Raspberry Custard Cake

Here's a mind-bogglingly easy recipe for a delicious and bountiful cake, care of one of my favorite food bloggers, Liz over at Gastronomy Domine. I made it as a last-minute contribution to a weeknight dinner party - the trick custard lent me some baking credibility that I desperately needed.

Here's what you need:

1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
3-4 cups raspberries, slightly macerated or chopped
1 cup white sugar
1 pint heavy whipping cream

Here's what you do:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Prepare the cake according to directions and pour into a greased and floured 9x13 dish (glass or metal will do fine.) Evenly distribute the raspberries over the top; they should stay put on the surface of the cake batter. Sprinkle the raspberries with sugar. Slowly pour over this one pint of whipping cream, making sure to cover the entire surface. Bake for one hour, testing for doneness after 50 minutes using a skewer inserted into the center.

Now, what happens is that the raspberries and cream sink to the bottom while the cake is cooking, creating a wonderfully moist, custard-like consistency. I'd been considering making a Tres Leches cake, but due to lack of time and experience I thought better of it (I had about two hours between getting home from work and having to leave for the party.) As you can see, the preparation for this cake takes about five minutes.

The original recipe calls for four cups of raspberries, but I only used three, which seemed sufficient (though an extra cup of raspberry goodness would not have gone unappreciated.) Also, instead of fresh, I used frozen raspberries that were pre-sweetened, so I omitted the sugar, and I don't think the cake suffered at all for it. It was quite a hit, and I told anyone who would listen how easy it was. Cue the blank stares...

For those who cringe at using a boxed cake mix: feel free to make your own yellow cake from scratch. Liz's recipe called for Duncan Hines specifically, after which she waxed rhapsodic about it and told of leaving room in her suitcase to bring a few boxes home from her trips to the US. Baking is my weakest culinary skill by far, so I didn't want to tempt the inedible cake gods by trying to whip up my own on a whim.

Who can argue with this?

Florida Food

In chronological order:

Turkey sandwich on Italian bread with mayo, tomato and red onion;
Wavy chips;
Dill potato salad;
Lazy salad with arugula, roasted sweet potatoes, rotisserie chicken, goat cheese and honey mustard vinaigrette (this was a big hit, and in retrospect is not for the strictly lazy);
Garlic bread;
2 poached eggs, potatoes, turkey sausage, English muffin;
Tenderloin fillets with Bearnaise sauce, roasted asparagus, garlic roasted potatoes;
Strawberry-Rhubarb crumble with vanilla ice cream;
English muffin with peanut butter, honey and blackberries;
White cheddar popcorn;
Chicken salad (mayo, green grapes, pecans and tarragon) sandwich on Publix 'White Mountain Bread' (extraordinarily soft and malleable) with tomato;
More wavy chips;
Pan-fried grouper with lemon and homemade tartar sauce, leftover roasted potatoes, steamed French beans;
Diet coke and M&Ms;
Leftover Strawberry-Rhubarb crumble;
English muffin with peanut butter, honey and blackberries;
Spring rolls with vermicelli, shrimp, mint and carrots;
Wonton soup (or in my case, Wanton - hey-ooo!);
Bún with grilled curry chicken, pork egg rolls, vermicelli, cucumber, carrots, lettuce, bean sprouts and fish sauce;

To be continued. Now, I must attend to my sangria.

The dull tyranny of pasta and salad

Ah, my first prolonged silence. Faced with distractions like buying way too many new clothes that I don't need, intermittent balmy weather, and my cats engaged in Olympian vomiting efforts, it seems that I have abandoned the ol' blog for a few weeks now. If only I could come back with tales of crackling, delectable meats and sublime roasted vegetables... alas. I've only been able to muster the energy for pasta and, tonight, a salad, those friends of the uninspired cook.

The pasta dish is one that I've made a few times over the past couple of months, and very tasty it is, too. Leftovers for a few days and can be eaten cold without guilt (a major plus for me.) Here's the idea:

1/2 box spaghetti, linguine, or other 'long' variety - you could easily use penne or something like that if you so wish. I've been using De Cecco brand perciatelli, which is like a thick piece of spaghetti with a hollow middle. Fun?
1 small container Fage yogurt (I like the 2%)
Any greens, vegetables or meat you might like to add. I've added different mixes of spinach, chicken, arugula and parmesan with success. This is another good 'what's in the fridge?' dish. I can't think of very many ingredients that would be unwelcome here.

Cook pasta according to your tastes. When done, reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water and drain the rest.

In a serving bowl, empty the yogurt and add the reserved pasta water. Whisk with a fork until well incorporated. Add the pasta and toss to coat. Add other ingredients, if any, and serve.

Sometimes I like to throw a big dollop (~2 T) of sun-dried tomato paste to the yogurt mixture. That's good eatin'!

Tonight's salad features baby arugula (some pieces of which are not so baby, ahem, EARTHBOUND FARMS), roasted sweet potato cubes, goat cheese and some leftover rotisserie chicken, the beloved standby of my culinary fallow periods. Having whipped up the arugula/goat cheese/sweet potato combo before, I'm wagering on success, unless the chicken goes and fucks everything up. So bland a bird wouldn't dare.

In other food-related news, Dinero Fudge is currently whooping Pizza Ashby in the Name Of The Year's Dragonwagon Regional! Unbelievable!

The salad didn't taste as blurry as it looked.