One Bowl Chocolate Cake

One Christmas potluck some time ago, Sunny wowed us with this amazing chocolate cake. At the time, I was a terrible baker (I had a hard time TAKING the time to measure ingredients) and just assumed it was way above my skills. Since then, I’ve made a couple reasonably good cakes, so I asked him for the recipe.

I’m tempted to rename it the no-fail chocolate cake. Why? I didn’t take all that much care in measuring the ingredients (no sifting, kinda shook the measuring spoons and cups to level sugar, baking powder and baking soda), and it still turned out fab!

He got the recipe from here.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Frosting: You can use any. I made a peppermint cream cheese one

• 1 (8oz) cream cheese, room temperature
• 0.5-0.75 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 0.5-1.5 tsp peppermint extract
• 0.5 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 0.75 cup cold whipping cream
• food colouring

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.
• In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be watery. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
• Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the frosting, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and peppermint and beat until smooth. Gradually beat in whipping cream and beat until it is thick enough to spread. It may be a bit soft, but it will set while the cake chills. Add in food colouring.
• Frost and fill the cake. It is easiest with the bottoms of the two layers together, so you get a flat midsection and a domed top.
• Let rest/chill overnight.

Hot and Sour Soup

I used this recipe as a base, but really, I just kinda tasted the entire way. Willard likes it SOUR so I used both rice and white vinegar (white is so much cheaper). I ended up with a reasonable facsimile, it just wasn’t thick enough, but that’s easily remedied with more cornstarch-water.

Ingredients

• stock (chicken, pork or kombu for vegan)
• meat (optional), cut into strips
• 10 dried shiitake, soaked and sliced (save the water)
• 2-4 dried wood ear, soaked and sliced
• handful of lily buds (optional; “gold needle” in Cantonese), soaked
• 1 can julienned bamboo shoots, drained
• 2 pkgs enoki (optional), washed
• 1-2 blocks tofu, cut into strips
• 1-2 eggs (optional), lightly beaten
• Chinese cooking wine
• soy sauce
• rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
• chili sauce, chili oil, or chili flakes
• salt & pepper
• 2-3 tbs cornstarch mixed with 1/2 cup cold water

Method

• Bring stock and mushroom soaking water to boil. Add meat if using.
• Add shiitake, wood ear, lily bulbs and bamboo and let boil.
• Add enoki, tofu.
• Add soy sauce cooking wine, vinegar, chili and salt and pepper to taste.
• When it boils, slowly stir in egg if using.
• Stir in cornstarch mixture until it thickens.
• Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cake

I got this from the Joy of Baking, and pretty much followed it. The only thing I did was use a quarter cup less sugar, but I think I should’ve used the full amount–not because it was not sweet enough, but because my cake didn’t have the right texture, nor did it rise enough, so I probably shouldn’t've tampered with anything.

The video was a huge help. After frosting the cake, I let it sit for 4 hours before eating it, figuring that it could be like tiramisu and needed a bit of time for the cake to absorb some moisture from the cream.

Cupcakes would probably be easier, and they’d be easier to store.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons (15 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting:

• 1 – 8 ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 – 8 ounce (227 grams) tub of Mascarpone, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (115 grams) confectioners’ (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted
• 1 1/2 (360 ml) cups cold heavy whipping cream (35-40% butterfat)

Method:

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter two – 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside. In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter. 

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight). (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

Frosting: In the bowl of your electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and mascarpone until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

Assemble: With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four cake
layers. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.  Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the crumbs as garnish.

Serves 10 – 12

Apple Fest

For one weekend around this time of year, the UBC Botanical Garden puts on the Apple Festival. There are apple pies, apple tastings, apple peeling contests, and apple sales. Apples are by far my favourite fruit, provided it is crispy. Apple Fest is a great time to try new cultivars, and many of the apples available are not sold in your average store.

This year, I did not go to the apple tasting, but there were a couple new cultivars to try: SPA 493 (as of yet unnamed) and Sabina. I wasn’t a huge fan of the unnamed one.. the texture was a bit powdery. Sabina was not for sale.

We bought quite a few bags: Silken, World #1, Aurora Golden Gala, Yoko, Honey Crisp.

 

First up is Silken, which is best eaten soon after picking. I loved the flavour. It is very aromatic, which for me, meant that I could smell it as I chewed on it, and it was sweet and slightly tart at times. What keeps it out of my favourites list is that the texture was not as crispy and crunchy as I like. It didn’t give that satisfying snap when I bit into it.

 

Meatloaf

I had some awesome turkey meatloaf at Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe not that long ago, and it totally reminded me of Susan’s recipe. (They don’t taste the same, but I wanted to make some.) I like to add veggies to almost everything I make, so I put in what I thought would work. It turned out pretty well, but it didn’t hold together. Works for a sloppy-Joe type sandwich.

No picture. It looked rather unappetizing.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ketchup
• 2/3 cup prepared mustard (we used the rest of our Dijon, and supplemented with horseradish)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 onion, chopped (I put it through a food processor)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 lbs ground beef
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 2 eggs (probably should be more)
• 2 carrots, coarsely grated (finely if you want to hide it)
• 1 red pepper, chopped (I put it through a food processor)
• 1.5 cups milk (1 cup is probably enough)
• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper to taste (about 1-2 tsp each)

Method:

• In a bowl, mix together ketchup, sugar and mustard. Set this sauce aside. It will be used to top the meatloaf.
• Preheat oven to 350F.
• In a large pot, saute the onions and garlic in some butter.
• Remove from heat and add milk. (This is to help cool the pot so the egg will not cook)
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
• Divide into two pans.
• Top with sauce and bake for 1 hour. Let rest for 15 minutes and enjoy!

Bo Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew)

I had the biggest craving for this the other day. I suspect it has something to do with the colder weather lately. Time to break out the crock!

I got the recipe from here, but I forgot to purchase certain items, so here’s my bastardized version of it (which still turned out fab):

Ingredients (for a 6-qt crock)

• 2 tbs annatto seeds
• 1 lb oxtail (I actually bought a package that was .75 kg)
• 1 lb stewing beef (this was divided from a package from costco)
• .5 cups flour
• 1-2 tsp crushed lemongrass (I bought it as a tube from the herb section of Save-on)
• 1-2 tsp crushed ginger (also from Sasve-on)
• 1 stick Chinese cinnamon
• 3 star anise
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp 5-spice powder
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 2 tbs nuoc mam (fish sauce)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 onion, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 2 large carrots
• 3 or more potatoes

Method:

• Wash meat and bones, drain and put into crock.
• Coat with flour.
• Microwave on high the annatto seeds with .5 cup water for 1 minute. The water should be nice and reddish-orange. Strain the water into the crock and discard the seeds. This will give the stew its colour.
• Add all ingredients except for the carrots and potatoes.
• Fill with water, leaving enough room for the carrots and potatoes to go in later.
• Stir and cook on high for 2 hours.
• Cut potatoes and carrots into 2-inch pieces. (Adding them in later prevents them from going to mush)
• Add them into the pot and cook for an additional 2 hours.
• Discard the star anise, bay leaves and cinnamon.
• Season to taste, and enjoy with baguette, rice, or rice noodles (pho).
• Tastes better the next day. Freeze leftover broth to use as a starter for the next batch.

My pictures would not focus, so none to be had =/

Lemongrass Chicken

I am determined to get more uses out of my barbeque before the end of summer, so here’s another for the grill ^^

(I’m sure this can also be fried, but I LOVE the smokey flavour that is impossible to come by with non-stick pans)

 

Ingredients:

• chicken (we used 12 thighs with skin and bone)
• 8 stalks lemongrass
• 6 cloves garlic
• 4 shallots
• 2 tbs sugar (or to taste)
• 0.5 cup fish sauce
• 0.5 cup lime juice
• salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste

Method:

• Cut off the green part and the outer layers of lemongrass and discard.
• Roughly chop the rest of the stalks and puree in food processor with garlic, shallots and sugar.
• Blend in fish sauce, lime juice. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.
• Trim chicken of excess fat and skin to help prevent flare-ups on the grill.
• Marinate chicken for 2 hours and grill on both sides at 350-375F until done (74 C), about 30 minutes. When you see/hear a lot of smoke/flare-ups, pick up the offending pieces and shake them over a corner of the grill to get rid of the excess fat.
• Enjoy with rice, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and pickles.

Verdict:

The temperature ran away a bit, so the chicken dried out. I think skinless chicken would be better for taste (though I REALLY liked the little charred bits). Or, marinate it for longer, because mine was a bit bland.