Whole grain peanut butter cake topped with sour cherries

When I got home last night, I knew I had an easy task ahead: making a couple of tuna sandwiches for dinner. Not a big deal. Not only tuna salads are extremely easy to make, but the fact that I’ve made them hundreds of times gives me the confidence to say I could do one with my eyes closed. I had one little problem though: I was out of mayo. A normal person would’ve gone with one of the following options: buy mayonnaise, use a different condiment, or ditch the tuna altogether and make something else. But the key word in that sentence was NORMAL, which I’m not. Instead, I decided to make my own mayonnaise, even though I’ve never done so before.

Half an hour and a full sink later, I had a salty, broken mayonnaise. It was terrible. But I wasn’t too frustrated. I taught myself to cook; I’ve gone through worst disasters. I am resilient though; I try, I fail, I try again. It’s my proven formula. 

Many people are terrified of baking, but not me. After trying-failing-and tying again several times, I’ve gotten used to the ratios of ingredients, and the consistencies of batters. Once you let go of the fear of failing, you quickly realize how easy it is to follow a recipe, and to eventually come up with your own.

Today I’ll share this cake I made for breakfast. The cake itself was made from 100% whole wheat and peanut butter. It has a wonderful consistency and a luscious taste. To give it more of a peanut butter and jelly profile, I topped it with sour cherries. I know, sour cherry season is still far away, so I used sour cherries canned in water. I admit, they have a bit of a pale look. But I tossed them in sour cherry syrup, and topped them with powdered sugar, and they actually taste really nice. I poured the extra syrup over the cake to soak it. After resting overnight, the whole cake tasted like peanut butter and sour cherries, and the cake was moist and juicy. 

I know you heard the words peanut butter, sugar and syrup. Still, this cake it’s not a calorie bomb. Au contraire, this breakfast cake stands at a mere 189 calories per serving! Pair it with coffee, and it’s the perfect start to your day.

On the road shortcut

Nutrional info per serving (6 servings)

189 calories, 32 g carbs, 6 g fat, 6 g protein

Cake

1 jumbo egg

2 oz. (about ¼ cup) sugar

2 oz. (about 4 tablespoon) honey roasted peanut butter

½ teaspoon vanilla

Pinch salt

2 oz. (about 7 tablespoon) whole wheat flour

Topping

2 cups sour cherries packed in water, drained

1 tablespoon sour cherry syrup

2 tablespoon powdered sugar

Make the cake.

Preheat an oven to 350F. Grease a 5” iron skillet with butter.

Using a mixer, beat the egg and sugar together on medium-high speed until it fluffs and expand to 3 times its size (about 3 minutes). Add the vanilla and the peanut butter, and continue mixing until they are incorporated. Using a wooden spoon, incorporate the flour until mixed. Pour the batter in the iron skillet, and bake for 20 minutes (or when a toothpick comes out clean). Once baked, cool the cake for about 5 minutes before removing from the skillet to cool.

For the topping

Toss the sour cherries in the syrup. Top the cake with the cherries and the syrup. Top with 1 tablespoon of powder sugar. Leave the cake soaking overnight, and coat with the second tablespoon of powdered sugar just before serving.

(If you don’t want to soak the cake, top the cake with the sour cherries without transferring the syrup they were tossed in).

Coconut rum frozen yogurt cake with walnuts and cherries

Two summers ago, I was at the mall minding my own business when I made a life-changing discovery. Let’s ignore for now that minding my own business at a mall usually involves hours of me collecting all sorts of items through the store, only to spend about 10 seconds deciding I’m leaving it all behind. I know, terrible; but we’ll leave that discussion for another day. I was at the book store, (and whether or not I successfully bought something there isn’t important) and on my way to the car I saw this “ice cream” place I’ve been seeing absolutely packed for years but never ventured in. That day I went in, and I realized it wasn’t ice cream but frozen yogurt, and after a few “trying cups” I was hooked. Over the last couple of years I’ve had so much frozen yogurt (and by so much I actually mean so many times, because I never actually buy more than 6 oz.).  From chains to local, to organic, I’ve tried them all. I love my froyo. I’ve made frozen yogurt at home too, and it has even made its way to this blog as well.

This week I went to a friend’s house for a summer party. She and her fiancé  had an array of great food, but somehow I was especially fixed on their desserts: homemade éclairs and homemade ice cream cake. Éclairs I absolutely love, so no further explanation is needed. I ate more than I should have, I know so. But the ice cream cake really surprised me. I’m not sure why, but I’ve never thought of ice cream cake as “home-doable”. It’s not like I thought it was impossible either. It just that it never really occur to me that you could make it at home. I loved that ice cream cake, and of course, now I want to make one. 

Three days after my epiphany, I decided I had to make an ice cream cake. I had a few issues, though. I am busy, so I wanted something fast and easy to make. I also wanted to keep the oven usage to a bare minimum because it has been really hot and some of us don’t have an AC to chill afterwards. Lastly, I had just overindulged at the party a few days before, so I wanted to keep the calories down. My 10 second decision was to make a “frozen yogurt cake” instead. I used a store bought, ready-to-use Graham crust I’ve had sitting in the pantry for months now. For the filling I used fat-free Greek yogurt, I added some coconut rum for both flavor and to prevent it from freezing into a block, and I added shaved coconut to give it a “cake-ier” texture. Listo. I just mixed the ingredients, poured it over the crust, and froze it overnight. No ice cream machine needed. Just for fun, I made a honey-walnut-cherry topping just before serving. 

The result was a great tasting summer dessert! The frozen yogurt cake was just 255 calories plus an extra 44 calories for the topping. Loved it! Of course, I still have to make a more “traditional” ice cream cake, but the summer has just started, so I have plenty of time to make it. And I have a feeling I’ll be making this frozen yogurt cake a few more times as well.

On the road shortcut

Coconut rum frozen yogurt cake
252 calories, 39 g carbs, 7 g fat, 7 g protein

16 oz. (2 cups) Nonfat Greek yogurt plain

0.5 oz. coconut rum

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1 ½ tablespoon unsweetened coconut flakes

1 9-inch Ready to fill crumb Graham cracker crust

Using an electric mixer at medium power, mix the Greek Yogurt, coconut rum, and vanilla extract until well incorporated. Add the sugar, and the coconut flakes and keep mixing until they are well incorporated into a fluid mixture. Pour the mixture into the Graham crust, cover it and freeze it overnight.

Walnut and cherry topping

44 calories, 5 g carbs, 3 g fat, 1 g protein

¼ cup walnuts

¼ cup dried cherries

1 teaspoon honey

Pinch salt

On a skillet on medium-high heat, toast the walnuts until browned and fragrant (about 5 minutes). Make sure to stir constantly to prevent them from burning. Remove from heat, and let them cool to the touch. Chop the walnuts and the dried cherries, then transfer them to a mixing bowl. Add the honey, a pinch of salt, and mix together well.

Whole-wheat raspberry tart

I love #ThrowbackThursday. I do, I’m out. Unfortunately, by the time I think of something really “cool” to post, it’s already Friday and that’s the end of it. My 24-hour window has been closed. Nooooh!!! Then I just forget about it, until the next Friday, and the stupid cycle goes on, and on. I don’t know why I care so much anyway. The point is to remember something from the past, so who cares if it’s Thursday, Friday, or Saturday?  As unconventional as I can be, I’ve still managed to show some respect and refrain from going ThrowbackAnyDay. I can’t stand the thought of messing with it.

I guess I do know why I care. I play by my own rules: I listen to my music gems and watch my own TV classics all the time. Sometimes months go by without me even knowing what’s current. I get to celebrate my “old stuff” on Throwback Thursdays, probably in an unconscious need to keep them relevant for others as well. It’s kind of sad, but I will not be ashamed of quirks. If I want to sing along to “Go, go Power Rangers” or to that tune of a 90’s Mexican soap opera, I will do it. And I won’t do it quietly either, no sir. In fact, if I’m walking around with my headphones on I can pretty much guarantee you I’m in the zone, and it’s just a matter of time before I break out into the “performance of a lifetime”. Angel is a star, damn it. But as my drama teacher would always say, stars fall from the sky and crash, and boy, do I crash every time I hear myself. God bless those headphones that prevent me from listening to my own voice.

Of course, this behavior can extend well beyond walking. I had an incident of singing while driving that resulted in a speeding ticket! I was way too much into Prince’s Kiss to notice that my car was accelerating as I was going downhill right into a known speed trap, and the cops were not having any of it. I’ve been known to ride and sing as well. I probably annoyed the hell out of not 1, but 5 or 6 cities as I decided to sing the whole Rent soundtrack for more than 20 miles. I didn’t do it on purpose; it just happened. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m singing until I get bugs in my mouth and have to cough them out. Oh well, I’ve stopped all of this nonsense already.

Going back to throwing things back on Thursdays, and of riding and “singing”, as I was riding my bike back from work I started remembering “Feelin’ so good”. Oh, the late 90’s... JLo was still Jennifer Lopez back then, and this song was on her first CD. I really like the song, and it pretty much describe my take on life. Good, positive attitude is everything. If life gives you lemons, you go like “they’re gluten-free, so joke’s on you, life”!

 

That’s how I handled my Dutch baby experiment. I’ve seen some recipes recently and I decided to make one for the very first time, and of course, I made them whole grain without having the real thing first. They actually tasted really good, but I wasn’t too happy with their consistency. There’s no baking powder in Dutch babies, so they flatten as they cool down. I knew it, and I accepted it going in. I really liked it, but I was ready for something more cake-ish, something that actually needs baking powder. The result was a raspberry tart that was easy, simple, and really, really tasty. The tart was just 195 calories, so I had a serving for breakfast, and one for dessert with dinner! I posted the picture on Instagram about a week ago. A few friends have asked me about it, and suggested I should share the recipe. So here it is, just in time for #ThrowbackThursday!

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (makes 4 servings):

195 calories, 25 g carbs, 9 g fat, 6 g protein

Cooking spray

1 ¼ cup 2% milk

2 tablespoon butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ pint of raspberries

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the milk, butter, egg and vanilla extract, and mix. Add the flour, the salt, and the baking powder and mix until combined.

Spray a 9-inch cast iron skillet with cooking spray. Pour in the batter. Arrange the raspberries on the batter as desired. Bake on the middle rack for 15-20, or when a toothpick comes clean.

I served mine with maple syrup, non-fat Greek yogurt and more raspberries for breakfast, and with vanilla ice cream for dessert. (The calorie calculation doesn’t reflect this.)

Orange Cake with Orange-Mascarpone Frosting and Peaches

 

Easter is coming! The eggs need to be colored, the lamb needs to be roasted and the desserts need to be planned, ASAP! As exciting as it is, Easter celebrations are still somewhat new to me since I did not grow up celebrating it because I’m Puerto Rican and we just don’t do anything special that day. We don’t have a special dinner, we don’t have any food associated with it, there are no eggs involved (colored or otherwise), and certainly there is no bunny to be found, unless you look for it in a stew. To this day, I’m not sure how bunnies and eggs fit into Easter, but I do know that here in the States, Easter is one happy holiday, and people are really, really happy that day. 

Since it’s so fun and cute, and I don’t really need much of an excuse to eat good food, I started celebrating it after moving to Cleveland. But I’ll admit that I barely get involved in the planning and the cooking leading to the celebrations. It’s not my holiday, and I don’t want to risk ruining it for those who love it and want to make sure they have their more traditional choices. I can relate; I know the feeling all too well. Thanksgiving is MY holiday and to be honest, I tend to disapprove of basically every turkey I don’t make myself (and some of the ones I’ve made as well). So instead of offending everyone with a “deconstructed” Easter dish, I decided to make and share a small dessert that can be eaten either before, during or after Easter. Let’s just say it’s a “spring-y” dessert. 

While I deal with my new traditions and my ‘spring-y” dessert, back home they’re our traditional celebrations should be unfolding by now. I know I said that in Puerto Rico most people don’t celebrate Easter, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t doing anything. On the contrary, they can get quite busy.  Back home, we’re all about the “Holy Week”, and its peak, Good Friday.  During Good Friday, people in my hometown gather around the main streets “downtown”, to watch the processions that circulate them, portraying the agony of Jesus and Mary, as He was on his way to be crucified. These processions feature a mix of beautifully crafted statues and real-life reenactments of some of the key moments of Jesus’ journey to the cross, the crucifixion and sometimes a bit of the resurrection.  

But that’s not all. All through the week, but especially on “Holy Thursday”, the neighborhoods have their “Via crucis”. Via crucis translate to something like “The road to the cross” and once again, it’s meant to make people reflect on Jesus’ agony, and hence, the sacrifice he was making. For these, the community members go around the neighborhood chanting and singing lamentations with a megaphone. There are 14 stops in which people read biblical passages relating Jesus’ last hours and again, Mary’s suffering. It may sound a bit morbid, but it’s actually pretty cool.  

When people are not wondering around town, they really have some time to kill. Most people get Thursday and Friday off, but many still get the traditional ALL-WEEK OFF. No work y’all! But it’s not like they can go all crazy partying because traditionally there are so many limitations regarding what you are allowed to do during Holy Week. There is no nailing, cutting, or any work-oriented activities; there is no dancing, singing or heavy drinking; and depending on the family, additional restrictions are added as well. Of course, there’s been a departure from those restrictions in recent years, especially as the non-Catholics increase in numbers, and part from many of these traditions. Overall, there’s still a strong religious buildup to Easter, but Easter day itself is very anticlimactic. You just go to church, and that’s the end of it. 

Coming back to my new-found interest in Easter, I decided to make a light, fragrant dessert that would be simple enough to make just for myself, but that would be nice enough to share with friends after the Easter dinner. I made an orange cake that is light, fluffy and spongy, and refreshing. I glazed it with an orange-mascarpone frosting that is light in flavor, without compromising texture or taste, and its freshness can’t help but reminding you of a beautiful spring morning. To balance the flavors and to garnish the cakes, I added slices of peaches (from a can, I’ll admit) to get yet another sunny and fresh flavor. I came up with the recipe using weights and ratios (to which I’ll have to dedicate a post in the future) so I’ll provide some measures by weight, and then I’ll give the conversions.

I really hope you enjoy your Easter Sunday with family and friends!

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (4 servings):

311 calories, 60 g carbs, 19 g fat, 2 g protein

Orange cakes

1 egg

2 ounces (1/4 cup) granulated sugar

½ teaspoon orange juice

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch salt

2 ounces (1/4 cup) flour

2 ounces (4 tablespoons) butter

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour the bottom of 4 ramekins.

Using a handheld mixer, beat the egg and sugar together until they triple in size, about 2 minutes. Just before finishing beating the eggs, add the orange juice and the vanilla extract. Continue mixing for a few more seconds.

Combine the baking powder, salt and flour. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. 

Fold the butter into the batter. Split the batter into 4 ramekins and bake at 350F until a toothpick comes clean after inserting it in the center of the cake (about 20 minutes). Let them cool completely, and remove from the ramekins.

 

Orange-Mascarpone Frosting

2 ounces mascarpone cheese

2 ounces (1/4 cup) powdered sugar

½ teaspoon orange extract

6 slices of canned peaches, sliced in half lengthwise

Beat the mascarpone, powdered sugar and orange extract together until creamy, about 2 minutes. 

Split the frosting between the 4 cakes, and spread. Top with the sliced peaches.