Adventures with Gluten-Free Pie Crust Making

Gluten-free Hong Kong Style Egg Tart

My new tub of margarine!

I have officially eaten too much pie crust. 3 days in a row of pie crust making and eating. Definitely running low on margarine. Yes, I made these with margarine. I'm much too lazy to buy butter. Oops. This week was quite the adventure as I fuss with this gluten-free thing. Well, it really wouldn't be a fuss if we didn't decide to make pot pies. No, not the kind with the stuff that makes you go all, you know. The kind that's warm and comforting. And that's supposed to melt in your mouth. Well, it didn't. At least not the crust. The knife wouldn't even get through it! This was on Monday. So I decided that I had to figure out this whole yucky pie crust thing.


Apparently, the trick with gluten-free pie crusts is less water. Water makes it hard. Find ways to reduce it.

Vege pot pie fail

Wednesday- 4 in 1 pie crust

Tuesday fail

Here is the summary of all the things I tried:

Monday: 1 1/2 cup GF flour mix, 1/3 cup butter, too much water    --> yuck!
Tuesday: 1 1/2 cup GF flour mix, 1/2 cup butter, too much water    --> yuck!
Tuesday: 1 1/2 cup GF flour mix, 1/2 cup butter, too much almond milk    --> yuck!
Wednesday: 1 1/2 cup GF flour mix, 1/3 cup butter, less water    --> yuck!
Wednesday: 1 1/2 cup GF flour mix, 1 tbsp psyllium husk, 1/3 cup butter, less water   --> yuck!
Wednesday: 1cup Gf flour mix, 1/2 cup almond flour, 1/3 cup butter, 3 tbsp water     --> not too shabby! But a bit tough to roll.
Wednesday: 1 cup Gf flour mix, 1/2 cup almond flour, 1 tbsp psyllium husk, 1/3 cup butter, 2-3 tbsp water    --> WE GOT A WINNER!!!

The reason for adding the psyllium husk is to make the dough more rollable. Something about it's hydrophilic (love for water) characteristic that allows it to hold the crust together. It is still a bit finicky to work with, just make sure you don't add all the water at once, then you will be just fine.

I know you can't read it, but it's my scribble of recipes.

So, here is the successful recipe, which I then tried a full recipe with the making of Hong Kong style egg tarts. SOOOO GOOD!


GLUTEN-FREE PIE CRUST

1 cup GF flour mix
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tbsp psyllium husk
dash of salt
1/3 cup butter
2-3 tbsp water

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients.
2. Cut in the butter until nice and crumbly.
3. Add water in 1 tbsp at a time. Be careful, don't add too much water!
4. Refrigerate for an hour or so.
5. Flour your working surface and roll away!

Bake this with any of your favorite recipes, or on its own at 400F for 12-15 min.


HONG KONG STYLE EGG TART (蛋撻)

Lopsided, but so tasty!

These may be, again, another one of my childhood favs. No one can resist a good egg tart. Never thought about making it myself until this week's over-pie-crusting. Figured I might as well make something special out of it right? These are supposed to have a smooth, creamy inside. I used to scoop out the insides with a spoon then eat the tart. My grandma does that too. It's one of those hereditary things, runs in the genes!


Working time: 20-30 min depending on pie crust making experience
Total time: 35-45 min
Oven temp: 400F
Makes: 12 deliciousness


Egg filling


1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup hot water
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup evaporated milk (I just used almond milk)


1. Combine water and sugar. Stir until sugar completely dissolved. Set aside.
2. Beat eggs until no lumps or bumps visible--> nice and smooth, but don't make it bubble up!
3. Add vanilla, evaporated milk and sugar water mix to the eggs.


Pie crust


Use any pie crust recipe you like, just do a 1:3 confectioner's sugar to flour ratio.
Ex. for 1 1/2 cup flour, add 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar.


Putting it together!


1. Fill a muffin pan with the pie crust, just like pie thickness (0.5cm thick) and 2.5cm tall.
2. Pour in the egg filling into the pie crusts until 3/4 up
3. Bake at 400F for 12-15 min.


*I used the mini pie maker my sister's boyfriend and his mom got me for Christmas. Making it easy as 1-2-3!

And it even had a smiley face:)

Chicken Fingers for 20 Year Old Kids

I know it's not the greatest picture, but we had to hurry off to the play!

Finger food time! No one, and I mean no one can resist finger food. Especially chicken fingers. It just maybe one of the best comfort foods out there, next to mac n' cheese. There was also zucchini sticks and marinara sauce and a maple dijon dip to go with it all. The zucchini sticks didn't turn out too well but I will give it a shot again. So, for this time, I won't post the recipe for it. I don't think I will be attempting it in the next week or so. 

Before we dive into the recipes, I will give a little tid bit about my week. You may want to read the next post for my biggest battle of the week. The next biggest battle was biochemistry. We had a midterm this week, along with abnormal psychology. I, and many others, walked out of the biochemistry midterm going WTF?!?!?! However, turns out, I didn't do too shabby. Still gotta keep up with the studying though.

p.s. It's almost 12:30 at night, so I apologize ahead of time if I don't make any sense what-so-ever.

Let's skip to today! We are featuring Jenny today. We met while volunteering for welcome week at school. We then had a biopsyc class together where we spent too many times staying up way too late to study for the crazy tests. Today, we went to a play on bipolar disorder. Plays and finger food go together right? I figured so. The chicken fingers turned out really great. Sorta reminded me of a little taste of... KFC.

So, here it is...

CHEEZED-SPICED CHICKEN FINGERS

Working time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Oven temp: 400F

Ingredients

2 chicken breast--> cut into filets
3/4 cup ground almond
1/4 cup flour (or GF flour)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
1/4 cup finely grated cheddar
1 egg--> beat it!
1/4 cup milk (or other alternatives, like almond milk)

Steps

1. Mix the dry (ground almond, flour, spices and cheese) and lay on a plate.
2. Mix the wet (egg and milk)
3. Dip the chicken filets in egg mixture then roll in dry.
           --> a trick here... one hand egg, the other hand dry. Keeps your hands a bit cleaner.

4. Bake at 400F for 20 min.


MAPLE-DIJON DIP

1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup dijon mustard
3 tbsp maple syrup

1. Mix it all up!

Jenny loves her dip!

Oh, then after the play, we came back and baked 3 batches of muffins--> gluten-free nutty banana chocolate chip, banana blueberry and banana cranberry. I had 7 brown bananas. The recipe isn't quite blog featurable yet. One day. I'll get it.

Meanwhile... ENJOY!

35 muffins later... our last batch was short one, oops!

Asian styling with egg tarts

Not sure what happened here...

Ok, so this is 2 weeks after the initial posting. I said I wouldn't be trying the zucchini sticks again for a while. I lied. I tried it again on the Tuesday right after the weekend. There was left over egg from the egg dip, and slightly egg contaminated zucchini that is already cut into sticks. Long story short. I changed the recipe, and it is so much better! So here it is, gluten-free (or not if you don't want) baked zucchini sticks!

BAKED ZUCCHINI STICKS

Oven temp: 425F

Working time: 10 min

Baking time: 15 min

Total time: 25 min

1 large zucchini or 2 small ones

1/2 cup ground almond

1/4 cup GF flour mix

1 tsp italian seasoning

dash of salt and pepper

1 egg--> well beaten

parchment papered baking sheet

1. Cut zucchini into stick sizes. Just a tip: cut it in half length and width wise then cut it each segment from the center. This way, you don't get too much of the mushy inside in one stick and skin on all of them!

2. Mix all dry ingredients together and lay on a plate

3. Dip zucchini sticks into egg

4. Roll egged zucchini sticks into dry mixture

5. Put ready to go zucchini sticks onto baking sheet--> make sure they're not overlapping or too crowded

6. Bake at 425F for 10 min on top rack

7. Put on broil at 425F for 5 min

Now I know it's tempting to eat them right away but please, for your mouth's sake, wait for it to cool a bit first. I waited 3 min. Maybe 2. You can have these with your favorite dip or sauce or whatever. I ate the entire thing without any dips, it was that good.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of this, it looks the same as the picture at the very top (still not a very good picture but they're gone now).

Enjoy!

恭喜發財 with Almond Dessert Dumplings (杏仁湯圓)

Ooey gooey sweet deliciousness!

新年快樂! 恭喜發財! 恭祝大家順順利利的龍年! Happy Chinese New Year! It is the year of the Dragon. The zodiac sign thing doesn't really mean much to me. Basically, it's another year. It's time for families to gather. It is also time for holiday. Well, maybe not here but in Hong Kong, where my mom is currently, and China.

Before we get to the main course of the week, well I guess dessert in this case, let me update up on my week.

Victoria snowed! Quite a bit too! I was driving through the snow and had the biggest, idiotic smile on my face. Meanwhile, my family is freezing their butts off in Calgary. And like a not-so-responsible student, I abandoned my readings and went sledding. It was the best time ever! Especially when you have your snow pants on and your butt is not freezing. 

On the school note, biochem is still killing me. I don't understand it at all and I have a test on Tuesday. And I have managed to get nothing, I mean nothing, accomplished. Oops. Instead of studying, I opted for cooking. But at least that shows dedication, maybe not in the best place but I am happy that I made these dumplings!

Almond dessert dumplings. Or 杏仁湯園. These are traditionally made with ground sesame, but let's be real here, where in the world am I going to find ground sesame. I also don't have a food processor or sorts to grind it. So I chose to use ground almond instead. It worked really well! Just quite a few adjustments to the original recipe. Mainly proportions of different things. We (Kelsey and me) ended with up pretty much double of what was intended because we made too much filling. Oh well!

I'm kind of in a hurry, currently waiting for my friend to pick me up so we can go to the gym. I gotta burn these calories off man!

ALMOND DESSERT DUMPLINGS aka 杏仁湯圓

(adapted from http://rasamalaysia.com/black-sesame-dumplings-tang-yuan/)


Total time: 30 min

Filling

1/4 cup ground almond

a little less than 1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp butter

1. In a skillet, toast ground almond at medium heat until you smell the almond aroma.

2. Add sugar and butter to the ground almond. Stir until paste forms.

3. Put in fridge to cool.

Dumpling Dough

1 2/3 cup glutinous rice flour

1 cup water

1. Mix the two together. Add either ingredient as necessary until it's just no longer sticky.




Putting it together!


1. Divide the dumpling dough into 16-20 balls (or about the size of ping pong balls, maybe a bit smaller)
2. Grease your hands with oil. Do it, otherwise you get this---->

3. Flatten the ball with your hand, spoon some filling in the middle. Don't do too much, otherwise it'll overflow and break on you!

4. Fold the edges up and seal it.
5. VERY GENTLY roll into a ball.
6. Set aside on a floured plate.

If you are making these for a later time, I suggest freezing them right away. That way, they maintain their ball shapes much better. I put mine in the fridge and they came out more disc like. 




Cooking


1. Put 3" of water in a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Place the dumplings in there carefully.
3. Let them boil away until they float to the top.


Serve on their own, or in the water that you used to boil (just don't drink it). Be careful, it's hot inside!

Serve it!

Kelsey: OH MA GOD, ITSH SHO GOOOD!

Going Gluten-Free with PB Granola Balls

No bake, gluten-free, super fast, super easy, and super healthy all in one!

Gluten-free... Not that I'm celiac, fortunately, but my series of stomach problems got me to eventually do an elimination diet a couple of months ago. Then exam came along and I just ate anything and everything. So new year, new start, right? I spoke to the dietician I saw once upon a time, actually, just once, upon a time last early summer. Anywho, she said by the way I described my elimination process, it seems like I may benefit from a gluten-free diet due to gluten sensitivity rather than a straight up break out in hives allergic reaction. And now, I figure, I should actually do this so I feel a little less awful. Not that I've been feeling awful, just a chronic ugh feeling, all day everyday. 

However! This does not mean I'll be doing ALL gluten-free recipes. I will still have gluten-containing products once in a while. I mean, who can resist a good old spongy, moist, not crumbly cupcake? And the cookies they have at school, and muffins, SO GOOD! 

Let's dive into the recipe! Since this is my second post of the weekend (I know it's Monday but I didn't have time to write last night due to 50 pages of biochemistry reading... this will be a recurring theme, the battle with biochemistry)

No bake granola balls! They were supposed to be granola bars. This is one of those failed recipes that still ended up turning out alright. Simply a change in shape of the food. Still very tasty, and good textures. The problem with the way we made this was not enough sticky ingredients. Instead of using gluten-free brown rice syrup like the recipe originally called for (or even honey), we used maple syrup. As much as it may be sticky on our fingers, it's not sticky enough to bind the ingredients together. For that reason, they were turned into balls. There was a second reason: the puffs. I feel they may be a tad big. I'm not sure. I will try this recipe again and modify and let you know. 

Below are 2 versions of the recipe: the one we used (I suggest don't follow that one if you want bars, or even balls that stick together), and the one I will use the next time I try it. Or maybe you try it and let me know how it goes!

Adapted from jeanetteshealthyliving.com: Gluten/Oat/Casein/Soy Free "Clif" Granola Bars

Need: 8 inch square pan --> lightly lightly grease

INGREDIENTS:

Peanut Butter Granola Balls-- the not so sticky together version:

1 1/4 cup brown rice puffs

1 cup quinoa/ crushed brown rice flakes

1 tbsp ground flax

1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, apricot, gogi berries, etc.)

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup chopped almonds (or any nuts of your choice)

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 cup natural peanut butter --> we used 1/2 smooth and 1/2 crunchy

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp oil

Peanut Butter Granola Balls-- the perhaps improved version:

1 1/4 cup brown rice puffs --> roughly chopped

1 cup quinoa/ crushed brown rice flakes

1 tbsp ground flax

1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, apricot, gogi berries, etc.)

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup chopped almonds (or any nuts of your choice)

2/3 cup honey

1 cup natural peanut butter --> we used 1/2 smooth and 1/2 crunchy

1 tsp vanilla

***Tried this improved version. IT WORKS! A bit sweeter because of the honey but it holds together quite well!

INSTRUCTIONS (same for both)

1. In a mixing bowl, dump in all the dry stuff.

2. In a microwavable bowl, scoop in the wet stuff and microwave until peanut butter is smooth and easily stirred.

3. Mix the wet into the dry. After a while, you got to use your hands!

4. Pour into prepared pan then compress the heck out of it, well until it's compacted. Use some parchment paper. My hands didn't get all sticky=P

5. Put in fridge for an hour or so.

6. Take it out and cut and enjoy! --> or in the case of the first recipe, we rolled them into balls, and ate as we rolled. 

Caught in the act!

Broccoli Quiches and Too Much Cheeses

First full week of school. Done. Over-cheese in one night. Also done. Well, can one ever have too much cheese? I suppose so, but cheese is one of those amazing animal by-products that has too many varieties, too many flavours, and just overall too good to not have. I could never be vegan. And thank goodness I have selective lactose intolerance.

Back to the point that it was the first full week of school. I have changed my schedule around twice. Love my classes now (well, to as much of a degree as I can love biochemistry). Did you know that you can still get into a class of 90 people when you start at 29th on the waitlist on the first day of classes? I had doubts about that one but now I am in adult psychological disorders and looks like it'll be a good one:) Good prof, super interesting subject, super excited. Except for the $111 dollar USED textbook. $149 for new. That's a bit of an ouchie. Even on Amazon, it's still $104, AT LEAST, for a used copy. Man, if I was an heiress to a publishing company... I CAN RULE THE WORLD!!!! Maybe not, but I can do a lot of things. Like drive across Canada and not sleep in the back of my shaggin' wagon. Or backpack around Europe for months on end. If only right?

Okay, time to come back down to Earth. Last night, my friend Kelsey and I made a delish broccoli quiche. She pointed out that she actually made this decision without the usual "well", "I dunno", "whatever is good", "I'm easy", and so on. I was boggled as to what to make this weekend because I don't really want to do another chocolate post. I love chocolate, don't get me wrong, but having chocolate baking 3 weeks in a row, and then posting it, seems a little much. And because my mom has been with me for the last week, I basically have 3 weeks worth of food in the freezer, which means no making stew of some sort. So I asked Kels, and broccoli quiche it became!

Oh, I forgot to elaborate the over cheese thing. We went to a wine and cheese party after. So many good cheeses and appies there. We were cheesed up, and wined up. It was a good party. Good drinks, good food, good people, good night.

To the recipe we go! The quiche was pretty simple. Just broccoli, onion, potato and your usual quiche suspects. We did learn that, although a pie plate may not be necessary, it certainly can be very handy. We also learned that timing is very important. We started at 5:30 and it wasn't edible until almost 7:30, making 3 very hungry and very impatient gals. But don't worry, it really should not take that long, the only reason it did was because we added too much liquid to the egg mixture.

Overall, this was really fantastic. The Asiago cheese gave a nice zing to the flavour. It was light, it was fresh, it was, in general, a success.

BROCCOLI QUICHE RECIPE!


Total time: 1.5 hours
Total working time: 45 min
Oven temp: 375F

LOVE for butter crust!

CRUST


1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cold butter
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 tsp salt


1. Mix together salt and water--> keep cold!

2. Cut butter into flour until crummy- slightly bigger crumbs like the crumbs at the bottom of a bag of crackers
3. Slowly mix water into flour mixture, 1 tbsp at a time. The 1/2 cup will likely be not enough to form a dough. You want the dough to just come together. So keep adding about 1 tbsp at a time until you get to that point.
4. Refrigerate for 2 hours. (We didn't do this because we just didn't bother. Not necessary, but a good idea because it makes sure your crust doesn't shrink when pre-baked.)
5. Sprinkle some flour on your kitchen counter. Shape your dough into a ball and roll away! The rolled dough should be about a little less than 1/4 inch. Place the rolled dough onto the pie plate or whatever you choose to use. Just make sure if you are using a cake pan like me, make the sides go up high enough and secure enough so it doesn't fall. Mine fell half way through the baking=S
6. Put some dried beans or pie weight on the bake for 25 min. Let cool a bit before pouring the egg mixture in.

Rolling with a bottle of wine:)

C'mon crust, get up there!

Post-baking bean removal.

FILLING

6 eggs
1/4 cup asiago shredded
1 1/4 cup sharp cheddar
1 cup milk (or any type of milk alternative--> I used almond milk)
1/2 of a small onion
1/2-3/4 cup shredded potato
1 1/2 cup broccoli crown cut into 3/4 inch pieces
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne (or however much you like)
1 tsp basil flakes if you have/like

1. Saute the onion slightly then add in the potato. Salt and pepper meanwhile and cook until just softened.
2. Beat the eggs, beat in the milk, mix in the seasonings.
3. To the egg mixture: mix in the cooked onion and potato, mix in 1 cup cheddar and a hint of asiago.

ASSEMBLE

1. Pour the egg mixture into the cooled pie crust.
2. Dabble the broccoli on top like so:

3. Sprinkle the cheese on top and voila! It's time to bake!
4. Bake at 375F for 45 min.

LET IT COOL A SMIDGEN BEFORE CUTTING IT!

We have to wait?

I want it so bad!

Now? 

Afterwards, you get lovely wedges that are quickly gone. We added too much liquid so it was cooked through but still liquidy, don't worry, I have cut down on the liquid in this recipe.

Still waiting....

Enjoy the cheesiness of broccoli quiche goodness=)

4-Layered Chocolate Cake Haven vs. Back to School

No doubt about it, 4-layered chocolate cake wins. It's like a competition between Harry Potter and Twilight-- we have a clear winner.

So it is back to school we go. 2nd semester of 3rd year. Taking 5 courses instead of 6, cooking instead of studying, watching movies instead of sleeping. For the first time since the 1st semester of 1st year, I am finding myself doing absolutely no work towards this semester as of yet. Although I did write a biochemistry final and make a 4-layered chocolate cake all in the same day, so still a rather productive weekend. I also changed my room around. Complete 360. BAM! It's like a whole new place. I think I need another poster though. This one wall I am currently staring at looks rather empty.

Erin's parchment paper smiley face. She ated it after.

Anyway... let's get to it. So where did this crazy idea of 4-layered chocolate cake come from? Preston. Preston is a very good friend who also loves to bake. Him and another friend of mine, Liam, made dinner rolls, croissants, french loafs and apple pie all in a day. They love their food, and they're good at making it too! Love them! So Preston and I decided to make something together. Since I was busy studying for that biochem final, Preston looked up the recipe. He chose a double-chocolate layer cake from Food&Wine. Well, at first it was another 4-layered cake recipe but it had to sit for 3 days. This girl is not going to wait 3 days for chocolate cake. Adapting this current recipe, we came up with our magnificent creation, with the help of our good friends Erin and Zoe=)

This cake was moist and rich and just the right amount of sweetness. I blundered up for the first two layers by adding 1tsp of baking soda instead of 2 like the recipe called for, but turns out, the only difference it made was how puffy it looked immediately after it came out of the oven. All the layers turned out the exact same once completely cool. And please oh please I beg you, if you make this recipe, go distract yourself with something while the cake layers COMPLETELY cool, otherwise, it'd just be a mess of melting whipped cream and kajumble of chocolate cake. We wouldn't want kajumble now would we? No, no we wouldn't.

Chocolatey goodness is orgasmic!

Just one more thing before we get to the actual recipe. After the cake was finished, we decided to make this our friend's birthday cake. His birthday is on January 20th but it's never too early for a 21st birthday celebration. People came over, we had cake, we played hangman (yes, we are that cool). One really special thing happened though. It also happens to be our friend James' birthday on the 9th (today!) but, unfortunately, he was unable to return to school this year. Good news is, he will be back and he will kick that music school's bottom! My point is... we called him, lit the candle for the cake and all sang happy birthday to James on the phone. And Karn. Karn got a happy birthday too. It was really special. It is moments like these that makes being away from home and studying so so soooooo much less hellish. And other funny moments too, many unmentionable ones...

Get on with the recipe already!

Here it is! Adapted from Food&Wine Double-Chocolate Layer Cake.

Need!-- 9" cake pans- multiple ones if possible
Oven temp: 350F

CAKE:

3 1/2 cup flour
4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 cup buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cup hot brewed coffee

1. Line cake pans with parchment paper, grease, then dust with flour.
2. Get going on that coffee making!
3. Mix flour with sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one very large mixing bowl.
4. Whisk eggs, then whisk in buttermilk, oil and vanilla.
5. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture in 4-5 separate batches, slowly incorporating (doesn't need to be completely) wet into dry.
6. Slowly mix coffee into the mixture until you see no lumps, no bumps. Just a silky smooth batter.
*Note: it was fairly liquidy, but it's ok, it will turn out!
7. Pour 1/4 of the batter into each cake pan. If you have 1, then do it one at a time. If you have 2, then 2. Whatever works for you. Just make sure you wash, line, grease and dust the cake pans after it's been used if you are using it again.
8. Bake for 35 min!



While the layers are baking, or cooling...

FROSTING!

8 ounces chocolate
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 cups icing sugar (taste dependent)
1 tbsp instant coffee in 2 tsp of water
milk- enough for frosting consistency

1. Melt chocolate in microwave until melted-- I suggest doing 1 minute at a time at medium power. Please avoid burning chocolate. Burning chocolate will make your day sad.
2. Let chocolate cool to room temperature
3. Beat butter until pale and fluffy-- we used a spatula, and a spoon. And a lot of beating. Feel free to use an electric beater if you have one.
4. Add egg yolk and vanilla then beat some more!
5. Slowly beat in icing sugar. About 1/4 cup at a time to make sure it gets fully incorporated. Add about 1 1/2 cup to begin with.
6. Beat in coffee and chocolate and it will look something like this:

7. Add more icing sugar if you want it to be sweeter.
8. Add milk one splash at a time until frosting is smooth and thick-- like the stuff that comes in a jar.



WHIPPED CREAM

1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup icing sugar

1. Whip that cream until it begins to thicken.
2. Add vanilla and icing sugar.
3. Slowly beat the mixture to start with. When it really starts to thicken up, go to town with that whipping. I like to hand whip. It's the best.
At the end, the whipped cream should be thick and stiff. Stiffer than usual. Then you know you've really put some hand power into it.




ASSEMBLY

Maraschino cherries if you'd like to decorate it!

Layering like a ninja!

1. Once all layers are cooled, then you may start to assemble.
2. Lay first layer bottom bottom. Trim top if the cake top is not flat.
3. Spread a generous layer of whipped cream onto cake. About half a centimeter thick.
4. Lay on second layer bottom bottom. Trim if needed.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all other layers-- just no whipped cream on the top layer.
6. Spread chocolate frosting onto the sides of the cake using a rubber spatula, sealing all the edges. As such:

Slap it on then smooth, slap then smooth.

7. Spread frosting onto the top. Again, making sure the cake layers are not seen.
8. Decorate the top of the cake however you like!










P.S. We wanted to lay strawberries in between the layers as well after the whipped cream application but the grocery store didn't have any the day of making. The day after though, they had pints and pints of them for 2 for $5.

And VOILA! We had ourselves a decadent, 4-layered chocolate cake. SCHAZAM! It was amazing to say the least. Managed to feed 16 people with this cake, and most people didn't even finish their slice because it's so rich. But so good. Yet so bad for your health. But sin is good for a person once in a while. Commit this sin. This sin will make you feel so good. Then hit the gym. Worry about the latter part after. Indulgence is key.

Liam: It's damn good cake!

Photo credits to Zoe!

First baking of the year- Pseudo Black Forest Cake Roll

Ok, so the photo isn't that great. I blame it on the fact that I don't have my DSLR with me on holiday, and I didn't bother editing the photo. And maybe the fact that I didn't follow the recipe exactly. Lesson number one of 2012: follow the damn recipe! Well, sometimes. This recipe was inspired by my craving for cake roll. I grew up on it in Hong Kong. LOVE IT! The spongy cake and the delectable whipped cream all around the center. Who can say no to that? Mind you I can't say no to food. But still, that does not say anything about the deliciousness of this cake. The verdict was: my dad ate two 1 inch slices... on two separate occasions, in one day. This means daddy is ready for some bigger pants, and that it was pretty good.

The cake itself was just the right texture and sponginess. Along with the whipped cream and strawberry jam layer, making it not really a black forest cake but close enough (hence pseudo). It did taste like a black forest cake, I swear! There were 2 mistakes I made. Number one: not rolling the cake when it came right out of the oven like the recipe said. That is why it's all crackalackin' and not so roll shape. Number two: sprinkled on too much cocoa on the rolling parchment paper-- it made the outside of the cake a bit too powdery.

So here is the, what I think, would be improved version of the recipe I used:
(original recipe from foodismylife.wordpress.com under chocolate swiss roll)

1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Strawberry jam

Oven temp: 375F
Baking time: 12-15 minutes depending on the oven
Total working time: 45 minutes
Total time until cake eating: 2.5 hours

THE CAKE:
1. Line a cookie sheet or 9x15 inch sheet pan with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper.
2. Sift flour and cocoa together 3 times (I'm never much of a sifter, but in a cake like this, you need to sift!). Set aside.
3. Whisk together eggs and sugar until well combined. Put whisked mixture over a double-boiler. Continue to whisk until mixture is frothy and warm to touch (original recipe said baby's milk temperature-- I'm 20, I don't know what baby's milk temperature is)
4. Take egg mixture off the heat. Beat with electric beater until 3x the size. Basically until you can draw a temporary smiley face- one that last about 3 seconds.
5. Fold flour into eggs in 3 separate batches. *Note- it was rather resistant to mix. Be patient, don't worry about completely incorporating each batch until the very last batch. Just be sure to not over mix, or else you will get a flat cake.
6. Mix some of the cake batter with the melted butter until just about incorporate, then mix it into the big batch.
7. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan.
8. Bake at 375F for 12-15 minutes. (Mine took 12 and it was in a convection)-- Meanwhile, prepare another sheet of parchment paper- sprinkle with some icing sugar.
9. Once the cake comes out, flip onto new parchment paper and roll the puppy up. Careful, it will be steamy hot!
10. Let the cake cool.


WHIPPING CREAM AND ASSEMBLE:
1. While the cake cools, whip up the whipped cream- Whip the cream until slightly frothy, then add icing sugar and vanilla. Whip at slow speed until icing sugar is incorporate- if you go fast, you'll end up with icing sugar everywhere.
2. Whip the cream until stiff.
3. Once the cake is cool, carefully unroll.
4. Spread a layer of strawberry jam on the rolled up side of the cake- as thin or as thick as you like.
5. Spread the whipped cream on top of the jam. (The cream will kind of mix with the jam, I tried to avoid it, it just wouldn't stay clean... dirty dirty whipped cream)
6. Roll the cake back up using the parchment paper. Make sure you roll it tight enough so that it comes together, but not so tight that you get whipped cream coming out on the ends.
7. Keep the cake in the parchment paper. Put it in the fridge. LEAVE IT ALONE FOR AN HOUR OR TWO! Or you'll have not so nice cake.


Those are the slices. You can see the cracks in the cake from me not rolling it right away. You can also see the over-coverage of cocoa. But otherwise, the swirl of whipped cream and chocolate cake= AMAZING!

Enjoy! And again... HAPPY NEW YEAR!