Sulky Oven

          Baking was never easy in my non-electric house. I had no electrical equipment, and my little antique propane stove was cute, but sulky.  

 The knob that operated the gas flow for the oven—or, more accurately, the screw stuck through the peg that once held the knob—had no temperature gauge. I couldn't turn it to a certain temperature, but by a thermometer set on the one oven rack, I at least knew what the temperature was. I adjusted the flame by guesswork—so high for 350 degrees, a little lower for 325, and so forth. If I guessed wrong, I had a hard time correcting the temperature because the oven was old and resisted change. The knob could stick with frustrating impudence.

          On one baking day, when I went to light the oven for the rummy raisin brownies I was making for gifts and the Christmas cranberry pear torte I would take to a winter solstice dinner party, the knob, unturned for months, was firmly stuck. Firmly persistent, I applied gradual pressure until, suddenly, the oven succumbed. The knob jumped, and the flame leapt high—too high. I turned it down, guessing at 375 degrees, closed the oven door—carefully so as not to blow out the flame—and turned to prepare, separately, the dry and wet ingredients for the brownies. I couldn't let the chemical reactions begin until I knew the oven temperature would hold true.

          When the oven reached 375 degrees, I pleaded with it to stay there, but it's a mean-spirited oven. With a sneer it rose beyond 450 degrees. With exacting finesse I tried to urge the knob counter-clockwise. Suddenly, with a wicked grin, it jumped, and the flame went out.

          I relit the oven. This time, when it reached 375, it sulkily remained there. I stirred the brownie batter together, put the pan in the oven, set the timer, and started in on dishes.

          Soon the oven was emitting a rich, warm-chocolate smell. Presently, though, those good odors became fringed with a burned-chocolate smell.

Rum raisin brownies, on another day

Still the timer clicked on. Suddenly, truly alarmed, I snatched the brownies from the oven. They looked like the classic burned-on-the-outside-raw-on-the-inside kitchen failure. Nonetheless, I cut off the burned edges and sliced the remaining cake into 24 pieces. The sticky batter solidified as it cooled. Maybe I had a salvageable fiasco. But how could I know? Since my migraine demon has begun reacting with fury both to chocolate and to alcohol, I couldn't even taste my rum raisin brownie gifts.
       I turned to the torte. Maybe it would cook better, since it baked in a smaller pan.

         My oven only holds one cake pan, so I made half the batter twice. After beating butter, sugar, and eggs till my arm quit working, I convinced myself that the batter was "light and fluffy," even though it hadn't even doubled in volume, much less tripled, as the recipe asked. I carefully mixed in the dry ingredients and set the cake in the oven. Haunted by "burned on the edges, raw in the middle," I thought, "If this cake is good, it'll be a miracle."

Cranberry pear torte

        I am happy to report that miracles still happen. The oven smiled and relented. The cake was dense because the batter hadn't tripled in volume, but it was done. Spicy with cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange zest, beautiful with a swirl of cranberry purée-reddened pear slices atop white cream-cheese frosting, it elicited at its presentation a murmur of appreciation. When someone asked the difference between a cake and a torte, I said, cleverly, that a torte was more dense. Two of the guests were an engaged couple. When the fiancée said, "This cake is fabulous. Do you do wedding cakes?" I gave a grateful inward wink to my stove, which, I knew, was sitting at home, gleaming modestly at its success.








Nest week: Carberry Creek Dessert Bake-off, Part1
Recipes below:
          Rummy raisin brownies
          Cranberry pear torte


Rummy raisin brownies
Yield: 16

Ingredients
1 cup raisins (about 5 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup dark rum
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preparation
Butter a 9x13x2-inch baking pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Soak raisins in rum until plump, about 30 minutes.
To make
Stir butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat until smoothly blended. Cool slightly and whisk in the eggs and sugar, then the raisins with their liquid, then the flour. Finally mix in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees until done, about 20 minutes. Cool, and cut into squares.




Cranberry pear torte
(from Bon Appetit)
Serves 10

Ingredients
2 cups chopped toasted walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
Preparation
Toast walnuts in frying pan over medium-low heat, stirring. Chop fine. Grate orange peel to make 2 teaspoons. Melt butter and let cool to lukewarm. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter 2 9-inch-diameter cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with waxed paper. Butter and flour waxed paper. Tap out excess flour.
To make
Blend walnuts and flour. Add breadcrumbs, orange peel, spices, and salt, and blend well. Beat eggs in large bowl until frothy. Gradually beat in sugar and brown sugar. Continue beating until mixture is thick and triples in volume, about 6 minutes (longer, much longer, if you're mixing by hand).
Fold flour mixture and melted lukewarm butter alternately into egg mixture, beginning and ending with flour. (Do not overmix!) Divide batter between prepared cake pans. Smooth tops.
Bake cakes until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool pans on racks 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks and cool completely. Remove waxed paper.

Topping
Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
To make
Toss cranberries with sugar to coat. Transfer berries to plate. Cover and freeze.

Cream cheese-orange frosting
Ingredients
1 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Preparation
Grate orange peel. Set out butter and cream cheese to soften.
To make
Beat cream cheese, butter, and orange peel in large bowl until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until frosting is light and fluffy. Cover and refrigerate until frosting is firm enough to spread, about 30 minutes.

Poached pears with cranberry purée
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups orange juice
2 large firm but ripe Bosc pears
Preparation
Peel and core pears and cut into 3/4-inch wedges.
To make
Combine berries, sugar, and juice in heavy large skillet. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer over medium heat until berries burst, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Purée until smooth. Strain into same skillet.
Bring purée to simmer over medium heat. Add pear wedges and stir to coat. Simmer until pears are just tender, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, remove pears from skillet, shaking excess purée back into skillet, and transfer pears to paper-towel-lined plate. Reserve purée.

Assemblage
Ingredients
Two cake layers
Frosting
3/4 cup walnuts, toasted
Poached pears
Cranberry purée
Frozen sugar-coated cranberries
To assemble
Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread with 1 cup frosting. Top with second cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of torte. Press remaining walnuts onto torte sides. Arrange pears decoratively on top.
Rewarm cranberry purée in small saucepan over medium heat. Brush some purée over pears. Transfer remaining purée to bowl.

To finish
Garnish torte with frozen sugar-coated cranberries. Serve torte with purée.