Red Velvet Cake Truffles

This one was inspired by a colleague of mine who shares my love of red velvet cake. She sent me this link: http://www.bakerella.com/red-velvet-cake-balls/ and I couldn't agree more--one of the best ideas EVER. This also happened around Valentine's Day and right before I was sent on a business trip to visit coworkers, so I thought why not make some for everyone? Determined to wow and please my boyfriend, friends, and coworkers (that's just how I am with my food/baking creations), I set myself up for a long and arduous journey. It took me several hours for two days to perfect this one. It's pretty clear from her photos and lack of explaining techniques that Bakerella is obviously a much more experienced baker than I am. So let me just put a disclaimer here: this recipe is not an easy feat... but I'll try to explain everything I did wrong and right so it'll be easier for you. :) Here we go!


Let's start with Trial 1.

I used this cake recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Velvet-Cake-III/Detail.aspx with a box of Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Classic White Cake mix. (I couldn't find the red velvet cake mix.)

I also used this frosting: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Carrot-Cake-III/Detail.aspx, that I made in an old blog post because I love, love the cream cheese frosting recipe and I didn't want to take the pre-made store stuff for an answer.

Tips:

Get a deep mixing bowl or prepare for splatter.

Get a nice mixer. Otherwise I hope you have a good strong spoon... stronger than mine.

When I mixed the two together, I got this:

And immediately I knew something wasn't right. It was too mushy and I PANICKED. I had only so much time to make these and I knew I had screwed something up! (I'm talking about mushiness to the point where the mixture felt like cake mixed with a lot of water.) My thoughts were that maybe the mushiness would settle once I put it in the fridge to cool. I went ahead and let it solidify but even in that state it just looked wrong. I thought maybe I could still salvage it and it could taste good (the cake recipe was pretty good) so made 3 truffles with it anyway, albeit doubting that it would turn out ok.

When I ate them I couldn't bring myself to being satisfied. They tasted pretty good, but the texture was off (too mushy for cake) and they left a horrific aftertaste that I can only describe as being similar to the taste of aspartame (the fake sugar they use in those diet products). And I could not, for the life of me, stand that kind of taste!


So on to Trial 2.

This time I searched and found the red velvet cake mix from Duncan Hines.


I figured since I loved the cream cheese frosting from the carrot cake recipe, it had to be something in the cake recipe that was causing the terrible taste and texture. (Vanilla pudding, maybe??) And here are the results of the cake:


Just looking at that beautiful red color in comparison to the terrible pink, I could already tell that I had done it right this time.

When I mixed it with the cream cheese frosting this time, it didn't turn mushy. I also opted to use only about 8oz of cream cheese frosting, perhaps less. I was careful with the amount I put into the cake because I didn't want to make it too sweet or mushy. I don't agree with Bakarella's 16oz of cream cheese frosting, but that might be a difference of her using store-bought and me using homemade.

I also bought all three types of chocolate chips (white, milk, and dark) for every type of chocolate fan (I had in mind serving about 20+ different people). Bakerella used chocolate bark, but I couldn't find this at my local grocery store. (I used Guittard dark and milk, and Ghiradelli white chocolates, by the way. Delicious San Francisco Bay Area local chocolates. :D) First attempt was white chocolate, and from my next mistakes I messed up most of the white chocolate that I had bought.

I used a double boiler set-up in my kitchen to melt the chocolate, but somehow it seemed to have dried out the chocolate. I started adding heavy whipping cream to it, and it made it a little clumpy. (My bad, I forgot you're not supposed to add cold liquids to heated chocolate.) With the curdle-y chocolate I somehow thought water would thin it out, but it didn't. Complete disaster. It was hard clumps of chocolate now. And to top it off, I threw it in the microwave to try to melt it again. I don't know why I was so stubborn with this one to try to get it to work, but in the end it only led to burnt chocolate. I suspect that white chocolate, because of its contents, has a different temperament than the others. Double boiler using dark chocolate has never given me such a hard time, as proven again with my "truffitizing" (yes, I made that up) my earlier messed up cake.


On to Trial 2.5.

See those pretty criss-cross chocolate lines Bakarella used on her truffles? I wanted to do that, and I was going to try with a some melted chocolate in a ziploc bag with a small bit of the corner cut off. Unfortunately, after messing up I didn't have enough white chocolate and ended up using the remainder to instead be melted for truffitizing. This time, instead of melting in a double boiler, I decided to do it the right way: read the instructions on the back of the package. I went with the microwave option and I'm pretty glad I did--this is WAY simpler than trying to use a double boiler, and I'd recommend it for anyone using chocolate chips.

Next was getting down the right technique. First, it's easier to handle the cake balls in chocolate when they are small, so make sure yours are relatively small and bite-sized. I ended up resizing twice before I got the final rendition. Bakarella says she made about 40-50, but I made probably around 60. Besides, you want to keep them small so your guinea pigs--I mean, friends, keep wanting more. :)

Second, I used two spoons to coat the cake in the chocolate. I coated both spoons with chocolate, generously, and used the spoons to toss the cake ball back and forth between spoons, evenly coating each ball and only picking up more melted chocolate as necessary. This step requires a lot of patience. If you're too hasty you'll want to try to coat quicker, but that will pull the cake away from itself and into the chocolate. I tried to let the cake gently fall into the other spoon as it wished, and it made a very even/smooth coating. Don't overcoat because it'll drip off and make a large, flat base for your truffles. I like to think of the most perfect truffles as round, without a base. :)


After they set a bit, I took it off the wax paper and put it into ziplocs and into the fridge. The ones I wanted to keep longer I froze. I found that, at least for ~65 degrees (maybe higher) indoors, these don't sit too well at room temp. I also found that they're best served right out of the fridge for a crispy chocolate coating. So recapping, was all this trouble worth it in the end? Yes. They were so delicious that I ate plenty (and I rarely do that with my own baking)! And unless people find pleasure in lying to me, I'd say it was a very successful hit all-around. Enjoy!

Pictures courtesy of my borrowed Nikon D90 (with the exception of the first & last photo, taken with a Canon 870IS point & shoot.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies, but I've given up trying to find the "best." There is no best- there are just different kinds. The NY Times cookie is good, it's a sweet-savory satisfying cookies with slivers and chunks of chocolate. This cookie recipe is a buttery, crispy at the edges, chewy towards the middle type of deal. It's not fancy, it's just delicious.

I like more dough to chocolate, so I typically only put half of the amount of chocolate in a cookie. I had a few macadamia nuts leftover so I added chopped, toasted macadamia nuts to this batch.



Compare that cookie with "The Chewy" recipe by Alton Brown. It's a very similar recipe, but the portions are different. The first recipe is chewier, this one is a bit puffier.

Sprinkle's Strawberry Cupcakes

Please tell me you've had Sprinkles cupcakes- they are one of the best LA cupcake eateries (also great? Kiss my Bundt, especially red velvet. They say they're the "first," but I have no idea who came first. My first experience with fancy cupcakes was Magnolia Bakery in New York- and I even had to wait in line. The cupcakes were sweet, teeth-achingly sweet. That killed the fancy cupcake scene for almost a year until someone introduced me to Sprinkles and the spark was rekindled. They are deliciously moist and not-too-sweet, not so tender that they come apart as you peel the paper wrapper.

Please ignore dirty oven/cupcake pan.

The recipe for the strawberry cupcake is posted online at Martha Stewart's website. Sprinkles also sells cupcake mixes, but they're $15 I think? You should just make these instead- there are actual strawberries in the recipe.


Word of caution: if you are using frozen strawberries, make sure you drain them well for the frosting. I didn't do that and ended up with frosting that looked curdled. Delicious, but curdled.

Liquid Center Chocolate Torte

(As seen on Food Network's "Worst Cooks in America")

(My first attempt to make something look artsy on the plate and it was a complete fail! I will keep working on presentation, but I guess plating isn't my specialty.)

What sparked this occasion was to make it for my honey for Valentine's Day. :) That and after watching "Worst Cooks in America," I just couldn't believe how simple it was to make a chocolate torte. If they can do it, why can't I?--was my mindset. After the thrilling adventure, it turns out I might be worse than the worst cooks, 'cause I actually screwed up a part of the recipe. Yikes! =/

Here's the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/liquid-center-chocolate-torte-recipe/index.html

• Instead of plantains, you can see clearly that I used blueberries instead. (I wanted something fresher and more in season than strawberries.) I also served it up with some Haagen Daz vanilla bean ice cream.
  
• Also, like several others, I couldn't find the 4oz cake tins, so I opted to use a 12oz caphalon muffin pan. (This makes 12 mini tortes.) To compensate, I cooked them for about 8-9 minutes at 375F and took them out to cool and harden. I also oiled the pan vigorously with canola oil, knowing that I would not be able to flip the pan inside out.

Here's where the disaster came in though: the caramel. Oh sugar, why are you so hard to work with??

It honestly looks alright but I must not have put enough cream or used too high heat (something along those lines) because once I plated the caramel, it solidified into almost rock-hard. I'll have to experiment more with this at a later time, but for now I might be worse than the worst cooks in America. Sadface :(

But despite my failures, the torte itself came out nicely... as you can see, they turned out very gooey and melty in the middle! Delicious!

Cantonese-Style Preserved Egg & Pork Congee

(Pei Dan Sou Yuk Jook)

First! Let's clarify. I tell people about this wonderful dish all the time and I'll constantly receive comments like: "but I thought it was just a plain rice soup with no flavor!" Yes it is, but no it isn't--will be my answer. I'm well aware that in most of China (possibly even Taiwan), they call it "shi fan" or something like that in Mandrin--and that, is in fact, plain. Plain rice boiled with water, and you can add savory food to it as you like. I myself have never tried that but it doesn't sound very appetizing (sorry Chinese folk). But here's the version I grew up to know and love so well--the version you'll probably find most popularized in Hong Kong--it's what the Cantonese call "jook".

This recipe is a prized possession of mine, as I think it makes one of the best jooks I've ever had--better than several restaurants I've been to. It's adapted from a combination of sources: my grandma, my mom, my friend from Taiwan, online recipes, and as always I've thrown in a little twist of my own.

Ingredients (per cup of rice)

Congee Portion:

• 9-10 cups water
• Ginger, peeled and cut into slivers
• 1/2 tbsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 preserved ("thousand year old") eggs, chopped into 8 pieces each
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce (optional)
• 15-20 small dried scallops (optional)
• 1/4 cup dried skin peanuts (optional)

Dried Scallops

Pork:

• vegetable oil
  
• 1/4 lb ground pork
• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1-2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:

• 1 stalk green onions, chopped
• you tiao (savory fried Chinese donut)

Directions

Congee

• Wash and drain rice. Add ginger and boil with 9-10 cups of water per cup ice. After about 10 mins, let simmer on low-med to medium heat. If you don't have non-stick be sure to stir occasionally so rice doesn't stick and burn at bottom. You might have to add a little more water if the congee becomes too thick during simmering. During this time you can prepare all your other ingredients.
• About half an hour into simmering add all other ingredients to taste except for preserved eggs and beaten egg.
• Simmer until pot has been cooking for about 3 hours total. It could be ready sooner, after maybe 1.5-2 hours, but I usually let the jook simmer for at least 3 hours. This really pulls out the flavors and infuses it into the soup.
• Turn off heat when done, and stir in beaten egg.
  

Pork

• Now this pork isn't your traditional sau yuk pork, but I enjoy the separation of flavors, not to mention the ease, of ground pork.
• Coat frying pan with oil, enough to have a thin coat to cook pork with.
• Heat at medium to med-high heat, and check to be sure oil is hot (To check: if you put a drop of water into the pan, it should sizzle)
• Add salt and pepper. Once pork is thoroughly cooked, turn off heat and add oyster and hoisin sauces to your liking. Set aside, as this will top the congee.

After the congee has cooked, fill a bowl with hot congee, add some chopped pieces of preserved egg, and top with pork, green onions, and you tiao to your liking.

Preserved Egg

This savory dish is great for several purposes: breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer, sick days, and cold winter days... enjoy! :)

(P.S. I took all the pictures except for the last one with a borrowed Nikon D90. I'm hoping to get one of my own soon, too. Hooray for nice dSLRs!)

Marinara Sauce

My favorite jarred pasta sauce is Trader Joe's tomato and basil marinara. It's the best and so cheap! I haven't had to buy any other type of sauce in years- if I want a mushroom sauce, I add mushrooms. If I want to add meat, I add it myself. I wanted to try and make marinara sauce because it's interesting to learn what work goes into it. And... it looked really pretty on this blog.


I thought since there are so few ingredients that I better use the best tomatoes I could find so I splurged at the farmer's market.


This is how you peel tomatoes- very very easy. Slice a shallow X into the bottom of each tomato and slide them into boiling water for a few seconds. Then take them out and place them into a bowl of cold water (I know, a waste of water...). The skin will peel off super quick and easy. Unlike peeling roasted peppers... which you have to really roast thoroughly and then put under a bowl and tightly cover with saran wrap and then still peel off tiny shrivels of skin with your fingers.


Onions and garlic!

Quartered, seeded and peeled tomatoes + wine (and this is where the quality drops slightly. I don't know my wine and we only had 2 buck chuck so... that went in here) join the party. I let them cook for 2 hours after this photo and things got real mushy. If I had an immersion blender, this would've been a good time to use it, but I do not have one- so I used a potato masher and left a few chunks in there.

I had my marinara sauce with crispy slices of polenta. I got the polenta from Whole Foods. It's packaged like a sausage and I'd never had polenta so I gave this a try. I sliced it as thin as I could and fried them until crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Coincidentally, the NY Times posted this yummy looking recipe (creamy + parmesan + sausage), which I have bookmarked for the future.

Thoughts? Well jarred sauce is much faster, this took me half a day to make although I left it alone on the stove for the last 2 hours. It tasted very different from the TJ variety, this was intensely savory (umami-y?) whereas the TJ kind is all TOMATO in your face with a hint of BASIL and rather sweet. I'll probably only make this again when I have a lot of time or a lot of tomatoes about to go bad. But an interesting learning experience...

Potato Salad

I love potato salad, with mayonnaise and without (ie german potato salad). This is a recipe with mayonnaise, but there's not that much. This is a different potato salad than the one you're used to. There's a time and a place for mayonnaise-y potato salad with peas and some celery, but this is not one of those times. You need to try this version because:

a) it's not covered in mayonnaise
b) there's bacon
c) there's smoked salt
d) there are fresh herbs (thyme and parsley, although is substituted chives for parsley)


ahhh smoked salt. I got mine from Whole Foods. It's a good investment- it's kinda pricey, but you use it sparingly and it adds a good amount of smokiness to your dish.

This recipe is very easy and I added some of the bacon grease to mine to make it even more bacon-y. I think it tastes better the next day- a great make ahead recipe. Although next time I'm going to cut the potato into thinner pieces so it can soak up more of the onion, bacon, smokey, herb-y flavors.

Stir Fried Beef Udon

Originally stemmed from a conversation with a friend about stir frying udon with Memmi, here's a random recipe I came up with. I decided to spice it up a bit with a nice touch of extras.

Ingredients

• Fresh udon noodles - 7.25oz x 6
• 2/3 cup Kikkoman Memmi Noodle Soup Base
• 1 tbsp fresh minced garlic
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 lb beef flank cut into stir-fry strips
• 5 eggs
• 6 oz oyster mushrooms, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

Directions

• In boiling water, cook udon noodles for 2-3 mins, drain, and set aside
• Stir fry beef with pepper and salt to taste to just-done and set aside (you'll mix it back in to finish cooking later)
• Beat eggs in bowl and fry in pan to just-done and set aside
• Using a wok, heat oil and toss in garlic and drained noodles
• Add oyster mushrooms
• Add Memmi sauce, soy sauce, and salt & pepper to taste
• Stir fry for about 3 mins and toss in the beef and eggs to finish

This turned out pretty yummy but not quite how I expected. It wasn't as "stir fry" as I wanted, mainly because the noodles weren't drained well enough and the beef had lots of extra juices that took away from the oil's effect. I'll keep this in mind for future reference, but otherwise the flavor combination is pretty good!

Jalepeno Cheddar Scones

I have to admit... I don't really like scones. They're dry, crumbly- blegh. I'd rather have a cookie or a crumpet! This was the first savory scone I've had and .... it's still not that good (unless you slather butter or jam on it). I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, who takes amazing photos and recipes.


This was also one of the first times I've had to handle raw jalapenos. I've heard a few horror stories here and there about jalapenos so I made sure to wash my hands thoroughly and avoid touching my eyes. I picked out most of the seeds and white flesh so it wouldn't be too spicy.


Conclusion? I still don't like scones... but at least I know I like savory scones a bit better than sweet scones.