Cooking web notes

A New Laptop, A Healthier Me and Cornmeal Cake with Macerated Berries for You!

What a week last week was!

I bought a new laptop last Wednesday ~ turned it over to Bubbathat evening ~ he had it up and running and returned to me by Friday morning onhis way to work.  In the meantime, Ideveloped a very nasty little cough which seemed to clear up a little when Billcame down with the sweats and pneumonia out of the blue.  That left me with a good case ofbronchitis.  So, even though I had thelaptop working great, cooking and blogging were the last things on mymind.  But, I’m happy to say Bill isdoing fine now and I’m just about cured!

Our first computer - 1983 Bubba 14 years old teaching Matt 8 years old

Bubba told me to look atHP computers as well as Toshiba and Lenovo. There were many good ones but I fell for this HP Pavilion DV6000 seriesin brushed umber.  It feels sturdy withthese specifications:   6GB memory and 640GB hard drive, a 15.6”screen with high definition display.  Itcame with Windows 7, Blu-ray support, Simple Pass fingerprint reader, and anisland-style (Chiclet) keyboard (awesome!) and number pad.  So far, with many thanks to Bubba for settingit up, it’s great ~ I love it!

A week ago before the oldlaptop died, I was going to give you a mouthwatering dessert recipe in time forLabor Day weekend.  This recipe was inour local newspaper a while back and made me curious:

I like texture in food ~you know, the feeling food has in your mouth. I’m not much for mashed or creamed food with that soft mushy, slushyfeeling; except for ice cream and even that I like with bits of fruit or nuts.  I’m not big on mashed potatoes and forget pudding,smoothies and custard.  So I had afeeling I’d like this cake because of the gritty texture of cornmeal.  And I did, it was a hit!

Cornmeal cake has abuttery, very appealing lightly gritty texture and that’s not all it’sabout.  It includes a couple of teaspoonsof finely grated orange rind that adds a tangy citrus taste to the cornmeal.  The recipe calls for strawberries, blueberriesor raspberries; however, our farmer’s market had luscious blackberries so Iused them for the sauce along with some Blackberry Brandy for depth. 

 It’s not a heavy hearty cake at all ~ it’s aperfect light, moist cake that is delicious when macerated blackberries are drizzledover a slice.  It’s truly inviting and heavenly! 

Here’s the recipe:

Cornmeal Cake withMacerated Berries

American Profile

Adapted

Cake:

1 cup flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter (1 stick), at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
½ cup 2 percent reduced-fat milk

Berries:

1 cup blackberries

¼ cup sugar, or to taste (I used a tablespoon of it)

2 tablespoons Blackberry Brandy

½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Combine butter, sugar, orange rind and vanilla in a large bowl;beat with a mixer at medium speed until evenly blended.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and cornmealalternately with milk, beating just until evenly incorporated.

Scrape into prepared pan, spreading evenly.

Bake 30 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comesout clean.

Cool in pan on wire rack.

To prepare berries:

Mash berries in a large bowl.

Add sugar, juice and brandy and mix gently.

Serve drizzled over cake.

We really enjoyed this and I will be making it again!  YUM!!!

And thanks again Bubba!  You’rethe best!!!

Be sure tovisit my friend, Linda’s blog @My Kind of Cooking for great tips, recipes.  

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 9:25 AM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.