Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

We have rhubarb in the garden and found this recipe on Good Housekeeping for an upside down cake. We loved the recipe the topping was jam like and the cake was moist and tender. We added Strawberries to this recipe.

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 lb. rhubarb
1/2 lb. strawberries
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 large eggs, separated
1 cup) granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º .

In 12-inch nonstick skillet with oven-safe handle, melt 3 tablespoons butter on medium, swirling to coat side of pan. Sprinkle brown sugar over melted butter and continue to cook 1 to 2 minutes or until sugar begins to melt, stirring constantly.

Remove skillet from heat.

Trim tough stem ends from rhubarb stalks. Place rhubarb stalks in skillet in parallel rows across top of sugar mixture, cutting and piecing together stalks as necessary to almost completely cover bottom of skillet. Add your strawberries in this step as well.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

In small bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat egg whites until foamy.

Increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form.

Beat in 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and beat until whites stand in stiff peaks when beaters are lifted.

In large bowl, with mixer on low speed, beat remaining 1/2 cup butter and remaining 3/4 cup granulated sugar until blended.

Increase speed to medium; beat 3 minutes or until light and fluffy and a pale lemon color, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.

Beat in egg yolks, 1 at a time, and vanilla until well blended.

Reduce speed to low. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl.

Stir in 1 large spoonful beaten whites to loosen batter slightly.

Then, with rubber spatula, fold in remaining whites, half at a time, just until blended.

Transfer batter to skillet and spread evenly.

Bake 38 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Cool cake in skillet on wire rack 10 minutes.

Invert cake onto platter and remove skillet; cool slightly, about 30 minutes, to serve warm, or cool completely, about 2 hours, to serve at room temperature.

Coconut Tartlets with Poached Pineapple and Mascarpone Cheese

I will be catching up on some of the dishes that we have made over the last few months. Our overtime is starting to slow down. Here is a Pineapple Tart that we found on My Recipes that is so good. It is the first time we have used Mascarpone Cheese due to the fact that is is very expensive. We found that the Mascarpone Cheese a bit bland compared to the tang of cream cheese, however the tarts were great. We did not use the pink peppercorns

Coconut Tartlets with Poached Pineapple and Mascarpone Cheese

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut (such as Baker's Angel Flake, which has a fine texture)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups diced fresh pineapple (1/4-in. cubes)
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°.

Put coconut and butter in a medium bowl and stir until coconut is moist.

Divide mixture evenly among tart pans and press into bottoms and up sides to form a thin shell. Put tart pans on a baking sheet and bake until shells are golden brown, rotating sheet halfway through, about 15 minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes, then gently remove shells from tart pans and cool fully on a cooling rack.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine diced pineapple, pineapple juice.

Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until pineapple is tender, about 5 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer pineapple to a bowl and refrigerate, uncovered, until cool, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, increase heat to high and boil remaining liquid until thick and syrupy and reduced to 1/2 cup, about 2 minutes.

Remove star anise and discard; refrigerate syrup, uncovered, until cooled to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, stir mascarpone and pineapple syrup together.

In a separate bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form.

Stir half the cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten it, then gently fold in remaining cream.

Divide cream filling evenly among tart shells, smoothing it with the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula.

Spoon diced pineapple over cream filling, dividing evenly.

Serve immediately.

Halloween Glitter Pictures

Peach Pecan Chocolate Up-side Down Cake

I have been off a few days and decided to bake something with peaches. I looked through my file of cakes and came across this one. It came out of the newspaper a number of years ago. It was easy to put together and has a nice flavor.

Peach Pecan Up-side Down Cake

Ingredients: Topping

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
4 medium peaches, peeled and sliced
2/3 cup pecan halves

Ingredients: Cake

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
pinch salt

Directions:

Grease 10" round cake pan. Combine butter and sugar in small sauce pan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Pour into cake pan. Arrange peach slices in a neat over lapping rows on top of the sugar butter mixture. Arrange pecans on top of peaches and fill in empty spots.

Melt chocolate over water bath or in microwave and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Stir in cooled chocolate.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
Gently stir into egg mixture.
Spoon batter over peaches.
Bake at 350º oven for 30 to 40 minutes
Allow cake to cool and then invert onto plate.
Cake maybe wrapped and frozen in pan. Defrost in frig and invert.
Serve with whipped cream or ice cream

Rhubarb and Banana Caramel Bread

I was going through a few blogs the other day and saw this recipe on What Smells So Good and decided to make it. I had a couple of stalks of rhubarb that were begging to be used. The bread is very moist. The combination of bananas and rhubarb seems to work. I did add banana Dulce De Leche to the middle as well. It called for flaxseed, since I did not have it I used oatmeal and also I changed the yogurt to sour cream. This version will have a bit more fat in it I am sure.

Rhubarb and Banana Caramel Bread

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. ground oatmeal
1/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup large flake oatmeal
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 medium banana sliced
2 stalks rhubarb, cut into bit size pieces
2 tbsp. banana Dulce De Leche
1 tbsp. sugar & cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat over to 375º.
Grease your bread pan.
Add First amount of water to the ground oatmeal and let stand for 5 minutes.
In a medium size bowl and combine sour cream, milk, vanilla, almond extract, brown sugar and water; mix until smooth.
In another medium size bowl whisk flour, oatmeal, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.
Stir flour mixture into wet until just combined.
Pour 1/2 the batter into the loaf pan.
Place sliced bananas and the rhubarb over this batter and place dollops of the Dulce De Leche on top of the fruit.
Pour the rest of the batter over the fruit.
Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the top.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
Let cool completely before cutting.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

With the new season of fruit on a pie was on the list. We used the Perfect Pie Crust. The filling was very good. I have not made a pie with both strawberries and Rhubarb not really sure why I haven't but it is a nice combination.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients: Filling

1 quart strawberrys

10 stocks rhubarb stems

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons cornstarch (use 1/4 cup if berries are frozen)

Ingredients: Strussel topping:

2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup butter

Directions:

Prepare the pie dough of your choice: We use The Perfect Pie Dough.

Cut up your strawberries and rhubarb into bit size pieces and place into medium sized bowl. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon and corn starch and mix to coat. Pour into prepared pie shell.

In a medium size bowl combine the topping ingredients and combine until forms little pea size pieces. Place the topping on the pie and bake.

Bake at 350º for 40 to 50 minutes.

Serve warm or cool.

Co-Worker Vietnamese Soup

One of my co-workers made me a Vietnamese Soup with wontons. It was so good. It had a chicken broth to which you add the wontons that had shrimp in them. You could add baby bok choy. There was also a hoisin sauce to dip the wontons in.