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By Request
Betty Shimabukuro
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Jean’s Danish Tea Cake revealed
Jean Sumimoto was 3 months old when her father, George Abe, opened a bakery in the back of the Piggly Wiggly store on Oneawa Street in Kailua. The proud papa named the bakery for his baby, calling it Jean's Bakery & Fountain.
This was in 1950; the bakery remained open until 1972, although Abe eventually moved it to a freestanding location on Ulunui Street.
As the oldest of the four Abe kids, Sumimoto put in her time at the bakery, working on such specialties as the marzipan bunnies and bunny cakes made at Easter.
"From fifth grade I was selling doughnuts," Sumimoto says.
This put her in a good position when Eileen Nishikawa wrote in about her fond memories of the coffee cake from Jean's, described as having a sweet glaze and topped with nuts. "The texture and flavor of the cake was like no other," Nishikawa said.
Sumimoto says that sounds like her dad's Danish Tea Cake, a buttermilk cake topped with a maple-flavored glaze and chopped nuts.
Abe is 92 and remains active with tennis and bowling, but he's left the baking behind. The tea cake was a favorite of Sumimoto's Aunty Alice, so it's the one recipe that's been preserved from the old bakery.
Abe scaled it down from the large commercial quantity and Sumimoto further refined it. She tested it several times before sharing it here.
Note that Sumimoto and her dad measured out their ingredients by weight, which is the best way to get exact results. For those without scales, though, volume measurements are included here.
Jean's Bakery Danish Tea Cake
12 ounces (1-3/4 cups, unpacked) brown sugar
6 ounces (3/4 cup) white sugar
1-1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 ounces (3/4 cup) vegetable oil
12 ounces (1-1/2 cups) buttermilk, divided use
11 ounces (2-3/4 cups) cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
» Glaze:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
2 to 3 teaspoons maple syrup
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans.
Combine sugars, salt and vanilla. Mix in oil and 1/2 the buttermilk.
Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to sugar mixture. Add remaining buttermilk and eggs. Mix well (batter will be very thin). Pour into prepared pans. Bake about 40 minutes.
Cool cake, then drizzle with icing and sprinkle with chopped nuts.
Nutritional information unavailable.
Correction
Last week's recipe for the St. Patrick's Day Sugar Cookie from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf contained a couple of substantial errors. OK, it was pretty much a disaster. The ingredient list was wrong on two counts: way too much butter and the eggs were missing. The corrected recipe follows, with apologies from Coffee Bean.
Sugar Cookies
2-1/4 cups sugar
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
4-1/2 cups flour
» Royal Icing
1-1/2 pounds powdered sugar
Pinch cream of tartar or 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
2 to 3 egg whites
» For decorating:
Food coloring
Colored decorating sugar
Preheat oven to 320 degrees.
Beat sugar, butter and vanilla until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs and blend until just combined.
Add flour and salt and mix on low until mixture comes together. Turn dough onto a well-flowered surface. Roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut into desired shapes. Place cutouts on cookie sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Makes about 36 cookies, using 2- to 3-inch cookie cutters.
To make icing: Combine sugar and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl. Add 2 egg whites and beat on low speed until combined. Beat for about 60 more seconds. If icing is too stiff, add remaining egg white and blend until completely incorporated. Remove from mixer and cover with damp cloth until ready to use.
Decorating suggestions:
» Place icing in a piping bag and pipe around edges of cookies. Dip into decorating sugar, making sure that sugar covers all the icing.
» To frost entire cookie, loosen icing with a little more egg white. Add food coloring as desired and blend well. Frost cookies just until the edge. Let dry or dip in sugar.
» For a sandy sugar coating, brush cookies with egg whites before baking and sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake as directed.
Allow the cookies to dry for 24 hours before packaging.
Nutritional information unavailable.
Send queries along with name and phone number to: "By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. Or send e-mail to
bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com