Strawberries-and-Cream Cake

I love baking cakes but do not know how to decorate them at all. As a matter of fact I am quite terrible at doing things by hand, it's a combination of lack of skill and patience that really gets my projects to turn out quite ugly. Where I am getting at is I was helping to plan this baby shower for a very dear friend and she had requested a strawberries-and-cream cake, a Brazilian version of Strawberry Shortcake. I knew how to bake the cake, but not how to decorate it. So we came up with an idea: wrap the cake in foil and place the individual cakes inside a beautifully decorate box ( made by another friend, not by me obviously). It's not a novel idea, this used to be quite common in Brazil back when we were kids, as it makes it very easy to serve. 

The cake turned out well, but next time I must cut smaller slices and give it some thought before-hand on how to neatly wrap them in the foil, as my wrapping technique ( or lack thereof I should say) did not turn out so well, the pieces were quite chunky and made for a terrible presentation. I bought the foil already pre-cut, but I think next time I will custom-cut them to get to the right size. 

For this event I baked 3 cakes, used 5lbs. of strawberries and almost 2 quarts of heavy cream. Each cake yielded 12 very generous pieces.

Ingredients for the cake: 

- 2 cups of flour

- 2 cups of sugar

- 1 cup of milk, boiling ( I microwaved it on high for 2 minutes)

- 1 tablespoon baking powder

- 4 eggs

Directions:

-Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 9x13  pan.

-In a mixer, beat the egg whites with the wire whip until they are stiff. Switch to a flat beater, add the sugar and then the yolks, beating constantly on medium speed.

-Next add the flour and baking soda, on low speed. Remove the bowl from the mixer, add the boiling milk and gently stir it by hand. 

Ingredients for the filling: 

- 1 1/2 lbs. of strawberries

- 1/2 cup of sugar

- 1 bottle of cream-soda

-  1/2 cup of rum

- 2 cups heavy cream

- another 1/2 cup of sugar

- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions: 

- Mix the cream soda and the rum, set aside.

- Clean strawberries, removing stem and leaves, dice them in small bite-size pieces, place them in a bowl with 1/2 cup of sugar and let it marinate in the fridge for several hours.

- For the whipped cream, beat heavy cream, sugar and vanilla until very stiff.

Assembling the cake: 

Carefully cut the cake in half with a bread knife. Remove the top half of the cake. Poke holes in the bottom half of the cake with a knife and drizzle cream-soda/rum mix on it. Next place a generous layer of strawberries, and add the fresh whipped-cream on top, using an angled spatula to spread it. Carefully place the top half of the cake on top. To cut, grease your bread knife with cooking spray, it really makes life much easier.

Five lbs. of strawberries, diced and marinated in sugar.

The egg whites still not ready, still too runny.

Now the eggs whites are stiff and ready.

Adding the sugar.

Adding the yolks.

Adding the flour, slowly, spoonful by spoonful.

Gently adding the steaming milk.

Carefully stirring by hand after adding the milk.

Cutting the cake in half.

With the strawberries on.

Topped with fresh whipped cream.

With the top half on.

Cake cut, ready to be wrapped and served.

Chocolate Lollipops

I came upon this recipe a few months ago in the social site Orkut, and made it for my niece's birthday back in October. It is very labor-intensive and time-consuming, but it's Oh So Good! Because it was cold back then, I did not have any problems working with the chocolate. This time, however, it was quite warm, and the chocolate was melting faster than our production line was moving, resulting in a few casualties. If anybody out there has any great tips on how to work with chocolate in warm weather please let me know! This is Texas after all and I've got to figure this one out. 

These particular pops were made for a dear friend's baby shower, and were one of many delicious treats available to all the wonderful ladies who attended the event.

Ingredients: 

Brigadeiro ( see recipe below)- I used two batches

Maria cookies- I used 3 packets for the two batches of brigadeiro, and it yielded 32 pops. You can easily find these cookies in the Hispanic section of your grocery store.

Good-quality candy-coating milk chocolate

Popsicle sticks

Cellophane paper

Ribbon

Directions: 

1. Make the brigadeiro and let it cool completely

2. Using a butter knife, very carefully spread the brigadeiro in a Maria cookie, place the popsicle stick in the brigadeiro, and close it with another cookie, like a sandwich. Prepare all the pops before proceeding to step four.

3. On a double-boiler, melt the chocolate and, using an angled spatula, completely cover pop making sure to remove any excess chocolate. 

4. Spread chocolate sprinkles all over the pop. Place pop in styrofoam to dry.

Brigadeiro: 

In a saucepan, place 1 can of condensed milk, 1/2 can of milk, and 1/2 cup of chocolate powder ( I always use Nesquick). Over medium-high heat, stir constantly until mixture is thick, bubbly and removes easily from the pan, about 30 minutes. Place on a greased plate.

Displayed at the baby shower.

Spreading the brigadeiro on the Maria cookie.

Closing the pop with the second cookie. It is now ready to be covered with chocolate.

Spreading melted chocolate.

With the jimmies on, drying.

The table where they were displayed.

Tiramisu

Last weekend was Valentine's Day and we had a small party with some great friends. Because Italy is considered romantic, we chose it as our theme. It was potluck-style as usual, and I brought creamy-tomato sauce, homemade Italian loaf, and Tiramisu. The latest is one of the few desserts Dear Husband actually likes, as he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. 

I tried this new recipe and thought it came out good, but next time I will use half Kahlua and half coffee to dip the ladyfingers in, I used Kahlua only and it was quite strong, way too strong for Dear Husband and I anyways, as we are not big drinkers. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 egg yolks

3/4 cups sugar

2/3 cups half-and-half

1 lbs. mascarpone cheese

9 oz. ladyfingers

1 1/2 cups Kahlua

Chocolate Curls

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl, combine cream and vanilla. Beat at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until whipped. Set aside. 

2. In a large saucepan, whisk together, egg yolks, sugar,and half-and-half. Bring just to a boil, whisking constantly. Mixture will get foamy and then thicken. Remove from heat, and whisk in mascarpone cheese. Fold in whipped-cream mixture. 

3. In a (3-quart) trifle dish, spread 1/2 cup custard on the bottom of the dish. Dip ladyfingers in liqueur. Place them flat in a single layer over custard. Spread ladyfinger layer with 1 cup custard. Repeat for a second layer. 

4. Repeat flat layers with remaining ingredients, ending with custard. Top custard with chocolate curls. 

Note: To make chocolate curls: unwrap a thick rectangular-shaped chocolate bar, and heat in microwave on medium-high just until soft, about 10 seconds. Using a Y-shaped vegetable peeler, peel down the sides of chocolate to form curl.

                               Big bowl of deliciousness!

                               Adding the mascarpone into the custard.

Curling the chocolate, use your vegetable peeler and warm the chocolate slightly in the microwave.

Dipping the ladyfinger, a few seconds each side is enough. You want them to be soft but not gooey.

Layering the custard and the ladyfingers. Be sure to start and end with the custard.

Adding some powdered chocolate for extra flavor.

Almond Joy Cake

I have a ladie's game night to go tomorrow, and it's a potluck so I decided to bring one of my favorite cakes, Almond Joy. I had actually never made it, but I always eat it when my co-worker Robin brings it to school. Actually, I got the recipe and ingredients from Robin at our last game night ( different group)! But I knid of wish I hadn't found out what's on the cake, because now that I know I will have to eat less of it LOL...no wonder it's so tasty, it's horrible for you! But I guess it's OK as an every-once-in-awhile treat. 

- 1 box of chocolate cake mix with pudding. Mix and bake on a 17 1/2 X 11 1/2 pan( I know it's HUGE!) according to package directions

Filling ( or 1st layer if you will)

- 1 c. evaporated ( not condensed) milk

- 1 c. sugar

- 24 large marshmallows

- 14oz. bag shredded, sweetened coconut

In a pan, combine milk and sugar. Add marshmallows and heat until melted. Add coconut and pour over the hot cake, spreading to cover the entire surface of the cake. 

Topping ( or 2nd layer)

- 1 1/2 c. of sugar

- 1/2 cup evaporated milk ( the rest of the can)

- 1 stick of  butter

 - 6 oz. bag of chocolate chips ( 1 1/2 cup)

- 1 small bag of sliced almonds

In a pan, combine sugar, milk and margarine, bring it to a boil. Add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Add almonds or save for top of cake ( I saved mine). Pour over warm cake and spread. Store in the refrigerator. Robin tells me it freezes well!

 The final product, I hope my Brazilian friends like this very American cake!

 Evaporated milk, sugar and marshmallows ready to be melted together.

                        It gets so light and fluffy, a lot of fun to stir!

I did not realize how much space melted marshmallow take, it almost went out of the pan. I had to remove it to another container in order to be able to add the coconut. Next time I will use my biggest pasta pot!

                                   With the first layer on.