Cakes go through trends just like everything else, and while chiffon cakes were hugely popular just a few decades ago, these days they tend to get upstaged by butter cakes and don’t get served quite as often. Chiffon cakes are foam cakes, cakes that are leavened primarily with beaten egg whites, just like angel food cakes are. In fact, they are very similar in appearance to angel food cakes and are usually baked in the same type of tube pan. Chiffon cakes, unlike angel food cakes, contain both egg yolks and vegetable oil. These two ingredients keep the cake moist, soft and tender and result in a cake that tastes great and keeps well.
Legend has it that the chiffon cake was invented in Los Angeles in the late 1920s by a baker and caterer named Harry Baker. The light and airy, yet moist, cake was a huge hit right off the bat. Although it was popular, Baker kept the recipe a secret for 20 years before finally selling the recipe to General Mills, which introduced it to the American public (via Betty Crocker) in 1948.
They may look delicate, but once the basic cake is in place, you can add all kinds of different flavors into a chiffon cake, whether you want a plain vanilla cake or want to add in some fresh strawberries. The finished cakes have a texture similar to that of an angel food cake, although they tend to be a bit sturdier and a bit more moist. They are typically baked in tube pans as angel food cakes are, but these cakes can also be baked into sheet cakes and cupcakes.
A classic key lime pie is made with sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and lots of fresh key lime juice. In the original recipe, the pie is unbaked and relies on the acid from the lime juice to “cook” the egg yolks and thicken the pie. It works well, but because of concerns with having uncooked eggs in the pie, most key lime pies are baked in the oven or omit the eggs entirely in favor of using gelatin to firm up the pie. There are plenty of really great, slightly non-traditional key lime pies out there, but I find that few have the creaminess of that classic unbaked pie.
Until I made this one, which just might be my new favorite key lime pie recipe.
This is a non-traditional key lime pie in that it tastes like key lime pie, but there is not an egg in sight. This pie uses sweetened condensed milk for sweetness, cream cheese for creaminess and a little bit of gelatin to help the pie firm up while it chills in the refrigerator. It is incredibly light and creamy, and it has such a good lime flavor that you would never know that there was cream cheese in there. I also put a very thin layer of white chocolate between the filling and the graham cracker crust of this pie to ensure that the crust stayed crispy and flavorful, and didn’t get soggy from the filling.
I actually used regular lime juice in this pie and not key lime (because I have a lime tree), so feel free to use whatever limes are convenient to you as long as you use freshly squeezed lime juice. Don’t be tempted to go with bottled juice because not only do you need the lime zest to go into the filling, but you pie won’t have the same flavor as it will with fresh.
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Most cookbook holders sit on the counter. They take up valuable counter space, but that is a small price to pay for having your cookbook or recipe sitting next to you in an easy-to-read spot. That being said, if you could still have easy access to a recipe as you cook without giving up the counter space, it would be a huge plus. This is the main selling feature of the Cooknook Cookbook Holder. The Cooknook mounts right under your cabinets, where it easily holds most cookbooks (maybe not some of the really huge ones!) off the counter and where it is easy to read. There is even a magnetic plate at the front of the holder where you can pin up recipes that aren’t in cookbooks, whether you’re using a family recipe scribbled down on a recipe card or a page torn from a magazine.
I’d probably keep this out all the time, propping the next cookbook I plan on using in it even when I’m not cooking, but if you don’t want to clutter your kitchen up, you should also know that this holder will fold up underneath the cabinet that it has been attached to to keep it out of the way when you’re not using it.
Sometimes, it’s hard to pass up a really good looking cookie and these Cookeys were no exception – except for the fact that these cookies aren’t exactly edible. Cookeys are rubbery key caps that are shaped like chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies. They’re made by Fred, a designer known for coming up with all kinds of cute, food-related things, like the Cakewich Cake Pan and Light Bites Candles. One thing that I particularly like about the Cookeys is that they are very cute but, unlike some of my other foodie accessories, take up next to no space. Simply pop them onto your house key or car key and tuck them away in your purse or pocket. They’re a great gift for yourself, and a neat little present for friends and family, too. But keep in mind that looking at the little sandwich cookies all day might start to give you a craving for the edible variety, so you might also want to pick up a package of real sandwich cookies when you’re at the store next time!
