Quick Bread For A Crowd

Even little slices of honey spice bread. I baked the bread in a 9x13 cake pan instead of two 9x5 loaf pans.

For a recent catering job I was asked to put together an array of easy to eat and healthy snacks for 100 seminar attendees who would begin arriving for registration at 8 a.m. and just might need a bit of sustenance.

Because it was early in the morning, I knew I wanted to serve two kinds of quick breads — cranberry and honey spice — in addition to a cheese board and a large platter of fresh fruit.

I quickly nixed baking the quick breads in muffin form since besides the fact that I would need to spend way too much time pouring muffin batter into muffin cups, I thought people would prefer the bread in slices since it could be cut into smaller portions, would look pretty arranged on the cheeseboard and be easy to eat.

So I decided on baking the bread in loaves but then I realized I only had two loaf pans which would still require multiple baking sessions. So I instead baked the breads in 9x13 cake pans and it worked like a charm. A single recipe of a quick bread that yields 2 loaves fills a 9x13 pan perfectly. And, baking the batter in the larger and shallower pan didn't affect the quality of the bread one bit. I just made certain to watch it carefully in the oven because I was uncertain of how long it would take to cook. It actually cooked 5 minutes faster.

I was able to get 60 servings out of each pan by cutting the bread into thirds lengthwise and then cutting each third into 20 slices. A bonus was that the slices were even-sized and smallish to help prevent waste.

Now I know there is no reason to stress over making quick bread for a crowd. And, here are two tips that will make it even easier:

1. Be sure the bread has cooled completely before slicing. I baked the bread a full day before the event and sliced it right before serving.
2. Line your baking pan with greased foil or parchment that extends over the sides so that you can lift the breads completely out of the pan to slice.

I lined my baking pan with greased foil so that I was able to complete lift the cranberry bread out of the pan to slice.

 And, here's my favorite cranberry bread recipe:

Cranberry Bread
(makes 2 loaves)

4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 cups dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and line with foil two 9x5 loaf pans. Also butter the bottom and sides of the foil.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and dried cranberries. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, canola oil, eggs and sugar. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Don't over mix. Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan before removing and serving.

Peachy Coconut Cake

Linda's Peachy Coconut Birthday Cake

I created this Peachy Coconut Cake for my dear friend Linda who volunteers with me at the Wednesday Community Meal. We threw a little surprise birthday party for her last Wednesday and because the weather was unusually hot, I wanted to make her a cake that was tropical and unexpected.

Using a highly rated peach coconut cake recipe from the Epicurious website as my inspiration, I changed the recipe to suit my taste. I could tell that the white coconut cake recipe, calling for a full cup of sweetened cream of coconut, as well as buttermilk and sour cream was a winner so I followed that to a tee.

What I wasn't so fond of was the frosting recipe which was made with just whipping cream and more cream of coconut. It seemed to me that this was a frosting that would weep and not hold up or look so pretty on a hot day. My solution was to make a lightly sweet cream cheese icing since it would hold up better and you can't go wrong with the combination of peaches, cream cheese and coconut. These flavors are so good together.

For the peach filling, I used 2 pounds of frozen sliced peaches that I cooked with bit of sugar, vanilla and lemon juice. After cooking for about 10 minutes, I drained them and saved every drop of their sweet peach infused juices for soaking the cake layers.

In the end the cake looked pretty, tasted great and Linda loved it. Here's the recipe:

Peachy Coconut Cake

For the cake:
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut (I used Coco Lopez. Look for it in the mixed drink aisle of the grocery store.)
4 large eggs, room temperature and separated
2 teaspoons vanilla

For the filling:
2 pounds of ripe peaches, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices (I used frozen)
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the frosting:
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees and grease, flour and line with parchment two 9-inch cake pans that have at least 2-inch sides.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In another medium-sized bowl whisk together the buttermilk and sour cream. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar.

Measure out your cup of cream of coconut.

The cream of coconut looks kind of strange but don't worry.

Add the cream of coconut, vanilla and 4 egg yolks to the butter mixture.

Mix well to combine.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the buttermilk mixture and beat until combined. Repeat this step two more times until you have added it all.

The batter will look like this.

Whip the egg whites until stiff but not dry.

This looks just right.

Add the egg whites to the batter.

Fold the egg whites into the batter until they are thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter among the two prepared pans and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the baked cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.

Don't attempt assembling the cakes until they are completely cool. Whenever I've tried to rush the cooling step, I've regretted it. Trust me, trying to slice a warm cake horizontally will make you want to cry.

Put the 2 lbs. of sliced peaches into a large sauce pan. I used frozen peaches.

Add the sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.

Cook the peaches over medium high heat until the juices are bubbling and beginning to reduce. This takes about 10 minutes. Also, do your best to stir the peaches gently and not break them apart.

Drain the peaches, reserving all of the liquid. Let the peaches and liquid cool before assembling the cake.

Spread the cup of sweetened flaked coconut on a lined sheetpan and toast in a 350 degree oven until golden brown, stirring every so often. Don't walk away because this takes only about 5 minutes.

Make the cream cheese frosting by whipping together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip again. Finally add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cake, slice the layers in half. Place one half on a platter, cut side up and brush on 1/4 of the reserved peach juices.

Add 1/4 of the frosting.

Spread it out to the sides, keeping it from going over the edge.

Add 1/3 of the peach slices.

Repeat for the second layer.

And, for the third layer. Try to save 3 or so pretty peach slices for the top of the cake.

Soak the top of the cake with the remaining peach juices and ice with the remaining frosting.

Sprinkle on the toasted coconut and top with the reserved peach slices. Keep the cake refrigerated until you are ready to serve. This cake is ready to take to Linda's surprise party at the Wednesday Community Meal.

Happy Birthday Linda! (Thank you Leslie for the great photo!)

Big Batch Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

These Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies are the answer for when you find yourself in a bind, needing lots of cookies for an event, wanting to serve something delicious and homemade, but not having the time to make multiple kinds or multiple batches.

They are chewy, oaty and crowd pleasing. I've found that even people who aren't fans of oatmeal raisin cookies like these and a single batch makes more than 10 dozen cookies. I recently made them for the Wednesday Community Meal and from one batch I got 127 2.5-inch cookies.

So the next time you need lots of cookies, simply get out your sheetpans and whip up these. You'll see it's not so hard to feed a crowd.

Here's the recipe:

Big Batch Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

2 cups shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
6 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
2 1/2 cups dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your sheetpans with parchment paper. Having a convection oven is helpful because you can bake multiple trays of cookies at once. Because it has a fan, a convection oven evenly distributes the heat and you don't have to worry about burning on the bottom or top racks.

In a large bowl cream together the shortening and sugars. You can do this with a hand mixer or my preference is to use a sturdy wooden spoon and really do it by hand. The shortening is soft and easy to mix. Add the vanilla, eggs, baking soda and sea salt and mix again. Add the flour and mix until combined and finally stir in the oatmeal and dried cranberries.

The finished dough.

Use a 1-inch scoop or teaspoon to form small balls. Place 12 of the balls on each of the prepared  sheetpans,  being sure to space them 2-inches apart. Lightly pat the balls down with your hand and bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Be sure to space the cookies at least 2-inches apart because they will spread during baking.

Let the cookies cool for a bit on the sheetpans before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

A Perfect Day For A Picnic

Volunteers Ann, Kate, Leah, Nancy, Teri and Davis took on the task of slicing 15 large watermelons for our picnic in the courtyard of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

An art show was being set up in Kempton Hall today where we usually serve the Wednesday Community Meal so we had to move our operations outside and we couldn't have asked for better day to do so.  The 90-degree weather was perfect for a picnic.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and volunteers Cheryl and Dave Richardson provided tents for us to use to create cooler shady areas for those who didn't want to be in direct sunlight. Our wonderful volunteers were troopers and arrived with hats, sunscreen and sunglasses, ready to work.

Working with Dave, volunteers Jay, Bill, Kevin and Steve (AKA, our ace team of dishwashers) set up tables and chairs under the tents so that guests would have a nice place to sit and enjoy their meal.

Having the meal outside was fun for a change and I heard many positive comments. My friend Louise who I enjoy seeing every week and is quirky, but in the best possible way, said, "Heidi, I've got to tell you, this is pretty great." I can always count on Louise to be honest and provide constructive criticism. Last week she told me that the roasted potatoes were a tad undercooked and she was right.

During our 2-hour service in the sun, we served 516 meals of all-beef hot dogs, chips, watermelon and homemade chocolate chip and oatmeal cranberry cookies. For vegetarians we served hot cheese and tomato sandwiches.

To drink there was ice cold lemonade, sparkling cider and tamarind soda. The latter was donated to us and was so good. It was crisp and not too sweet.  Many of the volunteers, including myself, were curious and wanted to give it a taste. Volunteer Ann said she thought the tamarind tasted similar to apple and I agree.

We also served coffee and had an assortment of condiments for hot dogs on all of the tables. 

Here are some more pics of our meal courtesy of my friend and fellow volunteer Linda B.

The tents were a huge help in keeping everyone cool.

We served 516 meals today.

The coffee and drink station manned by Dean, Dan, Mary and Linda.

Another shot of the drink station. Dean and Dan served coffee and Mary and Linda served the ice cold drinks. We have the best volunteers who work hard and just go with the flow.

The kitchen crew stayed busy preparing hot dogs. Nearly 400 were served in just the first hour. Whew!

Chocolate Cherry Sandwich Cookies

These Chocolate Cherry Sandwich Cookies, made by filling tender chocolate butter cookies with a lightly sweet Swiss meringue cherry buttercream, are oh so good and satisfying.

Just one cookie slowly savored with a cup of tea is for me, the perfect small-sized treat.

To make them I used my favorite chocolate cookie recipe from Julie Richardson of Baker & Spice and made one slight change. I eliminated the espresso powder from the original recipe since I wanted the flavor of the cherry buttercream to be the star and and not compete with other flavors.

To cherry-up the buttercream I used almond extract and high quality cherry preserves. Whenever I make a cherry flavored dessert I add a touch of almond extract since the flavors are so similar and work very well together.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Cherry Sandwich Cookies
(makes about 4 dozen 2-inch sandwich cookies)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups Dutch process Cocoa, sifted
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 minutes or until light, scraping down the bowl occasionally as needed.

Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, blending lightly between additions.

Add the cocoa on low speed until combined.

Blend the flour and salt and add it to the butter mixture until just combined.Wrap the dough and let it chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

After chilling, the dough might need to warm at room temperature for a bit so that it can be easily rolled.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured work area to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into desired shapes and place on parchment lined cookie sheets.

The cookies before baking.

Bake for about 6 minutes or until the cookies are no longer shiny but still soft in the middle.

The cookies after baking.

Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before filling them with the cherry buttercream.

Cherry Buttercream
6 large egg whites
3/4  cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
2/3 cup cherry preserves
1/8 teaspoon of fine sea salt

Place the whites in a clean mixing bowl. Whisk in sugar and cream of tartar.

Place bowl over a double boiler on medium heat, stir frequently until the mixture is very hot (120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit).

Move to mixer and whip whites on high for 2 to 3 minutes; turn down to medium low until cool (use the bowl as your guide).

In a separate bowl with a wooden spoon, stir butter to soften.

With mixer on medium/high speed, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, adding the next tablespoon just as the previous one is blended in. Once all the butter incorporated, add in vanilla, almond extract, salt and preserves and whip on high speed until fluffy. 

The brand of Cherry Preserves that I used.

The finished buttercream.

Note: Don't get impatient with the last step of whipping the buttercream. It may take a while for the buttercream to come together but be patient and it will. At first the mixture might look curdled but don't let this scare you. Just keep whipping.

To Assemble:
Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large open tip. Or, use a disposable piping bag and just cut the opening.

Pair up the cookies and flip one of the cookies upside down.

On the upside down cookie, pipe on a dollop of cherry buttercream and top with the other cookie. Store the cookies in the refrigerator in a sealed containter.

Filling the cookies.

Chocolate Flan Cake

A month or so ago, I just happened to be flipping through television channels as I was folding a load of laundry, and oh my, I saw the most luscious looking Chocolate Flan Cake being tasted by Christopher Kimball on an episode of "America's Test Kitchen".

The slice of cake, with its dense dark chocolate base against a thick layer of cold smooth and creamy flan, looked so good. Mr. Kimball raved about it and I could tell he was dead serious. He thought it was divine!

Needless to say, the laundry could wait —  I ran to my computer, searched for the recipe online and printed it off.

Fast forward to yesterday, we had a birthday celebration at the Wednesday Community Meal for my dear friend Cheryl and this was the cake I made for her. It tasted better than I imagined it would. Cheryl and our friends loved it too. The sweetness of the cake was perfect and the cold flan was silky and refreshing.

This Chocolate Flan Cake is exciting because it's so different than anything I've ever seen and it's not hard to make. The only stress inducing part of the recipe is releasing the cake from the bundt pan with the help of a dip in a hot water bath and fingers crossed.

The cake did release for me although it took two dips in the hot water and some praying. After it came out, a few cracks formed in the cake. I was really disappointed about the cracks but not anymore since tasting the cake. Seriously, who cares? — because it is a darn delicious cake.

One last tip: The cake requires 8 to 12 hours of chilling time in the refrigerator before releasing it from the pan so be sure to start the cake early in the day. Trust me, you don't want to have to get up in the middle of the night to release the cake.

The three cracks that formed after I released the cake bummed me out at first. But, in the end they didn't matter one bit. My friends and I love this cake.

Chocolate Flan Cake
Note: A 12-cup nonstick bundt cake pan is needed for this recipe.

Cake:
1/2 cup cup caramel sauce or topping
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used dark chocolate chips)
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Flan:
2 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 cups whole milk
6 ounces cream cheese
6 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12-cup nonstick bundt cake pan.

Pour the 1/2 cup of caramel sauce in the pan.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Put the 4 oz. of chocolate and 6 tablespoons of butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 50% power for 1-minute increments, stirring in between, until the mixture is melted and smooth.

Add the eggs, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla to the melted chocolate mixture and whisk.

It will look like this.

Add the cocoa powder and flour mixure and whisk again until combined.

Spread the chocolate batter over the caramel.

Using a blender, process all of the flan ingredients until smooth. It will look like this.

Pour the flan mixture into the pan. When you do this, the cake batter will float to the top of the pan.

Place the cake in a baking dish or roasting pan filled with warm water that reaches halfway up the sides of the bundt pan. I added the water after the pan was in the oven. It's much easier this way. Bake the cake for 75 to 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the flan registers 180 degrees.

I checked the cake after 75 minutes and took it its temperature. It wasn't quite ready and in the end took just over 80 minutes to reach 180-degrees. Place the baked cake on a rack to cool completely at room temperature. After cooling, refrigerate the cake for 8 to 12 hours before removing it from the pan.

To remove the cake, fill a bowl with hot water and place the bottom third of the bundt pan in the water for 1 minute. Place a cake platter with at least a 1/2 inch rim to hold the caramel sauce on top of the cake and flip the cake over. Slowly remove the pan, letting the caramel drizzle over the top of the cake. Serve chilled.

Slices of the cake.