Anne's Anodyne Liniment Cake

The Book Lover's Cookbook
Shaunda Kennedy Wenger and Janet Kay Jensen
Ballantine Books (2003)
ISBN 0345465008

This was probably the last cookbook I bought before we left the Netherlands. I found it at a local bookstore and it said it needed to come home with me. I resisted at first but finally went back to buy it. As a result, it moved with us and didn't end up in storage for six months. It's a lovely book; each quote from a book is followed by a recipe related to that book. I've used it at least once, but for the last couple of years, it's been sitting on the shelf unattended.

I haven't made a proper dessert in the last days, so tonight I thought I'd try Anne's Anodyne Liniment Cake from Anne of the Green Gables. (That's a book I've never actually read, but heard recently on the BBC iPlayer.) The woman who provided the recipe for the cookbook is the granddaughter of the author.

As I frequently do, I did all the cake mixing in my cuisinart and baked it in my 9"x13" pan, rather than two 9" round cakepans. But something wasn't quite right. The cake rose very high on the outside edges, mostly along the long edges, rather than the short ones. After a very short cooling it came away from the sides of the pan.

For an icing, I used the Creamy Butter Frosting recipe that's printed with the cake recipe. Definitely wouldn't do this bit again. Much too sweet and I added only about 2/3 of the sugar required. A nice cream cheese icing, not too sweet, as we prefer, would be better. Or maybe a chocolate icing to contrast with the vanilla cake. This time, since the whole cake looked a bit sad, we thought we'd top it off with some hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles, for those whose Dutch is rusty).

The cake actually tasted pretty good, but the texture was more like a thick, fluffy pancake. I'm not sure what caused the strange rising and texture , but wonder about the amount of baking powder. One tablespoon was called for, where I'd expect no more than 1-1/2 teaspoons (a half tablespoon). It also seemed to me that there wasn't enough batter for two 9" pans. If there were less leavening, I think the cake might work fine in a 9" square pan. I'll try this again in a few weeks.

This post is linked to this week's Cookbook Sunday.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Mar-12: Yogurt on overday. Further not much happening in the kitchen. Went out shopping and ordered a new exhaust fan that better fits the size of the stove. We need to make the exhaust hole before the outside walls are rendered (stuccoed) next month.

Dinner was the last of the lasagna with a salad. Then we shared half of a Petit Camembert.

Tuesday/20-Mar-12: Before dinner tonight, I made Anne's Anodyne Liniment Cake (BookLovers, p230), the Green Gables cake that was mistakenly made with liniment rather than vanilla. I've got a "pork belly" defrosting since yesterday, but it wasn't ready in time to marinate for a couple of house then cook slow for several hours. So that will have to happen tomorrow. Tonight there was Curried Penne with Shrimp (MC), with some peas added for vegetable matter. I've got a similar recipe that includes peas, but couldn't be bothered to find it. Then we ate the rest of the Petit Camembert, followed by a slice of Liniment Cake.

Wednesday/21-Mar-12: Shopping today. By the time we got back it was a rush to get the Jamie Oliver's Roasted Pork Belly (some issue of Jamie) in the oven. Long cooking time meant it came out at 8pm, too late to be eating. But we ate it. Will pick lots of meat off tomorrow and discard the crackling and fat.

And some Puréed Broccoli (H2CEV, p389), the first time I've puréed something like that. It's OK, would be a better idea with leftovers, rather that starting with a fresh bit of veg.

Also some of Clothilde's Dusolier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes. Didn't feel like any dessert at all.

Thursday/22-Mar-12: Dinner was Haddock with a Green Pepper Sauce (MC), using more green peppers. Didn't like the green peppers in the sauce last time; didn't like them this time. Think I'll toss this recipe. For the rest it was good enough. Reheated the small dish of Scalloped Potatoes that I made last Sunday with the extra thinly sliced potatoes; that was good. Roasted some haricots verts with olive oil and lemon pepper; those were good. Some of the liniment cake for dessert; weird stuff but tasty.

Friday/23-Mar-12: Made up some of Hazan's Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161; MC) today. Then dinner out at a quiz. That was about it.

Have given up on Cook the Books this time. Read the book, but can't get motivated to cook it. Would have to be this weekend, but it just won't happen.

Yesterday I knocked a small (glass) lamp off the table behind the sofa and broke the base. Today I pulled over the reading lamp in the living room and broke the glass shade. Tomorrow the light over the dining table has better watch out! Ed cleverly noticed that the top of the small lamp could be used to replace the reading lamp's shade. It's not perfect, but it will do till we find a proper replacement.

Saturday/24-Mar-12: Dinner was a half dose of Tagliatelle with Smashed Peas, Sausage, and Ricotta Cheese (web), using some of my newly made sausage. Pretty good stuff, fast and easy.

Sunday/25-Mar-12: Went to a concert at 17.00 today, so had our main meal at lunch: Thai Curried Noodles with Broccoli and Tofu (web). Easy, fast, and not bad at all. When we got back from the concert, we had a salad and then some goat cheese and crackers.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 BREAD:no, #3 SOUP: no, #4 MIDDAY: yes, #5 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #6 PASTA:no