Saratoga County Teen Starts Cake Business During Pandemic - Spectrum News
Saratoga County Teen Starts Cake Business During Pandemic - Spectrum News |
| Saratoga County Teen Starts Cake Business During Pandemic - Spectrum News Posted: 02 Aug 2020 04:14 PM PDT  As many businesses are facing tough times because of the pandemic, a 15-year-old from Saratoga County is using the extra free time to start her own business. What You Need To Know
Liz Allan knows her way around a kitchen, and that's because she's been baking almost her entire life. She started helping out at just three-years-old alongside her mom, Marion Allan. "Just one day I just decided to roll out the dough and taste test the butter cream, and ever since then it just kind of clicked with me," Liz said. Now, the 15 year-old's getting serious with her sweets. The pandemic has given the teen an unusual amount of free time. "When quarantine started, I was all sulky. I thought what am I going to do?" she said. She began filling her days with perfecting cake recipes. She specializes in gluten-free and dairy-free desserts. She has nailed down a vegan buttercream, ingredients that can difficult to work with for even the most seasoned professional. "My mom has a gluten sensitivity. We found that out about five years ago. And the secret to getting a moist gluten free cake is boiling water," said Allan. "I worked really hard on it, had a couple bad cakes and eventually found a recipe that works." Once those cakes have cooled, it's time for the fun part, Liz's favorite part is decorating. The high school junior enjoys drawing and painting, so decorating cakes allows her to express her creativity. Liz's sugar coated sweets have quickly become the talk of the town in Hadley. She's made more than 40 cakes since the pandemic started. One of her best sellers, a signature peanut butter chocolate cake, has enough chocolate that can satisfy even the strongest sweet tooth. She decided to open up her own business, Liz's Cakes & Bakes, in early July. Her license from New York State allows her to run her business right from same kitchen where she grew up baking with her mom. "It feels surreal to have my own business," said Allan. "It was nice I was able to do something like this on my own. I taught myself to do all of this. It's great when a teacher teaches you, but when you really work hard and do it yourself it's just a different sense of accomplishment." And while she's living out her dream of owning a business, she still has her eyes set on culinary school, the Culinary Institute of America, to be exact. "It's super hard to get into, but I'm definitely not going to let that stop me," she added. Until then, she'll be baking in her family's kitchen, serving up her passion on a plate, or in a cake box. For more information on Liz's Cakes & Bakes, or place an order, visit her website or Facebook page.  |
| Ripe Rewards: Buttermilk cake and shrubs | Opinion - Sonoma West Posted: 02 Aug 2020 04:16 PM PDT Summer is here, a time of harvest and abundance, and Sonoma County truly shines during this season. Go to any open-air farmers market, and beautiful fruits and vegetables abound, in all their color, freshness and glory. Though it is hot, there is such bounty, it is a wonderful time to make and bake. And with this pandemic, well, it just seems like the thing to do. So, here is a favorite cake recipe, and I especially like it in the summer, when there are so many fruit options, and yes, I use peaches.  Gayle Okumura Sullivan I typically bake early in the morning or late at night, and then turn off the oven for the rest of the day or night. This cake is delicious warm and just out of the oven, or it can be frozen and brought out for a special occasion, or any occasion really. I usually have this cake or Niloufer King's cardamom cake in the freezer, just in case, and both are favorites. I made 1000 slices of this cake for Taste of Sonoma out at MacMurray Ranch one year. That was sort of crazy, but I love it, and thought guests would too. With a sliced peach, and a dollop of yogurt, yum! Here is my favorite comfort cake recipe, sourced from another favorite, Gourmet Magazine, back in the day. A Ruth Reichl fan, I would read Gourmet cover to cover, traveling all over the world with them, admiring the photography, exceptional writing and pulling out recipes, such as this one. I miss it, and hope it returns one day. I still have a stack that I reference. Buttermilk Cake Ingredients: 1 C all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 stick butter room temp 2/3 C sugar, plus 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar for later 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 egg 1/2 C buttermilk (if you do not have buttermilk, there are many substitutes, like lemon juice or vinegar. For this recipe you can use ½ cup milk and ½ Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar). 1 C sliced peaches or raspberries or whatever fruit you have at the time Steps: -Preheat oven to 400 degrees and butter a 9-inch round cake pan -In a small bowl, whisk dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and soda -In a mixer, beat butter and 2/3 Cup sugar at med-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then add vanilla and egg and beat well. -At low speed, add in dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, until just combined -Spoon batter into prepared cake pan, add sliced seasonal fruit, then sprinkle with 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar -Bake until golden and center comes out clean when toothpick inserted -Cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a rack. Serve with fresh fruit, jam, or your favorite cream. Shrub. (A syrup made from fruit, sugar and vinegar). A question came in about making shrub. With fruit in such abundance, now's the time. I am going to tell you what I do, which is very simple, no real recipe here. I use a canning jar of whatever size is available, I then fill it just over halfway with very ripe fruit. I add about one half the amount of sugar to fruit, and then I top it with about one quarter the amount of vinegar, usually apple cider. I mix it all together, taste and adjust ingredients, then let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or days. I strain and use the syrup for drinks, mixed with ice and sparkling water, delicious. A Meeting In a dream I meet my dead friend. He has, I know, gone long and far, and yet he is the same for the dead are changeless. They grow no older. It is I who have changed, grown strange to what I was. Yet I, the changed one, ask: "How you been?" He grins and looks at me. "I been eating peaches off some mighty fine trees." -Wendell Berry  |
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