Sylvia Plath

Baking for Bookworms: Apple Cake from Sylvia Plath’s The Collected Poems

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I was a little surprised to find anything I could cook from in Plath’s poems. She’s not exactly a poet you associate with down home cooking. But luckily there was one food that immediately jumped out, and that was apple cake.

The mention of apple cake is from her 1959 poem “Point Shirley”, which is actually one of my many favorites in the collection. It’s about a woman who lives a very hard life, and there’s a lot of sea and water imagery along with descriptions of thriftiness and stubbornness.

It’s in one of the middle stanzas that the  apple cake appears:

“Nobody wintering now behind/ The planked-up windows where she set/ Her wheat loaves/ And apple cakes to cool. What is it/ Survives, grieves/ So, over this battered, obstinate spit/ Of gravel? The waves’/ Spewed relics clicker masses in the wind,”

Point Shirley is the place where Plath’s grandparents lived and the poem appears to be about her own childhood memories of her grandmother. There’s also some thought that it might be more generally about her feelings on motherhood. The apple cake is just one detail plucked from many possible ones I’m sure, but it’s an interesting choice because apple desserts have particular connotations in America of home and comfort and nostalgia. It probably reminded her of her grandmother, just like challah and kugel remind me of mine.

Besides any symbolic significance of apples, they also just make fantastic desserts–they have great flavor and lend themselves well to most pairings.

This apple cake recipe is adapted from Karen DeMasco’s book The Craft of Baking.

caramelized-apple cake

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 stick butter, very soft
  • 2 tart apples (like granny smith)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs, separated
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3 tablespoons cornmeal
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350F.

For this recipe you can use either a cast-iron skillet, or you can use an 8 or 9 inch cake pan, or a pie pan. I used a cake pan, so the instructions will reflect that, but it’s very easy to make in an oven safe skillet. Simply make your caramel in the skillet and lay everything on top before baking–couldn’t be simpler.

In a pot, combine 1/4 cup of the sugar with three tablespoons of water. Mix together so that all the sugar is wet and then cook over high heat until the sugar is a deep golden caramel color. This takes about 2 minutes. It’s very important to stand and watch the pot the whole time. Sugar will burn very quickly.

Remove the pan from the heat and immediately add 2 tablespoons of the butter, whisking to incorporate (the butter being very soft helps a lot with getting it all mixed in before the caramel cools too much). Spread the caramel on the bottom of your desired pan.

Peel the two apples and then cut into very thin slices. Arrange on top of the caramel, starting from the outside and working your way in and being sure to overlap the fruit.

In a large bowl, beat the remaining 3/4 cups sugar, 6 tablespoons of butter, and the vanilla together until fluffy. This takes about 3-4 minutes with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add egg yolks, one at a time, on low speed until combined.

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, and cornmeal) and whisk together. Add the dry ingredients in alternating stages with the milk (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour), until everything is mixed.

In a very clean bowl (if you suspect there might be any greasiness whatsoever, you can take a little white vinegar on a paper towel and wipe your bowl and beaters) beat your egg whites until soft peaks form (about 4 minutes on medium speed). Gently fold the whites into the rest of the batter in three stages.

Spread the batter over the apples and bake for about 40-50 minutes until the cake is golden brown and springs back when touched. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes before running a knife around the edge and flipping onto a plate.

It’s best the day it’s served, but you can wrap it with plastic and it keeps at room temperature for about three days.

Are there any desserts that remind you of your grandparents? Let me know in the comments. And if there’s ever a book you’d like me to cook from, leave that in the comments as well!

 

 

 

 

Women Writers Reading Challenge: #68-75 The End

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At first I was going to post the rest of the reading challenge one book at a time, like I did for all the rest of the books, but then I decided that would take weeks to get them all out there, and meanwhile I wouldn’t be able to start posting this year’s books. So I decided to do one great big post with all of the last 8 books.

Next week, I’ll do a retrospective post on my year reading women.

#68: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel

This book of short stories was really great: clever, tongue-in-cheek, and a bit dark. Her writing is immensely controlled and each word feels deliberate. The title story was one of my favorites, where Margaret Thatcher’s would-be assassin breaks into a house so he can take aim from a good vantage point and has a very telling conversation with the house’s owner. Her stories are really well done and I recommend them for anyone who:

  • likes to read writers who are just.so.talented.
  • likes English authors and English settings
  • is intrigued by the title (that’s why I picked up the book in the first place)

 

#69: From Whitechapel by Melanie Clegg

This particular book was on my currently-reading list for ages, not because the book was terribly long, but because it was an e-book, and I’m awful at finishing those. I just don’t like to read on screens all that much. Unless it’s a blog or an article. Anyway, Melanie Clegg is a terrific blogger and her blog Madame Guillotine has me constantly drooling over potential trips to the UK. The story here is about Jack the Ripper, and in particular the effect that his serial killing has on some of the women who know the victims. The story (despite its subject matter) is very sweet and fun, and the women are interesting and feisty. I wish that Clegg had a better copy-editor–the book could use a closer look–but it’s pretty good for being self-published historical fiction, and is a great way to while away some time.

For people who:

  • like historical fiction of the seedy side of London variety
  • want to support indie authors
  • need a book to put on their e-reader for their next vacation

 

#70: We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill

Victoria and the Victorian era are endlessly fascinating to me. I love strong women, and Victoria is caught up in a rare and crazy time–she is one of the most powerful women in the world and yet she’s constantly being told that her place is behind a man’s. She reinforced these traditional values in her own life, and so by its very nature her life is full of dualities and strange connections to power. Her relationship with Albert is the stuff of legend, and yet it was not a simple relationship by any means. Gill takes a deep look into the backgrounds of the young girl who was never supposed to be queen and the young man who shouldn’t have been important enough to be an English monarch’s consort. She talks through their courtship and subsequent marriage in a way that is engaging, highly interesting, and obviously well-researched. This was one of the most engaging biographies I’ve read in a long time, and I love the tension that having two subjects produces and the ultimate balance that Gill achieves.

For anyone who:

  • Loves those crazy Victorians despite all their flaws
  • Needs a good biography to read, stat
  • Is interested in the European monarchy, politics before the first World War, women’s rights, or great love affairs

#71: The Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath

I don’t think there’s that much that needs to be said about Sylvia Plath’s poems–she’s one of those poets that’s famous enough to be known by the general public, even those that don’t read poetry. Some of her poems are magnificent, many of them are very powerful, and the majority of them are very dark. Her early poems in particular seem to be in love with words (to the point of being sometimes a little difficult to read aloud), and I find that most of the time I’m not in the correct frame of mind to totally appreciate them (too happy). However, I respect her talent a lot, and I’m sad that died so young. I think her work could have only improved with time.

For anyone who:

  • Likes their poems like they like their coffee/tea–very dark with no sweetener
  • Anyone who’s intrigued by Plath’s legend and wants to know more
  • Is in a dark place and needs someone to understand how they feel (Public Service Announcement: we all get in those moods sometimes, but–please reach out to loved ones if you need help… Plath had so much to offer the world, and so do you)

 

#72: The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Even though this book is decently long, I thought it went by pretty quickly. It’s not exactly a book I’d call action-packed, but its characters are interesting and complex and the writing is good. It has to do with a man who attacks a painting at a National Gallery, only to be caught and taken to a psychiatric facility. The psychiatrist tries to help his patient, who has decided to remain mute for almost a year, so he reaches out to the patient’s loved ones to start reconstructing his life. Along the way, he discovers a dark secret in fine art’s history.

For people who:

  • like books that say a lot about human nature, even if the plot moves slowly
  • are interested in (fictional) art history, contemporary art, Impressionists, and painting
  • are interested in psychology

 

#73: Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

Can I just say I want to be Kelly Link when I grow up? I think this woman is single-handedly responsible for making me fall in love with short stories. Well, Link and Angela Carter. I’m in love with her particular brand of magical realism, and I can’t get enough of her writing.

For people who:

  • like all the trappings of magical realism, including witches, zombies, and things that are hard to describe, that you’ve never seen, and that you really, really want to be real (or are afraid just might be)
  • want to see a great writer at work
  • who want to give short stories a try (she’s one to start with, especially if you like magic)

 

#74: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

I’ve long since run out of Austen books, but I like reading novels from a roughly contemporary time period. This is Gaskell’s last book, and it’s actually unfinished (though she only stopped about a chapter from the end, so it’s easy to tell what happens). Not all of the characters are very likable, especially from a modern perspective, but Gaskell really draws on this, embraces it, and her characters end up being very well drawn and never shirk from displaying their foibles. Her drawing room scenes are done with such delicateness; they are exquisite. She is a master of the nineteenth century polite burn. This book is long, but is well worth the time investment.

For people who:

  • like classics and have run out of Austen or Bronte novels
  • need to retreat back in time
  • like Masterpiece and/or BBC mini-series

 

#75: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

This book won both the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, which is quite unusual, but it definitely deserves the acclaim. It’s written in a style that I could describe as newspaper or headline-esque. The sentences are short and clipped (though not lacking in detail or description), with an emphasis on verbs and a reduction of some of the more traditional sentence structures. It’s a very interesting style, though it can take a while to get into. The story follows Quoyle, a third-rate newspaperman as he loses his cheating wife in a car accident and decides to move back to his ancestral (though never before seen by him) home in Newfoundland.

For people who:

  • are looking for something different with great writing
  • are interested in journalism, ships, Canada, or the way we rebuild ourselves after loss
  • who like stories that take place in unforgiving landscapes

 

And there you have it. My last 8 read of 2015. I hope some of these books make it onto your 2016 reading list. Have you read any of these books or writers? Which would you be most interested in? Let me know in the comments.

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday: My 10 Favorite Female Authors

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This calligraphy “Top Ten Tuesday” picture is free to use, but please give credit to Allison of Aliza Shandel. Your respectfulness is much appreciated!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature from the Broke and the Bookish.

Since today’s topic was actually a freebie, I thought I’d do a list on the life blood of this year’s reading challenge, which is all about female authors. Making this list wasn’t as easy as I’d thought, as my true favorite author list would be a pretty equal combination of both male and female authors, so I had to broaden my favorites. This means that I went backwards in reading history, and selected authors that made my childhood/young adulthood come to life.

So here they are in alphabetical order:

Margaret Atwood: Atwood is a relatively new discovery for me, as I read her book The Handmaid’s Tale just before 2015 had begun. Her deft mix of social commentary and science fiction is not to be missed, and when she isn’t writing science fiction she has an amazing mastery of character and description that allow her to hop from genre to genre. One day I’d like to be able to write like her–just a little bit.

Jane Austen: Some people claim that music or sports or certain groups of friends got them through high school, but I certainly think Jane Austen receives a lot of thanks for getting me through that period of time. Each of her heroines give different insight in what it means to be a woman, what it means to be in love, and what it means to navigate through an unyielding social system. Beyond the romance, Austen makes her characters people and she gives them the chance to improve themselves.

Meg Cabot: This woman is simply inspiring in the sheer volume of her work combined with its total readability. Her characters are just insecure enough and just strong enough to conquer all of the bizarre challenges she throws their way. Cabot got me through middle school without a doubt, though she did plant an absurd idea in my mind that it was possible to suddenly find out you’re a princess…

Angela Carter: A new discovery of mine also from last year, I can already tell Carter and I are going to be very happy together. Her short story collection The Bloody Chamber was dark and magical and completely enchanting. Her fairy tale adaptations were nothing short of brilliant–innovative, but still capturing that grim and slightly gruesome fairy tale mood.

Emily Dickinson: I tried to keep this list geared towards novelists and not poets, but I couldn’t resist adding this one. Dickinson’s poems capture little microcosms. Her small poems cut right to the heart of the matter and the person reading them.

Gail Carson Levine: Levine and I go way back. I read Ella Enchanted and loved her. Her adaptations have so much light and hope and her heroines have so much gumption. Her books were mainstays in my childhood.

Sylvia Plath: There are some writers you wish you could be as brilliant as, and then there are some you knew you would go crazy (literally) if you attempted to emulate them. Plath is just scary dark and scary good. Her writing makes mental illness accessible–more human and more possible for the average person. If you haven’t read The Bell Jar, you really should.

JK Rowling: All Potter fans think they’re the biggest ones. My love of these books runs very very deep. I’ve read them countless times and I reread them every summer. They capture something that is very hard to explain. She really understands teenagers and the universe she creates is vast and so easy to see yourself living in. I think she’ll continue to capture hearts for years to come.

Zadie Smith: Can I just say I read a lot of good books last year? This is another author I’ve just recently found for myself. Smith’s writing is humorous, witty, poignant, and tight–she has such control over her narrative and her characters. She’s obviously fond of them, but she doesn’t let them get away with just anything. White Teeth is one of the most amazing first novels I’ve ever read.

Patricia C Wrede: Another mainstay of my childhood, Wrede is another of those fantasy authors I couldn’t put down, whether it was Sorcery and Cecilia (cowritten with Caroline Stevermer) or the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Her heroines were just so feisty and the stories were playful and gripping.

I think what you can tell from these books is that I love well written female protagonists, fantasy, and whimsy mixed with just the right amount of feminism, wit, and gothic sensibilities.

Do any of these authors make your favorites list? What is your favorite book written by one of these amazing women? Let me know in the comments.