Pineapple Upside Down Cake from The Wright Taste

No, I didn't take this beautiful photo of a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake - all credit for that goes to KimberlyVardeman over at Wikimedia Commons. I honestly can't remember if we ever did take a picture of any of the dozens of these yummy cakes we made.

For the most part, we always said "if it can be baked, we can make it!" Very rarely did I ever tell a customer "no, I can't do it." We did turn down requests for sour dough bread because of the storage issue and I experimented (badly) with pumpernickel bread. So, when a man asked if we could bake a pineapple upside-down cake, of course the answer was "yes."

I started searching through my cookbook collection. A lot of the newer books didn't even have a recipe for this heritage cake. I struck gold with "Blue Ribbon Recipes", published in 1968. When Gramma passed away in 2004, I received her collection of cookbooks and this book was in there. I was a little surprised to see it listed and available on Amazon. If you have an appreciation for heritage recipes, this book is a steal at $8.95. "Blue Ribbon Recipes" is a compilation of county fair prize-winning recipes from throughout the country during the fifties and sixties. Some of the ingredients might make your inner foodie say "eewww" but I've been able to modify successfully.

A pineapple upside-down cake is basically a moist, vanilla-flavored cake baked in an iron skillet that has been layered with melted butter, brown sugar, pineapple rings and maraschino cherries for color. It's a simple cake that comes out of the pan already decorated. One word of warning - don't be tempted to let the cake cool in the pan before turning it onto a plate. The brown-sugar glaze will stay in the pan!

This recipe doubles easily in order to make a 9 x 13 inch sheet cake. The original customer came back the very next week and ordered TWO 9 x 13 cakes. It will be a little less thick than those baked in a skillet, but it will be just as moist. I've also baked the batter strictly as cupcakes or cake layers (double the recipe for a 2-layer cake) and it is the most moist, delicious cake I've ever made. Beats any box ever!

So, Kathy Poe of Placerville, Calif. who won a ribbon at the El Dorado County Fair: if you are still out there, thank you for this recipe.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
6 canned, sliced pineapple rings in natural juice, drained
6 maraschino cherries
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, softened**
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt 1/3 cup of butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium low heat. When melted, remove from heat and sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the butter. Arrange the pineapple slices and cherries over the brown sugar/butter mixture and set the pan aside.

In a medium mixing bowl (or your stand mixer), combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix thoroughly. Add the softened butter, milk and vanilla extract.*** Mix on low speed for 2 minutes or "300 vigorous strokes by hand". Add the egg and mix for 2 more minutes.

Pour the batter over the fruit and bake in the preheated oven 40-50 minutes or until a tester is clean. Immediately invert the cake onto the serving plate. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving (the caramelized sauce will stick to you and burn!)

**Ms. Poe used "soft shortening" rather than butter in her recipe.

***I know that current cake gurus recommend creaming the sugar and fat, then alternately adding the dry and wet ingredients, ending with the dry. I used my stand mixer but figured if Ms. Poe could win a ribbon with this recipe, I should probably follow her method.

Salt-Free Cajun Seasoning Made at Home

I fell in love with Cajun and Creole flavors during a long-term work assignment in Louisiana. This Midwest girl learned that Cajun didn't have to mean "light my face on fire" heat or that everything was blackened. Harry spent some time with a bayou family when I was about 6 or 7 years old - I'm sure it had nothing to do with the hottie in the short-shorts. I'd love to meet her - she and her family taught him about so many wonderful foods and she even gave him some recipes that we use today.

I made a trip to a few grocery stores just before my work assignment ended, stocking up on seasonings, crawfish and Community Coffee. Those items are long gone and I had to learn to make the seasonings myself. I don't criticize anyone for using the major label stuff that is available on the grocery shelves in central Ohio. My biggest problem with the commercial seasonings is that the first ingredient on the label is salt. While salt has its place in almost any cooking as a flavor enhancer, I want to taste the flavors, not the salt.

When we were starting The Wright Taste, we wanted to include a line of seasonings. We scoured the Internet, looking for recipes. We had the same problem as I had in the stores - every recipe had tons of salt. I tried making the recipe and just eliminating the salt but there was no balance of flavors, just some heat.

We had all these spices but couldn't find a good combination on the web. So, we started playing and the strangest thing happened. No salt and equal quantities of six spices gave us the balanced blend of flavors we loved in Cajun food. We labeled this as Cajun Kick and loved that we could tell our customers it contained no salt and they controlled the heat - from a little sprinkle for flavor to a light-you-up heat.

We sprinkle this salt-free Cajun seasoning on pork chops or boneless chicken breasts before cooking. I also use it in any recipe that calls for Cajun seasoning. You probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry!

Measure equal amounts - I suggest starting with 1 teaspoon of each - of these six spices: granulated garlic, granulated onion, ground white pepper, ground cayenne pepper, ground paprika, and ground black pepper. Mix together a store in an airtight container in a cool dark place. If you decide to go big and make a huge batch, store the bulk of it in the freezer, refilling your pantry container as needed.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Harry's Way

I really do have to give Harry the bulk of the credit for these cinnamon rolls that we sold so many of. He tried to get me to make them for two years before I finally relented. I said they were too labor intensive. He said they would sell like hotcakes. We were both right. That's why we had to throw in the towel in 2011 - he was working full time and asking him to come home after a hot day in the plant and spend 2-3 hours rolling out cinnamon rolls would have been incredibly rude. And, I didn't have the upper body strength or the patience to do them myself.

GOOD cinnamon rolls are time intensive and fairly labor intensive. For the time, there are two risings involved with an egg dough. Sometimes egg yeast doughs go crazy and other times they take their own sweet time getting to "ready to bake" stage. For the labor, rolling and shaping the dough takes patience. Harry used a tape measure for every single batch to make sure the dimensions were perfect. He might have been a bit more precise than those cinnamon roll shops you can watch in the mall.

I won't bore you with pictures of all the ingredients - watching those big, burly hands in action should be good enough!

This recipe makes two dozen cinnamon rolls. To be precise, Harry weighed every single batch and cut it in half. He asked me to meet him at Adobe Gila's one afternoon for margaritas. It was there that he presented me with this rolling pin. I know it's kind of strange, a man giving a woman a rolling pin as a gift but know this: Harry uses it more than I do.

After rolling the dough into a 16 inch by 24 inch rectangle, it's time to spread the butter. Please, please, please: don't ever try to pass off cinnamon rolls made with margarine. You MUST use real butter. What you might not know is that Harry MUST use a very particular flexible plastic spatula. It works best if the butter is room temperature but don't ever be tempted to melt it. Just be patient - it will spread.

After sprinkling on a very generous amount of brown sugar mixed with a heavy dose of cinnamon, Harry meticulously spreads the mixture to a uniform thickness. THIS is why I mix the dough and put the cinnamon rolls in the oven, and then squeeze on the icing. Harry does the detail part. It worked well that way.

Ignore the stainless steel table - I'm proud of this shot. You really can see the evenness of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. And those big manly hands were able to start the rolling process very tightly.

Yes, he used a tape measure to cut every cinnamon roll. Remember that you will have to go through all of the above steps twice with this recipe.

Why yes, I did learn a few decorating tips while I worked at the Kroger bakery! Yes, I'm left handed but this is how you should twist a pastry bag and hold it. We were making these cinnamon rolls for Harry to take into work, so we made them in four-pans for traveling ease. A cookie sheet works well when you are serving them individually.

To smear or to drizzle, that is the question. When we were selling these rolls, we were not the only vendor with this as a product. A comment we heard more than once was "Oh, these don't have so much icing on them." Yeah, a mall cinnamon rolls smothered in cream cheese icing is fine but our informal survey says a little goes a long way. Only let the rolls cool for about 3-4 minutes before you start to drizzle. That way, the icing can kind of ooze down between the layers.

And yes, this was breakfast!!

Yes - the baked cinnamon rolls can be frozen. If you're into nuking your goodies to warm them up (from room temp) my mom says 30 seconds is perfect. You can also retard the second rising by putting the cut rolls on the pan into the refrigerator the night before you'd like the gooeyness for breakfast. Pull them out of the fridge when you start the coffee. When the rest of the lazy-bones are ready to eat, preheat the oven and bake as directed.

Recipe for Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:

2 cups milk
2/3 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons quick-rise yeast
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
8-9 cups bread flour

Heat butter and milk over medium-low heat to 110-125 degrees Fahrenheit. While heating, combine yeast, sugar, salt and 2 cups of bread flour in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. When milk mixture is warmed to temperature (the butter may not be melted), turn mixer on low and pour milk mixture in. Stir on low for 2-3 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once. Add eggs, while mixer is on low, mixing until well incorporated. Add two more cups of flour and continue to mix on low speed for 3-4 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once.

Increase the mixer speed to two and gradually add the remaining four cups of flour until the dough begins to clean the side of the bowl. Continue to knead for 10-12 minutes on speed two, adding additional flour if necessary, until dough is smooth and elastic, and no longer sticky.

Remove the dough (and dough hook) from the mixer bowl and shape the dough into a ball. Add a small amount of canola oil to the bowl, place the ball of dough top-side down into the bowl, and then turn it over, coating the dough. Cover with a clean towel and set aside to rise until doubled (about one hour).

Filling:

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl and set aside.

Shaping the Cinnamon Rolls

When the dough has doubled, punch it down. Divide the dough in half and leave one half covered. Working on a large surface, roll the dough half into a 16 inch by 24 inch rectangle, keeping the edges square. Spread 1/3 cup of softened butter across the dough surface. Sprinkle one-half of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture over the butter. Using clean, dry hands, spread the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture evenly across the butter.

Working from the 24-inch side of the dough nearest you, roll the dough tightly in jelly roll fashion, taking care to keep the ends even. Cut the roll into 12 even portions and place them cut side down on a greased (or sprayed) baking sheet. Repeat with second half of dough.

Cover the cinnamon rolls with a clean towel and allow to rise until doubled - at least 1 1/2 hours.

Baking and Icing the Cinnamon Rolls

When the cinnamon rolls have doubled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake on the middle rack for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Cream Cheese Icing (but you can use your favorite buttercream)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 cups sifted powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients in a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth. Spoon into a pastry bag and cut the tip.

Remove the cinnamon rolls from the oven and allow to cool for 3 to 4 minutes. Without covering the tops, liberally drizzle the cream cheese icing over the cinnamon rolls.

Try not to burn your tongue by eating them while they are too hot!

Sour Cream Zucchini Bread: Most Requested Recipe from The Wright Taste

This is the one. I don't know what it is about this zucchini bread but I can't seem to make enough of it no matter how many gardens Dad raids for zucchini. It's moist, it has a touch of cinnamon and...nothing else fancy.

When we're baking for farmers markets, I have to move as quickly as possible. I know there's a school of thought that you should always sift together the dry ingredients but honestly? We go through flour so quickly that I don't get any lumps. I add the dry ingredients in a particular way that seems to evenly disburse the leavening, giving the dense bread a bit of lightness.

Public Service Announcement regarding sour cream: Have you ever read the label on your sour cream? With the exception of one major brand - Daisy - most of the commercial sour cream you buy in the stores contains gelatin. Why? What's so hard about sour cream? I'll admit to not realizing it until a few years ago. When we switched our supply shopping to Costco, the only brand they offered was Daisy. I realized I would have to change the labels for the products that used it and found it refreshing. Suddenly, I only had three words to type rather than 15 - (cultured cream (MILK)).

Remove a few more chemicals from your life by looking for the word "Natural" on your sour cream. Kroger's Natural Sour Cream is the same price as the others.

3 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups shredded zucchini, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit). Grease and flour or spray 2 9 x 5 inch bread pans.

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, sour cream and vanilla. Beat on medium until well-combined. It will smell VERY good! Turn off the mixer.

Add one cup of flour, the sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir at low speed (to keep flour from flying all over the kitchen) just until blended. Add the other two cups of flour and again, on low speed, mix just until blended.

Fold in the zucchini and walnuts, being careful not to over-mix.

Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. You need to use a cake tester for this bread - when the tester is clean, the bread is done.

Let the zucchini bread cool in the pans on racks for 10-15 minutes, then turn out of the pans. If you can stand it, let it cool at least another 10-15 minutes before slicing into it and smothering it with butter.

After the bread is completely cooled (and if you have any left!), store at room temperature in a sealed zip bag. Or, if you've invested in the right size containers, use those. The zucchini bread also freezes very well for at least one month.

Yes, The Wright Taste is going to try it again...

Hopefully, without killing ourselves. At the end of the farmers market season last year, I decided I'd had enough. The market had changed and our profit margin was abysmal. After returning our kitchen to its normal winter "fun" condition without all the evidence of a business kitchen, I was able to think with a clear head.

New rule No 1! (Thanks Bill Maher!) No more than one market on any given day. This means that we'll only do 3 markets a week at the most. We've picked our three most profitable - Delaware, Pataskala and Mount Vernon. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday - I can do this without spending 80 hours a week in the kitchen.

New rule No. 2! Stick to the basics. I let my home bakery license expire last fall and have no intention of renewing it. Most of the products we sold at the markets fell under Cottage Food guidelines (more on that later). Even our special orders almost always fell under cottage foods, so less stress.

New rule No. 3! Get back to the shelf-stable items. That means working my tail off writing in April so I can afford all the ingredients and supplies for our spices and mixes. Yes, Buffalo Dust, Fiesta Dip and more!

Not a rule. Well, maybe. If all goes according to plan, the first two cookbooks from Debbie & Harry's Kitchen will be ready by the start of the market season. One will include recipes to make the best use of the market season bounty. The other will feature, well, the recipes of The Wright Taste. In the past, I was reluctant to share those recipes but we had a lot of discussions this winter and decided it was definitely the way to go. There's a lot of products that we aren't going to make anymore and hopefully, I'll still hear "but why don't you make this anymore" from customers.

So, hello spring. Looking forward to summer and a successful market season for The Wright Taste.

If you're looking for a way to make some extra money in the summer, follow the links to learn about Ohio's Cottage Food and Licensed Home Bakery regulations. Good luck!

Cottage Foods in Ohio: Low-Cost Home Business
Licensed Home Bakeries in Ohio: Homemade Business that Works

See you this summer!

 

If you decide to open a cottage food business or licensed home bakery, the best investment you can make is a digital scale. Labeling requirements include an exact product weight.