This is something I’ve been doing since the beginning of the year that makes me so happy in the kitchen and it’s so simple I expect you’ll roll your eyes at how un-revolutionary it is but here’s how it goes: Find a recipe you like and make it right away. Don’t put it on hold; don’t save it on that list of things you want to cook someday; just dive in and dig in. So far it’s been nothing but great; there’s been a giant egg bake ugly cookies green pancakes a giant cabbage casserole (recipe added!) we piled chunky mustard bread on top and a towering spaghetti frittata. And while all of these things have been delicious the best part about them has been getting back to a kind of impulsiveness that’s been pushed to the back burner in this hyper-planned so-called adult life. It’s also led to conversations I want to have more of in 2016 like “Well since you’re here why don’t you stay for dinner and let me try out a new recipe on you?”
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Publish Date not found |  0 Views |
The 'I Want Chocolate Cake' Cake | Smitten Kitchen with Deb Perelman
And so it was that this past weekend I came across a photo on the Instagram account of Elisabeth Prueitt of Tartine Bakery—someone I’ve long admired for her baking prowess and her refreshingly honest story about life as a working parent—that normally wouldn’t make me run to the kitchen (a gluten-free cake with candied citrus rings and haven’t I just made a citrus ricotta cake ?) but why should I think about it too much? And lo and behold I’m so glad we didn’t.
The recipe comes from the excellent River Cafe Cookbook series specifically the Classic Italian volume and in its original format it uses a mixture of polenta and almond flour whipped egg whites butter ricotta and lemon to create a thick cake that’s a far cry from the dry cornmeal cakes you’ve had in the past. In fact it’s so tender and rich that you could almost mistake it for a ricotta cheesecake (Prueitt attributes this to the lower baking temperature). But what really caught my eye were Prueitt’s innovations; she uses half the volume of the original for a thinner more delicate cake and caramelizes orange slices in the upside-down cake. The first time we made it with mandarin zest and juice instead of lemon and flaked almonds as a topping. The second time I grabbed some blood oranges and made it with the juice of the zest and candied rings and nothing but almond flour. Both desserts were probably the best received dessert I have ever made that did not involve chocolate peanut butter or salted caramel. They are so beautiful that they may be the opposite of this grey freezing snowy morning.
Almond Ricotta and Blood Orange Cake Inspired by Elisabeth Prueitt's adaptation of The River Cafe's Torta di Ricotta e Polenta
