Beet Red Velvet Cake

I have been thinking of making red velvet cake for quite a while, using beets instead of food coloring. After finally buying the beets, I baked this cake tonight. The cake came out as expected but also not. The pre-baking google already shows the color of beet velvet cake will be some raddish like, rather than the bright red using food coloring. The cake batter has no egg or milk, but the texture is very moist. HOWEVER, I have no idea how come the cake came out become tangy. I followed the recipe using 1/4 cup of lemon juice and a lot sugur, and also hope the sweetness of the beets will cover the taste of lemon juice. But still, I can taste the lemon. Because the cake is too moist, I gave up halfing it and simply put the cream cheese frosting on the top. Right now I throw it into the fridge and hope the coldness can do some magic. The recipe I used is here.

4/26/2011

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In the bento: stir-fried cabbage, broccoli, butternut squash, cumin rib, beef, brown rice.

Coconut Cake with Lemon Curd Filling

The cake is the finish of the lemon curd I made days ago. I was quite disappointed to the cake by the presentation until bite into it. I worried that the cake would be dry because it looks dry, and I froze them for 2 days. Also I was not happy about the garnish coconut because it didn't look flaky enough. I was picky about the color of the cream cheese frosting because it's not white enough so the entire cake can look like a snow ball. But nothing matters when I tasted it. It was not dry at all. The lemon curd is tangy while has the right sweetness to balance it. Nothing to complain about the frosting, as I always love the not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting.  I almost put this recipe into the "will not make again" category, however it saved itself. The recipe is here, while I didn't use the frosting listed. This is the first 4 layer cake I have ever made. Although the color lemon curd is fused with the cake itself.  

4/25/2011

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In the bento: brown rice, cabbage, pan fried pork rib, butternut squash, celery, pickled turnip.

4/21/2011

In the bento: brown rice, spinach, steak, cabbage. 

Rugelach

My first time baking rugelach was bad. I didn't have enough experience of baking then. This is my second try, except it stick to the baking pan (because i didn't use parchment paper), everything else is good. The cream dough is even and light; the fillings (Nutella and preserve walnut) taste superb. I love the softness while bite into it. And I find eating it hot from the oven is addicted!

The recipe I used is this one, which is very similar to the one I used before from Ina Garten.

4/20/2011

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In the bento: soy sauce egg, carrots, spinach, braised pork, black woodear, zhajiang, brwon rice.

Lemon Curd

This lemon curd is one part of a several-day project. There are parts of the cake which I am going to bake can be made days ahead. I usually try avoiding making things that ask to cook or heat lemon/lemon juice because I am not fond of damaging the Vc in the lemon. But this cake calls for lemon curd as the cake filling. So at least once in my life time, I will have to make this curd. The process is very easy, nothing can complain. It's very tasty, just not comfortable with destroying Vc. Recipes are available but I used this one.

4/19/2011

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In the bento: brown rice, corn pudding, stir-fried spinach, carrtos, steak, soy sauce egg.

4/18/2011

In the bento: brwon rice, corn pudding, meat balls, snow peas, carrots, soy sauce egg. 

4/5/2011

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In the bento: 紫米紅豆粥, kabocha, roasted pepper, celery stir-fried chicken, cumin pan-fried rib. 

4/4/2011

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  In this bento: tuna pasta salad, cumin marinaded chicken, roasted pepper, stir-fried cabbage.

Chocolate Cheesecake

I baked this cheesecake last night. It is one of the items on my long to-do list. I have some super good 99% unsweetened chocolate given by friends and finally they shine in this recipe. I like the store bought cheesecake but they are usually too sweet to my taste. While for home-made version, I can control how much sugar to put in and just use complete bitter chocolate, which I am more fond of than regular semi-sweet chocolate. After a long overnight waiting, I had a small slice today and share some with friends. It tasted superb. The texture is silkily smooth and light. The chocolate flavor is deep and intense. The bitter cocoa flavor works great with the sweet Oreo crust. The recipe can be found here, from Joy of Baking.  Pictures from top to bottom: cooled cheesecake with ganache, naked cake right out of the oven, sliced view, cut view.

 

4/1/2011

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In the bento: home made spinach pappardelle, kabocha, roasted red pepper, stir-fried cabbage with shiitake, cumin pan-fried rib. 

3/31/2011

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In the bento: cumin pan-fried rib, kabocha, shrimps, cabbage stir-fried with shiitake, barley (leftover from making tea)

3/29/2011

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In this bento: couscous, cabbage stir-fried enoki, shrimps, shiitake, roasted pepper, kabocha.  

Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze

If you never tried beets, you should start by this dish. I mean, I eat beets, I am okay with them, but never say I love beets. But this dish is amazing! I happened to have some beets sit in the fridge for long and just have to cook them. After cutting the roasted beets, I tried one piece, randomly, while glaze them. OMG, it's DELICIOUS! I can eat them all just in one minute! It's amazing that if beets are prepared properly, they can taste heavenly. The recipe can be found here. I can't wait to get more beets. 

3/24/2011

In this bento: home made pappardelle, braised pig feet, balsamic glazed beets, tomato stir-fried with enoki mushrooms.

3/23/2011

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 Yesterday's twin bento.

Home-made Spinach Pasta



Fettucini

Linguinie

Pappardelle



Lasagna

I was washing spinach while thinking about the Naked Chef I am reading these days. Jamie Oliver is pretty amazing on making pasta. And looking at the spinach on hand, I suddenly got the desire of making my own. So the entire night I was kneading, rolling and cutting. It was quite a big size dough, I cooked the first batch of fettucini for tomorrow's lunch. The rest was made into lasagna, pappardelle, and linguini. The pasta came out okay, but it wasn't the light green color I was looking for. The pureed spinach didn't do the work, I have no idea why the book use the same method but has the different result. 

3/22/2011

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In this bento: home-made spinach fettucini, stir-fried carrots with shiitake, pigfeet.

3/18/2011

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In this bento: couscous, celery stir-fried with enoki, corn beef, meatballs, carrots, grapefruit, tangerine.

3/16/2011

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In the bento: couscous, carrots, shiitake, green beans, red pepper, fermented tofu braised pork.

3/15/2011

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In this bento: couscous, green beans, carrots, red pepper, cornbeef, fermented tofu braised pork, shiitake, miso egg.

Fermented Tofu Braised Pork

This is one of the signature dishes of my dad's.He made it for me when I was at home. After coming back, I want to cook it myself but just can't find the red fermented tofu required for this dish. Until yesterday, it is finally found in a local asian market. I almost jumped sky-high!I can finally make this dish! The house smells like heaven when it's cooked. The meat has the unique aroma from the fermented tofu and the just melt in the mouth. Dad will be very proud!