Strawberry and Vanilla Trifle

I started this blog about a year ago, with the intention of documenting my recipes (so I stop forgetting them), and to be able to easily pass them along. The past year has probably been the biggest whirlwind of change in my life, but at the very least it's kept things interesting. From a slew of jobs and opportunities, friends and family moving about, and with my own move approaching, life looks quite different than it did a mere 12 months ago.

I haven't been doing much recipe testing lately, or posting about it (clearly) because, quite frankly, working in a kitchen all day doesn't leave much time to....cook. Not that I've stopped baking and cooking at home, but it certainly has slowed quite a bit. However, my last day of work has come and gone with the weekend, and though I won't be posting many recipes these next couple weeks, I do want to get in the habit of writing again. My plan is to shift the focus of this blog from recipes and food to a way to keep my nearest and dearest updated on what my life is like in cheery ol' England. Perhaps that will have a lot to do with recipes and food. I have no clue.

I literally have no idea what my days will be like in two weeks. With how intimidating and weird that is, it's also one of the most exciting aspects of this move. Either way, it's comforting to know I can share all my experiences and discoveries with you along the way.

We had a little get-together over the weekend to send me off, full of all sorts of British goodies. One of the things I contributed was a strawberry and vanilla trifle. I've had a few requests for this recipe, so here it is! I apologize for the unorganized and last minute picture!

Strawberry and Vanilla Trifle

Cake:

2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/6 cup oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and grease/flour a 9" cake pan. Cream butter and sugar, slowly adding oil. Mix well, occasionally scraping sides of the bowl. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, and half of the flour. Mix in buttermilk, then add the rest of the flour. Mix until combined and most lumps have dissolved. Pour batter in pan and bake for 25-30 min, until toothpick inserted in center comes out almost completely clean. Cool cake completely.

Custard:
2 cups milk
1 cup half and half or heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat milk, half and half, and vanilla over medium-high heat. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until they're thickened, lighter in color, and sugar is dissolved. When milk mixture comes to a simmer, take off heat. While continuously whisking egg yolk mixture, slowly add 1 cup of the milk to the eggs to temper. Whisk well to combine. Add one more cup of milk mixture to eggs while whisking. Place sieve over saucepan and strain egg mixture back into the remaining milk. Place saucepan over medium heat and continuously stir mixture until custard is slightly thickened, about 5-7 minutes (it should be able to coat the back of a wooden spoon and leave a trail when running a finger over the spoon). Pour into a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and press onto the surface of the custard, and chill completely in the refrigerator, 3-4 hours. Note: Custard will be slightly looser than a typical custard, ideal for the cake to absorb.

Assembly:
Cut cooled cake into 1/2" cubes. In a trifle dish or a large, deep bowl (preferably clear), layer cake, custard, and sliced strawberries (or any desired fruit), repeating the layers until dish is full, finishing the dessert with fruit on top. Refrigerate for a few hours (overnight is best) to set.



This weekend was surely a reminder of how much love and support I have all around me. I'm so blessed to have such kind and caring people in my life. Thanks to all who helped my family and I every step of the way, whether in person or in spirit. If you couldn't tell, I appreciated it with every ounce I have in me! Much love to you all :)

Loco Cocoa Cake!

This post is devoted to my incredibly supportive, loving, intelligent and crazy dad. Today is his birthday! Happy birthday, Dad! 

I can thank him for my competitiveness, my need to challenge myself, and my spontaneity. He's the one that runs beside me, gives me a glance and the next thing you know we're sprinting until one of us burns out. He's there 10:00 in the morning on my birthday doing a shot of tequila with me (though we opted for 10pm this time around). He's the one you can say "I kind of feel like going on a road trip," and his response is, "Which car should we take?" And I can always count on him walking through the door with his enthusiastic, "Hey Mandy May!" every day when he gets home from work.

All in all, my dad is a pretty awesome guy.

And that means he needs an awesome cake. One that's not usual, a little surprising, and definitely keeps you on your toes.

Two years ago for his birthday I made what I like to call "The Man Cake," which was a cake made with his own Pumpkin Ale topped with a bacon buttercream, made with bacon fat and butter. Oh, yeah. I did that. And I topped it with crumbled bacon.

Since The Man Cake was pretty out of the box, I needed to come up with something that was at least comparable this year.

I decided on a chocolate cake, soaked in Patron Xo Cafe Dark Cocoa tequila, filled with cayenne-chocolate custard and topped with a spicy dark chocolate ganache. Loco Cocoa, no?

The cake was made from my favorite chocolate cake recipe, cut into four layers, and doused in the tequila. I filled the cake with my standard chocolate custard recipe with about a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne added in (we like things spicy! Adjust according to your tastes). I frosted the cake with a dark chocolate ganache that also had cayenne and a little cinnamon added. The cake was decorated with shards of chocolate sprayed with edible gold and amber sugar.

I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful dad who keeps up with my crazy life and supports me every step of the way. Hope you had a great day, Dad!

"And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers..." Malachi 4:6

Coconut Cake

I feel bad. It's only been a little while since I started this blog and already this week I had such little time to devote to it. I promise it'll change! Work has been crazy busy! And I love every second of it. But at this point we should probably all just live at the restaurant. It'd be way more convenient. Plus there's tons of amazing food. And really comfy booths. And lots of booze. I think it could work. Right now my days consist of going to the gym and going right to work, then coming home late and sleeping. Where does baking fit in? I'm thinking I found a solution, but it's something I can't mention yet (even though I'm really, really, really excited!).

Well, the temporary non-solution solution was having my mom bake this cake for me. Is that an ultimate blogger sin? I guess it'd be worse if I pretended like I did it myself and didn't tell you. Anyway, luckily for me she's amazing in the kitchen and is the sole reason why I decided to spend any time in there in the first place. And so the only thing I had to do on my day off was whip up some frosting and custard and assemble the cake.

You know what else that left time for? If you guessed spending time with my family, you're wrong. It's drinking.

Fine, I was drinking with my family, so I guess I'll give you half credit (that's the elementary teacher side of me coming out, which doesn't happen often because THERE ARE NO JOBS AVAILABLE. Let's change the subject before things get all political up in here). Back to the alcohol. (Oh, and don't act like your elementary school teachers didn't enjoy a drink every once in a while. Don't you dare judge me. I'm just real, people. And a recent college graduate. There needs to be a buffer period, and that time is now.)

So the other day my dear little cousin, all ten years of him, blurted out, "You were happy drunk at your graduation party." Let me explain. Okay, there's not much to explain. There was way too much to drink and I guess I felt the need to take control of the situation. At least I was the "happy drunk cousin" and not the "angry drunk cousin" or the "emotional drunk cousin" or the....I'll stop there. Anyway, we've moved forward. But as we parted the other day, my too-wise-for-his-mere-ten-years cousin left me with a piece of advice (by yelling across the parking lot):

"Amanda. Do not drink alone! That's when it gets bad."

Thank you, kind sir. I will truly keep that in mind. I hope you learn from my mistakes, dearest cousin. Though it seems you know my mistakes before I even make them.

By the way. If you enjoyed the doughnuts in the last post, check out said cousin's website: United Doughnut Kingdom. That's right, a whole internet kingdom devoted to doughnuts. I'm not sure what could be better. Oh, and don't be upset if you missed the Doughnut Meeting that he had scheduled on April 15th, I'm sure there are plenty more to come. This website craftsmanship must run in the family or something.

You want me to get on to the recipe, you say? Fair enough, we'll continue to discuss my life's mistakes and mishaps another times. And I know that last sentence didn't make sense (and yes, I know I will be teaching your children someday), I just know these types of discussions are bound to occur on many, many occasions to come.

So, coconut cake. I didn't bake this cake. I admitted that. So I'm not going to claim to revamp a recipe or give you the play-by-play. But what I will do is give you the link. Cause this cake was awesome (as is the lady who made it!), and if you need a coconut cake recipe, let it be this one.

Coconut Cake

I had leftover buttercream so I crumb-coated the cake with that, and made a Swiss meringue buttercream to frost and decorate it. The filling was a chocolate custard that was super easy to put together (and the solution to having 5 egg yolks leftover from the frosting).

Chocolate Custard
5 egg yolks
3/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 cups milk
1 cup half and half or heavy cream
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch until fluffy and light yellow. Over medium heat, heat milk, heavy cream, chocolate and espresso powder until it begins to bubble around the edges of the pot (not boiling!). To temper the eggs, use a ladle to slowly add some of the milk mixture to the egg yolks while whisking constantly. After adding about a cup of the milk mixture to the egg yolks, strain the egg mixture back into the pot with the rest of the milk. Whisk the mixture over medium-low heat until it thickens (it should happen fairly quickly). Transfer the custard to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap pressed right on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Cool custard completely in the fridge to finish thickening before using.

The ruffle technique has been featured on many blogs, so I'm sure it's nothing new to you! This was my first attempt and I'd like to take my time next time. Even if you don't make this cake all ruffly or it's not your grandma's 80th birthday, you should make it, 'cause it's just plain delicious. Happy birthday, Grandma!