Summer Berry Cake

Happy Fourth of July!
I was in charge of dessert this year for our Fourth of July celebration at the lake. I really wanted to make the beautiful berry cake with the biscuit crust on the cover of this month's Martha Stewart magazine. So I followed the directions for making the biscuit, and left the dough in my fridge overnight. I baked it the next day. YUCK! It was raw in the center, and done too much on the outside. So I had to throw the whole thing out and start again. I gave up on Martha altogether, and went back to my Ina, who never lets me down. Here is her recipe for Strawberry Country Cake, which was absolutely delicious. I left out the orange zest because I feel that it can be too overpowering sometimes. Two great things about this cake- one, you bake once and get 2 desserts out of it, and two the cake freezes beautifully, so you can make it way in advance, then just defrost it when you need dessert. Whip up the whipped cream, cut up some berries, and you're all set. I added blueberries in mine to set the red,white and blue mood.

Summer Berry Cake

For the cake batter- this makes 2 8 or 9 inch rounds, which will make 2 dessert cakes. Freeze one and save it for later.
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the filling for each cake:
1 cup (1/2 pint) heavy cream, chilled
3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 pint blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter the bottom of two 8-inch cake pans. Then line them with parchment paper and butter and flour the lined pans.

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the sour cream, zests, and vanilla, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine just until smooth.

Pour the batter evenly into the pans, smooth the tops, and bake in the center of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then remove to wire racks and let cool to room temperature. If using 1 cake, wrap the second well and freeze.

To make the filling for one cake, slice the strawberries and combine with the blueberries in a large bowl. Add sugar to taste, and let sit for 10 minutes. Whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm. Slice one of the cakes in half with a long, sharp knife. Place the bottom slice of the cake on a serving platter, spread with 1/2 the whipped cream and scatter with the berries. Cover with the top slice of the cake and spread with the remaining cream. Decorate with berries.

Blueberry Ice Cream

Years from now we will remember this summer as the summer of ice cream. I started collecting ice cream recipes last summer, determined to try to make my own. Ice cream is very serious business to a New Englander. Growing up in Connecticut I remember ice cream socials and consuming gallons of ice cream over the course of the summer. Everyone has their favorite ice crceam shop. Mine was Dr. Mike's. Their strawberry ice cream was so fantastic. It was full of fat, but airy and just really fabulous. I just can't find that same flavor in California ice cream. So this summer I started by making strawberry ice cream. It was the best so far. I started with a basic recipe from Lindsey Shere (Chez Panisse) that I got at a cooking class a couple of years ago. By the way- the cooking class was really fun, but was cancelled for lack of interest. It was a collection of mothers who would go to the class every other month, prepare a meal, then eat what we prepared. Unfortunately, many of the other mothers didn't have much interest in cooking. One night while we were eating the women around me at the table discussed the lack of variety in take-out food, lamenting that they had to have pizza two nights in a row. I thought this was odd considering this was a COOKING CLASS. Anyway, one of the things we prepared was this ice cream, and it was very good. So I started with the basic recipe, but I didn't have vanilla beans at home. I priced them at Berkeley Bowl- 1 bean was $8.25. The recipe called for 4 inches of vanilla bean, about half of one. So I thought I would just use regular good vanilla instead. After all, this was going to be strawberry ice cream. For the strawberry flavor, I made some of Rose Levy Beranbaum's (Cake Bible) Strawberry Sauce. It was really good. I wanted to take pictures, but we ate it all before I could.
Next I made plain Vanilla ice cream. I found vanilla beans at Williams Sonoma for less- 2 in a jar for $8.50. I followed the recipe, and it was a little too vanilla-y.
The blueberry is good, and I love the color, although it doesn't really knock you over with blueberry flavor. I went back to using good vanilla for this batch.
Why did the strawberry come out best? I still really don't know. I think it's because the eggs in the custard were at room temperature when I started making the base. That, and the strawberry sauce that I used was really great. So here's the basic recipe that I used for the ice cream, and the directions for the strawberry sauce and the blueberry sauce. There will be many more batches of ice cream this summer. I'll keep you posted. Note in the recipe the liquid used. Most recipes call for a combination of cream and whole milk. This uses half and half and whipping cream, substantially raising the fat content.

Vanilla Ice Cream

4 inch piece of a vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. good vanilla)
1 cup half and half
2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar
6 egg yolks (at room temperature)

If using a vanilla bean-Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the fine black seeds into a saucepan. Add the vanilla bean pod, half and half, cream, and sugar, and warm the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.

If using good vanilla- Combine good vanilla, half and half, cream, and sugar in a saucepan. Warm the mixture stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.

Whisk the egg yolks just enough to mix them and whisk in some of the hot misture. Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard coats the back of the spoon. (Drag your finger down the back of your wooden spoon. It should leave a clear trail.)

If using a vanilla bean-Strain through a medium-fine strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed, scraping as much of the vanilla through the strainer as you can. Return the bean pod to the mixture, put in a container, seal and store in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

If using good vanilla-Strain through a medium-fine strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed. Add fruit sauce. Put in a container, seal and store in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

Freeze according to instructions on your ice cream maker, (removing vanilla bean first). Store the ice cream in a plastic container.


Blueberry Sauce

2 cups fresh blueberries
3 tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. lemon juice

Combine berries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and cook down berries about 5-10 minutes. Strain berries, pushing juice out with the back of a wooden spoon. You should have about 1/2 cup of sauce. Cool before adding to base mixture.
(I added the whole 1/2 cup to the base mixture.)

Strawberry Sauce

20 ounces fresh strawberries
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Freeze the berries. Thaw them in a collander or strainer suspended over a bowl. (This could take several hours.) Pres them to force out their juice. There shoould be close to 1 1/4 cups of juice.
In a small saucepan, boil the juice until reduced to 1/4 cup. Pour it into a glass measuring cup.
In a food precessor, puree the strawberries. You should have 1 full liquid cup of puree. Stir in the strawberry syrup and lemon juice. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
(I added 1/4 cup of this to the base mixture.)