Susan Purdy brings high-altitude baking down to Earth

Patricia West-Barker | The New Mexican

4/8/2008 - 4/9/08

Santa Fe bakers are often frustrated by their inability to produce a perfect pie, cake, cookie or other pastry at our 7,000-foot-plus altitude. So we can sympathize with the hapless chefs who cook for the United States scientific station at the geographic South Pole. These poor souls not only have to put up with their frigid and dreary surroundings; they also have to contend with a 9,000-foot elevation as they try to please a crew of 250 stir-crazy researchers desperate for dessert.

Fortunately, award-winning baker and food writer Susan Purdy could do more than sympathize with the ice-bound cook who begged for tips to keep his profiteroles (small cream puffs) from flopping. Purdy, author of Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes, was able to walk the nervous young man through a series of changes to his sea-level recipe until they hit on a combination of adjustments that worked.

Thirty-four of our 50 states have cities and towns at high altitude, yet most recipes are written for sea-level cooks and bakers. And the one-size-fits-all formulas offered by most Mountain West university extension programs just don't work for most people, Purdy says.

The South Pole baker had contacted Purdy through a Web site — www.highaltitudebaking.com — that she had set up when her book was published. "I get mail every day," Purdy says, "and have since the book came out in 2005 ... It really shows me that the material is needed and that it's used."

Santa Feans will have a chance to ask Purdy about the basics of high-altitude baking and how to best adapt some of their favorite recipes when she returns to Santa Fe to teach a hands-on class and host a booksigning on April 11 and another class on the 18th at the cooking school at Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe. (Purdy did much of the initial research for Pie in the Sky here, and says Santa Fe is one of her favorite places to visit.)

The class on the 11th feautures comfort foods, Purdy says, including a gingerbread made with freshly grated ginger root, a flavorful upside-down cake that's a twist on an old favorite, a spring strawberry tart filled with mascarpone that is as easy to assemble as it is beautiful.

Also on the menu is a double-chocolate dream cake with raspberry sauce. Purdy says she hesitated to advertise that this rich, moist cake also is low in fat and cholesterol. "People say they want low-fat recipes," she laughs, "but if I advertise a class as healthy, people don't show up."

The April 11 class will be followed by a talk, booksigning and sampling of goodies from Pie in the Sky that's free and open to the public.

Purdy's April 18 class was designed with Passover in mind, she says. Two of the desserts — a chocolate-toffee truffle cake and walnut torte with apricot filling — are made without flour. She'll also be offering her mother's recipe — and secrets — for perfectly light matzo balls. "They are not in my book but I've made them in Santa Fe, so I know they work here," she says.

But the class isn't just for Jewish bakers, Purdy says; it has something to offer anyone who likes to bake. The menu also includes a high-altitude recipe for pâte à choux (not suitable for Passover) with a selection of sweet and savory fillings for the baby cream puffs.

Purdy encourages people who take her classes to bring their questions and high-altitude baking problems with them. "There's no one answer for everyone," she says. "Some things (like making cream puffs at the South Pole) take experimentation. But I can always give people a good head start even if I don't have exactly the right answer."


The following altitude-adjusted cake is on the menu of Susan Purdy's April 11 class at the cooking school at Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe.

The Apricot Upside-Down Cake with Cardamom-Honey Sauce, Purdy writes, "makes a dramatic presentation and tastes even better than it looks." She also notes that upside cakes require only three basic steps — making a caramelized topping on the top of the stove; adding a batter; then baking it all together — which makes them an ideal project for bakers of any age and skill level.

APRICOT UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE WITH CARDAMOM-HONEY SAUCE
(Makes one 9-inch cake, serving 8 to 10)

For the topping:
14 to 16 stoned apricot halves (fresh or from two 151/4 ounce cans unpeeled apricots in syrup)
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed, or granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons fruit juice (orange, apple or reserved from canned apricots)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Pinch salt
1/2 cup pecan or walnut halves
For the cake batter:
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325 degrees.

Prepare the topping: Combine the butter and sugar in a 9x11/2- or 2-inch cake pan or nonreactive 9- to 10-inch ovenproof skillet. Set the pan on the stove top over medium heat and stir until the butter is melted. Slowly stir in the fruit juice, honey, cardamom and salt and cook, stirring, for another minute or two, until the honey is dissolved and the ingredients are well blended. Remove the pan from the heat and set it on a heatproof surface.

If using canned apricots, drain them, reserving the juice, and set the halves on a paper towel to drain. Place the apricots cut side up in the pan of butter-sugar sauce, arranging them as you like. (If using fresh apricots, return the pan to medium heat for a couple of minutes to soften the fruit slightly; remove from heat.)

Arrange the nuts, curved side down, between the apricots.

Prepare the cake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, honey, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. Set a sifter over the bowl and measure the flour, backing powder, salt and spices into it. Stir/sift the dry ingredients onto the wet mixture below, then stir well to blend. The batter will be quite thick.

Spoon the batter over the apricots. (It will look more sparse in a 10-inch pan than in a 9-inch pan, but will spread as it bakes. To catch any overflow from a 9-inch pan, you can place a piece of aluminum foil, shiny side up, on the oven shelf below the pan.)

Bake the cake for about 25 minutes, then lightly over the top with a piece of foil, shiny side down, and continue baking for another 13 to 17 minutes, or until the cake top is springy and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack for 3 to 4 minutes, until the juices stop bubbling.

Cover the cake with a serving plate that has a lip to catch the sauce. Slide pot holders under the hot pan, grip the pot holders on the bottom and the plate on the top, and invert, with a sharp downward shake. Lift off the pan. Use a fork to reposition any fruit or nut pieces left in the pan. Cool the cake for 4 to 5 minutes, serve warm.

(Recipe adapted from Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes by Susan Purdy, William Morrow, 2005, $29.95)




WHAT: Susan Purdy, author of Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes, teaches two hands-on, high-altutude baking classes and hosts a booksigning at Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe.

WHEN:
* 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, April 11. Menu includes Double Chocolate Dream Cake with Raspberry Sauce; Fresh Strawberry Tart with Mascarpone-Honey Cream and Balsamic-Currant Glaze; El Rancho Gingerbread with Warm Rum-Lemon Sauce; Apricot-Cardamom Upside-Down Cake

* 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, April 11. Booksigning with Susan Purdy; nibbles from Pie in the Sky will be served

* 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, April 18. Menu includes Flourless Coffee-Toffee/Truffle Cake; Passover Walnut Torte with Apricot Filling; Mom's Perfect Matzo Balls; and Pâte à Choux Dough (baby cream puffs) with both Sweet and Savory Fillings

Pre-registration required for baking classes; drop-in for booksigning

WHERE: Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe in DeVargas Center

PRICE: $75 per baking class; booksigning is free

TO REGISTER OR MORE INFORMATION: Call 988-3394