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I just mastered the most amazing cup of coconut hot chocolate. I tasted it the first time a few months ago at Mugg & Bean, and tried to emulate it for the first time tonight. It was delicious!!!  If I may say so myself, it was even better than what I had at Mugg&Bean – definitely more chocolaty!

I used the following…

• About 4 teaspoons Cadbury’s hot chocolate powder (no extra sugar)
• One spoon coffee creamer
• About 50ml coconut milk (canned)
• And lastly, hot water to fill up the cup

If you’re fond of Niki bars / Bounty, you have to try this – its so much better!!  Perfect for a winters evening like tonight.

I recently got a comment on my post about the 5 minute chocolate cupcake, asking if I know of a substitute for egg. Although I have not tested this myself, I found the following options around the web. If you’re familiar with any of these please let us know whether they are successful or not!

What is a good substitute for eggs? Have a look at the options below – each option is equal to one egg. There are some of these which I would not recommend for microwave cooking. See all marked with * which are recommended.

• 2 tablespoons water mixed with 1 tablespoon oil, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 2 tablespoon cornstarch *

• 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour

• 2 tablespoons potato starch

• 1 heaped tablespoon soy powder, 2 tablespoons water

• 1 tablespoon soy milk powder, 1 tablespoon cornstarch & 2 tablespoons water

• 1/4 cup Apple / Banana puree (or any high pectin content fruit) *

• 1 tablespoon milled flax seed and 3 tablespoons water

• 1/4 cup tofu

If you have any additional suggestions which you know work well, please let us know!

I’ve joined a meme!! Four foods Friday, and though I kind of missed this one, I decided to do a late post

1. What did you eat yesterday? (Christmas for some of you.)
Snacks: Cheese, savoury biscuits, pickles etc. together with some good wine!

2. Do you have any food traditions for Christmas?
When I was little we used to make a huge fuss of the Christmas meal, but the last few years we just had snacks. I find it much better since cold food fits the summer time best.

3. What’s your favorite holiday leftover?
Already made savoury biscuits that have gone a bit soggy already – kind of gross, I know

4. What food do you always wish you had more of after the holidays?
I keep savoury biscuits, cheese & pickles right through the year, so even if I do which I had more of it, I can usually make a quick snack to satisfy my craving.

When I was younger, I heard the story of people eating monkey brains in a very gruesome manner. The story went something along the lines of this… Like I say, the story, because I’m not too sure that this is true. I found this article which claims that it is true though, and that this practice is still popular in restaurants in Southern China.

A delicacy in a China involves people eating monkey brains while the monkey is still alive. A special table with a hole in the middle, and a vice is used to stick the monkey’s head in, is then clamped so that he cannot move (at this time the monkey is still alive).

The top of his skull is then sliced off,(while he is still alive!) and then boiling oil is poured into the brain. Not sure where the space is for the oil – maybe they scoop out some of the brain to make space for the oil?
Its said that the hungry guests then indulge in the bubbling brains, similar to fondue?!

In Western popular culture, the consumption of monkey brains is repeatedly portrayed and debated, often in the context of illustrating exotic cultures as exceptionally cruel, callous and strange, with the following variations:

The brain is eaten cooked
The brain is eaten raw (occasionally directly out of the dead monkey’s skull)
The brain is eaten fresh, spooned out of the skull while the monkey is still alive

FORTUNATELY I do not have a photo to accompany this post.

The thousand-year egg is an ingredient in some Chinese cuisine dishes. The egg is made by “preserving” chicken, duck or quail eggs in a combination of ash, salt, clay as well as lime and rice. The egg is left for several weeks or even months to “mature”.

Needless to say the egg changes colour (as shown in the picture below) If you want more gross info, you’re welcome to read up on Wikipedia. They go on explaining how the whole process changes the PH levels of the egg, and how – after the process is completed – the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavor or taste.

I cannot imagine that ANYONE would want to eat this, but indeed this is considered a delicacy!

I found such a cool recipe for rainbow cake on Omnomicon, and just had to post about it. It seems pretty easy to make. Two boxes of vanilla cake mix, some gel food colouring, jelly (American Jello), and Sprite Zero (instead of eggs, oil and water apparently!)
However, for those of you who do not use the same cake mix, and like me, are scared that the Sprite Zero might mess up the recipe, you can follow the instructions of the cake mix packet. Depending on the number of gel colours you have, divide the batter into equal parts.

 

Drop the colours, one by one, into the middle of the pan, in neat concentric-ish gobs. Remember the cake is going to be sliced in the side there, so mixing it around on top isn’t going to make your slices any more psychedelic (trust me, I did the three-dimensional thinking for you already).

When you’re three colours in, start doing the reverse with the other pan. Since I’m going in rainbow order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, I got from red to yellow in the first pan, then purple, blue, green in the second. This is so that your two pans are equal if your measurements aren’t exact (and they’re not likely to be).

Tips From Aleta

For the frosting recipe, see Omnomicon or buy ready to use frosting – I LOVED the Devil’s Food frosting which is available in England – absolutely delicious, but I’m sure traditional frosting will be just as tasty.

I found that questions several times as a comment to my post on Chocolate Cake In A Mug, and I decided to do a whole post about cake flour. It never occurred to me that there might be other countries in which cake flour isn’t as popular or widely available as in South Africa.  For those of you who mostly use all purpose flour, I have below the definition of what cake flour is, and then also a substitute for it

When I searched the internet for a proper explanation, I found this…

Cake flour is a highly specialized type of wheat flour, intended for use in making cakes, cookies, and other delicate baked goods. Several characteristics differentiate cake flour from other wheat flours, making it unsuitable for certain tasks like baking bread. Many markets carry cake flour, and in a pinch a substitute can be made with ¾ cup sifted bleached all purpose flour and two tablespoons of cornstarch.

When baking a cake, most cooks aim to create a light, fluffy cake with a tender crumb. This requires a flour with a low protein content, as protein promotes the production of gluten, which can make baked goods more tough. It also means that the flour must be very finely milled, to keep baked goods from getting heavy. Finally, a flour which is starchy and able to hold large amounts of fat and sugar without collapsing is required.

All of these needs are addressed with cake flour, which is made from the endosperm of soft wheat. The endosperm is the softest part of the wheat kernel, making cake flour the finest flour available. As cake flour is milled, it is heavily bleached, not only to make it white but to break down the protein in the flour. Typically, cake flour is around seven percent protein, much lower than other flours; bread flour, for example, has twice that amount of protein.

The delicate, fine texture of cake flour is accomplished by heavy milling. The fine grain absorbs fat readily, ensuring that butter and other fats in cakes are well distributed throughout the batter. Cake flour can also carry a high volume of sugar when compared to higher protein flours. Since cake flour is a high-starch flour, it is extremely well suited for certain baking tasks. Cake flour is also lighter than conventional flour, which is why the substitution above falls short of a full cup.

Cookie and cake recipes which call for cake flour should be made using cake flour, if possible. In the production of certain other baked goods, cake flour can replace ordinary flour for a lighter end product, using one cup and two tablespoons of cake flour for every cup of flour called for in the recipe. Cake flour should not be used to make breads and other leavened products, as it is not strong enough. Also, as a general rule, a recipe which calls for “sifted flour” requires the cook to sift the flour before measuring, while “flour, sifted” is flour which is measured and then sifted. Since sifting changes the volume of flour, this seemingly petty distinction is actually very important.

However interesting it might be to know what cake flour really is, I managed to also find a substitute for it, which might be a bit more interesting for you if you want to use a recipe which uses cake flour.

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Mug

Instructions:

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa:

Spoon in 1 egg

Pour in milk and oil, and mix well

Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (1000watt)

Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug

Tip contents out of mug onto saucer and enjoy!

I found Kristyn’s post on Romancing the kitchen: Aphrodisiac foods extremely interesting, and I’ve been reminded of how passionate I am about cooking. I love cooking and baking, and especially love to try out new recipes.

We’ve been sharing some ideas on what to cook for Valentine’s day, and some great recipes surfaced.
Personally I would love to try out Kristyn’s Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe (which, by the way, I think she got from her Mom ). Not for Valentine’s day in particular, just because I love Chicken Cordon Bleu, and its something new for me to try out.

Once I started thinking about how to make chocolate fondue (I usually just make it according to what looks right), I searched for some recipes on the internet, and found this Original Chocolate Fondue Recipe pretty interesting. The cake together with the chocolate fondue sounds really delicious, but I’ve never tried it before. Maybe I’ll give it a shot!

What are you cooking for Valentine’s day? And I’m asking this specially to the MALES who will be doing the cooking this year. I know its easier to take your honey out for dinner to a fancy restaurant, but honestly we’d like it much more if you’d cook for us yourselves (except maybe the stuck up chicks )

So if you have any plans already, share them, and if you don’t we’ll help you with some ideas

[January 30th to February 5th - 2008]

For the pancake lovers among us, this is probably great news!!

There are some lovely pancake recipes on All Recipes.com which you can use to vary your pancakes from the normal cinnamon sugar filling.
Personally I’m not keen on all the sweet fillings, so I’ll be reading up on the savoury fillings

Still, I don’t know if I’ll be able to eat pancakes every day for a week…

I also read up on the history of pancakes, and found it rather interesting. Pancake Week is grounded in ancient tradition. During the Middle Ages, it was common practice to prepare for the austerity of Lent by purging the pantry of luxurious foods such as eggs, butter and milk. These ingredients often became big batches of pancakes. To this day, many communities around the world feast on pancakes all the way through Shrove Tuesday–also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras–before the season of moderation begins on Ash Wednesday. In fact, another name for Fat Tuesday is Pancake Day.