DOBOS TORTE

Seeing that I have only one one rack in my oven a Dobos Torte was not something I was keen to attempt. But I did it. In 4 hours.

The sponge layers took only 5 minutes to bake but must be watched and baking those thin layers should never be paired with accidental naps in between.

The chocolate frosting made me falter and I almost went for another recipe because 3 raw egg yolks could mean salmonella attacks, hospitalization and doctor's bills en masse. I decided to be brave and went ahead. We are all well, alive and hungering for more Dobos Torte. Thanks be to God.

I had cut the last piece of sponge layer into 8 wedges and seperated them a little before pouring the amber caramel over. One thing I learnt was that you only need to cut through the caramel when the caramel has hardened. With a very sharp knife. It is much easier than having sticky caramel globbing up your knife and gooey caramel threads stretching between your fingers endlessly.

A Dobos Torte looks much harder to make than it really is. And it is very very delicious and beautiful to look at. Maida Heatter's recipe is a winner. The birthday boys yummied it. 

The recipe ~ taken from Smitten Kitchen ~ a Maida Heatter recipe.

Serves 12

Cake :


7 egg, seperated
3 egg yolks, additional
455 gm (1 lb) confectionaer's sugar (icing sugar)
94 gm all purpose flour
1 T lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt


Frosting :


227 (8 oz) bittersweet chocolate ( I used 60 per cent cacao)
226 (8 oz) gm butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 large egg yolks
2 T confectioner's sugar (icing sugar)


Caramel :


1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 T water


Make cake ~


Line, butter and flour well 8 8 inch round pans or 7 9 inch round pans. I only had 3 8 inch round pans so I had some relining and buttering and flouring to do.


Pre-heat oven to 450 F


Beat 10 yolks on high of an electric mixer for a few minutes until it turns pale and lemon coloured. Reduce speed, add sugar gradually and increase speed again and continue likewise until sugar is finished., and mixture is thick and glossy.


Reduce speed again and add flour gradually and then increase speed and mix for about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice and mix a few seconds more.


In a seperate bowl that is clean and dry beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. 


Stir in a few tablespoons of the egg white  into the egg yolk mixture to loosen the yolk mixture up. Then add the rest of the whites in 3 batches until the whole mixture is smooth. I used a wire whisk to do this.


Divide the batter into 8 or 7 portions depending on the size of your pan ( I weighed my batter) and pour into tins, leveling the batter and baking each layer for 5 minutes.


Keep the baked sponges aside and if you stack them please make sure you have baking paper in between. 


Make frosting  ~


Melt chocolate until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature. In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter till soft and smooth. Add vanilla and 3 egg yolks. Add sugar and cooled chocolate beating well until thoroughly mixed. 


Spread this frosting thinly on each layer on cake leaving one layer unused.

Cover the whole cake with the chocolate frosting and chill in fridge while making the caramel layer.


Make Caramel Layer ~


Place the unused layer of sponge on baking paper. Cut the into 8 wedges. Seperate them a little. 
Meanwhile place sugar and water in a small pan and heat on high until the sugar melts and turns amber. Immediately take off heat and pour the caramel over the cut sponge cake.Let teh caramel cool and harden somewhat before cutting with a very sharp knife seperating teh wedges and neatening the edges if necessary. 

Arrange on top of the frosted cake. 

HOKKIEN MEE

I had planned to do a Hokkien Mee for dinner and then decided that I might as well blog about it. This is one of my favourite noodle dishes apart from a  hearty and spicy mee mamak. To be honest I didn't know that there were variations of this dish until I googled it. I had always thought of Hokkien mee as the dark, thick sauced, fat noodle dish. Period. Now I know that Penang has it's own version as does Singapore. All three look absolutely scrummy!

This version however is really quick to put together and it must be made just before serving. Because the sauce is a simple mixture of sweet dark soy sauce, some oyster sauce and stock I find that the yellow noodles used in this dish cannot be substituted by any other because the flavour of the noodles contributes to the flavour of the dish as a whole.

I had tried using my own home made noodles but it didn't quite taste the same because it did not have the flavour particular to Hokkien Mee made with yellow noodles. The yellow noodles made a whole lot of difference. I also fell a little short cooking it this time around. I had not made enough sauce. More sauce.

The recipe ~

Serves 4 


I have to give you this recipe from memory because I had not measured the ingredients when I made it. So the measurements are approximate. 


450 gm packet of yellow noodles, blanched in hot water to soften and kept aside


Any green leafy vegetable that you like, I used sawi, washed and cleaned and cut
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
4-5 T dark sweet soy sauce
1 T kecap manis, I used ABC brand
About 3-4 T oyster sauce
 1- 1/2 cups of water or stock
a handful of prawns shelled, deveined with tail left on
1 large squid, skinned and sliced into bite sized pieces
1 slab of fish cake, sliced


salt, pepper
vegetable oil

Heat wok, pour in about 2 T of cooking oil. When the oil is hot throw in the garlic and stir fry till fragrant but not brown. Add them prawns, squid and fish cake slices and continue to stir fry till the prawns just turn pink. Add the three sauces and the  water or stock and allow to come to a boil. Just as it comes to a boil add the noodles and greens. Stir well to coat evenly with sauce. Add salt and some pepper to taste. Serve immediately.


* Adjust the water/stock and the amount of sauces to your taste. I personally wish I had made more sauce. 

KELLY MOORE'S CAMERA BAGS

You'd probably like to know what this is all about. Well this has been my latest pre-occupation. I'm almost saturated with excitement.

                                                                                           Back view

I don't have an excessive weakness for bags. Or shoes. But when I first saw Kelly Moore's B-Hobo camera bag on Pam's Sidewalk Shoes about a month ago I couldn't resist. I had to have it.

I've been fondling it ever since. And H has been giving me funny looks. But it was worth the wait and the dollars spent. Unless you have an odd fondness for the bulky and the black, ugly camera bag this is a stylishly sweet respite. Finally, a camera bag that doubles as a trendy handbag :) A camera girl's dream.

                                                                         Front view with the flap up

It has compartments for one camera, a lens or two and for your girlie what-nots. 

Just one grouse though. The inside of the bag is lined with Velcro all along the bottom. The purpose being that the size of the compartments may be adjusted to fit your needs. Good.

However, Velcro may cause scratches to the monitor of your camera. So super duper DIY H fixed it. He cut out a soft piece of foam rubber to the required size and lined the bottom with it. Thank you. My camera now sits snug and safe inside. 

This is not a sponsored post. I wish it was. And I hope they heard me. Because I'm craving another one. 2 Sues in Raspberry  OMG 

SAFFRON INFUSED SUGAR CUBES

Amber is beautiful, saffron is precious and so are dear, close friends. 

Back from her trip to the Middle East A had bought me a pack of these beautiful saffron infused sugar cubes in addition to two boxes of saffron threads, a beautiful, giant sized ornamental glass tazbih and...get this.... a pair of glamorous 'diamond' studded high heels. Wheeee ~

I had inadvertently earned the last by pure luck. A had bought the wrong size. Unfortunately  for Z or fortunately for me, depending on how you see it, it fitted me perfectly. So you see...size does matter. Now, all I need is a fairy god mother.

Aren't friends sweet? Thank you. Not just for the gifts but for being there. ~ :)

These precious sweet saffron infused sugar cubes I would revel in, in a cup of hot tea, when I am alone, curled up with a book on a couch so that I can sip and enjoy it in all its glory. They are far too precious to be used with gay abandon. 

I am enjoying a cuppa now. And it is infused with the fragrance of saffron. Love it :)

I can't get over how gloriously beautiful these sweet saffron infused sugar cubes are. Saffron are as precious as gold. "It takes about 80,000 crocus flowers to make 450 gm of this ancient spice....the most expensive of all spices, often more costly per gram than gold..... Saffron's name comes from the Arabic za'faran which means yellow and it's made form the fiery red stigma of the purple crocus" ~ Excerpt from Hugh Fearnly Wittingstall's article.

Here is a recipe I found here for making your own sugar cubes. I have not tried it but perhaps you would like to. Now I know how sugar cubes are made ~ I learn something everyday ~

DIY Sugar Cubes ~

2 cups sugar
1-2 tsp hot water
1-2 drops food colouring or flavour (in this case saffron)

Mix sugar, water and colouring. Make sure sugar is not sopping wet but just wet enough to hold its shape. Put into moulds, press into moulds, turn it over and tap it out of the mould.. let sugar cubes dry until hard. About 30 minutes to an hour. 

How easy is that?

I have plans for the saffron threads. I can't wait to play with them :)

And I have something else to share with you my friends. Something that I have been waiting for... for weeks. I will show it to you in my next post. I can't wait to share. You will be excited too. Perhaps you will want to get one too. Like I did when I saw it.  :)