peanut butter snack cake

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i know that our honeymoon was 5ever ago, but i still think about all of our little afternoon cake dates that we had in austria. nearly every afternoon on our trip, eggboy and i would sheepishly poke ourselves into an old cafe and assess the cake situation before looking for a place to sit. we were always just a wee bit tense until we actually had cake and coffee in front of us because we could never be sure if we were supposed to order at a counter, at our table, or if we should wait for a tray of cake to come parading around and then wave it down. it was stressful and my limited german wasn't such that i could confidently ask about a parading tray of cake, but boy is austrian café culture great.

what fascinated me most was how all of the cafés had such similar lineups of cake, and that they were all decorated the same way. like, all of the esterházy tortes in vienna had the same little squigglies and all of the punch cakes were the exact same shade of pink. it wasn't like some punk was sitting in the kitchen, deciding on a whim to cover an entire cake in sprinkles or make a naked cake and instagram it with a nudy joke. it was way more civilized than that. there were no sprinkles. 

after a week of afternoon cake dates, i learned that splitting a slice was simply not the way to go. eggboy eats cake too fast. he'd gobble up as much as he could without coming up for a breath and then open up his big paper map and linger over our path while i carefully ate each bite. i'd stare at the chandeliers, and get to know the texture and flavor of that cake. what made this esterházy torte different from the last esterházy torte? this glaze is like pudding skin... and before i could really get to know a new cake, it would be gone. so we started ordering two slices so that his rambunctious eating habits wouldn't leave me with no cake. 

we'd talk about who had probably eaten cake in that exact room and various cake-related history factoids. what kind of cake did mozart eat?? what do you think is the history behind the frosting squigglies? can you imagine what life was like for franz sacher???

it was perfect.

i miss it.

now that spring planting has started, i'll have to deliver some cake and a stanley thermos of coffee out to a tractor to relive our afternoon cake dates. 

but a fancy frosted cake with hundreds of years of history isn't so appropriate for a tractor cake date, i don't think. so here's my homey farmy translation of afternoon austrian cake: a finger food cake that isn't frosted or decorated, one that can be whipped up in a snap and enjoyed in such a rustic place as a tractor cab.

i know, unfrosted cake is a new concept for me. but once i tweaked this recipe just so, i decided that its moist sweet perfectly peanutty easy-to-make and easier-to-eat qualities left no need whatsoever for marzipan animals. so there you have it. no more excuses, go make cake. 

peanut butter snack cake

makes one 8-inch square cake

ingredients

1 c sugar

1 c all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp kosher salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

 3/4 tsp baking soda

1 large egg

1/2 c buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c flavorless oil, like canola

6 tb water

1/2 c creamy peanut butter*

 

for serving:

powdered sugar

*the peanut butter that i use for this recipe only contains peanuts and salt, like smucker's natural and target's market pantry all natural.

 

clues

preheat oven to 350.

grease an 8-inch square pan (or something similar, like the pan that i used), line the bottom with parchment paper, and set it aside.

in a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. in a medium bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients. whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then pour into cake pan and bake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes.

let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then turn onto a lightly greased cooling wrack. 

dust with powdered sugar, cut into squares, and serve! store in an airtight container for up to a few days, or freeze for up to a few weeks.

 

-yeh!

this post features goodies from zola registry! eggboy and i used zola for our wedding registry and we had the jolliest time picking out homeware from their pretty collection as well as being able to add whatever else we wanted from around the internet. (how else can you have a smeg fridge and silkie chickens on your registry?) if you are engaged and looking to register, check out zola and get $25 added to your account with this link! also be sure to check out my little baking-centric tastemaker collection. thanks so much for sponsoring this post, zola!!! 

here are the pieces that are pictured: red rimmed plates // blue rimmed plates // red rimmed mugs // gold flatware // blue rimmed baking dish // kitchen-aid // linen napkins // square cake stand

tater tot chicken pot hotdish

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spring planting started yesterday and all i can think about is how grateful i am for the world synchronized skating championship online webcast. hehe. oops? i know, i should be celebrating spring planting (i am! here, have a cake!) but, like, any other time, i probably would have been a little salty if eggboy had tout à coup called way past dinner time to say that it would be another many hours before pizza o'clock, and last night it was received with something more to the effect of, ok the entirety of team russia 2 is dressed like black swan, there are tiaras, they're about to swizzle, g'bye. 

is this what being a farm wife is???

oh right! that and planning dinners that last for a long while on the stove or in the oven for the unpredictable nature of "dinnertime during farming season." we learned how to do that last year though, during the great sugar beet harvest shakshuka slow-poach showdown. whatever that means. now it's just a matter of getting back into the swing of things and not making delicate time-sensitive food like soufflés or al dente noodles.

i know, i don't even make soufflés or al dente noodles during non-farming season. but you know what i mean.

so i figured it was high a time as any to put my first tater tot hotdish recipe out into the world!

omg tots omg tots.

i know, they're moment-ing in brooklyn right now. 

but let me tell you about 1980s upper midwest church cookbooks and tater tot hotdish: they are married. tater tot hotdish is quintessential comfort food for eggboy and eggdad and egggrandma. tater tot hotdish : eggdad :: mum's mac and cheese : me. it's a staple at potlucks and you're not a minnesotan until you can properly apply a layer of tater tots to a 9 X 13 casserole dish of creamed soup.

let's review our hotdish definition: a meat, a creamed soup, a vegetable, and a starch, dumped together and baked until hot. typically a tater tot hotdish is hamburger meat, cream of something (mushroom?) soup, and peas or green beans under a bed of store-bought tater tots. mine is inspired by chicken pot pie: chicken, béchamel, and vegetables. 

and thyme. and miniature. and yes, store-bought tater tots, for now. 

tater tot chicken pot hotdish

makes 4-5 servings

ingredients

2 tb unsalted butter (or olive oil)

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

optional: other chopped sturdy veggies! celery, potatoes, and broccoli would all be great

1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 c whole or 2% milk

enough chicken bouillon for 2 c liquid*

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh or breast, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2 c frozen peas

1/4 t dried thyme

optional: other herbs! rosemary and parsley are nice!

black pepper

frozen tater tots! about a pound of them.

 

*i like orrington farms brand, which requires 2 tsp mix per cup, but other brands, like better than bouillon i believe only require 1 tsp. best to check the instructions.  

clues

preheat oven to 400.

in a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the onion, carrots, and any other veggies, stirring until soft, 7-10 minutes. stir in the flour so that it gets evenly distributed. add 1 cup of the milk, stirring until thickened, and then add the second cup, stirring until thickened.

add the bouillon, chicken, peas, thyme, any other herbs you’d like, and pepper, and simmer, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked. taste the mixture and adjust seasonings, if desired.

transfer the mixture to a 2-2 1/2 quart casserole dish or 4-5 mini cocottes--and then cover with tater tots. 

bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tots are golden brown.

let cool slightly and enjoy!

matcha white chocolate ganache

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gravity feels a little bit strong this morning. the gravitational pull back to my bed, under a pile of blankets, and back into that dream where i think i was eating a babka. maybe it has something to do with the snow on the ground and the mountain of cheesy pickles that i demolished late last night with some brunch club ladies and the long hours of vibraphoning that i'm subjecting my fingers and toes to every evening when they think they're going to get a break from doing dishes and tweezering sprinkles on cakes. it's ok though, i'm drinking a huge mug of french press and wearing this fluffy sweater dress that i recently converted to pajamas. (don't smell me.)

and there's an entire package of danny macaroons sitting a few inches to my left. are you my breakfast? 

at some point later today i'm going to do one of two things, or maybe two of two things: eat this matzo brei breakfast sandwich with a carnegie deli-sized stack of salami, and/or further educate myself on the tater tots that are leftover in our deep freeze from last week's brisket hotdish. 

what did i walk in here for though? ganache? ganache. pouring ganache stresses me out, it's a reminder that i need to do more yoga. i don't like that you only get one shot to pour it and that you can't sit there and play with it all day like you could a buttercream. but when it works, it has such a pleasingly fudgey texture and it looks all nickelodeon-like so it truly is worth impulse buying a yoga studio membership. (see also: katherine sabbath's cakes. they are so happy and colorful!) 

in true gak-fashion, this ganache is green. green from matcha, which sings when it's paired with white chocolate. it's as if the matcha begins the sentence and then as it trails off, white chocolate picks up to carry you through to whatever chocolate cake mess is lying beneath it. you don't have to put this ganache on a cake though, you can put it on anything: a sundae, a cookie, your face.

matcha white chocolate ganache

ingredients

4 oz white chocolate, finely chopped

1 tsp aiya cooking grade matcha

1/4 c heavy cream

 

clues

place the white chocolate in a heat safe bowl and set it aside, but not too far aside.

sift the matcha into a saucepan and whisk in 1 tablespoon of the cream. whisk whisk whisk until no lumps remain. whisk in the remaining heavy cream and then heat it gently over medium heat, stirring often, until it just begins to boil. remove it from the heat, and then pour it over the white chocolate.

let it sit for a few seconds, and then stir it all together until the chocolate melts. 

if you're pouring this over a cake, let the ganache cool slightly (stirring often), and then pour it over! if the cake is frosted, it helps to have it chilled so that the ganache hardens and doesn't melt the frosting. 

-yeh!

this post is sponsored by aiya matcha! all opinions are my own.

fresh mint peep cake toppers + other ways to accessorize your cheesecake

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happy easter eve/second night of passover, everyone!!! i'm on brisket hangover. also real hangover bc four glasses of wine is apparently a lot. we had a delightful little seder yesterday, complete with charoset truffles and the j-date e-haggadah, which is actually even more ridiculous than it sounds. i subbed half of the potatoes for tater tots in the sussmans' brisket kugel and received a covering-the-bitch-in-tater-tots lesson from eggboy, because apparently in midwest hotdish tradition you don't just put tater tots on top of a casserole and stick it in the oven. you have to carefully place them on in perfect rows, as many of them that will fit, and the rows have to be very very straight. i've never seen eggboy this passionate about a food that isn't eggs or steel cut oats or peanut butter before, so i gave him full reign and it turned out really nicely. 

and yep, there was ketchup. 

we breezed through the afikoman and then ate our brisket hotdish in front of the second harry potter, which was a little bit scary and we totally forgot to eat macaroon cake. so now we are about to bring it to fargo to celebrate easter with eggsister and eggsisterspecialfriend and egguncle! we're gonna dye eggs. eggs dying eggs eating eggs hunting for eggs. the eggiest party, probably ever. 

ok did you think i would allow this easter to pass without a homemade peep? it's ok, i did. but after stumbling upon my peeps mold in the basement a few weeks ago, i realized i'd better not let that go to waste after just one year. so i made cake toppers with it! and stuck them into cheesecake.

cheesecake is a new frontier for me. after the great cheesecake overdose of 1998, i had a bit of an aversion to cheesecake. and then when i was baking at the town bakery, i always tried to avoid baking the cheesecakes because they took sooooooo long to make and in the end, i didn't even really get to frost them and decorating options felt really limited. but i'm trying not to discriminate against cake these days (hi, parsley cake!), so i'm dipping my toes in and starting with the decorations in a semi-homemade situation (hi, sandra!). one day soon i'm going to conquer a replica of piccolo angolo's ricotta cheesecake but today is not that day. it is easter eve. happy easter eve! 

fresh mint peep cake toppers // the fresh mint in these creates for a nice refreshing bunny! my recipe is right this way. simply follow the directions for infusing the bunnies with herbs, using a couple of sprigs of fresh mint. when they're dry, stick their butts with wooden skewers and then stick them in your cheesecake.

create pretty stencil designs // cut out some fun paper shapes, place them on your cheesecake, and then dust the top with powdered sugar or cocoa powder. gently (with tweezers??) remove the stencils.

chocolate drizzles // melt a bit of chocolate either in a double boiler or in a microwave at 30-second increments. spoon the chocolate into a piping bag, cut the teensiest little hole out of the piping bag, hold it high above your cake and then apply constant pressure to the piping bag as you move it quickly back and forth. 

sprinkles // duh. 

all of the cakes in these photos are part of daiya's new dairy free, gluten free, and soy free frozen cheezecake line!

-yeh!

pictured: green cake stand // white cake stand // gold fork

this post is sponsored by daiya! all opinions are my own. the cheesecakes in these photos are part of daiya's new dairy free, gluten free, soy free cheezecake line, which features four varieties: new york, chocolate, strawberry, and key lime. they're now available at whole foods! here is a $1 off coupon!