Social Kitchen

There are several things that you will always find in my kitchen.  Milk, of course, sugars of all kind, lemons, cereal (this is actually my downfall, I’m trying to cut back), vanilla bean paste, coconut extract – you know, the basics.  But strangely enough, the one thing I will never consistently have in my kitchen is bread.

This is actually a problem, because there are many times when I just want some cinnamon sugar toast.  Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  You know, some solid carbs!  But I can never seem to finish a loaf a bread when I do get it, so I always think that I don’t actually need to get it.

Until that one day when all I wanted to eat was some bread.  I wanted a thick slice of a white country bread, lightly toasted and smothered with sweet butter.  Remember my finals?  These cravings happen.  And I had no choice but to make it.  So I did, and will forever have a loaf of this in my kitchen from now on.

Sally Lunn Bread with Cinnamon Vanilla Butter (bread adapted from Smitten Kitchen, butter adapted from Pioneer Woman)

I don’t know who Sally Lunn is but I believe her to be a genius.  She makes one heck of a bread.  Sweet and cakey and just perfect.  I want to be her friend.

2 cups bread flour flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
1 1/8 teaspoon or 1/2 packet active dry or rapid rise yeast
3/4 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

In a large bowl, mix 3/4 cup flour, sugar, salt and dry yeast by hand or with an electric mixer.

In a small pot, heat the milk and butter together until the mixture is warm.  The butter may not have melted all the way and that’s fine.  Gradually pour the warm ingredients into the dry mixture and mix with an electric mixer for 2 minutes or stir vigorously by hand with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes. Add the egg, yolk and another 1/2 cup flour and beat again for 2 minutes by machine or 3 by hand. Add the last of the flour and beat or stir until smooth.  Turn out to a floured surface, and continue to knead by hand until the dough has formed a smooth ball.

Scrape down bowl and cover the top with plastic wrap. Let rise for one hour or until doubled. Meanwhile, butter and flour a regular loaf pan. Once the dough has doubled, scrape it into the prepared pan with a rubber spatula. Cover with buttered plastic wrap and let rise for a total of 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the plastic, let it continue to rise, and preheat your oven to 375°F.

Bake for 40 minutes or until a  tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out to a rack, upside down, to cool.

Cinnamon Vanilla Butter

1 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix and incorporate everything together until well blended.  Leave at room temperature so spreading on the bread will be easier.

It’s finals season.  I am spending my days studying and not sleeping and snacking constantly and…studying.  So now I’m bored of all of these subjects, sporting dark circles under my eyes, and a tad bit more chubs than I was two weeks ago.  It’s a joyous time, really!

Have you ever noticed that it’s only when you’re studying that you completely justify eating horribly?!  (“Oh, but that was meant to be eaten with cream cheese on top.”  ”Having a handful of chocolate chips after every meal is good for the heart!  Especially if it’s dark chocolate.”  ”Did you know that Nutella is made with hazelnuts?!  Protein!”).  I had decided two weeks ago, though, that this semester I wouldn’t go to my usuals when I need that energy boost.  Nope, I thought of something better.  I decided that I would go to the best natural energy source – bananas! – and then incorporate the Nutella and the chocolate chips!  Natural sugars!  With only a modicum of the refined stuff!  Brilliant.

What’s more brilliant is how to actually make this study friendly treat.  Who knew that frozen bananas whizzed up in a blender would turn into the consistency of extremely satisfying, deceivingly indulgent, soft serve ice cream?!  I wonder about the science of that.  But I won’t find out!  Not quite yet, anyway.  I’ll just devour it while learning other, not as interesting things.  Yay.

Magic Banana Ice Cream (adapted from The Kitchn)

Yes.  I made this with Nutella, and I’ve thrown in a couple chocolate chips.  You can even make it plain and it’s pretty darn satisfying.  But my favorite combo is below.  But hey, click on that link above!  There are many variations to this that will please you, I’m sure.  Also, one more note: who likes banana flavored things?  Not me, I definitely don’t.  But this isn’t banana flavored, people, because they are actually bananas!  It’s just creamy banana goodness.  Yum.

Okay, last thing, promise.  You may recall that I had another ice cream that was quite magical.  My freezer is full of mystical frozen treats!  Okay, okay, I’ll stop stalling now – back to studying…

3-4 very ripe bananas, peeled, cut into 1 inch pieces, and frozen overnight

3 tbsp. natural peanut butter

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. agave nectar, or honey

a sprinkle of cinnamon

4-5 graham crackers, broken into larger pieces

Blend the bananas in a food processor or blender until the consistency of soft serve ice cream.  You won’t believe that it will happen.  You will keep looking at it wondering why you have frozen banana crumbs.  Have faith.  Keep blending it, mixing it with a spatula, if needed.  When you really, truly feel like you can’t go on, add the peanut butter, agave, salt and cinnamon.  Blend again, and you will be happy you added some liquids.  And you will have faith again.  And then, without you even knowing it, you realize that it’s exactly the consistency you want it to be.  But wait!  You’re not done!  Throw in those graham crackers and blend until they’re the size you want them to be.  Now, my friend, you are done.  Eat it immediately, or pour it into a container and stick it in the freezer for a stash.  You’ll be happy that you have that in your 9th hour of studying.

There’s an uncanny similarity between rhubarb and apricots.  First, they both have an incredibly short season.  They are both really sour but then bake into this glorious, honey-like, silky goodness.  And lastly, I had absolutely no idea how to use either one before making them into crisps.

It’s a bit exciting, isn’t it?  To discover completely new fruits and vegetables as you grow older.  Come on, don’t judge. I knew that rhubarb existed before this.  I had made rhubarb strawberry things every spring.  But on it’s own?  Never thought about it.  Mostly because  I was too nervous (read: foolish) to find out what it was.  But rhubarb is just so delightful!  It need not be masked with the sweetness of strawberries.  It shines so marvelously on its own with a tang that’s not citrusy, and not like, you know, yogurty, but a tang all its own that is just barely mellowed with the sugar it marinates in.

And then I added ginger.  Not because the rhubarb needed anything for supplement, but because I just felt like it, and thought that an extra spiciness would work well.  And boy did it work.

This was all sorts of delicious.  It was so balanced with the sweet, tart and spicy.  The baked rhubarb had this jammy quality that contrasted so perfectly with the crunchy topping.  I’m a convert.  On to the next produce discovery!

Rhubarb Ginger Crisp

For Filling:

Well, this is it.  Coconut macaroons.  Let’s talk about this for a minute.  Even though white chocolate cheesecake was the first recipe I had ever tried on my own, and adding chocolate chips to a cake mix was the first time I had ever been “inventive,” (no, really), coconut macaroons was the first recipe I had ever really experimented with.  I tried them with egg whites, condensed milk, egg whites and condensed milk, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, sweetened and unsweetened coconut, with and without chocolate chips, coconut milk, regular milk.  I mean, I really spent some quality time with these little soft cookie-confectionary items.

And then finally, eventually, I came up with a recipe that I really, truly loved.  It’s saved on my computer as “top secret coconut macaroon recipe.”  It’s one of those recipes that I was positive that I would include in my future baking career’s repertoire.  It is just the right amount of involved that you felt like you accomplished something, but easy enough that you  never feel defeated.  It was, in my eyes, the perfect coconut macaroon.  I was done.  Move on to the next recipe!

I think we all know that this isn’t that recipe.  Because, people, this one that I’m posting here is better.  This is what I both love and hate about the art of cooking.  You are never really done.  You can never really check any recipe off of any master list.  Recipes are always evolving, well, my work was a waste and I’m sad.  Sigh.  It’s a mix of emotions, really.

But this recipe is nothing short of genius.  It uses pastry cream (!!) as the binder.  Which is exactly what makes them perfectly soft and chewy on the inside with crispy, toasty coconut on the outside.  It really is art.  Good work, recipe.

Coconut Macaroons (slightly adapted from Flour)

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• pinch of salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 2 (14 oz) bags of sweetened shredded coconut
• 6 egg whites
• 1 cup (200 grams) sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt

1. Make the pastry cream: Pour the milk into a small saucepan, and scald it over medium-high heat until you see bubbles forming around the edge of the pan.  Be sure that the milk does not boil.
2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt.  In another small bowl, whisk together egg yolks until smooth and then slowly add to the flour mixture, and whisk until well incorporated.
3. Remove the milk from the heat, and very slowly drizzle it to the egg-flour mixture, a little at a time, whisking constantly.
4. When all of the milk has been added, pour the mixture back into the saucepan, and place over medium-low heat. Whisk continuously and vigorously for  about 1 minute, or until the mixture thickens.  It will happen very suddenly, so keep an eye on it.
5. Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla.
6. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap, placing it directly on the surface of the pastry cream, and let it cool completely.
7. Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. In a (very) large bowl, combine the coconut, egg whites, sugar, salt, and pastry cream. Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.  If you feel like it it, toss in 1 to 1 1/2 cups of mini chocolate chips!  And then stir until well combined.
9. Using a 1 tablespoon measure, scoop the dough in rounded mounds onto your prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown all over. Let them cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.

I know far too many people who can eat jam and jelly right out of the jar.  You may be one of them.  I simultaneously find this to be both endearing and slightly off-putting.  How can you eat straight-up mildly fruit flavored sugar without any carby buffer?!  Even really well-made jams, with good, fresh fruit, and not resembling a sugar bomb is meant to be lightly spread on some toast before consumed.  Seriously people.  That’s how it’s supposed to be eaten.

Here is when I tell you, though, that my one exception is lemon curd.  I always wondered about this anomaly when I would secretly sit in my room with a jar of it.  Why is this spread so unlike any other of it’s jammy counterparts?

Well, I finally made it, and only then I found out.  It’s because lemon curd is not jam at all!  It’s not even curd!  It’s pudding, people!  All these years, we have been spreading pudding on our toasts and crackers.  Which is so so brilliant and makes me want to turn all fruit into pudding-like curd spreads!  It’s cooked with butter and eggs and slowly thickened to a pudding like consistency.  We have been eating lemon custard!  This revelation is mind-boggling!

All I can tell you is that you should go ahead and grab a spoon.  Forget jarring this stuff.  It’s meant to be eaten out of a bowl, with maybe some whipped cream on top.  Because why not.

Lemon Curd

6 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature

scant 1 cup sugar

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice, from about 5 lemons

3 tsp. lemon zest, divided

3 eggs

With a mixer, beat together the butter sugar, and 1.5 tsp. lemon zest for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.  With the mixer running on low speed, slowly mix in the eggs and lemon juice.  The mixture will curdle.  You will be sad.  But then you will remember that the name of this “spread” is called lemon curd, and then hopefully you will perk up again.

Transfer everything to a medium size pot, and over low heat, stir everything constantly until it comes together into one uniform looking liquid.  Turn the heat just a smidgen up.  Really, not too much at all, and continue to stir constantly, making sure you scrape the bottom of the pot.  The mixture will thicken, coating the back of the spoon, and as soon as it does, take it off the heat.  This step me about 6 minutes, so keep an eye on it.  Immediately strain the lemon curd to remove any lumps or egg that has cooked.  Stir in the remaining lemon zest.  Pour into whatever you want to pour it into, and cover with plastic wrap directly on top of the curd so it doesn’t form a skin (like when making pudding, people!), and chill in the fridge.

I have always been so impressed with those people who eat an apple for dessert.  How do they do that?!  Do you think they’re satisfied?  I wonder what unbaked apples that are not in a buttery pie crust with a brown sugary, cinnamon syrup enveloping them taste like.  You know, I may try doing this whole apple dessert thing when I (eventually) grow up, but for now, I need a real, honest sweet just about every day.

But it’s a challenge trying to compete with yourself with a recipe every week.  Sometimes you just don’t feel like one-upping your previous highest level of cooking skills with sticky buns or macarons.  Instead all you really want is a cereal treat, or some chocolate!

I wanted chocolate.  Really, that’s all I wanted.  Just some good quality, gooey, always-there-for-you, little globs of chocolate.  And this is what transpired.  Salted caramel and chocolate truffles!  A two for one deal!

It may seem like the kind of chocolate you make when you’re having an internal competition with yourself.  But it’s not!  I mean, it turned out to be quite impressive, but it wasn’t meant to be like that.  These delicious balls of goodness are the simplest chocolates to make, and are so extremely satisfying that they put any fancy dessert to shame.  They are especially delightful alongside an apple.

Salted Caramel Truffles (recipe from Serious Eats)

• 18 ounces bittersweet chocolate (62% to 72% cacao content), finely chopped, or dark chocolate chips, divided
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup (5 ounces) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extra
• 2 1/2 teaspoons fleur de sel or other fine-grained sea salt, divided
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Place 8 ounces of the chopped chocolate in a 2-quart bowl and set aside.

Cut the butter into small pieces and place it in a medium-sized pot with the sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar and butter have melt. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook until the mixture turns amber colored, about 5-7 minutes. Keep an eye on it, and constantly stir, because this has the potential of burning quickly.

Simultaneously, bring the cream to a boil in a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Stir the cream into the butter mixture until completely smooth. Be careful because the cream will bubble and may spatter when added.

Remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the vanilla and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt until thoroughly blended. Immediately pour the caramel over the chocolate in the bowl. Let it stand for 15 to 30 seconds, then stir together until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature. Chill until thick, about 1 hour.  At this point, you can just grab a spoon and have at the mixture.  But if you want fancier, portion-controlled chocolate pieces, keep on going:

Line 2 baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper. Use a 1-inch round ice cream scoop, or a tablespoon measure, to scoop out the truffles and place them on a baking sheet. Chill uncovered for 20 minutes.  At this point, you can just eat these portion balls o’ goodness, but if you want them to be actual truffles, rather than just ganache, keep on going:

Dust your hands with cocoa powder and roll the truffles into balls.  At this point, you can just pop them in your mouth and call it a day.  But if you want extra chocolate lusciousness, keep on going:

Melt 7 ounces of chocolate in the top of a double boiler over low heat, stirring frequently. Or melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl on low power for 30-second bursts. Stir after each burst to to make sure that the chocolate is melting evenly.

Remove the top pan of the double boiler, if using, and wipe it dry. Add the remaining 3 ounces of chocolate in 3 stages, stirring until it’s completely melted. This tempers the chocolate so it won’t have any streaks, and so the chocolate won’t melt when kept at room temperature.

Place a truffle into the melted chocolate and coat completely. With a fork, scoop the truffle out, and let the excess chocolate drip off, then place the truffle on the clean lined baking sheet.

After dipping 5 truffles at a time, sprinkle a few grains of the remaining salt on top of each. Let the truffles set at room temperature.

Just like that, spring is approaching!  Which means nice weather, and sunglasses, and putting away my puffer coat!  And can also mean (if your life is this fabulous) berry pies, outdoor cheese and wine outings, and ice creams!

So before it is fully underway, let’s take a moment to cleanse with this (delicious! and refreshing!) green juice.  It has so many fruits and vegetables that it, too, is a practically a spring harvest in a glass!  What better way to bring on the new season.

Green Juice (adapted from here)

You’ll need a juicer to make this.  Which I, actually, do not have.  This lovely glass of juice was courtesy of my mom’s fabulous kitchen.  But you can, as I have, blend all of these things (except the celery) in a heavy duty blender. There is just more prep work involved.  You will have to peel the apples, and dice them small, and cut the leaves off the kale stalks.  And you’ll have to juice the lemons into the blends first to give the leafy vegetables something to work with.  And at the end, you’ll have to strain the whole thing to catch anything that did not liquify completely.  But still completely yum!

5-10 Romaine lettuce leaves
10 celery stalks
1 English cumber
6-10 Kale leaves
4 Granny Smith apples
2 large handfulls of baby spinach
juice of 2 lemons

Juice everything in a juicer except for lemon.  Squeeze lemons into juice.  Stir and store in refrigerator to chill.  Stir before drinking.

Makes 4 very large, very healthy, salad-in-a-drink glasses.  Or 5 normal sized, normally healthy glasses.

I have always admired pop tarts from afar.  They were always situated in my school’s vending machine, but I would never have enough cash and always have enough guilt to never make that purchase.  But they were always on my mind.  I would watch classmates eat them wondering if they really did taste better untoasted; why anyone would ever pick the unfrosted variety over the frosted; and most of all just wondering what these cookie and jam concoctions that called themselves “breakfast” really were!?

And then one day, I put aside the guilt, raided my little piggy bank and tried one.  And it all just came together.  I discovered that toasted is better…as is frosted (obviously).  But more than that, pop tarts are breakfast’s answer to pie!  (Why else would they call themselves a tart?!) And after already having acceptable pie for an afternoon or evening savory meal, better known as quiche, there was a gap in the breakfast market.  Yes, my 7th grade self put all of this together.  It was brilliant (both me and the pop tarts).

But  as much as they want to be, they aren’t really pie, are they?  They are stiffer and hand-held, and anything but flaky.  So what better way to celebrate Pi Day (!), the best holiday of the month, than to make pop tarts how they were always meant to be.  A homemade buttery version that still retains the crispness, jam and frosting of the original.  No toasting necessary!  Make the glaze green and you got the next March holiday covered too!  A versatile treat, if you ask me.

Homemade Pop Tarts (adapted from Brave Tart)

I always thought that I was one of those people who tries to put a twist on recipes to make them as healthy as possible.  Can I use applesauce instead of butter?  Bring it on!  Will this recipe taste the same if I make it eggless?  Why not?!  Can we avoid the sugar altogether?  Let’s give it a try!

This is exactly what attracted me to this recipe.  I wanted to make something healthy because, you know, it’s been one of those years…I mean, months…and this was the perfect wholesome recipe I was searching for.  I mean, people, I had started making my morning oatmeal with water instead of milk, and a sprinkle of ground flaxseed instead of a tablespoon of peanut butter.  It was necessary to find a tastier breakfast treat.  But it still had whole grains, and unrefined sugars and was basically tugging at my inner healthy girl’s heartstrings.  A perfect storm of a recipe, if you will.

Turns out that the watered down oatmeal left something to be desired.  The entire time I was making this virtuous recipe, I kept thinking, “why is there only a total of 1/4 cup of honey in this entire recipe?!”  And that, my friends, was the beginning of the end.  I looked at the rest of the recipe and decided that butter would be more delicious than tasteless oil, white flour would make this recipe lighter than its whole wheat counterpart, and heck, let’s just double the sugar.

What resulted was a most delicious muffin with the most healthy sounding name.  It made me believe that I was eating healthy!  I hope it does the same for you.

Granola Muffins (recipe adapted from New York Times)

Don’t worry – if you would like to be better than me, I have put the actual recipe below, with my “adjustments” in parentheses.  You can be good.  You can be half good!  You have options is what I’m saying.

1 cup granola (I whipped up a half batch of this recipe)

1/2 cup low-fat milk

1 cup whole wheat flour (I substituted with the same amount of all purpose flour)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 large or extra large eggs (you could do flax seed eggs if you felt like it)

1/4 cup mild honey, such as clover (I substituted with half cup brown sugar)

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/4 cup canola oil (I substituted with 1/4 cup melted butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Turbinado sugar, to sprinkle on top

Extra granola, to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF with a rack in the middle. Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Combine the granola and milk in a bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.

2. Sift together whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In medium bowl, beat together the eggs, honey, buttermilk or yogurt, canola oil and vanilla. Quickly whisk in the flour, then fold in the granola and raisins. Combine well

4. Spoon into muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Sprinkle each muffin with extra granola and turbinado sugar.  Bake 23 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then unmold and cool on a wire rack.  These muffins freeze really well.

When I was young, my dad was always in charge of weekend breakfasts.  He never really cooked anything – just added his own little touches to store-bought specialties that we never ate on weekday (mom-made) breakfasts.  Mini chocolate-chocolate-chip  muffins with more chocolate chips melted on top!  Canned biscuits baked with an extra pad of butter!  I see now that he may have let us indulge a bit.  But without fail, every weekend morning, we would have a tall glass of orange juice waiting for us.  My dad’s twist?  He would always mix in a little salt, a little sugar, and a touch of black pepper.

It was actually incredibly tasty!  It was this sweet and tangy and savory drink, with a spicy kick.  Which we all loved.  Because we are Indian, after all.  No matter what he found as his inspiration at the grocery store, the glass of OJ always made the cut for our weekend breakfasts.

These days, the only citrus I get from my parents is a box of sweet, honeybell oranges every February.  When I do remind my dad about the things he used to make when we were younger, he gets a little pouty saying that those days are long gone, and we are too old and grown-up now.  He also reminds me that I can now very well mix my own spices.  What?!  As you may have guessed, this doesn’t sit well with me.  I want my juice, goshdarnit!  And I want my dad to make it for me!!

I think that the fair conclusion is that my dad has overestimated my maturity.  But still, this cake is in honor of the juice I used to have.  And maybe a little nudge to my dad’s nostalgic side to make it again for me when I come home next.  Maybe?

Orange Black Pepper Pound Cake (recipe adapted from Martha Stewart)

A couple things: the original recipe called for no black pepper, of course, but instead, a dark chocolate glaze on top.  I obviously love the orange chocolate combo and highly recommend it.  But this orange black pepper combo is quite nice and tasty.  And because it’s an olive oil cake, I think the black pepper adds a very lovely depth that you can’t get with the chocolate.  Also, I made this with a blood orange olive oil that was gifted to me, and it worked beautifully.  But the orange flavor is very pronounced even without the flavored olive oil – just make sure it is a good quality.  Lastly, I forgot to add the baking powder.  It didn’t even slip my mind – I kept thinking that it was so strange that this recipe didn’t call for baking powder.  And then continued to overlook it in the recipe.  But hey!  It didn’t really make a difference!  I would encourage you adding it, though.

For the cake:

• two oranges, zested
• 1 cup, sugar
• juice of two oranges – about 3/4 cup juice
• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp. coarse black pepper

• juice of 1 orange – 1/2 cup
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. coarse black pepper

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 – Grease a standard size loaf pan.
2. With a fork, mash the zest into the sugar until fragrant.
3. Add the yogurt, juice, and olive oil.  Whisk to combine.
4. Add the eggs, one at a a time, and the oil and whisk again until everything is combined.
5. Fold in the dry ingredients until the mixture is smooth.
6. Pour into the load tin and bake for an hour, or until golden brown on top, and cake springs back to the touch.
7. While the cake is baking, mix together the juice, sugar, salt and black pepper for the glaze. Set aside until needed.
8. When the cake is ready, take it out the oven but leave it in the pan. Let it cool slightly, about 10 mintues.  Make a few holes in the cake with a fork and pour over the glaze.  It will look like it’s not soaking in, but it will as it cools.
9. Let the cake cool completely before slicing.