Cinnamon Squares and Prattle

Making gingerbread, and reading about a beautiful bundt cake and lovely applesauce spice cake produced by The Wednesday Chef and the hungry tiger (a/k/a my own fine child), respectively, got me thinking about the kind of sweet baking that seems to be best done at home. Pastry chefs generally make the best croissants, tarts, and fancy pastries ( with the exception of certain strudel making grandmothers) and bakers make the best crusty breads. It is always fun to try these things at home, but it is also nice to make pies and plain cakes. It is a rare bakery or restaurant that offers as good an American style fruit pie or plain snack cake that is as nice as the one your friend makes, and gives you with a cup of coffee.

It may be that it is the person who comes with the cake that makes the difference to the subjective cake experience, and the friend is certainly a factor, but I think it is more than that. Yes, it's true, I have a theory on this topic, and I'm about to go on at length again. I'm so sorry, but I can't actually help it. There's a recipe at the end, though.

This is what I think, if you can bear it. I think that the proliferation of fast food sweet snacks, of the Little Debbie/ Hostess/Mom's Own Hydrogenated Muffins ilk, made with all sorts of xanathan gums and what have you, which look like cupcakes, cookies, plain cakes, and other things once commonly made at home, have caused upscale bakeries and restaurants to shy away from producing anything which might be mistaken for, say, a twinkie. Every once in a while there will be a fad for something-like the present yuppie cupcake business- trading on some sort of mix of nostalgia and camp, but for the most part, there's that unfortunate association with junkiness.*

And too, a lot of the homestyle treats are best made with minimal handling- piecrust especially. This leads to the appearance of imperfection, which pros and their customers may instinctively avoid when there's a cash register in the picture. Finally, many people have forgotten what a plain cake tastes like when it is not made from a box, and think it's bound to be boring, and not worth actually buying. So no one sells them, what with people thinking they will be just like the Duncan Heinz specials with canned frosting that folks make one another for their birthdays and bring to work these days.

So anyhow, I think that's why you can't buy them, and why it is so nice when someone serves you a delicious simple sweet they made themselves, from ingredients you would recognize if you saw them separately. We all have it in our power to make our important people very happy in this way which they cannot, as a general rule, buy. (Not that I would ever wish to discourage anyone from offering me fancy pastries at anytime. It's just another thing entirely..and bring them on, by all means. Got any french-type macaroons?)

So here's another recipe for a plainish sweet treat from Dorie Greenspan's recent book. It needs no special equipment, and reminds me that for most of the years I've spent hanging around one stove or another, I had no stand mixer, or food processor. A person can make some pretty good cakes with a few bowls and a wooden spoon (or as here, a whisk). This is one.

Adapted slightly, with a different method for the frosting, and because I didn't have instant espresso powder in the house:

1 1/4 cups, plus 2 tbsps sugar
1 Tbsp, plus 2 1/2 tsps sugar
1 1/2 tsps powdered cocoa
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
pinch salt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp real vanilla
10 Tbsps unsalted butter (best with plugra or other very nice butter) melted and cooled
3 oz nice bittersweet chocolate, finelt chopped. or chip

for frosting:
6 oz. more of the chocolate-again, best with very nice chocolate
2 1/2 tbsps butter, cut in 4 pieces

Butter and flour a 9" square pan, line the bottom with waxed paper, and preheat your oven to 350F.

Assemble a small, medium, and large bowl, and a sturdy whisk. In the small bowl, mix 2 Tbsps sugar, 2 1/2 tsps cinnamon, and the cocoa.

In the large bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder with the rest of the cinnamon and sugar. Whisk well.

In a medium bowl, mix the eggs milk and vanilla. Whisk up well. Pour the liquid ingredients in the medium bowl over the dry ingredients in the large bowl. Mix until homogenous, and pretty smooth, but don't go on whipping it up too much. Now, fold in the melted butter gently, a bit at a time. the whisk works well for this. Again, as soon as the batter is smooth and uniform, stop.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle with the chocolate and sugar, cinamon mix, and gently pour the rest of the batter over the top. Spread it evenly with a table knife, being careful not to disturb the center. Bake about 40 minutes, until the cake is puffed, and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Let the cake cool 15 minutes, and remove from pan, peel off waxed paper, and reinvert onto a rack to complete cooling. When completely cool, frost the top only with the frosting described below. When the frosting has set, trim away the browned sides carefully. (These are an excellent cook's snack). Cut into 9 equal squares, like the blocks on a nine-patch quilt. These keep well in a closed container at room temperature for the very few days they may last uneaten.

Frosting: Put the butter and chocolate in a pyrex cup and microwave for 40 seconds. Remove and mix with a spoon until it is all unlumpy and frosting-like. If it seems too liquid, let it sit until spreadable.

*Endless apologies for having a footnote. I attribute this dubious behavior to reading the blog work of one anapestic, whose digressiveness (charming) is pretty much boundless, allowing me to mentally brush off my own as minor league. Just wanted to mention the other side of this issue, which is that to some people, making a cake from scratch at home seems an affected, snobby thing done only by people who think they are Martha Stewart and/or have too much time on their hands, and no real responsibilities. The reason I know this is that I have actually had it said to me by more than one person who has been offered cookies and the like. So if you want to protect yourself from such remarks, it's a good idea not to mention much about where your cake came from, if you don't know the recipient real well. Or only bake for people you are sure you like!

Comments

[Tanna]

As soon as my strawberry shortcakes are gone, I am so making this or one of her others.
You are so right on. There is just no comparison with those bundles of chemicals and home made simple.

[mmwwah]

Wait, the hungry tiger is your cub? Way to mess with my mind, man!

I am lucky enough not to have baked for anyone who thinks it's a pretentious activity. I'm horrified that there are such people in the world.

[china]

i have my own theory about this! they say "fresh-baked bread" at the grocery store or "tastes like home made" on the package and they've conned generations into believing that thats all there really is to food. if your mom never baked you a cake for your birthday then all you know about cakes is the store-bought thing and you may honestly not know the difference. so when someone offers you a home-made from-scratch cookie you won't know until you try it what you've been missng.
and of course, its these people who say things like "oh you're just like betty crocker" as if i weren't a poor, time-crunched college kid.

it's your blog and you get to rant all you want but i just had to put in my 2 cents, since i feel so passionatly about it. cooking is my beloved hobby.

[Ash]

Lovely recipe, thanks for sharing. I agree about the people making comments about having no responsibilities - I've had that too!

[lindy]

tanna-Perhaps you would like to mail me the rest of your strawberry shortcakes? Or maybe not. Wish I had some, though.Spring's coming.
mmwah-Yessir, that's my baby girl. What helped me start my blog and taught me about html, and is my pride and joy and the like.
china-That's surely true.
Ash- Thank you on behalf of Dorie Greenspan, whose lovely recipe it is.

[Trig]

1. Stop making excuses.
2. Bake some more.
3. Send to me (I like you, do you like me?)

[lindy]

But Trig, "Apology" is my middle-name! Not really.I don't actually have a middle name.
Sure do like you- but I fear it would all be pretty stale by the time it arrived in the UK. Still, next time I'm there visiting my cousins in Brighton, I could do that.

[Brilynn]

I agree, some people seem to have forgotten what good homemade cakes and cookies taste like!

[Heath]

Whoa. Those people who think making things from scratch are snobby are *seriously* looking a gift horse in the mouth - no more homemade cakes for YOU, mister!

[zp]

Don't knock the yuppie cupcake. It's not the worst cake on Murray Ave, not by a long shot.

[lindy]

Not knocking it zp- haven't even tried it yet. Just pointing out that it's the exception- and a current fad with a kitsch quotient. Expensive cupcakes are busting out all over the place. I'm sure a lot of them are good, and I'll be trying our local ones soon.

[Dixie]

From scratch is ALWAYS better, without exception. You know exactly what goes in, so there are no mystery ingredients that you can't begin to pronounce. I don't want to eat chemicals, thanks.

[anapestic]

I resent having my digressiveness described as "pretty much" boundless. Where are these boundaries? It is true, one supposes, that each post eventually comes to an end, but I feel that one must consider the entire body of work, which is, as yet, uncomplete, temporary work-related digressiveness diminution notwithstanding. I fully expect to spend eternity failing to come to a point.

I think what we need here (if I may be excused a moment of relevance) is an educational campaign about how to set up a baker's kitchen. We can (and I do) whinge all day about cake mixes and stick larding needles into voodoo likenesses of Sandra Lee, but until we can make people understand that a basic cake can be made from scratch nearly as quickly as it can be made using a cake mix, we're unlikely to change anyone's habits.

In my experience, the most time-intensive parts of cake making are pan preparation and oven preheating, both of which still need to happen with a cake mix. The mise en place is less time consuming, but it is certainly slower with a scratch cake. But it need not be so if the essential ingredients are centrally and conveniently located, and if people are taught to soften their butter in the microwave as a first step.

Then all we have to do is get everyone down to the test kitchens and show them a side-by-side comparison of cake mix and scratch cake. They can see that the extra five minutes of work can be accomplished while the oven is preheating, and, most importantly, they can taste the vast superiority of the finished product. I'll leave it to you to organize: I have sentences to run on.

[~DanaB~]

Oh how I enjoyed your blog today! I SO heartily agree! I've a mixing bowl and wooden spoon used in all our cooking 'round here, there's something to be said for simple homemade goodness--AMEN!

Fantastic blog, I shall read more of your posts!

~~

[~DanaB~]

Oh, and amen to Dixie's comment up there!! I think that's key, so many folks would 'cook from scratch' if they realized the things Dixie mentioned--how it really is all about having things on hand, not so much time as ingredients!

~~Carry on!!

[Julie]

I know exactly what you mean about baked treats -- and I'm a big fan of homey homely homemade baked goods, prefereably from someone's (ahem) home. I am absolutely making these, since G is a major fan of all things cinnamon, and I happen to adore cinnamon and chocolate, especially when they're combined in this way -- the spice in one part of the pastry and the rich chocolate icing as a foil to the buttery cinnamon bar. Thanks, Lindy -- I always find such treasures here.

[arif]

oh my, you've done it - you've inspired me to bake tonight. I've been pretty good about avoiding too much baking as I doubt the waistline can handle it. Confining myself to muffins seemed a reasonable dodge.

But this recipe? I've got everything I need to make this at home, and this would be so much fun to do with the little one.

[lindy]

Dixie-yep-it is surely good to know what it is you're eating
anapestic- It is true, you are entirely boundless. You are Captain Digression, leader of the team. As I am, myself (as Trig noted) in charge of Pointless Apologies, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how very sorry I am if I accidentally implied otherwise. Now what was that about a test kitchen?
Dana-You are so right about the supplies. Having a practical pantry on hand and timing (as in everything being done at once) are two big areas in learning and teaching others to cook. Cooking is definitely more than recipes, for sure
julie-I love your most recent post on the lisettes. It has inspired me to sort out the details of a childhood story of my mother, her friend Lucie, and the Dobos Torte. Hope to post on it soon
arif-right, a good recipe for little ones, with lots of stuff to do by hand, and the stove as the only dangerous equipment.

[Bakerina]

I should be surprised and horrified at the thought of more than one person telling you that home-baked goodies are an affected and snobby pursuit. Horrified I am, but I'm not surprised. I once took a bash at homemade bagels. The results were better than I thought they'd be, so I brought them into work the next morning. One of my coworkers actually said, to my face, "well, *somebody* doesn't have any children." I didn't bring anything into work after that. (Thankfully, I now work in an office where people say radical things like "thank you" and "is there any left?" when you bring in homemade cakes.)

Nuffa that. Lindy, your post is brilliant and thoughtful, a total tonic for what ails me, and I thank you for it. (And thank you for the cinnamon squares recipe. I know what I'm doing this weekend. :)

Incidentally, did I ever tell you that I had to make a Dobostorte for my final practical in culinary school? Strange but true. :)

[Rebecca]

I think this weather we're having here in Pittsburgh makes one want to bake (and eat) sweets; I didn't leave my house at all yesterday and made pot pie AND cake! They may have to remove a wall to get me out of here come spring.

Meanwhile, I love this little cake. I've never heard the snobby remarks except from my own husband when I've made remarks in restaurants along the lines of, "I'd rather die than eat that!" What I do commonly hear from folks is that they would be afraid to have me over for a meal, or they are surprised I would go to a church fish fry, since I'm such a gourmet, both of which make me feel entirely misunderstood. I don't demand fancy food, just simple food, or even down home food, but reasonably well-prepared. Is that too much to ask?!

[Julie]

I find it unbelievable that someone would actually say to someone offering them a home-baked good that they find baking from scratch a snobbish affectation. How completely rude. May they choke on a Twinkie. Not fatally, just unpleasantly.

Being offered a cake like this one would be heaven. We should all be so lucky as to be offered baked goods of this sort.

[Lynn D.]

You'll probably be disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that I don't like cinnamon in muffins and sweets. After all, I don't like root beer. Cinnamon is fine if mixed with other spices for gingerbread or spice cake, but not alone or with chocolate. But what I really love is cinnamon in savory sauces with meat; Mexican chili or the beef stew in tomato cinnamon sauce I had in Greece a long time ago.

[lindy]

Bakerina- Believe me, I've learned my lesson. Nobody gets a chance to pull that one on me twice. Have you made a dobostorte since?
Rebecca-Not too much to ask at all. Life is too short to eat bad food. Wish I could say I've lived up to that motto, though.
Julie-I love, love, love it when people cook for me.
Lynn- A little disappointed, but really, if our tastes were any more alike, it would be too scary. My mother-in-law ( for the most part a gruesomely terrible cook, which I did not mind a bit-she made me look good, whatever lame thing I did ) had exactly one decent dinner dish. It was a lovely Greek chicken thing made with tomatoes and cinnamon. Really good. We all praised it to the skies, hoping to be served it whenever we visited. We always arrived early, so I could help her do the plain rice to go with!

[sandi @ the whistlestop cafe]

I may be a lot of things...but a cake snob -never!
These look delish and worth the extra attention.

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