I just attempted beating egg white in my blender, which was unsuccesful, I continued beating it by hand but now I have a upcoming blister on my wrist (ouch). I wanted to see whether I could make a pavlova for this weekend.. apparently not Now I'd like to make an up-side-down cake, since those are easy and delicious, but I lost my favorite recipe I believe I used to make it with plums. Does anyone have a recipe that works?
Oh no no no no! If you intend to get to either soft peak or stiff peak with those egg whites, I have never, ever seen it done with a blender. A blender just does not incorporate air into it as much as either hand-beating or with a mixer. A very clean metallic bowl (copper if you have one) is the best container to use if you're doing it by hand. I used to have a pineapple upside-down cake recipe, but I can't remember where I put it. Besides, I'm at work and can't go through my recipe book! :) Zz.
Plum Upside-Down Cake 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon honey 8 large plums (or 16 small plums), pitted and coarsely chopped 1 1/2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup milk Place 6 tablespoons butter, brown sugar and honey in a glass container and microwave on 50 percent power until butter melts and sugar and honey blend in, about 3 minutes. Stir until smooth and pour into a 9- or 10-inch round cake pan with at least 2-inch sides. Arrange chopped plums evenly over brown sugar mixture. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat 6 tablespoons butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla extract, mixing well. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, mixing until just blended. Spoon batter evenly over plums. Bake for about 1 hour, or until golden and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to rack and cool in pan for 30 minutes. Using a thin knife, cut around sides of pan to loosen cake. Place a large plate or serving platter on top of cake pan and invert cake. Leave pan on top of plate for at least 5 minutes before gently lifting it off. Serve cake warm or at room temperature. Serves 8.
I invented a plum cake recipe in... 5th grade or so. I assume you wouldn't trust it, but it actually was rather good! I have made it a few times since then. If you're interested, I can go dig it up on my Mom's computer :)
Check out Alton Brown's pineapple upsidedown cake, rather old school, but the addition of cornmeal is nice for texture and I have yet to try one of his recipes that wasn't good.
As my fourth birthday approached, my parents filled me with anticipation for the day when I would be a year older and I would have a cake and a party and so on. On that day my mother baked a pineapple upside down cake for me. She showed me the cake and I saw that the pineapples were blackened from the heat of cooking. I asked her "If I don't eat the cake, can I still be four?" That was more than 50 years ago. Were the pinapples supposed to be like that?
Thank you. So technically, I am one year younger. Well, no matter. I always give my age in centigrade anyway.
I've beaten egg whites with a blender before and not had any problem (and it's a lot easier on the wrists than a wisk is). But, you have to have a completely clean and dry bowl to start...I just use a stainless steel mixing bowl, and chill it in the fridge before using it. Monique, pavlova is very yummy! And very sweet! I only had it once when friends of mine from New Zealand made it as a dessert when I visited them.
Smear a lemon around the clean bowl and you will have perfect peaks every time from wolrams advanced cooks chalk board.
I'm still trying to figure out how you got a blister on your wrist. I did find out that if you roll the wisk between your wrists, you can hold the cook book with your hands at just the proper distance to read the recipe, but ...... oh, now I see how you lost the recipe. Um, yeah, it's going to be kind of hard to get much of a peak with that darn cook book sitting in the middle of the bowl.