Spiced Persimmon Cake with Dates and Lemon Glaze

We discovered the persimmon tree in September when we noticed the golden orbs hanging from the branches. We hadn’t paid attention to the tree before because it was in a relatively inaccessible area behind our house and we had no idea what it was or what if anything it would produce, it had not set fruit until this year. When we found the fruit, we realized it was American persimmon (aka common persimmon and Eastern persimmon), which is a berry in botanic terms. The fruit is small, ranging 1 to 1-1/2 inches (2.5 to 4 cm) in diameter and very sweet when ripe.

Persimmons are autumn fruits that can hang on even after frost, and you can wait until after frost to gather them to ensure they are fully ripe. The leaves start to droop and fall off the tree as the fruit ripens. The persimmons should be very soft and even a little wrinkled before eating, otherwise they’ll have a chalky taste. If the fruit starts to drop when you shake the tree, they are pretty much ready. Read more

Percy Train Birthday Cake

My husband Michael, the engineer (aerospace, not trains), is the designer for all our sons’ birthday cakes. He’s a big fan of Duff Goldman and watches Ace of Cakes often trying to pick up any tips he can. We only tackle cakes like this three times a year and we are definitely not pros. I bake the cakes and whip up the frosting and he does all the assembly and decorative work. Here’s his story on how we made the Percy train birthday cake.

Monkey Boy’s favorite toy is trains so for about six months prior to his third birthday we heard all about how he wanted a Thomas the Tank Engine cake, then just a couples months before his birthday he changed his mind and asked for Percy, the green number 6 train. Green is his favorite color, so it wasn’t a big surprise.

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Volcano Birthday Cake

For Top Gun’s fifth birthday, he requested a volcano birthday cake with dinosaurs. For some reason, he associates volcanoes with dinosaurs, so we obliged and made a chocolate volcano birthday cake with chocolate frosting and colored vanilla frosting with five toy dinosaurs—one for each year—strategically placed on top, making a sort of volcano diorama. He was so excited when he came home from school and found the cake sitting in the kitchen, though he felt we had not included enough dinosaurs in the diorama, so he ran upstairs and pulled another from his collection and plopped it down exactly where he thought it should go. Read more

Whole Wheat Blueberry Buckle

Early blueberries have started coming into the markets and grocery stores and we brought a big bunch home last week, eager for a chance to enjoy some of the delicious fruits. We use them in pies, muffins, ice cream, cakes, tarts, on top of a bowl of oatmeal, or just to eat out of hand. The boys usually have their fingers in the bowl of blueberries when we make something with them.

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Banana Bundt Cake

My children’s school had a teacher’s luncheon a couple weeks ago for Teacher Appreciation Week, and I signed up to make a dessert. Cakes seem to go over well and Bundt cakes always look pretty on the buffet table, so I chose Dorie’s recipe for a banana Bundt, a homey and deliciously moist cake that is so easy to make. And the batter, oh the batter. It’s light and fluffy and tastes really good right out of the bowl. I promise I did not lick the bowl and spatula until after popping the cake into the oven. The boys were mighty disappointed that I sent the entire cake off to school without saving any for them, and I had to promise I would make another one sometime soon, which I did and it was a hit with the family.

Many grocery stores sell overripe bananas by the bag, and I can occasionally find a bag of 12 or more really ripe bananas for just US$1, which are perfect for this cake. The cake tastes best if made the day before, just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. You can make the lemon glaze or just dust on some confectioners sugar for a simple finish. Read more

Lemon Yogurt Cake

I’ve had to work very hard on my mixing skills. When I first started cooking I was convinced that a hand mixer was the perfect solution for all mixing and in my enthusiasm I would beat all batters to death then wonder why my muffins looked and tasted like hockey pucks. I didn’t have Dorie or Ina hanging over my shoulder sharing tips on how to fold gently, but boy could I have used their help. I still shudder when I see “gently fold” in the recipe instructions, knowing that my technique isn’t quite up to par. My batters always deflate a bit because I either become impatient while wondering when the flour and the wet ingredients will finally unite or I have to hurry up so I can stop the boys before they destroy the house or do something silly like ride a flattened cardboard box down the stairs. Read more

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