The first video in a long while and the first video in our new kitchen!
Category Archives: video
Voila! Birthday Celebration Cake
Here’s the celebration I told you about earlier this week … a monster cake with retro flare (I kind of love that the freeze frame in the video looks like the cake is my face!):
Here are a few close ups of the cake and that cake box from the ’70s….
and now a close up of that box! (Grandma G, why did you keep this?)
And finally, the cake that stands half a foot high!
For the cake I used the Best Birthday Cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Then I melted 4 oz. of chocolate, divided the cake batter in half and added the chocolate to one half of the batter.
For the frosting, I adapted the Instant Fudge Frosting from Smitten Kitchen:
Ingredients
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
3 cups confectioners’ sugar (no need to sift)
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 T. half-and-half
1 T. vanilla extract
Directions
1. Put everything in a food processor and whirl away until smooth
Voila!
Vegetarian Month Check-In: Halfway Point (Video)
Vegetarian (Video) Update
It’s been nine days now and we’re going strong!
One Year Ago: Raspberry Almond Crumb Cake | Butternut Squash and Polenta Bake | Cocoa Brownies | Baked Oatmeal | Beef Stroganoff | Maple Oatmeal Scones
Two Years Ago: Dark Chocolate Bourbon Bundt Cake | Spicy Eggplant Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce | Bittersweet Chocolate and Pear Cake
A couple recipes that I’ve made successfully so far:
- Oven Baked Samosas (the next day I used the rest of the filling, filled four corn tortillas to make crispy Indian tacos)
- Asian Noodles with Tofu and Cashews (I would not use spaghetti noodles. Opt for rice noodles, rice or quinoa)
- Then of course there’s simple pasta with pesto or marinara and salads
Stay tuned for more vegetarian updates!
Coconut Cake
Happy Christmakkah everyone! James and I hosted our third annual Kotecki Christmakkah shindig this weekend and had a marvelous time seeing our friends from different parts of our lives, meet, mingle and eat. In honor of the party and in an effort to expand my cake repertoire, I made this layered coconut cake. It. Was. Delicious. Really moist and really addicting. Usually at parties, guests are polite and don’t take food home when I ask them if they want anything. Not this time and I love it. The food they take home is like a little memory of the party going home with them!
Ingredients
Source: Adapted from Ina Garten
cake
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup coconut milk
4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
frosting
1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
Directions
cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9-inch round cake pans, then line them parchment paper. Grease them again and dust lightly with flour.
1. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time and mix. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don’t be concerned.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the coconut milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.
3. Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for40-45 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.
frosting
1. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until just smooth
assembly
1. Carefully slice each cake layer in half so you have four equal layers. Place first layer, top side down on the cake plate and spread with frosting. Place the other half, cutside down on the first layer and frost. Then place the third layer with the flat side down, frost, and finish with the final layer. Frost the entire cake, sprinkle with coconut and serve at room temperature.
Voila!
Homemade Matzo
Who knew that anyone beyond the Manischewitz company could make matzo?! Now we know it can be done. It’s not like what you get in the box. It actually tastes totally different, but in a completely great way.
Ingredients
Source: New York Times
2 cups flour
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
4 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
sea salt for sprinkling (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 500 and line baking sheet with parchment paper
1. Put flour, salt, garlic (if using) and olive oil in a food processor. Once machine is on, add 1/2 cup water. Continue to run machine until dough forms a firm ball, rides around on blade and is not at all sticky.
2. Pour dough onto lightly floured surface. Roll out into one big circle. Then, using a cookie cutter create 6-10 smaller circles. Roll those out (irregular shapes are fine) until dough is so thin, you can almost see through it.
3. Put dough on lined baking sheets, sprinkle with sea salt (if using), and bake for about 3-4 minutes, keeping a very close eye on breads — they can burn very quickly. Once they begin to puff up and brown, flip and cook for another minute or so on second side. Repeat with all the dough and let cool completely.
Voila!
Best Birthday Cake
Happy 2nd Birthday Voila! Two years of great recipes, failed recipes, new cooking gadgets, new foods, good food photos, bad food photos, lots of laughs and really, really fun times. It’s time to celebrate with some birthday cake! I usually bypass yellow birthday cake at the store since it’s often too sugary and fake tasting. Not this one. Fluffy, moist cake and fudgy, almost pudding-like-frosting. Dig in!
Two years ago: Blueberry Oat Bars | The welcome post
One year ago: Savory Kugel
Ingredients
Source: Smitten Kitchen
cake
4 cups plus 2 T. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk
chocolate frosting
15 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 tsp. instant espresso
2 1/4 cups sour cream, at room temperature
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions
cake
Preheat oven to 350. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment.
1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla.
3. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled).
4. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.
5. Spread batter evenly in cake pan, rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.
6. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes; invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.
chocolate frosting
1. Break up chocolate in a microwave proof bowl. Melt the chocolate in a microwave at 30 seconds, stirring well between each, until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat, add espresso powder and let chocolate cool.
2. Whisk together the sour cream, 1/4 cup of the corn syrup and vanilla extract until combined.
3. Let cool in the refrigerator until the frosting is a spreadable consistency, no more than 30 minutes. Should the frosting become too thick or stiff, just leave it out until it softens again.
4. Place one cake onto plate and cover the entire piece with frosting. Put second cake on top and repeat.
Voila!
Baked Oatmeal
It’s really like an oatmeal souffle with maple syrup and applesauce and fruit and it’s so, so delicious. One thing the video does not show is that we — and by we, I mean mostly James — ate the entire thing. That 8×8 dish was empty by the time we got through with it. Did I already say it’s really good? Enough reading, time to watch:
Ingredients
Source: Proceed with Caution
(even though I halved the recipe and we still ate it all, the ratios below are supposed to serve 10-12)
2 apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup frozen cranberries
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 cups rolled oats
4 cups milk (add more if you like your oatmeal a little saucey)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 generous tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 and pull out 9×12 baking dish
1. Combine all ingredients except the egg in one big bowl. Add egg to bowl and combine. Pour into baking dish.
2. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until set.
Voila!
