The devil you say

We’ve been out of sorts lately. A recent encounter between a deer and our car (the deer survived, our car not so much) has us sans our all terrain vehicle. With the car at the body shop for 4-6 weeks, our normal schedule has been slightly upended.

Luckily for us, a recent trip to our local grocery store provided inspiration. Several items which have been out of stock since March suddenly appeared … namely, pickling salt and cake flour.

Bread and Butter Pickles

This is a staple in our pantry and unfortunately, we are on our last jar! The timing couldn’t be better. The pickles are used in our homemade potato salad and extra juice is used for brining hard boiled eggs.

Devil’s Food  Cake
A mix of dutch-processed cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate and hot water enhances the chocolate flavor. A combination of cake flour (tender crumb) and all-purpose flour (structure) create a melt-in-your mouth texture.

Jack recently put in a request for cake. It needed to be chocolate, packed with flavor and easy to freeze.   I went to the experts of food alchemy, Cook’s Illustrated, and found what I hoped was the perfect cake … Devil’s Food Cake.

The essence of this cake is a very moist, velvety texture, combined with intense chocolate flavor. Sounds perfect. We baked it in a sheet pan to help meet the freezing requirement. The cake itself is so rich in flavor it doesn’t need frosting. What you say? No frosting? Yes, it’s that good.

Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Devil's Food Cake

An extremely rich and tender cake, that if baked in a 13x9 pan, will NOT need frosting to be a great treat.
Servings: 10 people

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
  • 1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa
  • 1 1/4 cup boiling water
  • 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup cake flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 16 tbsp unsalted butter 2 sticks / softened
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
  • 3 large eggs at room temp
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Adjust the oven racks to the middle position; heat the oven to 350º F. Meanwhile, grease a and line the bottom of a 13x9 pan with parchment. Combine the chocolate and cocoa in a medium bowl; pour the boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together the flours, baking soda, and salt onto a large sheet of parchment paper; set aside.
  • Beat the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer at medium-high speed until it is creamed, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat at high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatual. With the mixer at medium-high speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce the speed to medium; add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. With the mixer at low speed, add about a third of the flour mixture, followed by about half of the chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove the bowl from the mixer; scrape the bottom and sides with a spatula and stir gently to thoroughly combine.
  • Pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan on the middle rack. Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes. Run a knife around the perimeter of the pan to loosen. Invert onto a large plate; peel off the parchment paper and reinvert onto a rack. Cool completely. Sprinkle a light dusting of powdered sugar on top or apply your favorite frosting.

An ant’s eye view

At first glance the landscape reveals nothing more than a mix of tans and browns. Sand and rock litter the ground. It appears nothing is here. Jack and Tip park under a lone shade tree and I head out in search of high desert wildflowers.

I have to change my approach. Many of these blooms are close to the ground which means I need to take a low angle and get an “ant’s eye view.” I love this type of photography … that said, it does require a certain amount of … flexibility.

I’m equipped with a small tripod and an assortment of iPhone lenses (wide angle and macro being my favorite). I take a wayward tack. I’ve been lucky in the past … meandering and wandering has paid off for me. It takes a while, but then my focus shifts and it’s like another world is revealed under my feet.

 

Its been a successful shoot. I’m pretty psyched at finding a cactus.

I can’t wait to get back and share my news … plus Jack and Tip have an ice tea waiting for me. It’s been a great day!

 

 

Staying away on the Crooked

The weather has been so nice we took advantage and put the new Euro rod through its paces.

We are back on the Crooked River … fishing … training Tip in the ways of the river …

and generally practicing our own form of social distancing.

This time I evaluated the new rod and in the process caught a couple. The biggest problem encountered is the cobble rock bottom that makes wading difficult and precarious.

At the Crooked we generally don’t cover a lot of river.  Instead we pick a spot and work up and down from there (maybe a quarter of a mile at most). While the river’s bottom is rock and moss, the bank is really easy to traverse.

As the weather keeps getting better, this will be a regular destination for us. It feels great to hear the river rush by and take the time to breathe in the good and exhale the bad.

Orange Poundcake

While scoping out the newest issue of King Arthur Flour catalogue, we read a description for a poundcake recipe we couldn’t resist. The words, “tastes like a Creamsicle” pretty much guaranteed we would be trying this recipe.

The topping is extraordinary. Its a combination of citric acid (found in the bulk foods aisle) and superfine sugar and it tastes both sweet and tart.

The result … a dense, moist cake full of orangey goodness. You can find the recipe here.

Also check out their Tea Loaf Pan. It bakes a longer, slimmer loaf and is one of our favorites.

 

 

Frozen bubbles

I’m not sure where I first picked up the idea of freezing soap bubbles.

That said … I do remember once seeing videos of the process I thought, “I want to do that!”

So we gathered supplies, namely a straw and bubble solution, then watched weather forecasts for the ideal temperature ( -12º to -30ºF – you can have some success as high as 9-12º).

Finally it got cold enough … 7ºF. Time to pull out our bubble solution. We placed it outdoors to cool down for 30 minutes. Then headed outside to give it a go.

At first we used a straw to blow the bubble and allowed them to drop onto the front step – FAIL

Next we attempted to use the straw to place a bubble on the step – FAIL

Then we allowed the bubble to start freezing on the straw, then carefully placed it on the concrete surface – SUCCESS!