A Birthday and a Cake

      It was my fiancee's birthday a week ago, and he unfortunately spent it on a very long plane ride returning from my sister's enchanting wedding in Stokholm.  So I surprised him with a cake and a surprise in Dolores park this past weekend full with unexpected and delightful visits from his friends.  I decided to make him a Black Forest Cake, particularly because I had never made one before, and cherries are in season right now.  I used fresh cherries in the cake, and although most recipes for this cake call for sour jarred cherries, I think the fresh ones give the cake a much lighter and a tangy, summery taste.  The cake was absolutely delicious, apart from being stunning to look at.

Surprisingly it was also quite simple to prepare.  I used a recipe that was on NY Times, although I did change it up quite a bit.  The original recipe asked for the batter to be spread amongst 3 different cake pans, but I do not own that many same-sized cake pans, so I used one spring form pan.  The original recipe also used butter (and loads of it) in the whipped cream topping which I omitted.  I think this cake has a fresh, summery feel about it, despite the layers and the rich, delectable chocolate ganache layer which took some people by surprise while eating it.

Black Forest Cake 

(adapted from a recipe by Johnny Iuzzini)

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour, sifted (or, like I used, 2 cups of all purpose flour + 2 T cornstarch)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
13/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 pound semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons sifted confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup kirsch
1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and halved

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use 1 tablespoon butter to grease the 9 inch spring form pan. Line bottom with circle cut out of waxed or parchment paper and use a little more butter to grease paper. Dust pans with a little flour. Sift remaining flour with baking soda, baking powder, cocoa and salt.
2. Beat eggs until very frothy. Gradually add all but 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, beating until mixture is thick, light and falls in a ribbon when beater is lifted. Whisk in vanilla and mayonnaise. Add dry ingredients alternately with 1 1/4 cups water, mixing just until combined. Spread in pan and bake 45 minutes, until springy when touched, and a wooden skewer comes out clean when poked. Cool on a rack.
3. Place chocolate in a bowl. Bring 1/2 cup heavy cream to a boil, pour over chocolate and mix until it makes a smooth and shiny ganache. Refrigerate until cooled and thickened but still spreadable, about 30 minutes.
4.Whip remaining cream with confectioners’ sugar until softly peaked. Refrigerate.
5. Place remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons boiling water. When sugar dissolves, stir in kirsch. When cakes have cooled remove them from pans and peel off paper. Halve the cake into two layers and once cooled, drizzle with kirsch mixture.
6. Place one layer on a flat cake plate for serving. Spread with half the chocolate ganache. Spread with cherries. Spread with 2/3 cup of the whipped cream. Top with another layer and spread with ganache, and whipped cream.  Frost cake with remaining whipped cream and dust with grated chocolate. Wipe rim of cake plate clean.  Top with a few whole cherries with stems.  Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.  Or in my case, drive in your car with the cake plate on your lap, and have the birthday boy carry it onto the train to San Francisco and walk through the crowds of celebrating people at the Gay Pride parade, until you get to Dolores Park, and dig in.

 

My Garden and a Wildflower hike

It's been a year since we started working in our little garden behind the kitchen door, and I'm happy to report that the flowers are blooming at this time of year, and the lettuces are abundant.  It is a pleasure to walk through it in the evenings knowing that you have planted these yourself and cared for them (to which my fiancee would say "you mean me, don't you" ). So here are a few photos of the garden, and also the picturesque hike we went on just south of Monterey while all the widflowers were in bloom.

It is delightful to see these johnny jump-ups peeking in from amongst the tomato plants

 

And the Hike....

Meatless Meatballs

Meatless Kofta

My grandmother used to make these with minced goat meat.  They were a once in a month treat usually on Sundays, alternating with keema (minced meat curry).  We would eat these with hot chapatis, and although I cannot make chapatis like my grandmother used to, it is rather enjoyable with whole wheat tortillas.

Ingredients for the sauce:
3 T groundnut oil
3 medium onions, very thinly sliced where they are almost translucent
3 small dried bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 cardamom pods, just bruised (Since it is a Sindhi dish, we used green cardamom instead of black, which is traditionally used in North Indian curries)
2 cloves
1 T ginger paste
1 T garlic paste
1.5 t cumin powder
1 t coriander powder
1/2 t red chili powder
 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
5-6 mini yukon gold potatoes, or 3 large ones cubed
Salt to taste

1. Heat the oil in a pot on Medium.  Once heated, add the onions, and DO NOT STIR for at least 10 minutes. You want these to get a nice color so stir in 10 minutes and then keep a close eye on them so they just brown but don't burn.  It took me a good 25 minutes until the onions were nicely caramelized
2. Once they look lovely and jammy, add the whole spices (bay leaves, green cardamom, cinnamon stick, clove) and ginger and garlic plaste.
3. Stir for a few minutes until your kitchen starts to exude that spicy aroma, and add the ground spices (cumin, coriander and red chili)
4. In about 3-4 minutes, add tomatoes and stir. Simmer for about 20 minutes

Ingredients for the Kofta:
1 cup Nutrella (little soy granules), soaked in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes and then squeezed dry and sauteed for about 5 minutes in a pan with a little bit of oil
1 inch ginger
2 cloves garlic
2 green chillies (hot ones)
a handful of coriander (tender stems and leaves)
a handful of mint
1 cup Panko or any bread crumbs ( or 1 slice of soaked white bread, ends removed )
1 egg
2 t Dijon mustard
1 t salt
1 t cumin

1. In a food processor, blend together the green chillies, coriander, mint, ginger and garlic and add to the pan with the nutrella for about 5 minutes
2. In a bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients including the pan mixture
3. Get your hands in there and mix everything until it comes together nicely.  In your hands take a little bit and make golf ball sized balls.  If it falls apart easily, add more breadcrumbs, but be careful not to overdo it.  Once done, you can refrigerate for 10 minutes or until the sauce is ready.  
4. In a flat wide pan, add oil to the coat the bottom, and heat to Medium.  Carefully place the kofta in the pan and cover with a lid for 7-8 minutes.   Turn them over and let them cook covered for another 5-6 minutes.

Serve the kofta topped with generous amounts of sauce and roti.