Devilish Red Velvet Cake

 

Who would have thought that a light chocolate cake in velvety red coupled with silky cream cheese frosting would work so well together? And cause so much trouble too. I call it devilish evil cake. Because upon meeting it, all your resolutions of sticking to your diet might as well be a pipe dream.

Who's birthday was this for?

I haven't made this 'evil' concoction in ages, because I know, if I were to baked it, ice it, and decorate it, I wont be able to stay away from it. And I won't be able to stop at one slice, or a whole small cake. Yeah, I am but a weak human, who finds pleasure in her food. So there's been sort of a blanket ban on this 'sexy oh so gloriously moist and crumbly crimson chocolatey piece of heaven' here in my kitchen.

So I believe it's now my duty (heheheh) to pass the recipe along with the calories to those who's been asking for it. This recipe makes mild chocolate cake with moist and tender crumbs. The secret to that lies in the buttermilk, so make sure you don't skip that. As with the cocoa powder, go ahead and splurge, don't skim on this, it really makes a difference in the end result. And the satiny smooth cream cheese frosting, what more can I say? It perfectly offset the chocolatey redness of the cake with it's creamy slightly tangy creaminess, making this a very dramatic looking cake.

Don't bake this if you plan not to break your diet. Remember, you have been warned. 

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:


Cake

2 cups (200 grams) plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup (50 grams) cornflour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons (20 grams)  Dutch-processed cocoa powder or the best quality you can get!
1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) caster sugar
2 eggs (120 grams)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon caramel flavoring (optional, if you don't have it, double vanilla extract to 2 tsp)
1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk (refer to buttermilk recipe
2 teaspoons gel red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted
2/3 cup (160 ml) cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

Instructions:

Cake: 

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C and place rack in center of oven. Grease two - 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with baking/parchment paper. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl sift together the flours, salt, and cocoa powder.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft approx. about 1-2 minutes. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla (and caramel if using any) extract, beat until well mixed.
Whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring in a mug. Using the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
In a small cup add the baking soda to the vinegar. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Work quickly here, as we don’t want the baking soda and vinegar mix to lose it’s potency.
Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight). This is done to make filling and frosting the cake easier and less messy.

Cream Cheese Frosting: 

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency. 

To Assemble: 

With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four cake layers. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting. Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Garnish the cake with cake crumb and hawaiian coconut.

Serves 8 - 12 people.

I usually make 4 6" cakes with this recipe, making 4 small cakes that each serves 2-3 small eaters or 1 'who cares about calories' dessert lover.


Bon appetit!

Don't be scared to make your own yogurt!

Yogurt is a very good source of protein, calcium, magnesium, and other essential vitamins. It also contains active bacterial cultures aiding in digestion, improved immunity and lessened food allergies.

We consume yogurt a lot in this household. For cooking, drinks and smoothies plus also for beauty purpose. And now with my new food regime, it's an important part of my diet, I take at least 300ml of it daily.

The health benefits to consuming yogurt in endless. In fact, back in the late 90's, yogurt is what cured me of my stomach ulcer, as I chose not to take any of medications or heaven forbids undergo the surgery as recommended by the gastrointestinal specialist. 

As store-bought yogurt can create a dent in your food budget in the long run, and the hassle of running out of it when you need them  plus it doesn't taste as good as the one you made yourself, why not make it at home. After all it is so simple, that even kids can make it themselves (with adult supervision of course!) Let's not forget the satisfaction of pretending to be such a wonderful homemaker, making things like yogurt, buttermilk and cottage cheese from scratch. *wink*

Fish fillet with Hot Chick Spicy Salt Homemade Yogurt, Oven-Baked in Parchment Paper.

I have been making my own yogurt for almost 20 years, after discovering it is not as daunting as I have always believed it to be. I was first taught to make yogurt by my Aunt Farida. Her recipe seems difficult because it has many complicated steps involving a 'slight fever' temperature oven and loads of old woolen sweaters. She was making them back in Egypt, mostly during winter, so it was crucial to maintain the heat to let the culture grow. 

With a bit of reading and loads of common-sense, I have discovered that you can have great tasting yogurt in as little as 3 steps - heat milk to lukewarm - stir in culture - leave to set at a warm place. 

Anyway, I will give the more detail recipe here too for those of you who doesn't like things to be too simple.

There a whole science to making your own yogurt, which I think is almost magical. The important ingredient to making yogurt is the bacterias, hence you need good yogurt with live culture as starter. This starters contain million of good bacterias that will ferment, curdle and coagulate the milk into yogurt. This process also changes the lactose in the milk into lactic acid giving it the tangy flavor plus making it suitable for lactose-intolerant people to consume.

Homemade yogurt with homemade muesli mix

It is very important to get the milk to the right temperature before adding the culture, too hot the milk, it will kill the bacterias in it, and if it's too cold they will not wake up from their hibernation. So no yogurt in both cases. If that happens don't worry, don't throw it out just. Just reheat the milk to the right temperature, add more culture (plus another tablespoon to be sure) give it the right condition to set and let it work it's magic once more. If all fails, you still have a tub of yogurt drink. Instant lassi!

Homemade yogurt are usually not as thick as the one from the stores as they don't contain any thickening agents such as starch or gelatine. For thicker and creamier yogurt, you can add a few tablespoons of milk powder to the milk before heating it. This will produce thicker creamier yogurt plus adding a few extra calories to it. 

And finally, keep a bit of the yogurt as starter for your next batch, this way you will never run out of yogurt ever again.

Enjoy making them. Do share how yours turn out, and what you used them for.

 

Homemade Yogurt

1 liter of milk 

3 tbsp yogurt with culture, room temperature

a warm day

Steps:

• Heat milk until just before boiling point.
  
• Cool milk until it's warm to touch (or you can just warm it to lukewarm then go on from there).
• Pour the warm milk into the container you are using to store the yogurt.
   
• Stir in the the yogurt starter.
• Place it somewhere warm for the yogurt to set.
• Ready in 4-6 hours. Refrigerate once ready. Keeps in the fridge for about 10 days.
• Best made on a warm day.

t.r.o.u.b.l.e.m.a.k.e.r - haiku

you call me trouble

but you know deep in your heart

i'm always your muse

12:51am

18062012

there, where you belong

 

Save a bit of love
In that place you call heart
Remember her tenderly
Forgive her for she is flawed
Pardon her trespass
Her chance passing through your life
Serendipity, one she never anticipated


And you, you will always reside
In a special place of hers
A spot she calls dream
Where creature and mortal roam free
Through the forest among the skyscrapers
Where realities are shielded by fantasies
And fantasies veiled by desires

20121222

Another Teacher's Day

I've always been one big for Teacher's Day celebration, every opportunity I get I try to thank my teachers. 

And then I lost 4 teachers in succession, all in a span of 6 months, two within a couple weeks of each other in September 2012 and the other two just days apart in late March 2013. 

In mourning, I did not celebrate Teacher's Day, choosing to ignore it completely this year. And then I came upon some cartoons my schoolmate Sireh Cartoonist did for our teacher Cikgu Zul, I started weeping. And I haven't stopped since. 

I realize I should not be mourning anymore, for they have done their part in making me who I am today, so I should celebrate and cherish those still around. So here's a belated Teacher's Day wishes to all the teachers who's ever taught me, in school and in life. And to Cikgu Zulkifli Bin Kassim, Cikgu Naimah, Cikgu Zulkiflee Rahman and one of my best friends Cikgu Hayati Abdul Rahman, may your souls are among the righteous. Alfatihah.