Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook Part 22

4 egg whites (the ones you saved)

cup white (granulated) sugar (you'll use cup in all)

sweetened whipped cream to decorate top

shaved chocolate or chocolate curls to decorate top (optional)

sliced or whole berries to decorate top (optional)

Spray an 8-inch Springform pan with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray. (An 8-inch Springform will also work, but a 9-inch is too big.) Line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper (wax paper will also work). Spray the paper with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine b.u.t.ter and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Melt for 1 minute on HIGH, stir, and heat for an additional 20 seconds if necessary. (Some chocolate maintains its shape even when melted. Stir before you microwave for the additional time.) Cover your bowl, or put it back in the microwave, to keep it warm.

In a medium bowl, beat cup of granulated sugar with the egg yolks until they're light yellow in color. Mix in the rum extract. (This is easy with an electric mixer, although you can do it by hand.) Stir a bit of the egg yolk mixture into the melted chocolate to temper it. Then add the chocolate to the egg yolk mixture and stir until it's well blended.

In a large bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Continue beating while sprinkling in the remaining cup granulated sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form (about minute).

Stir just a bit of the egg white mixture into the bowl with the chocolate to temper it. Now add the chocolate to the bowl with the rest of the egg whites and gently fold it in with a rubber spatula. Continue folding until the mixture is a uniform chocolate color.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out dry.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the inside of the rim of the pan, invert the pan on a serving plate, and cool for another 10 minutes. Release the catch on the Springform pan and remove it. DON'T PEEL OFF THE PARCHMENT PAPER UNTIL THE CAKE IS COMPLETELY COOL TO THE TOUCH.

When you're ready to serve, fill in the crater in the center and frost the top of the cake with sweetened whipped cream. If you want it to look fancy, decorate it with chocolate shavings, chocolate curls, and/or a sprinkling of raspberries or strawberries. Slice it and serve it on dessert plates with plenty of excellent coffee.

Hannah's 2nd Note: This is really a type of chocolate souffle and it's delicious!

SCANDINAVIAN ALMOND CAKE.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Before you start to mix up this recipe, grease (or spray with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray) a 4-inch by 8-inch loaf pan. (Mine was Pyrex and I measured the bottom.) Cut a strip of parchment paper (or wax paper if you don't have parchment) 8 inches wide and 16 inches long. Lay it in the pan so that the bottom is covered and the strip sticks out in little "ears" on the long sides of the pan. (This makes for easy removal after your cake is baked.) This will leave the two short sides of the pan uncovered, but that's okay. Press the paper down and then spray it again with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

cup sliced almonds (optional they make your cakes

look pretty)

1 stick ( cup, pound, 4 ounces) salted b.u.t.ter

1 and cups white (granulated) sugar

1 egg (I used an extra large egg)

teaspoon baking powder

1 and teaspoons almond extract

cup cream (you can also use what Grandma Ingrid used

to call "top milk" or what we now call half and half)

1 and cups flour

If you decided to use the sliced almonds, sprinkle them in the very bottom of your paper-lined loaf pan. (This cake is like a pineapple upside down cake the bottom will be the top when you serve it.) Hannah's 1st Note: Now don't let this next step scare you. It's extremely easy, and it will keep your cakes from turning too brown around the edges.

Place the stick of b.u.t.ter in a one-cup Pyrex measuring cup or in a small microwave-safe bowl. Zap it for 40 seconds on HIGH, or until it's melted. (You can also do this in a small saucepan on the stove.) Now pour that melted b.u.t.ter through a fine-mesh strainer, the kind you'd use for tea (or a larger mesh strainer lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth). After the melted b.u.t.ter has dripped through, dump the milk solids that have gathered in the strainer in the garbage (or throw away the cheesecloth, if you've used that method). What you have left is clarified b.u.t.ter.

Set your clarified b.u.t.ter on the counter to cool while you. . .

Mix the white sugar with the egg in a medium-sized bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat them together until they're light and fluffy.

Add the baking powder and the almond extract. Mix well.

Cup your hands around the bowl with the clarified b.u.t.ter. If you can hold it comfortably and it's not so hot that it might cook the egg, add it to your bowl now and mix it in. If it's still too hot, wait until it's cooler and then mix it in.

Hannah's 2nd Note: In the following steps, you're going to add half of the cream and then half of the flour. You don't have to be precise and measure exactly half. Just dump in what you think is approximately half, and it'll be just fine.

Add half of the cream and mix it in.

Add half of the flour and mix it in.

Now add the rest of the cream and mix.

And then add the rest of the flour and mix thoroughly.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan you've prepared, and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake the cake at 350 degrees F., for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the loaf pan sit on a wire rack or a cold burner for 15 minutes. Then loosen the cake from the short sides of the pan (the sides without paper) with a metal spatula or a knife.

Tip the cake out on a pretty platter, and remove the parchment paper. Let it cool, and then dust the top with powdered sugar if you wish.

Hannah's 3rd Note: Mother's friends, Joyce and Nancy, have special half-round loaf pans especially for baking Scandinavian Almond Cake. Joyce's cake bakes for the same length of time as mine does. Nancy's pan has a dark nonstick surface. It's heavier than Joyce's pan, and the dark surface makes it bake faster. Nancy bakes her cake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE SWENSEN.

Serves 12 (or 6 if they ask for second helpings) To make this dessert, you will need: Pound Plus Cake ***, three boxes of ripe strawberries, and a bowl of Hannah's Whipped Creme Fraiche (p.r.o.nounce it "Cremm Fresh" and everybody will think you speak French.) POUND PLUS CAKE.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

1 and cups softened b.u.t.ter (3 sticks, 12 ounces, pound)

2 cups white (granulated) sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream (you can subst.i.tute unflavored yogurt for

a lighter cake)

teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups cake flour (DO NOT SIFT use it right out of the box)