i'm going to be perfectly honest, things haven't been the most peachy.
blogs can seem so picture perfect. everywhere i click, there are well designed websites of people whose lives look so lovely and happy and well-lit and full of endless smilez.
once in awhile, this can drive a girl mad.
i try to keep things upbeat around here. no one's favorite thing is reading miserable words paired with pictures of sundaes.
not that i'm always miserable, i'm not.
but i am a human who does occasionally find it difficult to live free and happy in the present.
it's hard to live in the present when you are not super pumped with the present.
so i've been living for the future, the things to look forward to, the things to work for.
like a weekend trip to seattle
a christmas day off, giving people gifts that i love and they deserve.
and an eventual city relocation. to a wonderfully rainy, jacket-wearing, earthquake-heavy city.
these are the things that are pushing me through the shit, week by week.
i must keep my hopes and caffeine intake high.
and on my day off, sundaes.
the breakdown:
yogurt pound cake, scented with vanilla and lemon zest, soft and dense.
tangy lemon and tangerine curd.
vanilla bean ice cream. yesh.
and orange segments.
i am calling it a citrus creamsicle sundae, okay?
(i hope you are having an okay week and have lots of good things to look forward to!)
French Yogurt Pound Cake
from bon appetit
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
3/4 cup whole-milk greek yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
preheat oven to 350 degreesF. coat an 8x4 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray and then dust with flour, tap out the excess.
whisk flour, baking powder, and kosher salt in a medium bowl. using your fingers, rub sugar with lemon zest in a large bowl until sugar is moist and fragrant. add yogurt, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract and whisk to blend. fold in dry ingredients just to blend.
pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. bake until top of the cake is golden brown and a tester comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes.
let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then invert onto rack and let cool completely.
Lemon + Tangerine Curd
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tangerine juice
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest (can throw in some tangerine zest too!)
1/2 cup sugar
small pinch of salt
3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into cubes
whisk together lemon and tangerine juice, zest, sugar, salt, eggs, and yolk in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. bring to a slow simmer and immediately add butter, whisking constantly until curd is thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 8-10 minutes.
strain curd through a fine mesh strainer into a metal bowl. press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd so that a skin doesn't form. chill until cold in the refrigerator, at least an hour.
should last about a week.
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
from the Perfect Scoop, recipe on Dave Lebovitz's site here
to compile the sundae, slice poundcake, dollop on the curd, pile on some citrus segments, and scoop dat ice cream.
