Whilst still practicing to get this whole Blog thing underhand, I can say that I am at least pretty sure I can mean cake….. and this time around it is the story of the Sandwich cake.

And everytime I start with a blog post about cake I want to sing “It’s all about the cake, yes the cake, yes the cake….”. Arghhh, song stuck in my head again!!

I was planning a tea party last year and realised that I had more than enough sweet on my menu and was determined to do “something else” as the centre piece cake. My fabulous mother put me onto the idea of making a savoury instead of a sweet cake after she made a similar cake for a friend for her birthday. In South Africa our cakes are always “sweet” so this was going to be VERY different if I could pull it off.

I started researching Sandwich cakes and came across what the Swedish call Smörgåstårta (Sandwich cake). They are made in every form and shape with a variety of fillings.  After reading through most of the recipes, I realised that this was a definite “PIK ME – I also want to try it” moment!!

I mostly found fish and a variety of vegetables used in between the layers and settled on the following for mine – salmon/trout mousse, mustard sauce, salmon, cucumber for in between the layers and cream cheese, cucumber, egg, shrimp and salmon for the decorating.

I KNOW, this sounds like a very weird combination…..but you just have to try it, it rocks! I had two little helpers on the day that I was making it and they were licking out the bowls and even had a slice or two when the cake was done!

I was also rather taken by the cakes that looked like a pretty rounded birthday cake and so my mission started as I needed to find the perfect bread, which could be baked in a round cake tin. And voila, I found this wonderful recipe that has since never flopped on me ……BREAD

You will need the following:
Bread
Salmon/Trout mousse
Mustard Sauce
Other fillings
Garnishing

Salmon/ Trout mousse
400 g (14.1 oz) smoked smoked salmon/trout pieces
100 ml (scant 1⁄2 cup) mayonnaise
100 ml (scant 1⁄2 cup) heavy cream
Mix all the ingredients together and chill in the fridge

Cream cheese mixture
300 g (10 1⁄2 oz.) cream cheese, softened
300 ml (1 1⁄4 cups) sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix together the cream cheese and sour cream. Season with salt and  pepper. Set aside.

Mustard Sauce
1 1⁄2 tbsp. Mild mustard
1 1⁄2 tbsp. Dijon mustard, at room temperature
2 ml sugar
100 ml (scant 1⁄2 cup) cooking oil
Salt to taste
Make sure that the ingredients for the mustard sauce are at room temperature, otherwise it will split. Mix sugar and mustard and drizzle in oil. Season with salt. Store in the fridge.

Other fillings
400 g (14.1 oz.) cold-smoked salmon
Lettuce

Garnishing
Salmon (left over from what you didn’t use in the cake)
Cooked shrimp
2 boiled eggs
A couple of radishes, sliced, to garnish
Parsley

ASSEMBLY:
NO 1
Bake the bread as per my bread recipe

I found it best to bake the bread the day before and assemble the cake the next morning. Keep the bread in an air tight container overnight.

NO 2
Cut the bread into 3 even piece horizontally.

NO 3
Cover the bottom layer with the Salmon/Trout Mousse and cucumber if you wish. Place the middle section of bread on this layer.

NO 4
Layer the Salmon on the next layer of bread, followed by the mustard sauce. I would suggest that you don’t pour all the mustard on at once, but use as per taste as it can be very overpowering. Next place the shredded lettuce on.

NO 5
Close up with the top of the bread. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the tops and sides of the cake. Then garnish. Refrigerate before eating.

Notes:

• You can use butter on the bread between your layers. Make sure it is nice and soft so that it doesn’t break the bread when you spreading it.
• You can choose your own savoury filling, be adventurous
• Use a good bread knife to cut the pieces
• Invite me for a piece

I need to make this cake again!! Tea anyone???

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Guess what, today you getting some real traditional cake from me. Yip, no alternatives today, because sometimes the real deal is all you need! We had a friend’s birthday to celebrate this past weekend and I decided to bless her with some cake. “Cause it’s all about the cake, ’bout the cake, OH TROUBLE!”

I cannot remember exactly when I started baking this cake, but it was definitely when I was in High School which means is more than 20 years ago. It is my Aunt on my Dad’s side’s recipe and I am pretty sure she got it from some other trusted source. Over the years I have adapted it to make it my own. It has now become “The Cake” I get asked to produce for my in-law family get-togethers and also my go-two recipe when I want to make something nice – Welcome to my “Almost Famous” Totally Real, Awesome Chocolate Mousse Cake!

Mmmm…might have just given you an incentive to have me over? 

I doubled the recipe for the sponges below as I wanted to have a 3 tier cake. 

While the cakes are cooling down I make the mousse. I use a ‘package pudding’ to make up my mousse as it gives it the right consistency. To make sure that my mousse is thick enough I just reduced the amount of milk that is normally used to make up the pudding.

Once the pudding is chilled I started the assembly of the cake. Putting some mousse in between every layer of the cake and then covering the whole cake with it. Put the cake into the fridge to chill and set.

For the final piece of the cake (mind the pun) I melt some milk chocolates and added some milk to make it more runny. Before all the pieces of chocolate has totally melted I pour the chocolate mixture over the moussed cake (removed from the fridge). As soon as it is done, the cake goes back into the fridge.

An Voilà, you have my My Totally Real, Awesome Chocolate Mousse Cake!!

Tips:

• As there will be a tier left over, you can use it to make some smaller cakes or just serve it cut up into blocks
• Make sure to taste as you go along, as life is too short to just look at your cake and not have it!

GET CREATIVE AND MAKE A TOPPING OF YOUR OWN!

I think this cake deserves to be branded as “FAMOUS”, but it will have to be shared and made to be made famous, SO PLEASE SHARE!

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Apples roses with a twist!

For those of you that “do” Facebook, have you ever come across a post that appears on your page that says something like this… “She sliced and apple and you wouldn’t believe what happened next”? Well I did and I must say, I was NOT going to open in. What if this person wasn’t just slicing apples, but was going to plant an apple virus on my pc!! Bear with me please….

So, I didn’t open that post the first time but I saw it again a few times on FB and when a friend shared the post I decided to have a look at it. What could possibly be so spectacular with someone slicing an apple?!?!?

Nothing could prepare me for the awesomeness that I saw….apple roses!! So, after watching the lady slice the apples (as promised by the title) and make something I wouldn’t believe (also promised by the title) I decided to take these simple Apple Roses and put my Greek/Cypriot twist on it.

I make and sell Greek finger food and one of my products is called Milopites which is filled with apple, nuts and some secret ingredients. So I decided to use my Milopites recipe in the roses. So my new creation would be called Milopites Roses!

The first time I made them I didn’t pay much attention to what amounts I used but was focusing on the technique and taste rather than the recipe. I think that making them by feeling the first time was just the right thing to do!

Important tips:

1. Don’t put too much wet ingredients on your puff pastry as it will make the pastry soggy and difficult to roll
2. Don’t put too many ingredients in as you don’t want to roll it up too big
3. Make sure your apple slices are evenly cut
4. Red apples give you the “rose” look, but I am pretty sure you can do green flowers as well
5. NB!! Testing more than one of your products will ALWAYS help with knowing what to improve on next time

BE CREATIVE!!!

Go look up Apple roses and fill with your own combination of ingredients!!!

If you enjoyed this post please share!! Sharing is caring and I want everyone to start getting creative!

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It is really easy to make! Everyone eats it AND you can put it back into to the freezer if there is any chance it isn’t finished on the first offering!

I have made this cake for kids and adult parties and they are always a hit! So here goes my EASY PEASY ICE CREAM CAKE!

What you need:

• Flip form pan
• 2 tubs of 2l ice creams in any flavour you like
• Cookies, biscuits or even chocolate pieces

How to make it:

1. Take the ice cream out of the freezer and let it stand for a few minutes. It mustn’t be runny, just soft and still cold.
2. Layer the bottom of the flip form pan with a layer of wax (this will help when you take the bottom off). If you don’t have wax paper you can make it without it (see hints below).
3. Press the first tubs ice cream into the bottom half of the pan. You can use some kitchen gloves, but I would just persevere as it doesn’t take too long. Tip: Your fingers should be freezing when doing this! Mine normally feel like they are about to fall off. That means that the ice cream is still cold and semi frozen.
4. Now you can sprinkle a layer of cookies, biscuits, Astros or whatever your hear desires as a middle layer.
5. Immediately proceed to tip the second tub of ice cream into the pan and press into the pan.
6. Try and get the top even and cover the whole pan with cling film.
7. Leave in the freezer. You can make the cake a day or so before your party.

How to get it ready to serve

1. I usually take it out of the pan an hour or so before I am ready to serve it. Remove the cling film and rub a warmed cloth around the outside of the tin. You will see it start to melt slightly and it will make it easier to remove the sides of the flip form pan.
2. One you have it out tip it over onto the serving plate and remove the top of the pan
3. Decorate and serve!

Hints (These are proven hints…..my non-pintrest moments)

• If you are not using the wax on the bottom of the pan, you can also leave the cake on the bottom and serve
• If you don’t have a flip form pan you can always use a deep baking pan. Once you are ready to get the ice cream cake out of the pan you can use the same method as I did with a warm cloth or you can use your hairdryer on a low setting to loosen the cake from the sides . Not too warm or it will melt the whole cake!!!

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