so, now i'm a pastry chef. every weekend i make a special, and i can pretty much make whatever i like. last weekend i made muffin-sized pineapple upside down cakes with homemade "maraschino" cherries and buttermilk-caramel ice cream. i didn't get any pics...i know, i should be photographing all my specials....anyway, here's the recipe:
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup lt brown sugar
1 fresh pineapple, cut in slices with the centers cut out* (or 1 large can pineapple rings)
4 eggs, separated
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar (or evaporated cane juice)
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp almond extract
1 Tbsp dark rum
1/3 cup pinapple juice
2 Tbsp buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt
preheat the oven to 325 F
you'll also need non-stick muffin tins. i prefer the XL variety. the regular ones make fitting a pineapple ring in a real challenge. this recipe also works for a 10" cake.
1. in a small saucepan, dissolve the brown sugar in 1/2 cup butter. Once it is dissolved, put a spoonful in each muffin tin. Place a pineapple ring inside. It helps to make a cut in the ring if it is too big for the muffin tin. Allow the cut sides to overlap. At this point you could put half of a cherry in the middle. i chose not to do so, because i was serving it with homemade maraschinos.
2. mix the flour, baking powder and salt. sift.
3. beat the egg whites until frothy, then add the 1 cup of white sugar gradually while beating on medium. continue to beat just until they hold stiff peaks.
beat the egg yolks until they are pale and thick.
4. mix the pineapple juice, buttermilk, almond extract, melted butter and rum. add this in a slow stream to the yolks while beating on low.
5. fold the flour mix into the yolk mixture.
6. lastly, fold in the stiff egg whites carefully until just combined.
spoon this into ungreased non-stick muffin tin so that it is 2/3 of the way full.
bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, @20-25 minutes.
once completely cool, take a sharp knife and run around the sides of each cake to loosen. turn out onto a piece of parchment, as the cakes are sticky.
*use a metal cookie cutter to remove center. i used one shaped like a flower. aw, cute.
"Maraschino" Cherries
2 cups grape or pomegranite juice- i used 1/2 cup pomegranite mixed with 1 1/2 cups white grape simply because that is what we had on hand.
1 cup white sugar (or evaporated cane juice)
3 1/2 fluid ounces fresh lemon juice (@ 3 lemons)
pinch salt
1 piece star anise
1 pound cherries, pitted with stems on (good luck here...the best technique i know is to stick a bobby pin through the bottom and kind of hook the pit out. i used Ranier cherries, which i find harder to pit than Bing. i think sour cherries like Montmorency would be fantastic if you could find them.
1 tsp almond extract
bring the juice, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and anise to a simmer. stir frequently while the sugar is dissolving. after the sugar is dissolved you can ignore it mostly. let it simmer @ 10 minutes. when you're ready to add the cherries, first stir in the almond extract. add the cherries and cook @ 8 minutes. you're trying to poach the cherries, not cook them entirely. remove the cherries from the poaching liquid and place in a bowl set over ice, until cool.
place cherries in a jar and cover with cool poaching liquid. these will keep in the fridge a couple weeks easily.
you could also can these by using the cold-pack method. if you plan to do that, you should at least double the recipe. dispense with the poaching and just pour the hot liquid over the raw cherries in a sterile jar. cap it, then process 15 minutes.
because we were using the cherries immediately at the restaurant, i arranged them in a single layer of a cambro, covered with a small amount of the liquid, and used the rest to make a sauce by thickening it with 1 T of tapioca starch per cup liquid. cook over medium flame stirring constantly until thickened and the starchy taste is gone. this made a nice plating sauce.
Buttermilk-Caramel Ice Cream
makes 1 quart
1 1/2 cup sugar (white, or evaporated cane juice)
2 Tbsp butter, in pats
2 cups heavy cream
12 egg yolks
2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, halved
pinch salt
1. separate your eggs so that the yolks are in a medium sized metal mixing bowl. whisk them until smooth. reserve the whites for some other purpose. a round dozen usually is the perfect amount for angel food cake!
2. caramel: place half of the sugar in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium heat. stir constantly with a metal utensil. if you have a metal spatula without holes in it, that will be easiest to clean. once the sugar melts and you can no longer see crystals, add the remaining sugar. melt it, also. don't worry about how globby it gets when you first add it, it'll smooth out. once its all melted, you'll want to cook it until it is a nice caramel brown. usually mine is by the time its all melted, but if yours is light just let it cook a minute more. now add the butter, one pat at a time. this will cause some sizzling. its ok, just keep stirring. after the butter is melted, add a bit of the cream. i find that adding a bit at a time, and stirring it in completely before adding a bit more is the best way to keep the caramel from clumping up. once all the cream is added, turn the flame down to low. *if you're using a vanilla bean, now is the time to add it. then let it steep, off the flame, for at least 15 minutes. remove the bean, scrape all the goodness out of the middle and return to the pan, discarding the skin. return the mixture to flame and reheat till hot but not simmering. continue with recipe.*
3. temper egg yolks: you do this by pouring a bit of the hot mixture into the yolks while whisking. then add a bit more, whisk, and so on until all the liquid is added. now pour the mixture back into the sauce pan, and return to the flame. at this point i like to switch to a temperature-resistant rubber spatula for stirring, but you could continue with your spatula if you like.
4. make custard: stir constantly until the custard is thick, and coats the back of a spoon without running off. if you're not sure if its done, just cook a minute longer. it will be thinner than, say, Jello cook and serve pudding, but you'll definitely be able to see that its thickened.
Congratulations, you've just made caramel sauce, AND cream anglaise, all in one go! you're pretty much a pastry chef now.
remove from the flame. transfer this mixture to a container to cool, and cover the top directly with plastic wrap (or deli paper, or parchment. do NOT use wax paper or tin foil).
this prevents a skin from forming. Once cool, stir in buttermilk, vanilla extract (omit if using bean), and salt.
Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer's instructions.
