Saturday, November 29, 2008

Caramel Cake with Caramel Butter Frosting


I must admit, this month's Daring Baker's challenge did not move me to quick action at first because, i am hesitating on the sugar overload I could cause my family. While I was reviewing the recipe I have a feeling this is indeed the start of the sugary sweet Christmas season in December. I've never done this before so I'm equally up for the challenge!

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light


Personal Notes:

1. Judging from the sweetness of the caramel, I actually cut down on the amount of sugar added to the caramel cake. Instead of 1 1/4 cups, I only used 3/4 cups.

2. I did not have Kosher salt so I just used refined salt without adjusting the amount. At first i thought I should reduce considering that refined salt maybe more salty but I ended up following the same amount. I think I could not taste the contrast so if I am to do this again, I would add a bit more salt.

3. My cake is a bit dense, if I am to do this again, I would love it to rise better like a true cake. So likely I would add a couple more baking powder.

4. My total baking time is around 45 minutes and in between i think i opened the oven 3 or 4 times. I was very worried about the cake not rising and the middle portion is still wet even after 25minutes!

5. After putting the caramelized butter frosting, I squeezed some Hershey's chocolate syrup on top just to make it more attractive as a dessert.

Finally, this cake would not be a joy without friends to share it with. This Friday, I was invited to a dinner and get together with friends ( and a good old one, my previous boss). I brought this cake to wrap-up the evening with something sweet. The cake paired well with freshly brewed coffee and more than anything, the good company of friends just made it even more pleasant. Cheers!



Credits:

1. Recipe source courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/), as published on Bay Area Bites (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/).

2. The main host of this month's Daring Baker's challenge is Dolores(http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/) with the help of Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo: http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/), and Jenny of Foray into Food (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/). Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/) also provided thoughts on a gluten free alternative for this recipe.

3. Special thanks to my cousin-in-law, Weng, for the big help as well in the kitchen. I made the cake first and before i could start with the frosting, I realized we ran out of vanilla extract in the kitchen. She saved the day by helping to find the nearest grocery the following day.



Sunday, November 09, 2008

Philippine's Food Showcase at SAS








The Singapore American School (SAS) just held their annual Foodfest yesterday (Nov 08) and I was actually impressed with the Philippine booth. Not that I love my own country but compared to the other booths that day, it offered a lot of food choices, and the most elaborate booth with the creative "Bahay Kubo" (house made of coco palm leaves) well decorated with Christmas lanterns. The Filipino kids were also generous in entertaining the audience with a couple of Filipino ethnic dance. I feel "at home" once more with the display of "Pancit" (fried noodles), "Adobo" (stewed pork or chicken in vinegar), "Kare-Kare" (Stewed beef oxtail w/ shrimp paste), Pork Barbecue, Turon (banana fritters), "Lumpia" (spring roll), "Leche Flan" (egg custard w/caramel) and not to mention, "Puto" (steamed rice cake with cheese) which we actually donated for the booth.

We had a taste of other cultures too. I love the chickpea masala from the Indian booth. My husband loves the guacamole with chips from the Latin America booth and my son just loves to eat everything :-).

This is our son's first year in SAS (he's enrolled in the Early Childhood program) so I think I have a couple of Food fests to go; I am excited to attend next year already and maybe bring some food again for the Philippine booth.

Penne with Tuna



I was reading the local paper one Sunday and this recipe caught my attention. I thought it is relatively easy and I have all the ingredients at home. This is also a great quick fix for lunch. I normally bring home cooked lunch in the office so I prepared the pasta Sunday evening and mixed the rest of the ingredients the next day.

The original recipe as printed from the Straits Times is from Judy Koh, managing director of "Creative Culinaire" in Singapore.

Ingredients:
90 g penne pasta
90g tuna in brine
30 g snow peas, blanched in boiling water
20g sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp black pepper
3 cherry tomatoes

Method:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta till firm to the bite before draining;
2. Toss the cooked pasta, tuna, snow peas, sun-dried tomatoes and black pepper in a bowl. Drizzle the lemon juice and top with cherry tomatoes.

What I've done differently is, I blanched "dow meow" (instead of snow peas), a commonly available bean sprouts here in Singapore. I also sprinkled parmesan cheese on top.

I like the complete meal in this pasta - carbo, protein and fibre! It is easy to prepare, ideal for those manic Monday's for working moms like me.

Banana & Jackfruit Fritters


This is a favorite afternoon snack in the Philippines. This is so simple, you just need to slice the banana in halves , insert jackfruit slices in between, wrap in a spring roll wrapper (easily available in the grocery), and then cook deep-fried. You can also sprinkle brown sugar as you fry the fritters to give it some sugar coating but I choose to keep this plain to bring out the natural flavor of the fruits inside. When choosing bananas, use the cooking variety, we call these "saba" bananas back in the Phillippines. In Singapore, you can find this variety in the wet markets. Use ripe jackfruit slices; the more yellow it is, the sweeter it gets.

Easy Fruit Fridge Cake




This is one dessert that is super easy and delicious, you will love to serve this in any occasion. I call this "fridge cake" because you need to leave this in the freezer at least for 6 hours before serving. The basic recipe is just thick cream + condensed milk. Layer it with graham crackers and alternate with fruit slices.

First, prepare the fruit slices. I normally use mangoes for this recipe but today I am using peach slices which you can readily buy from the grocery in cans. Drain the peach slices and check that it is appropriately sliced (at least 1 cm)so that the flavor will blend well with the cream and milk. Second, mix the thick cream and milk. I normally favor more cream vs. the condensed milk, so my rule of thumb is 2:1. Third, crush the Graham biscuits to prepare for the layer. I used yellow plain biscuits branded "Sunflower" biscuits from the Philippines. I normally put the biscuits in a Ziploc bag and roll over with a rolling pin until all biscuits are uniformly crushed. Choose a square pan that fits well in your fridge. Spread the biscuits at the bottom to form your first layer. Add in the cream & milk mixture, then top with the fruit slices. You can repeat as many layers as you like, at least 3 layers would be good enough.

As promised, this dessert is easy as 1-2-3. Try this at home and drop me a feedback!