Cakes and Tea – Kathleen’s Blog
January 2025 - SOUP: Let’s Gather Our Favorite Recipes
Team Sweet (Suzi and I) madly bake our way through the December holiday season each year, but there is still dinner to be made and baby, it’s cold outside. Suzi asked me and Team Savory (Kristin and Peg) for some soup guidance, though she makes her mother’s chicken noodle soup, which is exactly what a chicken soup should be, golden and rich broth, heaped with delicate shreds of chicken, and thick with noodles, she wanted a few more recipes and tips for more soups.
I called out to my friends who love to cook to see if they would share their cherished soup recipes. Right away, these lovely cooks got back to me with their time-tested or new favorite soup recipes. My dear cooking friends are so generous with their time and soup talents, inspiring me to call out to you, our wonderful readers, to share your soup recipes, too. I’m imagining an old-school packet of “xeroxed” recipes and notes we can share.
Merlina started off the soup recipe gathering with her much loved Condiment Soup recipe:
I love the clipping mounted on the lavender index card, with the homemade tab to easily find the recipe in the recipe card box. I can’t wait to make this soup.
When I asked my brother for a soup recipe, he said he doesn’t usually use recipes and free-styles his soups. As I had a cold in mid-December when I was working on this blog, he went ahead and made me a turkey soup from frozen turkey stock, made after Thanksgiving. He sent me photos of the cooking steps, which I put together in this collage:
As you can see in the upper left photo, the chilled shredded turkey and stock is gelatinized, which is completely normal and to be expected when meat and poultry are simmered with skin and bones included. When reheated, the natural gelatin melts and contributes to the richness of the finished soup. In my January 2018 blog, I give a detailed account of the way I make stock here: Link to Kathleen’s stock method You certainly don’t have to make your own stock, I like to have a few boxes of beef or chicken stock on hand so I can throw a quick soup together anytime.
And as my father reminds me, “Not all soups start with stock.” Some great recipes start with water such as my dad’s signature soup:
Kristin would swap out the ginger for a few cloves of garlic but both versions are delicious, and the Joy of Cooking method is spot-on. This soup is easily made vegan by choosing the vegetable (or olive) oil and using vegetable stock.
If you are in a beefier mood, I would advise you to make either The Fannie Farmer or Joy of Cooking recipe for beef barley soup. I love to make beef stock, and my beef barley soup is my most requested soup recipe. I also use beef stock for borscht, which is my very favorite soup. I love beets, including the “dirt” flavor which some folks term to disparage them. I will not try to talk you into liking beets, if you profess to not like them. More borscht for me. Borscht does not need to be made with beef stock; I just prefer it that way. It can be very successfully made with vegetable stock or even water. Though I prefer my borscht warm, it is lovely served cold in the summer, with a cool topping of Greek yogurt or sour cream and a sprig of dill. Cold borscht works best with vegetable stock because it is smoother at low temperature with no fatty meat feel.
Rose shared a fantastic vegan soup recipe from vegetable pro, Yotam Ottolenghi:
Rose and I were served a truly outstanding lunch at her friend Joan’s house, all recipes from this book. This meal was so good, Rose and I both bought the book.
Another extremely popular Team Savory recipe is Peg’s version of Sandra Lee’s semi-homemade Greek Avgolemono, lemon chicken and rice soup. Peg added sauteed onion and carrots which gives even more depth of flavor to this hearty though very fresh tasting soup. Starting with cans of Campbell’s condensed chicken and rice soup and a rotisserie chicken, this recipe is fast enough for a wintery weeknight dinner. The recipe scales up very well for big parties, as you can see the notation made it times 8, in a giant stockpot! Both Teams Sweet & Savory have this soup in their dinner rotation.
One of the quickest and most satisfying soups starts with Trader Joe’s organic tomato soup, a bag of spinach, and some crumbled feta. I have not found another brand of packaged soup as good as theirs, but maybe you are not as picky as I am. Anyway, in a large saucepan, heat up tomato soup on the stovetop, over medium low heat. Chop up a bag or half a bag of spinach (it is important to not just toss the spinach in whole, as it will not disperse through the soup well.) Stir the spinach into the tomato soup. Stir in feta, stirring occasionally until feta is slightly melted, the spinach is wilted, and soup is nice and hot. Serve immediately. This soup tastes great and you only have to remember to buy three things at Trader Joe’s which is my limit if I don’t write it down.
Kristin reminded me that this soup is a simple version of a soup her friend Rhonda serves in her Rochester, New York deli, Lacagnina’s Italian Deli. Along with traditional Italian subs, Lacagnina’s is known for Rhonda’s house made soups. We are hoping that Rhonda will write a cookbook with all her wonderful soup recipes.
This is enough soup recipes to get us through January, and I will add more next month. Do send us any you would like to share. For next time, I’m considering these: my Italian meatball soup, an old clipping of white chili, ginger-scented chicken soup, Rudy’s Pozole, and Isaac’s albondigas, which is Mexican meatball soup.
As a little bonus, Isaac III recommended a lentil soup recipe from colorful personality and soup maven, Crescent Dragonwagon. Though I loathe lentils, I checked it out: Crescent Dragonwagon’s Recipe and Story, and found it a hilarious read. If you like lentils, you will love the recipe, and to be fair, it does look quite a bit better than your average, old sock-smelling lentil soup recipe.
December 2024 - Old and New: California at Christmas Time
It is finally December! We winter folk are now able to wear our hats and sweaters, scarves and gloves and breathe the cold air, sharp and exhilarating. The night starts in the afternoon, leaving us with great excuses to build a fire, cozy up with a cat on the couch or get in the kitchen and bake, bake, bake! Or bundle up and bustle on holiday errands, under a velvety sky punctuated with brighter stars. My favorite season is here.
I know there are plenty of humbuggers out there, grumblers who miss the sun. But without the dark, how can we appreciate the light? The darkness allows magic to flourish more easily. When humans drew together around a fire for safety, warmth, and companionship, folklore and stories naturally blossomed. The Christmas story of Mary and Joseph searching for a place under that extra bright star satisfies a deep love of the light against the darkness. Plus, a baby and a donkey; it does not get much better than that.
So, let us burn the “good” candles that we were saving; now is the time. Here in Watsonville, California, neighborhoods will light up with luminarias for Las Posadas. Las Posadas (the inns, in Spanish) is an outdoor, evening celebration between December 16-24 where folks holding lighted candles re-enact the search Mary and Joseph took to find lodging, luminarias often times lining the walkways up to participating houses. It is a beautiful and festive tradition brought to Mexico from Spain in the 1500s, gradually becoming popular in Texas and the southwest, then on into California.
The community procession, sometimes accompanied by a mariachi band, sings carols along its way to designated houses who are asked if there is lodging for the holy couple and are turned away three times, though each house provides holiday treats like tamales, Mexican hot chocolate, or atole, a sweetened, spiced corn based hot drink. At the fourth house, hosts welcome the party inside for more feasting and a pinata in the shape of a star, symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem.
Moving and satisfying to do, Las Posadas are also beautiful to see happening, in part because the candles and luminarias are lighting up the winter darkness. Even if there is no Las Posadas tradition where you live, luminarias are a festive way to decorate for the season. They are an easy and pretty craft that can be done with paper bags, sand or pebbles, and votive candles, your basic grocery and hardware store craft. Punch holes in your paper bags to make patterns or simply roll down the top. Weigh the bags down with sand and nestle a small candle inside the bag. Lining your walkway or porch, they make a welcoming entrance to any evening party you host, from early December through New Year’s Eve.
Lucky for us, we do have a vibrant Hispanic community, and the built environment is enriched with early Spanish-influenced architecture and adobes, many still in use. The holidays are a wonderful time to get out and see the lights and decorations. In Pacific Grove, Suzi and I decorated our inns for Christmas at the Inns, a popular tour that included several of the Victorian inns in that charming town. In Monterey, the Christmas at the Adobes tour has costumed docents welcoming guests to luminaria-lit adobes in the state historic park, featuring California’s first theatre and adobes associated with early Monterey being California’s first capital. Tickets go quickly for these tours; check soon if you would like to attend.
Above, Christmas at the Adobes, Monterey, 2019, photo by Sheldon Chang courtesy of CA State Parks.
We grew up a thirty-minute school bus ride from Mission San Juan Bautista, one of the few California missions to continually serve as a Catholic church (and not fall into ruin though it sits directly atop the San Andreas Fault.) The small town of San Juan Bautista is lovingly preserved by locals, the state park system caring for historic buildings around the town square.
In California schools, fourth graders get to study the mission system which means an exciting field trip to your nearest mission and getting to construct one of the 21 missions from such diverse materials as cardboard, tongue depressors, Mod Podge, and/or sugar cubes. If I was tasked with it today, I’d likely make my mission out of cake!
Strolling around the town, you still see one- and two-hundred-year-old live oak and olive trees shading public and private gardens. The gnarly old pepper tree mentioned in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movie, Vertigo, stands near the historic Zanetta House and stables, all used as filming locations, as well as the mission itself. (Vertigo was also filmed at another California mission in San Francisco, Mission Dolores, the oldest surviving building in town, (1776 in case you needed to know that.)
Above, vintage postcards of Mission San Juan Bautista and Mission Dolores, San Francisco.
Above and below, photos of Mission San Juan Bautista, decorated for Christmas, used here by permission of Lynne Rutter, San Francisco-based decorative artist and blogger. Read her whole December 2011 blog,The Ornamentalist, which also has lovely photos of Mission Soledad, decorated for Christmas.
I have long been drawn to the aesthetic of the California mission style, which is a sort of handmade, ad hoc rendition of richer, European gothic churches. The blending of rustic wooden furniture with decorative painting on plastered walls with tile floors, roofs, and accents makes homey and welcoming interiors, if not very comfortable places to hang out. In the 1920s, when Mission Revival style became vogue, coordinating upholstered sofas and leather or cowhide chairs were added, making lounging a bit comfier.
They also have guidebooks and more user-friendly maps as well as related merchandise
The California missions trail, with its 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma, has been more of an idea than a thruway. A coalition of people are working to make the 800-mile walking and biking route an actual path. The California Missions Trail Alliance (CMTA) are working towards a “sustainable heritage trail that captures the present-day enthusiasm for walking and cycling holidays” that will eventually connect all 21 missions. That is a big undertaking, given that some of the missions are quite remote while others are in highly congested and densely populated areas. But wouldn’t it be lovely if it happens?
It put me in mind of the European pilgrimage trail, El Camino de Santiago, where walkers follow the path of Saint James. Aunt Rose has visited the destination of the pilgrimage route, Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, in Galicia, Spain. Compostela comes from the Latin “campus stellae” meaning field of stars, based on the stars of the Milky Way. According to the Middle Age legend in which St. James followed the stars on his own path, the pilgrimage trail grew to follow in his footsteps and reach his tomb.
the grand exterior of the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela, and the giant thurible inside the Cathedral, which Aunt Rose saw in action and says is indeed a true wonder to behold.
Beginning in England, France, or Spain, the entire trail can take a month or more of walking from inn to inn. Most folks choose segments of the path to walk or bike, fitting with the time they have. My friend Joanne walked with her sister, beginning in France and ending in Barcelona. She noticed that most pilgrims were either in the post-college or post-retirement age groups, which makes sense, as they generally have more time to make the journey.
Begun purely as a religious pilgrimage, El Camino has become many things to many people. Some are making time for introspection or to heal from life’s travails or simply to be in the company of like-minded fellows. Joanne found that about half the folks she encountered on the trail were religious pilgrims and half were walking for other reasons.
Both Rose and Joanne recommended the 2010 Martin Sheen movie, The Way, directed by his son, Emilio Estevez. I have not tracked it down as of this writing, but I put it on the To Watch list. I do not want to ruin the plot for you, but I will say that Martin Sheen’s character begins walking El Camino unexpectedly while dealing with a life crisis and runs into human nature in many of its complicated and humorous aspects, gaining healing along the way.
Getting back to California, the season demands feasting, so Rose and I are bringing New World sweets recipes for your consideration. This month, Rose’s blog, Tea and Travels, brings a trove of chocolate recipes, including a cherished favorite recipe of mine, the Queen of California cake. It is a European-style cake made with California ingredients, the original recipe coming from a California walnut grower’s recipe booklet in the 1980s. Often we switch the walnuts with another major California crop, almonds. Either nut is delightful, playing well with the dried apricots in the recipe. Covered in shiny dark chocolate ganache, this petite cake is served in small wedges for everyone but the most dedicated chocolate lover.
Tamales are the food most associated with the holiday season in California which I imagine is true in most Hispanic communities in the United States. We are lucky to have a great tamale “factory” storefront in downtown Watsonville and you can get a good tamale at most Mexican restaurants here, but arguably the best tamales are from the tamale lady or tamale man, sometimes found in the parking lot of the grocery store. I believed I’ve reported previously that my brother has been blessed with a tamale man who comes to his front door: wow!
Our family eats tamales year-round, with Mr. Vazquez making pork in red sauce or the very spicy jalapeño and cheese versions, so we usually have a stash of a few dozen in the freezer. Being a Team Savory guy, he is not interested in sweet tamales, though his mother, Lana, makes delicious little cinnamon and raisin tamales at Christmas.
After watching tamales being made for many years now, I decided I would try my hand at Lana’s sweet tamales this winter. I came up with a lightly sweet masa (the dough of tamales made with corn flour) flavored with cinnamon and piloncillo, a cone of unrefined cane sugar which you grate into sweet desserts and drinks. Along with the raisins, I thought chopped fresh apple might be nice.
However, as I was gathering my ingredients to make the tamales, I ran across a splashy ad for a big new Mexican grocery in Watsonville, Vallarta supermarket.
Above, the Vallarta supermarket ad and Vallarta’s pineapple masa, here being paired
with cream cheese, toasted pecans, and piloncillo.
What?! I had never seen fresh masa for sale specifically for sweet tamales, never mind knowing there were so many other varieties of masa. I had seen recipes for colored sweet masa online, but never in real life, as it were, but now they were about a mile from me. I went right down to Vallarta and saw the whole cold case filled with all these bags of different fresh masas, all ready to make into semi-homemade sweet tamales.
When researching sweet tamales online, I found one website with especially instructive, step-by-step photos of tamale making, My Slice of Mexico. I emailed creator Irene Arita for permission to use her recipes but have not heard back. I hope Irene will be happy that I am sharing her recipes and clear photos with you all.
Using my store-bought sweet masa, I made the tamales. There is a mystique surrounding tamale making, and it is a skill to be honed through repetition but there is a lot to be said for just diving right in and seeing what happens. When thinking about people making tamales, I imagine a group of folks sitting at a big table, all industriously spreading masa on softened corn husks, folding them just so, and carefully adding them in an upright position in a huge steamer basket. Mr. V has finally excused me from “helping” make his tamales, finding my masa-spreading technique not up to his rigorous standards. To which I petulantly say, good, I didn’t want to anyway. He insists upon making giant tamales, masa and filling straddling two overlapped corn husks, tied on both ends with string, a method even his mom says is too much work. To be fair, savory tamale making is more technical because the masa must totally encase the saucy filling or the precious sauce will ooze out during steaming. And of course, his tamales are a little bit of heaven to eat and worth all the effort.
I let go of all the tamale lore and rules and just dived in. To go with my flavored masa, I assembled my fillings:
Pineapple bits
Cream cheese “sticks”
Pomegranate seeds
Brandied dried fruit mixture
Piloncillo, grated over top
Toasted pecans
One of the keys to making good tamales is to apply the masa in an even coat to most of the corn husk. There is a fun video of a guy coating his corn husk using a plaster trowel as if he is putting a “butter coat” on drywall. Butter coating is a skill at which Mr. Vazquez excels, so perhaps that is the secret to his fine masa technique. I, on the other hand, favor more of a slap-dash, good-enough-for-who-it’s-for method, as seen in the photographs above. Skipping ahead, I must report that my sloppy masa work cooked up just fine, my tamales looking remarkably similar to tamales made by someone with finesse.
I am surprised and happy that the pre-made masa cooked up into such yummy tamales. Homemade is almost always best, but going forward I will probably buy my sweet masa, if it is available. I will most definitely be serving these sweet tamales this holiday season, along with Mexican wedding cakes, also known as Russian tea cakes. These buttery cookie balls rolled in snowy powdered sugar, crunchy with the nuts of your choice, are one of the best of the cookies in the Christmas cookie line up.
If you are thinking of adding Mexican sweets to your holiday festivities, our Calendar of Tea Parties section offers classic Mexican recipes perfect for winter feasts, including pumpkin empanadas, tres leches cake, Mexican hot chocolate, and the Mexican wedding cakes. Find our October menu here: My Tea Planner.
Wishing You a Joyous Holiday Season
&
Happiest New Year!
November 2024 - More Cake in November, Please
Historically, November has been a pie month, for which we are VERY grateful. It’s just that our friend, cake, unless it is a pumpkin cheesecake or fruitcake, rarely gets a spot on the Thanksgiving dessert table. Pies of pumpkin, apple, sweet potato, pecan, and mincemeat feature heavily in American feasting in autumn. I am simply suggesting adding some cake to our festivities, at Thanksgiving and all month long. When the weather finally turns chilly, baking is part of the cozy feeling we create in our homes to lighten up this darker portion of the year and make the house smell amazing.
To our bakers out there, let’s be sure to celebrate National Bundt Day on Friday, November 15th. Surprise the family or cheer up the coworkers with a TGIF bundt cake flavored with rum or use in-season apples for sharable autumn crowd-pleasers, both recipes found at myteaplanner.com: Almost Classic Rum Cake & Cinnamon Apple Crown Cake. Pumpkin is always welcome this time of year, especially Rose’s Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, pictured below. I am a big fan of pumpkin in baked goods, as it lends moisture as well as that rich color and flavor. Cooked sweet potatoes, especially garnet yams, and butternut squash puree, can both be substituted for pumpkin in baked goods with great results.
I asked a few friends about their Thanksgiving menus and traditions. While no cake was reported on anyone’s dessert menu except my own Murdock side of the family, I did find that while Suzi’s and Lizette’s families served the usual pies for dessert, they added to the main turkey and stuffing dishes traditional Italian and Mexican dishes, respectively. Along with the Russo turkey and fixings, a spaghetti, meatball, and fried zucchini component is prepared. Being Italian American myself, that seems sort of normal, if somewhat excessive, but it is a feast, after all. Lizette’s family has a traditional turkey dinner also, but her mother addedchorizo refried beans and spaghetti in green chile cream sauce, both which sound so incredibly delicious that I am adding them to my autumn and winter dinner repertoire right now. (I love green chile and/or tomatillo sauce in everything.)
Suzi has baked from Bobbie Lloyd’s Magnolia Bakery handbook for years, preferring her Hummingbird Cake and Carrot Cake recipes over any other source. Thinking about cakes suitable for November, she leafed through the cookbook and came across Thanksgiving Cake with Caramel Sauce. Containing dates, nuts, apples, and cranberries, it is akin to a sticky toffee (steamed) pudding, traditionally made with dates and rich caramel sauce.
This cake ticked many boxes: easy to make, one layer, attractively rustic and incredibly tasty. It is like a great apple cake, livened up with the tartness of fresh cranberries and bathed in a satiny caramel sauce. All tasters agreed that this cake was delicious, with Suzi’s sister requesting it for their Thanksgiving celebration this year. I am feeling a little bit hopeful that we can get some cake on the Thanksgiving dessert buffet.
I once read a novel in which the baker/narrator, when feeling anxious, would imagine herself safely inside a bundt cake. Several recipes for bundts were appended at the back of the book. While interesting to think about, the practical side of me thought, it is just too sticky in there, with all that glaze. You know, logic, ahem. I do love thinking about baking (and eating) cakes. Since I learned to bake, I always thought, what is the next technique to learn, where is the next recipe, how can it be made better, would another combination of flavors be tastier? Just as there are always times for tried-and-true recipes, there is always room for something new and different. Variations on a theme are endless fun.
Another cake-baking November opportunity is the upcoming San Francisco event called Cake Picnic. I first heard of Cake Picnic right after the event first happened at Potrero del Sol, in San Francisco, last April 27th. Of course, I was so disappointed that I had missed it but luckily, it was such a hit that the organizers, Elisa Sunga and Alexandra Piper, immediately scheduled more Cake Picnics for Los Angeles and New York and back in San Francisco this November 9th. The event is part of the California Legion of Honor Museum’s 100 birthday celebration, so it will be held on the lawn in front of the Beaux Arts style building.
According to SF Eater website, “Cake Picnic is a gathering for the love of cake and brings communities and friends together. To be surrounded by as many cakes as there are humans is definitely something special, right? It is a moment in time where we can all come together for something truly sweet.” Read the whole article here: Cake Picnic article, SF Eater
This go round, I did not delay and got tickets for Suzi and me several months ago. The first rule of Cake Picnic, as I read in my confirmation email, is that every attendee must bring one whole cake, either purchased or homemade. We are now in the delightful thinking phase of mulling over which cakes we will bake for Cake Picnic. For a cake nerd like me, this is as close to nirvana as it gets.
I first envisioned a pastel rainbow cake, with pistachio, raspberry, lemon layers but Suzi remined me that it will be autumn when we are baking for Cake Picnic so my cake should be more fall-ish flavors and hues. She is always right, that Suzi. I re-set my mind with autumn fruits and flavors, maybe some combination of cranberries, nuts, ginger, quince, apples, pomegranates, persimmons, and/or pears.
Keeping with that idea, I came up with an elaborate rectangular cake of three separate flavors of cake (cranberry, apple, honey spice,) two nut pastes (almond and pecan,) two different fillings (cranberry curd and apple butter) with decorative mace-flecked butter cream, and apricot-glazed poached quince slices on the top. It sure looked beautiful but made me tired just contemplating all the work in making it and transporting it to the Cake Picnic. See artist’s rendition of the cake, below:
What I was most interested in testing, other than a fine-grained (not overly moist) cranberry cake and the decorative look of pecan halves, was a nut “paste” like the European patisserie staple almond paste but made with walnuts or pecans. I got the idea of a non-almond nut paste by thinking about a non-pastel version of the Swedish Princess Cake. Traditionally covered in soft green pistachio paste or green-tinted marzipan, it is an elegant, visually arresting domed cake. I wondered how the cake would look covered in a more rustic, flecked reddish brown coating of ground pecans.
Left, Princess Cake from Gayle’s Bakery, Capitola, California. The marzipan covered cake comes in a variety of sizes and green, pink, or lavender hued marzipan. The cake is topped with mounds of whipped cream, creating the distinctive profile of the Princess Cake. Highly recommended.
Though Princess Cake is delicious with its almond, cream, and raspberry flavor profile, it is too springy for an autumn gathering. I went to work on the pecan paste.
I found this Walnut Paste Recipe online and swapped out the walnuts for toasted and cooled pecans. Do not skip the toasting, it makes a dramatic difference in the flavor of the paste. It is one of those websites with annoying pop-up ads which I generally do not recommend but I like how the creators allow users to change from metric to cups and the site has a tool to adjust the recipe’s quantity to make different sized batches. I set my measurements and quantity then printed out the recipe, to avoid all the ads.
The method was straightforward; pecans and powdered sugar go in the food processor, processed to crumbs, then egg white is added a tablespoon at a time, processed until a smooth paste is formed and begins gathering into a ball. I wrapped the ball, which looked like a slightly oily dough, in plastic wrap and chilled for about an hour, on the theory that chilling would make it easier to roll out later. The pecan paste keeps in the fridge for several weeks, if tightly wrapped.
My next (simplified) cake idea was a rectangular cake of three layers of cranberry cake with a filling and topping of cranberry-apple-cherry and the rolled-out pecan paste between the layers. Handily enough, I had some vanilla buttercream frosting leftover from a recent cake. I based my cake on an ancient C&H Sugar cookbook carrot cake recipe, trading out the carrots for roughly chopped fresh cranberries and minimal spicing of ¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg.
A quick diagram of the cranberry pecan cake, below:
I baked the cake in a 10 by 15 by 1 inch jellyroll pan, covered the cooled cake in rolled out pecan paste, then chilled it for about an hour, making it easier to divide the cake into three equal 5 by 10 inch layers. My leftover frosting was already in a zip top bag with the corner cut off, so, I piped my leftover frosting around the perimeter of the cakes to act as a “dam” to contain the filling. I put a layer of filling on each cake then stacked them, making one 3-layer cake. I popped it back in the fridge for twenty minutes to firm up then took a long, serrated bread knife and evened up the sides. To decorate, I piped blobs of frosting around the edge of the cake and pressed toasted pecan halves all around, below:
Cranberry Pecan Cake collage, clockwise from bottom left, above: ball of freshly made pecan paste, my first version of cranberry-apple-cherry filling and topping in which I chopped the cranberries and cherries after cooking, close-up of the baked jellyroll shaped cranberry cake, the finished cake, and a close-up of the uncooked cake batter.
Fresh Cranberry Cake
This cake recipe was a keeper from the first test. The cranberries add a fresh and slightly tart accent to this just moist enough, lightly spiced cake. Starting life as an old carrot cake recipe, I traded carrots for chopped cranberries and cut down not just the spices, but the baking soda, keeping the jellyroll shape from getting too much of a dome. To bake it in round layer cake pans or a 9 x 13 pan, just use the higher amount of baking soda, specified in the recipe. Serve the cake as shown above, with the red fruit filling and topping and/or the pecan paste, and the buttercream frosting or serve with just a sprinkle of powdered sugar or deep drifts of your favorite cream cheese frosting. There is no wrong way to make this delicious cake.
Special equipment: 2 8 0r 9 inch round pans 0r 10 x 15 x 1 inch jellyroll pan or 9 x 13 inch baking pan lined with parchment and sprayed with baking spray, cutting board and chopping knife or food processor, hand or stand mixer, mixing bowl, sieve or sifter, parchment or waxed paper, silicone spatula, cooling rack, thin knife
Serves 12 to 20 (If serving the rectangular cake shown above, cut lengthwise in two, then cut crosswise into pieces measuring about 2 1/2 inches by 1 inch, as it is a tall, very rich cake)
Preheat oven to 350°F
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, roughly chopped or briefly pulsed in food processor
1 ½ cups flour
¼ to ½ teaspoon baking soda, use ¼ teaspoon for jellyroll pan or ½ teaspoon for other sized pans
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, mace, or cardamom
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together over a sheet of parchment. Set aside.
In mixing bowl, beat sugar, canola oil, eggs, and yolk, scraping down bowl as needed. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
On low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 batches, scraping bowl between additions. Stir in cranberries.
Scrape batter into prepared pan or pans. Bake in preheated oven until cake pulls away from sides of pans and cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs when tested in center of cake, 25 to 45 minutes, depending on which baking pan is used. Jellyroll and round pans will take from 25 to 30 minutes and 9 x 13 pan from 35 to 45 minutes.
Cool cakes in any sized pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes. Loosen around edges of pans with thin knife. Turn out cakes on rack to cool completely.
Cranberry-Apple-Cherry Filling and Topping
It turns out that cranberries and cherries play really well together. This combination came about by kismet. I started with one peeled, cored, and chopped apple and with a cup of chopped cranberries, then thought I would like a little more sweetness and a little something extra. I spied a can of cherry pie filling and ta da, yum. However, I did not want whole cherries in my filling, so to a 2-cup glass, Pyrex measure, I added one cup of pie filling and snipped the cherries with clean kitchen shears.
Special equipment: 2-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup, clean kitchen shears, heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, silicone spatula, medium sized lidded storage container
Makes: about 1 3/4 cups
1 medium or ½ of a large apple, cored, peeled, and chopped
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 cup cherry pie filling, cherries snipped into smaller pieces
¼ cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons port, dry red wine, apple juice, or water
1 cinnamon stick, optional
Small slice of fresh ginger or 1-2 tablespoons chopped candied ginger, optional
To heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, add all ingredients and optional cinnamon stick and ginger, if using. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Turn heat down to a slow simmer and continue to stir for 20 to 25 minutes, until fruit is softened, and liquid is syrupy and concentrated, adding additional liquid if mixture seems too dry.
Scrape into storage container and let cool. Remove optional cinnamon stick and ginger slice, if previously added. Cover and chill until ready to use. Keeps well, tightly covered in the fridge, for one week.
Variation: Use Rose’s November 2019 blog recipe for Cranberry Curd. This beautiful and versatile spread is so delicious and would make an excellent smooth filling and topping.
Variation: if you are opposed to canned cherry pie filling*, you may substitute ½ cup dried cherries which have been plumped in ½ cup hot water for about 15 minutes. Continue with the rest of the recipe, adding additional liquid by the tablespoon, if mixture seems too dry.
*I used to be opposed to canned cherry pie filling but have now seen the beauty in this convenient cupboard staple. At the bed and breakfast, I used to source these special Czech bottled cherries to make a sauce for my stuffed French toast. I ran out of them and had to substitute the canned cherry pie filling, thinned down with a little cherry brandy. Guess what? There was no difference in taste and the two sauces look exactly alike. Lesson learned. I like Comstock brand, possibly because it has a pretty label.
Theoretical variation: you may be able to simulate this filling by mixing half a can of whole berry cranberry sauce with half a can of cherry pie filling, snipped as described above. Then cooked in the microwave for a bit. It might work, let me know if you try it.
To assemble the rectangular cake shown above, have on hand these components:
About 10 ounces (300 grams) prepared pecan paste Walnut Paste recipe (substitute in pecans) or purchased almond paste, rolled out to 10 x 15 inches
About 1 or 1 ½ cups vanilla buttercream frosting, in pastry bag with round tip or zip top bag, with small cut out corner
1 ½ cups cranberry-apple-cherry filling, chilled
1 chilled 10 x 15 x 1 (jellyroll size) cranberry cake
About 40 toasted and cooled best-looking pecan halves
Cover the chilled cake in rolled-out pecan paste. With a long, serrated bread knife, cut the cake into three equal 5 by 10 inch layers.
Pipe frosting around the perimeter of all 3 cakes, to act as a “dam” to contain the filling.
Spread filling on each cake, staying inside the “dam.”
Stack them on top of each other, making one 3-layer cake. Pop back in the fridge for twenty minutes to firm up
With long, serrated bread knife, even up the sides of the cake.
To decorate, pipe small blobs of frosting around the edge of the cake. Press toasted pecan halves all around. Cake keeps well-wrapped and chilled for a week.
I baked this sweet little six-inch silver white layer cake, with vanilla buttercream and apricot jam filling, to please the residents of Dancing Starfish Ranch and to celebrate our love and gratitude for the everyday.
October 2024 - The Sharing Tea Boutique
The Sharing Tea Boutique
Rose and Webmaster Wayne have had a wonderful idea, and I am fully onboard. We are happy to announce a fun and useful addition to The Tea Book on our website: Sharing Tea: The Road Back to Civilization. We are thrilled to initiate the Sharing Tea Boutique, an opportunity for our readers to order Afternoon Tea, Art, and Poetry related items from our website.
As the holidays approach and our readers look for unique gifts and personal items that will add beauty and meaning to their own lives and the lives of family members and friends, we have selected some unique gifts that our readers can purchase using the same simple method that has been available for years to buy recipes, menus and the entire Tea Book.
Recently, Rose was able to obtain approximately 100 unsold copies of her poetry book, Blue Wings, originally published in 1995 and previously sold on Amazon. Her first thought was to share these rare copies with the readers of myteaplanner.com and her monthly blog, “Tea and Travels.”
I cannot recommend Blue Wings highly enough; the book feels immediately at home in your hand, open it at random and a poem is revealed, perhaps just the right poem for that moment. Or start at the beginning and journey with Rose as she finds the beauty and sanctity in everyday life, creating a gentle way to find peace in our own space. I came slowly to love poetry, but I am now a huge fan and think the fresh thought or feeling given by a poem is a gift we offer ourselves. Paired with your favorite cup of tea, a few moments with Blue Wings will truly uplift your spirit.
Wanting to match the high quality of Rose’s offering, Suzi, my fearless baking partner, and I are adding a few of our very best baked goods to the boutique this holiday season. Suzi will be making her decadent English Toffee in half pound bags with festive ribbon bows, and I will make my all-butter shortbread, in bakery boxes, or tins, if I can source pretty ones. Both the toffee and shortbread will be available to order beginning on November 15th until December 14th, for your Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s celebrations and gifting.
almonds, above, nice thick shortbread fingers to serve or gift
Now, fruit cake haters just close your ears because we will be taking pre-orders for my dried-fruit fruitcake beginning October 15th and ending on November 1st. The 6-inch bundt-shaped cakes need that much time to start the aging process with rum and brandy. We plan to ship all the food items via USPS Priority Mail to ensure the goodies arrive in a timely fashion.
In addition to Blue Wings and holiday food items, we are also going to have seasonal and decorative pretties, vintage teapots, and other tea tableware, curated from our vast inventory. I am hoping to have gifts for the tea lover in your life up in the Sharing Tea Boutique by early November, do check back!
As some of you may know, we have several artists in the family and are thinking about putting some small drawings and paintings in the boutique. We have just roughed out the idea and are still thinking about how that would work. We will keep you posted when we figure it all out. As my Grandpa Pat used to say, “We’ll observe ourselves closely, and see what we do.”
Readers who buy any of these items from our new Sharing Tea Boutique before the end of the year will also receive the free PDF download of The Complete Tea Book, a treasure trove of tea-related information, recipes, menus and seasonal hosting ideas. We are grateful for our readers who have supported www.myteaplanner.com, a pop-up and advertising free venue for the past ten years. We hope that our new Sharing Tea Boutique will enrich your journey “back to civilization” even
Don’t Forget to
Enjoy October!
September 2024 - A is for Apple
Apples hold a place deep in my heart. Autumn in Apple City (Watsonville‘s nickname from the early part of the late 1800s to the 1970s) isn’t the riot of flame-toned umbers and scarlets of the archetypal autumn of New England. We knew autumn had arrived when we saw the farmworkers in the apple orchards, picking. The cavernous packing sheds filled up with bins and boxes of red and green and golden apples, stacked high up to the rafters. The scent of ripe apples was thick around the packing shed where we always bought a whole wooden crate of apples, forming one of my most cherished memories.
My father had built a temperature-controlled room in the garage to store his wines. This cool place also held home-canned preserves and the box of apples. We ate the fresh, crisp apples out of hand but also cooked and baked with abandon. Then came fried apples, baked apples, apple pie, apple crisp, apple cobbler, apple cake, and towards the end of the box, with the slightly-past-their-prime apples, apple butter, and chutney. Opening the heavy door to the wine room, a blast of apple aroma would wash over you: heaven!
I tried to count the apple recipes in our book, Sharing Tea: The Road Back to Civilization, and gave up pretty quickly, lost in a sea of “apple” that popped up in the index. I did persevere enough to comb out four apple cake recipes:
Blackberry Apple Upside-down Cake recipe from Rose’s blog, Tea Travels August 2022
Rudy’s Watsonville Caramel Apple Cake recipe from Rose’s blog, Tea Travels December 2019
Apple Crown Cinnamon Cake recipe from Kathleen’s blog, Cakes and Tea August 2017
Apple Sharlotka recipe from Rose’s blog, Tea Travels March 2017
All four are free on our website, myteaplanner.com, and will help you celebrate apple season, in cake form. I also encourage you to browse other apple recipes on the old website. You’ll find recipes as diverse as Apple Butter Bars, Kosher Apple Cake, family favorite Spiced Apple Gelatin, elegant Tarte Tatin, Kugel with Raisins and Apples, Homemade Apple Butter Pie, Ozark Pudding and so many more.
Above: Blackberry and Apple Upside-down Cake
Above, Russian sponge cake, Apple Sharlotka, below, Tarte Tatin detail
I hope you all find a little farm stand, farmer’s market, or nice grocery store to pick up a crate or a big bag of apples as soon as this year’s crop is ready. Please buy more that you think you need and have a big bowl on the kitchen table to enjoy and then get to try a new apple recipe or an old favorite. Whatever you do, get into the spirit of autumn by celebrating with apples.
Above: Rose cutting into an Apple Butter Pie, below, Spiced Apple Gelatin
Postscript
I sent the first draft of this blog to Suzi and she replied with this lovely remembrance:
Of course this is dear to my heart. My father loved his Apple orchards. I do not know why but that was his little piece of heaven. It’s incredibly important to my family and my heritage.
When I was little our lives revolved around our orchards. I don’t think many people have my love or history with Watsonville apples. I remember taking my brothers clean “tube” socks and polishing the apples. My job was to pick up all the apples that had fallen on the ground. We threw them in these huge wooden bins, and we would take them to Martinelli’s to make cider. One of my fondest memories is taking the apples to Martinellis. They would take me into the coolers and let me taste the apple cider. I would never have imagined that Martinelli Cider would be known worldwide, to me, it was a special treat for my boys. I’m not kidding when I remember those huge bins in the back or this old truck that had a chain link fence as a gate and we would ride in the back. It was so fun.
I should mention that the charming, original Martinelli’s plant is across the street from Watsonville High School, and we were in school with various Martinelli kids. The sweet plant is still there though they have expanded operations to a huge, modern facility in the industrial section of Watsonville. Both are on Beach Road, which, you guessed it, ends at the beach. That sort of sums up our youth, apples and the beach. To quote Suzi, “It was so fun.”
Above, Little Suzi on the tractor, in her Dad’s orchard, below, a Martinelli’s sign in an apple orchard on Lakeview Road, and the old Martinelli’s original plant, on Beach Street, both in Watsonville, California.
August 2024 - Cheesecake
Above: lemon cheesecake, garnished with lemon slices, blossoms, and leaves, with edible nigella flowers
Two of my oldest friends, separately, in the last month, asked me if I baked cheesecake. This stung me to the very heart as I consider myself to be an excellent cheesecake baker, from way, way back. As a kid, I baked for the local fair competition, testing recipes all summer, then entering the Santa Cruz County Fair in September. I tackled cheesecake baking with gusto, learning a lot about its intricacies. I won my first blue ribbon for cheesecake 47 years ago, 2 years later, winning the Best of Show award and the C & H prize of 10 pounds of sugar.
But that was a very long time ago, many more cakes and desserts have caught my attention. Due to both its relatively costly ingredients and massive calorie count, cheesecake is usually a special occasion cake. I realized it had fallen out of my baking rotation. These girlfriends had to be forgiven for not knowing if I baked cheesecake because neither had ever seen me bake a cheesecake. For the past 18 years or so, I have baked one cheesecake a year, a small (7-inch) one for Mr. V’s birthday: one! Life is just too short for that sort of deprivational nonsense.
Wanting to dive right into this new era of my cheesecake renaissance, I bought the 3-pound food service box of cream cheese, a big tub of sour cream, and a few dozen eggs from my neighbor with all the chickens. The only problem is, um, it’s July and it’s around 108°F in the shade. I don’t want to turn on the oven. Hmmm. Many cheesecake recipes call for the batter to be baked in a foil-wrapped springform pan, set in a water bath. This ensures even, gentle baking, resulting in a velvety smooth cheesecake. Similar conditions can be created with a stovetop steamer and with an electric pressure cooker, such as an Instant Pot. Using 6-inch and 7-inch cake pans, I baked one cheesecake in the Instant Pot and one on the stovetop, in a big stockpot, with a rack in the bottom. Both came out perfectly.
Right:
Half a steamed 6-inch cheesecake with miniature white peaches from our landlord’s garden and our own little strawberries from the Mexican terra cotta strawberry pot that has been producing for over 15 years. It’s shown on top of some cheesecake research, featuring recipes and advice from the Joy of Cooking. Irma Rombauer has a lot to say about cheesecake cookery, reminding bakers that cheesecakes are actually very rich custards rather than true cakes. It does make sense, I suppose.
The lemon topped cheesecake shown in the first photo of this month’s blog is a favorite recipe I got from our cooking teacher, Miss Charlotte, not to be confused with Miss Charlotte, my beloved though deceased cat. Cheesecake lovers agree that this is the ultimate New York-ish cheesecake. It combines the best of Joy of Cooking’s recipe for standard New York cheesecake and adds a baked-on sour cream topping AND a clear lemon glaze. It is the best of all cheesecake worlds, combining the dry texture of the NY cheesecake, the creaminess of the sour cream layer, and the tart lemon glaze on top. Many of you will find the source recipe in your own old copy of Joy of Cooking; I found it in my mom’s 1997 copy, on page 980. I also found a link online, at Rombauer.com to Irma Rombauer’s great nephew, Koerner Rombauer’s, winery, in the Napa Valley, which archives some of the Joy of Cooking recipes. Small world, eh?
Though I seldom baked my favorite plain cheesecake, other flavors of cheesecakes do appear in the rotation more frequently, with Rose’s pumpkin cheesecake being an autumn staple. A natural for thanksgiving, it is also a winning choice for any fall birthdays and celebrations. If well wrapped, cheesecakes can be made several days before the party, waiting patiently in the fridge. At My Tea Planner, we have Rose’s treasured pumpkin cheesecake recipe.
If anyone would like the sour cream topping and lemon glaze recipes, drop me a note in the comment section and I will send it along. Meanwhile, here is the recipe for a small cheesecake made without turning on the oven.
Small Cheesecake for Instant Pot* or Stovetop Steamer
Make this petite cheesecake when it’s too hot to turn on the stove. Begin a day ahead for overnight chilling. Serve as is or pile summer fruit on top, just before serving. The small size makes it perfect to serve anytime, not just on special occasions. Works with a 6- or 7-inch cake pan or springform pan.
Serves 2 to 6
Special equipment: 6- or 7-inch cake pan lined with a round of parchment paper and sprayed with baking spray, hand or stand mixer with bowl, silicone scraper, small bowl, foil, Instant Pot with rack or stockpot with rack, boiling water, cooling rack, and thin knife.
Note: If using springform pan, wrap bottom with heavy duty foil to prevent water from seeping inside pan
Optional crust:
½ cup graham cracker or shortbread cookie crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup melted butter
Cake:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour, optional
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
Optional sour cream topping:
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
If using optional crust, mix all crust ingredients together and pat into bottom of prepared pan.
In mixer bowl, beat softened cream cheese on low speed, scraping down sides as needed. Beat on medium-low speed for 15-20 seconds, or until smooth. Set aside. In small bowl, mix sugar, optional flour, and salt. Gradually mix dry ingredients into cream cheese. Scrape down sides. On low speed, beat in one egg at a time, scraping down bowl after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Scrape deep into bottom of mixing bowl to be sure all batter ingredients are thoroughly combined and smooth.
Scrape batter into prepared pan. Cover cake pan with foil, making sure foil does not touch water. Carefully put pan on rack in stockpot or Instant Pot. Add boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the foil-covered pan. Cover and adjust heat so water is at a medium boil. For Instant Pot, add recommended amount of water and set on High. Steam for 30 to 35 minutes or until the center of the cake is jiggly and the edges look set. Remove to cooling rack, uncover carefully so as not to get condensation moisture on cake top.
For optional sour cream topping, stir together sour cream and sugar and spread evenly over top of hot cake. Return to stockpot, put on lid, and cook for an additional 5 minutes, adding more boiling water, if needed. For Instant Pot, put cake pan back inside pot, put on lid and let sit for 1 hour. No need to turn the machine on, as the residual heat will set the sour cream topping.
Chill several hours or overnight. To serve, run a thin knife around edge of pan before unmolding.
*Detailed instructions for pressure cooker cheesecake: https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-cheesecake-new-york/ These folks tested their recipe 17 times and left no detail unexamined. I am glad I read it, but it also made my head spin a little bit. I’ll leave it up to you, if you want to dive into this vat of cheesecake information.
July 2024 - Early Morning Tea in the Gazebo with a Side of Thoughts on Pretty Things
Working in historic bed and breakfast inns left deep impressions on both Suzi and me. We had always loved pretty things, white lace, gardens, silver, and china, but working in the charming Victorians, moving among the antiques and using the traditional table settings and linens firmly fixed the love of pretties in our hearts. Though afternoon tea flourished before Queen Victoria’s reign and after, the Victorian fondness for style and ornament produced silver, crystal, and dishware of exquisite elegance, and in copious quantities. So many vintage teacups, teapots, teaspoons, sugar tongs, lemon forks, tea strainers, and whatnots are still readily available at antique shops almost everywhere. Art nouveau and art deco have also contributed their esthetics to collectable decorative tea ware. It can be argued that lovely things have been always produced, though there are eras which I consider low points in design: I’m looking at you, 1970s.
Above, a favorite oil painting by American John Singer Sargent, “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” 1885-6 Tate Gallery, London. Below, my photograph from the 1980s, featuring our little girls, in their own field of flowers
How can you not love a crisp white nightgown or starched lace tablecloth? I suppose my point is that I love beauty, I want to live among it, create it, and share it. Even when I was a mopey, angsty teen, dressed in head-to-foot black, my bed was a souffle of delicate white cotton bedding and coverlet, with lacey pillows galore. I am definitely encouraging you all to embrace your artsy romantic side. Do go to museums, take bubble baths, dress up in that dress you bought just because you loved it, though you have “nowhere to wear it.” Life is too short to not have tea with your girlfriend or wander in a rose garden or comb the thrift stores for beautiful old things. Do it!
You know what is not romantic and life-affirming? The hellscape that is far Northern California in the summertime, ugh. 110°F anyone? Anyone? No. Longtime readers know that I usually don’t write my blog or bake much in the 5-month-long summer weather. I’ve heard there are folks who enjoy the heat, but I find it very difficult to understand their point of view.
Luckily, Suzi has a lovely back garden with swimming pool and gazebo. This year she decided to drape the metal structure with long lace curtains on three sides, letting air flow through while keeping the sun out for a bit longer during the day. And to make it more lovely, of course!
The patio sofa was a neutral tan color, but Suzi dug through her stash and found this rose patterned fabric, just tucking the fabric over the back pillows. You can’t go wrong with roses, in the garden or on fabric, as roses instantly up the pretty. She was very happy with the new gazebo décor and invited me over for an early morning tea for two. I brought maple scones and my Laura Ashley “Alice” tea set.
Above: the tea tray set with daisy napkins, fresh fruit, and scones
Below: Suzi on the rosy sofa with the lace curtains blowing in from the side
Above:
Suzi in white cotton, bringing the tea tray to the newly lacy gazebo.
Left:
My favorite maple extract from Baldwin Extracts, in the Berkshires, with which Louise is nice enough to keep me stocked.
hese maple scones are a variation of the Maple Pecan Scones recipe from our book, Sharing Tea: The Road Back to Civilization. This variation adds a full teaspoon of maple extract and adds a thick drizzle of glaze which is simply the good Baldwin maple extract stirred into powdered sugar, thinned with milk to make a pourable consistency.
We beat the heat of the day by having our tea party at 6 a.m.; waking up early is the other thing about working in bed and breakfasts that never leaves you. I consider it a pretty good trade. Even in the heat and far from our beloved coastal fog, we find a way to celebrate friendship with tea and scones. Stay cool, everyone!
June 2024 - Apricot Afternoon Tea Menu: In Celebration of the Brief, Delicious Apricot Season and Fathers
Fruit lovers, we must seize the day: apricot season is so very short and so very easy to miss. This year, let it not happen to you by planning a summer trip to an apricot orchard near you. Luckily, as I mentioned in my apricot teaser last December, I found For the Love of Apricots website. The apricot orchard map covers most western states so with some luck, you’ll find fresh apricots near you. Do not be tempted to buy apricots in your local supermarket, as they are nothing like tree-ripened apricots you get from the orchard. Do plan a field trip to get your box of apricots to savor fresh and hopefully preserve into jam to enjoy in the long, long no-fresh-apricots-season.
I get my fresh and dried apricots from Bremmer’s Farm, just off highway 5, in Arbuckle, California. You can find them on yelp and Facebook during the short fresh apricot season, two or three weeks around Father’s Day each year. Last year, I got my lug of over-ripe apricots at Bremmer’s, to make into jam but neglected to stock up on their dried apricots. Look for the tastiest dried, slab apricots at fancier markets or online, if you are shopping after apricot season is over.
As I mentioned above, I stumbled across the fantastic website, For the Love of Apricots,created by Lisa Prince Newman. She is a champion of local agriculture and wrote a cookbook of apricot recipes. I tried to buy a copy last December but ye ole PayPal was not cooperating. I successfully purchased a copy earlier this month and eagerly await it. I hope to share some recipes here, if it arrives in time.
While waiting for apricot season to arrive, I’m putting together an apricot tribute afternoon tea menu to celebrate both the tasty fruit and Father’s Day. I’m pretty sure I inherited my love of fresh produce from my Italian father who possibly loves fresh apricots even more than I. Working as a postman while getting his degree from San Jose State, he tasted a dried apricot pie made by postal clerk Viola Machado, who had an apricot ranch in Milpitas. Over 60 years later, Dad still marvels at the amazingly deep apricot flavor of that pie.
I am testing recipes for this tea menu in mid-May so I do not yet have my precious apricots on hand. My off-season apricot arsenal includes last year’s homemade apricot jam, apricot nectar, canned apricots, apricot juice, and dried apricots. I’ll make a note in the recipes which ones will be better made from fresh apricots, when possible.
A Tea Menu in Celebration of Father’s Day & Apricots
Coronation Chicken Sandwiches
Couscous Salad in Lettuce Cups
Grilled Apricots with a Variety of Fillings:
(Choose as many as you’d like to serve)
Goat Cheese & Pistachios
Brie & Prosciutto
Sweet-Hot Salmon
Falafel with Apricot Salsa & Tzatziki
Sausage Slices with Apricot Mustard
Lollipop Lamb Chop with Apricot Mustard Glaze (For the meaty Dads)
Apricot Scones served with Apricot Preserves and Clotted Cream
Miniature Queen of California Cakes
Apricot Cheesecake Bars
Traditional Shortbread
English Breakfast Hot or Iced tea
Grilled Sangria
Basil Almond Blossom Cocktail Since June brings us Father’s Day, which coincides with the beginning of summer, I feel it calls us to get outside and clean off the grill. To this end, I added a grilled component to our apricot menu. If you do not have access to a patio or park grill, you can most certainly use a stovetop grill pan to get some delicious sear and color on your fruits and meats. Both Le Creuset and Lodge brands have grill pans widely available. An electric tabletop grill will also work well.
Since no one would accuse me of being a grill goddess, I turned to my brother who fired up his propane grill to help me test the grilled sangria and the stuffed apricot recipes. As Pete hasn’t retired just yet, he can’t come to everyone’s house to grill, so I linked this All Recipes Fruit Grilling Guide to help out with some barbeque advice.
Among the things we learned at the grill, the most important is that fresh apricots are a must for grilling; canned apricots just won’t hold up under all those toppings. They are just too soft. We soldiered on anyway (because we had no fresh apricots) and produced some tasty, though not structurally sound, grilled apricot halves.
Once you get the hang of putting the perfect char on your fresh apricots, you can proceed to the creative part, the fillings. It was very fun figuring out what would taste good on a grilled apricot. The short answer: so many things! I narrowed it down to five different toppings which may be a little too many at one time, but it seems perfectly acceptable to choose as many or as few as fits your party.
Above, grilled, stuffed apricots with a variety of fillings: falafel with apricot salsa & tzatziki, brie & prosciutto, goat cheese & pistachios, grilled sausage slices with apricot mustard, and sweet-hot grilled salmon.
I had prepared all the toppings and accompanying sauces earlier in the day so it didn’t seem like that much work. I shallow fried the wee falafel patties earlier and kept them in the fridge. Aside from some chopping for the salmon marinade and the apricot salsa, the other mixtures come together quickly. As I made them, I put them all in pint jars which are easy to store and transport to the grill area. My sauces: salmon marinade, apricot salsa, tzatziki, and apricot mustard which is just the two ingredients, stirred together. (Start with about 2 tablespoons of each.) The busy hostess can also purchase some or all of the toppings at a well-stocked grocery store such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. I’ve always used a falafel mix and felt fine about it.
Sweet-Hot Salmon Marinade Recipe
This is enough for a pound or two of salmon or steelhead fillets.
In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients. Store covered, chilled for up to three days. I marinated the salmon in a Pyrex pan for about 1 hour before grilling it and brushed some on while grilling. (Or Peter did, I watched.)
2 tablespoons apricot jam
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
½ teaspoon chili paste or sriracha, to taste
Juice of 1 lime
About a tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, peels and chopped or grated
Apricot Salsa
In a medium bowl, stir together all ingredients. Store covered, chilled for up to two days, but it is at its best the day it is made. Of course, it’s delicious as a dip for tortilla chips or on any fish or any taco or anything that’s edible, really.
About a pound or more fresh, ripe apricots (or mangos, if fresh apricots are not in season)
1 clove peeled, finely chopped garlic
1 jalapeño chili, deseeded, ribs removed and finely chopped
About ¼ peeled red onion, finely chopped
Large handful of cilantro, chopped or more, if you like more
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Juice of one lime
Kathleen’s Tzatziki Recipe
I make this with full fat Greek yogurt, but you can do partly sour cream, if you have it on hand. I served it at the inns for hors d’oeuvres with crudité and falafel and it was always popular.
In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients. Store covered, chilled for up to two days, but it is at its best the day it is made.
¾ cup full fat Greek yogurt
About 4”-5” English cucumber, unpeeled and grated
Juice of 1 lemon
1 clove peeled, finely chopped garlic
¼ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Shake of cayenne pepper
If you are a good griller or have a grill master handy, you may want to add on some slightly more meaty but still extremely cute lamb chops, prepared in the “lollipop” style. I don’t eat lamb but it is my Dad’s favorite, so I’ll be learning to make these adorable little chops with the built-in handle for our Father’s Day Party
The grilled sangria was a huge surprise hit. Grilling the fruit not only deepened and sweetened the flavors but added an almost vanilla bourbon depth to the refreshing pitcher drink. I must say that going forward, any time I’m planning any outdoorsy summer gathering, I’ll be serving up this winner. And you should, too. The alcohol content can be easily adjusted up or down by using varying ratios of prosecco to soda water. I can’t wait to make it again and share with my fellow fruit lovers.
Grilled Sangria
This pitcher drink was one of the best surprises I have ever had in cooking. Sangria never really appealed to me before I found the magic of grilled fruit. I am urging everyone to grill all the fruit and never look back.
- ½ fresh pineapple, peeled and cut into round slices
- 1 orange, sliced about ¼” thick
- 3 fresh apricots, pitted and cut in half
- 2 kiwis, peeled and thickly sliced
- 8 ounces (1 cup) lemon soda water such as La Croix LimonCello or any sparkling lemon water (I used The La Croix for testing and think it is worth tracking down)
- 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) simple syrup
- ½ cup apricot brandy
- 1 bottle (750 ml) prosecco, chilled
- Ice
Grill all the prepared fruit on pre-heated grill, working in batches and turning only once so they get good char marks. As they are done, set them aside to cool a bit. Cut pineapple slices into quarters.
When ready to serve, put the fruit into a large glass pitcher and add the soda water, simple syrup, and apricot brandy. Stir to combine and add enough ice and prosecco to fill pitcher. Serve in tall glasses, making sure there is a variety of fruit in every serving. Add a fun straw, if you like fun straws.
It was a lovely, sunny day for grilling in the backyard, and I am so grateful for Peter and Tiffany helping with my projects. Neighbor cat, Sherbie, is always interested in backyard activities so he attended, nestled there in the grass. The humans both took photos which I am delighted to share here. We had a fun impromptu introduction to grilling season and Father’s Day warm up that I feel we are way ahead of the summer game.
Coronation Chicken Sandwich Filling
Makes about 3 cups of sandwich filling
2 tablespoons mango chutney
2 tablespoons apricot jam
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons curry powder, or to taste
Shake of cayenne pepper, optional
2 tablespoons chopped dried apricots
2 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds
About 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken from a Costco roaster chicken or similar
Salt, to taste
Sliced buttermilk bread or other thinly sliced bread
Softened butter
Make sandwich filling: In a medium bowl, stir together mango chutney, apricot jam, mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, curry powder. and cayenne pepper, if using. When well combined, stir in dried apricots and almonds. Fold in chicken and taste for salt. Can be made up to 2 days ahead, tightly covered and chilled.
To make sandwiches: Generously butter one side of each slice of bread. Spread filling and top with slice of bread, buttered side in. Remove crusts with sharp, serrated knife. Cut into desired tea sandwich shapes such as rectangles or triangles. Cover sandwiches with a barely damp paper towel or tea towel, then plastic wrap. Serve as soon as possible, ideally not more than a few hours ahead.
Photo from website Bake at 350
BASIL APRICOT BLOSSOM
A refreshing cocktail
Makes 1
Special Equipment: cocktail shaker, muddler or long-handles bar spoon, pretty serving glass
1/4 oz. simple syrup
1 oz. white rum
1/2 oz. apricot liqueur
1/2 oz. lemon juice
Ice
4 basil leaves plus one sprig for garnish
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the basil leaves and simple syrup to release the basil oils. Fill the shaker with ice, add the remaining ingredients, shake vigorously. Strain into a coupe or martini glass. Garnish with basil sprig.
Variation: can be made into a spritzer by adding 4 ounces (or to taste) plain or lemon soda water and serving in a Collins or pint glass, over ice.
Apricot Couscous Salad in Lettuce Cups
Couscous is such a hardworking, versatile dish. It’s happy to show up at any meal, being the supportive friend to main dish meats, the filling component to veggie salads, the low-key partner in spicy Moroccan meals. In our lettuce cups, it stars at teatime, a colorful blend of vegetables and minced aromatics, nestled in the soft green of butter lettuce. Purchase more lettuce than you think you need so you can pick through the heads to choose the smallest, tenderest inner leaves to make smaller cups, most appropriate here. A sweet and sour dressing brings it all together, showcasing friend couscous. Vegans: swap chicken stock for water.
Dressing:
3 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 tablespoon apricot jam
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Juice of half a lemon (zest lemon before squeezing)
1 small garlic clove, peeled and finely minced
½ jalapeño, seeded, deveined, and minced, optional but highly recommended
½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Black pepper taste
Couscous:
1 cup chicken stock or water
1 cup couscous
1 ear fresh corn, cut off the cob
½ red bell pepper, seeded and small diced
½ small red onion, finely diced
3 green onions, sliced
¼ cup toasted almonds, chopped
3 tablespoons dried apricots, chopped
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley plus more for garnish
¼ cup chopped basil or cilantro or fresh dill
Zest of 1 lemon
In bowl or pint jar, stir together all dressing ingredients. Dressing can be made a day or two ahead and shaken before pouring on couscous. Keep tightly covered and chilled.
Bring chicken stock to boil in a medium sized saucepan with a lid. Remove from heat and stir in couscous. Cover saucepan and let sit 5 minutes. Remove lid and fluff with fork. Stir in corn, bell pepper, red onion, green onion, almonds, dried apricots, herbs, and lemon zest. Shake dressing and pour over couscous. Serve in small lettuce cups for tea or top a bed of lettuce with couscous in large, shallow serving bowl for family style meals.
Individual Queen of California Cakes
In our book, Sharing Tea: The Road Back to Civilization, in the “World of Tea Parties, A California Tea” section, we feature this indulgent, densely chocolatey, satin-glazed cake. As majestically as it sits on its cake pedestal, it is a little finicky when it is time to cut. I reworked the recipe to make individual servings that keep the shiny ganache finish intact. It was named for the California-produced apricots and walnuts, so I envisioned a regal little dried apricot crown on each petite cake, embellished with gold sparkling sugar and edible gold balls. You can follow the link to see the Queen on a mauve cake pedestal, on our website:
The Queen of California Cake
Cake
¼ cup minced apricots
1/4 cup brandy
2/3 cup walnuts or almonds
8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
½ cup (1stick) butter
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
¼ cup flour (use gluten free flour replacement, if desired)
Chocolate Glaze
6 ounces dark chocolate chopped
½ cup (1 stick) butter
Decorations
16 to 20 dried apricots, flattened with rolling pin, if puffy
Gold edible glitter or gold sparkling sugar
Gold edible decorative balls, optional
Makes about 16 2” cakes
Special equipment: parchment-lined 8” square cake pan, sprayed with baking spray or buttered and floured, small bowl, small bowl, food processor, microwave-safe bowl or 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup, stand mixer, silicon spatula, 2 toothpicks, cooling rack, cutting board, 1 ½’-2” round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, offset spatula, small, sharp knife, culinary tweezers, optional
Preheat oven to 325°F
Cake: in a small bowl, stir together minced apricots and brandy, let soak for at least ½ hour.
In a food processor, pulse walnuts until finely ground, taking care not to turn into nut butter.
In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate and butter. Microwave for 1 minute on high and stir. Heat on high for 30 seconds, stir until completely melted and smooth. Set aside.
In a stand mixer bowl, beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar on high for 4 minutes, until pale yellow, scraping down sides as necessary. Add chocolate mixture, flour, and ground walnuts to egg yolks and mix on low for 30 seconds. Add apricots and brandy and stir until combined.
In clean mixer bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form, then beat in 3 tablespoons of sugar. Stir 1/3 of egg whites into chocolate batter, then fold in remaining egg whites until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted about 1” from edge of cake shows moist crumbs. The center will test very moist, and the top will look shiny and cracked and may fall slightly in the center. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. With potholder and folded up paper towel, carefully pat down edges of cake so they are more level with the center. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Loosen edges and invert onto rack. Leave upside down to cool completely. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.
Glaze: in a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Microwave for 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
Place chilled cake on a cutting board. Cut into 1 ½” or 2” circles with sharp cookie cutters. Place cake circles on rack over a clean, rimmed sheet pan or large platter. Pour warm chocolate glaze over cakes, spreading glaze around cakes with an offset spatula, rewarming glaze as needed. Alternately, dip cakes in warm glaze, allowing excess to drip off. Repeat with remaining cakes. Decorate before glaze has completely set.
Decorate: Cut flattened dried apricots into a simple crown shape that will fit on top of cakes with sharp kitchen scissors or small, sharp knife. Cut one crown for each cake. (This can be done ahead, if desired. Set apricot crowns on parchment-lined platter and cover with plastic wrap at room temperature, up to two days ahead.) Center a crown on each cake. Carefully mound gold glitter or sugar to make bottom of crown. If using optional gold balls, take a toothpick and make a shallow indentation above each point of the crown. Using tweezers or fingers, place one gold ball in each indentation and gently press down. Allow glaze to fully set before moving. It is best to store cakes at room temperature with a large mixing bowl over them, not covered with plastic wrap, which might mar the glaze. The cales keep at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.
I am enthralled by the photo of these apricot bars. I found them at Rock Recipes and the recipe looks sound. I have to confess I did not get around to baking the recipe, but I am definitely making them for Father’s Day. I’m putting the link here, so you all can try it, too: Apricot Orange Cheesecake Bars
Our family had a deep fondness for Scottish shortbread and we have many recipes for shortbread on the website. Rose and I bake shortbread for most family events, especially if Peter will be attending, as he is a huge fan of shortbread, as am I. It freezes beautifully, if wrapped up tightly, so you might as well make the big batch. I have my old shortbread tin in the freezer, fitted inside a large zip-top bag. You can find my sheet pan shortbread recipe here:Cakes & Tea blog, December 2018 with large batch shortbread recipe
The above apricot cream cake is the 2024 version of my cake for Suzi’s birthday. My baking partner, Suzi, who is also my bestie for the last 46 years, luckily has liked all the birthday cakes I have made for her, keeping me free to invent any cake I think she would like. So yes, there is no recipe, but it opened the door to dreams of apricot season to come.
May 2024 - Master Sweet Dough Recipe: Hot Cross Buns, Shortcut Babka, Cinnamon Rolls & Braid
From breakfast, brunch, lunch to teatime, warm, fresh baked goods add to every meal’s enjoyment. No one loves the speed and convenience of a quick bread more than I, but sometimes the occasion calls for something a little special, something that takes a little time but not that much more effort. Yeast bread, specifically a sturdy, all-purpose sweet yeast dough recipe, is a wonderful thing to have in your repertoire.
This slightly sweet dough is so adaptable and versatile that it has been my go-to yeast dough for over thirty years. I love that it is happy to rise immediately or hang out in the refrigerator overnight. Mornings, you can have fresh, warm pastries on the table in about an hour and a half. It takes beautifully to hand-shaping or being rolled out. Though not as rich as brioche dough, it is much less fussy and will do the job quite well. This is a good dough for beginners or cooks who aren’t comfortable with yeast doughs, yet!
Let’s get a little more familiar with yeast. It is not as scary as you may have thought. I have been using a bag of dried yeast I found in my parent’s freezer marked “2012,” and it is still just perfect. If you ever are doubtful about the heartiness of your yeast, you can proof the yeast in a little warm (95 to 105 degrees F) water, which just means dissolve the yeast in the water and let sit for 5 minutes. The healthy yeast should look creamy or foamy and have little bubbles on the surface.
This recipe skips the proofing step and lets you add the liquid ingredients to some of the dry ingredients and stir to combine. A higher water temperature can be used (105 to 115 degrees F) because the yeast is buffered by the flour.
Yeast dough recipes generally leave the flour amount open to adjustment, such as 4 to 4 ½ cups flour. I recommend erring on the side of a stickier dough, using less flour, because flour can always be added when shaping the dough, after the first rise.
Master Sweet Dough Recipe:
Hot Cross Buns, Shortcut Babka, Cinnamon Rolls, & Braid
MAKES: Varies by recipe
PREP TIME: 20 minutes
BAKE TIME: 15–20 minutes
RISE TIME: 2-½–24 hours
SECOND RISE: 20–40 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
4-1/2 cups flour, divided
1/3 cup sugar
2 (4-1/2 tsp. total) envelopes dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup butter, cut into pieces
2 eggs
Add for Hot Cross Buns:
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
½ cup golden raisins
Vegetable oil for greasing bowl
DIRECTIONS:
Combine 1-1/2 cups flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt in large mixer bowl.
Heat milk, water, and butter until warm (120° to 130°F). Gradually add to flour mixture; beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs, lemon and orange zest, and 1/2 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in raisins and enough remaining flour to make stiff batter. Grease top.
Cover tightly with plastic wrap; refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours. Remove dough from refrigerator. Punch dough down. Remove dough to lightly floured surface; divide in half or leave whole, depending on selected preparation.
HOT CROSS BUNS (use 1/2 of dough for 8” by 8” pan)
Shape into 9 balls, each about the size of a small apple. Place in greased 8” by 8” pan. Cover, let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 to 40 minutes. Bake at 375°F for 25 to 35 minutes or until done. Cool in pan at least 20 minutes then drizzle with icing to form the traditional cross of hot cross buns. Serve warm if possible.
Vanilla Icing:
Combine 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted, 4 to 5 teaspoons milk and 1 / 2 teaspoon vanilla extract in a small bowl. Stir until smooth.
SHORTCUT BABKA: (use 1/2 of dough)
Use any filling you like for your babka, including preserves with or without chopped nuts, canned fillings such as Solo brand or just softened butter and cinnamon sugar. Pat out dough on floured surface to a rectangle approximately 12” by 10”. Spread filling over dough. Roll up firmly from short side. Pinch seam to seal. With sharp knife, halve roll lengthwise. Carefully twist the two halves together and fit into greased loaf pan. Loosely lay a piece of plastic wrap over loaf pan and let rise 1 to 1 ¼ hours. Preheat oven to 350˚F about 15 minutes before baking.
Bake until deep golden color and skewer inserted in center feels firm, about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool on rack for 10 to 15 minutes then turn out of pan to cool completely. Drizzle with glaze, if desired.
CINNAMON ROLLS: (use whole recipe)
Mix filling ingredients: 1 cup brown sugar, ¾ cups chopped pecans (optional,) and 4 teaspoons cinnamon. Roll dough into a roughly 17” by 10” rectangle. Spread with 1 stick (1/2 cup) softened butter and sprinkle filling over. Beginning with the long side, roll dough into a log. Cut log into sixteen 1-inch slices. Place slices, cut sides up, into a greased 13” by 9” pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350◦F oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Ice with cream cheese frosting, if desired.
Cream Cheese Frosting for Cinnamon Rolls:
Have 4 ounces cream cheese and 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter at room temperature. Beat on low speed in mixer with 2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1 to 2 tablespoons milk or cream until spreading consistency.
BERRY ALMOND “BRAID:” (use 1/2 of dough)
Pat out dough in rough rectangle about 1/3” thick. Spread about a ½ cup jam or filling in center third of dough. Sprinkle with ½ cup chopped, toasted almonds, reserving 2 tablespoons for the top, if desired. With sharp knife, cut strips down each side about 1” thick. Starting at top edge, fold each strip over and down, alternating between right and left side strips. Tuck in bottom as shown. Let rise in warm place 30 to 40 minutes, until almost doubled. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cool on rack for about 20 minutes and top with vanilla glaze and reserved chopped almonds, if desired. Best served warm or same day.
Master Sweet dough, clockwise from upper left: step #2, showing the bubbly, happy yeast, after beating for 2 minutes, more flour and eggs added, the dough beginning its first rise, and the dough after its final beating and all flour has been added.
Clockwise from upper left: half batch of the softish dough, patted out with no additional flour added, spread with about ½ cup berry jam down the center third, 1” strips cut on the outer thirds, strips folded over and tucked in, after all the strips have been crossed, after the second rise, just out of the oven, looking messy but definitely handmade.
The finished braid with a spring garden bouquet (thank you, Mr. Vazquez!) Though this dough was very soft, with no added flour, it still looks pretty and appetizing with its quickly glazed top and shower of chopped almonds. Much of the charm of home baked goods is in their rustic, handmade character. It does not need to look perfect to be wonderful.
Have Mothers!
April 2024 - Early Spring Tearoom Roundup Adventures, Part Two
As longtime readers may suspect, Suzi and I have not always been so occupied by traditional pursuits such as baking, historic preservation, and tea parties. At sixteen, our lives forever changed with the acquisition of the driver’s license, truly the golden ticket to the big, exciting world. For a good twenty-year span, these interests took a back seat to the lures of 1980s Santa Cruz: so very much fun to be had, so many cool places to discover, and legions of surfer boys to be chased around…
Anyway, one of the treasures that we found was a local tearoom in Capitola. Though right up the street from fabulous Gayle’s Bakery, it was in the quaint white carriage house of an old estate. The mansion house was still there, despite the large property having been divided and apartments built all around, obscuring the ornate farmhouse from view. We may have first noticed the tea house because our bestie Gina worked in the apartments surrounding the old house.
Above, Carriage House, home of tearooms and restaurants for over one hundred years
Thankfully, the carriage house complex remained intact, encompassing a courtyard and cute little outbuildings, which may have been the stable yard. In researching the tea house, I found information about the estate and the carriage house specifically. Originally a Mexican land grant from 1830, the Castro Averon Mansion house was built in 1877, closer to Soquel Creek, then moved uphill in 1884. The carriage house was built circa 1890 and has been a tea house or restaurant since the 1890s, an astonishing fact which blew my mind and put California tea houses into some sort of historical perspective. That sweet little building had been a tea house for well over 100 years! In the 30 plus years since Suzi and I started having tea there, it has been several different establishments: Camellia House, Bloomsbury Tea Room, and finally, The Quail and Thistle, which closed in 2015. Sadly, the tearoom sits empty these days. I do hope some nice tea lady will open it back up and restore it to its rightful use, as a wonderful little tea house. (And that person won’t be this old tea lady.)
Above, Capitola Averon Mansion House
Of course, we are not waiting around for that. Chef Jesikah Stolaroff has opened restaurant Vim on the west side of Santa Cruz and has amazingly decided to offer monthly afternoon teas. She has quite a local following for her dinner menu and opens early for afternoon tea one Sunday a month. Her teas are so beautiful and take so much work to execute, we worried if she was going to overwork herself and not continue with the tea Sundays. We were reassured to hear that the restaurant closes after tea service ends, the staff getting to skip dinner service that Sunday. The teas have become quite popular, the winter holiday themed teas filling up quickly and selling out. My friend Polly snagged reservations for the January tea and shared these photos with me to pass along to you, faithful tea readers.
Above, January tea menu from Vim, Santa Cruz and Chef Jesikah Stolaroff, photo from Vim’s website.
As you can read above, the menu is creative and current but builds on afternoon tea traditions with savories, scones, and ample miniature desserts. Polly and her companions reported the entire menu delicious, with the beautiful pastries tasting every bit as good as they look. I am happy to see the 3-tiered server utilized for the savories with the pretty cucumber and beet hummus sandwiches on top; my only quibble is that the lovely little pastries are crowded on a nondescript, too-small plate. Pastries that attractive deserve to be highlighted on their own platter, hopefully made of elegant china, polished silver, or their own 2- or 3-tiered server. Taste is paramount, of course, but proper serve ware contributes to the aesthetics of afternoon tea. Part of me wants to offer her some trays from my growing collection of tea gear, but the bigger part of me says to mind my own business and let her find her own way.
Above left, from Vim, beautiful desserts though unhappily crowded, right, 3-tiered server with savories
After years of decline in tearooms and afternoon tea service in the United States, I am cautiously optimistic about the uptick of tea rooms and similar establishments. Though she moved two and a half hours southwest, loyal friend of myteaplanner.com Merlina and I try to get together for hijinks and tea as often as possible. As artist Mary Engelbreit so wisely says, the road to the house of a friend is never long, (or something like that) and I firmly agree.
Happily, a new tearoom in Lincoln opened in October of last year. The Sotherton Tea Room is in a new building, so the owner, Elaine Mueller, got to decorate and furnish the new room to her specifications. Her family spent summers in England, she grew up with the British afternoon tea tradition dear to her heart and the Sotherton is a dream fulfilled for her. Lincoln area folks are fortunate indeed to have a lovely tearoom so nearby.
The Sotherton has been featured several times in local television press. You can see a video of a CBS visit here: Sotherton Tea Room video clip
Clockwise from upper left: at Sotherton Tea Room, the 3-tired server from our visit in February, dear Merlina, mocktails Sotherton were trying out (yum,) and their very good scones with proper clotted cream and preserves.
The Sotherton Tea Room is still new and trying different things to create their customer base, a necessity in every food business. During our first visit in December, Merlina and I both liked the wintery effect of snow falling outside candle-lit windows, an image created by a large screen television on one wall of the tearoom.
When I read they were starting a Wednesday afternoon tea service called “Tea and a Movie” which pairs the traditional afternoon tea with a classic or modern movie, I remembered the big screen. I was intrigued by the movie idea but wondered how tea and a movie would fit together: would the movie be interrupted by table service, would guests be talking through the movie, would I feel like I’d rather be chatting with Merlina than watching the movie? We chose the 1958 movie Gigi with Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier and went to tea with open minds.
Above: Louis Jourdan and Leslie Caron in gorgeous Metrocolor in the 1958 movie Gigi, fabulous
set design and costumes by artist Cecil Beaton
I should not have worried. The staff had worked out the pace of the tea service to minimize interruptions, only stopping by our table to refill our teapots during the movie. Being a big fan of old movies, I had seen Gigi many times on Turner Classic movie channel but realized that I had never seen it on a big screen and hadn’t fully grasped how beautiful the movie would look in such a format. Merlina and I and every single other guest were completely quiet and rapt and enthralled with the splendor of the vibrant color and magic of the film. As in mega hit My Fair Lady, artist Cecil Beaton did set design and costumes, taking good scripts, great casts, and pushing the movies up to the very height of what a movie spectacle could be. We found it to be an enormous success: go, Sotherton!
A few other things the Sotherton is trying out are offering mocktails with afternoon tea service, adding brunch Friday through Sunday, adding champagne when a liquor license is approved, and having trivia nights with British style pub foods. We wish them luck with all their endeavors and will return to Sotherton for afternoon tea again.
After meeting up near Lincoln with Merlina several times now, I can recommend a trip to the quaint little downtown and surroundings. I was charmed by the local history museum, the Lincoln Area Archives Museum, which displays a blend of antique and vintage items of interest, donated by local folks whose families came for the gold rush and settled in the foothills.
In the museum, I recognized a display of terra cotta and glazed architectural elements that had fascinated me when I first saw similar ones at High Hand Nursery, in nearby Loomis. Besides being an amazing plant nursery and perfect lunch-in-the-garden place, High Hand Nursery is set among old fruit sheds, repurposed from the time when the area shipped fruit grown there in rail cars. I had a great time poking around the sheds and happened upon these cool terra cotta gargoyles, big pipes, sculptures, and curiosities that looked like they came off a 19th century building.
It turned out that Lincoln is home to historic and still functioning 140 year old Gladding McBean, maker of terra cotta, clay pipe, and tile products. From sewer pipes to neoclassical sculpture to Franciscan dishware, Gladding McBean has the most amazing variety of historical to modern products than can be believed. The Lincoln Area Archives Museum sells a big, beautiful coffee table book about Gladding McBean that I had to take home with me.
Left: Gladding McBean book cover and detail of terra cotta building gargoyle
Clockwise from upper left: various examples of Gladden McBean work, including a 1914 acanthus leaf capital, a decorative plaque of an RCA company’s His Masters Voice, the Hoover Tower at Stanford University (photo courtesy of Stanford,) and a colorful glazed tile.
I hope you have plans to go on a spring tea adventure soon. Getting out to the California coast or foothills of the Sierras is always a good idea, and running into a tearoom is a pleasant bonus; it seems there are a few more than there were before. As always, report any adventures you may have out there. Happy Spring!
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Some random thoughts from Kathleen…
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