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You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Cooking / Friday Recipe Exchange: Simple Fruit Desserts

Friday Recipe Exchange: Simple Fruit Desserts

by Anne Laurie|  May 16, 201410:57 pm| 50 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Recipes

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jeffrey w creme fraiche

JefferyW makes Creme Fraiche

.

From our Food Goddess, TaMara:

This week cooking was centered on desserts, most by request, so I thought it would make a good theme for tonight’s recipe exchange.

JeffreyW made one of my favorite toppings, Creme Fraiche, pictured above and recipe here.

He also makes quite a few dump cakes, which are easy fruit desserts. A yummy sample are his Cherry Pineapple here and Apple Crunch here.

I have a Blueberry Upside Down Cake in the oven as I write this, and if it turns out tasty and photogenic, I’ll post photos and recipe tomorrow.

Until then, what’s on your plate this weekend? Is it time for grilling yet? Hit the comments and don’t forget to share your favorite fruit desserts.

BTW, if you haven’t seen the latest visitor to the shelter Mrs. J volunteers at, he has stolen my heart, check out Hank.

Tonight’s featured recipe is my annual birthday cake for a friend. Simple to make and very tasty:

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Sometimes I substitute crushed pineapple. It needs to be drained well, using a mesh strainer and I usually omit the addition of 1 tbsp pineapple juice because even after draining, there’s usually about that much left in the crushed fruit. You can also substitute blueberries or other fruits to a make a different kind of upside down cake.
tamara pineapple upside down cake

8 oz can sliced pineapple, in pineapple juice
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
======

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
stemmed maraschino cherries, stems removed (opt)
8×8 glass baking dish and mixing bowl

Drain pineapple, reserve juice. Melt 3 tbsp of butter and add to baking dish with brown sugar and 1 tbsp of reserved pineapple juice. Mix well. Arrange pineapple slices over sugar and butter mixture. In bowl, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beat until fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, add to creamed mixture. Add enough water to remaining pineapple juice to make 1/2 cup and add to batter, mixing well (it will be lumpy) and then pour over pineapple slices. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick test in the cake center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes and then invert on a plate.

Note: in the pretty pictures it always has a maraschino cherry in the center of each pineapple ring. None of us like those, so I never add them. But add to the pineapples before baking if desired.

That’s it for this week. If you missed it, the dinner menu this week was Herbed Fettuccine and Apple Salad. See you next week – TaMara

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Reader Interactions

50Comments

  1. 1.

    MikeJ

    May 16, 2014 at 11:01 pm

    Until then, what’s on your plate this weekend? Is it time for grilling yet?

    Just finished eating. Grilled up some halibut with lemon pepper and had a corn/tomato/basil/moz/green onion salad with it. Yum.

  2. 2.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 16, 2014 at 11:09 pm

    Mangoes with Cream
    Dice fresh mangoes add a pinch of salt and some sugar and some lemon juice, chill the mangoes
    Whip heavy cream with sugar
    Add the cream to the chilled mangoes
    Enjoy!

  3. 3.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 16, 2014 at 11:11 pm

    Fresh strawberries, sour cream, and brown sugar. Simple and tasty. It was one of the specialties of the Mill Race Inn in Geneva, IL.

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    May 16, 2014 at 11:12 pm

    that looks delicious…yumm…

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    May 16, 2014 at 11:22 pm

    If you still have your childhood love of dinosaurs, you’re in for a treat with the biggest gawddamn dino of all.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27441156

    Wow.

  6. 6.

    jl

    May 16, 2014 at 11:23 pm

    I didn’t know creme fraiche was so hard to make. But I will try. Probably take many many many attempts for a bad cook like me to get it just right.

    You know, this post has obliterated my healthful slimming diet.
    I am headed back to my old status as a human monument to Tunch’s slender girlish figure.

  7. 7.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 16, 2014 at 11:24 pm

    @trollhattan: Jesus rode that motherfucker.

  8. 8.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 16, 2014 at 11:35 pm

    @jl: Are you fluffy?

  9. 9.

    jl

    May 16, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    ” Are you fluffy? ”

    I”ll have to work on that to counter the massive tuck ‘n’ roll I feel a-coming on.

  10. 10.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 16, 2014 at 11:39 pm

    @jl: I think Tunch just got a bad rap, he was not fat he was floofy.
    I miss that kitteh!

  11. 11.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 16, 2014 at 11:41 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Dude was fat. When he sat around the house, he sat around the house.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    May 16, 2014 at 11:42 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Side-saddle, beyotch!

    Speaking of cursing, a 10-best list from”Veep.”

    http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/in-praise-of-veeps-beautiful-cursing-the-15-best-p.html?utm_source=PMNL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=140516

    How I love that show.

  13. 13.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 16, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Heretic. Thou shalt not malign the deity of Balloon Juice also known as Tunchland.

  14. 14.

    jl

    May 16, 2014 at 11:46 pm

    If I can work up to Tunch levels of mass off of creme fraiche, hell, the food will just gravitate to me.
    It will be physically impossible to do anything about it.
    That will be SWEET!

    Cole comes by, will he hear the souls crying for a TuncPic?

    Edit: Oh wait, I did type “Tunch’s slender girlish figure.” I’ve been tricked and hornswoggled by the heartless mean BJ commentariate.

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 16, 2014 at 11:50 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Heretic? Woohoo!

  16. 16.

    Arclite

    May 16, 2014 at 11:51 pm

    The use of creme fraiche in the picture was probably intended to invoke one of my favorite South Park episodes of all time.

    If you’ve never seen it, here’s the full episode on South Park Studios. So much win.

  17. 17.

    tsquared2001

    May 16, 2014 at 11:52 pm

    I got to tell my Dad that he has some competition for best pineapple upside down cake cause that looks delish. I have always been partial to Mom’s Bisquick scones with fresh crushed strawberries poured over. Yum

  18. 18.

    tsquared2001

    May 16, 2014 at 11:59 pm

    There was a quick, easy recipe for small cakes that I learned from a girl in England – something like cuppa sugar, cuppa flour, cuppa something else. Anybody got a clue?

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2014 at 12:02 am

    @tsquared2001: Cuppa whisky and then order the cakes from a pro?

  20. 20.

    wenchacha

    May 17, 2014 at 12:07 am

    I made a rhubarb-custard pie this week; the rhubarb is going crazy and needs to be divided yesterday. I used some frozen pie dough I had mixed and rolled at Christmas, or maybe Thanksgiving? It was a Pastry Bible recipe, using whole wheat pastry flour. Baked up well, but too much intrusive flavor from the whole wheat. Maybe not as acceptable to the palate as it might have been closer to the 3 month “use by” date.

    Plenty more rhubarb where that came from. I’d like to explore roasting it, sauteing it, some ways to use it in savory dishes. The sweet/sour aspect ought to work with lots of Pan Asian foods. Mom, now 89, stopped using the lard in her pie dough. That was delicious. She now uses an oil recipe, and one or two others, I think.

  21. 21.

    tsquared2001

    May 17, 2014 at 12:09 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Like nearly everyone else, I am partial to throwing money at a problem but this request has sentimental value.

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2014 at 12:11 am

    @wenchacha: My grandmother used to make a rhubarb bread. Basically, a zucchini bread type of thing but with rhubarb. She died in 1995, so I can’t offer a recipe. Rhubarb also pairs well with strawberries and raspberries.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2014 at 12:17 am

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Rule of thumb when cooking with rhubarb:

    Carefully add the amount of sugar the recipe calls for. Then add more.

  24. 24.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2014 at 12:17 am

    @wenchacha:

    Mom, now 89, stopped using the lard in her pie dough.

    My other grandmother who made the best pies I have ever had always used lard. She also operated on a kneed it until it feels right type of recipe.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2014 at 12:24 am

    @Omnes Omnibus

    It may be from before your time, but the slogan used by Crisco for many years in print and on radio was nothing if not straightforward.

  26. 26.

    TaMara (BHF)

    May 17, 2014 at 12:24 am

    @wenchacha: This is one of my favorite rhubarb recipes: Rhubarb Spritzer. Also love strawberry rhubarb anything,

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    May 17, 2014 at 12:42 am

    @trollhattan:

    So is it an avian or non-avian dinosaur?

  28. 28.

    aangus

    May 17, 2014 at 12:45 am

    Test. test!

  29. 29.

    aangus

    May 17, 2014 at 12:47 am

    Sorry, please, ignore last remark!
    :)

  30. 30.

    Origuy

    May 17, 2014 at 12:48 am

    Pineapple upside-down cake is my absolute favorite.
    Anything with cherries? Bings are in season here.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2014 at 1:00 am

    @Origuy: Try something like this.

  32. 32.

    Origuy

    May 17, 2014 at 1:19 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thanks, but I think Bings are a little sweet. I just remembered that I bought some cherry vareniki (dumplings) at the Russian deli and they are still in the freezer. Too late to make them tonight.

  33. 33.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 17, 2014 at 1:52 am

    OT: I snapped this pic on my walk:

    Strippers in Oil

  34. 34.

    Yatsuno

    May 17, 2014 at 1:53 am

    Because Nigella.

  35. 35.

    Tommy

    May 17, 2014 at 1:54 am

    I am going to read this all in. I like to think I can cook a little. Fruit, other then in its natural variety, I don’t know how to cook/use it,

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2014 at 2:16 am

    @Origuy

    Yeah, a lot of the Eastern European recipes call for sour cherries.

    For Bings, how about this?

    (If don’t care for duck, sounds as if it would work nearly as well with pork – say, sliced pork loin.)

  37. 37.

    J.Ty

    May 17, 2014 at 2:35 am

    1.6 hours ago I got a master’s degree.

    Reviewing my academic career, my favorite sentence is probably “As the reader may have suspected, COINTELPRO did not spring fully formed from the head of Zeus.”

  38. 38.

    Tommy

    May 17, 2014 at 2:37 am

    @J.Ty: Congrats. I recall when I got my MA and it was a very, very happy day.

  39. 39.

    J.Ty

    May 17, 2014 at 2:43 am

    @Tommy: Thank you. This is my M(L(I?))S, to abuse a regex or whatever but i can’t believe it’s over.

  40. 40.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 17, 2014 at 2:53 am

    @J.Ty: Congrats. I was happy to get my Masters, though it was sort of a consolation prize after not passing my quals the first time around.

  41. 41.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2014 at 3:05 am

    @J. Ty

    Congratulations, and welcome to the club.

    Now, where do we send the dun for the dues?

  42. 42.

    J.Ty

    May 17, 2014 at 3:13 am

    @NotMax: Not a reference I’m really catching there, sorry? Ha. I don’t have the strength to search either, which is kind of ironic

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2014 at 5:16 am

    @J. Ty

    No reference. Just a congrats and then a little jokelet, son.

  44. 44.

    WereBear

    May 17, 2014 at 5:21 am

    I am up beaucoup early because I can’t stop thinking about kittens.

    Soon.

  45. 45.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 17, 2014 at 5:26 am

    @WereBear: You has new kittens?

  46. 46.

    WereBear

    May 17, 2014 at 5:38 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: Mr WereBear wants to go to an adoption event in a few hours, because of this little guy:

    Meet Fudge

    I’m surprised I slept at all!

  47. 47.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 17, 2014 at 5:54 am

    @WereBear: He looks like a little bobcat. Want!

  48. 48.

    WereBear

    May 17, 2014 at 6:14 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: Lots of Maine Coon there… our Reverend Jim has turned Mr WereBear into a fan.

  49. 49.

    MomSense

    May 17, 2014 at 9:36 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    That is a favorite of mine. In June we go strawberry picking and then come home and go crazy dunking the berries and gobbling them up.

    My kids also love strawberry rhubarb pie and strawberry shortcake made with biscuits and real whipped cream. If it is a last minute request, I’ll just make drop biscuits since they are so quick and easy.

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    May 17, 2014 at 11:30 am

    When we have berries sometimes I’ll make biscuits from bisquick (not the branded version, I get Krogers baking mix) by adding melted butter, a couple of TBSPs for a one cup batch, and a heaping TBSP of suger. They’ll be more like shortcake than drop biscuits.

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