Red Currant Cake

A guest recipe by Ilana-Davita

red currants
Ilana-Davita presents a lovely currant cake recipe. We don’t see many red currants in New Jersey – I suggest trying the cake with blueberries. I did find an article about red currants suggesting they do exist in New Jersey. I can ask the farmers at our local Highland Park Farmer’s Market. Ilana-Davita says she doesn’t see many blueberries in her part of France. According to this redcurrant Wikipedia article, the North American currants may not taste as good as those of Western Europe.

Ingredients

  • one pound of red currants
  • 3 Tbsp spelt flour (yes, just that small amount of flour is needed)
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3 Tbsp natural cane sugar
  • 1 glass (appr. 200ml) of buttermilk or milk substitute such as almond milk or oat milk
  • 1 pkt of vanilla sugar (may use vanilla extract)

Mix the flour and salt with the eggs. Add the sugar and milk. Grease a baking pan and lay the currants at the bottom. Add the batter and sprinkle with the vanilla sugar. Bake for 45 minutes at 360°F.

This recipe is my mom’s but I have changed it slightly. She uses plain sugar and flour and mixes the vanilla sugar with the rest of the batter.

red currant cake

This cake reminds me of Mollie Katzen’s Cranapple-Walnut Cake – I used to make that one with whatever fruit I had available. As Mollie noted at the head of the page: “~very moist ♥♥♥.”

And because Ilana-Davita took such a red photo of currants, I am submitting this to Ruby Tuesday:
Ruby Tuesday

Summer Stock: City vs. Suburb

watermelon at picnic
My suburban example is watermelon at the annual Congregation Etz Ahaim picnic in Johnson Park, New Jersey.

New York woman in top hat and black dress
This woman in New York City was accompanied by two men also dressed in black, funny outfits. No idea what they were trying to sell. They did get a lot of people’s attention.

Review with Painting

detail of still life oil painting by Elaine Wenger
detail of still life oil painting by Elaine Wenger

This is a detail of a still life painting by my mother, Elaine Wenger.

This week I converted my blog to what is known as Responsive Web Design – in other words, the blog should look good both on large windowed browsers and on small mobile phones. You can see what I mean by shrinking the corner of the browser page.

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

Nature Notes: Catbirds + Gardens

flower garden in June
My flowers-instead-of-grass front lawn meadow is doing nicely. I believe the last time my husband mowed the front lawn was two years ago? Three?

berry - lone raspberry
In our backyard, the raspberries are beginning to appear. This makes our yard even more inviting for the birds.

catbird on tomato plant holder
About two weeks ago the catbirds showed up again in our backyard. They seem to love resting on my tomato plant holders.

hydrangea
Do catbirds like hydrangea? I like this white flowering shrub, even if they don’t notice.

catbird up close
Unlike other birds, such as the cardinals in the winter, the catbirds don’t seem to mind when I get up close with my camera.

catbird taking off
I think this catbird is about to take off. They make such endearing sounds, like a meowing kitten.

For more Nature Notes:
Nature Notes

Watery Boy

beach boy
My middle son graduated from eighth grade last night and then left for camp. Today he is flying to camp, which started yesterday, as he didn’t want to miss graduation. I’m a little sad – I miss him! I know it’s a cliché, but they *do* grow up too fast.

This frolic-in-the-waves photo was taken last month at Asbury Park Beach.

For more watery photos, visit Watery Wednesday:
Watery Wednesday

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