CAKE

Last night, two cakes were baked. Well. Improvised. As tends to happen with my forays into the kitchen.

The first was supposed to be an apple-pear cake, but a dearth of pears turned it into an apple-apple cake. I've made it before (with pears) and love it - it's a light, simple pastry easily adapted to fit any fruit (or vegetable, one supposes) on hand. I can't wait until strawberries and peaches are in season. Mmm. The recipe is from Bread and Honey.

Apple-Pear Cake

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) + 1 tbsp. butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 medium apple
• 1 medium pear
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Melt butter in small saucepan or in microwave. Grease nonstick 8-inch round cake pan (not springform [ed. note - springform is fine]) with butter.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt in small mixing bowl. Wash, peel, and core fruit. Cut into eights and arrange in bottom of pan.
3. In medium mixing bowl, whisk sugar with eggs until fluffy. Add flour mixture and whisk until combined. Add melted butter. Whisk until blended. Pour evenly and bake for 35-40 minutes, until top is set and golden brown [ed. note - emphasis on the brown].

The second was concieved as I was taking the first out of the oven and midway through the holding-a-hot-pan limbo to the cooling rack, when Kaaan came into the kitchen and asked if he could help...with the cake that had, moments before, finished baking.

So we made another one!

The recipe was for a lemon cake pulled from Under the Tuscan Sun, but a general lack of lemons threatened to put a kibosh on that plan...so between an orange we found in the crisper and half a lemon in a belljar in the cheese drawer, we improvised and made a citrus cake instead. The recipe called for buttermilk, which isn't available here, but we checked the Internet and came up with a substition: one and half tablespoons of lemon juice added to one cup of warm milk = one cup of buttermilk (last time I made this, I just substituted one cup of plain yogurt, resulting something rather like cheesecake).

Lemon [or other available citrus fruit] Cake

• 1 cup sweet butter
• 2 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 tblsp. lemon juice [ed. note - or orange juice]
• zest of one lemon [ed. note - or orange - the half lemon we juiced for the buttermilk substituion was too emaciated to zest]

1. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time [ed. note - if you're forgetful and add them all at once, the finished product is not ruined].
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Incorporate with butter mixture alternately with buttermilk. Begin and end with flour mixture.
3. Add lemon zest and juice.
4. Bake in tube pan [ed. note - or whatever] at 300 F for 50 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick.

And of course there's a glaze you're supposed to do, but we didn't have an confectioner's sugar, so never mind that.