Almond Cake

Now that you've got the Crème Anglaise on hand, you've got the "frosting" for this moist almond cake, with no standard frosting, but sandwiching a layer of blueberry jam. The custard sauce will get poured onto the plates, the slices of cake then set on top. Gorgeous, no? But I have to tell you: you might just want to try this cake on its own. It's one of Bruce's best confections from THE ULTIMATE COOK BOOK. (There are others in that tome. Ah, the Inside Out Black Forest Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting. That's something for a celebration indeed.)

One culinary note before we get started: there's no added fat to this cake, other than the almonds and the egg yolks. Strange, eh? (And you know I'm not opposed to fat!) But the lack of butter or walnut oil or what have you allows the cake to become a very light sponge, still quite moist, but almost Twinkie-like in texture. (I can't BELIEVE I just wrote that.)

So here goes.

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Mixed Berry Pie

Fall raspberries come as a surprise, late in the season. Growing up in Texas, I had no idea that raspberry canes could produce a second batch late in the season, when frosts and freezes begin strafing the pastures. And no matter how long I've lived in colder places (Madison, Wisconsin, and now way northwestern Connecticut), these berries still shock me, perfect and dark on the vine, almost too juicy to pick, concentrated, an outright shock.

Life life, I suppose. Mine got away from me. I've been caught in a writing/editing miasma for the new book, a step-by-step plan to get off all processed food. The manuscript has really kicked my can across the page. Plus, we had house guests for the past week. And then the photo shoot for this very book was the past two days at our house! I went to bed right after dinner last night, dropped a sleeping pill on top of a glass or two of wine, and didn't even turn over in bed until the sun was high this morning.

Over the past two weeks, small things have snuck up on me. Like fall raspberries. Little moments of surprise in this otherwise hectic life. It's the nature of grace in this world: unexpected wonder in everyday things. And food so often fits that bill. Like that cup of terrific tea on an otherwise blah day. Or that cookie from the bakery while you're running errands. Or even raspberries when the world is turning hard and dark.

Fall raspberries have a deeper, more sophisticated flavor than their spring counterparts. "Port wine instead of a rosé"--that's how Bruce puts it. And they make a fantastic pie--even if they are rare enough to need a few other berries in the mix.

We've already covered the basics of a pie crust on this blog, so I'll leave it here in its original post here. Just double the recipe and roll out two circles, one to line the pie plate and one for the top crust.

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Rustic Peach Blueberry Tart

Summer's all about the fruit. (And veggies, but that's another matter entirely.) As I finish up our step-by-step plan to get off all fake, processed food (due, oh, next week to the publisher!), I'm struck by how easy it is this time of year when our market's are bursting with copious abundance. So in the spirit of summer, here's a great tart Bruce came up with on the fly. Watch the twists in the recipe. I think they're really cool.

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Summer Pudding

We were sitting in a small cafe in New York a few years ago, back when we lived in the city, and a friend breezed in, hot from a morning walk, blotting her forehead. She saw us, waved a drippy hand, and said, "Have you made your summer pudding yet?"

There are stranger how-do-you-dos, I suppose. Especially in New York. But this one certainly took us back. We shot each other that look that married couples perfect and said, "Um, no."

Well, I'll give her this: summer pudding has since become a necessity around here, an old-fashioned, unmolded, British dessert that requires minimal effort in the heat but pays off big time when served. Plus, it's made with white bread. The kind that I grew up with. (Or as we used to say in the South, "that I come up on.") Sliced sandwich bread. OK, not the stuff with hydrogenated oil and corn syrup. Blech. Instead, sliced white bread that's heavenly soft without anything fake in the mix.

Here's the way to get a summer pudding done.

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Blueberry Crisp

Blueberries were thick in the markets in England for the past few days--which reminded me how much I love blueberry crisp. It's just one of those things. Vanilla ice cream makes it better--but is not necessary. Whipped cream, too. (I can't believe I just wrote that whipped cream is not necessary. I must be ill.) Anyway, here's a simple recipe for a blueberry crisp.

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