Citrus Cake with Cranberry Compote
This cake was inspired by the “Bitter Orange Cake” in Paul Bertolli’s brilliant Cooking by Hand. The moment I saw that it called for whole oranges (bloods), skin and all, it was over. I’m a fool for citrus, and much of its flavor - its oil - resides in its skin. I add it in wide peels to meat braises, stewed vegetables and poached fruit; shave it thinly into vinaigrettes, panna cotta and anglaise; chop it roughly for pestos and salsas. In this case, the whole citrus adds moist, bitter chewiness. It is, needless to say, sublime.
I have experimented with all kinds of citrus in the cake: tangerines, grapefruit, Meyer lemons. I’ve even mixed the fruit up for lovely results. I also like citrus with spice, so I add cinnamon, cloves and/or nutmeg. And the amount of sugar I use varies. Some fruit is more bitter/astringent than others, so Meyer lemon or grapefruit will probably take more, while sweet tangerines will require less. I also like different nuts with different fruit: lemon & almonds, grapefruit & hazelnuts, oranges & walnuts or pecans. I also add cranberries to the compote.
Cooking by Hand - which came out in 2003 - is still one of the most original food books I know. Bertolli cites Pablo Neruda and Thom Gunn, for goodness sake. It's not packed with recipes; doesn't have endless glossy full-page photo inserts (but little sumptuous muted black & white snaps instead); is as much about Bertolli's lucid writing as it is anything else. Twenty-four pages on the lovely tomato alone (!), with a "Conserva" recipe that will ruin you forever for store bought tomato paste. And his sections on pasta and charcuterie are little master classes themselves.
I included my altered recipe when I posted yesterday, and while I do feel that I have made the cake my own, I woke up this morning thinking the frame/idea/spark of the thing is ultimately Bertolli's, and I don't want to infringe on his copyright. So crack the book if you have it, buy the book if you don't, or stop by the Garden for some uber-tweaked variations. Meyer lemon-almond's on tonight...
1 comment:
Happy New Year! I think you racked up a year's worth of good juju by sharing this recipe. Love your blog, tweets and restaurant. Grazie mille!
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