Author Archives: Sweet Jumbles
Peach Pound Cake with St. Germain Glaze
It’s rewarding when you make a recipe that turns out great. But it’s REALLY rewarding when you invent a recipe that just rocks your socks off. And that, my friends, is what happened here.
A few days ago a friend of mine gave me a bottle of St. Germain, an elderflower liqueur. The irony here is that neither he nor I really drink all that much…somewhere between rarely and next-to-never. But, St. Germain is a very light, very refreshing liqueur that doesn’t even
taste like alcohol. It can be easily mixed with champagne, club soda, or tonic; it would go nicely in a mimosa, and even when sipped alone it doesn’t make your face all pucker up.
I set myself up with the challenge to try to use this in a recipe. Because the drink is so light, I knew I could not pair it with any bold flavors, but also needed to stick to something with a hint of summer. So I decided peach would complement the flavors of the elderflower.
I settled on a peach pound cake. No recipes looked quite right, so I invented my own. Truth be told, the recipe below was my second attempt. The first had actual diced peaches and peach syrup in it and the texture was just wrong. So, I omitted those ingredients and instead just used peach nectar for attempt number two. Bingo. Not to toot my own horn, but this is the moistest pound cake I think I’ve ever had.
The peach flavor is subtle, but I don’t know what one could use to make it bolder aside from peach extract, which I doubt many people have (though I looked it up, it does exist). On the other hand, the subtlety of the peach allows the St. Germain to shine.
I used the St. Germain for the glaze. For this, you’ll have to add the liqueur by taste, adjusting according to your preference. If you don’t want to include alcohol, just leave that out of the recipe, reduce the powdered sugar, and have a traditional glaze. Similarly, I see no reason why the St. Germain could not be substituted with something like Peach Schnapps, Grand Marnier, or Champagne. Get creative and come up with your own flavors.
Peach Pound Cake
1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 c. granulated sugar
4 large eggs (room temperature)
3 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 1/4 c. peach nectar (room temperature) (I used Goya)
3/4 c. buttermilk (room temperature)
1 t. vanilla
Preaheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bundt pan.
Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
With the mixer on medium speed, add eggs, one at a time.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a third bowl, combine peach nectar, buttermilk, and vanilla.
Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool for 15 minutes in bundt pan, remove (don’t worry if there are small flaws, glaze will cover it), cool completely and glaze
St. Germain Glaze
2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 T softened butter
3 T milk
St. Germain to taste (I used about 1 1/2 shots)
Combine, adjusting St. Germain and powdered sugar to desired taste and consistency.
Pina Colada Pie – my first post!
After some deliberation I’ve decided to start a baking blog. As luck would have it, this very week that I set out to start it we are in the midst of a major heatwave. It’s day 4. 102 degrees today.
So, I decided to outsmart the heat and make an icebox pie. I found a delicious sounding recipe for a pina colada pie that suited me and I bought all of the necessary ingredients.
Lesson 1: read the directions very, very thoroughly prior to setting your mind to a baking project. The crust baking was unfortunate but tolerable because it was 6 minutes and I just escaped into my singular air conditioned room (the bedroom). What I wasn’t prepared for until, oh, reading step 2, was the fact that I’d be standing over a double boiler. In my 97 degree kitchen. (Not exaggerating.) But, I set out to do this and I’m doing it! It took longer than expected, as the gelatin was supposed to set in 10 minutes. Guess that’s a bit longer when it’s 97 degrees in your kitchen. Even in my fridge it took close to an hour. Use your judgement and monitor the filling for consistency and thickening.
Crust baked. Pie filling poured. Pie setting in fridge overnight. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzap. Electricity is out. Great. Now my starting-to-set-pie is in a fridge that will not be cold for very long. Seriously folks, just don’t bake in a heatwave. The forces of nature and technology are ALL against you.
So, it’s 11pm, I’m in my pajamas, teeth brushed, bedtime prayers said and I’m filling a cooler with my goods to take the contents of my fridge and freezer, including the cursed Pina Colada Pie, to my office kitchen.
I’m hopeful that first thing in the morning I can snap some requisite pictures of the pie for the blog here and add them in tomorrow, but considering the events described above, I trust that you will grant me some slack and use your imaginations as to what the pie looks like. I encourage you all to try this yummy treat, but just don’t do it during a heatwave.
Cursed Pina Colada Pie
adapted from Icebox Pies by Lauren Chattman
Vanilla Wafer Crust
50 Vanilla wafer cookies
5 T unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/8 t salt
1 t vanilla extract
Preheat over to 350
In food processor, chop cookies until finely ground. Combine crumbs, butter, salt, and vanilla in bowl, stir until moistened
Press mixture evenly across bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie pan, packing tightly
Bake until golden, 6-8 minutes. Cool completely before filling
Pina Colada Pie Filling
2 T cold water
2 t unflavored gelatin
2/3 c sugar
3 large eggs
6 oz pineapple juice (canned)
½ c unsweetened coconut milk
¾ c heavy cream
Place cold water in bowl, sprinkle with gelatin. Let gelatin stand to dissolve
On a double boiler, whisk together sugar, eggs, pineapple juice, and coconut milk, making sure metal bowl does not touch bottom of saucepan. Heat, whisking constantly, until 160 degrees on thermometer.
Remove bowl from double boiler and whisk in gelatin. Let stand on ice or in fridge until it begins to thicken, whisking occasionally.
Whip heavy cream to soft peaks and fold into pineapple mixture.
Fill pie shell. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until completely set, at least 6 hours and up to 1 day.
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