Brown butter vanilla bean cake with chestnut cream filling

Have you noticed the deluge of cookbooks published recently?  Maybe the timing has to do with the upcoming holiday season but I just don't remember noticing such a swell of cookbooks being published around the same time before.  I'm talking cookbooks from...The Kitchn, Skinnytaste, Joy the Baker, How Sweet Eats, the guys from Baked, as well as new editions from Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, Yotam Ottolenghi...and a lot more!  I'm excited about it all because it means more inspiration, more deliciousness to see and discover.

One of the baking books I was really impressed with is Dorie Greenspan's latest, Baking Chez Moi.  It shouldn't have come as a surprise since I think Dorie's books are always so substantial - as in, there's just so much substance to them.  Her recipes are so detailed, but not complicated.  She provides tips and suggestions to guide you towards being as successful as possible in the kitchen.

I saw many recipes I'd like to make in the book.  I started right at the beginning, with a very simple (but smart) "weekend" cake.  It's the kind of simple yet delicious dessert the French bake at home.  It's easily prepared, with staying power to sit around for a few days to be enjoyed at any time when the mood is right.  I love this kind of cake.  Break out the bowls and whisks!  It feels comforting both to prepare as well as to eat.

The texture of this cake is firm and sturdy but moist.  It has a chewiness to it; my son thought I'd used almond paste because of the nutty, chewy, moistness of it that resembles certain almond paste bakes.  As for flavor, it's rich and full of the deliciousness of brown butter, something I'm in awe of every time I stand by the stove swirling my little pan making a batch for one of my favorite recipes, financiers (coincidentally, another recipe I picked up from one of Dorie's books).  It's called beurre noisette, or hazelnut butter, for a good reason.  Cooking the butter, letting it sizzle and brown, somehow releases an aroma and flavor like caramelized hazelnuts.  It's kind of magical, and delicious in combination with the flavor of fresh vanilla (and a touch of amaretto) in this cake.

This cake is meant to be easy, transportable, low-maintenance.  By all means, make it as intended...or...give it a little twist like I did it.  The original recipe was meant for a standard-size loaf pan.  I divided the recipe in half and made a smaller 6-inch round version that's perfect for my family to enjoy over a weekend.  And because this cake reminded me so much of those delectable financiers (it looks and taste quite similar), I decided to split my cake into two layers and add a slather of chestnut cream in between.  

You can certainly leave the cake plain, without any filling, but I love chestnut cream (and chestnuts, in general) and almost every time I make financiers, I tuck a small spoonful of it into the ones for my husband and I.  I think the flavor of the chestnut cream complements the brown butter - there's a certain similarity in the nuttiness of their flavors.

I had every intention of making this an actual weekend cake but I have to admit this little cake vanished before the weekend appeared for us...

Tiramisu cake for a very special birthday

We've been celebrating a very special birthday around here!  It's my husband's birthday and while he might not want a lot of fanfare on his day, I want to cue the confetti because he truly deserves it.

This year, we don't have the aftershocks of Hurricane Sandy to contend with so things are thankfully calmer.  My husband managed to have a day off from work here and there during the last couple of weeks and it's so nice to have some alone time together during the day.  I'm grateful that he doesn't mind spending some of his free time running errands with me and helping me haul bags and bags of groceries (I'm amazed by the amount of groceries my family of 3 needs!).  My husband's just cool like that.

The two of us managed to have a lovely dinner out last weekend as an early birthday celebration. For the actual event, it'll be a family dinner at home cooked by yours truly.  I asked him what he'd like for dinner and not surprisingly, he picked one of his favorites, a risotto with saffron, clams and shrimp. As for birthday cake, he went with Ina/Beatty's chocolate cake, which is definitely another family favorite. To get a head start on the celebration, I made that cake last weekend and we had no problems devouring it over the course of a few days among the three of us.  We occasionally hoard this cake - it's so easy to do so because it stays moist and delicious for days.

A family favorite (the "first" birthday cake): Ina/Beatty's chocolate cake

But in thinking about my husband's birthday during the last few weeks, I couldn't help but want to make something different, a little surprise, for him.  Somewhere, I saw a picture of a small tiramisu cake and given my husband's love of tiramisu, I started searching for some ideas.  

At first, I thought I'd turn the last tiramisu recipe I made into a cake but the idea of fitting the ladyfingers into a round cake pan sounded like a potential mess.  So long story short, I ended up at Smitten Kitchen, again, and decided to make the tiramisu cake recipe by Dorie Greenspan. Since we just finished polishing off that chocolate cake, I made a small 6-inch tiramisu cake for our birthday boy.

Instead of ladyfingers, this tiramisu cake starts with two yellow cake layers.  The layers are soaked with an espresso syrup.  In between is a creamy filling made with mascarpone cheese and whipped cream, flavored with espresso and liqueur.  There's also a hidden stash of finely chopped chocolate within that adds crunch and additional flavor (chocolate!) to the cake.  

I used amaretto as our liqueur of choice so I went ahead and added a bit of almond extract to the cake layers, too.  After reading some of the comments left by others who've made the cake (big thanks to those people who take the time to do that!) saying the cake could have used more syrup, I doubled-up on it to make sure I'd have enough.  In other words, I made half the recipe for the cake, filling, and frosting but the full amount of espresso syrup to make sure I could properly soak and flavor the cake.

Boy, am I glad I made extra syrup!  I used nearly all of it (the double-portion) and I think the cake could have still handled more!  As you can see from the photo above, the cake is just thirsting for that liquid.  I'm happy with the end result though - I just highly recommend doubling up on that espresso syrup and being patient in giving the cake a good deep soak.

If you're thinking all the dividing and doubling sounds a little convoluted and confusing, it was a little bit.  Shrinking this recipe down by half was a little tricky since there are several components to this cake so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.  I made this cake the night before we planned to eat it since it needs time to sit in the refrigerator for the flavors to meld.  The late hour didn't exactly help my concentration but I did it with joy because it was for a most deserving fella!  And luckily, the fella was a big fan of the cake so it was worth the effort.