Baking With Julia

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Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have: baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads

right here in my own kitchen.

Johanne Killeen, pastry chef and co-owner

of Rhode Island's highly regarded Al Forno restaurant

introduces us to a variety: of her own very special baby cakes.

Join us on...

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How about a neat little cake just for you?

For you alone, hazelnut cake

an upside-down cake, a gingerbread cake.

Here's Johanne Killeen who's going to show us

how to make her famous baby cakes.

Great, our baby cakes...

our baby cakes are all butter cakes.

It's an American classic, and they're very simple to prepare.

The first thing I do is get everything together

before I begin: so I'm going to start with buttering my pans.

Now, this is a trick that the pros use.

Instead of using softened butter

I've melted some butter and with the pastry brush

I just smear on just a light, light coat of butter.

You just want it completely coated

but it doesn't have to be very thick.

And you're not getting this sort of little milky residue.

It's really like clarified butter.

It's like clarified butter: and you'll notice that I'm staying right to the top

when I dip my pastry brush in, and take the excess off.

Do these also have to be floured?

They do have to be floured, and again it's a very light coating

but it really helps release the cake.

So we'll just put a little bit of flour in...

and just bang that around.

And then I just transfer one to the other.

How about if you have no-stick cake pans, how does that work?

The no-stick cake pans are pretty good.

I think they work very well.

But you still butter and flour them.

It's awful if it sticks, isn't it?

Well, you go through all that work

of producing a nice little cake

and the last thing you want...

These little pans, you can find them anywhere?

You can find these in a fairly basic hardware store.

And you can also...

Or one of those baking catalogues.

Yeah, the baking catalogues are great.

You could also do this cake in a loaf pan.

In a big pan.

Yeah-- now, my dry ingredients

I will set up on a piece: of either parchment paper or wax paper.

I've got a cup and two-thirds of flour

and again, I dip and I scrape off.

That's one cup.

I have my two-third cup measure.

I'm also a stickler for having proper measuring cups--

having a third of a measuring cup.

I don't just put it into my big measuring cup

and try to figure out...

Well, this is a pretty accurate system, I think.

This is a very accurate system.

I also make sure that I have liquid measure for my liquid measuring...

Okay, now, that's our flour.

We're going to put in baking powder

and it's the same procedure of dipping, scraping off

and I'm going to put an amount here.

We have two teaspoons of baking powder

and then I have a teaspoon of salt.

Now, my salt is kosher salt.

It's fairly coarse, which is fine for baking.

If you need to have salt that's a little bit less coarse

I would use either sea salt: or I'd put the kosher salt in a food processor

and just grind it up a little bit.

But this is one teaspoon of kosher salt.

So we have our dry ingredients

and let's mix our liquid ingredients

get everything all set up.

I have a lovely crme frache that we made

and the method for making crme frache

if you can't get it in your supermarket

is very, very simple.

You should think about it the day before, though

because you start out with heavy cream--

also with a high butterfat content--

and for every cup of heavy cream

you add two teaspoons of buttermilk.

So you put your cream and your buttermilk

in an old mayonnaise jar if you like, and shake it.

Make sure it's really well shaken

and then leave this at room temperature until it thickens.

That's usually overnight.

So this we did last night: and we're going to use a cup of crme frache

and I have a liquid measuring cup and I measure at eye level.

Not from above and not from below.

Exactly at eye level.

People always say that if you're going to be a chef of any kind

you're better off starting as a pastry chef

because you have to be so accurate.

I think that's very true: and I've heard of people like Michel Richard...

I mean, he's a great chef and a great pastry chef

and he started with pastry: and I think there is something about the training.

He's wonderful...

It is really, really wonderful.

Okay, I know that I have all my ingredients set.

I have hazelnut flour and I have sugar, so I know I'm all set to go.

And you have...

I have almond extract, thanks for reminding me.

Let's put that right into the crme frache.

Okay, so I have my dry ingredients

that I'm going to combine into a bowl.

And flour these days is so good

that you don't necessarily have to sift it.

So I just mix my dry ingredients together

and just have those ready to go.

And we'll start by creaming our butter and our sugar.

Our butter's at room temperature.

All our ingredients, in fact--

our eggs are at room temperature--

which is probably the most important thing

about butter cakes: because you want the fat to be able to absorb

the liquid and the dry ingredients

and it does the best at 70 degrees.

And you can see that the butter is softened

and we're going to start by combining this.

You could also call this: a pound cake, probably, couldn't you?

It'd be a quarter pound of everything...

Yes, it's very similar.

In fact, a pound cake is a butter cake

and a butter cake is a pound cake.

Smells good with that butter.

Now, this process is where you have to be patient.

And this takes maybe six, eight minutes

depending on what method you're going to use

so I'm going to increase the speed.

Now, what I think is important, also, is

to scrape down the sides of the bowl, kind of midway

and just make sure: that everything is getting mixed homogeneously.

Now, it's getting pretty creamy...

It's getting creamy, I'm just going to whip it.

What did Grandmother do, just used her finger?

And the wooden spoons, those wooden spoons were invaluable.

How do we know that it's done?

Well, it is nice and fluffy.

You can see how light the butter has become

and it's really a matter of feel.

You really have to...

It is very light.

Yeah, it's got a nice, light feel.

The main thing is you don't want to overmix and have it turn oily.

Exactly, and there is that point in between.

So I'm ready to add my eggs now.

You'll notice that I like to put them in something to begin with--

crack them so I don't have the possibility

of cracking eggs into the mixer.

That would, that would be very unpleasant.

You might get some shell in, too.

Right, so on medium, medium speed

I'll add one egg at a time.

And I want to get the mixture pretty much homogenous

before the next egg goes in.

That looks pretty good.

Ready for number two... there we go.

Get this nice and light and fluffy.

Here we go, one more egg.

You can see that the volume is probably triple by now

and we'll raise the speed a little bit, get our last egg in.

That was four U.S. graded large eggs.

That's right.

It looks lovely, doesn't it?

It sure does.

I'm going to scrape it down, scrape the bowl down one more time.

Well, that was to fluff it up.

That was to fluff it up: and make sure that it's completely homogenous.

Put that here.

And I like to do the next portion by hand.

You see how nice and light that is?

You mean with your bare hand?

No, I'll use a spatula.

Jim Beard used to use his real bare hands.

I've seen that, too, I've seen that.

Now, what we do generally

is add a third of the dry ingredients

and then half the liquid, so that gets put in...

And you don't add all the flour at once.

No, I add it alternately, so that the butter has a chance to absorb each one.

If we added all the liquid for instance, first

then it might have a hard time absorbing all the dry ingredients.

So that's almost homogenous, not quite

so we add half of our liquid.

This to me is just the most simple and tasty cake to make.

You know, my husband loves cake.

And I don't make enough cakes for him

because we don't have that much time.

But this is one of the cakes that I, you know

as long as I have my butter at room temperature...

You do this one at the restaurant, too?

Yes, yeah, we're somewhat infamous for our baby cakes.

And we do the little upside-down cakes.

We do this hazelnut cake.

And make sure that you scrape out every little bit

because you want to be consistent.

And that's the end of the flour.

Folding is one of the most important techniques in cakes...

It is, it is.

And you're just...

It's not just stirring.

slow and you go down and up and around.

Up and around...

You don't want to overfold, do you?

No, you just want the ingredients

to be absorbed by the butter.

I mean, that's the whole point of beating in air

and then having the butter absorb the liquid

and the dry ingredients properly.

Now, this is just about ready.

When do those nuts go in?

This is the hazelnut flour which is a great thing.

You can buy this, and it's just really ground hazelnuts

and if you can't find this in your supermarket or your specialty store

and the easiest thing to do is make your own with...

You toast them.

You toast them and then you take the peels off

and then, you can put them in a food processor

with a portion of the sugar that you use in the cake

because if you use a little bit of sugar in the food processor

it really helps break up the nuts.

So this is just about ready.

Okay, I'm going to put them in the pans now.

We have our little baby cake pans all ready.

Let's put a little bit of batter in each.

There we go-- this one needs a little bit more.

And you can flatten them a little bit.

They should be a half to two-thirds full, but not anymore than that.

And then with this handy little portion scale

you can see just how much we have.

Okay, that's about three ounces.

That's about right.

And this one needs a little bit more.

You have to do that in the restaurant

because you don't want them to look differently.

We do-- just shake them down.

And another little trick that I use at the restaurant

when I'm baking the baby cakes

I like to put them on a sheet pan.

It's much more easy to handle them in the oven

and you can take them out and remove them

or move them around and it's just a much more simple process.

And we have the oven preheated at 350.

These cakes should take about 30 minutes to bake

and they'll be nice and golden.

And we have enough batter for another four cakes.

Uh-huh, but you could bake them all at once if you wanted.

Absolutely, you could bake them all at once if you like.

That rack is turned a little bit lower middle, isn't it?

Yes.

Now, how do we know that they're done?

Well, we can test them in a few different ways.

We have a skewer: and if a skewer in the inside in the center comes out clean

which it is, it's perfectly cooked.

The other way is a little bit by feel.

You just touch it: and if it's springy, then it's done.

And if you notice that the cakes are puling away

from the side of the pan: that's another good indication.

Well, it's good to have

three or four indications, I think.

You can never be too sure, right?

( laughs )

So let's turn these out to cool.

These are still very hot.

Let's see, get them out of the pans.

There's our cute little baby cake.

That's darling.

Isn't that nice?

And here's number two.

And they feel like cake: and not like little loaves of bread.

( both laugh )

They're very tender: and they'll have a nice crumb.

And they smell good.

Yeah.

Now, the only thing we have to do

to dress this up a little bit

is make a topping: so we'll start with some marscapone cheese

which is one of my favorite cheeses.

It's an Italian cream cheese.

Is it a goat cheese?

It's not a goat cheese.

It's a cow's milk cheese: and it's like a very rich cream cheese.

And sometimes when you get it, it's a little bit stiff.

But the butterfat content is so high

that you have to be careful...

Oh, it is?

not to curdle it.

or with a paddle attachment: just so it's a little bit fluffy.

I have to taste it.

Taste it, yeah, it's delicious.

And we're going to add some sweetened whipped cream...

It does taste like whipped cream, doesn't it?

It does.

It has a very rich...

little bit of a nutty flavor.

Now, this is some whipped cream

three-quarters of a cup of whipped cream

that we have sweetened with a little bit of sugar

and that's going to go in.

And you can flavor this with anything you like.

I like to flavor it with grappa

because grappa is one of favorite things to drink.

Oh, grappa.

And grappa is made from the skins and the pits of grapes

after they have been made into wine.

It's the dried product that is distilled.

Grappa, though, is very strong

so I'm just putting in a teaspoonful

because it can have a harsh flavor

and you want to flavor your cream

but you don't want it to have any harshness.

So that's just about ready.

And I think we can taste.

What do you think?

I think it's all right.

We should.

All right.

Impeccably clean fork.

Great.

And I'll cut up a baby cake for you

and a baby cake for me.

And I'm going to cut it on a diagonal.

Now, look how beautiful that crumb is.

Well, that is lovely!

Nice and tender.

Mm-hmm.

And rather rough.

It's not smooth, really.

No, no.

It's like a little pound cake.

Mm-hmm.

I'll let you try it, Julia.

I'll set them up: and a little bit of the sweetened cream.

Mm-hmm.

Let me give you some peaches.

That's a nice addition.

You can use any fruit.

Berries or something.

Berries would be delicious.

Anything that's in season.

Oh, that's a nice idea.

And you have your dessert.

Right, no fuss.

Let's see what we have here.

Mmm.

Mmm.

Very good.

I shall add baby cakes to my repertoire.

Thank you.

Thank you, Johanne.

Chef Johanne is now going to show us

an upside-down baby cake.

And we're going to use a butter cake.

It's the same batter...

Exactly the same?

that I used for the hazelnut.

With hazelnuts in it, or not?

It's going to be without hazelnuts.

And we're going to start out: with a rhubarb upside-down cake.

Oh!

I have some melted butter, four tablespoons.

We're going to get that a little bit hot.

Into the butter: we're putting a half a cup of packed brown sugar.

Is this what you call dark brown sugar?

This is dark brown sugar.

You can use light brown sugar, too

but I do like the flavor.

I think the dark brown: has a little bit more of a caramelized flavor.

And we just want to get that kind of melted.

And we're going to add a little bit of spirit.

I'm using bourbon today, a tablespoon.

A very good brand of it, I see.

Very good brand.

You might as well use good stuff.

You're only using a tablespoon.

So we put that in.

You can use rum if you like: but I think rum overpowers the flavor...

Yes, often it does, yeah.

And rhubarb is such a delicate taste.

Now, that's pretty nicely melted.

Let's add two tablespoons of chopped pecans.

Just stir that around a bit.

And I'll show you about the rhubarb.

We have nice, fresh rhubarb.

It comes like this.

It's fairly long.

And generally this recipe would take

six to seven stalks of rhubarb

but this is pretty big, so it might be a bit less.

You don't have to peel rhubarb.

You just have to take off the ends, just like so.

And a trick that I learned yesterday is

that at the beginning of the season

rhubarb is very red: and towards the end of the season

it becomes greener.

So, you have two different...

I didn't know that.

It's becoming greener.

Now, here's our rhubarb that's all cut up.

I'm going to interrupt: to ask you if you want this cooked more.

I think that looks pretty good.

That's it, it's all mixed up, okay.

Yeah, that looks great.

Let's fill four of these pans with this mixture

and then we'll lay out some of the rhubarb.

Now, this solidifies pretty quickly.

You know, rhubarb has a tendency to be a little bit bitter

so you really do need this much sugar.

And you can find these pans: in any really well-stocked gourmet kitchen store.

And if you find that you have trouble

getting the baby cake pans: you can always make this as one cake.

And what I like to do when I make one cake

is use a cast-iron skillet.

And that way the whole procedure is done in one skillet.

Oh, you make this

and then you pour the batter into it?

Yep, you make your caramel just like this...

Oh, that's wonderful.

pour your batter on top: and it's really kind of a one-step process.

I suppose you could use muffin tins.

You could use muffin tins.

Yeah, anything.

Yep.

Good.

How about if we lay out the rhubarb.

You might want to help me.

Put some concentric circles.

Now these are ready for batter

but before we mix our batters

let's put rose geraniums in the second batch.

Now, the rose geranium plant is a wonderful herb.

Have a smell.

Mmm.

Isn't that great?

Does it have, the geranium plant, a flower?

It's a geranium flower, beautiful little flower

but the prize is this very delicate leaf.

And these are pretty big: for the size of our baby cake pan

so let's break them up.

And you might want to help me with that.

Just do, again, little concentric circles.

I never would have thought a green...

putting a green herb in a cake batter.

Yeah.

Is this your idea?

You made this up?

Well, you know, my mom used to do this

years and years and years ago.

I guess I kind of forgot about it.

Then when I started cooking professionally

I thought about her recipe: and I adapted it a little bit

but it was her idea.

And then the flavor of the rose geranium

is, again, intensified with rose water

that we're going to put in the batter.

I'm going to put these aside, Julia

while we mix up our batters.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, we have two identical batters.

Which is just what we did before

except there's no hazelnut.

No hazelnuts and no almond extract.

Instead, in one we're using

two teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.

That's very important: to get pure vanilla extract.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Do not buy the imitation stuff.

It's cheap.

It has a cheap taste.

And the smell-- you can smell a bakery that uses it.

Yes, absolutely.

And we're going to put two teaspoons...

I have a half-teaspoon measure

but we're going to put two full teaspoons of rose water.

And you can find rose water anywhere?

Rose water is fairly easy to find--

again, in any good, well-stocked market.

So we have rose water.

Would you mix one up for me, please?

And I'll mix up the other.

Now, the batters are just light and fluffy

like the hazelnut.

This is just like the hazelnut.

So I want to be careful mixing

so I don't deflate them, do I?

Right.

Now, we have our prepared pans

and we'll put the vanilla on top of the rhubarb

and we'll put the rose flavor on top of the geranium.

You can smooth the tops.

When you smooth it out, keep your spoon down.

Don't lift because then you'll be lifting the batter as well.

So you just want kind of a turning action

and keep your spoon down.

Mmm, that's a nice movement.

Now...

That's fascinating that rhubarb.

I can't wait to taste it.

Do you like rhubarb?

I just love it.

It's one of my favorite fruits

So, Julia, let's bake these

for about 20 minutes.

And we have a preheated 350-degree oven?

Mm-hmm, we do.

And we'll put these right in.

Middle level?

Middle level.

Oh, they smell so good those baby cakes.

So that's the rhubarb?

That's the rhubarb.

You can see just the little pink blush of the rhubarb.

Yeah, isn't that lovely.

And you can see the little green leaves

of the rose geranium.

That's charming.

Are we going to eat them?

We sure are.

Oh, I hope so.

I like the way this one looks

so I'll put this one over here.

And I like the way this one looks

so I'll put this one over here.

And I think we'll just garnish

with a little bit of whipped cream.

And I think that's just enough.

Big plates for baby cakes.

Yeah, it's kind of a play on scale.

Yeah.

And on this baby cake with the rose geraniums...

Oh, that's a good idea.

we'll put a couple fresh leaves.

You can still smell that perfume.

Isn't that terrific?

Yeah.

All right, so here's our rhubarb baby cake

and our rose geranium.

Those are charming.

And to think that all three of these things

were made right out of the same batter

and you wouldn't think so.

All one batter.

I want to try the rhubarb.

Okay.

I like the rhubarb.

I think the rhubarb was a wonderful idea.

Well, I really do love it.

And, you know

when something comes into season in New England

you use whatever you can.

Mm-hmm.

Like a little espresso?

Thank you.

Johanne, this has been a great lesson.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for coming.

Cheers.

Julia's gotndation]

Julia: Bon apptit!