Debutante's Cake

This easy cake comes from French Family Cooking by Audrey Ellis. This cake stays moist for a week. Most young cooks in France learn to make  this cake before attempting to make pastry.

The illustration is from Marjorie Torre Bevans. 

Debutante's Cake 

4 cups all-purpose Flour sifted with 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
5 Eggs
1 and 1/3 cups Sugar
1 large Lemon
pinch Salt
3/4 cup Corn Oil
1 and 1/4 cups Milk

Sieve the Flour into a mixing bowl. Make a hollow in the center.

In an other bowl, beat the Eggs with the Sugar, grated zest of Lemon and the Salt. Beat in the Oil and the Milk, adding a little of each alternately.

Pour the mixture into the flour, drawing it in gradually, then beat until smooth. Pour into two greased and line 9x5 loaf tins and bake in a moderate 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. If necessary, cover the top of the cakes with greaseproof paper or foil after 25 minutes to prevent over browning. Test with a fine skewer, cool for a few minutes in the tin and turn out.



A friend of mine makes this moist cake in a fluted tube pan. When he serves the cake, he fills the center with Raspberries and surrounds the cake with Whipped Cream all around it on the plate. Perfect.

The cake is so moist it needs no frosting. Might be nice with a tart Lemon Glaze. But there is really no reason to gild the cake as it is lovely all by its lonesome.

Ghetto Garden Fabulous #2

I have written about my scavenger's garden before. In keeping with the theme established, I have gathered some new tricks that you might find useful in your city garden.

One of the first things I did in my garden was create a path. A garden path gives definition to the garden, aids in forming garden beds and makes it possible to get at those herbs easily when you are cooking. My itty bitty kitchen garden adds a lot of good tastes to my life.

I had a source of old bricks. You may have a source of discarded pallets. One can create beauty out of nothing much.

Every time you pass up commercial pavers and other doodads for creativity with found materials, you save money to indulge in flowers, seedlings and herbs and shrubs that might be otherwise hard on your garden budget. I bought myself fig trees.

One of the persistent problems I have had gardening in the city is Cats, my own and those of my neighbors.They defecate in the exposed earth in the garden beds.

It is partly my own fault. I grow a stand of Catnip which they love to eat and roll in. I solved the problem by using twigs to make mini paths and so they are disinclined to dig.

 I am happy to share this neat tip which solves both the problem of cats and recycling plastic utensils. Go to listotic.com for 19 more frugal gardening tips.




The moral of this story is: Use what you have. Save money and save the planet. Make Art.

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

(Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, deerit nihil.)
― Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters to His Friends, Vol 2: Books 7-12

World Food Day Poster Contest 2014

Congratulations to the winners of World Food Day Poster Contest 2014 entitled ‘Family Farming’.

I present my favorite posters every year because the children's art is so amazing and energizing. 

Ms. Mary Walker's Garlic Pate

Never enough Garlic.

GARLIC PATE

18 large Garlic cloves
3 slices fresh whole wheat Bread (crumbled)
6 ounces Cottage Cheese or Ricotta Cheese
1/4 tsp Salt
1 'pinch' ground Black Pepper
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Peel and quarter garlic cloves and put into food processor with half the breadcrumbs.
Chop/blend well.
Add rest of breadcrumbs and cheese and continue to blend.
Add salt and pepper and blend again.
Dribble the olive oil into the mix - and blend again.

Note - If you want to eliminate the 'bite' in the raw garlic - just begin the recipe by covering the raw garlic with water and microwave for (on high) for a couple of minutes, then drain and discard the water. Freezes well in small amounts! I like it made with 'raw' garlic!

Editor's Note - Ms. Walker started with a recipe from Bloomsbury Kitchen Library and then messed with it. I like a small amount of olive oil poured over and some chopped parsley for garnish. Good bread. Some crudites. Olives perhaps. Heaven for garlic lovers.