Technicolor Kitchen - English version

Let’s take a sweet turn on the simple recipe subject: a delicious and tender cake, that goes wonderfully with a cup of tea or coffee – making it could not be easier: you just throw all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix well; no elbow grease needed – the electric mixer will take care of that for you.

The icing here is completely optional – you can go for a dust of icing sugar – but I wanted the cake to look exactly like the ones my grandmother used to make when I was a kid. :D

Butter cake
from Modern Classics Book 2: Cookies, Biscuits & Slices, Small Cakes, Cakes, Desserts, Hot Puddings, Pies & Tarts (Morrow Cookbooks)

Cake:
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (127g) unsalted butter, very well softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 ½ tablespoons (218g) caster sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cups + 1 ½ tablespoons (225g) all purpose flour, sifted
½ teaspoon baking powder, sifted
¼ teaspoon baking soda, sifted
pinch of salt
½ cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature

Icing:
1 cup (140g) icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice or water

Preheat the oven to 160°C; butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan, line the bottom with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Place the butter, vanilla, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and milk in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed until combined.
Scrape the sides of the bowl, then beat in high speed until the mixture is just smooth.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour or until risen, golden and cooked through when tested with a toothpick. Allow to cool in the pan, on a wire rack, for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack. Let cool completely.
Make the icing: place the sugar in a small bowl and gradually add the juice/water, mixing until smooth (add more liquid if necessary). Drizzle over the cake.

Serves 8

I was watching music videos on TV other day when I saw the ugliest creature ever. Really – at the moment he took off his shirt and opened his mouth I felt like running, running like there was no tomorrow.
A quick visit to a certain profile on imdb was essential to avoid being scarred for life. :D

Making something pretty also helps. I decide for this challah, inspired by the gorgeous one Jaden made a while ago. The recipe is from Zoe’s wonderful book.

Cinnamon scented challah
from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Master Challah dough*:
1 ¾ cups (420ml) lukewarm water
1 ½ tablespoons instant yeast
1 ½ teaspoons table salt
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
½ cup honey
½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
7 cups (980g) unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling and topping:
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a small handful sliced almonds

egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey and butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.

Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment) or a heavy duty stand mixer, with dough hook. If you are not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.

Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

For the filling, mix together sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days. Beyond 5 days, freeze in 1 pound (450g) portions in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks. Defrost frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator before using. Then allow the usual rest and rise time.

On baking day, line a baking sheet with non stick baking paper or buttered regular baking paper.
Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound/450g (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

Let’s shape the challah: use the palm of your hands and roll the dough into a thick, even log. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces with knife or dough scraper. (It’s easier to cut even pieces when the dough is not round). Roll each piece with your hands to stretch into a long 1 ½ in (approx. 3.75 cm) thick rope. Try not to just stretch it out by pulling, the dough will break. Easiest way is to place dough on counter and roll back and forth with palms of hands, starting in the middle and hands move out which stretching the dough a bit. Don’t worry about getting it to look pretty, just try to get each piece even sized.

Take one piece of dough. Use side of your hand to press and create an indent in the middle of the strand. Spread 1/3 of the filling in this indent.

Bring up the sides of the dough, encasing the filling, and pinch dough closed. Repeat with other strands.
Now, time to braid the bread: start in the middle and braid. Pinch ends, tuck under. Now braid the other side, pinch and tuck. Start braid from the middle (instead of top) so that it tapers evenly at both ends. Place on prepared sheet, over paper.
Cover with towel and let rest for 1 ½ hours; 20 minutes prior to baking, preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
When dough is ready, brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with almonds. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

* this amount of dough is enough to make four 1-pound (450g) challahs – you may keep the remaining dough in the fridge or freeze it (as explained in the recipe) and use as desired

Makes 1 challah

Thank you all for being so supportive about my disastrous bread. I learned that KJ and Jenjen, two of my favorite bloggers, did not have any luck with this recipe either. And Syrie, tks for the suggestion of leaving Jamie a message – it had crossed my mind, but I thought I was being too childish... :)

With all the info I have received from you and from the people who read my blog in Portuguese, I ended up thinking that Jamie’s cooking recipes are great, but his baking recipes might not be all that. I say that because the complaints are about cakes and bread and not about pasta and salads.
Anyway, my new book has arrived and I am sure I’ll be baking some amazing bread this weekend. :)

I’ll offer you something savory today: a recipe adapted from here. I omitted the mushrooms just because I wasn’t in the mood for a grocery store trip. But even with this very simple sauce it was a good pasta dish – Joao had his gnocchi with tomato sauce and loved it.

I did have to use more flour than the amount called for in the recipe, but I believe it was the potatoes’ fault. Make sure you use potatoes that are suitable for gnocchi.

Olive gnocchi with parsley garlic sauce
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Gnocchi:
800g (about 3) large desiree potatoes
3 egg yolks
80g (½ cup) black olives, pitted and finely chopped
110g plain flour*
salt

Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
50g butter
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced**
1/3 cup (loosely packed) flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
grated parmesan, to serve – I took the photo before adding the cheese, duh!

For gnocchi, bring potatoes to boil in a large saucepan, cook until tender (25-30 minutes). Drain, peel and pass through a potato ricer into a bowl while still hot. Beat in egg yolks and salt, add olives and flour and gently work mixture together. Turn onto a floured work surface and, using your hands, roll into 2cm-thick logs. Cut logs widthways into 1½cm pieces, pinch in the sides of each piece slightly and set aside.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add gnocchi and simmer over medium heat until they float to the surface (2-3 minutes). Transfer to a tray to keep warm.
Heat olive oil and butter in a large frying pan, when butter starts to foam, add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft (2-3 minutes). Add gnocchi, gently toss until coated, scatter with parsley, sprinkle with parmesan and serve immediately.

* I ended up using more flour because the dough was extremely soft
** I used garlic infused olive oil instead

Serves 6

I love breakfast food. In a perfect world, people should be able to eat pancakes, waffles, muffins and bread all through the day. :)

This was the first time I tried french toast, though. We do eat something really similar here in Brazil, called rabanada, but it’s usually prepared around Christmas time and it’s not a daily breakfast meal for us. It’s equally delicious: the bread is soaked in a mix of milk and sweetened condensed milk, fried and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

I had drained some yogurt and was looking for something good to use it with - Pea’s “refund” muffins crossed my mind, but the amount of yogurt was not enough. The answer was on this book.

I used plain sandwich bread (which was the only kind around the house that day) and it worked fine, even though they were not very thick. I just had to be careful when frying and flipping them over.

Cinnamon French toast
from Kitchen: The Best of the Best

4 thick slices white bread, crusts removed
1 egg
1 tablespoon sugar – I used vanilla scented sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup (120ml) milk
butter, for frying
extra sugar, for sprinkling
175g plain yogurt, to serve
fresh seasonal fruit, to serve
100ml maple syrup, to serve – I used honey
toasted pecans, to serve

Cut each slice of bread in half to make rectangles. Beat the egg, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, then add the milk and combine well. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a frying pan – I used non-stick - over medium heat. Dip the bread into the milk mixture, covering both sides. Sprinkle one side of each piece of bread with sugar and gently fry, sugar-side down, for 3 minutes, or until the undersides are golden. Sprinkle the tops with a little sugar and flip over. Cook until golden. Serve with yogurt, fresh fruit, maple syrup/honey and sprinkle of pecans.

Serves 4

I know that many people frown at the simple mention of the name “ricotta” - right, C.? :)

I’m not one of those. I really like ricotta and find it very versatile. You can use it in both sweet and savory recipes and jazz it up with a diversity of flavors.

Valentina posted this gnocchi recipe a while ago on her blog in Portuguese and it sounded so easy I had to try it myself. Another use for the wonderful lemons in my fridge and also for my newest addiction: fresh thyme.



This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Margot, from Coffee and Vanilla.

Ricotta gnocchi with lemon thyme butter sauce

Gnocchi:
250g ricotta cheese
¼ cup (25g) grated parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra grated parmesan, to serve

Sauce:
80g unsalted butter, room temperature
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Start with the sauce: place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until the butter melts completely. Remove from heat and set aside.

Now, the gnocchi: place the ricotta, ¼ cup parmesan, egg, flour, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well until smooth – the ricotta cheese we have here in Brazil is a bit dry, so I started by breaking it with a fork and then added all the other ingredients. You'll see specks of ricotta in the gnocchi because I did not want to overmix the dough.

Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased or coated with cooking spray surface and shape into a long log; cut the gnocchi – they should be about 2cm.
Make indentations in each dough ball with a fork – I did not do that.

Cook the gnocchi in a large saucepan with boiling salted water – as soon as the balls come up to the surface, they will be almost ready; let them cook for another 30 seconds then remove them carefully from the pan, using a skimming ladle.

Heat the sauce, pour over the gnocchi, sprinkle with parmesan and serve at once.

Serves 2

I love growing my own herbs. I have been doing that with basil and parsley for over 2years now, rosemary and chives for a little less time and a couple of months ago I started growing sage and oregano.
After cooking with sage for the first time, I felt like trying it again, using a recipe from the same article (DH magazine #32). One of the quickest pasta dishes I have ever put together, this is absolutely delicious. And Joey seems to think so, too. :)

There’s only a handful of ingredients here, so use the best and freshest you can find.

Crispy sage and brown butter pasta
from Donna Hay magazine

200g (7oz) spaghetti
50g (1 ¾oz) unsalted butter
1/3 cup sage leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
grated parmesan, to serve

Place the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water and cook until al dente; drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter and stir until melted. Add the sage and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the sage is crispy and the butter is browned.
Stir through the lemon juice, drained pasta, salt and pepper and toss to combine.
Top with the parmesan and serve.

Serves 2

Another one of Donna Hay’s wonderful baked risottos – I think I got a little lazier after I started making risottos this way.



Some of you know that risotto is my favorite food and I don’t need an excuse to make them; but this one was made especially for this Monthly Mingle – an event hosted by the lovely and talented Meeta. This time, the theme is comfort foods and to me nothing is more comforting than risotto. Oh, and my mom’s rice pudding.

I got the recipe from Donna Hay Magazine #33 and changed some of the ingredients – you can’t blame me for being hooked on roasted butternut squash! :)

Bacon, butternut squash and basil baked risotto
adapted from Donna Hay magazine

400g (14oz) butternut squash, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 slices bacon
40g (1½oz) unsalted butter
¼ cup torn basil leaves
1 ½ cups arborio (or risotto) rice
4 ½ cups (36floz) vegetable stock
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
unsalted butter, melted, for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355ºF. Place the butternut squash, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss to coat. Transfer it to a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until golden and tender. Set aside.
Place the bacon on a dish, between paper towel and microwave for 1 ½ minutes or until crisp. Let it cool, then break it into small pieces using your fingertips. Set aside.
Place the rice and stock in a 22x30cm (8½ x12in) 10-cup (80fl) capacity baking dish* and stir to combine. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes or until most of the stock is absorbed and the rice is al dente. Add the parmesan, salt, pepper, butternut squash, bacon and basil and stir to combine. Drizzle with butter and serve immediately.

* I used a deep bowl instead – I thought it would be easier to mix the ingredients in it than in a rectangular baking dish

Serves 4

I think you all may have already noticed that I really like baking. I do. I used to be a Daring Baker, for crying out loud. But I had never baked savory cookies before.

I tagged this recipe after seeing it on L.’s blog, Bake or Shake. Her cookies looked delicious and one just can’t go wrong with cheese and herbs. Oh, and butter. That’s just impossible. :)

I made these to give as a gift and to be honest I almost gave up on sending them – they were so good! They’re a great snack and go perfectly with ice cold beer. Or caipirinha…

Savory herb, black pepper and parmesan shortbread

½ cup (113g/1 stick) salted butter, softened – I used unsalted
¼ (heaping) cup (35g) ground parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon freshly cracked/ground black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil (or use the dried herb you like the most)
1 ¼ cups (175g) all purpose flour

Line a light-colored baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the butter, salt, parmesan, black pepper and basil until creamy and speckled. Slowly add the flour, and mix until dough holds together when pinched. If dough is still too crumbly, add up to 1 tablespoon of ice water – I didn’t need to. Turn out onto a floured counter top, roll into a ball and then into an elongated log, around 30 to 35cm (12 to 14 in) long, depending on how large you want your crackers. Try to make sure the log is an even length, and wrap in tinfoil or plastic and freeze for at least half an hour, or longer if you don't want to serve them today. If you do, preheat your oven to 175ºC/350ºF.

Remove from the freezer, and slice into rounds: the original recipe (by Ina Garten) yields nearly 36, L. got 24 or so and I got 35. Arrange in rows on the baking sheet, with at least a little space between them - they won't spread like normal cookies or biscuits. Bake for 15-25 minutes, checking after 15, until golden brown around the edges and smelling delicious (so true!! The smell is intoxicating).
Remove and cool completely, or serve slightly warm.

Makes 35-36

I have met so many wonderful people through blogging that if I start listing them it will take me days!

One of these friends I’ve made is a talented and gifted young lady, who happens to be not only a great cook but also an artist – Hannah, of the beautiful BitterSweet.

We always write to each other and I’m really glad we’ve met.

The lovely duckling is a gift she sent me by mail – isn’t it just adorable? I have been meaning to show it here forever, but I wanted to photograph it with some nice food.

These cookies are delicious and the only bad thing about this recipe is that the chocolate coating never set. The cookies were a bit messy to eat, but nobody complained about that! :)

You’ll get 2-3 tablespoons of coating left – it is fantastic over ice cream or brownies.

Hannah, my dear friend, thank you for the gift! I loved it!

Chocolate coated cookies
from Big Fat Cookies

Cookies:
2 cups (280g) unbleached all purpose flour
½ cup (45g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dark chocolate coating:
6 ½ ounces (182g) dark chocolate, chopped – I used 60% cocoa solids*
1 ½ tablespoons canola or corn oil

Make the cookies: Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter and sugar until blended and lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 20 minutes to firm it slightly.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 165ºC/325ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll heaping tablespoons** of dough between the palms of your hands into smooth balls, and place them in 5cm (2 inches) apart in the prepared baking sheets.
Using the palm of your hand, flatten the cookies to 2 ½-to 3-inch rounds.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and look dull rather than shiny, about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cook completely.

Make the chocolate coating: Put the chocolate and the oil in a heatproof container or the top of a double boiler, and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler). Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and let the chocolate coating cool and thicken slightly, about 20 minutes.

Spoon the chocolate coating over the top of the cookies and use the back of the spoon t to spread the chocolate evenly and coat them completely. If some chocolate drizzles over the cookies edges, that is fine.
Let the cookies sit at room temperature until the chocolate if firm. Or to speed the firming of the chocolate, refrigerate the cookies for about 20 minutes, then remove them from the refrigerator.

Makes 52 cookies

* you can use the following mixture, according to the book: 6 ounces (168g) semisweet chocolate + ½ ounce (14g) unsweetened chocolate
** if you prefer to make giant cookies, roll 3 leveled tablespoons of dough for each cookie – you should get 18-20 cookies.

Before the cake, some info: many of you have been asking me about my vacation – thanks, guys!
I went to Paris, Berlin, Rome and London and it was fantastic. Although Rome was incredibly beautiful, the city I liked the most was Berlin. The people are warm, the food was delicious. I would certainly come back one day!

If you are interested in taking a look at my “adventures in Europe”, some of the photos are now on my Flickr.

This is another recipe I prepared before my trip – and this time I had a very special sous chef.

I’m not an animated film fan, but so many of my favorite foodies were talking about Ratatouille with such enthusiasm that I decided to give it a go. And that special “mission” called for special company – so I took Jessica with me.

She loved the movie and I have to admit I loved it too! Remy is so adorable and cute I kept forgetting he was a mouse… :)

After the movie, my sister came home with me and we decided to bake something. She was in charge of choosing the recipe – and of course she didn’t disappoint me. This cake is so delicious!

You can see some of the almond meal through the cake – I told Jessica to carefully mix the ingredients and she did follow the instructions! :)

Moist chocolate cake
from Modern Classics 2

- metric measures found in the book

300g (10oz) dark chocolate, chopped
250g (8oz) butter, room temperature
5 eggs
½ cup (115g) sugar
1 ¼ cups (170g) all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup (85g) almond meal

Icing:
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF. Line the base of a 23cm* (9in) round cake pan with non-stick baking paper – I used waxed paper sprayed with cooking spray.
Place the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.
Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes, or until pale and thick. Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture and gently fold through with the almond meal and chocolate mixture.
Line the base of a 23cm* (9in) round cake pan with non-stick baking paper. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
Cool in the pan.
Prepare the icing: mix all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until it boils.
Remove from heat and pour it over the cake while still hot; spread with a palette knife or the back of a spoon if necessary.

* I used a 25cm round cake pan.

Serves 10

Before I tell you guys about the cookies above, I’d like to answer one question made by a lovely friend of mine (too bad her blog is in Portuguese, she writes beautifully) – she asked me which are my all time favorite songs. I have been thinking of it for almost a week now and came up with the following list - which I think I’ll regret the moment I hit the “publish post” button:

- Reel around the fountain - Smiths
- A new flame – Simply Red
- Loving you hating me – Soft Cell
- The 7th stranger – Duran Duran (the Arena live version)
- Walking on broken glass – Annie Lennox

Now, the food: I made these small boxes of cookies for my sister’s birthday party – she gave them away as gifts for her guests.
Everything was going well until I had to pipe the cookies onto the baking sheet. I had never seen so many deformed cookies in my entire life. They looked awful!
I baked the first batch anyway, somehow hoping they would morph into something pretty while in the oven – which of course never happened, since I’m not telekinetic.

I shaped the rest of the dough using 2 spoons. Everybody loved their little gifts and kept saying how cute they looked and how delicious they tasted and all I kept thinking was “you should have seen my face by the time I finished these…”

If you want to see some really beautiful melting moments, check the ones the sweet and talented Valentina made the other day.

Melting moments
adapted from Modern Classics Book 2

175g (6oz) butter, softened
¼ cup (32g) confectioner’s sugar
grated zest of 1 lime
1 cup (135g) all purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup (25g) cornstarch, sifted

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Place the butter, icing sugar and zest in a bowl and beat with electric beaters until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and cornstarch until combined.
Place the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a fluted nozzle. Pipe 3cm (1in) round onto a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper, allowing room for spreading.
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden. Cool on trays.

Makes 32

One of the bad things about living in São Paulo is the huge traffic jams I have to face every single day; it takes me forever to get to work and then to get back home. So exhausting.

I don’t know what happened in one of these days but the streets were so free that I arrived home in less then 40 minutes! A miracle! That deserved a celebration – a delicious dinner that I put together in 20 minutes.



This recipe was really good so I’m submitting it to the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Zorra, from the blog Kochtopf.

Parsley polenta with balsamic tomatoes
adapted from Off The Shelf: Cooking From the Pantry

4 ripe tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons basil leaves

Polenta:
2 cups (480ml) hot water
2 cups (480ml) milk
1 cup quick cook polenta*
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
60g (2 oz) butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Place the tomatoes, cut side down, in an ovenproof ceramic dish. Combine the oil, balsamic, sugar and basil and pour over the tomatoes. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft.
Make the polenta while the tomatoes are roasting. Place the water and milk in a saucepan over medium to high heat and bring to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook the polenta, stirring, for 3-5 minutes. Stir through the parmesan, parsley, butter, pepper and salt.
To serve, spoon the polenta onto serving plates. Top with the tomatoes and the pan juices. Finish with extra parmesan and serve.

* I made the polenta little bit thicker because that’s how João likes it.

Serves 4

This cake is called “anthill cake” because when you slice it, it looks like there are a thousand ants inside it:

Don’t be scared! These are chocolate sprinkles. :)

I think I had not eaten this cake in 8 years or so – I’m not kidding!
It’s a very traditional cake here and delicious even without any icing. Some recipes call for desiccated coconut, but the one I grew up baking doesn’t.
I used to bake this cake all the time when I was a teenage baker. It would be the perfect afternoon snack for me, my brother and Julio (my stepmother’s son) after we finished our homework.
The first time I made this cake was bit tragic, though: I poured too much batter in the pan and then it started to overflow… The batter on the oven got burnt and the kitchen was full of smoke. As I was a silly girl, I gave up the cake and went to my room to cry.

That day, we had company at home: my cousin Daniel and a friend of the boys’ were there, too.
Half an hour or so after the disaster, the 4 boys came to talk to me. They told me they had cleaned the oven and also washed the cake pan; they asked me to bake the cake again – of course I couldn’t say no to such a sweet request!

This time I used a recipe from a friend for the cake and chose the same chocolate icing I used for my Brazilian carrot cake. And apparently I haven’t learned my lesson – again, cake pan was a bit too small:
Brazilian anthill cake

3 eggs
pinch of salt
240g sugar
200g unsalted butter, room temperature
200ml milk
300g all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles

Chocolate icing:
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons milk

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355ºF. Grease and flour a 24cm ring pan.
Separate the egg whites from yolks being careful to not contaminate the whites with the yolks. Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Using a mixer, beat yolks, sugar and butter until light and creamy. Start adding the flour, alternating with the milk and beat well.
Add the baking powder and the chocolate sprinkles and mix well with a spoon. Fold in the egg whites – the batter is very thick. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes then invert the cake onto a serving plate.
Make the icing: mix all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until it boils.
Remove from heat and pour it over the cake.

Serves 10-12.

Yesterday Joao and I celebrated our 2 year and a half anniversary – I was (still am) recovering from a horrible flu that got me last week so we decided to stay in and celebrate it at home.
A nice meal made with love was mandatory!! :)

The recipe for the fish was taken from the July issue of Bon Appétit – I adapted some details. If you want to make it like the one in the magazine, use halibut instead of Saint Peter fish (Tilapia) and spring onions instead of chives.
I seasoned the fish with garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper and marinated the fillets for 2 hours, even though it’s not asked in the recipe.

The potatoes were taken from this book, and they were delicious – the only problem was that I used waxed paper instead of parchment paper and I had to peel the potato spears off the paper. Next time, a spritz of cooking spray will do the trick – thank you, Lydia, for the hint on the spray, I’ve been using it like crazy! :)

Grilled Tilapia with basil-chive butter
from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast and from Bon Appetit magazine

1 ½ cups (loosely packed) fresh basil leaves
4 tablespoons chopped chives
8 tablespoons (½ cup-112g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 x 170g (6-ounce) Tilapia fillets
extra virgin olive oil

Finely chop basil and chives in a mini food processor. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, and process until blended, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides. Transfer to a small bowl, stir in lemon zest and season with salt – I used a little freshly ground black pepper, too.
Prepare barbecue (medium heat) or grilling pan.
Rub fish fillets on both sides with olive oil. Grill until fillets are just opaque in center, about 4 minutes per side.
Transfer fish to plates and immediately spread some basil butter over fish.
Serve, passing additional basil butter alongside.

Serves 6.

Parmesan steak fries

3 large egg whites – I think 2 would be enough
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 baking potatoes, 220 to 280g (8-10 ounces) each
1 ¼ cups (125g) grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF.
In a wide shallow bowl, whisk the egg whites with 1 teaspoon salt until frothy.
Cut each potato into 6 long spears; add to the egg whites and turn to coat.
One at a time, lift the spears out of the egg whites shaking off excess.
Working over a plate, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese until coated (do not shake the excess). Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake without turning until the potatoes are fork-tender and golden brown – about 30 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Serves 4