Sunday, December 02, 2007

Ispirazione da Jugalbandi

I've been wanting to try Bee and Jai's 'Cranberry Pecan upside down cake' since I saw it. It looked so beautiful and appealing I couldn't resist. I had an occasion to try yesterday, as we were hosting a dinner with some friends at our place. So, after a salad and the crepes that I posted below, I served this delicious cake!

Torta di noci e cranberries al contrario/Cranberry Walnut upside down cake
I'm not going to write the recipe again, since you can find it in details here, on Jai and Bee's post, together with better pictures than mine :)
My only modifications were using walnuts instead of pecans (as you can see in the picture), and 1/2-1/2 whole flour/white flour instead of only white flour. This made my cake darker. Also, I used a very dark type of honey, and flavored with mirto (a black berry liquor), instead of Grand Marnier.
This is an amazing cake. I think it's one of the best cakes I made in a while. Also, it's really easy to prepare. It has almost no butter, and an amazing combination of nuts, oranges and.. cranberries!! I never used cranberries before. Cranberries don't exist in Italy, and I almost never ate them here. I decided now I love them! I'm going to make some cranberry jam soon. :) For my Italian readers: cranberries are small berries that grow in bushes:
They are very tart, so you need to add a good amount of sweetener when you use them to cook (honey in this cake's case). I tried to eat one raw, but it's a bit too tart. :) Instead, they're delicious in the glaze of this cake..
Thanks Bee and Jai for such a wonderful recipe!

4 comments:

bee said...

i love thesustitutions you made. glad you liked it. you love cranberries? then you're gonna like what we're sending you for your event.

chemcookit said...

Yeeh :) Thanks a lot :)

Simona Carini said...

Mirtilli di palude: never heard of them, but according to the dictionary that's how we would call cranberries in Italy. I love their color: its festive.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Your cake looks extremely good! I love that idea...

cheers,

Rosa