Monthly Archives: March 2013

“Cheese” Cake

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Fran saw this recipe in a magazine that was dedicated to cooking with cheese. It’s primary audience is vegetarians, not carnivores like Fran and me, however, there were some very good ideas to be had from the “dark” side.

This cake uses the “not-me David” yellow cake as a base. The two 8″ round cakes were then frozen. 24 hrs later I removed the cakes from the freezer and carved one edge of each to round it off. I crumb coated it with some yellow tinted butter-cream  to try to match the color of the frosting to Gouda cheese. Reserve a few tablespoons of frosting. Stack the two cakes with frosting between them and the Chese Cakeun-carved sides touching. It goes back into the refrigerator until the night before it is to be used. Erev-eating (that means the night before it is to be eater) The cake is removed from the fridge and smoothed. I wear a latex glove and smooth the frosting so the fondant will look nice and smooth after it is applied. Speaking of which, I rolled a small piece of fondant out to about 1/8″ thick. Using a plate about the same diameter as the cake I cut a circle out and put in on a plate. Place the cake on the circle of fondant and roll out a large piece of fondant to end up about 15″ diameter. If the crumb-coat is still moist just lay the fondant over the cake. If the crumb-coat has set up, spray it with a fine mist of water. This helps the fondant adhere. I always have trouble covering round cakes with fondant and not having wrinkles. It requires pulling, stretching and smoothing, but it is an art I have not quite mastered.

Cut a piece of the finished cake (about 1/4th the entire cake) out and set on its side. Carefully frost the 3 visible sides of the cake (the wedge removed and both inside edges of where it was removed) with the reserved frosting. If you plan correctly there should be one large tablespoon of frosting left for you to eat.

Coat the fondant with a light layer of vegetable oil to make it shiny. Brush a bunch of grapes with slightly beaten egg whites and coat with granulated sugar. Let the grapes dry for at least an hour then arrange on the platter and add a few crackers for effect.

I was working on the railroad…. err kitchen, yeah!! that’s the ticket… kitchen!!

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Remember the yellow cake with meringue frosting from a couple of weeks ago. I bet you didn’t realize that was just a practice cake! The real one was for Fran’s work where they are working on a strategic plan. I used David’s Yellow Cake (that is just a name. It could just as easily been Ralph’s Yellow Cake, its just someone named David published the recipe first) as the basis of a commemorative cake for the City of Tamarac.Tamarac Cake

The difference between this cake and the original Yellow Cake is I used fondant to cover this cake and gum paste to make all the emblems and logos. I cheated and used sugar letters to spell “Team 4 Information Management”. My piping skills to write that much just aren’t there… yet. As usual, everything is cake or candy and edible.

Garlic Chicken with Roasted Peppers

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You know, sometimes it pays to look in the back of the fridge. Sometimes its frightening, but once in a while fortune smiles on you. Yesterday morning I found a package of red, yellow and green peppers we bought some time ago for some unremembered purpose. They had been there a while, but not so long as to be liquid. Not being one to waste more than absolutely necessary I washed them and brushed them with a light layer of vegetable oil (not EVO, it has too low a smoke point), tossed them in the convection oven and let them roast until they had a nice black blistered skin. Remove from the oven and put in a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let cool. After 10-20 minutes cut the ends off and slice into 1/2″ to 1″ strips. Use your fingers to slide the skins and seeds off the strips and put aside until…

I had two nice chicken breasts, which I seasoned with salt and pepper and set intogarlic chicken and roasted peppers a large skillet containing about 1/2 cup of chicken broth over medium high heat. Cook, covered, until the chicken until mostly done (15 min or so depending on thickness) then add the peppers and a garlic clove (I used a teaspoon of ground fresh garlic.) Cook another 10 minutes adding a diced roma tomato with 2 minutes left. When you are sure it is done (juice runs clear) sprinkle with mozzarella cheese divide and conquer!

A little long grain rice would be nice, but I just added some extra peppers I had laying around somewhere.