Rich Chocolate Birthday Cake!

I wanted to make a very chocolaty cake for my husband's birthday and this was definitely a good choice.  It's somehow light in texture yet fudgy.  (He doesn't really like nuts but I had a piece sprinkled with chopped pecans and a scoop of ice cream - divine!)

Sour Cream Fudge Cake with Chocolate Icing

Sour Cream Fudge Cake with Chocolate Icing

(from The Best Recipe)

Cake
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. instant espresso or instant coffee
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Icing
9 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 cup light corn syrup

For the cake:  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 9" cake pans with Crisco, cover bottoms of pans with wax paper round, grease with more Crisco then dust pans with flour and tap out excess.

Mix cocoa and instant coffee in a small bowl; add boiling water and mix until smooth.  Cool to room temperature then mix in sour cream and vanilla.

Beat butter at medium high until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds.  Gradually sprinkle in sugar and beat until mixture is fluffy and white, 3-5 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating 1 min. after each addition.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl.  With mixer on low, add 1/3 of dry ingredients to batter followed by 1/3 of cocoa mixture and mix until almost incorporated.  Repeat procedure twice more.  Scrape down sides then mix about 30 seconds longer until batter looks satiny.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and spread batter to edges and smooth top.  Bake cakes until they feel firm in the center when lightly pressed and cake tester comes out with minimal crumbs attached, 23-30 minutes.  Transfer pans to wire rack and let cool in pans 10 minutes.  Run knife around pan sides and invert cakes onto rack, removing wax paper.  Reinvert cakes on to additional rack and cool completely before frosting.

For the icing:  Melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler.  Stir in corn syrup.  Set top of double boiler over large bowl of ice water, stirring chocolate occasionally, until icing is thick enough to spread. 

Assemble and frost cake.

Moussaka Not Mufasa

A new version of the Lion King is being released in 2019.  In honor of the movie, I made Mufasa Moussaka tonight. 😋 Actually, I smelled it cooking while shopping at Publix, so here's my version, a combination of Publix and Bobby Flay.

Moussaka

Moussaka

1 eggplant
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups chunky pasta sauce
cooking spray
1/4 cup panko crumbs

Bechamel Sauce:
3 Tbs. butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup milk
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup goat cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 tsp. lemon zest

Prepare eggplant:  Remove ends of eggplant and slice lengthwise in 1/2" slices.  Sprinkle both sides of each slice with salt and place in a colander.  Let sit 30 minutes so salt can draw out moisture.  Using paper towels, wipe moisture and salt off both sides and lay slices on dry paper towels in preparation for baking.  (Press out more moisture with dry paper towels if desired).  Brush both sides of slices with olive oil slices and place on a baking sheet.  Cook under a broiler for 2-3 minutes.  Flip slices and cook 1 minute longer.  Set aside eggplant for final assembly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Prepare meat sauce:  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and sauté until onions are tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in cinnamon, oregano, pepper and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt and cook 1 minute.  Add  ground beef and cook until no pink remains, 4-5 minutes, stirring meat to crumble.  Add wine and pasta sauce and simmer on low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Meanwhile cook bechamel sauce.

Prepare bechamel sauce:  Melt butter in a clean skillet over medium heat.  Sprinkle flour over butter and whisk constantly for 2-3 minutes until pale and smooth.  While continuously whisking, add milk and bay leaf and cook until thickened.  Remove the bay leaf and season with nutmeg and salt and pepper as desired.  Let cool 5 minutes.  In a small bowl, combine egg yolk, goat cheese, lemon zest and parmesan.  Whisk into bechamel sauce until smooth.

Assemble and cook: Spray cooking spray in an 11"x7" (or 9" square pan).  Sprinkle panko crumbs evenly on bottom of pan.  Place half of the prepared eggplant slices on bottom of pan.  Spread meat sauce over eggplant and top with remaining eggplant.  Spread prepared bechamel sauce over top.  Sprinkle with additional parmesan, if desired.  Cook 40-45 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Hoisin Sauce Makes It Delicious

Tonight I was working on a "bowl" idea since restaurants are now beginning to serve mixed veggies, meat and starch in bowls, which I love.  I had fresh salmon and Brussels sprouts on hand.  I put some rice in the rice cooker and got busy creating this Asian meal layering rice then vegetables then salmon with a drizzle of the hoisin marinade.

Hoisin salmon and Brussels rice bowl

Hoisin Salmon

2 Tbs hoisin sauce
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/8 tsp red pepper
4 salmon filets
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs sliced green onions

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine hoisin sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, and pepper in a small bowl.  (Set aside 2 Tbs. of the sauce to use for drizzling over finished dish.)

Coat a baking dish with cooking spray, place salmon filets in dish and sprinkle with salt.  Cover fish with sauce.  Bake 15 minutes, basting occasionally.  (While fish cooks, sauté vegetables.) Top salmon with green onions.

Sautéed Brussels Sprouts and Carrots

1 lb. Brussels sprouts
2 medium carrots
1/2 large onion
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
salt

Prepare Brussels sprouts by washing, trimming stem, and removing outer leaves.  Peel carrots and remove outer skin of onion.  In a food processor with grater attachment, grate all vegetables and combine.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add vegetables and sauté stirring occasionally.  Add salt to taste.

Assemble Bowl:

In a bowl, add rice, then vegetables and top with salmon.  Pour a bit of reserved sauce over all and top with green onions.

Groom's Cake - a Family Tradition

Today I'm practicing baking a groom's cake for my son's wedding next month.  I only make these cakes every few years for the weddings of family members, so I have to practice before the big event.  Grandmother owned a bakery and had talents well beyond mine, but I have tired to continue her Groom's cake tradition.  This recipe makes one pound cake (10" tube pan).

Chocolate pound cake

Chocolate Pound Cake

3 cups flour (13 oz)
1/2 cup cocoa powder (1.5 oz)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 sticks butter, softened (1/2 lb.)
1/2 cup Crisco shortening, room temperature (3.6 oz)
3 cups sugar (1 lb. 6 oz.)
5 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk, room temperature
1 Tbs. vanilla

All ingredients should be at room temperature.  Grease and flour a large tube pan.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda and baking powder together three times and set aside.  Combine milk and vanilla and set aside.

In large bowl of stand mixer, combine butter, shortening and sugar and mix at medium speed for 9 minutes, scraping down sides occasionally.  Add eggs, one at a time, until well blended.  Alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour, blending well after each addition.

Pour into tube pan and smooth out top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Test cake for doneness, a skewer should come out clean and top should spring back when pressed.  Cool in pan on wire rack for 10-15 minutes then turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.

(I frosted this cake with Chocolate Buttercream)

Groom's Cake Notes:
4"x4"x4" pan = 4 cups full, used 2/3x4= 2 2/3 cup batter, cooked 1 hr 15 min, 207 degrees internal temp
6"x6"x4" pan = 10 cups full, used 2/3x10= 6 2/3 cup batter, cooked 1 hr 30 min, 206 degrees internal temp (probably need to reduce oven temp)
10"x10"x4" pan = 26 cups full
14"x14"x4" pan = 48 cups full

1 cup batter = 8 oz.

Valentine's Cookies

Here's an easy sugar cookie recipe so you can get right to the Valentine's cookie decorating.  It is one of the recipes we use for our annual Christmas Cookie party so I know it's a good one.  And it is the most simple cutout cookie recipe I have ever used.  This is the one to use if the kids are helping in the kitchen.

Sugar Cookies with Decorating Icing
and Colored Sugar Sprinkles

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted and cooled a bit
2 3/4 cup self rising flour*
parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, and vanilla.  Add butter.  Slowly add flour until just combined.  Divide dough in half and form two disks.  Wrap one disk in plastic wrap while working with other.

Cut two large pieces of parchment paper.  Sprinkle one disk with flour on both sides then place on a piece of parchment paper.  Place other piece of parchment on top.  Use rolling pin to roll out dough, stopping frequently to peel off parchment, sprinkle dough with flour as needed, and flip over and repeat the process.  (You don't want to roll out dough real thin only to find out it is stuck to the parchment.)  Once you have it rolled out as thin as you want (approx. 1/4 inch), make sure it is not stuck to either piece of parchment and then place dough with parchment on a cookie sheet and into the freezer for 5 minutes.  Remove dough from freezer and cut out cookies as desired, reserving scraps. (These cookies puff up so don't use intricate cookie cutters.)  Repeat with second disk. You can re-roll scraps to make additional cookies.

Place cutout cookies on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. 


*Self Rising Flour (I didn't have self rising flour so I made 3 cups using recipe below then used the 2 3/4 cups in recipe and the rest for dusting as needed.)
approx. 3 cups self rising flour = 3 cup plain flour + 4 1/2 tsp. baking powder + 3/4 tsp. salt - whisk together then measure amount needed

Quick Fix Meal

I keep lots of fresh and frozen food on hand to cook up some delicious meals without any planning.  Tonight I wanted to make a simple one dish meal because I had to leave before dinnertime for a class.  Originally I was going to make mushroom risotto, then changed my mind to shrimp pasta so I thawed some shrimp.  As I was cleaning up my newspaper from the table, I noticed a recipe for Butternut Squash and Coconut Shrimp soup which sounded even better.  It sure pays to keep all varieties of food available!

Butternut Squash and Coconut Shrimp Soup

1 Tbs. peanut or canola oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tsp. fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tsp. red curry paste, or more to taste
2 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes (about 4 cups)
1 bunch of kale, washed and torn into pieces, discarding stems
2 cups chicken broth
1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
1 tsp. lime zest
juice from one lime
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1-2 Tbs. chopped fresh basil (if desired)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut, toasted (if desired)

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion and cook until onion is translucent.  Add garlic and ginger and cook 30 seconds.  Add curry paste, brown sugar and salt and cook 1 minute.  Stir in butternut squash, kale, broth, coconut milk, lime zest, and lime juice and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender, 15-20 minutes.

Stir in shrimp and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and basil.  Top with coconut and serve.

Yummy and Light Asian Night

Once again I've got salmon.  The easiest protein to cook and quite healthy so we eat it weekly.  Tonight I looked back at an old post and decided to go for Asian Salmon in Foil.  I didn't have tons of fresh veggies but did have a pound of green beans that needed to be used.  I found an Asian themed version that was delicious.  A simple meal of fish, green beans and rice was yummy!

Sesame Green Beans with Asian Salmon and Rice

Sesame Green Beans

1 lb. green beans, tips trimmed
1 Tbs. peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
1 tsp. sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds*

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil.  Plunge beans into water and cook 5 minutes.  Drain beans and run cold water over to stop the cooking.  Set aside to drain thoroughly.

Heat peanut oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and add sesame oil, garlic, and red pepper.  Cook 30 seconds then add beans and soy sauce.  Cook 2 minutes or until heated through.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and toss to coat.

*To toast sesame seeds, place in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat and cook, shaking pan frequently, until seeds begin to turn brown.  Immediately remove from hot pan.