Nescafe Cake

Nescafe Cake

I got a request to make this cake (http://littlelifeofmine.com/2012/07/nescafe-cake.html) by a coworker. Ask and you shall receive. For those of you who don't know what Nescafe cake is, it is very similar to tiramisu except instead of ladyfingers, tea biscuits are used and instead of mascarpone cheese, whipped cream is used. This recipe was super easy so please attempt! 

Twist

It also happened to be another coworker's birthday and she wanted chocolate. Since this recipe was a little too easy , I added a little chocolate twist. I added two layers of chocolate dipped tea biscuits. I used this recipe (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-ganache/) for chocolate ganahce  and it yielded almost enough chocolate ganache to dip all the biscuits. This ganache recipe is great and can be used for a variety of things such as chocolate covered strawberries or as substitute frosting for cupcakes. I ended up using about 4.25 sleeves of Kedem brand  tea biscuits for the whole cake recipe of which about 2 where dipped in chocolate.

1. First measure out 9 ounces of chocolate in a bowl that hot cream will  eventually be poured into and biscuits will be dipped in. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. Also prepare two cooling racks by placing wax paper below and spraying the racks with non-stick spray.

2. Boil 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. Make sure you keep an eye on it. It will bubble up before you know it.

3. When the cream reaches a boil (it bubbled rapidly at the edges, not quite the middle), pour the cream into the bowl with the chocolate.

4. Whisk the chocolate cream mixture until you get a nice smooth ganache. You may also add a little rum or another type of sweet spirit at this stage.

5. It doesn't take long for the ganache to cool down enough so that it doesn't burn you. You want it to be a warm so it can still adhere to the biscuits. Take a biscuit and dip it long side down grabbing the biscuit on a corner. Rotate the biscuit and dip the undipped side grabbing the same corner

6. Place the biscuit on the cooling rack. When all of the biscuits are done, place the cooling racks in the fridge so the ganache can firm up. I dipped 52 biscuits in total which is almost 2 sleeves of biscuits.

Nescafe Cake

1. Start by boiling 2 cups of water in a pot. When the water starts boiling, whisk in 1/4 cup of instant coffee/espresso granules. Take the pot off the burner and let it cool while you prepare the cream. Once the coffee cools, I added a little bit of Kahlua.

2. Place two cups of cream in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high until the cream gets soft peaks (see http://www.finecooking.com/articles/whipping-soft-medium-firm-peaks.aspx for what soft peaks are), which should take 2-3 minutes.

3.  Fold in 14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk into the whipped cream. Make sure there are no more streaks of condensed milk in the end.


4. In a 9" x 13" dish, place your first layer of chocolate covered biscuits. I would use the biscuits you dipped last since they will likely be the least pretty. Save the nicest biscuits for the top.

5. Pour a little bit of the coffee mixture into a shallow bowl. This is where you'll quickly soak the non-chocolate covered biscuits in. Once the coffee level gets too low, add more coffee.

6. Dip a few biscuits at a time into the coffee flipping them over to make sure both sides soak up coffee. They should be in for about 4 seconds.

(Sorry, bad picture).

7. You'll want to place down two layers of coffee soaked biscuits.

8. Scrape half the cream on top of the coffee soaked biscuits.

9. Add one layer of chocolate biscuits, one (not two) more layer of coffee soaked biscuits, then the rest of the cream.

10. If you want, you can add cocoa powder to the top. A little trick is to place a cleaned cooling rack on top and sift the cocoa powder through the rack. This will give you a nice grid pattern like my cake.

11. You will need to protect this cake with your life, it will go fast!

Deluxe Matzo Brei

Deluxe Matzo Brei

Passover is almost over, thank G-d! For all of you who aren't familiar with Passover, it is a Jewish holiday surrounding the events of the Israelites fleeing Egypt. During Passover, we are not suppose to eat food with flour. More observant Eastern European Jews are not even allowed to have corn, rice, beans... Not eating wheat flour is not a big deal for me, but I do like eating cereal in the morning. During passover I have to find something else to eat for breakfast. One of the most common Passover breakfasts is matzo brei. Matzo is a giant cracker which is the only type of food containing flour Jews are allowed to eat during Passover.

Matzo brei is like matzo french toast, matzo omelet, or matzo frittata. This quick recipe is a deluxe version of matzo brei that can be made your way. If you like it enough, you'll be happy to know that matzo is available year round at most supermarkets in the ethnic isle. This recipe was loosely inspired by this recipe: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/4654/matzo-spinach-frittata.aspx

1. First start by cooking your spinach. Any size bag of fresh spinach will work. Although the original recipe calls for frozen spinach, fresh spinach is so much better. There is no thawing involved and you don't have to worry about draining the cooked spinach since most of the liquid will quickly cook off. You can use regular spinach, baby spinach, a mix of spinach and other dark leafy greens. Heat up a pan with a little bit of oil, cooking spray or butter. Add as much spinach in as you can.

You might have to work in batches, but that is okay. Spinach shrinks dramatically when it cooks. You will always need to buy a bigger bag than you think. Mix around the spinach until it shrinks.

This is not a photoshop job, the spinach cooked down that much. Add a little bit a salt to the spinach. Don't worry about cleaning the pan the spinach was cooked in, you will use it right away.

2. While the spinach is cooking, whisk 4 whole eggs in a medium bowl. Once the spinach is done and cooled a little bit, add the spinach into the eggs and whisk again.

3. Add 3 whole matzo crackers that have been broken into pieces no larger than a square inch, though you don't want to break them up so fine that the matzo becomes matzo powder. Mix everything togather.

4. Here is where you make this recipe yours. Mix anything else you would want to put in. I put in pieces of turkey pepperoni, sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and shredded cheese. Have fun and experiment. Mix everything together well. Finish with a little more salt.

5. Heat up that same pan you cooked the spinach in on medium high with a little bit of cooking spray. Once the pan is hot enough, pour in your matzo mixture. I like to add a little more Parmesan on top.

6. Cook the mixture until the bottom browns.

7. Try to flip the mixture over in one piece. If you can, you are better at this than me because I haven't been able to. If you have to break it up into smaller pieces to do that, that is okay. Brown the other side.

8. You are done. Even though I could eat cereal three times a day, matzo brei is still a legit breakfast.

Breaded Tofu

Breaded Tofu

 

Another vegetarian dish that makes me think for a second about becoming vegetarian... Don't worry, I love chicken too much. What I am about to share is more of a process than a recipe. Feel free to make it your own.

1. First you have to press the liquid out of your tofu. I showed you how to do this here on the Vegetable Tofu Spread recipe.

2. Cut the tofu in half on the long dimension, then into little slabs about as thick as my finger on what is now the longest dimension.

3. Marinate your tofu in whatever sauce you like. I would recommend a thicker sauce like Soy Vay. I marinated the tofu for 24 hours, but a few hours should be fine.

3. Set up your dredging station and your cooking pan (or in my case a whole stove-top griddle). You may also try baking or frying the tofu as well.

I haven't tried frying tofu, but I have baked it before. What helps when baking any breaded food is to put the breaded food on top of a wire rack that is sitting on a baking pan. This allows hot air circulation all around.

Put eggs in one flat and shallow container and panko bread crumbs in another. You'll need about two large eggs per tofu container. Whisk the eggs very well.

I would preheat your pan. When it is hot enough, Pam it and beginning the dredging process.


3. Place a piece of tofu into the eggs making sure it is well coated.

4. Place the egged tofu into the panko dish and coat it well. Feel free to use your hands to place pack panko on top.

5. Place the breaded tofu on what should be a hot pan and Pam the top of the Tofu with more Pam.

6. Here is where it gets tricky. Flip when the side on the pan starts to brown. You may have to lift a piece up to see if it browned.

If you are doing multiple batches, make sure you Pam the pan generously. Once all your tofu is cooked, you are done.

The recipe is so much more delicious than you would think. Try it today... or tomorrow.