combustication

This is a very easy recipe to put together if you have some overripe bananas in the kitchen. I was trying to cut the fat down from my usual banana bread recipe that I adopted from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook circa 1999 and managed to only use 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, with some very moist and tasty results. I made one large loaf and two mini loaves for my neighbors and the initial report is that this is a damn fine banana bread.

Sunday Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 overly ripe bananas
1 egg
1 egg white
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup oats (not instant)

To Do:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Beat the eggs and add the sugars, yogurt, oil and applesauce. Smush the bananas and mix with the wet ingredients and add vanilla. Sift the flour and baking soda together in a separate bowl and add slowly add to the wet mixture. mixing just a bit - over mixing makes the bread rubbery. Add oats and mix till incorporated.

Bake for about an hour - until the loaf is a golden brown. Test the center with a skewer to make sure it’s done. Let cool for 10 minutes in pan and then pop the bread out and cool completely on a baking rack.

Lest you think there has been no cooking or baking in the place, I present you with this delicious photo and recipe (below). There has been bread baking, red velvet cake and cookie baking and some bi bim bop making. All delicious.

Indian Spiced Butternut Squash with Quinoa & Chickpeas

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash
2.5 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion (sliced into crescents)
1 tsp. cardomom powder
2 tsp. red curry powder
1 tsp. coriander
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
bits of dried mango (optional)
1 can chickpeas
garam masala powder
salt
pepper

To Do

Preheat overn to 400F. Rinse and let chickpeas drain while you cook the other stuff. Put 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and sautee the onions for a few minutes. Add all of the spices and a bit of salt and pepper and let simmer while you tackle the squash.

I find that the best way to cut and cube a squash is to use a heavy duty Y-vegetable peeler and peel all of the skin off. Then, cut slices into the neck and cube those slices. Chop the bulb part in half, scoop out the seeds and string with a spoon. Slice and cube. Nice and easy.

Place the prepped squash in the frying pan and cover it with the onion and spice mixture. Place in an baking dish and cover with a lid (or tight fitting foil) and bake until squash is tender - about 30 to 40 minutes.

Remember the chickpeas? Pat them dry with a paper towel if they are still a bit moist. Place in a bowl and add the 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and the garam masala powder and mix well. Place on a lined cookie sheet and bake with the squash for about 30-40 minutes - bake longer if you want them crunchy.

The last bit is the quinoa. Rinse it under cold water and strain and then toast it in a dry skillet. Boil two cups of water, add a pinch of salt (the mango too!) and quinoa. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.

Everything should be finished around the same time! Place quinoa in a bowl, top with butternut squash and chickpeas. Enjoy!

I don’t know where the idea of grilling pizza came from. I remember reading about it a few years ago and giving it a shot and it being completely amazing. Grilled pizza has a delicious and slightly charred bottom and a great (slight) charcoal taste. If you like pizza and BBQing, this is the summer recipe you must try. The above pizza was made during some Memorial Day shenanigans - I think we made six pizzas or something with various toppings. Who needs burgers?

Grilled Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza dough (make your own, use store bought, or buy from a pizzeria – they will be happy to sell some to you and it’s super-fresh)
Olive oil
Mozzarella (or cheese of your choice)
Tomato sauce (use your own or get a small can of tomato sauce for pizza – it’s a little thicker than usual)
Toppings (basil, rosemary, olives, sautéed mushrooms, olives, whatever)

To Do:

First, heat up your BBQ. You can use a gas grill or charcoal – I prefer charcoal, but use what you’ve got.

In the meantime, stretch out the pizza dough to pie size of your choice (don’t make it bigger than your grill!) and form a crust. If you’re using store/pizzeria-bought dough, divide the dough in two and shape one pizza. Put the remaining dough under a damp towel until ready to use.

Dust the underside of a cookiesheet with flour and place the pie on top. Brush the top of the pie with olive oil and turn the cookiesheet over the BBQ (so that the olive oil crust-y side is facedown on the grill). Brush the top of the pie with more olive oil and using a metal spatula flip the pizza. Now you should have the crust-side facing up, begging for toppings.

This is the fun part! Ladle on some sauce and spread it around like a pro. Add some cheese. Put the toppings on. IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT OVERLOAD YOUR PIE! It will be tough to get off the grill and the dough may tear leaving you with a cheesy mess. Remember, you have another ball of dough waiting to be used, so don’t overdo it. Cover your grill with the lid and just chill for a few seconds. Have a sip of beer or lemonade. Open lid and look at your pizza. Is this cheese all melty? Does it look delicious? If so, take it off the grill and serve; if not, put the lid back on and cook for a few minutes or keep the lid off to keep an eye on it. This is BBQing, not rocket science.

Serve your pizza to amazed guests. You can BBQ anything!

Some combinations to try:
- Cheddar cheese, soy crumbles (or meat) and salsa for a Mexican-style pizza
- Olive oil, goat cheese and basil for a fresh pizza
- Mozzarella, tomato sauce, pineapple (and ham) for Hawaiian pizza
- Anything you ever wanted to get on a pizza but were to afraid to ask for

Fiddleheads are not people obsessed with fiddles, although it could happen. Fiddleheads are young fern leaves of the ostrich fern. How they got fiddleheads from ostrich is beyond me (ah, it refers to how the leaves look like the end of a fiddle), but I’ve been reading about them on many a food blog and got curious. Why are they so special? For starters, they are a very season-specific item, which gets foodies all in a twitter. They’re also super-expensive, which is funny because you can apparently just pick them from the side of the road in Maine (see Millwhistle for some Maine/Brooklyn sassiness). The Coop had them for about $4 a pound, which is a lot cheaper than $8+/lb (at the farmer’s market too). Another seasonal and very expensive item is ramps. Ramps are a member of the leek and onion family and are another foodstuff I’ve been hearing a lot about. The Coop also had them at a much more reasonable price then elsewhere, so I got some. Not a lot (because they were almost all out), but some, and they are awesome.

Cleaning the fiddleheads well can be a pain in the butt, but it’s not as bad as some people make out.

Once clean, the fiddleheads and ramps are a snap to prepare – just sauté them in a bit of olive oil and butter and a dash of salt. I made a very light sauce to go with them for dinner and the whole meal was pretty great. The ramps were really flavorful – a mix between onion and garlic and a little bit of bitter greens all at once. The fiddleheads were okay. They tasted like the ends of asparagus and looked really cool, but I wouldn’t pay a gazillion dollars for them.

Fiddleheads, Ramps and Onions – oh my!

Ingredients:

1/2lb fiddleheads
as many ramps you can get your hands on
½ red onion, very finely chopped
olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons water
½ tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
juice of 1 lemon
brown rice or couscous or some nice grain
cooked lentils (optional)

To Do:
Start off by boiling a large pot of water. Clean the fiddleheads by trimming the ends off close to the coil and placing them in a large bowl of cold water. Swish ‘em around and rub off any brown bits. Drain and repeat the swishing and rubbing. Drain again and place in the boiling water for 10 minutes – this is to guarantee against any harmful bacteria. Drain and plunge into ice-cold water to shock them. Set aside.

Trim the ends of the ramps and take off and leaves that are inedible. Roughly chop the leaves, but keep the bulbs intact. Sauté ramps with a bit of olive oil and salt. Place them on a plate and keep any oil in the pan. Add some butter and then sauté the red onion on low heat until it caramelizes. Throw in the fiddleheads and sauté with the onions for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

Make the sauce by whisking the yogurt, water, tahini, lemon juice and some salt and pepper to taste. The sauce should be on the thin side, so add more water if necessary.

Assemble a plate by placing brown rice (or other grain) on the bottom. Place lentils on top of the rice (did this for protein, but you don’t need them) and then add the ramps on top with the fiddlehead mixture. Drizzle with sauce and serve.

Homemade granola is really freakin good. I’ve become a bit obsessed with it after reading a Minimalist article in the NYT’s in January, but never thought to take a picture or even describe the recipe because it’s really just too easy. As Mark Bittman points out “there are two good reasons for making your own granola. One: it tastes better. Two: it contains better ingredients.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. I used his recipe as a starting off point, but as the article goes on to say, you can do whatever you want. I really like dried cranberries. Bittman really likes dried coconut. I kept it out of this recipe, but if you want to use the coconut, add it in with the nuts. You can make a great tropical-type granola with some coconut, crushed Brazilian nuts and dried pineapple and papaya. Yum. The Bittman recipe is a Times Select article, so you’ll have to be a member of the Gray Lady in order to access it, but if you just want to make granola…

Homemade Granola or Tina’s Take on Bittman

Ingredients

5 cups rolled oats
1/2 to 1 cup nuts and seeds of your choice (this granola was made with cashews and pecans)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash salt
1/2 to 1 cup maple syrup
½ tablespoon of walnut oil or other neutral oil
½ cup raisins (you can use pretty much any type of dried fruit)
½ cup dried cranberries

To Do

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a large sheet pan with tinfoil or parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts and seeds, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, oil and maple syrup.

Place mixture on the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring and flipping the granola around a bit. Turn the heat down to 275F and bake longer, until the granola browns evenly. If things are looking to crispy or smelling a little burned, turn down the heat of the oven a bit more. I really like my granola crunchy, so after a while I turn the oven to about 250 or so and just keep an eye on it.

Remove pan from oven and add raisins or cranberries. Let it cool to room temperature and then transfer to a sealed container and store in refrigerator. This will keep for a while, but you’ll probably eat it all. I suggest using it to top yogurt or ice cream or just eating it plain with some (vanilla) soy milk or regular milk and berries.

p.s. The new Combustication header is courtesy of the Farm in Mercersburg, PA. Lovely bunch of a grass, no?

Gather some friends for a weekend at a farmhouse and you get good times, fire, lots of booze and tons of food. A big star was this chocolate cake/brownie concoction that we had for dessert on Saturday night with some vanilla icecream. Have you ever had whipping cream not whip? We went through two containers of heavy whipping cream that was just not feeling it. I think the chocolate saved the dessert, but the (non)whipping cream was just baffling. The recipe for the cake below is from Saveur and I didn’t change a thing. OK, I didn’t have super high quality chocolate or butter, but the thing was still amazing. When searching for “brownie” on Saveur a recipe popped up with this description: “bearing a strong resemblance to a rich, dense, gooey brownie, this dessert takes the cake.” SOLD! A very unfussy and delicious recipe, I highly recommend it as an elegant alternative to brownies.

Fire! Fire! Fire!

Make Yr Own Bloody Mary

The farmhouse was also filled with ladybugs - lucky, right?

Marie José’s Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
14 1/2 tbsp. European-style high-butterfat butter (I used regular salted butter)
3 tbsp. flour
7 oz. quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small
pieces (I used bittersweet baker’s chocolate squares)
3/4 cup sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature, separated

To Do

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9″ glass pie dish with 1/2 tbsp. of the butter, dust with 1 tbsp. of the flour, tapping out excess, and set aside. Cut remaining butter into small pieces. Melt butter and chocolate together in a medium bowl set over a pot of simmering water over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Remove bowl from heat and stir in sugar, then the remaining flour, then the egg yolks, stirring until well combined. Set aside to let cool briefly.

Meanwhile, beat egg whites in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, 2–3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold one-third of the egg whites at a time into chocolate mixture. Pour batter into prepared pie pan.

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with some moist crumbs still attached (cake will rise and top will crack as it bakes, then collapse on itself as it cools), 30 minutes. Transfer cake to a wire rack to let cool briefly. Serve warm or at room temperature, with ice cream, if you like. [Ice cream is essential!]

More food pics from family Easter time (remember, I broke my camera, so pictures are at a premium)! This one is of a canolli cookie - a new favorite dessert. I got the recipe from Food & Wine and followed it to the letter when I made it for some friends a couple of months ago. This time, I didn’t have some of the ingredients for the cream and winged it, but they were still great. Making the round tubes of cookie can be annoying without a dowel, but I managed with a wine bottle and a wax-paper lined candlestick. I should just get a dowel already. You could also just make a sandwich with the cookies and cream. The results are still delicious. The vanilla and citrus of the cookie play off each other and the cookie is a delicate counterpart to the rich mascarpone cream filling. You could go crazy with add-ins to the cream. It might be fun to put some cocoa in the cookie dough and make a minty cream filling…project for the future!

I’m putting the recipe from Food & Wine pretty much straight. Note: The recipe is by Gina DePalma who is the pastry chef for Babbo.

My sister is very excited.

Cannoli Cookies with Coffee Cream (with Combustication modifications)

Ingredients

For the cookies:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the cream:
1 cup mascarpone
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure coffee extract (I used a tablespoon of extra strength coffee I brewed up)

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

To Do
Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Trace three 4-inch circles (as dark as you can) on each with a pencil; turn the parchment over.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with 1/3 cup of the sugar until fluffy. Add the egg whites and beat until blended. Add the flour, orange zest, 1/4 teaspoon of the vanilla and the salt and beat until smooth.

Using a small offset spatula, evenly spread 1 tablespoon of the batter into each circle (try to make them pretty thin) Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, for 8 to 9 minutes, or until lightly golden and browned around the edges (keep an eye on them and don’t let them get too brown). Immediately roll each cookie around a 1-inch-wide tube or dowel (or other tube-like thing - neck of a wine bottle works) and let cool until crisp. Carefully remove the cannoli from the tubes and transfer to a wire rack. Repeat twice with the remaining batter to make 18 cookies.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the mascarpone at medium speed with the cream, the coffee extract and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla until firm peaks form.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip (or a plastic bag with the tip cut off) with the coffee cream. Carefully pipe the mascarpone cream into both ends of the cookies, finishing with a small rosette at each end. Transfer the cannoli to a platter, dust them with confectioners’ sugar and serve.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days (you can also make the cookie tubes and store them before filling them with the cream). Yum!

Perfect for celebrating spring, this asparagus risotto is very simple and delicious. Try telling that to my little sister. This past Easter she wanted to help me and my brother cook up a meal for our folks, which turned into a dinner party for 8, and I had her stirring that thing for an hour. Tough love kids, tough love.

The risotto was gobbled up and enjoyed by everyone and Amanda gets many props for suffering over that hot stove to make one of the creamiest risottos I have ever tasted. Also, thanks to “Charla” who helped out with some stirring action.

According to the recipe that I got it from, the risotto is actually supposed to made with pearl barley (which cuts down on cooking time), but since it was Passover, I decided to use arborio rice so that Phil could eat it. I also changed the stock part, but am excited to try the original recipe sometime.

Risotto with Asparagus and Hazelnuts

Ingredients

2 pounds medium asparagus, trimmed
10 cups water
4 bouillon cubes or 2 tablespoons of “Better than Bouillon”
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
3 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
2 ounces finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 1 cup) plus additional for serving
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

To Do

Trim about an inch off the ends of the asparagus. Cut top third of each asparagus stalk into 1/2 inch rounds, reserving tips and slices together. Coarsely chop the remainder for stock making. Bring the water to boil and add 1/2 teaspoon in a pot, then add the roughly chopped asparagus and cook, uncovered, until very tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a food processor and process with the garlic cloves and lemon zest. Set aside for later.

Add reserved asparagus tips and slices to boiling water and cook, uncovered, until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer with slotted spoon to a sieve and rinse asparagus under cold water to stop cooking. Drain well and save for later. Add the bouillon to the asparagus water and keep at a simmer next to a big pot that will house the risotto.

Sauté the onions in the olive oil until softened in the big risotto pot, 5 to 7 minutes and add a bit of the pepper. Add the arborio rice and stir until the grains are covered with the oil and onions. Add wine and boil, stirring, until liquid is absorbed, about 1 minute.

Now the fun part (I am sorry Amanda). Turn the heat down to a medium simmer on the risotto pot and add about a cup of the stock you just made and stir until the rice has absorbed all the water. Repeat until all of the stock has been used up. It could take a while. You don’t really have to stand over the pot stirring like a lunatic, but it will create strong arm muscles and a very creamy risotto.

Once all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice, stir in asparagus purée, asparagus-tip mixture, and enough additional water to thin to desired consistency and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until hot, about 1 minute. Stir in cheese, then season with salt and pepper. Plate and sprinkle with hazelnuts and serve parmesan on the side. Eat up!

Easter Bread is a big deal in my house. After losing my grandmother’s recipe, my mom has been unable to replicate the perfect loaves that we would gobble up at all hours of the day. The sweet bread is almost like a Challah, but not as fluffy. It’s a heartier bread that is dense and thick and perfect with a piece of cheese. I started making it last year and was told by my family that the bread was damn near perfect. I gave the recipe to my mom and she made some this year, but it didn’t rise well and she was frustrated. Together we made a new batch that was amazing. You can make your own too! It’s not just for Easter. The bread goes well with something a little salty because it’s a bit sweet, but can also be used as a good base for french toast or a bread pudding. The traditional way to shape the bread is by rolling it by hand into a rough circle and then folding it only about 3/4 of the way up. I think the picture gives a better idea of how to do it properly.

Christina’s No Fail Portuguese Easter Bread

Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/2 tsp)
1/4 cup water, warm (115F, use thermometer!!)
1 cup sugar, take out a tablespoon and put it aside
1/2 cup peeled, boiled and mashed up potatoes (any type of starchy kind)
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup milk, warm (110F)
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs (at room temp)
1/4 cup butter (at room temp)
4-6 cups all purpose flour (varies)

To Do

Note: This bread really requires a mixer. You can do it with very strong arms, but the dough gets pretty tough. I mean, my grandma can do it with her bare hands, but she’s a superlady.

In the bowl of a stand mixer place warm water, yeast (I forgot to mention this important point), 1 tablespoon of sugar and the mashed potatoes. Let stand for 5-7 minutes, until bubbly. Add remaining sugar, lemon juice, milk, salt, and eggs (mix one at a time!) and 2 cups of flour, mixing very thoroughly with the paddle attachment of the mixer. Once all mixed up, switch to dough hook and add 1 3/4 cups more flour and butter, cut into small pieces. Mix on low speed until smooth, then add remaining flour a few tablespoons at a time until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and clings to the dough hook. This could mean almost 6 cups total of flour or 4. I don’t know why (probably humidity and other mysterious things), but I usually make it with 5 and at my mom’s place we only needed 4. It helps also to touch the dough while in the mixer - if it clings to the dough hook and is springy when you touch it, proceed to the next step.

Place the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 3-5 more minutes to ensure smoothness- you want a nice, elastic dough. Place dough in a large bowl that has been oiled (tablespoon of olive oil should do it) and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled, 2-3 hours in a warm place.

Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes and divide dough in half. The dough can be shaped into two loaves as desired or shaped into rectangles and placed in two greased loaf pans. Place free form loaves on a parchment-lined (important to use parchment paper) baking sheet. Cover dough with a clean dish towel and let rise for 45 minutes. While waiting, preheat the oven to 350F.

Brush dough with a mixture of one egg and 2 tablespoons of water for a glossy glaze, if desired. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden. Loaves will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool it completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Makes 2 large loaves.

The recipe called for “matzo cake flour.” Easy, I thought, tis the season for that sort of things and I remembered selling it to someone at the Food Coop during my last shift. Alas, I had no clue where to get the stuff. The Coop didn’t have it. Key Foods didn’t have it. Pathmark didn’t have it. Neither did the Key Foods in my neighborhood (no matzo at all). So I did what any adventurous baker would do and tried to look up a substitute that was kosher for Passover. The result: grind up regular matzo meal into a fine powder in a food processor. The recipe came off without a hitch and the little lemon cakes were fluffy and light – a perfect ending to a huge meal. A big thanks to Mike and Jeffrey for hosting and making some amazing matzo ball soup, charoset and brisket (which I did not partake it, but since there was none left, I assume it was great) and to Phil for the veggie options of Jeweled Rice and Philkugel. The following recipe is from Epicurious. I altered it to use a 12 cup muffin tin instead of the original 8 portions it called for.

Lemon Cakes With Basil Lemon Syrup

Ingredients

For cakes
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus 2 tablespoons, melted
1 cup + 2 tablespoons matzo cake flour (or finely ground matzo meal) plus additional for dusting
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
4.5 large egg yolks
4.5 large egg whites (yes, I know, 4.5?! it’s tricky, just do your best in judging)
The separated eggs should be at room temperature for 30 minutes
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

For syrup
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 (4- by 1-inch) strip fresh lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
16 large fresh basil sprigs (the original recipe called for 8, I thought it wasn’t “basil-y” enough)

For whipped cream
1 cup chilled heavy cream, sugar to your liking, 1 tsp vanilla
Garnish: small fresh basil leaves

To Do

Syrup
Bring all syrup ingredients to a boil, covered, in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, then remove lid and boil 10 minutes. Pour syrup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Cool to room temperature. It can also be used as a glaze for veggies or even on some savory crepes. Makes a lot of syrup.

Cakes
Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush 12 muffin cups with some of melted butter and chill 2 minutes, then butter again and chill 1 minute more. Dust cups with matzo cake flour, knocking out excess.

Beat together softened butter, 1cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl with a mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, then add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until well blended. Beat in lemon juice and 2 teaspoons zest until combined. Add flour and mix at low speed until just combined. Place in a large bowl.

Clean up the mixer bowl and beater(s) and beat whites with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt until they hold soft peaks. Add 3 tablespoons sugar, a little at a time, beating, then beat until whites just hold stiff peaks. Stir 1/4 of whites into dough mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.

Spoon batter into 12 prepared muffin cups.
Blend remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and zest with your fingertips and sprinkle over batter, then bake until cakes are puffed, edges are golden, and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 25-32 minutes. Cool cakes in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then lift out cakes carefully. I kept them in the oven on a warm setting because I thought they would be better warmed up with the syrup.

Cream
Make whipped cream by beating the chilled cream in a chilled mixer bowl with the sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form.

Assembly
Place a lemon cake on a plate and place some whipped cream on the side. Drizzle with the syrup and garnish with basil leaves. Enjoy!