Hello Kitty (cup)cakes

Everyone knows my fascination (read: obsession) with Hello Kitty. It's an easy guess for my friends and family, what gifts I would like to receive, so I suppose it makes me predictable and transparent.

Ever more so, with these cupcakes I made.

I had my friends over last week for a mini-celebration with my new temporary position. I'm moving departments on campus, to one that's a little more lucrative, to cover a maternity leave opening. The temporary factor of it is great, because I can transition fields a bit more easily.

I had the bubbly ready, but needed some snacks for everyone. And what better than delicious cupcakes. Made by yours truly.

I love my friends because they are an endless array of gratification for me. So many of them commented that they didn't believe the pictures were of cupcakes I made. Or does this mean they have little faith in me? Nah. Right, guys?

I made a chocolate batter this time, uncommon for me because of my love for vanilla cupcakes. I used one of my cake recipes that are a bit denser and very chocolate-y, especially with the addition of espresso.

For the buttercream, I made my espresso flavoured one used in the race car cake I made a couple months ago. My original plan was to have a coloured buttercream, so that I could cut out plain white Hello Kitty faces and it would be a good contrast. Unfortunately, I always forget that the buttercream doesn't colour enough and it wasn't a good enough contrast.

I ended up using really dark grey fondant for her faces instead.

I think it worked out great, because it was easier to see the features on her face. Since I had cut outs that imprinted her face as well, I didn't bother with food grade markers to draw on her features.

Aren't they adorable?

Since I was using a cake recipe, I decided to use my cut little 6" cake rounds to make a tiny tall cake. I didn't cover it with fondant. Instead, I tried the "paper-towel frosting" trick, which didn't work as well as I was hoping. It might be because I don't have the right paper towels, or maybe I was pressing too hard. Either way, I didn't like how there was a slight embossment when I finished, so I scrapped it and just  smoothed out my buttercream with a hot offset spatula like I normally do.

I like that when I make my home made cakes for my friends, that they look a bit more rustic. I don't mine some blemishes in them because my friends don't really care anyways. When I make them for others, I will use fondant, but it's not my favourite thing to work with. I like to keep it simple with friends.

Chocolate (cup)cakes 

1/2 cup butter
2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 egg whites
4 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz unsweetened baker's chocolate, melted and cooled
2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup espresso
2/3 cup milk 

1. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. One at a time, add eggs. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined.
2. With a spatula, mix in the melted baker's chocolate.
3. In 3 additions, add the dry ingredient mixture, interspersed twice with the espresso-milk mixture (i.e., dry-wet-dry-wet-dry).
4. Pour into buttered and floured pans or into cupcake tins. Bake at 350F for 50-55 min (cake) or 20-25 min (cupcakes), or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cool 10 minutes before leaving on a rack to cool completely.
6. Frost with espresso buttercream. 

 

Espresso buttercream

1 cup butter, room temperature
 4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp espresso powder
1 tsp hot water 

1. Beat butter until light and fluffy.
2. Gradually add icing sugar, one cup at a time until well combined.
3. Add the vanilla extract, espresso powder, and water mixture. Beat again until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary.

Vegetarian chili

I wouldn't have found the pictures for my vegetarian chili, if I hadn't pulled out my camera to get some better shots of my hello kitty cupcakes (next up). Thank goodness for the delight of cupcakes!

I try not to eat processed fake meat products, or TVP, too often. But there are dishes every now and then that just need a little something added. I have a couple go-to kinds of vegetarian ground round that I go for, most commonly Yves. I like the flavour and texture in these ones, and also that there do come pre-seasoned for other uses (like chili).

Things that are texture-less are bland and boring to me. Which is why whenever I make things like casseroles, chili, pastas, I always add in a whole bunch of stuff.

In this case, I had the veggie ground round, black beans, and a smattering of vegetables. Sounds delicious already!

As with anything, I always sweat the onions out before adding the rest of my mirepoix. I am a firm believer this is the best way to start cooking. Unless I'm making a paella, in which case you'll want to make a sofrito instead.

After the carrots begin to soften, I tend to throw in the rest of the fresh vegetables (in this case, just some red pepper). When I pop in the beans and ground round is usually when I'll throw in any more vegetables, in frozen or canned state.

Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes. Be sure to add chili spices to how you like them as well. In approximately 30 minutes, you can have a delicious hot meal ready to go!

Vegetarian chili 

1/2 onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 box Yves veggie chili ground round
1 can black beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn kernels, drained
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp hot pepper flakes 

1. Soften onions, celery and carrots for a few minutes over medium heat. Add red pepper and cook a couple more minutes.
2. Add spices. and stir until coated.
3. Add box of Yves ground round, black beans, tomatoes and corn kernels. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Serve over a bed of rice and garnished with grated cheese.

My super secret chocolate chip cookies

The first thing I learned to bake was chocolate chip cookies. With this exact recipe.

I still remember it like it was yesterday.

I am in my brother's best friend's kitchen. We're sitting at the kitchen table, and his older sister is somewhere else in the house. She mentions she made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and they're sitting in the kitchen pantry. Up until that point, I had only had Pillsbury and store bought bakery cookies, so I couldn't believe the soft, chewy, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

I spent the new few months begging and pleading for my the sister to teach me to make them, but she jokingly strung me along, all the whilst feeding me more cookies.

I eventually got the recipe from her after a couple months, after her wedding and she moved to the states for her new job. Since she guarded it so closely, I have done the same since. This is the first time I'm revealing my recipe!

It's been a long time since I've eaten her version of the cookies, but I think I've master getting them like she does.

A few years ago, I also had the chance to make these exact cookies with her brother. He does it differently than I do, but the great thing about this recipe is how resilient the batter is. They come out great every time, but they do require a bit of tweaking to get the temperature right on your oven.

Chocolate chip cookies 

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
chocolate chips 

1. Cream butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract together until fluffy.
2. Add flour and baking soda, mixing until almost combined. Add as much chocolate chips as desired and mix until combined.
3. Roll out 1" balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 6-8 minutes*. 

* The time to bake differs depending on your oven. My oven takes 10 minutes, but my parents' takes 7 minutes. Use discretion, and take them out when they are slightly underbaked, so they are soft and gooey when cooled.

Banana muffins

Banana bread is my such a delicious comfort food, and I always seem to have a surplus of aging or frozen bananas in my house. The thing I don't like about it, is how it doesn't come in individual servings.

I changed up my traditional go to banana bread recipe, to make them a bit fluffier for my muffins, and it turned out great!

I always forget that I need more bananas than I originally wrote down, so they never turn out as banana-y as I like. The recipe at the bottom has the corrected amount of bananas you should use!

Feel free to spice things up with a variety of other flavours: nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, anise, etc. Alternately, you could add fruit or nuts, such as blueberries, strawberry bits, walnuts, or pecans.

Banana muffins 

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup milk 

1. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating until just combined.
2. Sift together dry ingredients, mix together wet ingredients.
3. Starting and ending with the dry, mix in the the flour and bananas alternately until just combined.
4. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full of batter and bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

Mint cupcakes - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone has fantastic plans for this weekend to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! Whether you're Irish or not, I hope you settle down to eat or drink something of a artificial bright green colour.

This year, I went with a classic vanilla cupcake with green coloured mint flavoured frosting.

Once again, I used my trusty vanilla cupcake recipe (see vanilla cupcakes). Buttercream is a standard recipe that really doesn't change no matter who you talk to.

With this buttercream, I wanted to make it green in the spirit of St. Patrick, so I used Wilton's icing colour in Kelly Green. Be prepared to use a lot of this. To make the standard 1 cup butter equivalent of buttercream, I went through nearly a whole teaspoon of colour to get the vibrant green colour I wanted.

After several toothpicks dripping with green colour, I was finally satisfied with the colour / sick of adding more colour / losing feeling in my beating arm.

As usual, I used my Wilton 1M tip to get my buttercream swirls. I tried to do some shamrock fondant cut outs (as you can see in the first photo, with my green fondant and fondant mat out), but I didn't have the best of luck with my cutters to get a shamrock shape I was happy with. I eventually left it out, so I'll save the fondant for when I need to cover a green cake.

Vanilla cupcakes

3 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
2. Beat the butter until creamy. Add sugar and cream until light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.
3. Beat in one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly in between each.
4. On low, mix in the dry mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
5. Beat in vanilla.
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full of batter. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes and cool on wire racks.

Green mint buttercream

1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tsp milk, if needed (I used unsweetened almond milk) 

1. Beat butter until creamy. Slowly (1/2 cup at a time) add in icing sugar, mixing thoroughly and scraping the bowl as you go.
2. Add vanilla and peppermint extract.
3. If needed, thin out buttercream with milk, 1/2 tsp at a time until desired consistency is reached.
4. Pipe onto cupcakes with a Wilton 1M tip fitted in a pastry bag.

Drunken noodles

It's a common theme here for me to start writing with "I love ___". Today is no exception.

I love noodles. Surprisingly enough though, I haven't actually had drunken noodles before.

Perhaps it's because I'm not a huge alcohol person, and the name of the dish is somewhat off-putting, but. I'd put my money on the fact that the pad Thai on the menu is always screaming my name.

I had a hankering for some Thai food, but didn't want to go out and eat something greasy, so I thought I'd make it at home.

There are many variations on how drunken noodles came to be:

• rice wine is used to make it, but there isn't any alcohol in the dish itself
• you eat it after a night of drinking and you have the munchies when you get home
• you get so drunk while eating it because you're trying to drown out the spice with alcohol
• the chef was drunk while making it
• as a cure for hangovers

I'm not sure myself what the true answer is, but I'm more inclined to think that it's a food for late night partiers, because of the common association of Asian food with after party eats.

 

I had spent a large part of the day at a friend's place recording the instrumental tracks for the next song we're laying down, but hunger was getting the best of us. Said friend was also sick, so I toned down the spice to a minimum level.

Nonetheless, it was a delicious dish and I'm glad I've gotten this one under my belt now as well.

Follow through for my recipe from the weekend, but feel free to use whatever vegetables are in your fridge (peppers, eggplant, celery, etc.).

Drunken noodles 

noodles
1 pkg broad noodles
1/2 onion, diced
2 red chilies, minced*
2 carrots, julienned
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 block extra firm tofu
2 broccoli crowns
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 cup bean sprouts

sauce
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 lime, juiced (~1 1/2 tbsp)
1.2 tsp brown sugar 

1. Soak noodles in hot water until soft. Drop in cold water.
2. Saute onion, chilies and carrot for a few minutes until soft.
3. Add shrimp. When nearly cooked, add tofu.
4. Add broccoli. After 2 minutes add mushrooms and bean sprouts.
5. Whisk together sauce ingredients. Put noodles and sauce into frying pan. Toss to coat.
6. Cook a few more minutes until sauce absorbs.
7. Serve garnished with thai basil and lime wedges.

Enjoy!

Potato wedges

I have mentioned before, my love for potatoes, so I'm always using them one way or another.

Sometimes, my bag of potatoes gets forgotten and neglected, in the dark corner of my kitchen. But it'll pop back into my mind, and I'll make it the main component of my next meal.

Such a thing happened last week, due to a lively discussion with a coworker about our shared love for French fries.

I realized I hadn't had potatoes in a while, and was also craving some fries. Rather than go the unhealthy route, I opted to make wedges at home to ease my potato-hunger pangs.

I was out of olive oil, so that was a saddening realization when I got home. I used my sunflower oil, and they turned out great, but deep in my heart, I knew that I was living an olive oil lie.

I greased up my baking sheet and loaded it with herb covered potato wedges!

Potato wedges

5 white potatoes
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil 

1. Cut potatoes into 3/4 inch wide wedges. Toss in a large bowl, sprinkle all herbs, drizzle olive oil over it, and toss to coat.
2. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Turn over as needed, every 20 minutes or so.

Vegetarian enchiladas

I love Mexican food.

The weekend before, I tried to go to the only authentic Mexican restaurant in town, only to find that they were closed. Extremely odd for a Saturday night at 630pm, but nonetheless, I was on the other side of town without a restaurant to eat at. Needless to say I went to my favourite Indian place, which is on the neighbouring block.

Having my favourite Indian food wasn't satisfying my craving for some Mexican food, so I went with the next best thing - making my own.

I'm not a fan of burritos, but surprisingly really love enchiladas. I think it's the fact that burritos are just the equivalent of a Mexican wrap, but these enchiladas have a delicious sauce that comes with them.

I fill mine with black beans, corn, spinach, and cheese. I top it with a bechamel like tomato sauce and more cheese, then throw it in the oven to let it heat up.

So delicious! It's a must try =)

Vegetarian enchiladas (adapted from Martha Stewart)

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cumin, divided
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 cup vegetable broth
3 cup grated cheese (I used aged cheddar), divided
1 can black beans
1 box frozen chopped spinach
1 can corn kernels
10 corn tortillas 

1. Heat olive oil over medium. Add 1 tsp cumin, flour and tomato paste, whisking until combined. Let cook for 1 minute.
2. Slowly whisk in vegetable broth, dissolving the flour paste.
3. Let boil, reduce to a simmer and let thicken, about 5 minutes.
4. To make filling, combine 1 tsp cumin, 2 cup cheese, black beans, spinach, and corn in a bowl.
5. Top each tortilla with roughly 1/2 cup of filling, wrap tightly and place in a greased casserole dish seam side down. Continue until filling is finished.
6. Top wrapped tortillas with remaining cup of cheese, and pour sauce overtop. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes, or until bubbling. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Homemade pizza

There's always been something about making dough that is frightening to me. In my mind, I know it's a simple process, but working with yeast, and the rising/waiting time, gets me in such a frenzy that I always seem to talk myself out of it..

Hence, always getting take out or eating frozen, whenever a pizza craving hits.

For dinner last week, I had one of those said cravings. Unfortunately, I was in no mood to go to the store or the nearby pizza place to get my fix. I guess it's time to get crackin' on making some dough.

I pulled out my trusty pizza dough recipe (which I have never used...) and saw that the rise time was a whopping 3 hours! Sorry Chris Bianco, that ain't happenin' tonight.

Instead, some trusty internet searching provided me with some easy shortcuts to quick rising dough. Although I enjoyed the ease in making it, I would definitely make some changes to the recipe. Nevertheless it was great to have it so I could make myself some pizza in about an hour.

I topped my pizzas with bell peppers, olives, capers, cilantro and aged cheddar. All on an olive oil base, no tomato sauce on these bad boys.

Quick pizza dough (adapted) 

2 cup flour
1 sachet (8g) instant yeast
1 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup warm water 

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until a soft shaggy dough is formed.
2. Knead on a clean surface until the dough comes together, a few minutes.
3. Put the dough ball back in the bowl, cover in cling wrap and place in a warm area for 30 minutes*. The dough will double in size.
4. Punch down the dough and knead for 1 minute to help relax and stretch the glutens.
5. Roll dough out to form pizza(s). Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. 

* I put my dough in the oven with a bowl of boiling water sitting underneath.

Vanilla and strawberry cupcakes

I've been looking for some reason to use my high-heel cupcake liners, and couldn't think of a better fit than last week's Academy Awards.

I used my classic vanilla cupcake recipe, which I absolutely adore. It always turns out perfectly, and they are so airy and fluffy.

I topped them with strawberry buttercream to match the pink-ness of the liners, and due to an abundance of strawberries in my fridge.

These babies fluff up a lot, so I fill them about 2/3 full. Don't be alarmed that this batter is almost on the chunky side. I would describe it as a thick mousse that is intensely airy. It bakes up to pure heaven.

Cutest little tops, perfect for cupcakes.

I did several different variations on piping, all using the same tip, my trusty Wilton 1M. Aren't the high-heel liners super adorable?

I also made use of my blue polka dotted liners, but the colour scheme wasn't as great as the matching pink liners with strawberry buttercream.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Oscars! And props to Jennifer Lawrence for even making falling look elegant. *sigh* I love her!

Vanilla cupcakes

3 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract 

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
2. Beat the butter until creamy. Add sugar and cream until light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.
3. Beat in one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly in between each.
4. On low, mix in the dry mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
5. Beat in vanilla.
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full of batter. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes and cool on wire racks.

Strawberry buttercream

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/2 cup strawberry puree 

1.  Beat butter and vanilla extract until creamy. Slowly (1/2 cup at a time) add in icing sugar, mixing thoroughly and scraping the bowl as you go.
2. Add the strawberry puree and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Pipe onto cupcakes with a Wilton 1M tip fitted in a pastry bag.
4. If needed, thin out buttercream with milk, 1/2 tsp at a time until desired consistency is reached.

Spaghetti avocado

There always seems to be an avocado or two sitting in the crisper of my fridge, that I don't know what to do with. It sits, patiently, waiting for me to gaze upon it at meal time and think "hey! I know what I'll do with you!", thus fulfilling it's journey in life.

Sadly, that is not always the case, and oftentimes, avocados lay wasted in my fridge or fruit bowl.

I try. I really do. But I always overestimate how much I actually enjoy avocados.

I'm hardly the person to site there and eat an avocado like so many others proclaim they love to do. In fact, I'm hardly one to sit there and eat half of one without starting to feel my gag reflex coming on.

It saddens me. How much I try to love avocados, but they just don't seem to love me back.

I decided tried something new this time around, and actually went out and bought avocados specifically for this occasion. Unlike typical, when I buy avocados and force myself into using them in ways I eventually don't like.

My love of pasta reaches far and wide, and I thought I would incorporate avocados into them. Instead of making an alfredo sauce, which upsets my digestive track oh so terribly, I thought I'd make an avocado sauce instead.

I made a variation on my shrimp alfredo, with a different sauce.

Avocados and tomatoes also go together like bread and butter, so I threw those in the mix too.

I made a simple sauce, of a ripe avocado, juice of a lemon, and some of the reserve pasta water, pureed in my handy food processor to make a nice smooth sauce. It will look and feel a little goopy in the processor, but it'll work out to a nice thick and rich sauce in the end.

Throw in some shrimp, squid rings, and tomatoes to the mix for an avocado filled dinner.

Avocado Sauce 

1 avocado
1 lemon, juiced
salt
1/3 - 1/2 cup reserve pasta water 

1. Add the avocado, lemon juice and salt to the food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Through the feed tube, add pasta water until sauce is desired thickness.
3. Pour over al dente cooked pasta, and serve.

Black bean casserole

I'll admit. Being a vegetarian can be hard. Sometimes, I find myself lacking imagination and motivation to come up with dinner ideas. Those are the days when I'm likely to pop a B12 just to make sure I'm staying on top of things.

Contrary to somewhat popular belief, being a vegetarian doesn't mean that all I eat are vegetables. We need to obtain our protein from some source, typically from beans, eggs, and alternative grains. Luckily for me though, I am not a full fledged vegetarian, but actually am what is called a "pescetarian".

The inclusion of fish and shellfish in my diet is helpful for maintaining my B12 levels, which at one point had dipped to a low enough level for my doctor to ever so not-subtly suggest the addition of vitamin supplements in my diet.

Eating as a vegetarian can be great. It opens up so many other options people don't normally thinking about, like using beans as the main protein of the meal. 

I did just that for dinner a couple weeks ago, with my black bean casserole. Taking a simple beef/fish casserole dish, and making it vegetarian by the replacement of meat products with beans.

I didn't have much in my fridge since it was the end of the week. I grabbed some sticks of celery and carrot, the leftover of my bell pepper and onion, and the remains of my pint of grape tomatoes. I also cooked up some fresh rice for this.

Just dice everything up, mix it all together, and layer it in a casserole dish. Because I'm a cheese-aholic, I always top things with a generous heaping of cheese.

If your casserole is a little low on the vegetable side, or even if it's not, serve it with a side salad and a nice tall glass of cold beer!

Black Bean Casserole 

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, finely minced
2 cups rice, cooked
3 cups block cheese, grated 

1. Cook rice. Let cool until warm.
2. Mix beans, vegetables, rice and 1 cup of cheese together in a casserole dish.
3. Top with remaining 2 cups of cheese.
4. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

Curry lentil soup

I love having my friends over for dinner. Not only are they great company, it gives me an awesome opportunity to try new dishes. They're always polite and say it's good, but I know that they'll also tell me when I shouldn't make something again. =]

A couple weekends ago, I tried out a curry lentil soup. I loosely adapted it from a slow cooker sweet potato soup I gleaned off the Food Network.

I started off with a fine dice of all my ingredients - potatoes, carrots, celery, onion. I grated a thumb size piece of ginger and sprinkled garam masala on top.

Next up, dried lentils! I had a mix of green and brown lentils sitting in my jar, so I used both for variety.

I let them mingle in the crock pot while I got my stock. I used vegetable broth, but feel free to use whatever broth you have on hand - beef, chicken, mushroom, etc.

I stuck the crockpot on high, because I didn't start this until the afternoon. By the time dinner time rolled around, my house was smelling absolutely divine, and the stock has reduced to a dark and delicious hue. I topped it off with some water and let it simmer some more while I made my curry lemon mix.

Top it off with some cilantro, and you have an easy and hearty soup dinner!

Curry Lentil Soup 

4 potatoes, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 stalks of celery, chopped into 1 cm pieces
1 onion, diced
3/4 cup lentils, dried
2" ginger, grated
1 tsp + 1 tsp garam masala
salt
8 cup stock (or water)
1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 lemon, juiced
fresh cilantro for serving 

1. Cook potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, lentils, ginger, 1 tsp garam masala, salt, and 6 cup stock on high for 4 hours in a crockpot.
2. After 4 hours, thin soup with remaining stock if desired.
3. In a small saucepan, cook butter, garlic and 1 tsp garam masala until toasted (1 minute). Stir mixture into the soup.
4. Serve with cilantro, lemon wedges and French bread.

Chocolate Tales

A few weeks ago was Chinese New Year. For the event, I always head in to the city to see my aunts and cousins.

In addition to that, this year I went with a cousin to a chocolate workshop, hosted by Chocolate Tales.

We got the chocolate making workshop on a groupon deal, so it was a lucky score for us, especially considering I wasn't really in need of a chocolate making workshop. But just to spend some time with my cousin, we thought a chocolate workshop would be great fun.

We had lunch with my aunt's family on the other side of town, so we only made it just on time to the workshop, which was held on the University's main campus.

It was a 90 minute workshop that introduced us to using chocolate molds, creating chocolate ganache, and decorating chocolates. It was less hands on than I would have liked, because what I really wanted was to work on improving more advanced chocolate working skills. Nonetheless, it was a fun class, and I got to sit in a heavily chocolate scented room for nearly 2 hours. What could be better?

We made lava cakes, and I decorated mine with a super S, for me!

Some of my chocolate decorations, covered with unwanted cocoa powder from the pair we shared our table with.

Delicious!

I hope everyone had a great Chinese New Year.

My other cousin and I, at temple on Chinese New Year day.

Race car and housewarming cake

I'll admit.

I don't work with fondant.

It's really been more of a fear than anything else. I've always found some sort of excuse to get out of using it.

It was unavoidable this time around.

I was making a birthday and housewarming cake, where the request was for race cars. I thought about modeling chocolate and gum paste options as well, but decided that it was high time for me to start using fondant. So I took the plunge.

I've heard from friends before about how fondant rips and cracks when they try to cover cakes with it, so I was worried.

We will get back to that though.

For the cake, I chose to make a 2-tiered chocolate espresso cake with a matching espresso buttercream frosting.

I made a small race track with 2 fondant race cars (and a real Hot Wheels race car), that leads to a fondant house with flanking race car flags

The cars I found especially cute, and loved making them. I dyed some fondant with yellow and red to get 2 different coloured race cars. My friend was over that night too, so she made the yellow one, while I made the red one. Super cute!

vroom vroom!

they've got visors and spoilers too!

To the cake top, I made a windy road that led to a fondant house painted yellow-ish brown, to represent their new home. I tinted the remaining buttercream with some red colour paste, so I could write a message on the cake, and to put a little "J" and "K" on the front plates of the cars, for both of my friends.

Not featured in the photo, are the checkered flags I made that flank the house, and the checkered flag pattern that wraps the bottom of the cake.

I had a blast making this cake, and it marks an end to my fondant boycott!

Chocolate espresso cake 

2 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp espresso powder
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cup milk 

1. To prepare the pans (I used 9" springform pans), butter the bottom, line with parchment, butter the bottom again and the sides, and dust in cocoa powder. Tap out the excess.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, espresso powder).
3. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract, then the eggs one at a time.
4. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, the milk in 2 additions, alternating, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
5. Pour evenly into 2 pans and bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Larger pans will use less time, smaller pans will take more time. 

* Be sure to cool these cakes in the pan for 15 minutes before turning them out to cool to rest of the way.

Espresso buttercream 

1 cup butter, room temperature
 4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp espresso powder
1 tsp hot water 

1. Beat butter until light and fluffy.
2. Gradually add icing sugar, one cup at a time until well combined.
3. Add the vanilla extract, espresso powder, and water mixture. Beat again until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary.

Baked potato - a variation!

I am an avid Pinterest peruser, but I'm not one to go pinning everything and trying out all the recipes.

I have, however, noticed as of late the large amount of repinning of this "new" style of baking a potato.

As a potato lover (I did my M.Sc. on it! =]), I thought I'd give it a try.

It's a really simple process. Just scrub your potatoes clean and slice them almost all the way through, so it's like you have chips, but still all connected at the base.

I just did 2 potatoes as a random test of how well this recipe works.

Drizzle olive oil and seasonings over it and bake it for 45 min at 425F. I used my trusty cold press extra virgin olive oil and regular garlic powder on a greased baking sheet.

45 minutes later, voilà!

It was a cute inventive way to make potatoes more presentable, but I'm not sure how great of a way to bake potatoes.

My potatoes were starting to burn on the ends because of the small "slices", and the ones in the middle were only just barely cooked.

It was also hard to get the pieces to spread apart from each other to get the oil and seasonings in all the crevices, as you can tell from the initial photo.

Creative way to present potatoes, but I'm not sure I would do them again. Or at least not at such a high temperature and possibly with smaller potatoes.