Tiramisu Cake

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. My brother cooked a delicious spicy beef stir-fry and I made the cake. It couldn't be just any cake though. It had to be special. So I made one of her favorites in the form of a cake: tiramisu!

This idea is actually a blend of wisdom from Smitten Kitchen. I read the reviews for the espresso and tiramisu cake and decided to merge them. I took the Chiffon cake and it's syrup, made some minor adaptations, and married it with the filling/frosting of the tiramisu cake. The result? Success!

After eating the cake, I asked for critique. My brother said "more filling!!" because he loves sweet cheeses. My personal thought, douse this baby in the syrup. I had some left over because I didn't wanna over do it but trust me- the chiffon can take it. Poke some holes with a tooth pick if you want to really get it in there. The boyfriend suggested crushing chocolate covered espresso beans and sprinkling in between the layers with the chocolate chips.

Note: This recipe requires 1/3 cup plus an additional 8 tablespoons of espresso. From what I read, the instant stuff can be a bit bitter. I passed a drive-through Starbucks on the way home and asked for 8 shots of espresso. I had a little left over, but better safe than sorry.

There are three parts to this recipe, so pay attention:
1. The cake
2. The syrup
3. The frosting/filling

Cake:

Makes an 8- or 9-inch triple-layer cake

1/4 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as soybean, canola or vegetable blend
6 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons freshly brewed espresso, cooled to room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Syrup:

1/3 cup hot, freshly brewed espresso
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy

Frosting/Filling:

1 8-ounce container mascarpone
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy
1 cup cold heavy cream
About 1/2 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Chocolate-covered espresso beans, for decoration (optional)
Cocoa powder, for dusting

Preheat to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of three 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with rounds of parchment or waxed paper, but do not grease.

In a medium bowl, combine the oil, egg yolks, espresso and vanilla; whisk lightly to blend. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, 1 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set the dry ingredients aside.

In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixture, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium-low speed until frothy. Raise the speed to medium-high and gradually add the remaining half cup of sugar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form; do not whip until stiff or the cake will shirk excessively upon cooling.

Add the espresso-egg yolk mixture to the dry ingredients and fold together just enough to combine. Add one-fourth of the beaten egg whites and fold them in to lighten the batter. Fold in the remainder of the whites just until no streaks remain. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans.

Bake the cakes for about 18 minutes each, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the pans. When cooled, run a blunt knife around the edge of the pans to release the cakes. Invert onto wire racks and remove the paper liners.

For the Syrup.... In a bowl, stir together the espresso and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the booze of your choice and let cool to room temperature.

For the Filling/Frosting.... Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth.

Working with the stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch. When you do fill the layers of the cake- remember to leave enough for the frosting!

To assemble.... place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Soak the cake with 1/3 cup of the Syrup. Spread about 1 1/3 cups of the marscapone Filling evenly over the top of the layer. Repeat with the next layer, more syrup and more frosting. Finally, top with the third layer. Soak it with the remaining syrup.

For the frosting, whisk 1 to 2 tablespoons of the remaining cooled espresso into the remaining mascarpone filling. Taste the frosting as you go to decide how much espresso you want to add. If the frosting looks as if it might be a little too soft to spread over the cake, press a piece of plastic wrap against its surface and refrigerate it for 15 minutes or so. This will give the frosting a slight brown color. Frost the rest of the cake.

Refrigerate over night or at least 3 hours so everything can come together.

Coconut-Banana Muffins

What started as banana bread evolved into banana muffins. I wanted to switch it up so I made some edits to this classic. Lil brown sugar here... some shredded coconut there... bam! These muffins are tasty, light, and moist. This is a simple balance of banana and coconut. Plus, it's easy to make.
Preheat to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins (makes 24).

Cake:
1 stick margarine, softened
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 large bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Pinch of salt

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon softened butter

Cream together margarine and sugars in bowl. Add the eggs and bananas. Sift flour and soda together into batter, blending thoroughly. Stir in remaining ingredients. Make sure the bananas aren't super yellow. Pour into lined cupcake tin.
For the topping... mix the ingredients in a bowl. Do not melt the butter! You want it to be crumbly. It's easiest if you roll together with your hands until it become crumbly. Sprinkle generous amount on top of each muffin.
Bake for about 15 minutes. Perfect for on the go breakfast or a little snack at work. I brought these in to the office and they demolished.
I'm not quite sure why Bruce felt the need to glare at the unattainable muffin... But he did.

Sweet Potato, Yogurt and Hazelnut Cakes

Stubborn. One of my bittersweet traits. Generally, I'm laid back and flexible. If things don't work, they were not meant to be. Go with the flow. And yet... I cannot admit defeat to a video game level. I will play the same damn stage over and over again until I beat it. I will practice the same move at session until it clicks in my brain. I don't care if it takes a week to a year (yah, I'm looking at you windmills). I want to wear a red shirt today- why can't I find my red shirt? No, it must be the red shirt! Okay Michele, you just wasted 10 minutes looking for a shirt that doesn't really matter- good job.

I was browsing recipes the other day and stumbled upon this exquisite website: Canelle and Vanille. The photos are poetry. The recipes polished and professional. It's ridiculous. However, the author measures in grams (its more professional) and some of the recipes can be temperamental.

Sweet Potato, Yogurt, and Hazelnut cakes... how could I NOT attempt this recipe? I decided to make these for the Bake Sale this past weekend. Bad idea. Long story short, they failed. No matter how long I baked them, they looked beautiful but the inside was still uncooked. My mom told me to let it go, it was the liquid in the sweet potato ratio to the dry ingredients.

Defeat? Never.

I made these again last night. I did my homework better this time and used 2 potatoes instead of 2 1/2. As it turns out (don't laugh at my ignorance), grams convert differently depending on substance. Thank you Metric Kitchen for getting me through this. Below are the conversions I used.

This is not a super sweet cake, it's actually more of a healthy sweet : ) I used a cream cheese frosting. The cake is moist and the texture sort of reminds me of banana bread but more cakey. Does that make sense? I greatly enjoyed the flavor with bits of hazelnut. Thanks Canelle and Vanille!

Cake:

2 medium sized sweet potatoes (300 grams sweet potato puree)
1 1/3 cups flour
1/3 cup hazelnut flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon grams baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (or powdered)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup whole milk yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Zest of half an orange
3/4 cups hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
3 tablespoons hazelnuts, chopped for topping

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the sweet potatoes in a baking dish and bake at 400F for about 45 minutes to an hour until flesh is fork tender. Let them cool, peel the skin, and puree.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, hazelnut flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sweet potato puree, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, yogurt, oil and orange zest. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and whisk until combined. It will be a runny batter. Fold in the toasted and chopped hazelnuts.

Pour the batter in the molds (about 3/4 of the way full), sprinkle the top with chopped hazelnuts and bake at 350F until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Time will vary depending on the mold. For small loaf pans, about 22 minutes, the smaller individual molds about 17 minutes.

For the frosting.... cream together with an electric mixer the cream cheese and butter till smooth. Add sugar and vanilla. Decorate with hazelnuts and nutmeg powder.

The Great American Bake Sale

Share Our Strength had its Great American Bake Sale this weekend! I worked with fellow foodie bloggers in the Washington D.C. team! Our location was the Eastern Market, a food and craft fair held on the weekends. You can find anything under the sun here, from necklaces to homemade salsa. The D.C. team did our best and had fun while we were at it. Thanks to Coleen for organizing! We raised over $600! Woo hoo!

The only con was the location of the table: the sidewalk. We were not in the heart of the Market- we were on the outskirts. Not exactly prime real estate. What started with Dskco waving her arm's in a "star burst" motion to generate attention turned into hours of yelling in the middle of the street and pointing to the Bake Sale.

We had some help from a sweet Yorkie named Athena that no one could resist petting! We even had doggie treats to hand out. I definitely exploited this... I am a huge animal lover.

I baked three items:

1. Black Bottom Cupcakes
2. Cherry-Coconut Bars (soon to be posted)
3. Perfect Chocolate Cake

My intention was to bring some Sweet Potato-Hazelnut Cupcakes... but I will tell that adventure in a few blogs. The food came out okay- had stress and love in it. My oven and patience did its best in one night.

I was excited to try other people's food too. Delicious pound cake from Dskco, sunshine filled lemon cupcakes from FoodieTots, and so much more. Moo ha ha!

Good Food for a Good Cause. That's what's up.

The Perfect Chocolate Cake

Perfect? I kid you not!

My friend's nephew celebrated his birthday this past weekend. He turned 5 years old and wanted an Iron Man cake. I was super excited that they asked me if I would like to make the cake. Um, heck yah?

The recipe I selected comes from Smitten Kitchen and is absolutely delicious. Divine. Perfect. The cake is super moist and not overly sweet while the frosting is a thick and seductive ganache. Makes me drool just thinking about it. Smitten's version called for a raspberry filling (which I would have loved) but passed on. A 5 year old's palette isn't quite there. At least not this one- he's one of the most picky eater's on the Earth.

Grease and flour 2, 10x2 inch circle pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper. Preheat oven to 300.

Cake:

3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Ganache:

1 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

For the cake... finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. I used Ghiraddeli chocolate chips so they were already chopped! Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

In a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl, with an electric mixer beat, eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature. I made the cake they day before and it was insanely moist the following day.

For the frosting... Finely chop chocolate (or use chips!). In a small saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.

Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). I found that stirring this over a bowl of ice water did a great job of cooling it off quickly and evenly-- truth!

Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Prepare yourself... this cake will make your mouth sing.

DC Food Bloggers Bake Sale: April 17, 2010

On April 17th, The Great American Bake Sale will feature food bloggers from all over the US selling goods in their hometowns to help benefit Share Our Strength's efforts to end childhood hunger.

DC will be participating from 9am to Noon at the farmers market at Eastern Market (7th Street & North Carolina Avenue, SE).

If you'd like to participate in the DC area, join our team! You can also make a donation. 100% of the proceeds goes towards the cause. Colleen from FoodieTots is in charge of the DC event.

My girl Dskco actually pulled me into this! We'll be there, sweets in tow and a big cup of coffee. So come out, have fun, take a stroll in DC, support a great cause, and eat some yummy treats!

We all tend to forget how good we got it... Sometimes you just gotta ask yourself: What's your contribution to life?

Hope to see you there!

Chef Navix: From Korea- Mandu!

Back in February, a friend of mine dipped out to teach in Korea for a year. I heard from a mutual friend that the man can actually cook. I never saw it with my own eyes so I was pretty skeptical.

A week or so back, he e-mailed me about his victory over Korean cuisine: Mandu (Korean Dumplings). Follow the link for the recipe he used! There's even a helpuful video.

Well, the picture he sent looks pretty tasty. Let's see how his quest turned out....

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I wake up Wednesday morning, body rocked from last nights two hour session. I lay around wanting to not think about moving my body.

"I have to go to work in 2 hours…blegh,” I think to myself.

"I still have to make lunch…BLLLEGGH!”

My reality sets in and I roll down my tiny steps into a very cold and rainy day in Bucheon, South Korea. This isn’t my best day here by far, so I need some inspiration. I sleepily grab my I-Pod to add some pep to my step and crack the fridge. I can still here the Instant Message dings going off as I seem to be looking through those drunk goggles they slap on your face during the drivers ed courses.

Then one glorious ding lets off, I have stuff to make Mandu!!!!

By this time Raekwon’s “Kiss the Ring” comes on and it’s the perfect intro to try something dangerous. I hope my friends will salute me when they are over my grave at my funeral after I accidentally kill myself from cooking this. I was a tad hype during round one, probably why the result looked like a bunch of brunt asteroids covered in more burnt brittleness. I ate it still, shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t let my failure fall to the whim of Mr. McTrashbag.

I get home late after a long day of work. I want to dance but cant since I just got wind that I will be teaching a 4 week program for helping the higher level students with writing. I drag my feet, walk upstairs, put on some music, and zone out. Inspiration hits with a track by Jamal called “Jamal 141.” I got a tad of energy and thought I should at least get something to eat. Then Kero One’s “Groovin’” comes on and now my fatness has enough energy to at least groove down the steps. I look discouraged at my grounded meat, thinking I should probably make something of that soon before it goes bad. Then, no joke, Swing Out Sister’s “Better Make it Better” comes on. I look up and let out a hardy chuckle. Thanks pops, even when you are in another country your values still reach me somehow…along with your music!

So I run downstairs to a convenience store and buy some oil that led to round one’s glorious defeat. I do everything the same except I add a ludicrously large amount of oil to prevent any perishable foods from bursting into flames. What you see before you is that happy victory in which I conquered the infamous Mandu.

Thanks to my homie in arms, Sqrl’ly Sqrl, for giving me a spot on her blog. Keep on reading for awesome deliciousness that makes souls happy. Her posts are usually better written, documented, and informative than this! Also she is awake when she writes it, which is great for people who want to make sense of things.

Peace, Love, and all the Nom Noms,

Mike aka NavIX
Dancing Monkey Dynasty
R. Funkist
HAE

Frittata

What goes in a Frittata? Whatever you want!

These are awesome when you need something quick, simple, and tasty. Plus, you can throw in all those half-used veggies chilling in your fridge! This version contains asparagus, mushroom, prosciutto, and mint. Traditionally, my family makes a version of this but with just Portuguese sausage and parsley.

The basic recipe remains true: cook some eggs and add whatever you want!

4 eggs

Sprinkling of cheese (most like Parmesan)

Sprinkling of mint

8 asparagus stalks (2 per egg is how I measure)

2 oz. portabella baby mushrooms, cut into chunks

Some chopped prosciutto

Olive oil (for the pan)

Pepper
Crushed red pepper

Preheat the oven to 400. On the stove top, bring some water to boil.

Clean and chop off the ends of the asparagus. Blanch the asparagus (meaning drop it in the hot water and leave until they turn a very bright shade of green) for about 4 minutes. Refresh them until needed (meaning leave them in a bowl of ice water so they keep it together).

Beat the eggs lightly in a bowl, sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and red pepper. Add cheese and mint.

Note: I am not using salt because the meat I'm using is by nature salty.

In an oven proof pan, heat the oil till it’s very hot. Pour in the egg mixture and keep tilting till the egg in the pan is evenly distributed.

While it’s still runny, throw in the mushrooms, meat, and arrange the asparagus atop the egg mixture. Let it cook for a minute or two.

Place the hot pan into the oven and cook until the top is well set and slightly golden. Test with knife- don't worry if the top a little shiny, that's from all the yummy things cooking inside.

Transfer to a plate and pat some of excess juice. Eat as is or serve on ciabatta like a samich! Frittatas are a delicious and fairly healthy meal. Get creative!

Nutella Pinwheels

There is currently an abundance of nutella in my house due to the blizzard a few weeks back. Some people stock up on milk and water- we opted for nutella. In an effort to put a dent in it, I decided to make cookies. The recipe I found is from the Purple Foodie. This site has some great stuff!

This is an easy recipe with yummy results. Essentially, it's a sugar cookie with a spiral of nutella in it. Score for me cuz the bf loves sugar cookies and I love hazelnut.

1 stick butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1 egg yolk (not white)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 heaped cup sifted flour

¼ cup Nutella to spread, a little more never hurts

2-3 tablespoon, toasted, chopped hazelnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. The number of cookies is determined by how thin you roll the dough and how thick you cut the cookies.

Mix the butter and sugar together till creamy. Mix in the egg yolk and the vanilla extract. The mixture should be light. Stir in the flour and refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes so that it can firm up to facilitate rolling.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle of ¼ inch thickness. Spread the Nutella making sure to leave one finger space on all four sides. Sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts and gently roll up the dough. I like to pinch the edges to ensure it stays together.

Refrigerate for another 10 minutes before cutting the slices. I left it in for 2 hours because I had to run to dance practice; this made cutting very easy! It's like buying the pre-made roll of sugar cookie dough at the grocery store.

Lay the slices on a lined baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. Baking time will vary depending on how thick you've cut them. A little brown on the edges is good so keep an eye on it.

When you cut it, you can use a knife or wire. Purple Foodie made the wire suggestion because the nutella can smear some with the knife. I didn't have this problem with the knife because I left it in the fridge a lot longer (let it get to room temp before you bake). Pick what works for you!I'm not a huge sugar cookie person- add the nutella and hazelnuts... yah I'm down. It's nice because the edges can get a lil crisp but the nutella ensures that the center is soft. Plus, I enjoy adding certain nuts to baked goods. They add a lil healthy edge and some texture.

Get a cup of milk and attack.