Oreo turns 100!

What an achievement! These favourite cookies are celebrating a milestone today. How many times have you twisted them apart and ate the middle first? How many of these have you dunked into milk, tea or coffee? I couldn't let the day pass without doing something to memorialize it. So I decided to do a takeoff on the Nabisco wafer snake like creature and created my friendly bug. I used low fat Oreos and Reduced Fat Cool Whip. I broke off some pieces of spaghetti for the antennae and use mini chocolate chips for the face and slivered almonds for the legs. Join the cookies together with the cool whip. Set them on their side and arrange the chocolate and almonds and spaghetti. Everyone had their own little bug. It was a little sweet for my taste, but what the heck, for our purposes, they turned out pretty good!

Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

In the beginning of February we celebrated my husbands birthday. He requested an Orange Madeira cake. I had never made one before and searched the internet for tips before I embarked on this project. Also this month, is another family members birthday who is gluten free. So I decided I would attempt to make a GF Red Velvet cupcake and as I have been hankering to try a Mochacinno cupcake, I threw it in the mix! I have been asked for the recipes of two of these, so will post about them now. I dont have a better photo of the Red Velvet Cupcake than what you see here. It is the Mochacinno that have the hazelnut wafer stick inserted.

Orange Madeira Cake

1 and 1/2 cup (12 oz) Unsalted Butter
1 and 1/2 cup (12 oz) Caster Sugar
1 and 1/2 cup (12 oz) Self Raising Flour or
(use the same amount AP flour and add 2tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt)
3/4 cup (6oz) Plain Flour
6 Large Eggs
3/4 tsp Glycerine
Grated rinds of 2 oranges (or 1 large one)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325°F. Grease and line the 8" x 3" round cake pan with baking parchment. Wrap outside in 5 layers of newspaper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light, fluffy and pale.
3. Sift the flours together in a separate bowl.
4. Beat the eggs into the creamed mixture, one at a time. Add a Tbsp of the flour with each egg to prevent curdling.
5. Add the glycerine.
6. Add the grated rinds of 2 oranges.
7. Sift the remaining flour into the creamed mixture and fold in carefully with a large metal spoon.
8. Transfer to the lined bakeware and bake for about 90 mins. to first check. When the cake is ready it will be well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre will come out clean.
9. Allow the cake to cool leaving the lining paper on, wrap the cake in foil or place in an airtight container for at least 12 hours before cutting, to allow the cake to settle.

I was unable to locate the correct size pan (still packed from the move), and ended up using a 9" square, 2" deep. As you can tell from the photo, it ran over the top a bit and I had to trim to the square.

For the topping:

Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and stir in just enough orange juice until it is soft but not runny. If you want the icing to stay just on the top of the cake, place the cooled cake back in the tin and spread the icing over the top. You may find it easier to dip a spoon or table knife in boiling water to spread the icing more easily. Allow the topping to set and cut into slices to serve. I wanted a pouring consistency and poured the icing over to create more of a glaze.


Tips to help get a firm, moist cake.

1. Use unsalted butter. Don't be tempted to use margarine or a spread as they contain too much water.
2. Get your ingredients to room temperature before mixing.
3. Put a pan water in to moisturize the oven. If you have a convection oven, you may wish to reduce the temperature by 20 degrees and put a baking pan on the shelves above and below the cake to reduce the air movement.
4. Cream the butter and sugar for a long time. Get it as white as possible. This could take as long as 10- 15 minutes. Don't forget to clean the sides of the bowl as you go.
5. When you add the eggs, add a Tbsp of flour with it to prevent curdling. When you are finished adding the eggs, add 1/4 tsp of glycerine per egg to the cake. This will help keep it moist.
6. When you pour the batter into the pan, scoop out the middle of the cake and bank up the sides. Then as it expands and rises in the centre as it bakes you will get a flatter cake. You can also put those cake strips http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30D620-475A-BAC0-592117323818A1AA around the sides of the pan (following the instructions) or wrap the pan in about 5 layers of newspaper. This latter method might increase your cooking time by as much as 45 minutes. Dont worry about that. Just check every 10 minutes or so, and pull when ready.
7. Cool completely in the tin before transferring to rack.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter 1 1/2 cups of sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature 2 1/2 cups of gluten-free flour blend (I used a mixture of 1 cup Arrowroot, 1 cup Tapioca and 1 and 1/2 cups Brown Rice Flours)
4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 1/4 cups of milk
1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of red food coloring
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Cream cheese frosting:

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
4 ounces (1 stick) of butter, softened
3 3/4 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla


Preparation:

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt).
3. Mix together wet ingredients (milk, vinegar, food coloring, vanilla).
4. Add creamed butter and sugar, mix in eggs.
5. Alternately mix in dry, wet, then dry ingredients.
6. Fill 1 dozen cupcake cups and bake for 18-22 minutes or until tops are just dry on top.

For the frosting:


1. Mix cream cheese and butter.
2. Add salt and vanilla.
3. Slowly add in powdered sugar to reach desired consistency.
4. Frost cooled cakes.

Valentine Day 2012

Valentine's Day 2012 was a special one for me. It was the first Valentine Day that my sweetheart and I spent together. My Valentine sent me a dozen long stem roses and a sprig of daisies in remembrance of our wedding.

We went to dinner at a local bistro called "Painter's Hall". http://www.paintershall.ca/index.htm
It was a rustic place with the outer walls torn back to the brickwork. It gave a great effect. The walls were covered with Spanish theme artwork. There was some great talent there and I guess bull fighting can be said to be romantic, but I don't find it so and I find seeing a bull fighting for its life in a dining room where many were eating beef a bit disconcerting.

The table settings were simple which fit in very well with the rustic look. As it was Valentine's Day, there were more 2 person table settings than usual and that gave it a bit of a crowded effect, but hey, when you are with your Valentine, it doesn't matter that much! ;-)

We ordered our wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon for him, and a Chardonnay for me. We started with a squash salad which was a bed of mixed baby greens with some some diced roasted squash, hazlenuts and some 3 year old white cheddar. A squash vinaigrette was drizzled over the top. A very delicate salad, with some crunch from the nuts, sweetness from the squash and the delicate flavour of the vinaigrette.

This pomegranite and beet stained salmon was a delight. It was served with roasted beets and a confit of purple potatoes. It was very tasty. That sauce you see on the plate was a celeriac emulsion. I am going to that a try. I found myself wanting more!

We came home for dessert. We had a crepe filled with frozen vanilla yogurt, strawberries, fat-free cool whip (I know, it sucks!) and topped with more of that cool whip, strawberries, a chocolate heart, and drizzled with caramel. YUM!

So that was our first Valaentine's Day. A great success!

A Pictorial Walk Through Humber Arboretum

If you are near Humber College, you will want to stop and stroll through the garden. You will get such a sense of serenity and if you are lucky, you will be blessed with some deer coming to see you.