Black and blue almond butter buckle

Many years ago (14!) when I was in the middle of my year of pastry school, I discovered a recipe in Bon Appétit for an almond-plum buckle, named for the finely ground almonds that are part of the batter as well as the plum slices pressed on top before baking. I made it a couple of times back then, once with plums/blueberries/strawberries and once with cherries/blueberries. They were a big hit for the folks who were the fortunate recipients, including Steve and myself of course.

I’ve since made it periodically over the years but it’s been awhile for sure. Every now and then it comes back into my memory banks, and I must bake it again, particularly when we’re still in the throes of summer fruits season yet moving into autumn as well.

A buckle is basically a single layer cake in which the batter is topped with fruit and often a streusel topping and then baked. The fruit sinks somewhat and the batter rises around it thus referring to the buckling of the cake under the fruit.

There’s a lot written about this group of baked fruit desserts including crisps, slumps (or grunts), buckles, brown bettys and cobblers, but I’m not here today to describe how they compare in their preparation. I simply wish to share my own tweaked recipe based on the 14 year old one from BA. (Yay! I found it online so I could link you to it.)

As always, I did some basic cake recipe comparisons and made my changes based on a couple of other tasty cakes I’ve made over recent months. There’s a lot of similarity from recipe to recipe, often involving 2 sticks butter, 1 cup sugar, 2-4 eggs, vanilla, 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, perhaps a spice of choice or some citrus zest, some dairy like sour cream/yogurt/crème fraiche/whole milk/buttermilk, maybe some fruit involved and you’re good to go.

Here’s my recipe outlined below as well as this downloadable PDF.

Ingredients:
70 g/3/4 cup almond flour
195 g/1.5 cup all purpose flour (option to sub in whole wheat pastry flour for about a fourth of the all purpose)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
OPT 1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon or spice mix of choice
100 g/7 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
70 g/1/3 cup almond butter
175 g/1 cup minus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup crème fraiche, room temperature
1.5 cups total of mixed blueberries and blackberries (this is mainly an eyeball it decision - you want fruit sprinkled just so over the cake so that there are spots for the cake to rise up around the fruit).

The steps:
1. Heat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9” springform pan and place a round of parchment in the bottom.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together almond flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices if using.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle cream the butter and almond butter to blend.
4. Add granulated sugar and cream on medium high until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.
5. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, blending well after each. Blend in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.
6. Blend in flour mixture alternating with the crème fraiche just until combined.
7. Spread batter in prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle fruit evenly over the top. Sprinkle with raw sugar if desired.
8. Bake about 50 minutes until a tester in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes, remove from pan and finish cooling.

Ready for the oven!

The primary differences from the BA recipe are using blanched almond flour instead of finely grinding natural almonds; a reduction of butter from 227 g/8 ounces to a total of 170 g/6 ounces of unsalted butter (100 g) and almond butter (70 g) combined plus the addition of 1/2 cup crème fraiche; reduction of sugar by 2 tablespoons (~30 g). That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.

I used frozen berries for this one - if you do that, be sure to allow for 5-10 minutes more baking time to allow the center to be fully baked (nothing worse than a gooey center) and be careful not to overload the cake with fruit. I sprinkled both vanilla sugar and raw sugar on top before baking, but cinnamon sugar is an option too.

If you’d prefer a streusel topping, the easiest approach is equal weights flour, sugar, cold cubed butter sanded together to coarse crumbs to top the fruit. For this size cake 60 g of each is plenty. Remember - you can double, triple or quadruple the amounts and have a good freezer unbaked streusel stash on hand to top your favorite crisp, financier/tea cake or baked fruit tart.

The buckle served as a dessert for a Labor Day cookout at cousin Jen’s, topped with whipped cream and a few fresh berries.

Simple and delicious is always good.

Stay well, remain calm and keep baking. It helps.

The flowering crab I photographed last spring + some wild grapes

Afternoon tea at The Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island

Last week Steve and I were fortunate to be able to take our first real get-outta-town outing since mid-March and the beginning of social restrictions. It felt good to hit the road, making a stop in the small farming community of McBain (just east of Cadillac) for a visit with cousin Harv and his wife Ev. Always a treat.

Heading north to Mackinac City it felt good to clear our minds, admire the early autumn colors popping up, the sparkling lake waters and simply cruise. Our ultimate destination - Mackinac Island, a well known landmark here in the Midwest, sitting in the Straits of Mackinac between Lakes Michigan and Huron.

To get there one must take a boat from either Mackinac City or St. Ignace (across the bridge in the Upper Peninsula). We departed Mackinac City on the Starline, the trip providing a great view of the Mackinac Bridge . . . .

as well as the island with the Grand Hotel clearly visible.

Not only is the island home to the well known hotel but also a number of inns/B&Bs, grand homes on the bluffs and its famous fudge shops, horse drawn carriages/taxis, LOTS of bicycles and best of all - NO CARS!

Main Street looking west from our lodging at Harbour View Inn

There is also a stunning natural beauty to the place - along the lake shore and throughout the forested island. Flowers are in abundance fronting many homes/lodgings/walkways, and the clip-clop of horse hooves provides a certain sense of calm. You should go sometime if you can.

Looking through Arch Rock - gorgeous hues, rocky shores and clear water!

Walking through the woods (most of the island is state park)

I knew as we were planning this mini-vacation that going to afternoon tea at The Grand Hotel would be on my to-do list. It’s been over 25 years since Steve and I were last on the island, and I had fond memories of the tea experience back then. Little did I know all these years later that I would have attended pastry school in Italy and France and developed my own interest in afternoon tea to boot!

Tea is served in the large open sitting room just inside the grand porch. The decor is as we remembered - still striking with reds, greens and a clear geranium theme (the Grand’s signature flower). The hotel has been there since 1887 and, even though I don’t know what the original decor was like, I have to wonder how often they have to re-carpet and re-upholster everything. Whew - what a job!

As is true of any establishment we entered while on this little adventure, masks are required. Once seated we removed them to enjoy our food and drink. There were quite a number of folks both inside and out on the porch, all properly distanced from those not in their own party.

We ordered one tiered tea tray (for me) and both of us opted for a glass of sparkling wine. What made this especially lovely was the harpist who played beautifully for the entire hour and a half, providing a true feeling of serenity (something that’s been difficult to grasp for many over the last 6 months).

The offerings were classic, and I appreciated the small portions - finger sandwiches on white bread (ham/cheese, cucumber, prosciutto), mini lemon scones with clotted cream and an assortment of French style pastries (eclair, fruit tart, macaron) plus mini cheesecake, chocolate dipped strawberry and some sort of cake ball??

The flavors were fair to decent, some of the textures lacking (dense scone, soggy tart shell), and we couldn’t help but reminisce about the tea experiences we had a year ago in the UK. Buuuuutttt . . . . . we took the time to sit back, relax, listen to melodious harp music and remove ourselves from the cares of the world for just a short while. Special indeed.

Butter pecan ice cream

Happy Labor Day weekend to all of you!

I recently made a batch of butter pecan ice cream and thought I’d say a quick hello and share it with you. So good!

But before I do I’d like to share this link with you. I recently received an email from Heather Langford of Gold Coast Ice Cream in San Diego USA. She writes about ALL things ice cream. I’m talking ingredients, ice cream makers, utensils, recipes - and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you love making and eating ice cream (and who doesn’t), you should check it out.

Heather has also written a guide to ice cream making that’s straight forward and easy to understand.

For this butter pecan treat I use my standard base recipe with these changes: browning 70 g/5 tablespoons of unsalted butter starts the process; use dark brown sugar (same amount 150 g) instead of granulated; a cup of lightly buttered and toasted pecans are mixed in at the end of ice cream processing.

Here’s a quick review of the steps and the recipe PDF:

Have your egg yolks ready in a medium bowl and place one cup of cream in another bowl over an ice bath with a strainer at the ready.

Start by browning the 70 g butter in a medium saucepan, the same one you’ll cook the custard base in.

Once the butter is browned, blend in the brown sugar and a pinch of salt on medium heat to get the sugar melting.

Add the cup each of cream and whole milk and continue to heat to completely dissolve the sugar.

Temper the warm dairy into the yolks, return all to the heat and cook to the anglaise stage, stirring all the while.

Strain into the cold cream over the ice bath, blend in a teaspoon vanilla extract, let cool then refrigerate for up to three days before processing.

You’ll have plenty of time to prep the buttered pecans. Heat the oven to 350ºF. Blend one cup pecans with one tablespoon melted butter and a pinch of salt, spread out on a parchment lined sheet pan and toast about 10 minutes. Cool. Roughly chop and blend into your churned ice cream base. Hold in your freezer until it’s time to enjoy! Yay!

A delicious treat, as ice cream always is.

Take care of yourselves.