Cardamom Hazelnut Cakes

 

The quest to make breakfast appealing for John, no kind of morning person, continues.

Expecting non-breakfasters to become lovers of the full English is unrealistic at best. Kind of like expecting people to voluntarily surrender their health care.

The trick to an appealing John breakfast is simple, portable food: a muffin, a piece of fruit. No little bits or pieces that can tumble or create crumbly messes. No frosting.

You might be vaguely recalling a hazelnut cake recipe I put up and wondering whether this is similar. It’s not–I mean, yes, hazelnuts. Apart from that, you’re here, which I appreciate. I won’t bore you with the same old thing.

This recipe–besides having cardamom–is decidedly more cakelike than the hazelnut cakes, asking us to cream butter and sugar in an actual mixer. Granted, both recipes come from Chez Panisse alums, specifically, David Tanis and Claire Ptak. And both recipes began with other kinds of nuts before yours truly took them down the hazelnut path.

Cardamom Hazelnut Cakes comes from Claire Ptak’s Violet Bakery Cookbook, a recently acquired purchase that’s already seen heavy use. Ptak is a classic Chez Panisse chef; instead of long lists of foodstuffs, she gently coaxes flavor from a few quality ingredients. The result is classic cakes, cookies, and wonderful scones.

The is a great book for beginning and/or timid bakers, with explanations of how and why to aerate flour and sugars, how to approach fruits or treacles, and sound reasoning for seasonal baking.

The original recipe calls for walnuts, and I’ve baked it that way. It was perfect. But being me, I had to mess with it. Actually, I messed with it because I love photographing hazelnuts. And even more than photographing hazelnuts, I love to photograph hazelnut shells.

We all have our mishegoss (idiosyncratic craziness). But never for a moment did I think the Affordable Care Act was somehow different from Obamacare. Though confusing the terminology is less mishegoss than ignorance. But getting rid of affordable healthcare? Um, no. Healthcare. It’s a basic necessity. Right up there with food, water, and a roof.

And in case you’re unsure of this basic biological fact, making a baby requires, ah, contributions from men. Which we women cannot produce. But some men have recently declared themselves free of responsibility from the whole babymaking venture, including anything involving birth control, or funding thereof. Guys? It really does take two. In cases of in vitro or surrogacy, it takes even more. But the male contribution is inevitably necessary to get that egg going, know what I’m saying?

I hope you aren’t too shocked.

Returning to the food blog.

Whether you bake Cardamom Hazelnut Cakes with walnuts (which changes their name) or hazelnuts, the recipe calls for crème fraîche, which is far cheaper to make than buy. Before you freak out (you may be already), crème fraîche is easy, easy, easy. Buy excellent buttermilk or yogurt, full fat, plain, full of live cultures. While you’re shopping, buy two cups of heavy cream, again, excellent quality–organic, if possible, not super-duper pasteurized. Pour your cream into a nice clean bowl or jar. Add two tablespoons buttermilk or yogurt to heavy cream. Cover lightly with cheesecloth, a plain fabric napkin, or clean dishtowel. Leave on your counter, 12-24 hours. When the time is up, pour into a clean, lidded jar. Refrigerate up to three weeks.

Now for this you really don’t need a man. Or even a kitchen. Should you happen to have either–or even be a man, well, that’s okay, too.

Ptak calls for buttering the wells of a muffin pan. I’ve had better luck using nonstick spray, a product I’ve previously been unkind to. But after heavily buttering only to have my baked goods stick, I invested my trust in Mollie Katzen and Carolyn Phillips. Both suggest using nonstick food spray in their books, and both know more than I do about pretty much everything. After purchasing Spectrum Organic Canola Spray Oil,  my cooking life got a lot easier.

You’ll need a stand or handheld mixer to make these. You also want your ingredients at room temperature, with your butter nice and soft. Do consider using a European style high-butterfat butter like Kerrygold or Plugra. I am fond of Kerrygold, a delicious butter for a nice price. And no, they aren’t paying me. They don’t know I exist.