Pear Cornmeal Cake with Rosemary Syrup

Too many pears. Not enough time to eat. Actually, too many fruits. The tray of Jonagold apples from Costco was placed on top of the Bosc pear, which was bruised, which required that they be made into something. I have been incorporating cornmeal into my baking dishes recently, ever since I bought a box of cornmeal to make cornbread for my cornbread stuffing. A google search later, I came across this Pear Cornmeal Cake with Rosemary Syrup from the Real Simple magazine. Finally, I get to use the square Springform  pan I had bought awhile back.

The cake is in the oven. It is dark outside... I am debating going into the garden for those sprigs of rosemary. Ha, ha. Who am I kidding, I will be making the rosemary syrup and brushing the cake with it.

NB So this cake is a keeper. Daughter asked if I used the batter from my Blueberry Peach Cobbler, another favorite of hers/ ours. Totally different method of making the batter but a flavor reminiscent of the Cobbler. Delicious warm with a dollop of whip cream. A hot cup of tea is the perfect complement. 

German Butter Cake

Along came a German girl..... "what do you mean they don't sell vanilla sugar? What country are we in? I do not believe they don't have it!" She scans the shelves going up and down the row. Shopping for ingredients....... This all started because my dear husband wanted a butter cake. We looked at cake recipes all day but nothing satisfied her. Finally she downloads a recipe from the internet from a German website.

"I need a cup she says." I handed her a set of measuring cups which she rejected. "We do not use those." I suggested a tea cup which I have come across being used in some old British recipes. Again, she turns the idea down."...Ah, this is perfect." "You are kidding me," I retorted ," A MUG!" I questioned her but she is adamant - a mug it is.

"The recipe is from a Grandma site, old fashioned. It must be good, it has a 5 stars rating." We go with the flow since she is the one making the cake.

German Butter Cake

2 Pig mug flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

1 Pig Mug whipping cream (1 small carton)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 mug sugar

Topping

125 gm butter

4 Tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 mug sugar

200 gm sliced almond

Method

Beat 1 mug sugar, 1 mug cream and 4 eggs together until light and fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla essence. Add 2 mug all purpose flour and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Beat until incorporated. Pour batter unto rimmed buttered cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 395 F/ 200C.

Meanwhile, melt 125 gm butter. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1 cup sugar and 200 grams sliced almond. Stir to combine.

Remove cake from the oven. Spread topping in an even layer over the cake. Return cake back to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes until cake is cooked and topping is golden brown. Cake should pull away from the sides.

Observation

I was amused by this baking experience. I was expecting precise measurement and techniques. Instead I had this German girl downloading a recipe from the internet and then using the very precise Pig Mug to measure the dry ingredients! She does not sift the flour with raising agent, instead dump everything into the mixer. Guess what? It worked! The cake was delicious.

I learn the importance of vanilla sugar in German baking. The best I can establish it comes in 1 1/2 inch plastic package and is use very often the way we use vanilla essence, to add vanilla flavor to bake goods. Butter cake in the US is not what butter cake is in Germany. This was more like a sponge cake. In this version of Butter cake, the only butter was in the topping. I also learnt that when she ask for a hand mixer, she is asking for a whisk! I truly enjoyed the time I spent with my girl E baking.... although she has a strange way of slicing a piece of cake, don't you think?

For those of you who read and understand German, here is the link to the recipe http://www.ciao.de/Der_beste_Butterkuchen__Test_1205245

NB

It appears that there was the Pig Mug was equivalent to 1 cup in measurement.

Happy 18th Birthday Daughter

Yesterday my beloved daughter turned 18 !!( January 6 ) It was a beautiful momentous moment. I have been truly blessed with a loving, caring and intelligent child who has made being a mother a fulfilling experience. I smile when I think of the number of friends who were motivated to start a family because of her as a baby - a happy, interactive and easy to care for and mother. I warned them that not all babies are like my baby but...... Even this week when I spoke to a teacher of hers who is presently pregnant, she commented that if her baby was like daughter L who is an angel she would be really blessed. Ha, ha, I tried to tell the teacher that she is not always angle like! Whatever flaws daughter has, they are eclipsed by her good heart, her strong sense of self and family, and the fact that she is a special part of me.

Happy Birthday Baby! I handed down to her the gold bangle my mother gave me when I was 18. Hopefully one day she will be blessed with a daughter she can hand it down to. Something new was a long strand a green colored freshwater pearls, which she can wear long or loop into multi strands or even wear as choker. Whatever style a fashionable teenager can think up. Green has been her favorite color the past couple of years (and mine too!). Maybe this will be a tradition of passing down family jewelry with an addition of something new.

As stars aligned, she was playing in a soccer match for her high school on her birthday. She was wearing her number 18 jersey. How apt! The school district is making a documentary on the International Baccalaureate Program and choose to film daughter L as she is the only IB candidate that is playing sport this season! So the cameraman was on the field filming her during the soccer game. All this on her birthday!!

At daughter L's request, I made a whole mess of spaghetti and meatballs for her team as a treat. Not! It was a tray of cupcakes disguised as spaghetti and meatballs.(Check out posting for that) She was happy that her team enjoyed them.



After daughter L cleaned up and dressed up as girly girl (versus scruffy soccer player) we headed out to dinner at the new Mr.Dumpling restaurant in Convey. We ordered a hot pot dinner and had noodles for her birthday.

I tucked my baby in bed last night, under her million layers of comforters. Once my baby , always my baby. Happy Birthday MY