Using Up Halloween Treats 2: Crispy Crunchy Cake

Yes Halloween has been over for awhile now but good thing about candy, they pretty much last forever with that much sugar...

But you only live once!



So...



Crispy Crunchy Cake, as you might have guessed it's made with the candy bar, Crispy Crunch.



They're peanut buttery but somehow it's has a lot of bite into it and really good. So I decided I want to not really do anything to the candy bars because I want to keep that crunch. Then I wanted cake and duh, chocolate cake for a chocolate bar! Which somehow jump started this whole chain of perfect combinations which starts with peanut butter -> chocolate -> bananas -> Nutella!

So it ended up with a moist chocolate cake filled with bananas, Nutella frosting, and covered in Crispy Crunch.

Okay I'm going split the recipe in the categories of "making the chocolate cake" and "decorating the cake" and the second part is...quite picture heavy I must say.

Crispy Crunch Cake

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Flour - 300g (2 1/5 cups according to Yahoo answers 140g unsifted flour = cup...buy a scale already!)
Cocoa powder - 100 grams (3/4 cup)
Baking Soda - 1 teaspoon
Baking Powder - 1/2 tablespoon
Salt - a pinch
White sugar - 200g (1 cup)
Brown Sugar - 200g (bit less than 1 cup? It's supposed to be 220g for 1 cup for brown sugar)
Butter - 200g, cubed (1 1/2 cup, if you have a block uh...just cut it a bit smaller than half it's also about two sticks)
Shortening - 50g (1/4 cup)
Cream - 100 ml

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325
2. Cream the room temperature butter and shortening with the sugars until light and well incorporated.
3. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and 100ml of the cream
4. Add the eggs slowly, one at a time at low speed until well incorporated, then turn the speed to high till the batter starts getting fluffier. Add the melted chocolate.
5. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to the batter at slow speed.
6. Turn up the speed till the batter is light and fluffy.

Like so. You can see I added some candy bar bits but I don't think you should because it melted anyways and the flavour gets lost in the chocolate.
7. Pour the batter into two 7 inch pans and put in the oven, middle rack.
8. Take out after 30 minutes or check with a toothpick (when it does come out clean, have a feel for the cake so you know how it feels when it's done.)
9. Let the cake rest until it's room temperature.

Decorating The Cake

Ingredients
Crispy Crunch - 15 small bars (or you can use like 4 big bars)
Nutella - 250g (they come in 400g jars so half of that and then two big spoonfuls)
Unsweetened chocolate - 100g
White chocolate - a small handful
Cream - 400 ml
Bananas - 4-5, ripe (there should be a few dots on them, but not full of dots)

Instructions

1. Now make the frosting, whip 390ml of the cream till it's firm (shouldn't drop if you hold it upside down)

2. In low speed, add the nutella, then turn it back to high speed until well incorporated. Keep the frosting in the fridge until it's time to use it.

3. Once the cake is cool, cut the top part (the part that looks like a dome) so the cake will be flat...like a perfect cylinder. Than cut the cakes in half, making four cake layers. If you're wondering why one of the layers there is different looking...I dropped the pan mid bake and it collapsed within itslef, it's more condensed.
4. Now you only need three of the layers because I thought it's a bit tall with four layers but you can if you want to.

5. Add a bit of the frosting to one of the cake layers, spread it around with a palette knife but not all the way to the edge.

6. Cut the bananas in half, lengthwise.

7. Line the bananas at the edge, as you can see, the pressure from the bananas kinda pushed the frosting to the edge, it would've went overboard if you spread the frosting all the way to the edge in the first place.

8. Put as much bananas as possible.

9. Fill in the gaps with more frosting.

10. Chop 6 of the candy bars (1 1/2 large one), sprinkle the chopped candy bar on top of the bananas.

11. Repeat with the second layer and then top it off with the final layer.

12. Pour most of the frosting on the top of the cake. Using a palette knife, spread the frosting on top, pushing the frosting to fall down on the sides until there's a thin but adequate layer on top.

13. Just run the palette knife around the cake to spread the frosting thoroughly. If there isn't enough to cover the cake, if there is not enough, add more frosting, but you have to do the same as in step 11, add it to the top and use the palette knife to spread it.

14. Chop up the rest of the candy bar. Just grab a handful and gently pat it on the edges. Then transfer the cake to a cake board or whatever you plan to hold your cake.
15. Now melt the white chocolate with the 10 ml of cream.

16. Using a spoon, just randomly drizzle circles on top.

17. Get a fork and drag it from top to bottom in lines.

Instantly looks more professional!

Phew! Typing it all out was more tiring than the actual process (fortunately for everyone who wants to make this cake...unfortunate for me who had to type all that.)

I have to say, I think the cake looks alright for me, who never really had to do much cake decorating (it's why I make cupcakes...so I don't have to deal with this bullshit).


Of course you have to look at the inner beauty as well. It's not just a pretty cake, it has a lot of layers, very complex.


Everyone wants a piece of it!

Well...this cake is just really indulgent which is great for those days when you just want something sweet to make your day happier. Like everything good just comes together, chocolate, banana, Nutella, peanut butter. I love the bit of crunch that the candy bar gives.

Using Up Halloween Candy: WunderPie! (StarPie)

So for Halloween this year I was giving out candy and I bought a big box of various Cadbury chocolate bars.

So before I had this much



And afterwards



Yea not a lot of children, I think they all went to the rich white neighbourhoods which is okay somewhat justified cause Chinese people usually don't give out free things but joke's on them because actually this year a lot of my neighbours were also giving out stuff.

Anyways so I have copious amount of candy what should I do?



Baking the answer is always baking.

This one is all about the Wunderbar (or Starbar if you're from Europe), my favouritest candy bar EVER! It's like there's peanut butter which is delicious and then there's this chewy caramel that matches so well and it's all covered in CHOCOLATE! Also there's this crunchiness that I don't even know how they do it!

So I thought I got this imagery of it being all gooey and melted and I know the best way to do that is put it in a pie! A cup pie to be specific. Nothing ever goes wrong in a pie! I added a cream cheese filling for additional goodness and topped it with meringue to give some lightness to the dessert.

WunderPie
Servings: 5 cup pies

Ingredients:

WunderBar - 5 (one per pie)
Pie Dough - 225 g (I made a post on how to make pie dough here: http://joyciel.livejournal.com/84794.html#cutid1 don't mind my old shoddy camera though!)
Cream cheese - 125g (1/2 block)
Cream - 75 g
Eggs - 2 large, separated
Sugar - 60g (1/3 cup)
Icing sugar - 50g (1/4 cup)

Instructions:
1. Preheat to 350, take the cream cheese out, separate the eggs

2. Roll your dough till it's about 3 mm in thickness, remember to flour the surface and the roller frequently!

3. Just cut them in squares and mold it around the cupcake tin, if there is space or tears, just take some more dough and fill it, no one will notice!

4. Line wax paper ON TOP of the dough, and fill with rice, this keeps the bottom from rising up. Then I can use the rice later for cooking!
5. Put in oven at bottom rack for ten minutes or until done.
6. While the dough is in the oven, take out the paper and rice, check if the bottom is done, put it back in the oven (without the paper and rice) at middle rack, until done.
7. Cut the cream cheese into square and beat with the sugar in a mixer (stand or hand) with whisk attachment till soft and lighter.
8. Slooooooooooooowly add the cream at low speed until throoughly incorporated.
9. Add the eggs YOLKS, when it's well incorporated, change to high speed to beat some more air into it.

10. Add the mini wunderbar into the bottom, top it off with the cream cheese mixture.
11. Change the oven to 325, put the cupcake tins on a cookie sheet and add some water to the SHEET (not the cupcake tins lol) this will make a water bath. Put it on the middle rack. Check after 10 minutes.

12. In the meantime, whip up the egg whites, MAKE SURE ALL THE EQUIPMENT IS CLEAN!! Any oil and it won't work. Beat the whites till it starts foaming, then add the icing sugar.
13. When the cheesecake part is done (the texture should be jiggly but definitely solid. Like custard basically), let it cool for 30 minutes.
14. Using a star tipped pipe (mines say 825 so I think that's the size...) and make small rosettes around the top, I made five around and one in the middle. (see note)
15. Put in the oven at the middle for five minutes, take out of the oven.
16. Turn the oven to 400, when it reaches 400, put the pies in at the top rack until the top is nicely browned.

Note: I will make a piping post soon (I only know like three styles though) but a good place to learn how to make rosettes are here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfbh1UaZSe0 she also did shells!



Porno shot:



Well the pie was lovely, surprisingly not that sweet. It has all the taste of the wunderbar but with a bit more indulgence with the cream cheese and the meringue give it a lighter texture and flavour that works well with the heavier ingredients. Also it makes the pie all nice looking =D!

Going Green: Baked Stuffed Avocado With Asparagus And Chorizo

Lunch time is healthy time! Also my fridge is ridiculously bare normally I would try to add some colour to my plates. But I try to find a way to utilize as much vegetables as possible.

Let me just wax some poetic about the lovely avocado first though. It's something that works well in savoury and sweet, it can be cubed, sliced, and mashed, it adds a nice flavour to any dish but never overpower, and most importantly IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!



Baked Stuffed Avocado With Asparagus and Chorizo
Servings: 2

Avocado



Ingredients


Avocadoes - 1
Canned tuna - 60g (half a can, drained)
Carrot - 1/2 small stick, brunoise (small dice, about 1-2 mm if possible)
Celery - 1 small stalk or 1/2 huge stalk (brunoise)
Leeks - 25g ( half a cup)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
1. Wash the outside of the avocado thoroughly, use a knife to cut the avocado in the middle and move the knife around the pit so there is a cut in the middle throughout the avocado. Twist and the two halves should pull apart. Take out the seed and scoop out the flesh without destroying the skin.

2. Add a little butter to the pan at low heat, add the carrot and a pinch of salt. Add the celery a minute later, than add the leek after another minute. Add more butter if necessary.

4. Using a fork, cut the tuna flakes to smaller pieces, mix with the avocado. When the vegetables are cooked, add to the avocado mixture.

5. Carefully scoop the avocado mixture into the shell.
6. Put in the oven at the top rack for ten minutes.
7. Turn the oven to broil and take out when the top is golden brown.

Note: You can substitute tuna for sardines, I actually think sardines work better because it is less fishy to me. Also sardines are healthier and more sustainable (to go with this green theme I have going on).

Asparagus And Chorizo



Ingredients


Asparagus - 1 bunch
Choizo - 90g (I used 3/4 of a stick, Piller's brand ones), sliced in 3-4mm slices
White wine

Instructions

1. Add the chorizo to pan with a tablespoon of oil, turn to low heat, this is to try to render out some of the fat
2. When some fat is rendered, and the pan is starting to brown, turn to medium heat and add the asparagus, add some more oil if neccessary (I couldn't get a lot of fat our so I did add some more oil)

3. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, about 3/4 cups but I just eyeballed it.
4. Put the lid on top, with the spatula in the pot to stop it from fully closing, turn it down to low heat, add the chorizo.
5. When the asparagus is cooked turn it back to high heat and cook off any excess liquid.

Note: Do you see anything missing from this recipe? Yea, SALT! Well the chorizo was quite salty (like those pepperoni stick you buy from the convenience store) so I thought adding salt will make it too salty. So try the chorizo first and salt to your discretion!

So I loved the avocado, the fat from the fruit mellowed out the fishiness of the tuna and the vegetables, especially the leeks really gave it a kick of complex flavours. Asparagus is always tasty and it works well with chorizo, which is also delicious.

Everyday I'm tumbling: http://lifeofjoyciel.tumblr.com/

Ms. Lonely - Pan Seared Halibut in Beurre Noisette With Parmesan Peas And Cauliflower Gratin

Well this was for a meal a few days before, quiet night at home and the boyfriend is out of town so I just made a simple meal and I tried to make it a bit healthy. Key word is try.

Pan Seared Halibut in Beurre Noisette With Parmesan Peas And Cauliflower Gratin
Servings: 1

Halibut


Ingredients:
Halibut - one long fillet, cut in half (400g perhaps)

Cilantro - 2 tablespoons (or more! Cilantro = love), fine chop
Lime - 1/4
Butter - 2 1/2 tablespoons
Oil


I love cilantro.

Instructions

1. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan at medium heat. Season fish with salt.
2. When oil is heated, add fish into the pan, when one side is golden brown, flip to other side and repeat. Put aside when done.
3. Pour out the oil, add the butter to the pan
4, When the butter turns brown, squeeze the lime and add the cilantro. Turn the heat off.
5. Pour on top of the fish.

Note: Y'all probably already know this but just in case (cause my boyfriend didn't and I have to yell at him and then there was this whole argument...) but don't pour oil down the drain, pour it in a cup or something and throw it in the garbage when it cools. Pouring it down the drain encourages clogging.

Cauliflower Gratin


Ingredients:
Cauliflower - 1/3 a big one, or 1/2 a really small one
Parmesan cheese - to taste
Panko bread crumbs - 1/4 cup (don't have to be panko...just won't be as good...)
Cream - 1 cup
Milke - 1 cup
Flour - 1 tablespoon
Butter - 3 tablespoons

Instructions
1. Prehea oven to 325. Wash and slice cauliflowers like so

2. Make a roux, melt one table spoon of butter at low heat and add the flour when the butter is all melted, stir for minute.
3. Add a little big of the cream, stir evenly, turn to medium heat until the cream starts to thicken, do the same with the rest of the liquids, little by little until it becomes a creamy sauce. Add some Parmesan cheese to the sauce.

4. Add parmesan and season to your liking. Turn off the heat and add the cauliflowers and coat it with the sauce evenly.
5. Put the cauliflower in a small rectangular pan.
6. Melt the rest of the butter in another pan at low heat, add the bread crumbs and stir. Add the panko to the top of the cauliflowers.
7. Grate some Parmesan, add on top of the breadcrumbs.
8. Put pan in oven, until cauliflower is soft. Than turn the oven to broil and take it out when the panko is golden brown.

Parmesan Peas


I have a caving for parmesan.

Ingredients
Frozen peas - 150g (bout 1 1/2 cups)
Parmesan - to taste, shaved
Shallots - 1
Butter - 1 tablespoon

1. Blanche the peas by boiling salted water. Add the frozen peas and take it out after ten seconds.
2. Melt the butter at low heat and sweat the shallots, with a small pinch of salt.
3. After the shallots give off some liquid add the peas and cook until the peas are warm.
4. Shave some parmesan and mix into the peas.

Well I guess not extremely healthy teehee but it was satisfying and that's all that matters!

In Case You Can't Tell I'm Chinese: Spam Fried Rice

Also poor...

What do you do when you have nothing in the fridge except a bunch of random shit? Fry it with rice and call it lunch.

Spam Fried Rice
Servings: 2



Ingredients
Spam - half a can, diced in 1 cm cubes
Red Onion - half a huge one, also diced
Ginger - table spoon, grated
Cilantro - two tablespoons (as much as you have? No such thing as too much cilantro!)
Egg - two large (I thought I only needed one hence the picture), mix
Rice - one and a half cups uncooked (you should cook the rice and leave in fridge overnight)

Note: Leftover rice is harder and have less water so it's easier to fry and won't stick to each other as much which is ideal for fried rice!

Instructions
1. Using an non-stick pan (no need to show off but if you do use a regular pan you should use more oil), heat oil at medium high heat
2. When oil is heated (should be more liquidy, less viscous) add the onion and ginger. Add a little salt. Using a spatula, be sure to mix the vegetables quickly so they don't burn. Stir for ten seconds then add the spam. When the onions are cooked, and the spam have some colour to it, put aside.
3. Add a bit more oil and put the eggs in, scrambling them. When eggs are almost done put aside.
4. Add oil and fry the rice. A small pinch of salt.
5. When rice is throughly heated and is well lubricated (teehee, but anyways most of them shouldn't stick together), add the vegetables and eggs and mix until it looks evenly distributed.
6. Add soy sauce or other sauces (I added some vinegar as well) to your liking
7. Turn off the heat and add the cilantro.

Note: A small pinch = a pinch with your thumb and index finger. Regular pinch = thumb and index and middle finger.

The Blogging Dead: Chewy Chocolate Burnt Almond Cookies

I won't say "I'm back!" cause everytime I say that I don't really. So I'll just say I'm like a zombie, I'm back but not quite the same.

Anyways, one of my close friends who went abroad (or a few cities away) for a Frech program recently came back for a visit so what better way to send her off than with a batch of warm homemade cookies?

She loves all things chocolate and she loves almonds which is great cause that was kinda all the ingredients I had. So I decided to put my own twist on the chocolate almond cookie...which isn't really a thing...but it's a common pairing.


I also got a new camera that has like double the mega pixels!

Chewy Chocolate Burnt Almond Cookies
Servings: 20 cookies

I'm going to separate the dry ingredients and wet ingredients because in this recipe you prepare them separately and just mix it together in the end.

Dry Ingredients:
All-Purpose Flour - 225g (uh, just measure one cup and take two tablespoons out it'll be about that?)
Cocoa powder - 75g (quarter cup and one tablespoon)
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon
Almonds - 25 (I just guesstimated how much I needed though it's up to how much you like almonds)

Instructions:
1. First sift all the dry ingredients minus the almonds and put it aside
2. For the almonds, just cut it into small pieces (size is up to you, that's the good thing about cooking, it's really personal)
3. Turn on the stove with a pan on medium high heat, when the pan is hot, just add the almond pieces and stir it around a bit until the nuts get a more toasted taste, if some pieces get burnt it's okay.

Note: I used all purpose but if you want to up the chewiness more you can use bread flour because of the higher gluten content, not gluten is the substance that gives bread that chew.

Wet Ingredients
Brown Sugar (sugar always counts as wet ingredient in baking for some reason) - 150 grams (1/2 + 1/8 of a cup...THIS IS WHY I ALWAYS ADVOCATE SCALES!! It's only twenty dollars for mine and I bet there's cheaper ones cause mines digital.)
White Sugar - 50 grams (1/5 of a cup)
Eggs - 2 large
Butter - 100 grams (one stick), browned
Chocolate Chips - 65 grams (about one cup bit higher than level)
Instant coffee - 1 1/2 tablespoons (you can add more but I think this is a good amount that doesn't over power the chocolate but gives it something extra)
Cream - as much as you need (I'll explain later)

1. Brown the butter by melting it in a pan until the milk solids (the white foamy stuff) browns, watch very carefully because once it starts browning it gets black and then it's ruined.

The colour should be like the amber at the middle, there were lighter layer of stuff on top but overall it was like the darker colour, the froth was just covering it.
2. When the butter is brown add the chocolate to the pan until thoroughly melted.

Note: Why so much brown sugar? Because brown sugar has molasses, which is sticky and liquid which makes the cookies more moist and chewy. I also used some melted chocolate so it'll give more moisture. And why browned butter? BECAUSE IT'S DELICIOUS! Brown butter just have a much better nutty aroma which matches well with the almond's nutty flavour.

Combining
1. Using a whisk attachment (or a regular whisk using the power of your hands!) mix the eggs and sugar until it looks a bit creamy and fluffy, add the melted chocolate and brown butter mixture.
2. Switch to a paddle attachmennt (disregard this if you don't have a stand mixer) and slowly add the flour and in small batches, scrape down the bowl when neccessary.
3. The batter should be firm but malleable but not too dry, it should be like mouldable chocolate, you should be able to shape balls with it. If it's too dry add a bit of cream until a nice consistency.

4. Chill the dough for 2 hours.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 375, put one rack on the bottom and one on the top.
6. Measure the dough in 42g or 1.5 ounce portions (like a bit smaller than a golf ball)

7. Round them up into balls and put them on a piece buttered parchment paper or silpat. DON'T PRESS THEM!!! (You should put them in the oven when they look like in that above picture)
8. Put them in the oven at the bottom for 8 minutes, than turn them around and put them on the top rack for 7 minutes.
9. Cool down for five minutes before eating.

Note: Chilling the dough makes all the difference, especially since you melted the butter when you put it in the oven right away the fat will melt quicker causing the cookie dough to slide and spread more, making them more thin and crispy rather than thicker and chewy.



This is one of my favourite recipes, my boyfriend ate a few and he also loved this cookie, he declared it "The Best Cookie He Ever Ate!". I think taking time to do each step makes all the difference. Toasting the almonds so they are more fragrant, browning the butter accentuates the nuttiness, the coffee gives it more of a well rounded flavour and nice bitterness so the cookie isn't too cloying sweet. Also the chewiness of the cookie and the crunch of the nuts gives a nice balance of textures.

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