This perfect autumn cake is a result of my makeover of an old family recipe, the one from a huge collection of Russian recipes I’m planning to publish someday one way or another.
Feather-soft cardamom-spiced honey cake, sweet caramelized succulent pears, and crunchy walnuts sure make a memorable treat. The cake becomes out-of-this-world fantastic when served slightly warm with vanilla bean and honey ice cream.
Here’s a cross between a cake and cheesecake. The base is a moist soft pumpkin cake with added candied ginger for a little heat. The topping is a thin layer of creamy pumpkin cheesecake. The cake is baked just until a cake tester comes out clean, but not until the cake picks up color. Then it’s cooled briefly while the cheesecake batter is mixed. The latter is baked at reduced oven temperature just until softly set. The result is a perfect cheesecake texture and moist and tender cake interior.
I intended to post before holidays, but with the Easter marathon of the Russian kulich-baking, pascha-making, and egg-dying I simply couldn’t find time. I hope you all had wonderful holidays.
This cake is for serious coconut lovers, since it has a pronounced coconut flavor. It will also please everyone who is fond of buttery crunchy streusel topping – there’s plenty of yummy crumbs piled over the top. Fragrant and sweet pineapple vanilla jam not just tastes great, but also keeps the cake moist for days. In other words, the cake is worthy of baking. I used egg whites here instead of whole eggs since I was trying to get rid of the whites, left over after yolk-rich Easter baking and cooking.
Maybe, this cake doesn’t have “the looks”, but it’s got everything else. I would even dare to say it is perfect - so tender, moist, with sweet buttery taste (with not that much butter inside). If you wish, you can split the cake horizontally in half and fill it with blackberry or raspberry jam. But, personally, I prefer it plain, with a cup of coffee – the best breakfast.
I baked it mostly out of curiosity. It is quite unusual, liquid batter which is prepared the way the classic Irish bread is made – from the cold butter cut into the flour and cold buttermilk mixed in. Besides the buttermilk the generous amount of Guinness is added to this mixture.
I was really wondering how the bread would turn out with the two and a half cups of liquid… It turned out pretty nice, very moist as you can see. My son, after he tasted the bread still warm from the oven, said that it resembled a banana bread.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
The recipe comes from Margaret Waterworth who runs a pub in Donaghadee, County Down, Ireland.
You might also find interesting other Irish recipes:
First, I thought the cake was too seasonal and the time for its posting had already passed, but then I realized the St. Patrick’s Day was still ahead and decided to share the recipe anyway. Besides, there are two winter months left, plenty of snow, so the cake in its whiteness should fit just right in.
The gingerbread recipe is adapted from the famous Gramercy Tavern’s. It’s moist, flavorful (Guinness and fresh ginger make the world’s difference), and light. And it goes so well with tangy lemon filling. The meringue frosting with some lemon juice added doesn’t seem overly sweet at all. The whole thing turned out to be a perfect winter cake. I was surprised that even after a quite heavy meal everyone asked for the second serving.
Meringue mushrooms are totally optional, the cake will look great without them, just create more swirls in the frosting.
