This week: a fancy cake for Christmas!
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-JT
I made the Paula Deen pumpkin pie for work. Best you’ll ever taste.
Never had Black Forest cake, but Black Forest ham sucks!!!
Those look like maraschino cherries for embellishment which I don't believe are used in authentic black forest cakes. My great grandmother came from the Black Forest but I know very little about her or their traditions. She died of heart trouble, possibly caused by diabetes, at age 42. Many did, and they seemed to go in July in the hottest part of the summer with no means to cool, must have been miserable.
I'm making giant pearl cherry tapioca in my crock pot using just one pkg of frozen sour cherries and some slightly diluted tart unsweetened cherry juice which is very popular now.
This was my last box of large pearl tapioca, and I need to find some more, preferably not Amazon, Asian market downtown may have it if I can ever get back there.
Bookmarked the train video so I can share it with my Mom who is a TOTAL Train Nut! Thanks!
Tomorrow I am, ‘baking in earnest’ making four different types of cookies for the, ‘Cookie Day’ cookie exchange at Mom’s on Saturday. There are usually 6-8 of us, and we crank out cookies like there’s no tomorrow...easily baking 60 dozen or more. We share among ourselves, and then the extras go to our churches and our local food pantries. We use Mom’s Pool Table (covered!) to hold them all, and then we package them up for distribution. A lot of work, but a lot of fun!
Beau has really gotten into baking cookies with me these past few years and has become a HUGE help. We will be making/baking:
Coconut Macaroons
Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies
Peanut Blossoms (with the Hershey Kiss in the middle)...
and...Snickerdoodles!
Mom does the Sugar Cookies and Sis is excellent at making various chocolate candy ‘bark.’ Yum!
We’ll watch a corny Christmas Video while we bake. Tomorrow’s selection is, ‘The Santa Clause.’
May have to add to my collection and get a bottle of kirsch or is it kirschschwasser? I do like the idea of a chocolate sponge cake although mixes are pretty good to save time. I'm trying to get the recipe page to load right so I can copy and save it.
I picked up a couple sponge cake recipes on youtube, one from Woodland Bakery which has 2 methods for vanilla. Also Bake Like a Pro has an easy vanilla one but it works better in a 10-inch spring form pan which I happened to have. It would be simple enough to add some melted chocolate in the right amount. Bakers German Chocolate might be just right.
Austrian Sacher Torte https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sachertorte-231043
For our family it is Buche De Noel
Chocolate and Cherries?
Javoll!
Just so you know, the politically correct name for Black Forest Ham is African Jungle Ham.
Just saying...don’t want you to get protested or boycotted.
Really not a fan of kirsch in general, but I did buy a cheap cherry brandy just to have on hand to toss a teaspoon or so into fondue.
That is my husband’s favorite & I have never made one. I showed him that picture & he said, “That is the most beautiful cake ever!” Next March I am baking it for his birthday!
When my mother was alive I used to order English Christmas cake from Betty’s Tea Shop in the north of England. A nice fruitcake wrapped in marzipan with a royal icing cover. Usually decorated beautifully with a ribbon tied around its middle. No one but mom would have it but it made the most gorgeous centerpiece. I still buy those English mince pies for my husband - small tarts, actually.
I missed the cookies thread last week! It is sometimes too hard to find. When I try to find it, the searching is too lengthy even just searching my own pings.
Schwarzwaldkuchen, just looking at your photo I can taste it. I never liked it but it is UBIQUITOUS at parties in Germanic Switzerland. It is beautiful and I lived in the cherry filled canton where the best kirschwasser is made, but the sweet sponge and strong alcohol and candied cherries just never did it for me.
I will have to check out the train video. One of my favorite memories ever is when I was 17 and rode with a friend all through Sri Lankan jungles sitting on the outside of the open train doors. Thank goodness I did it when I was young or I’d be scared to death to do it. So beautiful. Nothing between me and the people and elephants in the jungle except some air.
I have a question for anyone left on this thread about instant pot. I’m looking at one that will be on sale the 12th at Sam’s Club for a pretty good price. Except it doesn’t have the yogurt feature. I’m wondering if anyone that has one of the more fancy pots has used that feature? I’m wondering if I could combine some of the others to emulate it. Such as to cook to raise the milk to 180°, and then maybe the keep warm function? Was it just so darn handy that I would want to spend a bit more?
Here’s a cake for the holiday season: chocolate biscuit cake from Eating Royally. I saw another version of this on Nigella Lawson’s recent Christmas special which she shaped into an Italian salami. This is much easier. It is one of Queen Elizabeth’s favorite tea cakes.
8 ounces rich tea biscuits (or Social Teas or any crisp blond biscuit)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 ounces dark chocolate
1 egg, beaten
8 ounces dark chocolate
Grease a cake ring and place on a parchment-lined tray. Break each of the biscuits into almond-size pieces by hand and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Melt the 4 ounces of dark chocolate in a double boiler. Add the butter and sugar mixture to the chocolate, stirring constantly. Add the egg and continue stirring. Folding the biscuit pieces until they are all coated.
Spoon the chocolate biscuit mixture into the cake ring. Try to fill all the gaps on the bottom of the ring, because this will be the top of the cake when unmolded. Chill the cake for at least 3 hours.
Melt the 8 ounces of the dark chocolate. Slide the ring off the cake and turn the cake upside down onto a rack. Pour the 8 ounces of melted chocolate over the cake and smooth. Allow it to set at room temperature. Remove to a cake dish.
I’ve made this several times and it is easy, crunchy and tasty. Children will like it, too, due to its pebbly interior.
Italian Christmas Tree Cake with Lemon Curd and Limoncello
Ingredients
1 large Pandoro
½ cup of Limoncello or other liqueur (optional)
1 small jar of good quality store-bought lemon curd 10 oz. ( You won’t use it all)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup mascarpone cheese, room temp
2 heaping tablespoons, powdered sugar
edible stars, white pearl sprinkles or anything else you want to decorate with
A topper for your tree cake, I used a star ornament
platter decorations
Instructions
Turn the Pandoro on it’s side and carefully cut six slices horizontally.
In a large mixing bowl add the mascarpone cheese and powdered sugar, cream well beating with a mixer.
Next add the heavy cream into the mascarpone mixture, beating well into stiff peaks, not soft and loose.
Fold in lemon curd, start with a heaping tablespoon and keep adding more to taste and stiffness of the cream mixture, remember you don’t want it runny.
Place the largest slice onto your serving platter.
Brush first layer with limoncello, if not using liqueur just brush the layer with a thin swipe of lemon curd.
Spread cream mixture all over the top.
Top with the next largest slice making sure to angle it so the points of the star do not align.
Repeat with the limoncello and cream mixture on each layer and finally the top.
At this point you can refrigerate it over night and decorate it closer to the time you will be serving it. I’ve done it hours before. Try not to serve it ice cold from the fridge, let it sit out a little.
To cut remover layer by layer and cut into serving size, when you get towards the bottom you can cut into wedges.
Remember, the skies the limit on flavor and decorating, make it your own!
https://www.prouditaliancook.com/2016/11/italian-christmas-tree-cake-lemon-curd-limoncello.html
Plus other favorite Italian Christmas desserts:
https://www.prouditaliancook.com/2017/12/favorite-italian-christmas-desserts.html