which might be why it is necessary to add it to the hot galette rather than adding it before baking. It is a relatively thin layer of custard so it could also be that it would just overcook if it were added at the beginning. Now I want to do some experiments to figure this out.

To tie into the lavender infused custard, I sprinkled the galettes with lavender sugar when they came out of the oven and garnished each one with a couple of fresh lavender flowers. The lavender sugar is as simple as grinding dried lavender flowers with granulated sugar in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. I sprinkled the sugar on through a fine mesh sieve to sift out any large pieces of the dried flowers.

The mini-galettes would be perfect to serve for a brunch, afternoon tea, or dinner buffet. They look so beautiful stacked up on a serving platter and are easily eaten out of hand which makes them so great for a mingling type party. Dorie suggests they are best served the same day, and I would agree with “best”, but they are darn tasty the next day as well! You can find Dorie’s recipes in her book Baking: From My Home to Yours.

A supreme snack tip!
We all know the delights of extra pie dough baked with a bit of butter, cinnamon, and sugar, but pie dough baked with the extra custard – oh, wow! Roll out any extra pie dough and pinch up a 1/2″ rim of dough around the exterior edge to trap the custard from running all over the oven. Pour any extra custard in the dough and bake until it is golden brown and the dough looks crispy. This a spectacular treat!