Chocolate Porter Layer Cake

After reading about a chocolate stout layer cake in bon appetit the Mrs. wanted to try it out, and since I'm all for cooking with beer I was most supportive of the idea and went myself to systemet to procure a good porter. After buying all the ingredients, we thought the amount of frosting suggested in the original recipe sounded a little over the top (1 lb of chocolate and 2 cups cream) and decided to go for only half the amount of frosting.

Ingredients:
- 280 g (10 oz) flour
- 85 g (3 oz) 90% chocolate
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 200 g (7 oz) margarine
- 250 g (8.8 oz) + 3 tbsp sugar
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 ⁷/₈ dL (0.8 cups) Carnegie Porter
- 1 ²/₃ dL (0.7 cups) freshly brewed coffee
frosting:
- 250 g (8.8 oz) 57% chocolate
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) cream
- 1 tsp powdered instant coffee

First some coffee was brewed, the egg yolks were separated from the whites, and the 90% chocolate was melted over hot water. Meanwhile the salt, baking powder and baking soda was stirred into the flour in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, the margarine was beaten (using an electric mixer) together with the large portion of sugar until fluffy. The egg yolks were added to the margarine-sugar mixture and beaten well into it. Subsequently, the melted chocolate, porter and freshly brewed coffee were beaten into the mixture one after the other. Finally the flour mixture was beaten into the dough.

In a separate bowl (and with clean beaters) the small portion of sugar was beaten with the egg whites until stiff. This egg-white foam was gently mixed (not beaten) into the dough, which was baked in two portions in baking paper lined baking pans (vertical sides, 22 cm (9 inch) diameter) at 175 C (350 F) for 25-30 minutes (until a knife inserted into the centre came out clean).

The two cake pieces were allowed to cool 20-30 minutes in the pans before taking them out and letting them cool completely.

For the frosting, the cream was heated in a small pot together with the coffee powder with occasional stirring - once it reached simmering, it was poured over the 57% chocolate (broken into large squares). After letting it stand for a minute, it was easily stirred into a homogeneous mixture. The frosting was covered and chilled in the fridge - with occasional stirring - until it had thickened sufficiently for easy assembly of the cake: some 2-3 hours.

One cake piece was placed upside-down on a large plate and approximately half the frosting was spread on it in an even layer before placing the other cake piece on top (upside-up) and spreading the rest of the frosting evenly over the entire cake.

We had the first piece of it the same day but although it's not as heavy as certain other chocolate cakes, we still had to save some for later. Interestingly, the notes of coffee and porter were much more notable on the first day - which could be good or bad depending on your point of view. Personally I liked it that way and was a little disappointed that it was 'merely' a very good chocolate cake the following days as we ate the rest.

And no, we never thought there was too little frosting on it...

Update: I have since made this cake again a couple of times and note the following improvements to the procedure: (1) Rather than melting the dark chocolate separately, it can simply be dissolved in the freshly brewed coffee. (2) The electric mixer is only really good for beating the egg whites with sugar to a white foam - for everything else, I find it's preferable to just mix using a ladle. (3) With a spring form that is 5 cm (2 inches) tall all the batter can be baked in one pan (takes about 60-70 minutes at 175 C (350 F)) - once cooled it is reasonable easy to cut the cake in two and assemble the layers as above.

New herbs

Having decided to make the most of our kitchen window sill during the period of long days we were considering ways to maximise our herb collection.

Mrs. Throat-Erator read up on the subject and learned that both basil, mint, and thyme should be able to sprout new roots if freshly cut stems are placed in a glass of water. We decided to try it out.

In the course of a couple of weeks all did as predicted, and they were planted in their own pots and are doing well several weeks later.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

We have a large bag of poppy seeds .. and we're moving relatively soon. We've been talking about making lemon poppy seed muffins, but without muffin forms that's a little less fun. Mrs. Erator opted instead for this lemon poppy seed cake..

Ingredients:
- 320 g (11 1/4 oz) flour
- 225 g (8 oz) + 100 g (3.5 oz) sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 lemons (juice AND zest)
- 40 g (1.4 oz) poppy seeds
- 300 g (10.5 oz) margarine
- 5 eggs


The larger portion of the sugar was mixed with the flour, salt, lemon zest, poppy seeds and margarine. The eggs were whipped into the dough one at the time. The dough was poured into a previously buttered-and-floured bread pan and baked for 1 hour at 175 C (350 F).

Once out of the oven, holes were pricked in the top of the cake, and a solution of the smaller portion of sugar dissolved in the lemon juice was poured over the cake. After standing for 10-15 minutes to absorb this lemon syrup, the cake was taken out of the bread pan, allowed to cool to room temperature and wrapped in film.

After resting overnight, it was sort of OK - very lemony and the taste wasn't quite like the lemon poppy seed muffins I had in mind. However, on the third day (after resting wrapped in film in the fridge) it was much better: The lemon note was less overpowering and the taste was much more like I remember lemon poppy seed muffins.

Baked Rice

Mrs. Erator came up with this trick for making left over rice more interesting. Leftover rice can of course quickly heated in a microwave oven ... but there's nothing fancy about the result. Alternatively, one can make fried rice ... but that requires the work of standing there stirring the rice on the pan, and often it becomes quite the sticky mess.

This is where our suggestion comes in: just spread the rice on a plate and leave in the oven at 250 C (450 F) until the rice starts to turn crisp at the edges. Here, we did it with these sesame rice, but I think any kind of leftover rice could be warmed this way to give a nice crunchy result.

Sesame Rice & Coconut Prawns

The decision to make this dish was largely motivated by our stockpile of sesame seeds (keeping in mind that we will have to move again in a couple of months) and the prawns we had had lying in the freezer since New Year when our dinner plans were changed...

Mrs. Erator took over the kitchen for this one.

Ingredients:
sesame rice:
- 3 dL (1.25 cups) jasmine rice
- 6 dL (2.5 cups) water
- salt
- 4 tbsp white sesame seeds, toasted
- 2 tbsp black sesame seeds
- 1 bunch chives, chopped
coconut prawns:
- oil
- 12 tiger prawns, peeled
- 1 zucchini, cut in half slices
- 1 onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1-2 tsp sambal oelek
- 200g (1/2 lb) green cabbage

While boiling the rice in lightly salted water the white sesame seeds were toasted on a pan. When the rice were done, the sesame seeds (white toasted, black raw) and chopped chives were stirred into the rice.

A little oil was heated in a wok, then added the pealed prawns. When the prawns had turned pink all over the sambal oelek was added, then onions. When the onions were translucent the zucchini were added, and after another few minutes the coconut milk. When the coconut milk was warmed up the cabbage was added and after a few minutes it was ready to serve.

Delicious. To the extend that extra spice was wanted we used Thai sweet chilli sauce.

Kippers and scramled eggs

Already December again. Not sure how this happened.

Anyway.

As the Yuletide approaches we will be finding occasion to enjoy lots of traditional foods.

Mrs. Throat-Erator recently reminded me of the classic combination of kippers with scrambled eggs and chives on whole grain dark rye bread.

Baba Ghanoush

Although I'm a great fan of what I have tried from the Middle Eastern kitchen, I must say I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject. Far less so than, e.g. Mrs. Throat-Erator, who has travelled in the region. For example, I didn't really know what Baba Ghanoush was when she started raving about how delicious it was. I urged her to make me some, and so she did..

Ingredients:
- 500 g (1 lb) eggplants
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- salt
- 2 tbsp tahini
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- paprika

The eggplants were rinsed and broiled until the inside was very soft. The partially charred skin was peeled away and the flesh was collected in a colander where it was mashed and drained. After being transferred to a bowl, the garlic, salt, ground cumin, tahini paste, and lemon juice was stirred in to give a smooth paste. The baba ghanoush was arranged as an atoll with the olive oil in the middle and paprika on the rim.

We had it with some flat breads, tzatziki, couscous salad, and meatballs.

I have to admit it was quite delicious, and we are aiming to practice more foods from this kitchen in the none too distant future.

Fastelavnsboller (Shrovetide Buns)

"Fastelavn" is related to Carnival, but in Denmark celebrated in a way that resembles in many ways Halloween - i.e. kids dress up and go pestering other people for sweets. Falling 7 weeks before Easter it comes pretty early this year. One the sweets traditionally eaten this time of year are glazed buns with custard or jam filling. We decided to make a few - although only for ourselves as no kids are likely to come knocking on our door this week around here.

Ingredients:
dough:
- 1 dL (2/5 cup) milk
- 14 g (1/2 oz, 2 packs) dry yeast^[1]
- 125 g (4 1/2 oz) shortening
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp sugar
- (at least) 375 g (13 oz) flour
custard:
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 dL (4/5 cup) milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
glazing:
- 100 g (3 1/2 oz) powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp water

First the dough was prepared: The milk was heated to body temperature, then added the dry yeast and let stand for 30 minutes before mixing in sugar, flour, egg and shortening. After kneading to a homogeneous dough, it was covered and let stand to rise for an hour.

The custard was made by whipping all the ingredients in a small heavy (preferentially rounded) pan, then bringing the mix to a boil on high heat with constant whipping. With continued whipping the custard was boiled on medium heat until thickened (about 5 minutes). NB: DON'T BE LAZY WITH THE WHIPPING - THE CUSTARD WILL EASILY BURN, AND ONCE BURNED THE WHOLE BATCH IS RUINED. The custard was transferred to a bowl and allowed to cool.

The dough was kneaded thoroughly (using extra flour as needed) and rolled to square piece approx. 35 cm x 35 cm (14" x 14") which was cut into 9 squares of equal size. The custard was placed on the middle of each piece of dough and the edges of the squares were folded over the custard to make a closed bun around the custard. Care was taken to close them well, so the custard couldn't run out during baking. The buns were placed on a baking sheet (upside down) and allowed to rise for another 45 minutes before baking at 225 C (450 F) for 10 minutes.

The buns can be eaten warm or cold - best with freshly applied glazing (glazing made by stirring powdered sugar with a small amount of water).

^[1] If using fresh yeast, 50 g is a good amount - proceed as follows: melt shortening, then heat milk till lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk-shortening mixture and add sugar, flour and egg (no waiting required). Otherwise as above.

Ginger Cake

Thinking about having to move in a couple of months we're trying to use up some of our many things in the kitchen - surely we'll never manage with all of them, but each item that we can empty is a small victory in it's own right. Years ago I bought a glass of ground ginger, but it's not something I use too often. Therefore this recipe, which uses it generously was just what would save the day and rid us of our last ground ginger.

Ingredients:
dough:
- 200 g (7 oz) shortening
- 200 g (7 oz) sugar
- 4 eggs
- 200 g (7 oz) flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 tsp ground ginger
frosting:
- 150 g (5 oz) cream cheese
- 1 tbsp water
- 150 g (5 oz) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp ground ginger

The sugar and the shortening was mixed to homogeneous mixture and the eggs were mixed in 1 at the time. Then the flour, ground ginger, and baking powder was mixed in. The dough was put in a deep round baking pan and in the oven for about 50 minutes at 175 C (350 F).

The frosting was made by stirring the powdered sugar into the cream cheese - water was added to give a little bit smoother texture. Then added ground ginger to taste. The frosting was added as thick layer on top of the cake.

Lemon Cake

Mrs. Throat-erator sometimes makes a lovely lemon cake for us. You'll notice the recipe calls for an organic lemon - normally I'm not very hung up about whether or not my ingredients are organic, but in this case we need not only the juice but also the zest of the lemon, so an organically grown lemon is probably the prudent choice here.

Ingredients:

- 250 g (9 oz) shortening

- 6 dL (2 1/2 cups) sugar

- 4 eggs

- 6 dL (2 1/2 cups) flour

- 5 tsp baking powder

- 1.5 dL (2/3 cups) milk

- 1 organic lemon
- 1.5 dL (2/3 cups) boiling water
~ 150 g (~ 6 oz) powdered sugar

The shortening and sugar was mixed to a creamy texture, then the eggs were added and mixed till smooth again. Then the flour, baking powder, milk and freshly grated lemon zest was added and everything mixed to smooth dough.
The boiling water was mixed in quickly and the though was immediately poured into a 25 x 35 cm (10" x 14") baking pan^[1] lined with baking paper and baked for 30-40 minutes at 200 C (400 F). The resulting cake should be somewhat moist when removed from the oven.

A glazing was made by stirring lemon juice into powdered sugar - adding lemon juice in small portions until the texture is right. The glazing was put on the cake while it was still hot from the oven.

^[1] It takes a relatively large baking pan as the dough rises a lot during baking.

Swedish Chocolate Bread

Quite similarly to Finnish bread, these Swedish chocolate breads are really cookies. And no, I don't know if they are from Sweden. Actually in this case, I'm not even sure they are particularly for the Christmas time - but I like them a lot so I talked Mrs. Throat-Erator into making them. They are quite similar to the Finnish bread, but with some important differences.

Ingredients:
- 300 g (11 oz) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 200 g (7 oz) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar [1]
- 2 tbsp cocoa
- 200 g (7 oz) butter
- 2 eggs
- 50 g (2 oz) almonds
- 2 tbsp washed raw sugar [2]

The flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, cocoa, and baking powder was mixed in a bowl. The butter was cut in small pieces and worked in the flour mixture using fingers. One of the eggs was added the dough was formed using hands - it's a little soft. The dough was left in the bowl in the fridge for half an hour.

The dough was parted in 5 equal portions, each of which was rolled into rods - so long as to fit the baking plate on which they were then placed (on baking paper). Each rod was flattened until about 4 cm (1 1/2 inch) wide. They were then brushed with the other egg [3], and a mixture of finely cut almonds and raw sugar was sprinkled on top.

The large rods were baked at 175 C (350 F) in the top of the oven for about 10 minutes - they were rather soft (fudge like) when we took them out, the rods were immediately cut into smaller rods and allowed to cool before collecting them. This made us 75 cookies.

[1] see here for details.
[2] any kinds of sugar that comes in large crystals would do.
[3] actually this should have been only egg white, but we decided it didn't make that great of a difference.

Finnish Bread

Well, they are called Finnish bread, but actually they are cookies - and I don't even know if they really come from Finland. Foods have a funny tendency to get names that imply origins that may not be true. Think of Danish pastries - in Denmark they are known as bread from Vienna.

Finnish bread are considered one of the traditional Christmas cookies, and we decided they should be the one of the two kinds of cookies we'd bake this holiday season.

Ingredients:
- 375 g (13 oz) flour
- 85 g (3 oz) sugar
- 250 g (9 oz) butter
- 2 eggs
- 50 g (2 oz) almonds
- 2 tbsp washed raw sugar [1]

The flour and sugar was mixed in a bowl, then the butter was cut in smaller pieces and worked ("crumbled") into the flour/sugar mixture using fingers. Then 1 of the eggs was added and a firm dough was made using hands. The dough was rolled into rods approximately the thickness of a finger, which were then pressed flat and cut into small rods. The small rods were placed on baking plates with baking paper and allowed to stand in the fridge for at least one 1 hour.

After taking the cookies out of the fridge they were brushed with the other egg, and on top was sprinkled a mixture of raw sugar and finely cut almonds.

The cookies were baked in the bottom of the oven at 200 C (400 F) until golden (12-15 minutes).

This made us about 50 cookies, but they could probably have been cut into thinner rods.

[1] This doesn't have to be raw sugar - any kind of sugar that comes in relatively large crystals would do.

Chickpea Soup 1

Mrs. Throat-erator found this recipe and decided to make it for me because she knows how much I enjoy cumin. And because wintertime is soup-time.

Ingredients:
- oil
- 1 leek
- 400 g (1 14 oz can) chickpeas
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp cane sugar
- salt & pepper
- 1.5 L (6 cups) vegetable broth
- 1 1/4 dL (1/2 cup) whipping cream
- 1 large onion
- 1 (small) bunch parsley

The leek was rinsed and cut in rings, which were sautéed in oil in a large pot until they started to soften. The drained and rinsed chickpeas were added together with cumin, sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Then the vegetable broth and the cream was added, the soup was brought to a boil, and then let simmer for 40 minutes on low heat.

The onion was cut in boats which were fried in oil in a pan until brown and soft. Then the coarsely chopped parsley was mixed in, and the mix was seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

The soup was blended briefly - i.e. not all the chickpeas were pureed, some escaped whole, which was clearly not the intention of the recipe we found, but I quite liked it this way: Some chickpeas pureed to give texture to the soup, some left (more or less) whole in the soup.

The soup was served immediately with some of the onion/parsley mix on top.

Serbian Stuffed Peppers

Recently I had my Serbian friend come over and show me how to make one of his favorite meals from home: Stuffed peppers. I couldn't find the authentic peppers for it, but he told me any sort of longish peppers, not too hot, should work. I decided to try out using both poblano and anaheim peppers.

Anaheim peppers

Ingredients:
- oil
- 1 large onion
- 500 g (1 lb) ground beef
- salt & pepper
- 3 dL (1 1/3 cup) parboiled rice
- 4 poblano chilies
- 4 anaheim chilies
- 1 roma tomato
- water
- plain yogurt (to serve)

Stuffing the peppers

The finely chopped onion was sautéed in a little oil in a large pan. When the onion pieces were golden, the meat was added together with generous amounts of salt and pepper. When the ground beef was browned the rice were added and the contents of the pan were mixed well, before being allowed to stand while preparing the peppers.

All the peppers were rinsed, the stem was cut out (leaving as much wall as possible) and most of the seeds were rinsed out of them. The meat/onion/rice mixture was stuffed into the peppers using a spoon and a knife, making sure they were stuffed quite densely and each pepper was closed with a slice of roma tomato. The peppers were put in a oven proof tray and the rest of the meat/onion/rice mixture was added around them. Then water was added, so as to just cover the peppers. Covered with foil, the tray went in the oven at 200-225 C (400-450 F) for about 45 minutes, after which the foil was removed allowing the excess water to boil off during the last minutes of cooking.

Serve with plain yogurt.

The poblano peppers were notably hotter than the anaheim peppers and my Serbian friend concluded they were a very good substitute for the pepper he would have used at home. He also said it's possible to use dried peppers, they just need to soak in hot water prior to being stuffed.

Update: Using dried peppers.

Mrs. Throat-Erator's Signature Cheesecake

For the recent Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner that we participated in we brought along this cheesecake - always a winner. Especially with the raspberry coulis.
Ingredients:
(cheesecake)
- 200 g (7 oz) digestive biscuits
- 100 g (3.5 oz) butter
- 150 g (5 oz) cream cheese
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) plain yogurt
- vanilla beans from 1 vanilla pod
- 65 g (2 oz) sugar
- approx. 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) whipping cream
- 4 sheets husblas [1]
(raspberry coulis)
- 100 g (3.5 oz) frozen raspberries
- 1 tbsp sugar

Crush the biscuits (e.g. in a closed ziplock bag) while melting the butter in a small pot. Mix the biscuit crumbs with the butter. Spread the mixture in the bottom of a springform pan and press it to a firm layer.

In a bowl mix the yogurt with the cream cheese (till creamy and homogeneous), then mix in the sugar, the vanilla and 1-2 tbsp lime juice. In a separate bowl whip the cream stiff.

If using 'husblas': Cover the sheets of husblas with cold water for 10 minutes, then transfer them to another bowl (now they're soft, do not let them drip off). Place in this bowl in a hot water bath till they are molten. Now add about 1 dL (1/2 cup) of the cream cheese-yogurt mixture to this and mix it quickly before pouring it all back into the rest of the cream cheese -yogurt mixture with stirring. Add the whipped cream. Add lime juice to taste. Now cover and place in the refrigerator until the mixture becomes semi-firm (1/2 - 1 hour), then place on top of the biscuit crumb bottom, cover and put it back in the refrigerator for some hours (preferably overnight). Serve with raspberry coulis.

Raspberry coulis is made by blending raspberries (if frozen, thawed and drained) with sugar.

[1] Husblas is a type gelatin sheets. As this recipe details, it needs a little bit of preparation before use. While I'm sure other gelatin sources could be used we haven't really found out how much to use of the other types (e.g. powdered, as is easily bought around here).

Bøf Lindstrøm

Although not the traditional or famous Swedish meatballs these meatballs are Swedish nonetheless. This is one of many great eats with pickled beets. Cooking this time by my muse.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb (250 g) ground beef
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp capers
- 2 tbsp finely diced pickled beets + more for serving
- 1 egg yolk
- salt and pepper

Using your hands mix everything together and shape into 2 patties, which are fried on the pan.
Serve with e.g. with boiled potatoes, more pieces of pickled beet and pickled cucumber.

Turkey Meatballs

Leaving the kitchen once again to my significant other I got these delicious turkey meatballs.

Ingredients:
- 1 lb (500 g) ground turkey
- 1 egg
- 1 small onion
- 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes
- 1-2 tbsp flour
- salt & pepper

Cut the sundried tomatoes in thin strips, dice the onion (medium fine) and mix everything together. Shape meatballs and fry in the pan.

Went nicely with this cous-cous salad.

Bacon-wrapped asparagus

This is extremely simple to make - and makes for an excellent starter.

Ingredients:
- fresh asparagus (thin preferable)
- thinly sliced bacon
- sour cream
- salt & pepper

Clean the asparagus, wrap in the bacon and broil - just be careful not to leave them in the oven for too long (unless you LIKE the taste of charcoal). These ones are borderline overdone.

Serve with a tbsp sour cream with salt & pepper.

Prepared by Mrs. Erator.

Köfte

While still in the kitchen my muse also made köfte, e.g. meatballs of ground lamb with a flavour I'd call middle eastern.

Ingredients:
- 500 g (1 lb) ground lamb
- 1 egg
- 1/2 onion
- chopped fresh parsley
- chopped fresh cilantro
- mint (dried or fresh)
- salt and pepper

Dice the onion relatively finely and mix it with the ground lamb, spices and the egg. Form into meatballs and fry on the pan (or grill on skewers).
Served this time with cabbage couscous salad and a bit of hummus.

Cabbage & Couscous Salad

The other day I let my muse (how does Mrs. Erator sound?) be in charge of the kitchen. The result was this wonderfully fresh cabbage & couscous salad.

Ingredients:
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) dry couscous
- 5 dL (2 cups) water[1]
- 1 small/medium cabbage
- 1 small onion
- basil (either dried, or chopped fresh)
- chopped fresh italian parsley
- ground cumin, salt, & pepper

Bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat and pour in the couscous, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Then mix in the spices as well as medium finely chopped onion and cabbage. Makes a very nice salad, could probably be eaten on its own, but it also goes very well with, e.g. meatballs of various kinds.

[1] The package actually recommends 1 cup water per cup of couscous, but in our opinion the resulting couscous is then too dry.