White Cake and Whipped Cream

My grandma's 75th birthday party was last night and it was great. There was so much food there. My papa made the wise choice, and asked me to bake the cake.

I decided to bake my famous royal chocolate gateau (always a favourite), and a white cake iced with whipped cream and filled with fresh strawberries.

You can already find the recipe to the royal chocolate gateau.

Grandma's White Cake

You Will Need:    - 2 Cups of Flour
                             - 3 teaspoons of baking powder
                             - 1/2 teaspoon of salt
                             - 1/2 cup of shortening/butter
                             - 1 1/4 cups of sugar
                             - 2 eggs
                             - 1 teaspoon of vanilla
                             - 1 cup of milk

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together.
2)Cream shortening in a different bowl: add  sugar gradually, beating well between additions.
3) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4) Stir in vanilla.
5) Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry. Blend well.
6) Pour into floured or lined pans.
7) Bake for 20-25 mins, at 350 degrees F.  for cupcakes, makes 2 dozen, medium sized.
8) Frost as desired.



FROSTING AND FILLING

Whipped Cream -Thanks to my Aunt Mel for finding this recipe. Huge help!!!

You Will Need:    -1cup of heavy cream*
                             -1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
                             -1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

* heavy cream is cream that has a 36%-40% fat ratio. Whipping cream has a 35% fat ratio. That is what I used and it still turned out fine. If you are icing a cake, I suggest doubling the cream and sugar, but not the vanilla. You will have more icing that way.

INSTRUCTIONS

1) In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.

*For best results make sure your bowl and whisk are ice cold.*

To fill the cake I simply put a thin layer of whipped cream on the bottom layer to help the strawberries stay. then iced the whole cake.... and I decorated it a bit.

This is possibly the first cake I have made that actually looks appealing. It was a huge hit. Everyone loved it! Definitely a keeper!

Keep cooking, and keep reading!

Becca

Royal Chocolate Gateau

Me and my Aunt made this while I was in Ottawa visiting her. It's great because it doesn't using frosting, which cuts back on the use of icing sugar, and keeps it perfectly sweet!

ROYAL CHOCOLATE GATEAU

1/2 cup Butter
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 cup of semi- sweet chocolate chips ( melted and cooled)
3/4 cup of grated or ground walnuts ( can be easily ground in a blender of food processor Or buy them ground at the health food store).
1/2 a cup of vanilla wafer crumbs (or you can use graham cracker crumbs)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream Butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes).  Add eggs one at a time, beating well.  Beat in melted chocolate.
Toss together Walnuts, graham cracker crumbs and baking powder.  Beat this into the egg mixture.  Add Vanilla.  Pour into a 10 inch spring form pan.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.  Cool cake in pan.

*NOTE* Don't worry, the cake is meant to sink. After it cools, you fill the crater with the frosting, and once it cools, it creates a fudge-like layer.

MOCHA MOUSSE FROSTING

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
1 Tablespoon Kahlua Liqueur (optional)

Place chocolate in a small sauce pan with cream and instant coffee.  Stir constantly until smooth and melted.  Blend in Liqueur. Allow to cool for a few minutes and pour over cake.


May I just say that this is the ONLY homemade chocolate cake that didn't make me sick. I totally recommend it!

Peanut Butter!!!!

So, Me and my friends were at coffee culture one day and we got a slice of Reese's Pieces Pie. It was soooooo good!!!! I loved it so much that I thought I would try and make it myself. 

Now, I haven't actually tried my theoretical recipe yet. But I will A.S.A.P. 

On another note, I'm trying to decide wether I should keep this blog as a strictly cooking blog. It's not like anyone reads it, so it doesn't really matter. Maybe I'll start a second blog. 

Will write soon.

Becca.

OREO PUDDING PIE

Happy anniversary!!!!!!! In Celebration of my blog's one year anniversary, I have invented my own dish!!!!!

You Will Need:

1 tenderflake pie shell (in pie tray)
1 box of JELLO instant chocolate pudding
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of chopped OREOS (or more)
1 can of artificial whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350. Poke holes in bottom of pie shell. Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Let cool.

Blend with electric mixer Jello mix and milk on low speed for 2 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes, or until firm.

Pour pudding into pie shell. Let stand in fridge for 15 minutes, or until ready to serve.

Chop OREOS. When ready to serve, cover pie with the whole can of whipped cream. Sprinkle OREO pieces on top of whipped cream.

Doesn't it look great?!!

I haven't eaten this yet, so if it tastes horrible, I'm sorry. Remember: cooking is all about experimenting.

Becca!!!!

Potatoe Packets

Hello Dear Friends,

My dad makes these things called potato packets. They are really easy and taste great!

Per 1 Packet:

You Will Need:

2 cloves of garlic
1 good sized potato
1 medium sized carrot
1/4 of onion
tinfoil
basil leaves ( or some other seasoning)

Chop carrot into medium sized chunks. Slice potato. Slice onion into thick chunks. Mince garlic.

Grease sheet of tinfoil. Place carrots, potatoes, onion, and garlic on sheet.

Sprinkle with basil leaves or salt and pepper. This adds a bit of flavour to the mixture.

Fold ends of sheet. Overlap the opposite ends, covering the mixture. Roll the original ends to seal the packet.

Barbecue for 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes.


There you go! I love this and I hope you will too!!!

Until next time,
Becca.

March Break

Wow.
So, I have not blogged in MONTHS, and to add onto that, I'm blogging about something I did WEEKS ago.

Over march Break, I went with my Grandma and Papa up to Ottawa to visit my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins. Julie and John are super cool!

My Uncle John is (in my opinion) an amazing chef. In the past couple days I was up there, he gave me the honor of cooking with him. We had some triumphs, and some fails, But it was a wicked experience.

Together we made: Lemon pasta (one of my favourites), Veal Melanaise (no idea how to spell it), Baugette (or tried to,anyways). Also, my relatives Chris, Heather, and Ainsley came over for dinner. Heather brought Pecan Squares from the White Water cookbook. I'm still looking for the recipe, but I will blog soon.

None of the things we made really had any exact recipe. John kind of just made them up. But hey! That's how you know you're a true chef!!

I am going to get the recipe from my grandma for lemon pasta. I will blog soon.

Bye!! <3

P.S. I am sorry this blog wasn't very good. I promise to post a recipe next time. Any Suggestions?

Butter Icing

Okay, I'm only posting this recipe so that if I say to ice anything with butter icing, you can reference this post. It's just easier.

Butter Icing

You Will Need:
1/4 cup of butter
2 cups of icing sugar
2 tablespoons of milk

Combine butter, icing sugar, and milk. It's best to mix with a blender or food processer.

If desired, flavour with artificial flavouring (peppermint flavouring, almond extract, e.c.t.)

You can also colour the icing with food dye.