Egg Puffs

Some foods may not be totally segmented into one particular genre, culturally, or otherwise. Such is the case for the recipe presented here.  No one quite knows of it's inception, how it evolved into present day popular nosh status or even it's questionable origins. Though, it isn't categorized as authentic "Indian food", this overlap of European pastry plugged with curried filling displays a harmonious fusion of two starkly different textures and tastes, a sort of East meets West conjugation. This unique short eat/snack/appetizer (and maybe breakfast item) is known as the egg puffs and as per popular demand, possibly opinion(?) can be recognized as Indian.

Churned out in unusually high numbers at local bakeries throughout India (more so in the South), it is  on most occasions the first thing that disappears from behind the display counters before midday. Had with a cup of chai/coffee, the filled puff pastry is a well- favored, sought- after and preferred teatime munch.

In comparison, it  is most similar to a turnover, savory - yes, spicy- gratifyingly so.

Puffs or pattice in Indian culinary nomenclature are usually spiced fillings,in many instances accompanied by a substantial protein and enwombed in rich layered pastry dough. Egg puffs are nothing more than  boiled eggs spun in masala ,wrapped in this pastry. 

Masala is a South Asian concept and varies according to country and region. It is a mix of spices, which can be dry roasted, ground, like the one used in the vindaloo paste, sauteed for a gravy like sauce, or even combined with additional zesty ingredients. The masala for the eggs is fried along with onion, ginger and garlic .

Egg puffs is a pinnacle composite of creative flavor -luxe, lovely and lipsmackingly awesome. Taking one bite of the deliciously crisp-flaked curried egg will introduce your mouth to a higher, not-yet-known modicum of taste. 

Fair warning: these are crazy good and indulgently so - having just the one may not fit the craving bill.

Ingredients:

 Egg curry filling~

• 12 boiled eggs
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1  diced onion 
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• half of a jalapeno, seeded and diced
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt

For the puff pastry ~

• packaged frozen puff pastry  – 2 sheets
• small bowl of water

Directions:

• Thaw the frozen pastry sheet in the refrigerator overnight, or at room temperature the same day for 15-20 minutes until soft and easy to work with.
• Have 12 hard boiled eggs peeled and ready.
• Preheat oven to 375°
• Heat the oil in a pan, throw in curry leaves and mustard seeds. Allow the mustard to start  popping, immediately add the onions. Cook them on medium flame until they become browned and slightly caramelized. 
• Stir in ginger, garlic, jalapeno and saute for 2-3 minutes until cooked.
• Add the coriander, cayenne, garam masala, cumin. Saute for additional 2 minutes until oil slowly separates and rises above.
• Turn off heat, add salt, eggs and and combine with masala.

Assembling and baking the puffs~

• Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface, do not attempt to make it too thin.
• Cut each puff pastry sheet into 6 extended squares (large enough to wrap whole egg). You should have 12 total from 2 sheets of pastry. 
• Forming a diamond with the pastry cut, one pointed end nearer to you, place an egg with some masala onto the square- don't overstuff. Fold the bottom part of the pastry over the egg. Brush the rest of the edges with water. Fold up the two sides, finishing up with the top corner. Your end result should look like a bulging envelope. Seal by brushing with water and pressing the edges together.
• Repeat for the remaining.
• Transfer the puffs to baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, 20-24 minutes (rotate pans halfway through, if needed ).

Notes:
The egg masala, alone is a quick accompaniment curry for chappatis (wheat flatbread), rice, even appam.

A few mentions: A huge thank you to BlogHer. The kind editors over there paid me a wonderful compliment by spotlighting my Sesame Chikki post this past week. Thanks again BlogHer!

I also want to mention the joyful surprise of coming across some of my pictures/recipes pinned by people on Pinterest - very thankful for those people. 

******

If you had asked me even half a year ago, I would have envisioned my writing an online food journal as virtually impossible, preposterously silly. Today, I am so happy that I started one. In all that's emerged, my gratefulness goes to Almighty God. 
God made it happen, better put, He forced it possible. Every step of the process, He has made me necessitate His presence. During bouts of clogged brain syndrome, He triggers my mind to persevere and sustains me with needed energy. Likewise, He moves my hands to type, supplies me with ideas and accompanying words, fills me with inspiration to cook and creatively enables me to take better pictures (latter still has much room for improvement). The finished product that are these web posts truly do come from above. 

I have much to be grateful for. God is good and I will forever praise Him.

If you have marked off something in your mind as impossible, press on with an unwavering faith in Christ, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that "nothing is impossible with God". Luke 1:37

"You will always be the apple of His (God's) eye. He will never give up on you, so don’t give up on yourself.” Joel Osteen

Daring Cooks May 2013 Challenge: En Croute~ Kerala Meat Puffs

Our lovely Monkey Queen of Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, was our May Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to dive into the world of en Croute! We were encouraged to make Beef Wellington, Stuffed Mushroom en Croute and to bring our kids into the challenge by encouraging them to create their own en Croute recipes!

En croute translates to any food that has been wrapped in pastry dough and baked in the oven. Yes, people life in this month's Daring Kitchen is good, and to gushingly fine heights. Clearly this is  the  right! best! way to consume your favorite foods, all pocket-tucked in crisp, feathered dough.

The possibilities for en croute can be ambitiously endless and by this I mean, if it makes your tastebuds sing, then why not? Which is how I reached today's predicament. For though we were offered three stellars from our host, the mind here was running one track to singularly take on a dough wrapping destination close to my heritage, familiar to my palate. A savory treat similar to the one here, yet of grander reputation; enter now Kerala meat puffs, a region's answer to beef and pastry fixings. In it, we come across a nucleus of generous seasoned ground meat clinging to an encrusting supplement of golden pastry; thus reaching Level of Indescribable Awesome, and an endresult quite difficult not to like.

This could very well be a much delayed ode to the beefy puff. Where I'm from, the item's cult like status shows especially well when cues line outside local bakehouses, on sideroads where manned street carts offer these favored coffee/tea snacks. Yes, that's right, meat puffs come from that genre of appetizer/ short eats served fastidiously at the Indian's teatime, a vague multi-hour window stretching anywhere from after lunch upto a couple minutes before supper. The uninterrupted show of mouthwatering meat filled pastries fits perfectly into the laws of equilibrium for meatpuff supply and demand, and is equally responsible for a locale of very happy people.

Sauteed with spice, masala and flavor, these puff cores are great introduction to Kerala style beef, albeit on a much swifter level. Capsuling masala'ed meat, the pastry overcrust offers that just- right- bite balancing in its intense insides. Baked to a near burnished brown, this is the perfect hand- to- mouth nosh, one of shockyoursense magnitude.

Meat puffs are a big deal in this household, often greeted with expected squeals of excitement and woot! woot!'s. Being a cinch to make and the aftermess an easier cleanup, it requires not more than my three man crew. For this is one of those rare moments that I often request of their services, with mixing, formbuilding and the like. The sets of hands, small, medium, even the large can work multiple batches, baking up significant lots of this home favorite. Sad to say, this was not the case in today's puffmaking agenda. Since being a late show to our Challenge party, I had to bring this one to the table and fast. After sauteing, assembling, baking, eating, phototaking eating and scribbling(whew!), my segue should reach finish line before the day's end. And let me tell you, the desperation to post and desire to chow lead to much accelerated productiveness. So I thank you all for listening in. You may now take it and run.

To dear hostess Monkey Queen, thank you much. How fantastic could it be that this much loved meatpuff packet cued in perfect to our May page, an apt debut in a most excellent en croute task.

Confession... I used frozen peas and carrots. You can do the same if you have a conspicuous half package that has seen better days lying around in your freezer. Otherwise just buy the peas.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 2 serranos (green chillies), chopped (seeded if preferred)
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 2 tsp coriander
• 1 pinch turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 tsp salt or enough to flavor
• ½ tsp garam masala
• ¼ c frozen peas
• 1 large egg, beaten 
• 1 tbsp water 

Directions.

• Over medium flame, heat oil in skillet, saute onion, allow to brown.Then add ginger, garlic, serranos until cooked through .
• Spoon in cayenne, coriander, turmeric, cumin, and saute for an additional minute. 
• Add the ground beef, combine well. Lid the skillet, cook covered until meat is done.
• Remove lid, mix in salt.
• Increase heat to high, and cook until moisture is thoroughly absorbed, app 2-3 min. 
• Stir in garam masala. Add peas at this point. Mix well. Turn off heat. Set aside to cool a bit.
• Have pastry sheets ready and thawed. Gently roll out the dough sheet(s) with a rolling pin.
• Cut sheets into squares large enough for a tablespoon of filling. Put a tablespoon of the meat in the middle and fold over to cover the filling. Press sides to seal.
• Whisk together beaten egg and water and brush the tops with this egg wash. Bake at 375°F degree F for 20 minutes or till it is golden brown.

No worries if you have leftover meat. Between two slices of bread it makes for a splendid next day sandwich.

From an earlier DB challenge~  for those wanting to make puff pastry from scratch.

******

"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."
Matthew 6:27-29

White vanilla cake with berries, cream cheese frosting and whipped cream

The keen desire for a pastry such as this got stuck in my head while I was having waffles the previous morning. The lightbulb moment wasn't a minor flicker, but burned from the the moment I consumed breakfast the others left behind. Mounds of berries and giant puffs of fresh cream that would have left the whole show bereft had they been taken from the scene.

White cake tends to bring about two conflicting views after you've been introduced to it at some point of your life. One would be the flavor is as plain as vanilla, which is precisely what it should be, and, meh, you'd most likely not be the one to fuss for subsequent servings. The second train of thought, and where I'm boarded, looks at splendor from inception, of order of ingredients and egg beating execution. A moist, sponge-in crumb, becomes the target for adulation, stemming from one too many voids in a lifetime. The latter truth may or may not be what I've experienced on quite few counts. 

Thick, tender slices reveal insides similar to a cumulus cloud and  unbelievably light. Cream cheese adds punch and spruces up the fruits. When dressed with whipped cream, an option I favor,  the finished product yields the best, plated, beyond-world experience.

This is the perfect holiday dessert, even if it might never bear allegiance to one.

With as much going on, mouthfeel-wise, a natural question could be whether various formats/ flavors/textures diminish the milder knowns of the whole. Most definitely not. The nuances that spring from a layered cake- dessert transforms it into something beautiful, elements build upon one another, and only intensify the need to grab another piece. Like my older child put it, "it is so WOW!" ( this would be her junior year in college and let's be grateful she' s not an English major).

Moreover, in our current universal situation, where most of what we do involves wearing masks and indulging in takeout, confined within the walls of homes, let's deliberate on the idea that festivities, fireworks, the boardwalk and merriment are a mere few reaches of the kitchen pantry.

In other words, let's party, albeit quarantined and in pandemic's midst, like it's 1999.

Recreate, commemorate, and don't forget to take this cake.

Painting desserts the color of the country's flag has always been one of my more loftier passions.

Happy Fourth of July, friends!

God bless you, America.

White vanilla cake:

(Adapted from Sugar Spun Run, Best White Cake)

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
• ⅔ cup canola oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ⅔ cups all purpose flour
• 3 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 6 large egg whites (¾ cup)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Butter and flour 2 8" round pans and line bottoms with parchment.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour in egg whites and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently transfer beaten egg whites to a large bowl.
• Wipe stand mixer bowl clean and beat butter, in the same bowl, on medium high until pale in color. Add in oil, sugar, vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. 
• In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
• Add flour and milk, alternatively in three increments into the batter, beginning and ending with flour.
• Scrape down bowl with spatula often.
• Using the spatula, gently fold in egg whites into the batter. Scrape down sides and incorporate all the ingredients, using your hand being careful not to overbeat.
• Pour batter into prepared pans. Smooth tops with spatula.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes. 
• Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks, remove parchment paper and allow to cool completely.
• Frost with a double batch of cream cheese frosting.

Notes:

I like to frost between layers and coat once with cream cheese frosting. A coat of fresh whipped cream frosting is what I like as the final guild. Doesn't it look better that way? It tastes better, no doubt.

Other July Fourth desserts:

Red white and blue cake

Crostata do marmellata

Fourth of July tarts

Star spangled meringues

******

"Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace

you will rejoice in your inheritance.

And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,

    and everlasting joy will be yours." Isaiah 61:7-8 (NIV)

Daring Bakers' Challenge August 2012- Pate A Choux - Puffy Swans

Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

Kat's detailed instructions helped me to envision the process of putting this dough together. With her numerous filling options we were given free reign over which to choose. For me, there was no choice- lighter-than-air, sweetened whipped cream would occupy the hollowed innards of my formed choux swans.

Pate a choux is nothing but the dough structure in which cream puffs, eclairs, profiteroles and other  similar pastry delights are made. This challenge thrilled JZ more than it did myself. He loves creme-filled pastries of this sort- to a frightening degree, more than anyone actually should. Come today, his excitement level had clearly risen as he chanced upon a very hot oven, first thing in the morning. He knew the countdown to his much anticipated challenge had just begun.

Fast forward to the 30 minute battle that ensued during swan creation, me in profuse sweat and prayer just to be able to pipe out decent looking swan heads. Anything between the shape of S and the number 2 simply went way over my human head and my first batch of heads streamed out way too thin. Thanks to my very narrow number two tip. The match sticks went merely to wastebin reserve. On to head batch number two. This time, Head-Round two were a far fatter bunch, sturdier than Batch One, but nowhere near the delicate works of art that I saw on the Daring Bakers' page of my fellow DB'ers.

Anyway, the tubby swan heads would have to do, with their curling necks looking more like coiled rattlesnakes. These would most likely relinquish any chance for elegant swans, ruthlessly turning them into the ugly duckling rank. 

From start, my usual maddening run to the challenge finish line had me realize, this time round, that making the crisp, lighter- than -air pastry was really a cinch. And super addictive, once filled. They are far better than anything you could get in a store, possibly even from "authentically good" pastry shops. This is that piece of homemade you want to brag about,  feather- textured puff brimming with cream that dissolves on instant contact with your mouth.

Finally, the most noticeable feature of the prettiful filling was that, any and all ugliness seemed to disappear, bringing about an altogether fanciful and whimsical fleet of swans in its wake.

Thanks Kat for a crazy fun, super charming challenge! Beautiful birdie making is a good thing indeed! 

Baked parts, dismembered and ready to go!

Pate a choux~

Ingredients:

• ½ cup  butter
• 1 cup water
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

Directions:

• Line at least two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease pans well.
• Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F.
• In a small saucepan, combine butter, water, and salt. Heat over until butter melts, then remove from stove.
• Add flour all at once and beat, beat, beat the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot.
• Add one egg, and beat until well combined. Add remaining eggs individually, beating vigorously after each addition. Resulting mixture should be somewhat glossy, super smooth, and somewhat thick.
• Using a small tip on a pastry bag (or nip top of Ziploc bag filled with pastry), pipe out about 36 swan heads. Making it out to look like the  number 2 and possibly a question mark (?), with a little beak (I nixed the beak- since I am so non-adept at any detailed creativity).
• Remove the tip from the bag and pipe out 36 swan bodies. These will be about 1.5” long, and about 1” wide. One end should be a bit narrower than the other.
• Bake the heads(app 8 minutes) and bodies(12 -15 minutes until golden and puffy. The heads will be done a few minutes before the bodies, so keep a close eye on the baking process.
• Remove the pastries to a cooling rack, and let cool completely before filling.

Assembly~

• Take a swan body and use a very sharp (preferably serrated) knife to cut off the top horizontally.
• Cut the removed top down the center lengthwise to make two wings.
• Dollop or pipe a bit of filling into the body, insert head, and then add wings.

Maybe next time I'll exercise a little more control on my piping skills for skinnier, more curvier necks .

Swans populating the board, in all shapes and sizes.

Chantilly Cream Filling~

• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons confectioners'  sugar

Directions:

• Using a pre -chilled mixing bowl and whisk( I used the bowl and attachment of my stand mixer), beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar and continue to whisk just until soft peaks form. No overbeating.

Notes ~

I added in 2 more tablespoons of confectioner's sugar to the cream filling.

Once filled, place in the refrigerator to chill for a while. Because of the heat my perfectly piped filling turned a bit goopy. They just really needed to chill. Once assembled they are best eaten the same day or soon after.

******

 "And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us."1 John 5:14

Buttered chapati (whole wheat flatbread)

Achromatic food rarely beckons my attention.  It's not as fun to photograph, which is big considering the space here is screaming for attention. Likewise, as opposed to brightly decorated ensembles, the desire to grab a few pieces, in shoot, is clearly not as strong.

There's also the uninspirational element that comes from attempting an iconic recipe repeated on the web countless times.. How could I chat with you on how exciting heated griddles and blistering doughs are when the contents of the matter has been discussed in the matrix of Google searches over 13000 times?

Moreover, my experiments with Indian flatbread are limited. At one point of my life, when I had the luxury to take a few fails, the work seemed to result in little dividend. Not counting the times I painted it though.

Today's story could end on a similar spiel. But, I urge you, read on to check if it resolves the above and turns out to be the exception. 

The bread on topic is chappati. In greater parts of India, it is known as roti, slight, puffy middled, griddle toasted and often the commoner's answer to gratifying sustenance. The couple of rolls dunked in a tiffin gravy provides a satisfying lunch. However, in a paramount desi meal, it occupies a grand spot, folded and tucked to the corner of a myriad of sides.

As a result, taking a look at these flattened pieces of durum most of a subcontinent passes off as dinner, you tread lightly on amending such an heirloom blueprint.

But, what if I tell you I made an adjustment that purists and flatbread theorists would nod their heads to? What if I said I found a way to create an on par to the curry it's meant to be soaked up with? 

What sets apart the thing I have for you from the original is the addition of two extra ingredients  Broken wheat and garlic powder are not ideally a part of chapati infrastructure, but they pave the way from ho hum to high praise. 

Subsequently, I need a moment to extol on the virtues of cracked wheat. It makes a solid difference, literally and figuratively. Fragments are nutty, lend chew, and give roti an artisanal look/feel/ flavor.

The dashes of garlic make it sufficient to eat, unpaired. But a saucy masala flanking it could do no wrong.

As simple as one, two, three, but as five star as you can imagine nourishment to be.

I believe that once you've tried what I've told you today, it will be impossible to make it any other way.

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups whole wheat flour ( I use King Arthur's white whole wheat flour)
• ¼ cup cracked wheat
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp( for covering dough) olive oil
• ¾ -1 cup water, more if needed

Directions:

• Whisk the together flour, cracked wheat, garlic powder, salt and sugar. Alternatively, you could use the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed.
• Stir in the oil and water, slowly incorporating and kneading, either by hand or using the dough hook and mixing on medium, until dough is soft and pliant.
• Roll into a ball and smear oil to cover it. Set aside tented with a tea towel, about 10 minutes.
• When ready, divide the dough into 8-10 equal pieces, depending how large you want your breads to be.
• Lightly flour the surface and press down a dough ball until lightly flattened. 
• Roll out each small disk using a rolling pin, to a diameter of 6-8 inches. Dough should have an even thickness. Repeat with each ball.
• Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium heat.
• Place one chapati on the skillet. Move it around and press edges with a spatula until heat bubbles form and puffs the middle.  Quickly flip it over and brown the other side. It should not take more than 30-35 seconds per side.
• Repeat with remaining dough.
• Spread pats of butter between and over warm chapatis. 
• Place them warm in a clean tea towel, covered in foil.
• Serve with curry.

Notes~

I lightly spritz the tops of the dough with a bit of water while cooking. Helps in making chapatis soft and puffy.

Spread the rolled dough discs out onto a a lightly greased or floured surface- you would need to clear some counter space for this.  Do not stack them between parchment or any other paper- they will stick together.

Atta, milled whole wheat flour is found in Indian grocery stores and is what's preferred. However, King Arthur's white wheat flour is a good alternative.

 Chapati comes together in no time and with a little extra effort you could whip up one of these to plate it with:

beef fry

beef mappas

chicken curry

butter chicken  

shrimp masala 

April~

2020: carrot and bunny cake

2019: oven roasted shawarma chicken

2017: carrot cake

2016: spicy spaghetti with scallops and salami

2015: bunny buns

2014: corn in seasoned coconut milk

2013: palappam

2012: sesame chikki

******

"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Isaiah 61:3

Chocolate fudge cake

The job of baking something palatable, and have it fulfill the dual destiny of being remarkably delicious, and show visually as a frame by Monet, is no sweet task. Stamina/energy/sanity otherwise reserved to correct/equip/scream at underlings that may not be exercising great judgement, in addition to those in-over-their-head baby adults, who believe they are endowed with prophetic wisdom, is sapped, drained. Though, in measure, a certain indefatigability, renewed mind flow and boundless supply of Monster Energy, preferably in 24 ounce cans, will pretty much see you at success too.  
Today's life lesson taught and learned.✓
Totally glad you dropped by, right? ✓

It's pretty undeniable, the rush that comes when working on a piece like this. Pushing me to not less than 5 separate recipe trials; so both you and I, beyond doubt, know just how important it is to appreciate the perfect chocolate fudge cake recipe and have it revisit you for the rest of your life.

There isn't a core technique for fudge cake. May owe to the fact that everyone and their mama grew up with personalized interpretations on how fudge-y fudge cake should actually be.

I took notes. Several. There were points specific to many, but not limited to all. Most of them had less than ten ingredients, seven of them, common or interchangeable. It should be taken into account that if there is large enough consensus for myself to write a thesis on such a subject, I am game. 

For the most part, there were mainly three classifications in which such a cake could umbrella under:

1. Those with striking, ultra chocolatey notes, though light, airy.
2. The dense, more like-fudge, rich texture and tight crumb.
3. Reminiscent of back-in-the-day, candy-ish flavor, on hints of brown sugar, to the likes of Little Debbie snack packs.

In almost every recipe, unsweetened cocoa is used. Bon Appetit insists it be Dutch process. I really don't think you should go to the trouble. After considerable forethought, key elements were loosely combed from my 5 source assortment. It was success and poetry, together in one.

The cake that ended my search had a distinct, deep flavor, yet stood apart from typic chocolate cake. Everything I needed it to be, it was: Moist + tighter crumb + not breaking in places where it shouldn't. Fortifying tops and sides with  a double layer of icing, first of ganache, second, chocolate buttercream prepped the 9x 10 " platform for my AZ Diamondback Sedona Red jersey veneer .(The "Sedona" part may lack because of my desire to not deflect from the "no-taste" of Wilton's no-taste, very bright, red).

It is quite amazing, a rich, yet not too dense cake, that desists from sticking to the roofs of mouths stayed moist and had enough heft to be the foundation for multiple levels of bedecking. 

I found that I may not have a calling for snake whispering- no complaints there. The fact that I had to compete with a beloved MLB image, was terrifying. Snake D took about 7 tries, all of which could've been an unmitigated disaster, until I took a step back and used the reading glasses I really should be using. My third attempt at rattler carving was actually not half bad, a final edge smoothing, D patch was ready to go.

Moreover, shaping cakes into sports balls  really isn't a big deal. Especially when you have the aluminum pan which makes construction a piece of cake( pun intended:))

I urge you. Go make this.  It could be The One to end your search for all perfection. 

And so, I hope.

Whipped ganache. Is beautiful. 

For the cake-
Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup salted butter
• 4 tbsp unsweetened natural cocoa 
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup hot water

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and parchment 2 9-inch round cake pans or one 13x9-inch rectangular pan.
• In a bowl, sift together flour and sugar.
• In a sauce pan, combine butter and cocoa over heat.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer beat eggs, buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla on medium high speed until blended and smooth.
• With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and cocoa mixture into the batter, alternating between the two( starting and ending with flour mixture) until smooth and combined.
• Pour the hot water over the mixture, stir until incorporated and batter is smooth.
• Scrape the batter into prepared pan(s).
• Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the icing-

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 4 tbsp cocoa
• 6 tbsp milk
• 3 ½ cups confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

• Bring butter cocoa and milk to a boil.
• While still hot, stir in the sugar, cup by cup, until mixture is combined.
• Stir in vanilla. Pour or immediately spread over cake. 

~ The above icing hardens over cake and if I had a choice, I'd top with it each and every time.

-Cakes are best refrigerated overnight before you attempt to cut/carve/ shape them .

Trippy, rainbow-ish vibe was courtesy of the clearphane I used to cover my board( could've also been my mindset for the current few days I was working on it). Sun streaming straight through a window, lends the whole thing an ethereal iridescence. Don't you think?

I know. I should be here more often. I apologize for my lack of presence and deficit of routine updating. You deserve the recipes that have been stored in my head. And heart. Cluttering my drawers on gazillion sticky notes.

When my day seems insurmountable, I find solace in the things the Lord has resourced me to do. My kitchen is my calm, safe zone, a spa of relief- if you can imagine that. It's where I succeed and feel much  content in all that surrounds me. In addition to this, the trusted slice of blog platform to inscribe my antics adds to the joy. I am grateful that you see, read, hear.

I'm also thankful for friends and acquaintances who trust me for their cake baking/ confection making needs. In return, I'm bestowed the privilege to put through grind, a passion for working with delicious subjects, and all the aspects that stem from; recipe writing, experimenting, honing in to skills I never knew I had. It sparks my passion, pushing me to do better, work harder, and achieve more than what I'd ever set out for. My mind is refreshed, renewed and regirded, each moment of the day has intention and purpose. And that's a very good thing.

Thank you. 

I truly appreciate.

May-

2016: Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

2015: Steamed dumplings

2014: Ghee

2013: Meat puffs

2012: Doughnuts

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"Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live;
    do not let my hopes be dashed." Psalm 119:116