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Tonight I baked this cake. The 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 pan was a tad small but the 9x5 would have been too large. It rose a bit quickly around the edges, even a bit over the pan, before the middle caught up with it. The bread has a slight dome--no collapsed center--but it does have a bit of a "line" in the center. If I bake it again, I will measure my pans and see if I have one that is just a bit larger.
I used the 1 tsp of baking powder and 1/8 tsp of baking soda, as Kid Pizza suggested in option 2. I used Baker's (extra fine) sugar, educing the amount by 1 oz. as recommended, and used my microplane grater to make the orange zest rather than using the food processor. (Unlike the MS Living Kitchens, I do not have sous chefs to clean extra dishes.) I also added 1/4 tsp orange extract, as I do not plan to ice it.
The baking time specified was 1 hour 15 minutes, but it was done at 1 hour, 5 min. If I bake it again, I will check after an hour. It does brown quickly on top, so I had foil over it for the final 5 minutes. The recipe said to let it rest in the pan for 30 minutes. I took it out after 20, and that seems fine.
We will cut it and taste it tomorrow, and I will add to this reply our thoughts on the taste and texture.
Update: The cake has perfect texture. It is not dry, and it does not need the frosting. It has a kind of melt in the mouth taste. As my husband said, "It's easy to eat too much of this cake, it is just so good. It is perfect without frosting. Thanks to Cass for perfecting the recipe!
While I never joined Randy's blog, I like to go there and read. I copied off his cinnamon rolls recipe to try.
Sarah, you are highlighting an important point about community: Relationships have to be worked at in order to be maintained and to grow. They don't just happen. I think that the work that Mike is doing, and that all of us are doing by posting old threads and the treasure trove of recipes, will bring some people back. If someone googles a screen name or recipe name, this site will begin to come up, and they will discover that it is even better than what we had at the Baking Circle. It takes a leap of faith, having lost one community, to join another. As a Navy brat, I'm more used to it than others may be.
Some people also may be taking a break, and that happened on the Baking Circle as well. Ron was there before I was, but he left before I joined, and only came back in the past six months or so. I really miss his puns! Also, some people see a baking site as "temptation" to bake, eat. and gain weight. We had even some long-time BCs comment that that was why they stayed away from KAF.
I miss a lot of people who are not here. I do hope that they will find us again. I'm also looking forward to welcoming new people.
I do not get to do many vinaigrettes, as my husband does not do well with acidic foods. When I saw this topic, I remembered a recipe for Pasta con il Pollo e il Rosmarino--Pasta with Rosemary Chicken that appears in Nick Stellino's Glorious Italian Cooking: Romantic Meals, Menus and Music from Cucina Amore (Putnam, 1999), pp. 78-79. I made it for him once, but he said it did not go well with his digestion. Sigh.
In this recipe, boneless chicken breasts are marinated overnight in the refrigerator in 4 Tbs. olive oil, 3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt, and 2 Tbs. chopped rosemary. The next day, the chicken is roasted, then cut into pieces and served with pasta in a light cream sauce. It is delicious, and I miss being able to do this kind of cooking. It would be a more interesting post in the "What Did You Cook?" thread than what I have been posting.
I used to watch Nick Stellino's show, Cucina Amore, on PBS. Then, suddenly, he was gone, and a not very charismatic host narrated dishes by the "chefs" of Cucina Amore. I googled him, and he is still cooking and has a PBS show. I must not be in an area where it is shown.
