Real Time Recipes: Sweet for Spring

Orange, Almond, Butter Cake

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup cake flour
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon orange zest (Use a microplane for a really fine texture; 1 large orange will usually be enough.)

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1½ cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1¼ cups milk
½ cup almond meal, finely ground almonds. (You can add roasted, unsalted almonds to a food processor and pulse until you have a fine meal.)

See the full recipe: Orange, Almond, Butter Cake

Rose and Strawberry Ice Cream

Pastry Chef Yoomi Shelton of the Palo Alto Grill finds inspiration for this dessert from the flowers and fruit of spring.

“In spring I always think of flowers,” she says. “I looked at roses and wanted to use both a bit of the color and the aroma.”

Paired with the bright, creamy flavor of strawberry ice cream, the rose flavor adds a depth and complexity to this beautiful dessert.

Chef Shelton’s work at Palo Alto Grill, a modern interpretation of the steakhouse, not only includes desserts but also freshly baked breads. Along with her husband, Executive Chef Ryan Shelton, they “try to take the traditional steakhouse and be more fun, creative and seasonal.”

Her creations include the “Epi Pretzel” served with cheese mustard and her house-made brioche buns. She bakes the Epi Pretzels every hour to ensure the best possible product: “Bread is so much better just out of the oven, we want to share that with the customer.”

As for Chef Shelton’s dessert program, she cooks seasonally but also tries “to have a balance of big chocolate and caramel flavors and light fruit flavors. And always a macaroon, I love macaroons and make them with any fresh seasonal flavors.”

1 cup strawberry purée
½ cup sugar
½ cup milk
½ cup cream
¼ cup egg yolk
1 vanilla bean
½ teaspoon rose water
Lemon juice, to taste

See the full recipe: Rose and Strawberry Ice Cream