April Fools!

Kitty litter cake!

So much fun to make and more fun to eat... pranking people with it is also rather amusing

The recipe I'm using today is inspired by the "Better than Sex Cake" recipe which is wildly famous (so it seems!) and it's quite tasty. Here's my spin on it.

Cake:  2 X the following recipe

Hershey's Black Magic Cake

(I baked this recipe twice and it yielded 2 long rectangular pans)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil  (I used butter flavoured EVOO From Olive That!) or grape seed oil 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk (Or mix yogurt with water to a nice thick liquid creamy consistency) 

1 cup strong black coffee OR 2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee plus 1 cup boiling water (or just plain boiling water) 

Dry ingredients:

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Cocoa Powder 

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk, warm slightly in the microwave for a couple of seconds so it's easy to pour. 

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Lay a piece of parchment to fit the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch rectangular baking pan.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (Batter will be thin). Pour batter evenly into prepared pan.

3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen cake from side of pan and remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

For the second cake I removed from the oven and poked it all over with a skewer (not all the way through to the bottom) and then I poured some condensed milk (1/3 cup) by gently spooning some over the top and spreading it for the warm cake to absorb.

Set both cakes aside.

Salted Caramel Sauce: Recipe adapted slightly from Strawberry Chocolate Concoction 

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut in three squares from the stick 

(should but firm - from the fridge is fine, but not melty)

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 tsp sea salt (fleur de sel is best)

You can use raw cane sugar, which is a light brown color, which is why my caramel is a bit darker than if you were to start with white sugar

Instructions

Heat sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula.

Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a deep, golden-brown, amber-colored viscous liquid. At all times, be careful not to burn!

Once the sugar is all melted, immediately add the butter. The mixture will bubble, so do watch out. Stir until the butter has completely melted and is mixed well into the sugar.

Slowly pour in the heavy cream. Due to the reaction between the cold cream and hot sugar mixture, the final mixture will bubble vigorously. Allow the mixture to boil/bubble for 30 seconds. It will rise in the pan as it does so. Once again, watch that it's not burning!

Remove from heat and stir in salt.. Allow to cool.

Store in a tightly-capped jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Warm slightly before using again.

(You may have some leftover, which is ok) 

Whipping cream:

2 (500 ml) small cartons of heavy (35%) cream

3 heaping tbsp powder sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

(Whip all together in the blender or kitchen aid until it is fluffy but not too whipped, just softer peaks.)


Assembly

Prepare your food safe tub or container that resembles a kitty litter. Place a piece of parchment at the bottom and then set your first cake inside (the one without the sweetened condensed milk!)

Layer with half the whipped cream and drizzle caramel next.

The next layer of cake may have to be sliced horizontally into 2 layers if your container isn't a perfect square, otherwise there will be gaps as in my case where the tub got wider at the top and more narrow at the bottom.

I sliced the cake horizontally in a diagonal angle downwards from the middle and out to the side and was able to gently slide that piece over to cover the gap.  In the end it will look and taste delicious so no worries.


Another layer of whipped cream and more caramel.

At the very end and before serving sprinkle the entire top with toffee bits (skor?) and make sure no gaps are visible.  It will look exactly like kitty litter (more precisely the type I use which is corn litter by World's best cat litter)

Treat as a trifle and scoop pieces out.  It's absolutely delicious!

Winter moments 2013-2014

A couple of sweet moments that made this winter bearable!

Arabic Cauliflower and Meat

Here's a fantastic recipe! I'm always happy to find new recipes that include cauliflower since my use of this vegetable is very limited to a certain amount of recipes that I'm used to.  Also try the fried cauliflower recipe in my previous post here 

Arabic Cauliflower and Meat

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

2/3 lb ground beef

1/2 tsp Arabic 7 spice
Salt to season

1 large head of cauliflower (including the core parts)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

A pinch of cumin at the end (optional) 

Pickles (of your choice, preferably a vinegar variety of cucumber and pepper pickles opposed to a sweet bread and butter pickle) 

Directions: 

Wash and dry the cauliflower, remove the florets in 3 cm pieces, or as seen in the photo and set aside. Dice the stem parts into small cubes to cook uniformly.

Set aside.

Begin in a pan, heating the olive oil on medium high and add the meat.  Begin mashing and stirring until it is all fried up nicely and begins browning and sizzling.  Add salt to season and the 7 spice. 

When the meat is browned nicely add the cauliflower and stir it together allowing it to "stir fry" for a couple of seconds tossing the vegetables to coat.  Add a bit of liquid (2 tbsp?) and cover letting it simmer on low for about 20 minutes. Checking it after 10 minutes and adding another 2 tbsp of water if needed, just to prevent everything from sticking.

Check on it again and test the thickest part of the cauliflower stem using a small knife to makes sure they're tender.  Let it cook for another 8-10 minutes uncovered( without lid) for extra liquid to evaporate.  When it sizzles again from the oil remove from heat and add a dash of cumin (if desired) and a nice squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with a pickle on the side and some flatbread (pita)  I went with a cornichon pickle that is found in the middle eastern section of my local store. 

Enjoy! 

Another great recipe courtesy of my Syrian friend, and a Zucchini variation coming soon!

The first time I attempted this recipe I diced the cauliflower too small, it was still delicious but as you see it really disintegrates into the meat with the stirring and cooking process.

Arabic fried Cauliflower

Arabic fried cauliflower 
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 heads of cauliflower (medium to large) 

2 tsp salt 

Oil for frying

1 cup yogurt

1 tbsp lemon juice

Salt 

Dash of cumin 

1 tbsp mayo (optional) 

Fresh Pita for serving

Serve with : Cucumber, tomato and red onion salad lightly dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and seasoned with salt.

Begin: 

Cut the cauliflower florets off the stalk slowly keeping evenly sized pieces in tact.  Bring water to a boil and boil them for 10 minutes (add 2 tsp salt to water) 

Drain the cauliflower and set it aside until it cools a bit and is no longer watery. 

Heat oil for frying. Gently fry cauliflower pieces in batches to avoid over crowding turning them from time to time and remove when reddish/golden in colour. 

Set them on a paper towel and keep them from overcrowding (as not to get soggy) Salt lightly. 

Enjoy the florets with the dipping sauce of stuff inside pita and drizzle with sauce! 

Enjoy

Recipe courtesy of my good Syrian friend.