Posted on 06/02/2021 1:58:41 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
Tarta de Santiago – or St. James Cake – is a traditional Spanish cake from Galicia made with almonds and flavored with cinnamon, lemon zest, and sometimes sweet wine or brandy. I found it on Albert Bevia’s YouTube channel, ‘Spain on a Fork’ (lots of nice recipes here):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JesYuzdlu_s
Underneath the video, ‘Show More’ includes the full recipe and a link to a pattern for a St. James Cross stencil that you can make for the powdered sugar top decoration -
or you can buy a nice birch wood stencil on Etsy that comes with recipes:
Another very nice website for Spanish food is Spanish Food.org. Under ‘tapas’, they have a version of a classic potato and tuna tapa salad – 'Ensaladilla Rusa' (o 'Olivier'):
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When my brother and I were small, every birthday my grandfather baked and brought us the most delicious lemon cake I’ve ever had – really strong lemon flavor, thick lemon icing, and with those silver dragées (very bad for your teeth :-) sprinkled over. I always assumed it was made from scratch – his wife didn’t cook much or very well, and he really liked to cook – but I have never been able to reproduce that cake.
In fact, I’ve only been successful at cake baking with a couple of recipes. But recently I found directions on how to make a box cake mix taste like a from-scratch home made cake. There are slightly different versions of this, but basically you take a boxed cake mix, and follow the directions; but ADD an extra egg; replace the water with MILK in the same amount; and replace the oil with DOUBLE the amount of melted butter.
I’m wondering if anyone has ever tried this, and how it turned out.
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One of two cakes that I have always had good luck with is the Chocolate Ganache cake from the authors of the ‘Loaves and Fishes’ cookbook by Devon Fredericks and Susan Costner (which book is extremely expensive now, if you can even find a copy. I don't own it, but the cut-out copy I saved in my recipe binder looks like it came from a magazine.).
You can make this ahead, keep in an airtight container in fridge, and glaze with the ganache on the day you serve.
Chocolate Ganache Cake Makes one 8-inch cake
1/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 extra large eggs at room temperature
1 16-ounce can Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
For the ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Don't overbeat, or the cake will be tough.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don't overbake! Let cool thoroughly in the pan.
For the ganache, cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.
Place the cake upside down on a wire rack and pour the glaze evenly over the top, making sure to cover the entire cake and sides. You can tilt the rack to smooth the glaze. (I would chill this in the fridge to slightly harden the glaze; bring to room temp shortly before serving.)
-JT
My husband uses that method for making cakes. I seldom eat cake, but he swears this does make a mix taste much better.
So did my grandmother. When Grandpa sold the farm and moved her to town, she discovered store bought foods and never looked back. lol
“...extra cherries in it.”
Dad’s favorite cake was always, ‘Chocolate Cake with Nuts and Cherries.’
Mom would use a boxed mix (we, too, vote for Duncan Hines brand) of chocolate cake mix and add whatever chopped nuts she had on hand and an entire jar of Maraschino Cherries cut in half. I think she added the liquid from the cherries as part of the total liquid needed for the cake mix.
No frosting, no nothing. Maybe some whipped cream on the side.
It was really good!
My grandmother always had one of those from the A&P, which she called the tea store, in her kitchen.
It started out as a tea company.
My Grandma found ‘Hamburger Helper’ a revelation :-)
(Of course, she was doing her best in her ‘sixties to largely raise a couple of kids on a shoestring.
(For ‘fancy’ occasions, the little frozen puffed-pastry patty shells filled with creamed chicken were her go-to; and I still love that.)
My husband just remembered that one of his grandmothers really liked ‘boxed prepared foods’, and when they went to her house, the kids really enjoyed Rice-a-Roni.
When his mom noticed how much they liked it, she recreated it at home, from scratch - she was also raising a bunch of kids on her husband’s school-teacher salary, and figured out how to stretch a dollar!
That would be very good with vanilla ice cream!
Evening JT. That cake is so beautiful. And thank you for the box cake tips. Good to know.
I made gingerbread for my husband Monday. I sadly baked it a tad too long & it was dry. A few months ago I was in the middle of measuring ingredients for another gingerbread & we had a water unit flood,so my count was off & it poured all over the oven in a giant burned mess. That was fun to clean🙀. Third time will be the charm.
What the difference between Mexican vanilla and regular?
And where do you find it?
Came across an article discussing how expensive vanilla extract has become and it suggested buying vanilla bean pods and soaking them in vodka. Sounds good to me!
Looks like the right spot for BBQ
Oh that sounds delicious! Cherries are the ONLY fruit I like with chocolate. Mmmmmmmm....
Tell husband to just dunk it in coffee :-)
Duncan Hines and his wife.......he was not even a chef.......just a business man who announced his fave his or that.
Soon his name was on a slew of foods. His cake mixes are a cut above.
I really miss the A&P - it was a very ‘friendly’ store.
I also miss the old Giant Food, from when the Cohen family still ran it. A European company took over, and it’s just not the same anymore.
I never buy any other.
I live in Texas, Mexican Vanilla is cheaper and has a ‘different’ flavor than regular vanilla.Pure vanilla is made with the extract of beans from the vanilla plant. Mexican vanilla is frequently made with the extract of beans from the tonka tree, an entirely different plant that belongs to the pea family. Tonka bean extract contains coumarin.
Yum... Cakes? I am thinking of baking a cake tomorrow. Pineapple Upside Down Cake...
coumarin can be toxic, use sparingly.
Post your recipe. I’ve never managed to make a good one.
Canela
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