Saturday, November 29, 2008

How many days does it take to bake a cake?

I've got a lot of pictures coming, but first things first!

I had one of these Hot'n Healthy bars that Jenna has been raving about quite a bit. I tried the Banana Nut flavor, and thought it was pretty good. The package said to heat it for 8 seconds; I heated it twice for that duration. The texture was great; chewy like a cookie and not too protein-y. My only complaint was that I could have done with a little less sweetness, and about half the icing.


After going to the soup kitchen this morning, my mom and I spent a while assembling the cake (pictures to follow). I ate an absurd amount of frosting, ganache, and chocolate creams... definitely proof that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I felt pretty sick! I made a mini layer cake as well, but the picture is pretty terrible.



I was so full of sugar that I didn't end up eating lunch until 3:30. I had a light multi-grain English muffin with half sharp cheddar, half B&B and cloudberry jam:



More soup (recipe to follow) with shredded coconut on top:



Even though I personally did not make this soup (my dad did), it was so delicious and seems very easy to make that I had to share the recipe.

Mushroom Sesame Tofu Soup (Vegan!)
From New Recipes From Moosewood Restaurant


2 tablesponos peanut or vegetable oil
1- 1/2 cups chopped oinions
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
3 celery stalks, sliced
2 cups sliced mushrooms (8 oz)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 or 3 bay leaves
4 cups undrained whole tomatoes, chopped
1 cup vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cake tofu, pressed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes

Sauté the onions and ginger in the oil for 4 minutes. Add the celery and continue to sauté for about 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, cover and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cayenne, salt, and bay leaves. Add the tomatoes, their juice, and the stock.

Simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Add the tahini and peanut butter, stirring briskly to dissolve. Finally, add the cubes of tofu. Continue to simmer on very low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.

Serves 6


Gallery of cake-baking!

This is from the December 2008 issue of Bon Appétit.

Devil's food cake batter:



Mother-daughter licks! (Excuse the morning face/bedhead/PJs)


The cakes came out perfectly.
Chocolate ganache :



Mixing up the white chocolate cream:


Getting the peppermint frosting ready:


Making the frosting into stiff peaks:



Almost there! In between each layer is ganache and white chocolate cream.


Proud Mama shaving dark chocolate (from Israel) curls:


Ta-da!

I can't wait to try some tonight! I'm having dinner in the Village with Caitlin and her family. I can't believe how well I've been eating! I'm a lucky girl. Have a great Saturday!

6 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Mmm, LOVE your soup recipe, and that cake!! Can't wait to hear your reviews on it.

Have a lovely dinner outing tonight!!

Saw your comment on my blog - I've actually never heard of the Heifer project.

K from ksgoodeats said...

OH MY GOSH - that cake looks SO decadent! You and your madre should be proud of that baby!

Thanks for the soup recipe too, can't wait to try it out. Have a fab time at dinner tonight!

Anonymous said...

oh wow that looks amazing. i totally know what you mean about way overdoing it with the frosting licks. once i ate too much of a cake during the baking process that i completely lost my desire to taste the final product and everyone was raving about it, finished the cake that night, and i never even got to try it. it was so depressing. and you would have thought that i learned my lesson from that, but no, i put myself in a sugar-coma every single time.

HangryPants said...

I always eat the cookie dough or cake batter - especially chocolate!

The cake looks wonderful!

Jennette said...

Hot 'n' Healthy?! I've never heard of that before. I am intrigued.

The cake looks great!

Anonymous said...

I'm counting it for the BSI! Unless you want to submit something else. Just let me know!