Monday, February 25, 2008

Single Malt, Triple Berry & Pecan Tea Cake

It was a lazy Sunday morning and the faded baking mittens in the corner started twitching. My wife needed some more space in the refrigerator and ordered me to clear out the pecans and frozen berries that I had stored. The message was loud and clear. It was time for a bake.

I tried out a variation of this Pecan Fig Bourbon bundt cake recipe. I prefer scotch to bourbon anyway so some single malt added the twist and the result served as worthy accompaniment to the evening chai.

Quantity
(Regular measure)
Quantity
(Alternate measure)
Ingredients

1 Pound450 gramsBlueberries, Cranberries & Blackberries
2 cups32 TbsWater
½ cup 8 TbsSingle Malt Whiskey
1tsp16 TbsPure Vanilla extract
3 cups400 gramsFlour
2 tsp 2 tsp Baking Powder
¾ tsp .75 tsp Baking Soda
¾ tsp .75 tsp Salt
½ tsp0.5 tspCinnamon
½ tsp0.5 tspGrated Nutmeg
1¾ cups 200 gramsPecans ( Substitute : Walnuts)
2 cups 440 gramsBrown Sugar
1 cup 220 gramsVegetable oil
3 large 3 largeEggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
10 ounces280 gramsBlueberry preserve


1

Berries & Scotch
Simmer berries in water in a heavy medium saucepan, covered, until berries are tender and most of liquid is absorbed, 35 to 40 minutes. Purée in a food processor with scotch and vanilla. Cool to warm.
2

Batter & Nuts
Preheat oven to 350°F / 175 °C with rack in middle. Butter and flour cake pan, knocking out excess flour. While oven preheats, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Lightly toast pecans ( or walnuts ) in a shallow baking pan in oven, 8 to 10 minutes, then cool and coarsely chop. Leave oven on. Beat together brown sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer until thick and creamy, about 3 minutes. Stir in berry mixture. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just incorporated, then fold in pecans.
3

Bake & Filling

Pour batter into pan and bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 - 35 Mins. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove cake from pan and let cool completely. use a piece of sewing thread to cut the cake. Just get enough thread to go around the cake, and long enough to grab at the ends, make sure it's in the middle of the cake then cross the end strings and pull, then you have an even cut. Using long metal spatulas, carefully lift off the top layer. Spread bottom layer with berry preserve. Replace top layer.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work.