Wow. 2023 marks the beginning of the twelfth year of this blog. For the record, this is the 263rd post and there have been more than 110,000 page views. There are followers on this blog and also on the Pinterest board of the same name.
My cooking abilities have improved because of my blogging experience: one guest taster noted that many of the recipes I have tried could be considered "technical challenges" a la the Great British Baking Show. So true! They fall into the category of "here are the ingredients and a general guideline of what to do, now make it and it should taste good." The thought made me laugh and also reflect on how my attitude towards cooking has loosened over the years.
This has increased my confidence in my ability to create. For example, after a holiday gathering I took a variety of leftovers from my refrigerator and made a stew: olives, pickled mushrooms, andouille sausage, chopped carrots, cherry tomatoes, French onion soup, and half a jar of marinara sauce were lubricated with some beef broth and simmered until the scent was luscious. I didn't add any other seasonings and it was just right, served up with leftover biscuits on the side. A wonderful light dinner after several days of holiday treats.
My blogging explorations have wandered far and wide across time and cultures. It is what I hoped for when I started blogging, and yet went even further than I had anticipated. I did not expect to translate an historic cookbook, and I did not know about cookbooks from, for example, medieval Syria, medieval Transylvania, ancient Baghdad, railroads, and Ukraine. My time at several culinary symposia was well-spent in trying recipes, techniques, and new foods, and (most importantly) meeting people who love historical cooking, too. I have learned and made friends.
I plan on continuing this blog and will get back to the California Food Project blog when time permits. I enjoy learning more about the food and history of my home state. Just the other day I read a book containing letters written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (of the Little House on the Prairie fame) while visiting her daughter Rose in San Francisco during its Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Along with getting a visitor's view on that world's fair, there are a few recipes at the end of the book. I plan to try one.
So I decided to celebrate these accomplishments with a recipe that could be considered a Most Favorite, but I didn't want to wait until December to post it.
The cookbook is The Greyston Bakery Cookbook by Helen Glassman and Susan Postal. The authors both trained at the Tassajara Bakery in San Francisco then helped to found the Greyston Bakery, which is operated by the Zen Community of New York. From the inside flap of the dust jacket:
In just a few short years, the Greyston Bakery ... has established itself as one of the leading practitioners of the fine art of baking. Greyston uses only the finest natural ingredients -- rich, dark chocolate, real butter, pure maple syrup, and fresh fruit -- to achieve the delicate textures and subtle flavors that make its cakes, cookies, and breads epicurean delights.
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| ISBN-10 0-87773-323-6 |
I haven't made many of their recipes (because calories!) but what I have made was good and the directions were specific enough to be really helpful. The chocolate mousse cake is one I have made many times since I obtained the book in 1989, but not recently. Sometimes I just make the mousse filling (using one-third of the quantities) as it makes a lovely dessert all by itself. Recently I modified the mousse filling and used powdered ginger instead of cocoa powder to make a topping for a pumpkin cheesecake.
This cake requires two of their recipes: one for the chiffon layers, found on page 133, and the other for the completed cake, found on pages 134-135. This post covers the layers. The next post covers assembling the cake. Let's get started, shall we?
Chocolate Chiffon Layers
6 egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
dash salt
Butter two round 8-inch cake pans.
You will need three bowls (two large, one small).
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar and continue beating in large bowl of mixer until very stiff.
Mix oil, egg yolks, water, and vanilla in small bowl.
Sift dry ingredients together into the other large bowl: cocoa, flour, rest of sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt.
Add yolk mixture to dry mixture.
Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites and gently incorporate.
Pour into two prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, until the sides shrink and top springs back when lightly pressed.
My Notes
Note that the sugar is divided, and I've found it helps to measure it out into the 1/2 cup amount for the whites and then measure separately the 1 cup that goes into the dry mixture.
I've also found it helps to put the small bowl with the containers of the wet ingredients in one place on the counter and the large bowl for the dry ingredients in another. This organizational scheme reduces mistakes (don't ask!). I usually use a measuring cup as my small bowl.
I followed the directions in order and had no issues with the process.
My layers were ready after 27 minutes. I let them cool for 2 1/2 hours before moving on to creating the cake.
What follows are pictures of the process with comments along the way.
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| Soft peaks and ready for the sugar. |
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| Stiff! |
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| Dry ingredients mixed. |
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| Wet and dry mixed. |
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| Batter completed with egg whites folded in. |
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| Apportion the batter evenly between the pans. |
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| Finished layer baked to perfection! |
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