Amaretto Cake

OK...So this does not go back generations in my family. However, this has been a treat that I have been doing for special occasions for a couple of decades now. I guess that qualifies. I do not want to be arbitrary in rule making, but as it is one of my favorites and I am a member of the family, I will make a few allowances. Please feel free to send any family favorites to me for the same reason. This is a recipe is one that I drag out for Weddings,Holidays,Birthdays and any special get together. I am rarely a drinker, so I do not do this for myself. I do, however, enjoy a piece of this when it is available. It is very rich, so a recipe of this will go a long way. While it is not a family recipe, it is certainly in the tradition of all those cakes that Uncle Phil had sitting on his counter for weeks while he doused them with brandy every day or two. The cakes that he did are among the recipes that I have been searching for, and who knows if there might be some of these recipes hanging around in other branches of the family as well.

This cake, though it may seem intimidating, is very easy. The only issue is the delicacy of wet cake after it is soaked makes it tough to handle. If you plan well though, it really is a breeze to make and VERY impressive to serve. The first bite changes the opinion of even the most skeptical.

Amaretto Cake

Cream together:

1 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup of sugar adding at the rate of 2 Tablespoons at a time

beat till light and fluffy

beat in:

2 eggs one at a time till completely incorporated

Add while beating:

1/3 cup of Amaretto
1 1/2 teaspoons of grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Separately sift together:

2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

Add the dry ingredients to the batter and stir till smoothly combined. Do not beat too much air into the batter. You are not trying to make a light cake.
Pour the batter(it may be quite thick) into a buttered and floured cake tin.(This is also fun in small molds or muffin tins as small gifts)

Bake 25 minutes at 325 degrees F. or till a tooth pick comes out clean. I think this usually takes longer in my oven. Just keep an eye on it. It will be a nice dark parchment or biscuit color. You are often displaying this from the bottom of a mold so the color will be the nice brown of the underside.

Cool about 10 minutes and turn out to cool. When not quite completely cool, prick or pierce all over(top bottom and sides) with a toothpick or skewer.

In a saucepan mix together:

1/2 cup of sugar
3 Tablespoons of brown sugar
3 Tablespoons of light corn syrup(your choice really)
1/3 cup of water
2/3 cup of amaretto

I often mix up one and a half recipes of the syrup, as I like it wet.

Bring the syrup to a boil then remove from the heat and cool.
Smaller cakes and molds of cake may be dipped into the syrup till some is absorbed, turned over and removed to a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Much of the syrup will be absorbed. The larger cakes should be placed on waxed paper in a container a bit larger than the cake. Pour the syrup very slowly over the cake to allow it to absorb.
When all is cool and absorbed, more syrup may be added. Wrap the cakes in waxed paper then in Cellophane or some other decorative wrapping or container as gifts, or place on a cake plate to serve. No further decoration is necessary, but pralined almonds may be added to the top, especially if you get a couple of dents from the dipping process and need something to cover. Use powdered sugar only if it is to be served and consumed in a few minutes. The syrup will just soak the sugar and it will disappear. This absolutely does not need to be iced. If you must tart this up somehow, consider a thin glaze of white or dark chocolate. Milk chocolate would not work well. You could only do this by pouring the glaze over the cake as it tends to be a bit delicate after soaking.

You may substitute citrus in any form that you like for the Amaretto. Lemon is very nice but experiment with others. The Amaretto is not cooked for long, so the alcohol is in tact when you eat it. Give children only the smallest portions, perhaps as crumbs on Ice Cream or puddings. Never give a child a whole slice unless you are extremely progressive!

NOTE: You can just put almonds in a pan with sugar and heat till the sugar melts and coats the nuts. 1 stick of butter and of a cup sugar will candy them more like a brittle. (You then chop the brittle or pound it with a hammer or the bottom of a heavy pan or cup.) Do not wait too long to remove the pan from the heat as it will continue to cook and darken after it is removed from the heat...a nice light gold or yellow is a good place to stop.

No, the picture is not a clone of Uncle Phil, it is me. I do not like photos of myself as I go older.

Limoncello

Grammie knew how to do this. She did not do it while I was around, but I asked her about it once in the seventies and she described it for me. I had to get these two recipes in Italy over the last couple of years and adapt it to what she told me way back then. I am quite sure that Grammie never bought a bottle of Everclear in her life! Please note the lemon tree in the yard on Via Gelso in Malfa.

1 Litre of Everclear alcohol

10 medium to large lemons(try to get them unwaxed or processed in any way.)

1 1/2 litres of water. It is a good idea to bring water to a boil for a couple of minutes to get gasses and chemicals out. Otherwise it might be a good idea to use bottled water or water that has somehow been purified.

3 pounds of white sugar.


Scrub the lemons well. Do not use hot water as you will evaporate some of the oils in the skin.
Take off the lemon zest with a lemon peeler. Do not dig too deep. You want as much yellow and as little white as possible.
Immerse the zest in the alcohol, covered for at least seven days. Try to use a glass container and a glass cover. You might try a large glass jar and cover it with a glass plate. Use plastic wrap to seal it all together.
On day number eight, strain and discard all the solids.
Simmer the sugar and water for about 15 minutes or until you are absolutely sure the sugar is dissolved.
Cool the sugar mix and add to the alcohol.
Pour into pretty glass containers and chill. Keep refrigerated. In Italy they do not worry so much about spoilage, but there is enough organic matter in this to error on the side of caution.
I keep mine in the freezer.

Limoncello number two

Ok, so you cant find Everclear. You could adjust the last recipe a bit by adding more Vodka instead of the Everclear and reducing the water, or try this version if you are not adventurous. This is pretty close to Grammie's description of the process. Mildred, Sis and I tried our damnedest to get some lemon seeds from the tree in Grammie's childhood home's front yard. We made tons of lemonade. We all liked the lemonade, but the real issue was finding a mature seed. It never happened! All the seeds were immature. I should have had the presence of mind to look for dropped fruit, but sometimes you are just dumb about such things.

15 well scrubbed lemons.

2 750 ml vodka(the highest proof you can find)

4 cups of sugar

5 cups of water.

Zest the lemons thinly

In a large all glass container, put one of the bottles of vodka and the zest.(drink the other bottle of Vodka)(NO, NOT REALLY)

Let it sit sealed for 10-40 days. (this is about the color and intensity of flavor) in a cool place.

In a pan, make a syrup from the sugar and water and boil.

Cool and add to the alcohol along with the second bottle of alcohol.

Allow it to rest ten to fourteen days.

Bottle as in the first recipe.


You can substitute any citrus peel that you like for this.

Orange cordial?

This is a big recipe, so you might want to cut it down a bit.

5 litres of good rose wine.

Add 1 litre of Vodka.

2 pounds of sugar(you might try to pound this in a mortar, but you could just be vigilant about this dissolving.

Add the zest and juice of 7 untreated Seville oranges.

Leave to ferment as above for up to forty days. Stir it occasionally.

Strain and serve cold or bottle and refrigerate.

White wine will work for this, but the color will be softer. How about using blood oranges?!!!

Bum's Ruhbarb Wine Grammie Cafarella

Here is a note from Grammie to Paul McLaughlin in answer to his request for a recipe for Ruhbarb Wine.

"Dear Paul,
This is for Bum's Ruhbarb wine. Cut Ruhbarb in small pieces. Cover with boiling water. Let stand overnight. Strain next morning. To every quart of juice: add a cup of sugar. Let it stand as long as it ferments. When it stops, bottle it up and seal.
Good Luck
Mary R.

Tomato Wine posted by Mildred Cafarella Sinor

6 lbs ripe tomatoes
l lb seedless raisins
1 gal lukewarm water
6 lbs sugar
2 yeast cakes

Quarter tomatoes, add sugar, raisins and yeast, (dissolved in 1 cup warm water). Add 1 gallon warm water and stir this mixture once a day for 14 days, strain and let sit for one week. Allowing it to sit will give a very clear wine. Bottle, being careful not to stir up the settlings from the bottom.

Grammie's Wine Posted by Nancy Cafarella Bailey

I think that you are on your own with this one. I like it as a document, but I wonder if anyone will get a bottle of wine out of it. I suppose that those of you who have made wine in the past will get the gist of this. Please let me know if anyone uses this recipe successfully.
The photo is when Nancy came up to Houlton, Maine to take Grammie back to Medford. Mom and Grammie had been getting on each others' nerves for awhile and Grammie decided to go back to her home on Palmer Street in Medford where she lived with Aunt May quite happily, I think, till her death. Click on the photo to see a close-up. To read this, do the whole vertical page first. Then go to the horizontal page and start on the right side. Then do the left. The bottom two lines all the way across are last. Grammie talks about having her mother with her in this letter, that puts this before 1961 when her mother died. She would just have moved in to the house on Pleasant Street when this was written.