Upside-Down Cranberry Cake

Yay! My first recipe post. I made this upside-down cranberry cake for Thanksgiving dessert and then also for Christmas. It was a huge hit! I know it's past Christmastime and the holidays, but I think if there's any excuse to eat cranberries, it's this:

 There's still snow on the ground! According to me, that means it's just a-okay to eat cranberry cake.  This particular recipe is so delicious and it stays really good for a few days afterward. Whatever my family didn't eat, my friends sure did when they came by.  It was gone before I knew it.  I ended up making three different cakes. They all turned out absolutely wonderfully. AND - it looks soo so pretty! I didn't take multiple pictures of this cake, but here is the recipe and the process. Enjoy!

Adapated from Joy of Baking

Topping:

5 tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cup light brown sugar
8 oz fresh cranberries (I used as much as it took to cover the pan)

Cake Batter:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (I used kosher salt)
1/2 unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I'm cheap and used imitation vanilla - still turned out great!)
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar


I called my mom while I was at Kroger and asked her "What the hell is cream of tartar?!" She laughed at me and told me it's in the spices aisle. I found it, and when I used it with the eggs I knew what the hell it was - and what it was used for :P

Start off with a 9-inch round cake pan and spray with non-stick spray. I just took a stick of margarine and lined the pan and it worked perfectly well. Granted, my cake pan was non-stick to begin with. But I think the butter helped it come off after it had been baked. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

To make the topping, put the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan. Once it starts to caramelize, take it off of the heat and pour into the buttered cake pan. Then take your washed cranberries and drop them into the butter and brown sugar mixture. Make sure the cranberries cover the base of the cake pan, as this will be the top of your cake, and of course you want it to look pretty!

Now for the cake itself. Take a large bowl and whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Then in the bowl of your electric mixer (a separate bowl from the flour mixture), beat together the butter and sugar until it is fully incorporated and fluffy. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Next, add the egg yolks, one at a time, and beat completely after each addition. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat, then half of the milk. Then beat again. Then another 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat, and the last of the milk. Beat and then add the last of the flour mixture.

This is where the magic happens! In another bowl, add the egg whites and the cream of tartar. Whisk them together until the mixture holds a stiff peak. My arm got tired so I had my boyfriend do it for me. He did it for about 5 minutes - which is a long time to whisk constantly! So get your big guns out and show that tartar and egg white who is boss. Take a spatula and fold half of this mixture into the cake batter mixture. Then take the other half of the egg white mixture and fold it into the rest of the cake batter. Pour the cake batter on top of your beautiful red cranberries. Make sure the top of the cake batter is about as flat and even as you can get it before you put that sucker in the oven.

I put the cake in the oven for about 40 minutes. It was perfectly light brown on the top. I took it out and stuck a toothpick in the center and it came out clean. I waited about ten minutes to make sure that the cake would come out well. I took a knife and sliced around the edge of the cake pan, making sure that it would come off well when I flipped it. I could already tell that it would have turned out well, even without the knife, because the cake had rounded off away from the cake pan. I then put the serving plate on top of the cake pan, then turned it over.

Ta-dah!!! Enjoy.

Black Swan

Photo

***Please don't read this if you have not seen the movie!***

"Black Swan" is a movie which has elicited many different emotions from me. I have seen it now three different times, and each time I become more enamored with Ms. Portman. Her elegance and grace onscreen has not been matched in my lifetime. Throughout her eventual mental breakdown, she goes from proper ballerina to one who disregards the traditional dance to essentially take on the form and looseness - if you will - of the Black Swan.

The movie is about a ballerina named Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) who lives at home with her seemingly overbearing mother. The company she dances with is casting the new Swan Queen for their portrayal of the classic Swan Lake. She wins the role but soon becomes unraveled the deeper she gets into the world of the black swan. The movie-goer is not told what is real and what is in Nina's mind.

Upon leaving the theatre after my first viewing, I was on a type of adrenaline rush. I had to call and talk to someone about what I had just seen. I was excited and sad. The cinematography is fantastic, and all of Darren Aronofsky's classic viewpoints are clearly shown (camera view from behind someone's head, etc). One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when the black swan has completely consumed Portman and she is dancing as the black swan on opening night. She looks into the camera with these maniacal red eyes, big and making an uncomfortable contact with the audience. The recurring hissing noise is very loud in this part, where she stares into the camera.

My personal opinion is that "Black Swan" will be nominated for Best Director (Aronofsky), Best Movie - Drama, and Best Actress (Portman). I believe the only one that will actually win is Natalie Portman for Best Actress. I think she has been a phenomenal talent ever since her debut in "The Professional". 2011 already seems to be her year to shine. Losing 20 lbs (from where?!) for this role is just a minor piece of her dedication to this film.

I would love to hear everyone's opinions on this movie. Will it be nominated for any Oscars? If so, which ones? Which ones will it win?

Welcome to my Magical Mystery World

Welcome to my blog! I'm a newbie, so cut me some slack for the first few months. I'll get the hang of it -- I promise.

My hope for this blog is to share our opinions about the three greatest things in the world: Movies, Music, and Food. What's not to love about these three things that change and affect every day of our lives?

My hope is for you all to converse, share your own opinions, and overall share in our love for these three things, above anything else.

Thanks for looking, and enjoy!