Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

I would like to start the post with a big thank you for all your support and good luck wishes for my 2-day PhD exam. I can tell you that I was pretty satisfied of my performance and glad that it is finally over after 2 months of study.

The day after my exam, I was invited to the 30th birthday party of my Brazilian friend, Carlos. After studying for so long, it was an opportunity to personally bake a surprise birthday cake for him. I love planning surprises and I had quite a few successful ones in the past. The last time I planned a huge surprise was on my 1st blogiversary for my Mexican friend, Mon. Her reaction was totally priceless. 

Turning 30, that's something big. Being such a great friend, he deserves a surprise cake, one of these little joys in life. I knew there would be about 25 guests at the party, with half of the people that I never met. So I had to bake a cake, enough for everyone and make a first good impression too. When I think of the number 30, I immediately thought of baking three circular cake layers. The génoise was chocolate, the cream cheese frosting was chocolate, everything ended up to be chocolate. Who doesn't like chocolate? I assumed that everyone like chocolate. It took me a few hours to assemble it.

Now that it is done, it is time to carefully plan the surprise. The party was at my Peruvian friend's place, Jorge, so I knew his place pretty well. When I arrived at his place, I dropped the cake at the back porch and entered the building from the front. I was greeted by my friend Carlos at the door, wished him a happy birthday and started to chitchat with friends and guests. When Carlos got out of the conversation, I told them about the surprise cake. As the night progressed, more guests arrive and it was time to execute the plan. While a couple of friends distracted him, I took out the cake, lit the candle and everyone started to sing the birthday song. Reaction: priceless. Another successful surprise and a great collaborative effort from the part of everyone.

As you can see, I did not frost the edges of the cake, it gives the guest the freedom to choose whether they want 1, 2 or 3 layers of cake. Everyone ended up having 1 or 2 layers, except for one who asked for 3 layers. I received rave reviews about this cake, and some can't believe that an Asian guy like me made this cake. When you think about it, how many guys do you know know how to bake cakes? With a few years of baking experience, I know how to bake moist cakes and the perfect frosting which compliments well with the génoise.

Preparation Time: 1 hour

Baking Time: about 20 mins per layer

Frosting adapted from Donna Hay

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Chocolate Génoise
9 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
375g cream cheese, softened
75g (1/3 cup) butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

Chocolate Shavings
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate

Procedure

1. Grease with butter and coat with cocoa powder three 9-inch round cake pans.

2. In a large bowl, place egg whites, stand for 30 mins at room temperature.

3. In another large bowl, beat egg yolks and 1 cup of white sugar until thick and pale.

4. In a small bowl, combine and sift flour, cocoa powder and salt.

5. Gradually whisk in the dry ingredients into egg yolk mixture until blended. Set aside.

6. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until it starts to foam. Add in cream of tartar and gradually add 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until stiff peaks. As a test, the egg whites should not fall if you invert the bowl.

7. Incorporate 1/4 of the egg whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in the remaining egg whites. 1/3 of egg whites at a time until incorporated.

8. Preheat oven to 350F. Divide batter evenly between the three prepared cake pans. Bake for 18-20 mins or until it springs back when gently pressed or passes the toothpick test. Allow to cool completely.

9. Prepare chocolate cream cheese frosting. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until pale and creamy, about 5 mins.

10. Add in icing sugar and cocoa powder. Beat for an additional 5 mins until light and fluffy.

11. To assemble, turn out one cake layer onto a flat surface or plate. Spread with 1/3 of the frosting. Repeat this process with the remaining layers and frosting.

12. Hold a chocolate bar with a paper towel and carefully shave chocolate with a vegetable peeler to create curls. Garnish on top of the cake.

Gluten Free Coconut Pie

The past two months, I have been studying for the PhD qualifying exams: the first step of becoming a full fledge PhD. This exam consists of a review of all the topics covered in my undergraduate study in physics. I have to admit that it is not always easy to study and solve physics problems continuously throughout the whole day, and still manage to squeeze in some time for food blogging. I still have 5 days to prepare myself before the exam. Here is a picture of the books I have studying the past months.

I will leave you with this pie which will sure satisfy all my viewers. This dessert has only four ingredients: easy to make, requires no fancy or hard-to-find ingredients. You can think of this pie as an extended version of my gluten-free coconut macaroons.

Serves 8
Modified from Delicious WordFlux
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Baking Time: 25 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

4 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9'' spring form pan with butter and coat with flour.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and add in condensed milk, coconut flakes, lemon juice and zest.

3. Pour mixture to the prepared pan. Bake for 25 mins until golden.

4.  Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve.

Oven Baked Chicken in Teriyaki Marinade

What did you make on Mother's Day? For all mothers, what did your kids made for you on Mother's Day? I have to confess that I rarely cook at home, only at my friends' place on Friday and/or Sunday night. When I come back home late at night, my mom had already cooked dinner. So this is the first time that I cook for my mom on Mother's Day. 

The day begins with chocolate pikelets which have become one of my favourite breakfast dish to make because of its light and airy texture. Click on the image for recipe.

For dinner, there are two dishes that were made, as seen in the presentation picture. You might wonder what is this red green stuff on the top right of the dish. Well, these are cooked tomalley-roe of the lobster. Since it is already the start of lobster season, why not make a lobster dish? I kept it simple and stick with the family recipe and cooked lobster in ginger and scallion. Click on image for the procedure of cooking a lobster (the Asian way).

Even though I rarely cook Asian food, I haven't lost my touch at making decent dishes with Asian ingredients. 

One thing that I always wanted to do is to make my own teriyaki sauce. There might be some misperception of what defines a teriyaki sauce. It can be a thin sauce to use as a marinade for chicken, beef and fish, or as a thick sauce and use it like a barbecue sauce. As a first attempt on making my own sauce, I was pretty satisfied of the results, still need a little bit of tweaking to make it perfect. For best results, marinade bone-in or boneless chicken breasts for at least 2 hours, the longer the marinating time the stronger the flavours. You can easily use the marinade as a sauce for your rice or noodle. 

Oven Baked Chicken in Teriyaki Marinade
Serves 4
Preparation Time: 5 mins
Marinade Time: at least 2 hours, preferably overnight
Baking Time: 35 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, bone-in or boneless

Teriyaki Sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine

1 1/2 tsp distilled vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp ginger, grated

3 garlic cloves, minced

Procedure

1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients except for the chicken. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 mins. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Allow sauce to cool completely.

2. Place chicken in a plastic bag and pour in teriyaki sauce. Marinade for minimum 2 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 425F.

4. Lay an aluminium foil on a baking pan. Reserve marinade for basting and for sauce. Bake chicken for 35 mins until internal temperature reads 160F. Baste chicken with the reserved marinade every 10 mins.

5. In a saucepan, bring the remaining marinade to a boil. Simmer for 10 mins. Serve sauce over rice or noodle.

Shrimp Pad Thai

Thai cuisine provides such wonderful and harmonised flavours, a perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy taste in most Thai food. You must have seen pad thai in the menu of Thai restaurants and in fast food joints. It is no surprise that this dish is one of Thailand's national dish. Pad Thai is basically a rice noodle dish cooked in a bit of sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and chilli flakes. Some proteins are also added such as shrimps, eggs, cubed tofu or tempeh, chicken, and beef. A garnish of crushed peanut and coriander/parsley leaves are added to complete the dish.

Pad thai is quick and easy to make, it is hard to mess it up. A good tip is to stir and toss constantly while cooking to prevent the noodles from sticking to the wok. You must have tried pad thai at least once, what would you put in your pad thai?

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

8 oz. Thai rice noodles
1 medium onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 blocks firm tofu or tempeh, cut into small cubes
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind or red wine vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1/2 lb shrimps, deveined
1 cup bean sprouts
Parsley for garnish

Procedure

1. In a bowl, soak dry noodles in warm water until flexible but not expanded, about 5-10 mins.

2. In a wok or large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onions until transparent, tofu until brown. Add in garlic and cook until fragrant.

3. Drain noodles and toss into wok. Add in tamarind, sugar, fish sauce, and chili flakes. Stir constantly.

4. Push all noodles to one side of the wok. Add a tbsp of oil and pour in beaten eggs. Scramble until cooked and combine with noodles.

5. Add in shrimp and bean sprouts until fully cooked. Serve with a wedge of lime ans a sprinkle of parsley.

Goat Cheese and Pancetta Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms

What is your favourite finger food?

On Easter, I invited a couple of old friends who came to visit Montreal for the holidays. Since I haven't seen them in years, the best approach is to spend as less time in the kitchen as possible and spend more time catching up. Serving finger foods is the appropriate theme for this evening get-together. Finger foods are anything that can be eaten without the need of utensils, quick and simple to serve. It can be meatballs, puff pastry rolls, mini-sandwiches or even freshly cut vegetables. 

Recently, I received some helpful pointers from my catering and foodie friend on making the most satisfying and crowd pleasing stuffed mushrooms. Mushrooms contain over 90% of water and the rest is dry matter. It is not always pleasant to bite on watery mushrooms which would dilute the flavour of your stuffing. To extract the most flavours out of your stuffed mushrooms, it is best to expel as much water out of the mushrooms, not at a point to completely dry out, but still retains some moisture. The trick is to bake the raw mushrooms without filling for a couple of minutes. Let it cool and some of the liquid will spill out. Stuffed the mushrooms and do a second bake until fully cooked, this is how you make the perfect savory finger food. 

These stuffed mushrooms are soft and tender, a little salty from the pancetta, a little sweet from the bell peppers and red onion, a little gooey from the cheddar and a little creamy from the goat cheese. So how many would you eat?

Makes 20 stuffed mushrooms
Preparation Time: 25 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

20 baby bella mushrooms or large white button mushrooms
80g pancetta or prosciutto, finely diced
1/4 cup green or red bell peppers, finely diced
3 tbsps red onions, finely diced
1 garlic, minced
1/3 cup goat cheese, softened to room temperature
1/3 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Chopped parsley for garnish

Procedure

1. Clean mushrooms and pat dry with paper towel. Carefully remove stems from mushrooms. Finely chopped stems and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 400F.

3. Line a parchment paper on a baking pan, and place mushroom caps, hollow side down. Brush caps with olive oil.

4. Bake for 10 mins until slightly softened. Let it cool. Some liquid will spill out from the caps once cooled.

5. In a skillet, cook pancetta to over medium heat until it starts to crisp. Add in bell pepper, red onion, garlic and chopped stems. Cook until softened, about 5 mins. Cool.

6. In a medium bowl, mix pancetta mixture with goat cheese and cheddar.

7. Line an aluminium foil on a baking pan, and then transfer cooled mushroom caps, hollow side up. Spoon a tablespoonful of the filling into each mushroom cap.

8. Turn oven down to 375F. Bake for 10 mins until mushrooms are softened and golden. Sprinkle with parsley.

"Saltimbocca" Pork Loin with Lemon Sauce

Saltimbocca is a classic Italian dish consisting of thinly-pounded veal scallopine wrapped in sage leaves and prosciutto. The veal is cooked in a skillet and afterwards, a white wine based sauce is made by deglazing the skillet. There are various versions of preparing saltimbocca depending on the regions of Italy. It is common to use chicken breasts and pork loins as a substitute for veal.  

For this dish, I did not thinly pound the pork loin, instead I left it as a whole, rubbed in sage powder, covered with slices of prosciutto, and roasted in the oven. After roasting, all these drippings left on the baking pan are used to make a flavourful lemon white wine sauce. Simple, juicy and flavour-packed, no wonder saltimbocca translated means jump in the mouth!

Serves 4-6
Preparation Time: 5 mins
Roasting Time: about 30 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb pork loin
10-12 slices of prosciutto
about 2 tbsp ground sage
Ground pepper

Lemon Sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp white wine
about 1 tsp cornstarch
about 1 tsp cold water
2 tbsp lemon juice

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 425F.

2. Rub pork loin with ground sage and ground pepper. Lay slices of prosciutto on a surface, overlap the slices along the long edges.  Place pork loin at the center, fat side down.

3. Wrap pork loin with prosciutto and seal the edges. Lightly oil baking pan, place the wrapped pork loin seal-side down. Roast for about 30 mins until the internal temperature reaches 155F.

4. Transfer to a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Let it rest for 15 mins before slicing.

5. Meanwhile, prepare lemon sauce.

6. Drain fat from pan. Pour in chicken broth and white wine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, scraping up browned bits. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with cold water to make a slurry. Stir into sauce with lemon juice and simmer until thick.

7. Slice pork loin. Serve with rice, mashed potatoes or white bean purée.

Chocolate Pikelets

Have you made the perfect pancakes? Perfect meaning tall and thick, fluffy and light on the inside while evenly golden on the outside with the tiny hint of crispness. I learn quite a few tricks from my baking experience to achieve this kind of texture such as folding stiff peaks egg whites to batter, adding carbonated beverage or simply use a double-acting baking powder and let the batter sit in the fridge for several hours before being cooked. These tricks help form bubbles in the batter for a very light and airy pancakes, otherwise it will be flat and dense.

Recently, I was introduced to pikelets which are mini unsweetened pancakes, usually served with jam and whipped cream. I found a few pikelet recipes requiring a fair amount of cream of tartar, about 2 teaspoonfuls. I was very sceptical of this large quantity as usually, when baking cakes, I only need 1-2 pinches of cream of tartar to stabilize the egg whites. I look through Wikipedia, and surprisingly enough, cream of tartar is an acidic powder and it has more utilities than simply stabilizing egg whites. It also activates the baking soda when folding cream of tartar which help form bubbles in the batter. Try it out! I can guarantee you that they are even fluffier and airier than your usual pancakes.

Makes about 12 pikelets
Adapted from Food.com
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: about 2-3 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

3 tbsps white sugar

1 cup flour

2 tbsps cocoa powder

2 tsps cream of tartar

1 pinch salt

1 tbsp margarine or butter, melted

Procedure

1. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in milk. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat egg and sugar until thick and pale.

3. In another large bowl, sift flour, cocoa, cream of tartar and salt together.

4. Alternatively fold in the dry ingredients and milk/baking soda into the beaten egg mixture until just combined. Lastly, fold in the melted margarine. Avoid overfolding the batter.

5. Heat skillet over medium heat. Lightly grease with margarine and drop by large tablespoonfuls onto the hot skillet. Cook batter until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip and cook until golden brown, about 1 min.

6. Serve with jam and/or whipped cream.

Nuevo Latino Cuisine chez Raza

Being a food blogger for over 2 years, I never expect that I would be a part of a food blogging community where I receive numerous invitations to foodie events. Last Tuesday, I received an invitation for a private cooking class from the chef himself, Mario Navarette Jr. who EnRoute magazine voted him as one of the top 10 new Canadian Chefs in November 2005. The cooking class occurs at his restaurant Raza where he offers a gastronomic experience in which he blends his Peruvian roots into Quebec products in a modern interpretation. Modern also means that a bit of molecular gastronomy is involved with fancy machines such as an anti-griddle, sous-vide and smoking guns. The evening was full of amazement. All the dishes were a work of art: simple, colourful and each ingredient is carefully placed with a tweezer onto the plate. I can tell you that I have an amazing experience and learn a lot about Nuevo Latino cuisine.

This evening was a 6-course meal with wine pairing. The meal started with a cream of mushroom soup, not any mushroom soup. The soup is made first in a pot, then poured into a carafe and applewood smoke is added with a smoking gun. The idea of this soup is to bring the smoke to your table. A plate of mushrooms is placed in front of me, and the waitress poured the liquid into the bowl. The smoky flavours give an interesting taste to the soup. Here are some quick clips:

The second dish is a take of the Peruvian classic ceviche. Ceviche is basically fresh fish cooked in lemon or lime juice, no heat required. This ceviche was fluke fish cooked in lime juice, with garlic, jalapeno and serrano chlorophyll, served on a bed of sweet potato purée with a few drops of squid ink.

The next dish is a modern interpretation of a Peruvian classic: Papas à la Huancaína. My Peruvian friend Jorge made  this dish two years ago, click here for the recipe. Chef Navarette called his modern version: The Garden.  A rich, creamy and spicy huancaína sauce is covered inside a pile of mashed potatoes, sprinkled with lots of dried mushrooms and topped with baby carrots and asparagus.

The last savory dish was shrimp poached with butter in a sous-vide machine cooked at a temperature for about 45 mins. This was served with blue potatoes, pickled onions and radishes.

Now, onto the dessert... The first was a Jamaican flower jello topped with spinach, kiwi and avocado (green) caps and mango (yellow) caps. These caps are made on a anti-griddle which freezes the surface of liquid instantly.

Finally, the last dessert was a tres leches cake made with condensed, evaporated and coconut milk. This pound cake is cooked in a microwave for 30 seconds from its batter form. This is served with a sugar cane ice cream and Nutella reduced in a powder from the tapioca maltodextrin. This powdered Nutella simply melt in your mouth. This is a great dessert to end the evening.

I have to admit that this is the first time that I have been to his restaurant and enjoy my first dining experience at Raza in the company of other MTL food bloggers. I also went to his other restaurant last Sunday for brunch with 5 co-workers at Madre and I can tell you that the brunch (only available on Sunday) was well worth the money and the portions were very generous.