Let Them Eat Cake

I was in the mood for baking and celebrating, but what was the occasion you ask? ... Nothing specific, maybe the weather warming up or feeling a little better after all these months of avoiding food and photography, but now I wanted to jump right back into it so I whipped up this pretty looking cake to share.

Served with fresh strawberries for the perfect girly indulgence.

CAKE

Ingredients for the cake layers:

1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

6 large eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 unsalted butter, melted

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of two 8" round cake pans. Cut a parchment paper circle to fit onto the bottom of each pan.

Sift the flour three times onto a sheet of parchment or wax paper.

Beat the eggs and sugar in the large bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment, for up to 10 minutes, until the volume has increased at least three times. The mixture should look thick, pale yellow, and bubbly.

Take the bowl off of the mixer. Sprinkle in half of the flour, folding it in with a hand-whisk just until combined; repeat with the rest of the flour.

Drizzle in the melted butter and whisk only until combined.

Divide the batter equally between the prepared cake pans.

Bake the layers for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cakes begin to pull away slightly from the sides of the pan. Cool the layers for 10 minutes before removing them from the pans. Peel off the parchment circles and let the layers cool completely before assembling the cake.

** My notes: I used red food colouring to the dye the cake pink, less for the lighter shade and more for the intense shade. Also on the dark pink I used cake flour instead of AP and that yield a cake with more holes, I'd stick with AP it's more dense but richer.   I obviously doubled the recipe above, or made it twice for each the lighter cakes and the darker ones. 

Frost with your favourite buttercream or whipped cream.

Thanks to Jane's Sweets and Baking Journal for the recipe

Cabbage rolls

Cabbage rolls, a photo by Adventuress Heart on Flickr.

Delicious cabbage rolls using leftover rice and that cabbage that has been in the fridge for a while.

If you have too much rice on hand this is the perfect recipe!

Mix cooked rice with fresh herbs (mint/parsley - pulsed in the processor with onion and garlic)
Add aromatics mix to tomato puree (or tomato paste + water) and mix well, I sneaked a little harissa (north african chili condiment mix into it) . Add salt/pepper to season and any spices you like (I add arabic 7 spice, gives it some warmth)

Mix the tomato mixture with the rice and begin stuffing/rolling your cabbage leaves (pre cut and boiled briefly in salt water to tenderize - can do this step ahead of time and drain then refrigerate for use)

Line your pot with the cabbage rolls, or your casserole. Add a bit of water to the bottom (not too much remember rice is cooked! ) and bake until it smells good.
Add more tomato sauce on top to cover and a layer or sauerkraut if that is your preference.

They taste better the next day!

Hard boiling eggs

Egg, a photo by Adventuress Heart on Flickr.

Easiest way to hard boil eggs: Add eggs to pot, cover with water. Sprinkle a pinch of salt in the pot.

Place pot on burner, let water come to a boil, immediately cover and remove from heat.
Let sit for 10 mins minimum.

Peel and enjoy! Beautiful eggs with bright yellow yolks.

Summer grilled tikka kebobs

Now that summer is here it means one thing - BBQ season!

My favourite way to prep kebobs are marinating the sirloin cubes in some lemon, greek oregano, salt and olive oil.

Another variation is arabic 7 spice with a sprinkling of sumac for that tang and olive oil. So good.
My mother likes to marinade her meat overnight with lots of chopped onion and black pepper (salt later to prevent all the moisture from coming out of the meat)

These tender bits get skewered onto wooded or metal skewers (wooden should be soaked prior to prevent burning) then they get grilled up quickly and served with fresh bread and lots of chopped vegetables or a salad.

Easy and delicious! Feel free to share your favourite kebob marinades!