BLEUBIRD BLOG

MUCH NEEDED CAKE

we thought we could make it to nashville without baking a cake. turns out we crave the stuff, so we went through our mostly packed up kitchen and scraped together the few things needed to bake a little circle cake. we baked a gingerbread cake out of the box that i had bought awhile ago to doctor up for baked donuts. we didn't have anything on hand to make icing so instead we ate it hot with a little spread of butter and it was heaven. definitely filled the void.

how do you like our fancy paper plates? our real plates are packed away, along with most everything else, including our cake pans, which is why we baked in a pyrex dish. speaking of pyrex... i have done something crazy. i sold my vintage pyrex collection tonight. all of it, except for a couple of pieces that i had already packed last week are sold and gone. less to pack, less to unpack. i also sold the old stock from my vintage shop last week. that was hard to do. ten years of collecting, gone. as hard as it was to part with, it felt so liberating. i got to pass it on to a girl who was starting an exciting new chapter in her life, while helping me end a chapter of mine. i feel good about it.

i have gotten rid of so much. many things that for a long time held a sense of importance to me for various reasons. when all is said and done, those things... are just things. things that i don't need and no longer want. i feel like i have outgrown that part of my life and that i am ready to embrace this fresh start.

...and just like that february is almost over. we are all overwhelmed, cranky and tired. next week we will be home.

one more thing,

"why are we moving?" you ask. "why not?!" i say.
we have been craving change and itching to move for a while now and aubrey has always loved the city of nashville. we are giving it a try and are looking forward to the fun adventures ahead. we are also opening up a new smilebooth nashville office!

SUNDAY'S CAKE

we made a pound cake yesterday. it smelled amazing, it had great flavor and was fairly was easy to make, but it was really dry and heavy and hard like it's name. pound cake. i really don't blame the recipe though. i have a feeling our oven is a little off. i have had this feeling for awhile now. it seems like cook times take a lot longer than they should and sometimes the oven just shuts off, which of course can make baking quite a challenge. i'm anxious to try this cake again in the near future, in our new kitchen. it's equipped with top of the line, pro appliances. something that we are not accustomed to and i cannot wait to get in there and get to baking and cooking.

we made tish boyle's plainly perfect pound cake from the cake book.

SUNDAY'S CAKE

today's cake was a blueberry cornmeal butter cake from the smitten kitchen cookbook. it was pretty good. a definite change of pace from the ultra sweet cakes that normally come to life in our kitchen. this one has a streusel topping, my favorite, and is kind of a cross between coffee cake, corn bread and blueberry muffins. it did not disappoint and was the perfect end to our sunday brunch this afternoon. we followed the recipe exactly, except we substituted orange zest in place of the lemon since we didn't have any on hand. can you guess who made it?... it was aubrey, again. i think he is turning into a woman. no, not really, but he is starting to fall in love with baking. i think it's cute and i think that if he keeps this up, i am going to have to buy him his own manly apron. maybe this one? it's manly enough for a baking man with a beard and a motorcycle right?

update: some of you were offended by my woman comment above. i apologize if i ruffled some feathers, but it was totally sarcastic and meant to be humorous. nothing more. aubrey is actually the one who made the joke in the first place and we had a good laugh about it. we have a sense of humor, we make jokes, and sometimes those jokes can be in poor taste or not be everyones cup of tea. #weevenswear

blueberry cornmeal butter cake by deb perelman.

you will need:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (we used orange zest)
1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups blueberries, rinsed and patted dry

streusel:
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon pinch of table salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. coat the bottom of an 8-inch square pan with a nonstick spray.

whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl, and set aside. with an electric mixer, beat the butter with sugar in large bowl until pale and fluffy, for at least 2 minutes. beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl in between additions, then add the vanilla and zest. add a third of the flour mixture, all of the sour cream, and another third of the flour, beating until just blended after each addition. scrape down sides of bowl. mix the remaining third of the flour mixture with the blueberries. fold the blueberry-flour mixture gently into the cake batter.

spread the cake batter in the prepared cake pan. use your original dry-ingredients bowl to combine the dry topping ingredients with a fork. mash in the butter with your fork, fingertips or a pastry blender. scatter the topping over the batter.

bake the cake until the top is golden brown and the tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes. run the spatula around the edges of the cake to loosen it, then flip out onto the cooling rack.

 

SUNDAY'S CAKE

my husband asked if he could choose sunday's cake and of course i said "yes." he flipped through a couple of cook books and then decided on a bittersweet chocolate mousse cake from the cake book. he went to the store, bought all of the ingredients that we did not already have and came home. i was ready to get started and he quickly intervened and said "i want to make it." and so he did. let me tell you, he did a wonderful job. it is rich and delicious. bravo cute husband.

here's what you will need:

for the chocolate cookie crust:
1  1/2 (6.3 oz/180 g) chocolate wafer crumbs
4 tablespoons (2 oz/57 g) unsalted butter, melted

for the bittersweet chocolate mousse filling:
1 pound (454 g) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup (160 ml) whole milk
2/3 cup (4.6 oz/132 g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
pinch of salt
1  1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2  1/2 cups (600 ml) heavy cream

make the crust:
butter the bottom of a 9 x 3-inch springform pan. in a medium bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs with the melted butter until combined. pat the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the pan in an even layer. refrigerate the crust while you make the mousse.

make the mousse:
place the chocolate in the bowl of a food processor and process just until finely ground. (leave the chocolate in the processor.)

in a small saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, espresso powder, and salt and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until  the sugar dissolves and the milk comes to a boil. with the food processor running, pour the hot milk mixture through the feed tube and process until the chocolate is completely melted. scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the vanilla extract, and process until blended. scrape the mixture into a large bowl and let cool.

in the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream at high speed until soft peaks form. using a rubber spatula, gently fold one-third of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. fold in the remaining cream until completely blended.

scrape the mousse onto the crust and spread it into an even layer. refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours.

unmold the cake:
run a sharp thin-bladed knife under hot water and wipe dry, then run the knife between the cake and the side of the pan to release the cake; reheat the knife as necessary. remove the side of the springform pan. if necessary, run a small metal spatula around the side of the cake to smooth any rough patches.