Crumb Topped Blueberry-Lemon Cheesecake Bars

I think this is one of the hardest posts I've ever had to write. Well, I don't have to write it, but I want to. I want to tell you a little bit about my Grandma.

She was not your typical grandma. If I had to describe her in one word, I would say she was sassy. Or spunky. She was full of attitude and always, always expressed her opinion, whether it was wanted or not. She could always take care of herself, and never wanted a fuss made over her. She was really cool and laid back... I can definitely see myself being like her when I get older.

She loved to listen to classic rock. Don't you love that? Now that's a woman with good taste in music. The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Blondie are a few bands that come to mind. I'm more of a Gimme Shelter kind-of-gal, but Grandma's favorite Rolling Stones' song was Paint it Black.

Grandma would come stay with us when my parents would go out of town, and she would always bring a big dish of her famous mac and cheese for us to nosh on. We live close to a Russel Stover's factory-store, and Grandma would drive us down there and buy us chocolate covered-toffee and ice cream cones with Bluebell ice cream. Grandma's favorite flavor? Black Walnut. Wow, Grandma. That's a crazy favorite flavor. No chocolate chip cookie dough?

I'm not a huge fan of black walnut ice cream, but I did like the black walnut cookies she would bring over at Christmas, along with jam thumbprints and pecan puffs. OH Lordy were those delicious.

I'm thankful Grandma lived so close, because I was able to see her a lot growing up, on weekend visits and holidays. I have early memories of eating lunch at her house with my family. I remember she made really good creamed peas and potatoes. And crescent rolls. Well, she didn't make those, but she baked them in the oven and they were delicious.

She loved to cook, and she loved reading food magazines, cookbooks, and watching Food Network (especially Ina Garten). Same as me! Whenever we would get together we would discuss what shows we had watched recently. I think her love of cooking was passed on to my dad, and he passed it on to me.

Grandma followed my cooking career quite closely, and supported it fully. She would always try whatever desserts I whipped up on special occasions. I think maybe I got my sweet tooth from her. She once told me that whenever her mother wanted something sweet, she would just eat a spoonful of sugar. Isn't that crazy?!
I couldn't believe that when she told me.



I know she would have enjoyed these Crumb Topped Blueberry-Lemon Cheesecake Bars. They're extraordinarily good, and my favorite dessert I've made in a while. The base to these bars is a buttery shortbread, topped with lemony cheesecake filling, followed by fresh blueberries, and a crumb topping made from brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, flour and toasted almonds.

I'm pretty sure she liked blueberries. I know she didn't like rhubarb...
Oh Grandma. I will miss you. Sigh. Everyone will miss you. You were loved. You were a very important part in many people's lives.

I know you're still here with us all.

This one's for you, Gram.

Crumb Topped Blueberry-Lemon Cheesecake Bars (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

Crust:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar

Filling:
12 ounces cream cheese, (1 1/2 packages) softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 large eggs
1 pint fresh blueberries

Topping:
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, toasted
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9-inch pan with foil and grease bottom and sides using preferred method.

To make the crust, in a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until creamy, about 1-2 minutes; reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture until just combined and crumbly. Press mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden around edges; remove from oven.

To make the filling, in a medium bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together cream cheese and sugar until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in lemon juice, zest and almond extract until combined. Beat in eggs until combined, about 1 minute; pour filling over the top of crust, and evenly sprinkle with blueberries. Return pan to oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until set.

To make the topping, in a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour, almonds, cinnamon and salt, until combined; knead in butter using fingertips or a fork, until ingredients are well incorporated and start to clump together. Sprinkle the crumbly mixture evenly over the cheesecake filling. Return pan to oven and bake an additional 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for an hour before lightly covering and chilling for 2 hours, or until cold. Lift foil out of pan and slice cheesecake into rows, 3x5, to make 15 bars.

Makes 15 bars

White Chocolate Chai Scones

I'm sad today. I don't feel funny at all. I feel numb. I lost a great family member yesterday. I loved her very much and I'm having a hard time with it. I want to tell you more about about my grandmother, but it's too difficult right now.

I will tell you though, and I know it is personal, but this blog is about cooking AND my life, and she was a big part of my life.

If I think too much, I get sad and want to cry, so I've been keeping myself busy. So I wanted to go ahead and post today to give me something to do.

I made White Chocolate Chai Scones, and these are very, very tasty. Once you start making scones, you can't stop I discovered. I still have one more scone recipe to post. I used the flavors of chai tea in this: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, and for a little extra kick, I used tonka bean.

Its flavor is reminiscent of vanilla, almond, cinnamon, and clove. It had been used as a vanilla substitute, but was banned in the United States, because it contains anticoagulant coumarin, which can be lethal in large doses.



I think that's a bunch of baloney. I want tonka beans! Unless you were taking blood-thinning medication, you would be fine. Luckily I had a nice Canadian friend send me one. I went outside to receive the package, glanced around, then smuggled it under my jacket and brought it inside the house.

Ha. Look at that - I just made a joke. So anyway, I grated some of the tonka bean into the other spices and made a chai scone. A little white chocolate glaze on top, and some cinnamon-sugar makes a mighty fine scone and a mighty fine breakfast.

Tootles.

White Chocolate Chai Scones (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon grated tonka bean (optional)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs, divided
2/3 cup sour cream
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted with a little shortening
Cinnamon-Sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a large cookie sheet.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom and tonka bean; whisk in sugar until combined. Knead in butter, using fingertips, until incorporated, and small lumps form.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 1 egg, sour cream and vanilla until well combined; add liquid to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pat dough into a 2-inch thick round on a floured surface; slice into 12 equal wedges, and transfer to cookie sheet. Whisk additional egg in a small bowl, and brush evenly on scones.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack; evenly brush with white chocolate and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

Makes 12 scones

Mixed Berry Bread Pudding with Lemon Whipped Cream

Lately, is it driving anyone crazy to go grocery shopping or shopping at farmers' markets? It's making me crazy because there is so much beautiful produce coming in, and it's impossible for me to buy it all up and do something with it. I usually run out of time and it ends up spoiling.

I ran into this problem with fruit recently. I bought bananas, blueberries, strawberries and blackberries all in the same day. What was I thinking? I just couldn't help myself; all of it looked SO good and it was SO cheap. Of course I couldn't eat it all in time, and it was starting to get old. Here's what I did:

This is a great tip for you. I feel like Martha Stewart. I feel like this is a tip you could find in a food magazine. Okay, so I washed the fruit and placed it evenly on a sheet pan and froze it. When it was frozen, I placed the fruit in a plastic bag and kept it in the freezer. Whenever I want fresh fruit to put on my cereal in the "morning" I just grab a handful from the bag. It goes great on generic Honey Bunches of Oats.



So convenient and easy! When you freeze fruit like that, it doesn't clump together so much. Give it a try, okay? That's my first and only tip for you.

This Mixed Berry Bread Pudding with Lemon Whipped Cream is something I made right when I bought the berries. Berries and bread pudding are a perfect match. All you need to go with it is a little sweetened whipped cream with lemon zest.

The perfect, easy dessert for summertime.

Mixed Berry Bread Pudding with Lemon Whipped Cream (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

3 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, plus an additional 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 cups coarsely chopped good, buttery, eggy bread or rolls
1 1/4 cups mixed berries
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 6 (1-cup) ramekins with foil; coat with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, 1 1/4 cups sugar and almond extract until well combined; stir in bread and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Stir in berries, then divide into ramekins.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cool for 15 minutes before lifting foil out of ramekins. Flip puddings over and remove foil. Top with lemon whipped cream and serve.

To make the lemon whipped cream, in a medium bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat together additional 2 tablespoons sugar, cream and lemon zest, for 1-2 minutes, until stiff peaks form.

Makes 6 servings

Blueberry, White Chocolate & Toasted Walnut Scones

Yes, that's right - three posts in a week! I have to crank these out fast, because the recipes are building up. That doesn't sound good, but I'm just saying I have a lot of saved recipes on here and they're getting old. So there's no time to waste!

Hopefully my pictures will be getting better soon. Oh Nuts Eric bought me a tripod for my birthday, so no more tilted pictures! Thank you, sweetie! Then, I took the money on my giftcard and purchased a new lens for my camera. I can't wait for my lens... it should be here any day now.

I also can't wait for my Build a Better Burger cookbook to get here. A special Build a Better Burger celebrity friend is sending me a copy. I've been researching and making burgers lately. Are some of you trying to find that perfect burger recipe for the summer? Maybe this video will help you. It helped me.
It helped me a lot.



Just look at all of those cheeseburgers! With ONIONS!



But back to Oh Nuts Eric and Blueberry, White Chocolate & Toasted Walnut Scones. I baked these up and I wasn't really sure how they would turn out, but they were delicious! I think they're the best scones I've ever baked. Eric took a bite out of one right after I baked them and proclaimed them as, "F%$#@ing delicious" and that startled me for a second and then I said thank you, and I would be using that review on my blog.

For a good scone, you want them more like a biscuit than cake, and the secret is to not overwork the dough, and not use too much liquid. The buttery biscuit dough is mixed with yogurt, egg, vanilla, white chocolate chips, toasted walnuts, and the most important ingredient - fresh blueberries.

If you don't feel like baking scones, visit a Starbucks on Tuesday, July 21st, between opening and 10:30 AM, and receive a free pastry with the purchase of your beverage. They have blueberry scones and they're delicious. Very good scones.
I will not be going because I will be sleeping.

Blueberry, White Chocolate & Toasted Walnut Scones (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (spooned into cup & leveled with knife)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3 large eggs, divided use
1/4 cup yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; whisk in 6 tablespoons sugar until combined. Knead in butter, using fingertips, until well incorporated and mixture starts to clump together, forming pea-sized lumps. Gently stir in blueberries, walnuts and white chocolate chips until combined.
In a small bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, yogurt and vanilla until combined; sprinkle into flour mixture and toss together using a fork.

Turn shaggy dough out onto a floured surface, and gently pat and knead until it comes together, handling as little as possible. Form two (6-inch) rounds. Insides of the rounds should be thicker. Slice each round into 6 equal triangles and place on cookie sheets. Whisk the addtional egg in a small bowl and brush evenly on scones; sprinkle with additional sugar if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks until ready to serve.

Makes 12 scones

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

My younger sister Hannah and I are going to start a new business venture. That's right, folks. We're taking this gig on the road and it's going to be big - real big, see.

We're going to make a killing on this new product that we're making and selling. I'll be able to go to culinary school in New York with the money I make. Hannah will be able to pay off her Ford Focus sooner than expected.

We've invented a new product that you can decorate your home with. Keep it on display for a conversation piece. You can give it as a gift to your loved ones. These are true keepsakes that you'll treasure forever.

We don't have a name yet for these pieces of art, but let me show you what they are:

Paper napkins shaped into ice cream cones using tape.

These are one-of-kind, genuine napkins. We're only selling them for a limited time, so get them while you can, with three easy payments of $29.99. That's right, folks. These are selling like hotcakes, see.



To promote our new product, today I've made some ice cream sandwiches for you, and I will include one in the shipment of your purchase. I baked up some big, soft chocolate cookies, then filled them with the strawberry ice cream I made.

Mmmm delicious and perfect for the summertime. Ice cream, strawberry, chocolate, paper napkin ice cream cones... life is good. Sorry for wasting your time today with this nonsense.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, or 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 quart strawberry ice cream, softened


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a small sheet pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until creamy, about 1 minute; beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined, about 1 minute. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture and milk until just combined; stir in chocolate chips by hand.

Spread batter evenly onto sheet pan. Bake for for 15-20 minutes or until brown around edges; cool 20 minutes before cutting into rounds using a round cookie cutter. Place rounds in the freezer for 10 minutes to cool. Spread as much ice cream as desired on rounds, then cover to make sandwiches. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until ready to serve.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

I'm kinda weird about cheesecake. It's the one dessert I don't entirely love, and I don't know why. It has always been like that, my entire life. It's very confusing to me - how can you NOT love cheesecake? A buttery graham cracker crust topped with sweetened whipped cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla. It doesn't make sense.

I just prefer cakes, pies, cookies, brownies. Maybe it's that I'm not that crazy about cream cheese. Could that be it? But, oh, how I love cheesecake crust. Mmm. And any of the toppings. So that is how it has been my whole life. I eat the crust and topping off of the cheesecake and leave the filling.

I know, it's crazy. It's time for me to grow up and stop being such a cheesecake baby.

But who wants to turn their oven on for an hour and bake cheesecake when it's 100 degrees outside?



No one. That's why you need to make this easy ice cream with cheesecake chunks in it. Chunks doesn't sound appetizing, but I swear the cheesecake chunks are delicious, and I don't even "like" cheesecake. They're made with cream cheese, graham cracker crumbs and confectioners' sugar, then added to the ice cream base. The ice cream base is made with heavy cream, milk, sugar and vanilla bean, with strawberries and strawberry preserves swirled in.

So no, this ice cream doesn't contain eggs, but it is SO good. I've never made ice cream without eggs, and I was worried, but I loved how creamy and smooth the texture of this was. And the flavor was really clean and simple. Does that make sense?

Anyway, give this a try. Strawberries are cheap! Do it! Now!

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

3 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup milk (2%)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced strawberries
1/3 cup strawberry preserves

Bring cream, granulated sugar and corn starch, to a boil, in a large saucepan, over medium heat, whisking frequently; remove pan from heat and whisk in milk, vanilla bean seeds and vanilla bean pod. Infuse for ten minutes, before removing vanilla bean pod and placing cream in a large mixing bowl. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until cold, about 3-4 hours, but preferably overnight.

In a medium mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar until combined, about 1 minute; beat in graham cracker crumbs until combined. Set aside.

Bring strawberries and preserves to a boil, in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently; remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator or freezer until cold.

Pour ice cream base into ice cream maker, and process according to manufacturer's direction. In the last 5 minutes of processing, add graham cracker-cream cheese chunks (breaking up the mixture using your fingers) and strawberry mixture to ice cream, and allow to finish churning.
Scrape ice cream into a freezer-proof container, and freeze for 2 hours, or until ready to serve.

Makes 8-10 servings

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake with Raspberry Preserves & Chocolate Ganache

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! I had a nice one. I had the day off from work and got to spend time with family and friends. I got some sweet baking supplies too, as gifts, and I can't wait to use them. Some friends from work also bought me a gift card, which I'm very happy about. I'm going to use it towards something for this blog, so stay tuned. I need to bake them something special as a thank you gift. Cookies, perhaps??

I can't say that anything extremely exciting happened on my birthday. I don't have any craaaazy stories for you. No one stole a piece of my cake this year.



I guess my most exciting moment of the day was getting to try my Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake with Raspberry Preserves & Chocolate Ganache. My favorite kind of cake is chocolate. Dark chocolate with dark chocolate ganache. I love raspberry preserves, Nutella and hazelnuts, so I thought I would use all of these flavors together to make my ultimate birthday cake. It was very delicious; the cake was dark chocolate-y and moist. and I would use this recipe for other chocolate cakes.



I baked this cake in three cake pans, then split each round into two layers. I really hate splitting cakes and I need help with it. I used the floss and toothpick method, and I guess it worked okay, but it stressed me out. I stood there for about ten minutes, just staring at the cakes, before I had the guts to go for it.

That's all for today. I hope to get caught up on reading blogs soon. This is our busiest time of the year at the restaurant I wait tables at, so I'm not getting home until 10:30-11:00 at night. Yup, July is the month when I'm the most tired, most sweaty, most stressed out, and when I get the most candied yams in my hair and gravy on my shirt.

Anyway, try this cake! Make your own version - you could use different preserves, spreads, and nuts.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake with Raspberry Preserves & Chocolate Ganache (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

3 large eggs
2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dark, unsweetened, cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 cups milk

Nutella (about 1 1/4 cups), warmed slightly
Seedless raspberry preserves (about 1 cup), warmed slightly

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (8 or 9-inch) cake pans.

In a medium mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat egg whites (reserving the yolks) until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla and melted chocolate until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture, alternating with milk, until combined, about 2-3 minutes; fold in egg whites, in three additions, until combined.

Divide batter into cake pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake pulls away from sides of pan, and a toothpick inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool for 12 minutes on wire racks before running a knife around outside edges of pans, and inverting onto wire racks to cool completely.

Split each cake in half (freeze for easier slicing). Spread a layer of Nutella and raspberry preserves on each cake half.

To make the ganache, heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, until it comes to a simmer; turn heat off and whisk in chocolate until melted and smooth. Cool until it's a good consistency, then pour and spread over cake. Pack hazelnuts on top and sides of cake.

Makes 12 servings

Italian Wedding Cake

Today, July 4th, 2009, is my twenty-fourth birthday. Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to America! God bless us both.

Yup. I'm pretty excited. I heard on Oprah that twenty-four is the new twenty-three. What was I doing a year ago? This. Twenty-three was fun, but I'm ready for twenty-four. This is the year I'm getting married and having kids.

Bahahaha! That's funny. I'm just kidding.

Hopefully this is the year I will get to go to culinary school. I swear I will never give up on that dream. A culinary career is all I want; there aren't any more options. I used to want to cook and bake, but I think I've realized that I enjoy baking more. So pastry school it is. I'm pretty close to my money goal for school. I just need like, $30,000 more and I'll be set.



Soooo, actually, this Italian Wedding Cake was my sister's birthday cake. You'll see my birthday cake in a few days. Hannah requested an Italian wedding cake, so I searched and searched for recipes. There are not a lot of Italian wedding cake recipes out there. I wasn't even sure what it was exactly, but it's white cake with pineapple, pecans and coconut in it, topped with cream cheese ? frosting. When my sister has had it at restaurants, they usually pour some sort of custard-based sauce on top.



In a 13x9-inch baking dish, I baked a white cake with pineapple, toasted pecans and toasted coconut. I topped it with whipped cream flavored with a little bit of almond extract. I think almond extract can be really good in small doses. Then I made a custard sauce with heavy cream and almond extract to pour on top.

Oh man -this cake was delicious. Give it a try sometime.

Hope everyone has a great fourth of July! I'm going to have some fried chicken with biscuits, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and baked beans.

Italian Wedding Cake (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe


2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, plus an additional 7 tablespoons for topping
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted
2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13x9-inch baking dish/pan.

In a medium sized bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar untii creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in 2 eggs and 2 egg whites (reserving 2 yolks for custard topping) and vanilla, until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture, alternating with milk, until combined - about 2-3 minutes. Beat in pineapple, coconut and nuts until just combined.

Spread cake batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until set, golden brown around edges, and a toothpick inserted into middle of cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the whipped topping, place 1 cup cream in a medium sized mixing bowl, along with 4 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract. Beat together using a mixer on high speed, until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes; spread on cake, cover, and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

To make the custard topping, whisk 2 additional egg yolks in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, whisk together additional 3 tablespoons sugar and additional 1 cup cream; bring to a simmer. Whisk half of cream into eggs, then whisk eggs back into saucepan. Cook mixture, stirring frequently, until custard thickens up, starts to bubble, and coats the back of a spoon. Strain into a medium bowl, whisk in additional 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, and chill, covered, in the refrigerator completely.

For serving, slice cake and ladle a little bit of the custard on top.

Makes 15 servings