I love this cake because you can have it after dinner as a dessert or you can have it in the morning with coffee and it's great either way.  The traditional way to make this cake is very simple which is just mixing up the batter and pouring it into your pan.  But thanks to Andrew Carmellini of Locanda Verde in New York City, I use a different method.  He's a master at taking classic dishes and giving them a new twist and that is what he did with this cake.  In his terrific book, Urban Italian, he makes the usual batter but then he whips up a meringue and folds that into the batter. It makes for a wonderfully light cake.  He also adds lemon zest and juice to the cake, making it even more special.   He likes to slice this cake and makes an ice cream sandwich out of it, with chocolate ice cream!  Now there's an idea.  

This recipe makes 3 cakes.  I wrapped two up tightly and stuck them in the freezer for use over Thanksgiving - they will definitely come in handy.  I will just whip up some cream to serve with them. 

Since the meringue is made with just egg whites, you will have egg yolks left over.  You can either make gnocchi (which is what I did the next day) or you can make homemade pasta. 

Pine Nut Cake (Pinolata)
adapted from Urban Italian 

for a printer friendly recipe, click here

makes 3 9x5 cakes

for the cake batter
2 cups pine nuts
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 pound (4 sticks) butter, at room temperature
zest and juice of 2 lemons
4 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 whole eggs
3/4 cup yogurt

for the meringue:
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Toast the pine nuts over very low heat in a dry saute pan until they have just begun to take on a golden color. Remove from the stove and reserve.

Prepare the batter

Meanwhile, cream the sugar, butter and lemon zest together in a KitchenAid with the paddle attachment.  Be sure to scrape down the sides as you go to make sure everything mixes evenly.

When the mixture is quite smooth, add the flour and baking powder.  Mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated and then begin adding the eggs, one by one, waiting until each egg is thoroughly mixed in before adding the next.  Turn the KitchenAid up to high for about 5 seconds to combine everything thoroughly, then scrape down the sides and the bottom with a spatula and mix in any bits that have failed to incorporate.

Add the yogurt and mix in with the paddle attachment until it's thoroughly incorporated.

As you continue mixing, add the lemon juice and incorporate. Scrape down the sides and bottom and mix well with a spatula.  Then transfer the mixture to a large bowl.  

Prepare the meringue:

Beat the egg whites in the mixer with the whisk attachment at medium speed until they've formed a froth.

While the egg whites are still whisking, add the sugar in a slow stream.  Mix at medium for 20 seconds and then turn up the mixer to high and continue beating until the meringue forms stiff peaks, about 4 minutes.  

Finish the cake:

Fold a third of the meringue into the batter using a rubber spatula to combine well.  Add the rest of the meringue and fold in well until the mixture is combined.  Fold in the pine nuts, reserving about 3 tablespoons for the top of the cakes.

Spray 3 9x5 loaf pans evenly on all sides with a nonstick coating.  Fill each loaf pan about two-thirds full with the batter.  Smooth and flatten the tops with the spatula.  Sprinkle the tops of the cakes with the reserved pine nuts.  

Bake the loaves on the middle rack until you can put a knife into each and bring it out clean, about 45 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool in the pans for about 30 minutes and then turn them out onto a cake rack to cool completely.   You can wrap and freeze them if you wish.

You might also like Pignoli, Italian Pine Nut Cookies.  They are our favorite little cookie.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Being part of a group like The Daring Bakers certainly makes you stretch. The monthly challenges make you bake things you never would have otherwise.  That's certainly true of this month's challenge.  Although French macarons are wildly popular right now and are so pretty, I probably never would have put them on my "to do" list.  Beside, they are famous for being difficult to master and unpredictable.  And they sure did not disappoint.   

Macarons are little almond cookies that are made with egg whites and have a filling that you sandwich between two of the cookies.  If you want to see what the perfect macaron looks like, the famous Beverly Hills bake shop, Paulette's Macarons, is the place to go.  They make perfect macarons in a rainbow of colors, incredible flavors and snazzy packaging.  And they ship.  

In this challenge, we had the choice of any flavors and fillings we wanted to use, so I chose to do a lemon macaron filled with a white chocolate lemon filling and a chocolate macaron filled with Nutella.  

When doing the research for making the macarons, it became apparent that there was disagreement as to the best method.  Do you age the egg whites overnight or just bring them to room temperature?  Do you let the batter sit after you mix it up or after the cookies are piped?  Do you bake them at one temperature or bake them at a high temperature for a few minutes and then lower the temperature? Do you use powdered food coloring or is liquid food coloring okay?

Yeah.

I read macaron posts from all the usual suspects for baking expertise - David Leibovitz, Helen of Tartelette, and Aran of Canelle et Vanille.   I made my decisions and jumped right in.  One of the defining features of a perfect macaron is the little "feet" on the cookie.  If you make them right, they rise up and create the distinctive "foot" but this is no easy accomplishment.  My lemon cookies ended up with some feet but my chocolate ones. . . well, they had no feet.

I did age the egg whites.  I separated the eggs the night before and left the whites out all night at room temperature.  This dries the whites out a little bit and helps the texture of the cookies.  I also used powdered food coloring instead of the liquid because extra moisture in the batter can prevent the cookies from baking correctly and because Helen said so.  I ordered the powdered food coloring from Country Kitchen SweetArt, a great online place to shop for baking and confectionary supplies.  (The powdered food coloring is not an item I was able to find locally.)  I even bought some of these cute little pearlized sugar pearls.  They have them in so many colors - they're really fun.

Another tip I discovered when making these macrons is how to lift them from the parchment.  They stick a little and I read about some other tips on how to get them off, like sprinkling a little water on the parchment. But really, using my large Santoku knife did the trick.  It was much better than a spatula.  Just wipe your knife off after every few cookies. 

And my final tip - what to do with all those egg yolks you have leftover? Refrigerate them and make a nice vanilla ice cream or homemade pasta the next day.

Lemon French Macarons with White Chocolate Filling

for a printer friendly recipe, click here

Lemon Macarons

2.25 cups  (8 ounces) confectioner's sugar
2 cups (6.7 ounces) Almond Flour*
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 egg whites (have them at room temperature)
1 tablespoon very finely grated lemon zest 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Combine the confectioner's sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl.  

Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks.  Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks. **

Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine.  If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time.  Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches.  Be gentle.  Don't overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (e.g., Ateco #806).  You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off.  It's easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

Pipe one-inch-sized mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners or parchment paper.  Let them sit for about 20 minutes before baking.

Bake the macarons for 5 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375 degrees. Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back  in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.   (I did 6 minutes, but I think my oven is a little hot).   Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield:  10 dozen.  (Note: My yield was less than this.)

*Almond Flour is not generally a hard to find item.  If your grocery store carries Bob's Red Mill organic products, you can usually find it there.  Also, most health food stores carry this product.  

**Stiff peaks is when you remove the beater and the egg white peak stands straight up.

White Chocolate Lemon Filling

8 ounces white chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix together until smooth and then let set until thickened up.  When macarons are cooled, sandwich about a teaspoon between two cookies. 

Chocolate Macarons with Nutella Filling

Follow directions for Lemon Macarons, but leave out lemon zest and substitute about 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder.

When cool, place a layer of Nutella between two cookies.

Last year at this time, when plums were in season, I posted a recipe for Chez Panisse's Plum Tart that people still e-mail me about. This year, for plum season, I wanted to share a recipe for an incredibly easy dessert that you can enjoy the next morning with your coffee. It's like a plum cake that takes only a few minutes to assemble and then bake. Since it only uses egg whites, I save my egg yolks and the next day I either make fresh pasta with them or some kind of delicious chocolate dessert that requires egg yolks.

I made this dessert in a 9x9 tart pan with a removable bottom, but you can just make it in any small baking dish. Do not use something as large as a 9x13 baking pan. A 9x9 cake pan is fine.

I used Stanley Plums, simply because they were at the Farmer's market. They are a nice plum but do not have a real depth of flavor like some others. Use whichever is your favorite plum for this recipe.