MangiaMore: BLUEBERRY summer dessert

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Crumble, cobbler, brown betty, crisp, grunt, slump, buckle… whatever it’s called… we made a blueberry summer dessert. This hybrid treat has elements of each of these semi-distinctive (but maddeningly similar) summer favorites like the doughy biscuit parts of a cobbler and the crunchy sweet topping of a crisp.

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In many ways our blueberry concoction is most like a brown betty. A brown betty has the saucy warm fruit in between layers of yummy crumbs. Whatever we made has sweetened cooked blueberries squeezed between a soft cobber-like airy dough on the bottom and a crisp candy like streusel topping. Our whatchyamacallit had the best of both worlds (and is the perfect base for large amounts of ice cream) using two separate recipes for the bottom and for the topping.

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The tart tang and tiny pop of the blueberries complemented the layers surrounding the fruit filling. The streusel topping studding the sea of blueberries softened with sugar and time mirrored the bursting quality of the dark skin of the berries. It crunched with the texture of crystallized and browned sugar, similar in effect to the feeling of changing berries on the tongue. While the cloud-like cake resting at the bottom of the dessert recalled the inside meat of the fresh blueberries, it was lush, fluffy, smooth and light.

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These three disparate layers came together to make a textural playground, the rise and fall of feelings and varied profiles. And the combination happens to be perfect for Independence Day (which is just around the corner) or your next backyard barbecue. A blueberry whatchyamacallit screams summer!

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MangiaMore: Real Deal Southern Caramel Cake

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Ok, maybe I’m no expert. I know I’m no expert. My cakes do not always come out looking perfect. Believe me, I wish they would like those from gorgeous baking blogs and glossy magazines. But, sadly, they do not. I am no pastry chef with culinary background and know-how. However, I am a sometimes baker who enjoys trying something different and experimenting in the kitchen.

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For Father’s Day, I was inspired by my sister who has been wanting a caramel cake. A legit caramel cake. Not the gentler breed I made before. One of those super buttery yellow cakes held together by melted sugar caramel glue, sticky and sweet, decadent and southern. I got the picture.

However, my cake, unfortunately, did not come out like the picture.

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The Real Deal Southern Caramel Cake recipe from Grandbaby Cakes would appease sister’s dreams and celebrate my Daddio. Making the cake was easy, despite the zillion (six) eggs plus a load (two) of yolks, the copious amounts of butter, the surplus of sugar, the random sour cream, and the endless mixing. It was cathartic and exciting, maybe a little unnerving.

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The cake became infinitesimally more difficult when the thick evaporated milk, tons of sugar, and more butter than safe, simmered, bubbled, and boiled for more than an hour and a half. I sat and I watched and I stirred and I read when I was not sitting and watching and stirring, but at about the 1.45 hour mark, things started to burn. I ruined everything that this caramel was meant to be: a creamy, glossy, sticky caramel to coat that cake.  Mine got lumpy and dull, chunky, and stiff—to sum up, unpleasant. Little whisk in hand, I attacked the cooling caramel, hoping to bring back some of its luster  and revive the soul of this cake.

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If that wasn’t enough, this seizing caramel involved extreme, strenuous, and sometimes sweaty effort to apply. Warm caramel and muggy afternoons do not play nicely together, so what was once a straight, square and level cake, became a sloppy, lopsided mess. A few layers went one way while the others leaned the other way. Disaster.

To put it simply, the cake was not pretty.

But whoa, was it delicious.

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I made it on Saturday and threw the swerving cake in the fridge before any more damage could be done. Sunday, after prying off the lid and some of the caramel (and cake layer #2), the ugly cake tasted amazing. The crisp beautiful layers were sweet and tangy with sour cream, but dense enough to stand up to my imperfect caramel. It was just moist enough and felt like heavy pound cake on the tongue, while the candy coating was buttery, rich, and decadent with the aroma of browned sugar. Despite it all, my unattractive cake was scrumptious filled with love, commitment, tears, sweat, and dedication.

It’s the taste that counts? Or is it the thought? Well, this caramel cake ended up being pretty tasty.

Hope you all had a sweet Father’s Day too!

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an extension of HOME : Padoca Bakery Opening on the Upper East Side

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At the corner of 1^st and 68^th Street, across from a playground, rests Padoca, a gem. Clean light streams through the walls of windows, illuminating the playful, intimate space while smells of sweets and savories and strong coffee fill the air, inciting the desire for delicious bites.

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The name Padoca, a warm nickname for a bakery in Brazil, combines owner Marina Halpern’s Brazilian heritage with the ideals of her new bakery. Halpern strives for an authentic neighborhood bakery that is for the community where nostalgia and comfort meets artistry and innovation through inventive, creative and delectable foods and drinks full of heart and soul.

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Rachel Binder

It can be more than that local spot to get a great cup of coffee or a nutritious bite on the go; it can be a magical place to savor something special, a taste of the extraordinary. Pastry Chef Rachel Binder spins traditional and favorite treats with unexpected twists, resulting in whimsical renditions and unique treasures.

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Gorgeous cookies, like the balanced classic chocolate chip cookie and the imaginative “Rocky Road” chocolate cookie studded with toasty marshmallows, will haunt the dreams of any sweet-tooth. The pretty bolo de coco, coconut cakes, are edible masterpieces—tropical, refined, flavorful and just sweet enough for afternoon tea or a mid-morning snack. Swirled sweet breads, like the Romeo & Juliet rolled with cheese and guava paste, bring together sweet and a little salty, while the red velvet brownie confection topped with sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting wrapped up to-go is the consummate indulgence.

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The new bakery also serves up savory bites to rival its sweets.  One of its signature savories is its Pao de Queijo, fondly called the “PDQ.” This highly addictive gluten-free pastry is light as air, doughy and eggy, filled with the most marvelous bite of cheese, culminating in flavors redolent of childhood memories. Savory empadinhas, meaty mini pot pies, filled with chicken and mushroom or a variety of fillings, bring buttery moments with warm hearty centers.

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Padoca also presents breakfast items like an “Omega 3” carrot-apple-raisin-walnut-flaxseed breakfast bun, acai bowls, and teacakes and bread, while lunch includes more grab-and-go items like healthful salads, sandwiches and soups. The bakery serves coffee by NobleTree Coffee using the Modbar espresso system, and its tea program is by Palais de Thes. 

 

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Padoca is an extension of home. It is both welcoming and familiar, and exciting and innovative with a little bit of everything for everyone.

WHERE:

Padoca Bakery

359 East 68th Street 

New York, NY 10065

Ph. 212.249.8085

www.padocabakery.com