Cakery (Con’t)

So I had a very hard day at work today and the only idea I had to post tonight , was how to get a full nights rest to get back up to start again at 12 sigh!!!! So today's post will follow suit to where I left off with my cake series. Another popular cake this time of the year is the traditional sponge cake. This recipe is simple and many variations can be derived from them, something like the mother sauces u take five sauces and makes millions of variation. So without further hesitation and typing here is your post for tonight.


 
INGREDIENTS

Zest from 1/2 lemon

1 cup sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

4 large eggs

2 tablespoons warm water

1/2 teaspoon real vanilla

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt


 
DITRECTIONS

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a blender or food processor. Blend until the lemon zest is fine. Add this mixture to the softened butter. Beat with a mixer on medium until fluffy. This should take about 5 minutes.

Add the eggs to the sugar and butter one at a time, beating well after adding each one. Add the water, lemon juice, and vanilla. In a different bowl, use a whisk to mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the rest of the ingredients. Mix on low. Then add the rest of the flour mixture.

Now beat at medium speed until the cake batter becomes shiny. The mixture should also turn a white colour. Do not skip this step or reduce the mixing time. The longer you mix the batter, the more air bubbles you create. This is what makes sponge cake recipes light and fluffy. This step of the sponge cake recipe should take about 15 minutes.

Pour sponge cake batter into two round cake pans that have been greased with shortening well and liberally floured. If they haven't been greased and floured thoroughly, your sponge cake recipe will stick to the cake pans.

Bake lemon sponge cake in a preheated 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for approximately 25-30 minutes. The sponge cake should pull gently from the sides. It will be golden in colour and spongy to the touch. It should spring back when touched. To be sure the sponge cake is done, test the centre with a toothpick and see if it comes out clean. Do not open the oven while the sponge cake is baking.

Remove the lemon sponge cake from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before removing the cake from the cake pans. Let the sponge cake cool completely before frosting it. A lemon glaze would work well with this basic sponge cake recipe. Of course, frosting a sponge cake is optional. Plain sponge cake recipes are delicious by themselves.

yur wa some sorrel o wa

                                                                                              

this is how excited some people get for sorrel 

ingredients

2 lbs dried sorrel

2 cinnamon sticks (each approximately 3 inches long)

1 piece orange peel (fresh or dried, approximately 3 by 1-inch)

12 whole cloves

10-12 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar (or more to taste. Granulated will give a better colour.)

Directions

In a non-corrosive pot, bring 10 cups of water to a boil then add the sorrel, sugar, cinnamon stick, whole cloves and orange peel and stir continuously while the mixture boils for one minute.

Cool and cover with foil or plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature to steep for 2 hours or overnight.

Taste for strength and sweetness. If it is too potent, add water or if too tart add more sugar. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a jar and refrigerate. (Discard the spices left in the sieve). The sorrel will stain so use a non-reactive glass jar or bowl. Don’t use plastic.

The Cakery

So the countdown for the most anticipated holiday of the trini calendar outside of carnival is here, and we here at chefaholic can't wait for this special day. We're so anxious we have dedicated and entire post to the baking of cake. So in today's post am going to showcase four scrumptiously delectable baked treats. The first being the ever so popular TRINI BLACK CAKE. I assume that most trinis have already prepared that jars and buckets full of different fruits for example (currents prunes sultan raisins). Don't fear if u are still yet to do so there is still time so it's quiet easy grab a sterilized container ¾ fill it with fruits or whatever amount u have and cover it with cherry brandy and white rum cover container with lid and leave to soak in the alcohol . so people that was and always will be the first step in making black cake so here is the rest of the recipe and don't forget to send in your pictures to be featured on our facebook wall.

Fruit mixture

• 1/2 lb currants
  
• 1/2 lb raisins
  
• 1/2 lb prunes
  
• 1  jar cherries, drained
  
• 1/4 lb mix peel
  
• 2 ounces almonds finely chopped
  
• 1 Bottle white rum
  
• 1bottle of cherry brandy
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
  
  
  
  
  Caramelised sugar
  
  1lb brown sugar
  
• 1cup boiling water
  
  
  
  The cake
  
• 1 teaspoon lime peel grated
  
• 2 cups flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1/2 lb butter
  
• 1 1/8 cups sugar
  
• 5 eggs
  
  2tbspVanilla essence
  
  1tbsp cinnamon
  
  
  
  Directions:
  
  
  Prep Time: 2 hrs
  
  Total Time: 5 hrs
  
  • To prepare the fruit mix: Finely chop currants, raisins, prunes, figs and cherries.(always chop please don't blend)
    
  • Combine in a large bowl with mixed peel and almonds.
    
  • Mix vanilla and ground cloves with rum, and pour the rum mixture over the fruit mix.
    
  • Stir to combine.
    
  • Cover the bowl tightly, and let soak for a minimum of 24 hours and up to one month.
    
  • Prepare the caramelised sugar on the day you intend to bake the cake.
    
  • Put brown sugar in a heavy pot.
    
  • Carefully cook over low heat stirring constantly, until sugar liquefies and begins to turn darker.
    
  • Do not burn!
    
  • When sugar has turned dark, remove pot from heat and gradually stir in hot water.
    
  • Mix well.
    
  • Let the mixture cool.
    
  • Preheat oven to 120 C (250 F).
    
  • Line a round cake tin with buttered parchment paper.
    
  • Stir lime peel and caramelised sugar into the fruit mixture.
    
  • Set aside.
    
  • Sift together flour and baking powder
    
  • Set aside.
    
  • Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
    
  • Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until blended.
    
  • Add the flour mixture, stir to combine.
    
  • Add the fruit mixture, stir to combine.
    
  • Pour batter into the prepared tin and place the pan in a larger shallow pan filled with hot water.
    
  • Cook in the preheated oven for 2 1/2- 3 hours or until cake tests done.
    
  • Cake should shrink from the sides of the pan.
    
  • Cool cake in the tin for 24 hours before removing.
    
  • Let the cake ripen for some time before serving.
    
  • Fruit cakes keeps very well, but if you want to store it for a longer time, moisten it with additional rum from time to time.
    
  
  
  
   

T minus 10

its ten more days till Christmas tell us @ chefahoilc what is a true trini Christmas to u

Trini Christmas Wine Punch(aka Sangria)

So this morning I am straying a bit from the food and giving you a wonderful wine punch recipe. It’s usually called sangria but I added a few extra ingredients to give it a little kick. For those of you that aren’t too familiar with the drink sangria is a flavourful mixture of wine, fruits and clear carbonated beverage. Its origin is from the beautiful culture of Spain where this mixture was served in special ceramic pitches and drank mostly at large feasts. So here u go readers make enjoy and remember with this one designate a driver.

1 750ml bottle fruity red wine
2litres carton orange juice
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup triple sec
1 /2bottle Absolut Vodka
1/8 cup lime juice
2 apples, sliced
2 oranges, segmented
10 grapes
1 2-liter bottle 7-up

Prepare a large pitcher or bowl. Pour in the red wine, orange juice, brandy, triple sec, vodka, lime juice. Add in the apples, oranges and grapes. Let the mixture sit in the fridge for at least two hours and preferably overnight so the fruit flavours all soak into the liquids.

Before serving, add in the 7-up so the bubbles are fresh. Serve over ice. If you have extra fruit, freeze the pieces to act as natural ice cubes.

With the high volume of ingredients in this recipe, I would really not recommend trying to make this in a single serving size.

A very Maggi Christmas

So Maggi, a subsidiary of nestle (ah think), had a promotion before their current promotion that required you to submit a recipe that depicts a creative use of sorrel and Maggi products. I made my submission and to my surprise I was chosen as one of the hamper winners! Yayyyy me!
So I collected my hamper today and I must say: "WELL DONE MAGGI!".
I can proudly say you'll don’t lie when you say the hamper is huge!!! Getting it home was a task but I am grateful and for this I say thank you and remember people text to win! Trust me you will want this hamper. Also, feel free to hit the 'follow buttons' and 'like' trini-chefaholic on facebook and follow me on twitter. Laters for now folks check back tonight for another festive recipe.

Taking the apple out of Christmas pie (well sort of)

So today on work amidst the millions of orders coming in and when everything was seemingly going wrong with my brains, Rachel our sauté chef and resident Tobagonian in the kitchen found time to make an apple pecan pie and she was aided by the 'parrot' of our kitchen Gregory. Now seeing that this was a joint venture by two of our more senior chefs I presumed I was going to taste a piece of heaven on earth...*blehhhhhh* I was wrong!

Just to point out two major things you guys did wrong....well three. Firstly: where was your ice cold water? You can’t make pastry without it. Second: did I just see u bake the bottom crust first then add the filling and bake it over again?? Reallyyyyy???

*Sigh*

Third: for my readers, unless you want a sweeter than normal concoction, I suggest u don’t make the filling on the stove prior to baking...it never tastes good. So there you have it my brief tips on the perfect pie.

Now on to my newest creation thanks to the help of my double puppy team of advisors; one proving to be more helpful that the other *ahem ahem* but we still cool. I came up with an alternative to the foreign apple and pecans method of ingredients. I opted to go with pineapple and cashews and well to make it 'extra trini' throw in a dash of sorrel liqueur or sorrel syrup. So here you go readers! Tonight's, well morning's recipe:

Pineapple Sorrel Cashew pie

CRUST (recipe makes one double crust):

2 1/2 cups white flour

3 tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cold butter, broken into small pieces

5 tbsp. cold vegetable shortening

8 tbsp. ice water

• Measure the flour, sugar and salt together. Stir to combine.
• Add the chilled butter pieces and shortening to the bowl. Cut them in with a pastry cutter or knife. Don't over mix them.
• Add the ice water. Mix until the dough holds together (add a bit more water, if necessary).
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it together, then divide in half.
• Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour.
• Roll out one of the disks on a lightly floured surface until you have a circle that's about 12 inches in diameter.
• Put the circle in a 9" pie plate, trimming any extra dough from the edges with a sharp knife. Return it to the refrigerator until you are ready to make the pie.
• Add filling (see below)
• Roll out the second ball of dough and cover top. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together. Cut a couple slits in the top.

FILLING

1/4 cup sugar.

1/4 cup all-purpose flour.

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon .

Pinch of salt .

1 cup of pineapples (slice or dice medium size

1/3 cup of cashews

1/2 cup of sorrel juice

• Heat oven to 425 degrees.
• Peel clean pineapple of all blemishes (the black eyes) Try to keep the size of the slices even.
• Mix, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl.
• Stir in pineapples and cashews
• Add sorrel and sugar to a sauce pan and bring to a boil getting it thick .
• Mix with fruit mixture
• Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.
• Cover with top crust and seal the edges. Cut slits in the top.
• OPTIONAL: Cover edge with 3-inch strip of aluminium foil to prevent too much browning.
• Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.
• Bake 40 t0 45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.

Paime pastelles long lost fruity cousin

So after have a convo with cherry pye, about what different dishes her family prepares for Christmas out of the lengthy list this one dish stood out as a sore thumb. This was basically cause I never seen or heard about this before. Its name paime origin unknown (well to me anyways), but I was tempted to know more. After much research and shockingly finding more than I thought I stumble upon this sweet recipe. To my surprise and kind of disappointment a paime is only a fruit pastelle :(.lol but all in all its part of our diverse culture and history. So here you have it the recipe for yesterday. P

AIMEEEEEEEE ( yea i know i a bit excited can wait to try it )

Sweet Paime

Ingredients

2 Cups cornmeal

1 large grated coconut

1 Cup granulated sugar

½ Cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons cooking oil

½ teaspoon powdered cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 Cup grated pumpkin

2 tablespoons melted margarine

¼ teaspoon white pepper

Banana leaves

You can also throw in some fruits in the mix make sure it isn’t to chunky

Method

1. Sieve cornmeal into mixing bowl, mix in thoroughly sugar, white pepper, powdered cinnamon, spice, grated coconut and grated pumpkin and mix evenly.
2. Add evaporated milk and vanilla essence and blend well. If too soft, a little more cornmeal may be added.
3. Wash and dry banana leaves; cut away main stem.
4. Roll leaves in pieces and put to stand upright in enamel or heavy aluminium pot, cover and cook until leaves are pliable. Remove and put top end below; cook a little longer.
5. Dry leaves, greased heavily with cooking oil, put a spoonful of mixture on each leaf, fold, and cover and cross grain with another leaf.
6. Place parcels in rapidly boiling water to which was added sugar and salt to taste.
7. Cook for 60 minutes.
8. Take out of water and drain on cake cooler.
9. Serve warm or cold.

Ginger Beer

So we in full swing now shopping, cleaning, painting and well of course prepping the fruits. Although am not much of a fan I came across a simple as they come recipe for ginger beer it have noway you can get this wrong . For those of you that don’t know ginger beer is a local drink that is more or less drank around the festive Christmas time. It is left to ferment for At least one day to a week according to how strong u wants it to be. As I said before it’s a very simple process.

GINGER BEER

1 lb. fresh ginger

8 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar (or to taste)

lime peel

Direction

Wash and peel ginger

I prefer blending ginger seeing that this is the 21^st century and all make sure to add little water to mixture

Pour into large bowl add remaining water and leave to ferment (longer time means stronger beer)

After desire strength is acquired strain and remove all large particles

Insert lime peel and sweeten to taste

Bottle in sterilized bottles and refrigerate

Drink and enjoy

The Start of Christmas

So after winning a hamper from Maggi for a contest they had on FB (still waiting for it btw )lol. I got the idea to do a post a day till Christmas about tradition trini dishes. So i shall start with all of our favorite pastelles.I got this great recipe from off of the Maggi Facebook page u should take a look. Remember if you have any recipes you would like to see here send them to trinimoasic@gmail.com or on our face book page. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGER