Thursday, November 13, 2014

Nutty Persimmon Cake

It's that time of the year, and Persimmons are ripe and ready.   You can see them on the trees, these bright orange globes, just hanging, waiting to be picked, eaten and savoured

I stopped by a friends house the other day, and went home with a big bag of Persimmons.   They weren't quite ripe yet, but were getting close.
Hachiya Persimmons
The one on the left is ripe, the one on the right is not.

The kind I got was the Hachiya which are best eaten ripe, cause otherwise you pucker right up from the tannins and that's not fun.  They're very astringent in other words, when they're unripe.



Hachiya Persimmons
It's really fun to have them sit on the counter and ripen, cause you can tell, just by looking at them when they're ripe.    The orange globes deepen in color and get totally translucent.   At which point, "THEY'RE RIPE" and need to be eaten or frozen to eat later on.   And they really do feel like filled water balloons when you pick them up.   And so easy to get the pulp out.  Just cut off the top, or twist the calyx off, then use a spoon to scoop it out into a bowl.  
Hachiya Persimmons

Hachiya Persimmons



 Just use your immersion blender to whip it up.

I bet you can use these in smoothies as well.



At any rate, I wanted to find a recipe to make with them.   So I googled and read and disseminated a bunch of recipes.   I found this recipe but didn't want to go out and buy more stuff, and I really only wanted one cake.  I also wanted to use up some of the supplies I had in the cupboard.    So I modified and played with it, and this is what I came up with.   And I found out that most of the recipes had booze in them as well, and gee, guess what, I had booze in my cupboard also

The whole process of putting the cake together was kinda fun as well, cause you put the wet ingredients into the dry, which is basically how you can make muffins.

I vacillated between making one cake or a bunch of cupcakes as well.  And ended up baking it in an 8 inch square glass pan.


Sift flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a large bowl, add the fruit cake mix or dried fruit, set aside.


Mix the melted butter, persimmon puree, bourbon, eggs together. 
Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour the liquids into the well.
Mix until just combined.
  Pour into greased pan.  Bake for about an hour, I checked for doneness after 45 minutes, using a toothpick, and gave it another 15 minutes.

Tip out onto a cooling rack after about 10 minutes and let it cool.    

**I sprinkled some Turbinado sugar in the bottom of the greased pan before I poured in the batter.   And it did make a lovely caramelized bottom for the cake. 


I made a cream cheese frosting for the top, and piped it onto each slice.




When a recipe calls for sifted confectioners sugar, they do mean to sift it before adding it to the frosting.  I had to 'push' my frosting through a sieve to get the lumps out.

sigh.












 I was just going to take the whole cake, let people cut a slice and then top it themselves with the frosting, but decided at the last minute that I could cut it at home, and then I took the frosting with me in a piping bag and piped it onto the cakes at Boat Club.







And that worked quite well.


Yield: one 8x8 inch cake

Nutty Persimmon Cake

prep time: 15 MINScook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 hours and 15 mins
This is a rich, moist, delicious cake.

ingredients:


  • 2 cups self rising flour
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. molasses
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup American Honey Bourbon
  • 1 1/2 cup persimmon
  • 6 oz. chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup fruit cake dried fruit mix or your own mixture of chopped dried fruit
Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 8 oz. Cream Cheese
  • 1 jar Marshmallow Cream (7 oz).
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup sifted confectioner sugar
  • 2 tablespoons American Honey Bourbon

instructions:


  1. Sift flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a large bowl, add the fruit cake mix or dried fruit, set aside.
    Mix the melted butter, persimmon puree, bourbon, eggs together. 

    Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour the liquids into the well.
    Mix until just combined. Pour into greased pan.  Bake for about an hour, I checked for done ness after 45 minutes, using a toothpick, and gave it another 15 minutes.
    Tip out onto a cooling rack after about 10 minutes and let it cool.    
  2. For the Frosting:
    Mix together, and taste.  Pipe or spread onto the cooled cake and serve.

notes

I sprinkled some Turbinado sugar in the bottom of the greased pan before I poured in the batter.   And it did make a lovely caramelized bottom for the cake.
Created using The Recipes Generator
I think this cake would be totally awesome served warm with some spiced whipped cream as well.

And guess what, I still have some persimmons left, and as soon as they ripen, they'll be residing in the freezer until the next time I make this cake.   And I will make it again.

All recipes and their respective images are either original or adapted and credited, and are all the sole property of Sid's Sea Palm Cooking © 2011-2017, with all rights reserved thereof.
  
Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

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