Friday 27 September 2013

Daring Bakers - September 2013!

What a great challenge this month!

I was delighted to see that we had to bake a Tres Leches Cake! I see this kind of cake all over the internet and I was intrigued to make it and taste it! Plus, I didn't take part in the August challenge and I really missed it!

The chalenge was chosen by Inma from La Galletica. Inma gave us information and some options. I searched it a bit on Pinterest and found more variations.
I was between a vanilla and a chocolate tres leches cake, but I thought that the taste of the milks "syrup" would show best with a vanilla cake. Right, wrong? I guess I will have to make a chocolate one at some point, just to compare.

The recipe I used was easy and fast to prepare, i.e. you don't have to separate the eggs. I also used only the  whipped cream for topping, no fruit.

Classic tres leches cake with Salted whipped cream
recipe adapted from here

cake:
165gr all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
115gr butter
220gr sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

milk "syrup":
150 ml sweetened condensed milk
150 ml evaporated milk
100 ml heavy cream

salted whipped cream:
200 ml heavy cream
60 gr confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

* Preheat the oven to 180oC.
* Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
* Mix butter and sugar and beat until fluffy.
* Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one.
* Add in vanilla.
* Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.
This cake is thin. Think "sheet cake thin". So when your batter is ready, choose a pan at the appropriate size and line it with parchment paper.
* Pour batter in and smooth it.
* Bake for 30 min. untill a tester skewer comes out clean.

* 10 min. before the cake is out of the oven, prepare the milk syrup:
* Put the milks and cream in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and boil for about 5 min. stirring constantly.
* Take the cake out of the oven, remove the parchment paper genlty by turning it upside down and then put it back in the pan and prick it all over with a fork (Be careful!).
* Pour the milks over the cake.
* Let it cool very well and then put it in the fridge overnight.

* For the whipped cream, beat all the ingredients until stiff peaks form.
* Spread the whipped cream over the cake and serve.












A few notes please:
- We tasted the cake before it was cooled.... Warm, sweet cake smelling delicious... There was no way we could wait!
- The rest of the cake did go into the fridge and it was amazing the next day! Cold and moist... OMG!
- I decided to make a salted whipped cream, because the cake is very sweet and I wanted some balance, which, I am happy to admit, I achieved. Just don't overdo it with salt. Go slowly and taste along the way to see where you are OK with the saltiness.
- The cake never made it to the afternoon...
- I am imagining a layer cake with thes leches cake layers and vanilla or maple whipped cream in between!
- My sister is crazy about this cake!

Thank you Inma! I really enjoyed this challenge!

Louise

Monday 23 September 2013

How to organize crayons, markers and other drawing utensils!

Ioanna has a lot of crayons, markers, coloured pencils, water colours, brushes, ..... I could go on!

I had to have them stored and organized some how, because I couldn't see them all over the place any more.

Using simple things, like an old shoe box, some toilet paper rolls and glue, I made this box.


Cute, right?


Louise

Monday 9 September 2013

Daifukumochi!

I can't remember when or where I first saw or heard of this little dessert. Mochi, Daifukumochi or just Daifuku.

I just remember that I have always wanted to taste them, touch them, see what they are! After all, I was always curious of whether there are sweets in the Japanese cuisine.

My cousin's husband works abroad and guess what... He brought me some!
A little box, as if from a jewelry store, with little pastel colored daifuku in various flavours. Perfect!





Very tasty! And the texture is strange, but good strange!

The yellow one is mango and the pink ones are berries.


Louise

Thursday 5 September 2013

Kiwi jam!

We were given many kiwis a few days ago. I mean, a lot!
So naturally a kiwi jam was in order. I used my KENWOOD Bread maker. No fuss!

I weighed the kiwis, peeled and chopped. I added the same amount of sugar and a bit more, about 1 tsp of butter and nothing else.
No water, because the kiwis were very juicy. Pressed the button and voila! 1 hour later we had our jam!




Apart from the taste, which was great, what I loved was the colour!!! I don't think the pictures do it justice.


Louise