Mi2Sweets – In between a cake and a cobbler

01/03: In between a cake and a cobbler

Being my own boss these days has afforded me a considerable degree of creative freedom. I make desserts that I want to make (most of the time). I experiment with whatever tickles my fancy–a chocolate and bacon crunch bar for example. But there are times when I kinda miss the pressure-cooker environment of a restaurant kitchen and the way it kept me on my toes. I think I was the most prolific when I was working under an executive chef (the big bald Swedish dude to be exact) who was constantly challenging me to do more, to come with new desserts.

Really, how many different ways can I do a fruit crisp or cobbler? Upside down cake? Pie? Tart? I needed to come up with something completely new–at least to me. I found it, I believe, in an old Fanny Farmer’s cookbook. The buckle–halfway between a cake and a cobbler. It was pretty easy to put together–really just fruit and batter. My first attempt, following the recipe, was underwhelming. Cake was a little dense and dry, surprising considering the amount of fruit baked in. The texture didn’t do anything for me. Nevertheless, there was potential there, and after a few adjustments and additions (e.g. a topping), I came up with a recipe for fruit buckle that was, by all accounts pretty damn good–especially served warm with a scoop of vanilla gelato. The great thing about it is that you can pretty much use whatever ripe summer you have…then switch to sauteed apples or pears in the fall.

Posted January 3rd, 2009

Comments
One Response to “In between a cake and a cobbler”

Carissa says:

July 9, 2009 at 8:38 pm

I agree 100% about the autonomy. It’s great, but pushing yourself can be a challenge. I tend to go through art culinaire and epicurious.com and come up with lists of techniquest or recipes that I’m interested in trying (or have always wanted to try… old fashioned sponge candy. I then come up with a big list and then during the slow times experiment. Right now is one of those slow time for me!

Saw your write up in the Chron… very nice! Enjoying the blog… keep it up!