Tasty Recipes from Recipe Wizards

This is the time of year when couples who got engaged over the holidays (or who may be getting engaged on Valentine’s Day) will start to think about all of the details that make a wedding a wedding.

Flowers, cake, dresses, cake, honeymoon, cake.

OK, you already know I’m food-obsessed, but wedding cakes are a particular passion.

They have come a long way since those 1970s and ’80s creations of plastic staircases and fountains spewing water dyed to match the bridesmaids’ dresses. (Now please don’t take offense if I have just described your wedding cake. I realize you were the height of fashion at the time, and I’m sure it coordinated fabulously with that frosty blue eye shadow the bridesmaids were wearing.)

The current design trend is for high-end simplicity.

Today’s wedding cake is likely to be a stack of three to five layers, covered in smooth fondant with simple embellishments of ribbons, dots or scroll work. If there are flowers, they are likely to be gum paste creations that have the look of sculpted porcelain, sitting on the top of the cake where the bride and groom used to be.

Aside from being the featured dessert at most receptions, the cake is a major player when it comes to setting the tone and style of a wedding.

Rick Reeves, whose family has been baking wedding cakes in Akron, Ohio, said he already knows what most couples will want – traditional stacked layers.

“That’s the fashion right now. Stacked, with ribbon or simple scroll work, which is very, very popular,” he said.

Reeves remembers those cakes of the past when the layers were separated and connected with bridges, arches and stairways. One cake may have been composed of nine or 10 layers. Now, three to five layers, all stacked on top of each other, are the only style that brides want.

Design work is more delicate, and intricate patterns will cover the sides of the cake, as opposed to roses and swags of icing. During peak wedding season, Reeves will produce about 15 cakes per weekend, only three or four of which will have the older style icing decorations.

While fondant frosting is all the rage on television cake shows, brides haven’t yet fully embraced it for several reasons, not the least of which is cost.

Fondant adds an average of $1.50 per serving to the cost of a wedding cake at local bakeries.

Fondant is a sugar-paste confection that is rolled out into sheets that cover an entire layer of cake. The result is a covering that looks sleek, modern, and sophisticated with clean lines and soft curved edges, said Barb Talevich, owner of Akron’s popular West Side Bakery.

Talevich said about half of the wedding cakes she creates are covered in fondant, the other half in traditional buttercream.

She said the taste of fondant has greatly improved over the years, but some people are still wary of it.”It tastes so much better than it used to. We import ours from Switzerland, and yes, it is more expensive, but it is really good,” she said.

LaVada Holman, who teaches cake decorating classes at Grandma’s Kitchen in Springfield Township, Ohio, and bakes cakes from her home business, Cakes by LaVada, said the secret to fondant is to roll it as thin as possible and to make sure the cake has a generous layer of buttercream frosting underneath.

Because fondant and gum paste, which is used to sculpt flowers or other decorations, are the preferred media on the popular television shows “Ace of Cakes” and “Cake Boss,” most couples already have strong ideas of what they want their cakes to look like.

“That’s what everybody is into – fondant cakes with gum paste flowers or anything specialty, dimensional, topsy-turvy,” Holman said.

Gum paste flowers can be simple, but in a striking bold color, Talevich said. Jewel tones – garnet, purple, ruby – are very popular for flowers now. But they’ll be used sparingly – three or four dramatic blooms to add a pop of color to a cake covered in white fondant. Dramatic bows of fondant or lacy sides also are popular, she said.

If a bride and groom are sitting on top of the cake, chances are it is a vintage couple that sat on the cake of the couple’s parents or grandparents, Talevich said. Most cake toppers are flower clusters or monograms.

Holman said she sometimes gets a request from a couple for a bride and groom made from gum paste to look like the actual bridal couple.

“They get funky, they really do. There are a lot of bolder colors. They like to have their personality in there, so you can see something of them in it,” she said.

Reeves said he has done a cake to look like a sand castle because the groom proposed to the bride with a sand castle on the beach and the couple wanted to re-create it for their wedding.

At the end of the day, Talevich said most brides still favor a traditional white frosted cake. Bold colors are saved for the decorations. They’ll look at cakes covered in boldly colored fondant and marvel, but order something more traditional. “They’ll say, oh my gosh, that’s so beautiful, but . . .” she said.

Now is the time of year when we’re all reaching into boxes and drawers to pull out family recipes to make our favorites for the holidays.

For me, it’s my mother’s recipe for Date and Nut Bars that I hunt for every year. Mom clipped the recipe from the newspaper in 1959 and they’ve been on our Christmas cookie plate nearly every year since. As a child, I would dread them, favoring sweeter, gooier cookies.

Now, they are one of my favorites – moist and chewy and filled with nuts. My sister and I laugh that we knew we were getting old when we started looking forward to the bars instead of avoiding them.

Every year, when I’m digging through piles of unruly clippings and pieces of paper looking for the recipe, I vow that next year will be the one when I organize all of my recipes into a book of family favorites.

That hasn’t happened yet.

But I’ve found some inspiration in the work of Carol Kraszewski of Akron, Ohio, who this year is giving a family cookbook to her four children and eight grandchildren for the holidays.

The first copies of Our Family Memories and Recipes appeared at Thanksgiving. Kraszewski had been working on the project for about two years, wading her way through different computer programs with the assistance of her son Tom and daughter Karen.

The 108-page book is far more than just a recipe collection. It’s a family history filled with stories, photos and artwork from Kraszewski’s grandchildren. She asked each of her children and grandchildren to submit a memory for the book, and their stories grace its pages.

The cover art is a drawing by her granddaughter Jennifer Rinaldi, 12, of Kent, Ohio, which shows off some of grandma’s best baking – chocolate chip and cream-filled clothespin cookies.

The page that contains Aunt Marguerite Rosenberg’s recipe for Beef Brisket also has a photo of Aunt Marguerite.

Kraszewski scanned copies of handwritten recipes from her own mother, Bertha Coburn, onto a page in their original form so that generations to come will be able to read Grandma Coburn’s recipes in her own writing.

She also included many traditional Polish favorites from her husband Eugene’s family.

After printing 20 copies of each page, Kraszewski placed them inside plastic sleeves, and then clipped them into binders. Kraszewski decided to use loose-leaf binders, rather than having the book bound, so family members could add other recipes as they get them or take out ones they don’t use.

Kraszewski said she wasn’t intending to take two years to finish the book, but found that the computer work took longer than expected.

The idea for a family cookbook came about because of her granddaughter Mariette Piermarini’s interest in baking.

A sophomore at Walsh University, Mariette, 19, has been baking Christmas cookies with Kraszewski since she was 4 years old. Kraszewski likes to say that her granddaughter used to be her assistant, but now Mariette is the baker and she is the assistant.

Over the years, Mariette would ask for copies of recipes and after writing them out time after time, it dawned on Kraszewski that a family cookbook would be a great way to hand down all of the recipes to everyone.

“It’s a good way to connect,” she said.

Now, Kraszewski said she’s had friends and extended family asking for a copy of the book.

While the Kraszewski family cookbook is just debuting, the Reymanns’ is now in its fifth printing.

Mary Ellen Reymann said the idea for the cookbook came about in the 1980s, when members of the large Akron family had gathered for an aunt’s funeral.

“We were commenting about what a good cook she was and asking, ‘Did anyone get her recipe for such-and-such?’” Reymann recalled.

Eventually, granddaughter Diane Rosenberg and several other family members got together to make the project a reality in 1989.

Reymann Remembrances and Recipes begins with an extensive family history and family tree of Charles and Mary Salome Reymann, who raised 16 children in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood. Charles Reymann founded the Atlantic Foundry Co. in Akron and the San Hygiene Furniture Manufacturing Co.

The extended family includes more than 50 grandchildren, and so many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren that Mary Ellen Reymann (who is married to grandson Dick Reymann) said the family has pretty much stopped counting.

At their annual Christmas parties on Dec. 26, they sometimes wore name tags, she laughed.

The book, now 20 years old, has recipes from 104 family members representing 20 states. Originally distributed only to family, the book eventually became a fundraiser to support the Reymann Family Foundation, a charity that supports group homes for developmentally disabled adults. The family’s original home at 403 Canton Road currently serves as a group home.

Family members sell the book for $10.

Reymann said the best part of the book is that it includes recipes that are tried and true, as well as a bit of family fun. One uncle submitted a recipe for stuffing a turkey with popcorn.

“They are family favorites. Everybody loves them and everybody is always thrilled to get a copy,” she said.

For a copy of the Reymann book, contact Mary Ellen Reymann at 330-733-9493.

I’m including a copy of Kraszewski’s recipe for Tea Cakes, an easy cookie that is a favorite with her grandchildren.

And until next week, have fun in the kitchen, where every day is a new page for our family cookbooks.

MOM’S TEA CAKES

1 box yellow cake mix

11/3 cups cake flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup plus 4 tbsp. milk

1/3 cup plus 3 tbsp. water

1/3 cup plus 4 tbsp. oil

3 eggs

Beat all ingredients together for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Drop by teaspoon or tablespoon on hot griddle (350 to 375 degrees). Cook as a pancake. When top bubbles up, turn over and cook a few more minutes.

Cool on a cake rack.

When cool, frost with decorator icing, any color you wish.

-Carol Kraszewski, Akron

It’s hard to imagine soup other than in a steaming bowl.

But cold soup, once you get used to the idea, can be a refreshing change of pace for a sweltering summer day.

Carla Snyder, who co-wrote “300 Sensational Soups” with Meredith Deeds, said lots of people are familiar with gazpacho, or vichyssoise, which is associated with fancy French cuisine. Beyond that, cold soups are still a bit of a mystery to many, she said.

Cold soups typically showcase fresh vegetables or fruits and are easy to put together, often requiring no cooking. A cold soup is perfect for a light summer meal, but also works well as an appetizer or dessert.

Chef Rodney Hunt, of Robert J. Events & Catering in Akron, Ohio, said he often serves cold soup as an appetizer, presenting it in a shooter glass or cordial glass.

He said a small shot of soup is perfect for the food trend of small plates, and makes a surprising appetizer. “Chilled soup is a little more refreshing,” he said.

For parties at home, Snyder said, using shot glasses, perhaps ones that have been collected over the years from traveling, is a fun way to display a collection of vacation memorabilia.

When preparing cold soups, always begin with the freshest produce because it will provide the backbone for the soup. “With summer soups, the quality of the ingredients is really key,” Snyder said.

With melon soups, for example, a watery bland melon will produce a soup of the same quality.

Soups can be pureed in a blender or food processor, or with an immersion blender. Snyder said a traditional blender will inject more air into a puree and make for a smoother, more velvety soup.

Cold soups typically require more seasoning than hot soups, because they aren’t being heated, which helps to release the flavors of herbs and spices. Snyder said some cold soups are made hot and then chilled. When cooking, they may taste just right, but after chilling, their flavors may not be as intense, so it’s always a good idea to taste them cold and adjust salt, pepper and other spices.

Many cold soups call for the addition of heavy cream or sour cream, and Snyder said it’s OK to lighten them up with yogurt or a lighter cream. However, taking out fat is another reason to increase the spice and seasoning. “Bump up the flavors a little bit when you cut the fat because you cut back on the soup’s ability to carry flavor forward,” she said.

Hunt said he likes to add spice to fruit soups for an unexpected flavor twist. He pairs mango with jalapeno and cantaloupe with Tabasco sauce for combinations that are sweet and spicy.

MANGO JALAPENO HURRICANE

4 ripe mangoes, peeled and diced

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely diced

1 tbsp. fresh lime juice

Pinch of salt

Cilantro, for garnish

Place mango, lime juice and salt into a food processor or blender and puree.

Stir in peppers. Don’t puree the peppers; it will make the soup too hot.

Chill for at least an hour.

Pour into cordial glasses and garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

Makes 20 appetizer-size servings.

- Chef Rodney Hunt, Robert J. Events & Catering

ZESTY CANTALOUPE SHOOTER

1 medium cantaloupe, peeled, seeds removed, diced

1 tbsp. Tabasco sauce

4-ounces sour cream, for garnish

Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

Puree cantaloupe and Tabasco sauce in a blender or food processor. Chill for at least one hour before serving.

Serve in shot glasses topped with a dollop of sour cream and a mint sprig.

Makes 20 appetizer-size servings.

- Chef Rodney Hunt

GUACAMOLE SOUP

1 serrano chile pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup tightly packed fresh cilantro leaves

2 avocados, halved, seed removed and removed from their skin

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup, diced seeded tomatoes

Crispy tortilla strips (recipe follows)

In a food processor or blender, process chile pepper, garlic and cilantro until finely chopped, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary. Add avocados, stock, lime juice and salt. Process until smooth.

Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, if necessary.

Ladle into chilled bowls and garnish with tomatoes and tortilla strips.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

CRISPY TORTILLA STRIPS

Vegetable oil 6 (6-inch) corn tortillas, halved, then cut crosswise into matchstick-size strips

Salt

In a saucepan, heat 3/4 inch oil over medium heat until it registers 350 degrees on a thermometer. Add tortilla strips in 4 batches and fry until crisp and light golden, 30 to 45 seconds.

Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove tortilla strips to a plate lined with paper towels. Season to taste with salt. Let cool and use within 3 hours.

Makes about 3 cups, enough to garnish 6 to 8 servings of soup.

- “300 Sensational Soups,” Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds

SHRIMP COCKTAIL SOUP WITH HORSERADISH CREAM

For the soup:

8 cups chilled vegetable cocktail, such as V8

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp. prepared horseradish

2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp. celery salt

1 tsp. cracked black pepper

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and halved lengthwise

Juice of 1 lemon 2 tbsp. minced fresh chives

For the horseradish cream:

1/2 cup whipping cream 1 tbsp. prepared horseradish

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large pitcher, combine vegetable juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, celery salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning with celery salt, pepper, lemon juice or horseradish, if necessary. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add shrimp and lemon juice. Cover, remove from heat and let stand for 3 minutes. Drain shrimp and plunge into an ice bath to cool quickly. Drain again and pat dry. The shrimp will have curled into attractive corkscrew shapes. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, for up to 3 hours.

Prepare the horseradish cream: In a bowl, beat cream with a whisk or mixer until thick. Fold in horseradish and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, for up to 24 hours.

Pour soup into chilled bowls and garnish with shrimp and horseradish cream. Sprinkle with chives.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

- “300 Sensational Soups”