Four Superb Birthday Cakes (pt. 2)

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!!! Thirty-two years ago (according to Dame Rowling) our hero was born to James and Lily Potter. And to celebrate, we will continue our exploration through the lovely birthday cakes sent to him by his friends for his fourteenth birthday in The Goblet of Fire:

"And then on Harry's birthday (which the Dursleys had completely ignored) he had received four superb birthday cakes, one each from Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Sirius" (Goblet of Fire 28).

As you can see, our next cake is from Hermione. Dinah Bucholz decided that Hermione sent Harry a Cherry Bakewell Cake, so that is what we shall make!

For the Almond Cake, You Will Need:

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup finely ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1.5 sticks (12 Tbs) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 whole milk, at room temperature

For the Butter Frosting, You Will Need:

2 sticks (16 Tbs) butter, at room temperature

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbs whole milk

To Finish the Cake, You Will Need:

1/2 cup cherry preserves

Maraschino cherries, for decorating

Toasted sliced almonds, for decorating

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8" round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

2. Whisk together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed, about 5 minutes. Add the almond extract and beat until combined.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until combined.

5. Add the flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour, while mixing on the lowest speed to combine. Finish by scraping down and folding the batter together with a rubber spatula.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake for about 25 minutes, until the cakes feel soft but firm (what?) when touched lightly in the center, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

7. For the frosting, beat all the frosting ingredients together until smooth, creamy, and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed, about 7 minutes.

8. To assemble the cake, place 1 cake top-side down on your serving dish/cake round. Spread the cherry preserves on top, spreading all the way to the edges. 

9. Top with the second cake, top-side up. Spread about 1 cup of the frosting on top of the cake and the rest into a pastry bag. Use the pastry bag to pipe a decorative border around the edges of the cake. 

10. Line the inside of the border with maraschino cherries about 1" apart. 

11. Sprinkle the middle space with the toasted almonds.

This cake is delicious. And so pretty! Sweetness of cherries and subtlety of almonds? Yes please! I highly recommend you pull this one out for your next birthday party. And many happy returns to our beloved Harry Potter!

Four Superb Birthday Cakes (pt. 1)

Ladies and Gentlemen, tomorrow is Harry Potter's 32nd Birthday!! How perfect is it that we have arrived at his four superb birthday cakes right in time for his special day :) It must be really dreadful to have your birthday completely overlooked by the family with whom you live. But I imagine that having friends come to the rescue makes it a little more tolerable:

"And then on Harry's birthday (which the Dursleys had completely ignored) he had received four superb birthday cakes, one each from Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Sirius" (Goblet of Fire 28).

Harry is lucky enough to have four birthday cakes to sustain him while he is forced to endure Dudley's summer diet. In The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, Ms. Bucholz includes recipes for all four cakes! So it seems to me that we should certainly try them out! That means that Harry's birthday will take up 4 separate entries (and I'll be giving away a lot of cake!).

The first cake listed is from Ron, which means it was most likely made by Mrs. Weasley. Dinah Bucholz suggests that she prepared a Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake, a British staple made popular by Queen Victoria. So that's what we're making!

You Will Need:

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1.5 sticks (12 Tbs) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup raspberry jam

Confectioner's Sugar, for dusting

whipped cream, for serving, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease two 8" round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

3. Whisk together the flour, backing powder, and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.

4. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed, about 5 minutes.

5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until incorporated and scraping down the sides as needed. 

Last Egg

6. Add the flour mixture and beat on the lowest speed until combined. Scrape the sides and fold together with a rubber spatula.

7. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans and bake for 20 minutes, until they are golden brown around the edges (the tops will still be pale). A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

8. To assemble the cake, place one cake on your serving plate, top-side down, and spread with the raspberry jam all the way to the edges.

9. Top with the second cake, top-side up, and dust generously with confectioner's sugar. Serve with whipped cream (and tea!).

This is one delicious cake! It is actually very reminiscent of shortbread, so it's a nice subtle taste-- perfect to serve with tea. It would be an excellent option when company is coming to visit mid-afternoon... perhaps for high tea? Enjoy!

Meat Pies

Our next item makes me want to breakout into song, a la Mrs. Lovett, though I highly doubt that Mrs. Weasley uses any sinister ingredients!

"Mrs. Weasley, however, had sent the family owl, Errol, with an enormous fruitcake and assorted meat pies" (Goblet of Fire 28).

There are several recipes for various meat pies in The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. And several of those are classified as "Mrs. Weasley recipes." However, many of them would be extremely difficult to convert for vegetarians. The Mrs. Weasley recipe that would be easiest to vegetarian-ize is extremely similar (almost identical) to vegetarian steak-and-kidney pie (which we have made already), so I'll be using the Meat and Potato Pie recipe that appears in the "Treats from the Train" section.

For the Crust, You Will Need:
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbs) butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/2 cup (8 Tbs) vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into pieces
1/2 to 3/4 cup cold water

For the Meat and Potato Filling, You Will Need:
2 Tbs vegetable oil
6 ounces Gardein Beefless Tips, or other steak substitute
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 Tbs all purpose flour
1.5 cups No-Chicken Broth
1 medium red-skinned potato, peeled and diced into 1/4" pieces
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped into 1/4" pieces
1/4 tsp ground sage
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs water, for brushing the crust

1. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.
2. Scatter the pieces of butter and shortening over the flour mixture and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal, 15-20 pulses.

3. Turn the mixture into a large bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 cup cold water. Toss with a rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. Add more dough 1 Tbs at a time if the dough is to dry (I added 1 Tbs).
4. Divide the dough in half, form into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

To make the filling for a vegetarian, I have completely changed the order of events and cooking times. So if you are not going the veggie route, you'll want to pick up a copy of Ms. Bucholz' book.

5. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped onions to the skillet and saute until well browned.
6. Add the beef tips and cook until completely thawed and starting to soften. Sprinkle with 2 Tbs of flour, and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.

7. Slowly pour in the prepared No-Chicken broth while stirring. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

8. Add the chopped potatoes and carrot, sage, salt and pepper, and cover. Cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

9. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl, and cool to room temperature.
10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll out one of the disks on a well-floured surface until very thin.

11. Cut out six (but really, I could've made 8 pies with this recipe...) circles of dough and fit into the cups of a muffin pan, leaving the overhang.

12. Fill each dough cup generously with filling.

13. Roll out the other disk of dough and cut 4" circles.
14. Brush the overhang of the pies with a little water, lay the dough circles over the filling, and crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork.
15. Cut slits in the tops of the pies for vents, and brush the crusts with the egg mixture.

16. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, rotating the pan midway through baking.

17. Let the pies cool for few minutes before popping them out to serve. The dough is really buttery, so they shouldn't stick to your pan. If they do, use a knife to help :)

Mmmmm, these are delicious (Definitely not Mrs. Lovett's "worst pies in London"!). And they are perfect to heat up again for tomorrow's dinner! I highly recommend that you give them a try. And enjoy!

Sugar-free Snacks

Harry survives Dudley's summer diet by sneaking up to his room after meals to enjoy the lovely care packages sent to him by his friends:

"Hedwig had returned from Hermione's house with a large box stuffed full of sugar-free snacks. (Hermione's parents were dentists)" (Goblet of Fire 28).

There are dozens of things Hermione could have put in Harry's care package that would have satisfied her dentist parents. But what can we make today that has no added sugar, and would also survive a trip by owl across who-knows-how-much of England? Have no fear, because I found a recipe for fruit leather on a website specializing in sugar and allergy-free snacks. And fruit leather will definitely last through an Owl Post trip.

You Will Need:

2 cups for your chosen fruit, pureed (I used apples)

1 Tbs Lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Puree your fruit in a blender or food processor.

2. Add the lemon juice and cinnamon, and puree again to mix.

3. Spread the mixture evenly in a 10x15 pan and place in an oven preheated to 175 degrees.

4. Cook for 3 hours with the door ajar. If the leather is still wet, flip it over in the pan and cook longer until dried out.

5. Cut into strips and store in an airtight container with plastic wrap between the layers.

This is what mine looked like after 3 hours...

I cooked my "leather" for almost 4 hours, and it maintained the consistency of thick applesauce. Eventually I gave up. It tasted good, but unless you have a dehydrator (or a magic wand), I don't think you'll be very successful with this recipe. While I did technically make a tasty and sugar-free snack (for eating out of a bowl), I don't think it would transport very well in a care package. Especially one transported by owl.

Grapefruit

We have reached the first new food item to appear in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which of course means we are back with Harry's least favorite people:

"When Aunt Petunia put a quarter of unsweetened grapefruit onto Dudley's plate with a tremulous 'There you are, Diddy darling,' Dudley glowered at her" (Goblet of Fire 26).

Until very recently, I, like Dudley, despised grapefruit. In fact, only a few weeks ago did I discover the delights of a properly peeled red grapefruit. Because of my newfound love of grapefruit, the extent of my recipe today is to tell you to go peel a grapefruit and eat it! If however, you find grapefruits a tad too sour, I recommend that you try to find a pommelo. Pommelo are my very favorite fruit. They are kind of like grapefruit's sweet and giant cousin. They also take about 30 minutes to peel because their pith is so thick, but if you're patient, it's well worth the wait! So what are you waiting for, go eat yourself some citrus!

A pommelo and it's cousin, grapefruit! Enjoy!

Bath Buns

My friends, we have reached another milestone moment! We have reached the last new food item in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!

"Hargrid poured them tea and offered them a plate of Bath buns, but they knew better than to accept; they had had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking" (Prisoner of Azkaban 273).

Bath is one of my favorite cities in England. Initially, I thought that Dinah Bucholz' recipe for Bath buns didn't seem to jive with the sophisticated white-stoned spa town of Bath. After tasting them, however, I can totally imagine enjoying one at a table in the courtyard between the cathedral and the Roman baths. Or perhaps at the cafe across from the Jane Austen museum. Or perhaps I should finish reminiscing and we should make some Bath buns. Again, the recipe comes from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. And I have to say ahead of time, that I think there are a couple typos in the book, so hopefully I interpreted them correctly!

You Will Need:

1/4 cup warm water

2.25 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast

1 Tbs granulated sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

2 Tbs unsalted butter

2.5 cups flour

6 Tbs granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

grated zest of 1 lemon

grated zest of 1 orange

3/4 cup dried currants or dried sweetened cranberries

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs water, for brushing

Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

1. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, and 1 Tbs sugar and set aside until the yeast is puffy, about 10 minutes.

3. While that is puffing, Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan until the butter is melted. Set aside but keep warm (not hot, or you'll kill the yeast later!).

4. In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.

5. Whisk the eggs, lemon zest, and orange zest into the milk mixture.

6. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, followed by the milk mixture, the currants/cranberries, and the caraway seeds. Mix well to combine.

7. Knead the dough (in the bowl is easiest) to combine. This dough is CRAZY sticky, so I recommend using a spatula. Ms. Bucholz says to not add any flour unless you really have to. I added 1 Tbs, but I really think I should have added 2 or 3. And unless you live somewhere that's bone-dry, you'll probably need to do the same. Knead for 10-15 minutes.

8. Place the dough in the oiled bowl, and either flip it to coat or spray the top with cooking spray. Cover the bowl and place it in a warmish place to rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

9. Hopefully your dough isn't too sticky at this point, otherwise you'll have the same problem I did and dividing it will be a challenge! Regardless, halve your dough again and again until you have 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Leave the buns to rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. My dough was still so sticky that the buns spread way out into each other. I also tried making some in muffin tins; those worked with my sticky dough.

10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If your buns spread way out like mine, smoosh them back into individual buns. Then brush the beaten egg mixture over the buns (oops, I forgot that part) and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar (forgot that too, but who needs extra calories?).  Bake the buns for 15 minutes until golden brown.

11. Transfer the buns to a wire rack to cool. Though I really recommend eating them warm. And they are best consumed within a couple hours, as they don't keep terribly well.

I have always really hated caraway seeds, so I was really nervous about their presence in this pastry. But they're so good! Definitely the perfect addition to a cup of tea and your favorite Austen novel... I mean Harry Potter book... or perhaps a conversation with your favorite half-giant :) Enjoy!