Desserts – Hungry for Louisiana

Orange pound cake with orange glaze

February 2, 2015

Pound cake. Yum. What self-respecting Southerner doesn’t love it? My sweet mom makes one for me and my crew every time we head to Georgia to see her. I like to pretend it’s just for me, but it’s really for my husband John. Spoiled son-in-law. We eat it as a late night snack as soon as we arrive, weary after an 8-hour drive that should have only taken 7. We eat it for dessert. We toast thick slices for breakfast (and sometimes add more butter on top). We saw off thin slivers each time we walk by the lucite cake plate to “even it out.” It’s long gone before the weekend is over.

Desserts, Mardi Gras

King cakes get personal

January 20, 2015

Typical Louisiana.

Just when the rest of the country is swearing off all things fattening, here we go after New Year’s rolling out iced-to-the-hilt king cakes whose very nature requires eating in succession. But one trend that’s emerged, perhaps to combat this, is the personal or mini king cake, which more bakeries around the region are offering.

A beauty in that category is the King cake cupcake® by Gourmet Girls catering in Baton Rouge (pictured).

Desserts, Holiday, Local, Restaurants, Sandwiches

End-of-semester cravings!

December 16, 2014

Remember exams? And that delicious feeling of finally being unshackled? It always made me want to dive into something indulgent. For my middle schooler – who is in the process of picking off exams one-by-one this week – it means two things: having lunch at Inga’s Subs and Salads – a longtime LSU campus sandwich shop – and savoring a few (or several) cake balls from Brew Ha Ha, a funky, MidCity Baton Rouge coffee shop.

Here’s the Cuban I had for lunch with her today at Inga’s. Normally, I’m a sucker for an accompanying bag of Zapp’s, but instead I went for Inga’s warm potato salad – homey with mustard and relish and just like I like it. This place succeeds despite being surrounded by sandwich mega-chains. I love the pressed texture and simplicity of the subs here.

Now for dessert: Tender, pop-in-your-mouth cake balls from Brew Ha-Ha, a coffee shop with real character in a very cool part of Baton Rouge. I had a meeting there this morning with the new editor of 225 Magazine, where I contribute regularly as a freelancer, and I took the opportunity to nab some cake balls. The spice cake ones are perfect this time of year.

For my daughter, it was two exams down, three more to go, and a ritual of good eats to ease the pain.

When you celebrate an accomplishment, what’s your food ritual?

Desserts, Holiday, Local, Southern, Vegetables

Squash cake gets an update

December 11, 2014

Family recipes get passed down because they’re meaningful and taste good, but sometimes they include ingredients you’re embarrassed to admit. Especially today, the convenience items that once peppered dinner tables and cookbooks can feel like dorky unwelcomed guests. “It’s got that in it?,” you can just hear your snooty food friends say. New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin has a great reference to this phenomenon in his famed 2002 dispatch, “Missing Links,”—one of several that document the writer’s enthusiasm for Louisiana food. In it, he mentions the secret, anti-gourmet ingredient in the crawfish étouffée recipe of his New Iberia friend James Edmunds: a can of cream of mushroom soup. Delicious nevertheless, but mentioned on the down low.

I have always loved my husband’s family’s squash cake, a sheet cake made with roasted butternut squash that his great aunt “Titta-Lee” was famous for bringing to funeral gatherings. But it, too, includes an in-the-closet ingredient: a box of Jello coconut cream instant pudding and pie mix. Shortly after we got married in 2000, by which time I’d had the cake numerous times, she wrote it down for us.

I was eager to find a more natural approach. And also, the cake was really too sweet, and I believed with a little tinkering I could create version that still said ‘dessert’ while letting the butternut squash shine through. There remains a whole cup of sugar in the adjusted recipe, so fear not, Sweet Tooths, this is no “lite” version.

The result is a really versatile cake that is perfect for the season. It goes well with fresh citrus fruit, dark chocolate and strong cup of coffee. If you’re not a fan of coconut, no worries. Simply substitute almond extract for the coconut and instead of topping the cake with coconut shreds, just shave a little dark chocolate.

As for the squash, if you run short on time, here’s a product I like, which I usually grab at Whole Foods Market.

Recipe

Butternut Squash Cake

Serves 8-10

1 ¾ cup self rising flour

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

½ cup canola oil

½ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut or almond extract

1 cup butternut squash, roasted and beaten slightly until fairly smooth

Cream cheese icing (recipe follows)

Coconut or chocolate shavings for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9×13 pan. Mix flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat eggs slightly in a large bowl. Add oil and sour cream. Add dry ingredients to wet batter and blend slightly. A wooden spoon should work fine. Add extracts and squash and blend until smooth. Pour batter in pan and bake for 30 minutes. Place on rack to cool and ice immediately with cream cheese frosting and garnish with fresh coconut.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough for one cake

3 oz. softened cream cheese

2 tablespoons softened butter

1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

1-2 tablespoons whipping cream

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Blend well cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer or standing mixer. Carefully add sugar. Add whipping cream and vanilla extract and blend for a minute or two until you reach desired consistency.

Enjoy!

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