Hey guys. Leena Eats is going under another makeover, which we hope to have live by March 1st. In the mean time, you get to enjoy several guest posts while Leena works hard at her new website. And lucky for you, Leena has some interesting friends to keep you busy, including a husband, the owner of a creative ad agency, and a scholar who just happens to love food enough to travel for it.
And can I just say how appropriate is it that Adam’s guest post about making my birthday cake is appearing on his birthday, when I will be making his birthday cake?! Enjoy. This was truly a delicious cake!
~LTG!
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Hi everyone. My name is Adam, the amazing partner of one LeenaEats. If you’re a regular reader here you likely already know how awesome I am… which is lots. Lots awesome.
If you’re new, then welcome! Please take a moment to let it soak in.
This is actually my first appearance here on LeenaEats as a writer. And for good reason:
1. I’m not a writer
2. I’ve been a tech geek for MUUUCH longer than I’ve been a food geek
3. I’m not nearly crass enough to meet the Leena’s “Bitch, please?” standard
4. I’ve been known to prefer generic blue-box, electric orange powdered, child-fattening Mac-n-Cheese over anything remotely gourmet
So why should you keep reading instead of checking your e-mail, poking friends on bookface or reading one of the 8 billion more qualified food bloggers out there? Because…
I CAN COOK!
It’s official. There have been rumors floating around our local homeless population, but last week?s cooking + this blog post = official.
It was Leena’s first birthday in the fine state of California so I decided to venture into her world while she was working and cook up a few non-Adam type dishes.
First, I did some browsing of Leena’s cook books and a few blogs and decided to challenge myself a bit by taking a shot at the Smitten Kitchens rendition of Sunday Suppers at Lucques hazelnut brown butter cake.
The cake sounded awesome and also challenging, so I tried to follow the recipe to a T.
The full recipe is at the bottom of this post. Keep in mind, Leena had no clue I was making this, so she couldn’t help me make the cake. But here are a few notes I took along the way that may help should you decide to make this kick-ass cake:
*Skinning the hazelnuts. The newest part of the whole process for me was skinning the hazelnuts. Who knew people even had to do this? I baked them for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees, let them cool, and then rubbed them ferociously in a dry towel. Once clean, I threw them back into the oven and baked until golden brown.
*Parchment paper for lining pan. We were out of parchment so I just buttered it well to make sure the cake would come out at the end of the day.
*Browning the butter. This is a pretty straight forward step. Cook the butter and vanilla bean paste in a sauce pan on medium/low until the butter turns, well, brown. It should smell a bit nutty at this point too, but I had just been baking and scrubbing hazelnuts for 30 minutes, so really, everything smelled a bit nutty to me.
*Whipping the egg whites. Time to play with the stand mixer. It’s the manliest thing about a kitchen, a loud machine that beats or whips the hell out of stuff. Take the egg whites and granulated sugar and whisk for about 5 minutes. The mixture will turn white and foam-like. You’ll know it’s done when the shape (peaks) hold, even if you turn the whisk or spatula to the side.
**IMPORTANT: While the cake is baking, make yourself some boxed macaroni. Eat, let sit for 5 minutes. Get back to the serious stuff.
*The ganache. The ganache was also a new experience for me, though surprisingly simple. I didn’t have a double boiler handy, so all I did was take a Ghirardelli chocolate bar (I hear you shouldn’t go too cheap with the chocolate for this) and chop it up really finely.
Next, I cooked the heavy cream to a boil, not a second later, and poured it over the chocolate and mixed with a whisk. The consistency was perfect to pour over the cake.
Needless to say, Leena was surprised and happy and full. Go team. The kicker was that I also woke up and cooked breakfast coconut macaroon pancakes, ginger syrup, bacon and eggs. But you’ll just have to wait until my next post 
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The Cake (From Smitten Kitchen : http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/03/hazelnut-brown-butter-cake/)
5 ounces (about one heaping cup) hazelnuts, blanched to remove dark skins
1/2 pound unsalted butter (plus 1 tablespoon melted extra for greasing the pan)
2 teaspoons Vanilla Bean Paste
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting the cake
1/3 cups all-purpose flour
6 egg whites
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Preheat oven to 350 °F.
Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet, and toast 12 to 15 minutes, until they?re golden brown and smell nutty. Let them cool.
Cut out a circle of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of a 10-inch round cake pan. Brush the pan with a little melted butter and line the bottom with the paper.
Place the rest of the butter in a medium saucepan. Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise down the center, and using a paring knife to scrape the seeds and pulp onto the butter. To make sure not to lose any of the seeds, run your vanilla-coated knife through the butter. Add the vanilla pod to the pan, and cook the butter until the butter browns and smells nutty (about 6 to 8 minutes). It helps to frequently scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan in the last couple minutes to ensure even browning. Set aside to cool. Remove the vanilla pod and discard.
Grind the hazelnuts with the confectioners? sugar in a food processor until they?re finely ground. Add the flour and pulse to combine. Transfer to a large bowl.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the granulated sugar and mix on high speed 4 to 5 minutes, until the mixture forms very stiff peaks. When you turn the whisk upside down, the peaks should hold. Transfer the whites to a large mixing bowl.
Alternate folding the dry ingredients and the brown butter into the egg whites, a third of a time. Remember to scrap the bottom of the brown butter pan with a rubber spatula to get all the little brown bits.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour**. Cool on a rack 30 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan, and invert the cake onto a plate. Peel off the paper, and turn the cake back over onto a serving platter. Sprinkle it with powdered sugar or cover with ganache (below).
Draping Ganache for 10-inch Cake
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or finely-chopped chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules
Melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cake. (I usually use the boil cream and then stir in chips until they melt method, but found that this time it ended up too thick and hard to drizzle. Feel free to try either, though!)
~AG!
