A Traditional Thanksgiving at My Little House on the Mountain

          Years ago I built my little house on the mountainside. Life is simple here, by preference, but when my son called from Seattle to say he would be home for Thanksgiving, I thought, "This year I want to have Thanksgiving at my house." But could I have a traditional Thanksgiving in such a house?

          Traditionally, Thanksgiving means family. If my son is my family, he is equally my ex's family, and if my ex is married, his wife is family, too, so family for thanksgiving would be my son, Ela; his fiancée; his father, Dan; Dan's wife, Tracy; a family friend, Shel; and I.

          Traditionally, the family eats at a table, but with only a card table, would I have to limit Thanksgiving dinner to sweet potatoes, soup, and bread, buffet style? "Cook those pies!" Ela said. "Don't worry about a table," and he disappeared outside.

         Traditionally, those who cook, cook in a kitchen. Here, I sat on the built-in couch under the south windows rolling out pie dough on the trunk while my soon-to-be daughter-in-law, standing opposite me, prepared sweet potatoes at the sink. Wild rice bubbled on the stove under the bedroom loft, and when I took the Kahlua pecan pie from the oven to put in the pineapple-apricot-cranberry pie, buttery sweet steam lifted towards my bed.

Pineapple-apricot-cranberry pie

With the sweet potatoes waiting for oven space, someone else started on the green beans. I puréed pumpkin through the strainer my sister had sent me as part of her "Queens-in-art" gift for the cook without electricity, then set the pumpkin mousse, creamy smooth and harvest orange, outside the back door, where the cold autumn air served as a refrigerator.

          Traditionally, people sit in chairs at Thanksgiving dinner, so when Ela hauled in the table he had just made, with its old wooden-ladder legs, I looked around for chairs. My sit-on-your-knees desk chair was one, the ladder-back chair at my sewing machine another, and the bench from the front deck a third. We could use the milk can (my kindling bin) if we put a pillow on it, and Ela said he would sit in the little rocking chair, but we were still one short. "Don't worry. Keep cooking," Ela said.

         Traditional Thanksgiving foods began splashing the house with colors and smells: caesarean green bean salad sharp with sherry vinegar; Thanksgiving spice bread lively with fennel and ginger; deep yellow, sherried sweet potatoes; wild rice dotted with nuts and figs; the dark-as-velvet pecan pie and its brightly colored cousin with globes of apricots and stars of cranberries and pineapple pushing into the lattice fence holding them in their pastry pen. Ela came in with the sixth chair: a stool he had made from some curved iron pieces and a round of wood. We spread the table with my grandmother's white lace tablecloth and set it with amber glass plates; green napkins in deep pink, silk-rose napkin rings; and purple, blue, and red candles. We put extra candles and kerosene lamps around the house. Ela used my Swiss Army knife corkscrew to open the Merlot and let it breathe.

Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I am in front, right.

          Traditionally, there is a turkey. I'm vegetarian, but my guests were bringing a turkey stuffed with rosemary dressing, and when I opened the door to Tracy, Dan, and Shel, those luscious, warm smells rushed in with them. Finally, with the turkey and dressing reigning at the head of the table, salads, vegetables, breads, and relishes sashaying between the rows of plates, and the room sparkling with candlelight, the family squeezed around the table, smiled at each other, raised voices in thanks, and sat down to eat.

         Traditionally, at Thanksgiving dinner, we look at our family and the bounty spread on the table and feel abundantly thankful. This was, wholeheartedly, a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my house.

Next week: "An Epicurean Rampage"

Recipes from this post
     Pumpkin mousse
     Pineapple-apricot-cranberry pie
     Kahlua pecan pie
     Caesared green bean salad
     Sherried sweet potatoes
     Thanksgiving spice bread
     Wild rice with figs and nuts

PUMPKIN MOUSSE

serves 4

Ingredients

3/4 cup pumpkin purée

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon plain yogurt 

     (nonfat, low-fat, or full fat, your choice)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cottage cheese 

     (low-fat is fine)

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin

2 tablespoons crystallized ginger

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg white

Freshly grated nutmeg

To make

Purée the pumpkin, yogurt, and cottage cheese as best you can, either in a food processor (easily done) or in an applesaucer, which will produce a less smooth texture. If you use a food processor, however, don't overdo the puréeing. Put the gelatin in a small saucepan and let it soften in 1 cup cold water for about 1 minute. Heat the gelatin in the water over low heat to dissolve. Add the ginger and 1/3 cup sugar. Stir till the sugar is completely dissolved. Transfer the hot sugar-gelatin to a large bowl and whisk it till it is just warm. Working slowly, whisk the puréed pumpkin mixture into the gelatin. Refrigerate the mousse for 30 to 40 minutes to let it thicken, whisking it every so often to keep it smooth. Meanwhile, beat the egg white only until just stiff. Gently fold the egg white into the cold mousse and blend well. Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 4 hours or keep in your coolest place for more than 4 hours. Sprinkle the mousse with nutmeg just before serving.

PINEAPPLE-APRICOT-CRANBERRY PIE

from a recipe in Bon Appétit

serves 8

Crust

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup frozen vegetable shortening

1 large egg

3 tablespoons (approximately) ice water

Preparation

Cut butter into 1-inch pieces and the shortening into large chunks.

To make

Cut the butter into the flour, sugar, and salt with a pastry cutter to the point of fine crumbs. Or blend these ingredients in a food processor for 10 minutes. Add the shortening and continue the process, using either method, until the mixture resembles very coarse meal. Beat the egg with 2 tablespoons ice water, and add the mixture to the flour and butter. Blend until the dough clumps, adding more water as necessary. Gather the dough into a ball. Divide the ball in half and flatten each half into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic and chill at least 1 hour.

Filling

Ingredients

1 16-ounce can unpeeled apricot halves in heavy syrup

5 ounces dried apricots

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons frozen pineapple juice concentrate, thawed

1 lemon, for juice

1 fresh pineapple

1/2 cup cranberries

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preparation

Drain the apricots well, reserving the syrup. Dice the dried apricots to yield 1 cup. Juice the lemon to yield a tablespoon of juice. Peel and core the pineapple. Cut out the "eyes"; then cut the pineapple into 1/2-inch pieces to make 4 cups.

To make

Put the dried apricot pieces into the reserved syrup from the canned apricots and bring them to a boil. Remove from the heat and let the apricots soften for about 10 minutes. Drain the apricots well and discard the syrup. Stir the sugar, cornstarch, pineapple juice, and lemon juice together in a medium saucepan until smooth. Add the pineapple, and let the mixture stand until juices form, about 15 minutes. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until the mixture boils and becomes very thick, about 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cranberries, butter, and dried apricots.

The finish

Ingredients

Refrigerated dough for two crusts

Cranberry-pineapple-apricot filling

1 egg, slightly beaten

Preparation

Preheat the over to 400º. Roll out one dough disk to a 13-inch round. Put this dough in a 9-inch glass pie dish and fold under the overlapping dough. Roll out the second disk to a 13-inch round and cut it into 1/2-inch wide strips. 

To finish

Brush the inside and top edge of the dough in the pie dish with the egg glaze. Add drained canned apricots to the filling and spoon into the crust. Arrange 7 pastry strip across the top of the pie. Brush them with glaze and repeat with the other pastry strips, laying them in the opposite direction and tucking the ends under the crust at the edge, pressing to seal them. Crimp the edge of the pie dough and brush the lattice and the edge with glaze. Bake about 45 minutes at 400º. The lattice should be golden and the filing beginning to bubble. Cool completely on a rack.

KAHLUA PECAN PIE

seves 8-10

Crust

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup cold water (or more)

To make

Cut the butter into small chunks. Using a pastry mixer or two knives (or electrical gadgets for this sort of thing), cut the butter into the flour and salt until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add the water all at once, and mix till the dough clumps into a ball. Wrap this ball of dough with plastic wrap and chill well.

The pie

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 cup Kahlua or other coffee liqueur

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 cup pecans

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

Chop the pecans, not too finely. Roll out the chilled dough to fit a 9-inch pan and place it in the pan. Flute and trim the edges. Preheat the oven to 375º.

To make

Beat the butter and the sugar in a medium bowl till smooth. Add the flour and beat again. Gradually beat in the corn syrup, followed by the Kahlua and the vanilla. Mix in the eggs, then the chopped pecans. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on the bottom of the crust. Pour the filling over the chocolate chips. Bake at 375º until the filling is puffed at the edges and just set in the center, about 45 minutes. If the exposed crust begins to brown too heavily, cover it with foil. When the pie is done, transfer it to a cooling rack and cool completely.

To finish
Ingredients

The cooled pie

2/3 cup chilled whipping cream

Pecan halves

The finish

Beat the cream until peaks form. Drop whipped cream in dollops around the edge of the pie. Place a pecan half in each dollop.

CAESARED GREEN BEAN SALAD

serves 6

Ingredients

1 cup diced Italian or French bread

1 pound fresh green beans

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (This is essential. Do not substitute a different             kind of vinegar.)

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 large egg yolk or 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black papper

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Dice the bread. Trim the green beans. Grate the cheese.

To make

Spread the bread pieces on a foil-lined broiling pan and toast them under the broiler a minute or so until they are lightly browned. Set aside. Steam the green beans for 3-4 minutes, until bright green and crisp-tender. Rinse them under cold water to stop the cooking process and dry them on paper towels or dish cloths. Arrange the beans in a pretty serving dish. Beat the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and egg yolk or mayonnaise together in a small bowl. Beat in the olive oil until the mixture is thick and creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve

Scatter the toast cubes over the beans. Pour the dressing evenly over the salad. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and serve at room temperature.

SHERRIED SWEET POTATOES

serves 6

Ingredients

3-4 sweet potatoes

4-5 oranges

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sherry (or more)

1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)

Preparation

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1/4-inch thick rounds. You should have 4 cups. Squeeze the oranges to yield 2 cups of juice. Split the vanilla bean. Lightly grease an 11x7-inch baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350º.

To make

Place the sweet potatoes in the baking dish in overlapping rows. In a medium saucepan over medium-

high heat, combine the orange juice, sugar, salt, sherry, and vanilla bean. Bring to a boil, stirring; then pour over the potatoes, burying the vanilla bean under the potatoes. Cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Uncover the dish and continue baking, basting frequently, about 20 minutes more or until the potatoes are tender. A really nice touch is to sprinkle the potatoes with 1/2 cup dried cranberries before taking the dish from the oven. Serve immediately.

THANKSGIVING SPICE BREAD

serves 10

Ingredients

1 cup sultanas

1/2 cup Grand Marnier or orange juice

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds

2 teaspoons ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup rye flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

Preparation

Zest the orange peel. Combine the sultanas and the Grand Marnier or orange juice and set aside for 30 minutes. 

To make

Step 1

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the honey, sugar, water, spices, zest, and salt. In another bowl combine the flours and baking powder. Sift these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat well. Fold in the plump sultanas with their juices. Cover the mixing bowl with a tea towel and let the batter rest for 1 hour.

Preparation for Step 2

Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Line its bottom with parchment, and oil the paper. Preheat the over to 300º.

Step 2

Gently stir the batter. If it is too thick to fall from the spoon in a thick, silky ribbon, add a little water. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 300º for 1 1/2 hours or until done in the center. Cool the bread for 15 minutes on a rack before turning it out of the pan to cool completely.

WILD RICE WITH FIGS AND NUTS

serves 8

The rice

Ingredients

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup wild rice (about 6 ounces)

To make

Boil the water with the salt. Add rice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Drain well. Cool.

The goodies
Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped dried Calmyrna figs (Do not substitute black mission figs. They don't taste as good        in this salad.)
1/3 cup chopped pecans (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1/3 cup chopped unsalted cashews (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup chopped green onion tops
2 tablespoons chopped celery
2 tablespoons chopped red onion
Preparation
Chop the figs. Toast and chop, separately, the pecans and cashews. Chop the green onion tops, celery, and red onion. Chopping everything finely makes the nicest salad.

The dressing
Ingredients
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons olive oil
Preparation
Squeeze the lemon for juice. Crush the garlic.
To make
Mix all ingredients except the oils in a bottle and shake vigorously (or blend in a blender). Add the oils and shake even more vigorously till well blended.

Assemblage
Ingredients
Rice
Salad goodies
Dressing
To assemble
Put rice in a large bowl and add the goodies. Mix well. Pour dressing over the rice salad(the salad might not take all the dressing), toss well, and season with salt and pepper.

Fashion Consultants' Luncheon

          After my initial excitement when my first book, Fire from the Dragon's Tongue, became a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in creative nonfiction, I started to worry. What would I wear to the awards ceremony? What would I wear to the party my friends were giving me the day after the ceremony and to the Thanksgiving dinner at the Timberline Lodge with my parents and my son and daughter-in-law the day after that? I was at a loss to make such momentous decisions on my own and from my inadequate wardrobe, so I invited four fashion-conscious friends to my house to help. They said they would bring clothes, and I said I would provide lunch. It was a relief to turn from fashion to food, from scanning my closet in despair to scanning my cookbooks with relish.

          The morning of my fashion consultants' luncheon, I got up early and baked a brandied walnut pie.

Then I made a tahini orange sauce to go over a medley of fresh vegetables and an eggplant purée to put on pita bread. When everything was finished, I put the different foods in covered dishes, organized the lunch plates, the silverware, and the napkins so I could set the table quickly, and then cleaned the kitchen.
           By the time my fashion consultants arrived with armloads of clothes, I was ready to turn my attention again to the problem of what to wear.

         First, I put on my new Moroccan dress. Its yards of soft, creamy fabric closed around my ankles, and the overskirt, draped over one shoulder, rippled down the front.

         "Oh, that's stunning!"

          "Great for the awards ceremony!"

         "I don't like the red scarf with it."

         "What about this coral necklace instead?"

         "Yes, if we can fix it to sit higher on her neck."

         "Hey, that's good."

Just before the Oregon Book Awards

          "I think she should try on this sexy cocktail dress."

         So I did.

         "No, that doesn't fit very well."

         Disappointed, I took it off.

         "Try the black pants with the white see-through top."

          I slithered into Sylvia's pants and Helen's blouse.

          "No. She looks cut off in the middle."

         "Try this straight skirt instead."

          "The front slit up that skirt is very sexy."

         "What if she wears it with Helen's red and blue, see-through jacket over the black stretch-lace top?"

          "And these blue beaded earrings!"

          At the spontaneous applause, I knew this outfit was a keeper. Louann folded the skirt, blouse, and jacket into a neat pile with the chosen accessories and marked them "save."

           "Now try Sylvia's slinky black and gold dress." 

          I slid into it.

         "Oh, that's very slimming."

          I decided immediately to wear it.

          "It's too somber. Diana likes colors."

          "Try this gold necklace with it."

          "And Kathy's black crystal necklace, too."

          "Yes, that's good."

         "I have some gold bracelets at home she can wear. And some rings, too. She should wear rings."

        "Try on this grey dress with the cute peplum on it." I stepped out of slinky black and into flouncy grey.

          "Oh, that's cute!"

         I said I liked the brightness of this dress, but nobody paid any attention.

Trying on clothes

         "I think she should try the purple beaded jacket."

         "Put it on with the black velvet shirt and Sylvia's black pants."

          I tossed aside the grey dress I had liked and put on the next assignment.

          "Tuck the shirt in."

          "I think she should leave it out."

          "Try this belt with it."

          I buckled Helen's wide, intricately woven purple belt around my waist and said I really liked it—but, oh, well.

          "No, that doesn't work."

          "Try it with the culottes."

          "Those culottes are too short. The mid-calf hemline makes her look grandmotherly."

          "I don't think so."

          "Yes, it does."

         "Okay, let's see. The sexy skirt with the slit and the colorful wraparound jacket—that's one outfit. And the slinky black dress—she should definitely wear that."

          "I think she should wear it for the ceremony."

          I slipped into the black dress again.

          "The swirling, cream-colored dress is better. It's more like her book."

          I threw off slinky and reclad myself Moroccan.

          "That's perfect."

          "Not with those black shoes."

          "I have some cream-colored shoes that might work."

          "She can wear the black dress to the party on Wednesday."

          "And the skirt with a slit for Thanksgiving dinner."

          I said maybe wearing the sexiest outfit to dinner with my parents might be a waste, but Sylvia said, "It's the Timberline Lodge! No telling who might be there!"

          "What about the grey dress?"

          "She should take it along just in case she has a chance to wear it somewhere."

     After the fashion trials, I served my consultants their lunch: the tahini orange sauce over vegetables, the eggplant purée with pita bread, and brandied walnut pie. Afterwards, when everyone had gone home, I sat down with a glass of wine. I pictured myself at the three events of next week, glowingly confident in my attire and therefore in my presence. I thought about how much fun I had been having lately, reading the other books that are finalists in my category, cooking for my fashion consultants yesterday, and being so elegantly clothed by them today, and I was quite sure that no matter who won, no one could be having more fun being a finalist than I.

Next week: "A Traditional Thanksgiving at My Little House on the Mountain"

Recipes from this post:

     Tahini orange sauce

     Eggplant purée for pita bread

     Brandied walnut pie

TAHINI ORANGE SAUCE

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients
1 cup tahini
1/2 cup boiling water
1 orange, for juice and grated rind
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
Preparation
Squeeze the orange to make 1/2 cup juice. Zest or grate the rind to make 1/2 teaspoon of grated rind. Grate the ginger.
To make
Add boiling water to the tahini and mix carefully until uniform. Mix the other ingredients into the hot tahini. Salt if desired. Serve over vegetables.



EGGPLANT PUREE FOR PITA BREAD
Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large eggplant
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup small pitted green olives
1 small jar (6 ounces) marinated artichoke hearts
pinches of dried tarragon, basil, and/or oregano
Pita bread

Preparation
Chop the onion finely. Mince or crush the garlic. Cut the eggplant into 1-inch cubes. Drain the artichoke hearts and cut each into 2-3 pieces.
To make
Sauté the onion, garlic, and salt over medium heat in the olive oil until onion is translucent. Add the eggplant cubes and cook another 15-20 minutes, until eggplant is well done. (Add more olive oil if needed.) Add tomato paste and vinegar. Bring to a boil, add the olives, and remove from the heat. Add the artichoke hearts and herbs. Cool to room temperature to serve, or chill before serving.

Serve like this with pita or other pocket bread. If you serve it as a dip with vegetables or crackers, you might blend it. It's more interesting with the big chunks of olives, artichoke hearts, etc., but I like it best as a dip when the flavors blend into a mesh of exoticness.



BRANDIED WALNUT PIE
serves 8

The crust

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons frozen vegetable shortening
1 large egg
1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons (more or less) very cold water
Preparation
Cut butter into 1-inch pieces. Cut vegetable shortening into large pieces. Flour a working surface and a rolling pin.
To make
Blend the first four ingredients by cutting in the butter with a pastry mixer or two knives. (Or blend in processor for 10 seconds.) Add shortening and continue blending or cutting until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg with 1 tablespoon water. Pour into flour mixture and blend till large moist clumps form, adding more water if necessary. Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least an hour.
To bake
Preheat the oven to 350º.
Roll out the pastry dough to a 12-inch round and place in a 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold edge under and crimp. Pierce crust all over with a fork. Freeze 10 minute, if possible. Line pie crust with foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake at 350º for about 15 minutes to set the sides. Remove foil and beans and bake about 10 minutes more, until bottom begins to color. Pierce the bottom if it begins to bubble. Cool on rack 10 minutes.

The filling

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups pitted dates
1/4 cup good bandy
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup dark corn syrup
3 large eggs
About 6 ounces walnuts

Preparation
Cut the dates into small pieces. Melt the butter. Chop the walnuts to yield 2/3 cup of pieces.
To make
Stir dates and brandy in small bowl to blend. Make a paste with the brown sugar, butter, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk in the corn syrup, then 3 eggs. Add nuts and date mixture.

Assemblage
1 baked crust
Brandied date filling
1 egg
Whipped cream
Preparation
Beat the egg to blend. The oven should already be set at 350º from having baked the pie crust.
To finish
Brush the inside of the crust with a little beaten egg. Pour filling into crust. Bake at 350º for about 35 minutes, until filling is puffed and set in center. After the first 15 minutes, cover edges of crust with foil. When pie is done, cool on rack.

Wedding Cake Performance

         Five days before the wedding (see last week's post), I started baking jellyroll-pan sized cakes in my son (the groom)'s house in Seattle. When the first two cakes turned out wedge-shaped, I tried to level the oven with shims till I realized it was not the oven but the oven rack that was aslant. That was more easily fixed. The next day I made ten level cakes, five mocha and five orange, to stash in the freezer. On the next day I made two gallons of strawberry purée and another orange cake to replace the one with a broken top.

          At 7:30 on the morning of the wedding, I was in the kitchen at the retreat center on Vashon Island where the wedding would take place, anxious to begin. My dismay at having brought the wrong parts for the electric beater turned to relief when I found that I could easily and quickly whip the double-heavy cream to stiff peaks with a whisk. My friends Louann and Tracy soon joined me to make an efficient cake-assembly team. Tracy brushed each rectangular cake with Grand Marnier. Louann cut it into thirds and helped me lift one section at a time, with two spatulas, onto the cardboard circle, where I covered each layer with strawberry purée and frosting. And so we worked, stacking the cakes by thirds and repeating the purée-and-frosting routine until pretty soon a three-layered mocha cake lay next to a three-layered orange cake next to a mocha cake and so on in a checkerboard pattern, each cake horizontally striped with bright red strawberry purée and pink frosting and mitered at the inner corners till ten cakes had made a circle three feet across.

Assembling the cake (l-r): me, Becky, Tracy

         When Louann and Tracy left, Becky took over, cutting wedges from the extra, broken orange cake to fill in the outer gaps of the circle. Then we frosted and frosted, ensconcing the ring of cake in delicate pink, strawberry-cloud, cream frosting.

          In the meantime, people were bringing in potluck dishes, and the kitchen was filling with odors. I became alarmed. Would the whipped cream absorb the tastes of olives, garlic, and tomato sauce? Would it would spoil in the warm kitchen? My sister Sharon suggested we set the cake outside on top of two open ice chests, but someone said there was a dog running around, and someone else mentioned the curious fingers of children. We tried putting the cake in a van, but the big plywood circle it sat on wouldn't fit through the van door. So for the next five hours the cake sat safe and cool on top of a van in the shade.

Wedding guests helping move the cake to the top of a van

         Usually the wedding cake is brought out complete in its breathtaking glory, but when this one was brought to the reception area after the wedding, it looked like a pink, slippery-skinned salamander. Decorating with fresh flowers meant last-minute magic and nothing off-stage. A crowd gathered to witness with amusement and astonishment as Louann and I worked the transformation. We put three of Ela and Leah's beautiful wedding invitations on a pedestal in the center of the cake ring. Around this centerpiece Louann created a circular bouquet of white lilacs and red roses while I wreathed the bottom edges of the cake, inner and outer, with forest greenery and decorated the top with chocolate-covered strawberries and long tassels of red amaranth blossoms. Working fast, hardly talking, we clothed the naked pink cake in floral glory.

          I barely had time to eat my own dinner before people were asking for cake. The bride and groom appeared, and I handed them a knife and a plate, but the bride said, "No. We should just bite into it!" The groom took a breath and said, "You first."

First bites

Holding back her long black har, the bride leaned over the cake with a wide-open mouth and dove right in! The groom immediately did the same, and then they stood in front of us all, grinning, chewing, with pink whipped-cream frosting smeared over their faces. Two huge holes gaped side by side in the beautiful circle of cake.

         But the beauty of the cake had shifted from the visual to the gustatory. "The cake is delicious," people said. "The orange is out of this world." In no time, all that was left was yellow and black crumbs, smears of pink frosting, and half of one mocha cake on a circle of cardboard, rubble around bouquets of white lilacs and red roses circling three white invitations with the names of the wedded couple encircled in gold.

Serving the cake, with my sister Sharon (left)

Next week: "Fashion Consultants' Luncheon"
Recipes from this post
      Orange sheet cake
      Mocha sheet cake
      Strawberry cloud cream frosting
   

MOCHA OR ORANGE SHEET CAKE

Adapted from Bon Appétit (December 1995)
serves 12

Ingredients: Mocha
1/2 cup (I stick) unsalted butter
1 cup strong brewed coffee
    (or 1 tablespoon instant coffee, dissolved in 1 cup hot water)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients: Orange
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup fresh orange juuice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup full-fat milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400º. Lightly grease one 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1-inch jellyroll pan. For the mocha cake, brew the coffee. For the orange cake juice the oranges and grate the rind.
To make
Stir 1/2 cup butter, coffee or orange juice, and vegetable oil in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa, if using. Stir until smooth, then remove from heat. Stir flour, sugar, baking soda or powder, and salt in large bowl until blended. Whisk the warm mixture into the dry ingredients. Whisk buttermilk (or milk) eggs and vanilla in medium bowl until blended. Add to flour mixture and blend well. Add orange rind if using. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool.
To finish

Cut cake into thirds. Using strawberry cloud cream frosting (recipe below) or another cream cheese frosting, spread frosting over one layer, cover with another cake layer, and spread with more frosting. Set the final third of the cake over the top, and cover everything in clouds of pink frosting. Use left-over frosting on cupcakes or waffles.

STRAWBERRY CLOUD CREAM FROSTING
Amended from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum
yield: 5 cups

Ingredients
2 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
1 cup sweetened strawberry purée
2 cups heavy cream
7 tablespoons sugar
To make
Using a heatproof measuring cup, soften gelatin in 1/4 cup strawberry purée. Let sit for 5 minutes. Set cup in a pan of simmering water and stir till gelatin dissolves. Stir gelatin mixture into remaining purée. In a chilled bowl, beat the cream till it mounds softly when dropped from a spoon. Add the purée mixture and beat till stiff peaks form. Add more sugar if your taste buds request it.

Wedding Cake I: Practice

          When my son, Ela, and his fiancée were planning their wedding, they asked me to make their wedding cake. I was honored. I was also intimidated. I had never made a wedding cake before, so I thought I should practice first. I bought Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible, and with that, four years' worth of Bon Appétit, and the cookbooks in my kitchen, I started my research in earnest. [Remember that this was well before the invention of the internet!]

          The first practice cake was a three-tiered hazelnut linzertorte cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate icing that I took to a Winter Solstice potluck. Because it was beautiful to look at

Hazelnut Linzertorte cake
for my 75th birthday, July 2019

and full of complementary flavors, my friends pronounced it a grand success, but I wasn't so sure about its value as a wedding cake. It was difficult to make, and I didn't know how to adjust the recipe for 100 people.

          The next cake was a chocolate génoise, rich with ingredients and adequately complex for such a special occasion as a wedding. The recipients of this trial said it was delicious, and it was, but it wasn't very pretty because it hadn't risen well. So I nixed that one.

          Next I tried something less exotic, a more simple but just as promising yellow butter cake that would, the recipe assured me, serve for any occasion—birthday, anniversary, graduation, or, I assumed, wedding It looked so beautiful when I took if from the oven I thought, "This might be the best cake I have ever made." Then I dropped it on the floor! I managed to salvage most of it and frosted those pieces into the semblance of a whole. The next day I took it to a friend on the coast. The buttercream frosting was good, but the cake was dry, and I nixed the third recipe.

         My son and his fiancée didn't want a traditional tiered cake, so the Cake Bible's wedding cake recipes were useless. When I found I couldn't make heads or tails of the charts for altering ordinary cake recipes for 100 people, I began to get uneasy. Then Ela said that because the theme of the wedding was circles, what they really wanted was a ring cake, like a donut shape. Ai-yi-yi. Now I was really in over my head. Despairing, I contacted my sister's friend, Sheryl, who owns the Dessert Place in Atlanta.

         "You're brave to take on such a project," Sheryl said, scaring me. Then she said, "I'm not so sure about the ring cake idea," scaring me again. Finally she said she had recipes for two nontraditional wedding cakes made in bowls. "They use all sorts of yummy ingredients and are already proportioned for 100 people," she said. "Why don't you use one of those?"

          I thought she had come up with a solution to my dilemma, so I called Ela and said, "Maybe the most important things are that the cake be really good and that I not be so stressed I can't enjoy the party, so maybe I could make one of those bowl cakes instead of a ring."

           Ela said, "I really want a ring cake."

        Then he told me he had tested the idea with pieces of paper cut in half, mitered at the inner corners, and placed in a ring. "It looks like it would work," he said. "I think you can do it."

          I pointed out that cake doesn't behave like paper, that moving cakes around isn't like moving paper around, that my recipes didn't make cakes 8 1/2 x 11 inches, that you can't just take a cake recipe for one size pan and stuff it into another size pan, and that it wouldn't matter if the cake were in a ring if it wasn't good. But because I think the wedding couple should have the cake they want, I kept trying.

          I narrowed the search to recipes for rectangular cakes. I made a white wine cake

White wine cake

but decided it was too expensive to make for 100 people. I made a cake using crushed pineapple and no butter. My friends raved about it, but I just couldn't see having a wedding cake without butter. I tried a mocha sheet cake, decorated it with jelly beans, and took it to an Easter gathering.

          Delicious! Great texture! Encouraged, I tested its durability by moving large pieces around with spatulas, as though to make a ring. Success! They held together well. Furthermore, I wouldn't have to adjust this recipe for 100 people. I would simply bake a double recipe five times and cut, miter, and assemble the resulting cakes—like paper—into a two-layered ring. Delicately pink strawberry-cloud cream frosting would hover over the cake; strawberry purée would lie hidden between the layers, and real flowers would decorate the whole ring. I thought I could do it.

Me with the cake, 1999

          The following week I invited three friends to a wedding cake party on my front lawn. The day before the party I baked one recipe of the cake (all I could fit in my oven) and treated it like the real thing: I froze it overnight, then defrosted it, cut and assembled it, iced it, and decorated it with flowers. I unfolded a card table under the blossoming cherry tree, covered it with a turquoise cloth, and set the cake on it with plates, forks, napkins, and a vase of flowers.

Rick Faist, Joan Peterson, Tracy Lamblin

My guests arrived and exclaimed how beautiful the cake was. So far, so good, but the proof of the pudding, of course, is in the eating. Nervously I cut into the cake. It sliced well and held together beautifully on the plate with a cloud of pink frosting floating above it. The guests ate. They raved. The cake was good. I had found my recipe.

Next week: "Wedding Cake II: Performance"
Recipes from this post
     Hazelnut Linzertorte cake
     Chocolate génoise
     Yellow butter cake
      White wine cake
      Butterless pineapple cake

HAZELNUT LINZERTORTE CAKE

A winner at my 75th
birthday at my house, July, 20190

serves 14-16
from Bon Appétit

Cake
Ingredients
1 cup hazelnuts
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 cups whole milk
5 large egg whites, room temperature

Preparation
Set out butter to soften. Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 15x10x1-inch jellyroll pan. Separate the eggs.
To make
Toast the hazelnuts over medium heat in a small frying pan, shaking them often to prevent burning. Cool the nuts, then rub them in your hands or in a clean dishtowel to rub off the brown skins. Chop them fine. Mix nuts thoroughly with the flour; then mix in the baking powder, spices, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar till well blended. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add extracts. Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the egg mixture, beating after each addition only until blended. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter. Then fold in the remaining whites. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake about 25 minutes, until done. Cool on a rack for half an hour, then turn the cake onto a foil-lined rack and continue to let it cool.

Frosting
Ingredients
6 ounces good quality white chocolate
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese
9 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract.
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
To make
Put white chocolate in the top of double boiler and stir it over simmering water till it is melted. Set it aside to cool. Beat the cream cheese with the butter till neither yellow nor white lumps continue to show. When the white chocolate is barely lukewarm, beat it into the cream cheese-butter mixture. Beat in the sugar and extracts.

Assemblage
Ingredients
1 hazelnut linzertorte cake
White chocolate frosting
1 cup raspberry preserves
1 1/2 cups toasted hazelnuts

Preparation
Toast and chop the hazelnuts as for the cake, above, but not too finely.
To assemble
Slice the cake into thirds, making three smaller cakes, each 5x10 inches. Put one cake on a serving platter and spread 3/4 cup frosting over it. Spread 1/4 cup raspberry preserves over the frosting. Place the second 5"x10" cake over the frosted layer and repeat with 3/4 cup frosting and 1/4 cup preserves. Place the third cake on top of the frosted other two. Set aside 1 1/4 cups frosting, then spread the rest of the frosting over the top and sides of the entire cake. Spread 1/4 cup preserves over the top of the cake, making it entirely red. Keep the cake in as cool a place as possible to help the frosting firm up. Twenty minutes in a refrigerator would do nicely, or an hour or more on the back porch, depending on the weather.
To finish
Fill a pastry bag with the 1 1/4 cup unused frosting. Using a star tip, decorate the top of the cake with diagonal lines, making a nice lattice of white over the red. Press finely chopped toasted hazelnuts into the sides of the cake. Pipe more frosting around the top of the cake where the nuts and preserves meet.


CHOCOLATE GENOISE

For Mike Kohn birthday's, 2016

from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum
one 9" pan

The cake
Ingredients
3 tablespoons clarified butter
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa
1/4 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sifted cake flour

Preparation
Clarify the butter by heating it till it just begins to brown and turn clear, and then skim or strain off the foam. Preheat the oven to 350º. Using a 9"x2" pan—round, rectangular, or heart-shaped—or a 9" springform pan, grease the bottom, then line the bottom with parchment paper or waxed paper and grease and flour the paper.
To make
Warm the butter till it is almost hot. Keep it warm while you whisk together the cocoa and boiling water till the cocoa is thoroughly dissolved. Stir in the vanilla. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside.
Place a large mixing bowl over simmering water and mix in the eggs and sugar, stirring constantly, until the mixture is lukewarm. Using the whisk beater of a food processor, whisk this mixture on high speed till it triples in volume, or, with a hand whisk or egg beater, beat hard for about ten minutes. Remove 2 cups of this mixture and beat it into the cocoa mixture till everything is perfectly. smooth. Stir the flour into the remaining egg mixture. Fold in the cocoa mixture till it is thoroughly incorporated. Fold in the butter mixture in 2 batches. Pour the batter immediately into the prepared pans and bake at 350º or until the cake starts to shrink from the sides of the pan. Don't open the oven door to check for doneness until the baking time is almost done or else the cake will fall—and don't remove the cake until you see it starting to shrink from the sides of the pan. Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it immediately onto a greased rack. Reinvert it to cool.
To finish
The syrup
Ingredients

1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons liqueur, any kind
Whipping cream
To make
Bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan, stirring constantly. Cover the pan immediately and remove from the heat. When the syrup is completely cool, transfer it to a glass measuring cup and add the liqueur. Add water if necessary to make 3/4 cup syrup.
Finishing
Trim the bottom and top crust of the cake. Sprinkle—don't brush—the syrup over the cake on both sides. (A medical syringe works well. A brush collects crumbs.) The finished height of the cake is 1 1/2 inches. Serve with vanilla whipped cream.


YELLOW BUTTER CAKE
taken from the downy butter cake in The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum

1 layered 9" cake

Ingredients

6 large egg yolks

1 cup milk

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

Preparation

Leave the butter out to soften. Grease the bottoms of two 9" x 1 1/2" cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper and grease and flour the paper. Preheat the oven to 350º.

To make

Lightly combine the eggs, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of the milk in a medium bowl. Blend the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add the softened butter and the remaining 3/4 cup milk. Mix slowly till the dry ingredients are all moistened, then mix faster, either by hand or with a food processor (1 1/2 minutes in the latter case) until the batter is well aerated. Scrape down the sides and gradually add the egg mixture, in three batches, beating 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape the batter into the pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. The pans should be about half full. Bake the cakes for 25-35 minutes or until a tester inserted into their centers comes out clean and the cake springs back when it is lightly pressed. The cake should shrink from the sides of the pans only after it is taken from the oven. Cool the cakes in their pans on racks for 10 minutes, then loosen the sides and invert the cakes onto greased wire racks. Reinvert them to cool completely. Wrap the cakes tightly in plastic wrap. Frost and decorate as you please. [This cake was delicious—not dry— when I made it in 2019.]


WHITE WINE CAKE
2 9-inch layers for one cake

White wine cake for my
75th birthday party, July, 2019

Ingredients
3 cups dry white wine
1 egg
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 vanilla bean
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites



Preparation
Reduce the wine to one cup by heating it gently over low heat. (This takes quite a while.) Set aside to cool. Split the vanilla bean and remove the seeds. Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans. Preheat the oven to 350º.
To make
While the wine is cooling, cream the egg, sugar, and oil in a large bowl. Beat until smooth. Stir in the cooled wine. Add the dry ingredients and vanilla (seeds and extract) and blend well, but don't overbeat. (This usually isn't a problem if you're beating by hand.) Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, then fold them carefully into the batter. Spoon the batter into the pans in equal proportions. Bake at 350º for 20-25 minutes or until a tester stuck into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool completely before icing with the icing of your choice. Decorate prettily.

White wine cake on the deck
of my house, July 20, 2019

BUTTERLESS PINEAPPLE CAKE

20-24 servings

The cake

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, with juice

2 large eggs

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325º. Grease and flour a 13x9x2-inch pan. Beat eggs just to blend.

To make

Combine the dry ingredients till well blended. Pour the pineapple and its juices into the flour along with the slightly beaten eggs. Mix the batter till it is just blended—don't beat it. Pour it into the prepared pan and bake at 325º about 30 minutes. The cake should test done and be golden brown on top.

The frosting

Ingredients

1 8-ounce package cream cheese (preferably not Neufchatel)

6 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make

Beat the cream cheese with the softened butter till smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and blend well. Frost the cake while it is still warm. Cool it on a rack.