indian-spiced sesame butter cake

Any time a friend's birthday rolls around, I offer to bake a cake. I like making things for people I love, but I'm also always looking for an excuse to bake--so it's a win-win situation!

Most people request the basics--funfetti, chocolate, the occasional red velvet--and I'm happy to make those. It's a special treat, though, when someone asks for something a little bit different. I get to experiment, try something new, and use ingredients other than sugar, butter, and chocolate. My friend Marriah's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, but she left this morning for the summer. We were trying out my new grill last night anyway (thanks, Emily and Jon!), so I offered to bake her a small birthday/bon voyage cake for dessert. What kind did she want? I quote from her texted response: "almost savory, or middle eastern spices, or anything with strawberries...that's all over the map, i trust whatever strikes your fancy!"

Ah, freedom!

I took her at her word and made a variation on a cake I'd been meaning to try for some time: a peanut butter cake with garam masala. I made it a touch more exotic by switching out the peanut butter for tahini. The resulting cake had a nutty, warmly spiced flavor and tasted like no other cake I can remember having. I served it with this newly popular one-ingredient banana ice cream, drizzled with honey and topped with sesame seeds. Next time I'll go with vanilla ice cream instead, as the banana overwhelmed the cake's delicate sesame flavor. I loved the cake by itself, too, and think it would make a great coffee cake as it's not too sweet. This venture made me want to try some new unusual combinations, so if your birthday's coming up soon and you want a chocolate avocado cake or an elderflower lemon cake, you know who to call! (And to be honest, I also love a good fun-fetti cake as much as the next person.)

Note: I divided the original recipe by three because only a few people were coming over. If you'd like to make a bigger cake, just use the original recipe (link below).

indian-spiced sesame butter cake 
adapted from The Luna Cafe
makes one 8-inch layer or 8 cupcakes

ingredients:
3/4 c flour (3 oz.)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala (optional)
4 tbsp butter (1/2 stick), at room temp
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c tahini (or peanut butter, if you're fresh out of tahini)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/4 c buttermilk or milk
Optional accompaniments: honey, toasted sesame seeds, ice cream

instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch cake pan or line a muffin tin with 8 cupcake liners.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and garam masala. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar using a mixer at medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. Add tahini, vanilla, and egg, and continue mixing until you have a uniform mixture. Blend in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk. Do not overmix, as this will make the cake tough rather than tender.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan or muffin tin and top with a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If you'd like, top with a scoop of ice cream, a drizzle of honey, and a few toasted sesame seeds.

the holy grail of southern food

Fried chicken. What tastes more like the South? Okay, so sweet tea, biscuits, collards, peaches, boiled peanuts, and cornbread could all give it a run for its money, but when I think of Sunday dinner (served at noon, after church) I think fried chicken. I grew up in a tiny town in South Carolina, and every Sunday my sister and I went out to eat with our grandmother at one of two places: Frye's (a local meat-and-three buffet) or Pizza Hut. They were the only two restaurants open on Sundays, so we had our choice between fried food and stewed vegetables and faux-Italian. Of course, we often chose Pizza Hut (rutabagas didn't hold quite the same appeal as breadsticks), but when we went to Frye's I always got the fried chicken. I don't think it was actually that great, but my memory of it is. And isn't that all that matters?

I made my own fried chicken for the second time (and the first successful time) last week. On my second try I used the Lee Brothers' recipe, and I endorse it fully. It came out perfectly seasoned with a golden crisp crust--everything fried chicken should be. I followed the recipe to a T, and although it's not difficult it IS messy. From what I could tell, brining and oil temperature are key. The first time I fried chicken my oil was too hot, and the breading burned before the meat could finish cooking. If you keep the oil between 325 and 350 degrees, everything will turn out just fine.

almost done!

sunday fried chicken
adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, by Matt Lee and Ted Lee
serves 4

ingredients:
1 qt water
1/3 c salt
about 3 c peanut oil, lard, or sunflower oil (what I used)
1 recipe Lee Bros. All-Purpose Fry Dredge (combine the following):
   1/2 c all-purpose flour
   3 tbsp stone-ground cornmeal
   2 tsp salt
   1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 lbs chicken legs and thighs (about 6 legs and 6 bone-in thighs)

instructions:
At least four hours (up to eight hours) before you begin frying, combine the water and salt in a very large bowl, stirring until salt dissolves. Place trimmed chicken pieces in brine, cover the bowl, and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator two hours before frying to allow chicken to come to room temperature.

When you are ready to make the chicken, place a large cookie sheet lined with a cooling rack (if you have one) or paper towels in the oven and preheat to 250 degrees.

Pour the oil into a large skillet, to a depth of about 1/2 inch. Heat over medium-high until oil reaches 325 degrees on a candy thermometer.

While the oil is heating, place the fry dredge in a medium bowl. Remove each piece of chicken from the brine and dredge it thoroughly, then place chicken on a plate within easy reach of your skillet.

Once your oil is at 325 and your chicken is dredged, start frying! Place enough chicken pieces (skin-side down) in the skillet to cover the bottom. Cover the skillet if you want (this will make it go faster, but I wanted to watch), and cook until the bottom side is golden brown, about 6 minutes. Make sure you monitor the oil temperature and adjust the heat to keep it between 325 and 350 degrees. Turn chicken and fry the other side until it is golden brown as well. Turn again and fry three minutes, and then once more, a final three minutes.

Use tongs to remove the chicken from the skillet and place it on a rack in the oven to keep warm. Follow the same procedure to fry the rest of the chicken.

When all the chicken is done, serve immediately--preferably with cornbread or biscuits and three vegetables, one of which should be macaroni and cheese (my other two were coleslaw and roasted summer squash).

fried chicken leads to happiness.

happy easter.

A poem, care of my mom, since I haven't gotten around to blogging about the wedding cake I made last weekend (yes, a wedding cake!).

Anyway, I just loved this and hope you will, too.

An excerpt from Wendell Berry's "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front":

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.