summer

hibiscus lime bundt cake #bundtbakers

Woohoo! Time for another installment of #BundtBakers!

This months theme is “tropical”, which I thought would be really easy, but ended up tripping me up at first. My maple bacon bundt cake was such a hit last month that I felt like I needed to keep up that momentum and do something totally unexpected.

At first I thought I’d try to get away from the idea of “caribbean” tropical flavors like guava and mango, and go for a more Southeast Asian profile. I decided to keep pushing the sweet and savory thing and make a Thai coconut curry bundt cake with a spicy thai chili & lime glaze. I made the cake with coconut milk, lime and fresh ginger, and I really wanted that coconut curry spice to be present so I added a tablespoon of Thai green curry paste. The cake was baked, cooled, glazed, photographed, sliced…

And…

NOPE.
(I bet you already guessed though, since I’m sharing a different recipe.)

The thing about curry paste is that along with the chili, lime, lemongrass and galangal, there’s also a healthy dose of garlic and shallots. Not exactly what you want in a cake, even if you are trying to push the limits of sweet and savory. I didn’t hate it, but Russell said it was absolutely disgusting and spit it out in dramatic fashion into the kitchen sink. He also poo-pooed last month’s maple bacon cake though, and everyone else loved it, so I brought it in to work for a second opinion.
NOPE. Not this time.
I came home with almost as much cake as I left with. Everyone was polite about it, but didn’t go in for more than a few bites. I actually think certain elements of the cake were great, especially the chili lime glaze, but the garlic and shallots in the curry paste just tasted… wrong. I thought about trying again without the curry paste, and eventually I might, but for now my heart isn’t in it anymore.

A few days later I came across some dried hibiscus flowers in bulk at my local grocery store and I was reminded of a hibiscus tea I used to drink as a teenager. It was naturally sweet, tart and citrusy, with a definite tropical flavor. When I opened the bin to scoop it out, the smell was overwhelming. Oddly enough, hibiscus smells much more fruity than floral. It’s sticky sweet, tangy, & pungent, reminiscent of overripe cherries and citrus fruit. I may or may not have stuck my head into the bin to take a big whiff. I also may or may not have caught the cashier taking a big sniff of the bag while I was digging for my wallet. If you can’t find hibiscus flowers (sometimes called flor de Jamaica), they can easily be found online.

I decided to steep the flowers in buttermilk and lime juice (rather than water) to concentrate the flavors. The hibiscus tea I used to drink was a brilliant pinky-red so I hoped that the cake might come out a similar color. After steeping, I squeezed the beet red liquid out of the flowers, but when I mixed it into the batter it turned the cake a gorgeous deep dark purple. I swear that there is not a single drop of food coloring in this cake.

When baked, the interior retained that purple color but the outside of the cake faded and browned. At first I was disappointed but then I realized it would make for an even more dramatic presentation when sliced. Just imagine bringing this unassuming, seemingly normal looking bundt cake to a party and slicing in to reveal the beautiful brilliant purple interior. Talk about wow factor!

Even though this was another experimental recipe, I was confident from tasting the batter that no one would turn their nose up at this one.
On a beautiful sunny Sunday we took the East River Ferry to Dumbo, vintage cake carrier in hand, and met some friends for a picnic at Brooklyn Bridge Park. When we showed up with a shiny aluminum cake carrier our friends knew they were in for something good, but when I cut in and people saw the purple-y mauve interior there were a few actual gasps, “OH MY GOD”s, and “SHUT UP!”s.

And guess what.
Everyone cleaned their plates! A few even went back in for seconds. This cake is crazy good. Perfectly moist, just sweet enough, and not too heavy. The lime flavor is a perfect compliment to the tangy tropical flavor of the hibiscus. The first bite is bright, citrusy, and tart, but with the second bite an interesting depth begins to unfold. The hibiscus gives this cake a subtle fruitiness similar to that of red berries or dark cherries. It’s almost difficult to describe such an exotic and unexpected flavor, but Russell says that the cake tastes just like it’s color; bright, fruity, & tropical.

Hibiscus Lime Bundt Cake

Servings: 12 to 16
Print

3 limes
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 cups dried hibiscus flowers (3 oz by weight)
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Glaze:
2 limes
2 tablespoons butter
2 to 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease and flour a 10+ cup pan and refrigerate.

Zest and juice limes (you want about 6 tablespoons of juice). Whisk zest and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer and set aside. Combine lime juice and buttermilk in a small saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Stir in hibiscus flowers, bring back to a simmer, and remove from heat. Press the hibiscus flowers down so they’re mostly covered in liquid, and steep for 15 or 20 minutes. (They’ll swell and appear to absorb the liquid) Once they’ve steeped, use a fine mesh strainer and a spoon to press the liquid out of the hibiscus flowers into a measuring cup. Measure 1 cup of liquid total. If you’re a little short you can supplement with more buttermilk.
Add butter to lime zest and sugar and cream on high with a paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until very light and fluffy. Mixing at medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into pan, smooth top, and bake for 55 minutes to 65 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a cooling rack for 15 or 20 minutes before turning out onto the rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze:
Zest and juice limes (you want about 4 tablespoons of juice) Combine with confectioners’ sugar and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cooled cake, and allow glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Thank you so much to our host, Lauren of From Gate to Plate, for organizing and hosting this month’s event! Please scroll down and check out all the other amazingly delicious sounding tropical bundts! You’ll definitely be glad that you did!

This month we have so many amazing tropical Bundts that have me anxious for summer! Be sure to check them all out.

Guava and Cream Cheese Bundt Cake by Love and Confections
Guava and Pineapple Impossible Cake by Passion Kneaded
Pineapple Macadamia Nut Bundt Cake by Sew You Think You Can Cook
Passion-Orange-Guava Bundt Cake by All That’s Left are the Crumbs
Mini Spiced Caramelized Pineapple Bundt Cakes by From Gate to Plate
Hibiscus Lime Bundt Cake by Brooklyn Homemaker
Mango Brown Sugar Glazed Bundt by Noshing with the Nolands
Pineapple Pound Cake by Magnolia Days
Mango Ginger Bundt Cake by Food Lust People Love
Almost Pina Colada Bundt Cake by Tea and Scones
Mexican Mango Cake by My Catholic Kitchen
Mango Coconut Bundt by Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Mini Pineapple Lime Mojito Bundt Cakes by Blahnik Baker
Tropical Pineapple Bundt Cake by Bizzy Bakes

Interested in learning more about us?? #BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BundtBaker home page here.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.

buttermilk vanilla ice cream

It’s no secret that I love buttermilk.

I love buttermilk so much, in fact, that when I read online about people substituting sour milk for buttermilk I actually get upset and maybe yell at the computer screen a little. When thekitchn recently ran an article about substitutions for buttermilk, I was beyond annoyed. I thought they were better than that. You know what I do when I don’t have buttermilk? I go to the damn store!!!

I know it’s hard to find buttermilk sold in small quantities, but I promise that it freezes really well, and then you’ll have it when you need it. In my opinion there’s just no excuse not to buy it when you’re shopping for a recipe. The main reason for my indignance is that buttermilk just turns everything it touches to gold, and so it seems ridiculous that anyone would work so hard to avoid using it. It’s mild acidity has the ability to loosen proteins in both meat and wheat gluten, making for fried chicken and biscuits that are equally tender and moist. It has a sour tanginess, but it’s not at all similar to milk soured with lemon juice. This tanginess is a cultured one, closer in flavor to yogurt or sour cream. Because it’s a cultured dairy product, it also has a light creamy thickness that you’ll never be able to achieve with sorry substitutes.

I’ve read that today’s commercial buttermilk doesn’t even come close to the real thing, the buttermilk our grandparents and great-grandparents used to use. I know it is possible to find buttermilk being made the old fashioned way, or even to make it yourself at home, but my fanaticism hasn’t gone that far… Yet. Ignorance is bliss I suppose because I’m perfectly happy using the stuff from the grocery store, and maintain that it has a flavor and viscosity unmatched by substitutes, resulting in baked goods and tasty treats with superior texture and taste you’ll never be able to achieve any other way.

I love buttermilk in everything but a drinking glass. That tanginess and viscosity is perfect for baking, but somehow doesn’t appeal to me for drinking. Not yet anyway. My great-grandmother used to drink the occasional glass when I was growing up. Her name was Opal, but we called her Nana, and at the time I thought she was out of her mind to drink the stuff. These days though, I think I almost get it. I love the smell now, and relish the occasional taste when it gets on my hands. When I first heard someone mention buttermilk ice cream, I knew I had to try it. I researched some recipes, did some reading, danced a little jig, dusted off the ice cream maker, and went to town.

I was so excited about tasting buttermilk ice cream that I accidentally mis-read the recipe. I skipped over the part about using half of a vanilla bean, and used the whole thing. It wasn’t until the bean was scraped and steeping in hot cream that I realized I’d messed up. You know what though, it was phenomenal! The recipe below is exactly as I made it, with plenty of vanilla.

This ice cream is serious business. I feel like people don’t give vanilla ice cream the credit it’s due, but I for one LOVE a good bowl of vanilla ice cream. This isn’t just any vanilla ice cream though. It’s BUTTERMILK FREAKIN VANILLA ICE CREAM. It’s every bit as creamy, custardy, sweet, and packed with all the vanilla flavor that you’d want it to be. Beyond all that though, it’s silky and rich, with a wonderful subtle tanginess that only comes from buttermilk. It’s almost lemony, but somehow not quite. It almost has a slight yogurt flavor, but again, that’s not quite it either. It’s buttermilk y’all, and it can’t be beat.

Buttermilk Vanilla Ice Cream

Servings: about 5 or 6 cups
Print

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cup sugar, separated
6 large egg yolks*
2 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla OR one vanilla bean, scraped and simmered with the cream
Pinch of salt

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the heavy cream, vanilla bean (if using), and one cup of sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar.
Remove the cream mixture from the heat and drizzle a small amount into the yolks, slowly, and whisking constantly to keep the eggs from curdling. Do this a few more times to warm up the yolks before pouring the yolk mixture back into the cream, whisking constantly.
Cook over low heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the mixture and whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla (if using), and salt. Cool completely and freeze according manufacturer’s directions. Serve with some fresh sliced peaches or strawberries.

* The original recipe called for 12 yolks. The ice cream would be outrageously rich and decadent if you wanted to use more, but with six yolks it’s still much much more rich than anything you can buy in a store.

our wedding

– Originally posted on June 1st, 2014 –

…

Exactly one year ago today I married my best friend.

Like so many modern Americans, Russell and I actually found each other through internet dating. In 2009, we turned to OkCupid and went on our first date in November. We were immediately inseparable and were planning our wedding color scheme within weeks.

In 2011 I started planning the proposal, and at midnight on New Year’s eve I popped the question. As a special surprise, I reached out to Russell’s favorite artist and asked her if she’d be willing to make us a custom save the date.

When we were first engaged, I was working in event planning at AIDS Walk New York, so I tried to take advantage of my experience to plan and organize our wedding. We gave ourselves 17 months to plan, prepare, and save; and we tried to DIY as many of the elements as possible.

We knew we wanted to have a big wedding with lots of friends and family, but we also wanted it to be a relaxed & informal event. When it came time to choose a venue, we immediately ruled out Brooklyn because, well, because we’re not independently wealthy. As we started thinking about different regions in New York, the Hudson Valley quickly moved to the top of the list. No matter where we chose, most of our guests would have to travel, and we thought that the Hudson Valley would be easy to get to even if it was a short drive from the city.

We found some venues in our budget, piled into a rental car with Doris, and drove upstate. After seeing a few places that looked great online but didn’t measure up to our expectations, we powered on to our last stop. When we got there we just knew. Not five minutes into the tour we were stealing glances at each other and nodding in agreement behind the wedding coordinator’s back. The place was a breathtaking estate with gorgeous sprawling lawns overlooking the Hudson river and the Catskill Mountains beyond. So, that was that. We were gonna get hitched in the great outdoors at the Clermont State Historic Site in Germantown, NY.

With the venue chosen, we asked my good friend Alix Sorrell to design our invitations and programs, and we were on our way.

We started making decisions left and right, buying up string lights and chalkboards, hunting for shoes and rings, and looking into vendors and caterers.

I was already completely addicted to Pinterest, but planning my wedding put me into overdrive. My wedding board quickly grew to over 500 pins, and it became a place I would store all sorts of design ideas and links to cheap supplies and DIY projects. I don’t think I could ever have made our wedding as beautiful as it was without all the inspiration I found on Pinterest.

I also used spreadsheets on google drive, like, A LOT. I made spreadsheets to organize our guest list, budget tracker, supply checklist, to do list, vendor contact info, project lists, etc., etc., etc. If you’re trying to plan and organize your own wedding without a professional planner, spreadsheets are sooo helpful. I would never have been able to keep track of everything without them, and I’m certain we would have doubled our budget if I hadn’t been so anal about it.

Speaking of sticking to a budget, some of the best advice I received came from a book called, A Practical Wedding. “F*ck ‘em if they don’t like chairs.” Those words really helped me to get over my anxiety about things we thought were expected of us but we simply couldn’t afford. We prioritized the things we thought would be important and memorable, and skimped on the things that we didn’t care so much about, like the chairs. Rather than gilded wooden chairs we opted for the white plastic folding variety, and I really don’t think anyone even noticed.

Russell’s Aunt Mimi officiated the wedding, and our wedding party was full of our sisters, their children and our best girlfriends. Even Doris joined in on the fun and walked down the aisle with the flower girls. (this was before Betty joined our family)

We came on the scene to the sound of The Cure’s, “To the Sky”, and had a gorgeous, moving ceremony with the river and mountains right behind us. Our photographer, Jordan of Jordan Jankun Photography did such a beautiful job capturing our wedding along with all the beautiful scenery. All (or most) of the photos in this post were taken by Jordan, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

It was important to us that our wedding party would feel comfortable and confident, so we asked them to choose their own dresses. Our wedding colors were grey with hints of green and white, so we just asked that they choose dresses in a shade of grey with green and white accessories. This way everyone was able to find something flattering that reflected their personality rather than feeling forced into an ill-fitting uniform.

Even my mom wore grey! She was a total rock star throughout the whole process, and spent countless hours wrapping bottles with ribbon, decorating baskets and a wagon for the flower girls, organizing comfort baskets for the bathrooms, transporting truckloads of decorations and beer and mixers, and helping to make sure every last detail was perfect on our big day.

Much like the grooms maids, the flower girls chose their own dresses, these in a pretty shade of mint green.

The day before the wedding we got to Clermont just after Columbia Tent Rental finished setting up our big white tent and laying our dance floor. The rest of the setup was up to us. With our wedding party and some family and friends, we spent the rest of the day setting up tables and chairs, hanging strings of lights and paper lanterns, setting tables with white cloths and grey paper runners, topping them with candles and rolled napkins, organizing the bar, decorating the buffet and cake table, finding homes for chalkboard menus, and pinning escort cards to the cork board.

We didn’t even think to take this into consideration when planning our date, but the 17-year East Coast cicada was out during the time of our wedding. They weren’t really a nuisance, but they were definitely present and added a natural “hum” to the soundtrack of our day. All the kids at the wedding had so much fun with them!

The morning of the wedding we went to the farmers market in Kingston, NY with our maids of honor to pick out flowers. We’d been in touch with a vendor called The River Garden beforehand to ask what they thought would be in season, and to let them know we’d probably clean them out. We chose a selection of purple phlox, green wheat and barley, and purple chive flowers. Along with some amazing and generous volunteers, we arranged the flowers in antique glass bottles and recycled wine bottles, many of which were used as table markers, with white house number stickers on them. Everything was so beautiful, and we couldn’t believe how affordable they were. They even had pre-arranged bouquets of yellow columbine and purple sweet pea that we just wrapped in floral tape and ribbon for our girls to carry down the aisle.

The DIY didn’t stop at the decor either. I also made my own slow baked apple butter using Hudson Valley apples to give to our guests as a thank you for making the trip.

We chose the 1st of June as our date thinking that the weather would be mild and pleasant, but instead it ended up being over 90 degrees that day, so after our ceremony we both changed into shorts to be more comfortable throughout the day.

We really wanted people to feel relaxed and have fun, so booze was something we didn’t want to skimp on. Some of our family told us to cut corners by not serving alcohol, or just serving wine and beer, but we weren’t budging. The one thing we did do to save money was buy our own alcohol and have the caterer provide bartenders. We also chose to offer only vodka and bourbon rather than a full bar, along with two signature cocktails served in drink dispensers, wines from the finger lakes region, and a selection of beers.

Food is kind of a big deal to us, as you can probably imagine since I write a blog on the subject. We weighed several options when we started thinking about what we’d want to serve, but we knew that we didn’t want the same old “fish or chicken” wedding food. At first we were thinking about going for a Southern picnic menu, with cold fried chicken and sweet tea, but ultimately we decided on barbecue. Our budget sort of pushed us in this direction because whole hog barbecue is usually a cheaper option, but what we ended up with was much more than just a pig roast. We found an amazing family run restaurant called Hickory BBQ Smokehouse a short drive from our venue, and after one meal there we were ready to sign the contract.

When choosing a wedding cake, we wanted to keep it simple. We went for an elegant (and delicious) 4-tiered swiss dot patterned cake with classic white Swiss meringue buttercream. The cake itself was vanilla cake with chocolate mousse and chocolate cake with vanilla mousse. Then, to gussy up the dessert table and offer some variety, we served some pies (homemade by our caterers mother!) and a selection of cookies.

Russell chose most of the music for the day with our DJ, Russell’s good friend Cody, but he let me help choose “Islands in the Stream” with Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers as our first dance.

Words cannot express, and photos cannot do justice to, what a beautiful, perfect, wonderful day our wedding was. We’re so glad that we were able to share it with so many of our friends and family.

Thank you everyone who helped make our wedding day the most beautiful and special day of our lives. Friends and family alike joined in to help make sure every last detail was perfect. Big thank yous go out to our DJs Cody and Catonia, to Zach for helping us get all our supplies upstate, and to Aunt Mimi for officiating. Extra big thank yous go out to our wedding party; Sonja, Beth, Jenn, Sharon, Nicole, & Alison; for helping us SO MUCH and putting up with my endless emails. The biggest thank you of all though, goes to my mom.

Thank you so much mom! Without your help we never could have had the perfect beautiful day that we did.