The Twilight Cake

With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse out in theaters this week, I thought it was about time that I finally write about the cake I made last month. It was for my dearest friend, Juls. She's the biggest Twilight fan I know and so when her birthday came around this year, I just knew I had to make her this cake. 

Since I'm not too familiar with the Twilight series, I had to do a little bit of research.  I looked at the book covers and tried to figure out how to incorporate all the elements into one cake. The black background was the first thing that jumped out at me so that became the main color of the cake.  I decided to make the symbols on the book covers out of rolled fondant and place them on top of the cake. As for the flavor, there was no debate; it had to be a red velvet cake.



I thought it would be a cool idea to write popular book quotes on the side of the cake. I didn't want to ask Juls because I wanted it to be a surprise so I just searched for them online.  I used a small paintbrush and a mixture of silver luster dust and vodka to write the quotes onto the cake.

Here are some of the book quotes I decided to use:

"And So the lion fell in love with the lamb.
What a stupid lamb.
What a sick masochistic lion."

“If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not ashamed of it.”

"I promise to love you forever, every single day forever; will you marry me?"



For the scrollwork pattern, I made fondant scrolls and attached them around the base of the cake. I painted them with the same silver luster dust/vodka mixture as I did with the book quotes.



For the apple, I rolled some fondant into a ball and gently pressed around the top with my thumbs.  To create the stem, I just rolled a tiny piece of fondant and attached it to the top of the apple. I painted it red and brown using Wilton icing colors.



For the ruffled tulip, I used the tools in my Wilton Flower Making Set.  I cut out a piece of rolled fondant and pressed it inside the leaf mold. Then I ruffled the edges using the foam pad and one of the sticks. I made two more petals using the same technique.  For the falling petal, I used a small rose petal cutter. I arranged the petals so they would look just like the ruffled tulip on the New Moon book cover and used a very thin paintbrush to color it red.  For the stem, I just took a skinny piece of fondant and painted it green.



For the ribbon, I took a long piece of rolled fondant and cut it into two pieces.  To create the frayed edge, I used a paring knife and basically dragged the knife across several times.  I shaped the ribbon to look like the Eclipse book cover and then painted it with red food coloring. 



The chess pieces were basically shapes made out of rolled fondant that I stacked on top of each other.  For the pawn, I made three round discs on the bottom, an hourglass for the middle and another round disc and a ball for the top.  The queen was made pretty much the same way except for the crown. I took a strip of rolled fondant and used a rose petal cutter to shape the top of the crown. I wrapped the strip around a ball and placed a tiny ball at the very top. I used my FMM geometrical cutter set to make four white squares for the chessboard. I arranged them in the center of the cake and placed the pawn and the queen across from each other using two of the white squares.



When Juls saw the cake for the first time, she was absolutely blown away. She loved it so much that she couldn't bear the thought of cutting it.  Seriously, she really didn't want to cut her cake.  Eventually, I managed to convince her to finally cut it because I promised her I'd make her an exact replica in a fake cake.  She decided to display her fake Twilight cake on her bookshelf next to her Twilight series :-) 

Bengali Sweets South Ex Delhi !

Ok.. If you are Vying for pure Desi food, want it quickly , want a decent seating with AC in a Paush area Bengali Sweets is the place :-)

We got a chance to taste their Alu Tikki, Chole Bhature, Mock Tails, Dosa Idlys and Chats.

It was all by chance as we din get seating in Pind Baluchi :-)

The Visit Allthough was surprising especially with the Quick Service reasonable Cost and Decent Ambiance.

Since then Bengali Sweets has become a regular place to eat. Anybosy visting South Ex should definately try this ;)

Mongolian Barbeque Kzoo !

While being at US and picking things from here and there I came across "Mongolian Barbeque".

The very name reminds one of Chengez Khan that's it ;-).

I went in without thinking of what kind of food would be inside.A warm welcome by the attendee's and then we went to the place where in we need to select the quality and quantity of raw material that we want in our dish..it includes everything vegetables/spices/sauces..it is like you reap what you sow..also all of this has to be in one Bowl :).

After selecting these we went to the Kitchen or the BBQ place. this is where they grill your raw materials into a full fledged Barbecue dish.They take special care if you are vegetarian.

Once the dish is done you can go back to your seat and eat the dish ( which you chose) with unlimited Rice/Tortillas :).

Experiencing all this made me forget how the food/dish taste's.

It was the way it was served and cooked that too my heart :)

Also considering the fact that all this was not a expensive affair ~8$ ( cheaper than the indian dishes ) which are nowhere less than ~14$.

Overall great ambiance good food "innovative cooking" "excellent service" A place worth visiting

QDOBA - Mexican US Chain !

ok.. so here Iam Updating my retsaurant review.. US in general is not only about KFC McD Wendy's BurgerKing or PizzaHut. The Mexican Food here is quiet popular too, I happened to land in one during my visit to Kalamazoo.The QDOBA where i tried was on Westenedge Avenue.

This one is called as QDOBA .. its a take away type food chain where in you can find items like a Burrito, Fajita or a Gumbo. Nw since I am a vegeterian person I tried Veg version of all these dishes in couple of my visits..

Burrito is no more than a Veg Role the major difference is in Shape where in they wrap the tortila(Chapati) around the stuff( Rice, Sauces,Vegetables etc) in a rectangular shape ours you see is a Cylindrical one :). Gumbo on the other side is Rajma Chawal.,, not as delicious as the one we get in India but ya anyone feeling like eating Rajma Chawal can give Gumbo a try. Along with it they give you an option of unlimited Fountain drinks for I guess $ 1.99.. On an overall sclae a worth trying restaurant especially when you are getting a chance to try different cuisine.

The Rates are anywhere in between 5.99$ - 8.99$.

Pind Baluchi Gurgaon

Unlike Delhi the food at Pind baluch looks like , the same being served in a village ambience. but it doesn't taste that well fo rme.

Near to "Bikanerwala" outlet in sector -29 Gurgaon.I will say one of the best ambiance in NCR region and I think that is the reason they charge more, cosidering the food to be average.




Piece of wood kept on your table would be the menu, .They serve veg as well as non-veg food. . They have some not-so-common items available like - Kurkuri Bhindi, Aam Panna etc to name a few.The taste of the food has suited every pallette that I personally know off. They serve liquor / beer as well. I am a non-drinker so no review on this part.
The Price: As I said earlier, this is not an expensive eating joint. This can be compared to Dana Choga in terms of prices and value for money. In groupf of 3-4 people, a veg dinner / lunch would cost around Rs 150-200 per head, while the carnivores may need to shell our another Rs 50 - 75 per head. No advice for drunkards for reasons already cited. Don’t forget to add the Rs 10 you spend on the parking and some sundry expenses if your kid finds some street vendor selling toys amusing.

Pros:
1. Ok food (Both veg as well as non veg)
2. Good Ambience
3. Well groomed and polite staff.
4. Very affordable prices.
5. Sometimes, good music.
6. No intrusion of privacy
Cons:
1. Relatively slow service - maybe due to the staff diverting some of their attention to their attirte.
2. Presence of slight smoke everywhere as the tandoors are open for public view.
3. It does not have separate alchol and smoking sections.
4. The road near the restaurant are in a bad shape - God forbid if you visit during monsoons.

Macaroons from My Valentine

Last week, I saw a video on Desserts Magazine about how to make French macaroons and it left me wanting to make a batch of those addictive little cookies soooo badly.  But after my first and second attempt at making them, I just knew I didn't have the patience to make them from scratch.  So I just watched the video to learn the proper technique and admired the French dialogue.  Maybe I'll make them again when I'm not in such a hurry to devour them. Quick confession: I understand very little French and speak even less. Oh but I"m trying.  I do have the best intentions to learn more; I have a stack of books and cds to prove that. Je parle francais..someday.


Anyway, I still wanted some macaroons. So what's a girl to do? Well, there's only one place I know of that has French macaroons here in San Diego. Opera Cafe and Patisserie offers a gorgeous selection of French desserts and pastries as well as a delicious breakfast and lunch menu.  And best of all, they have a beautiful assortment of macaroons that come in adorable pink boxes.  They sell them for $10 a dozen and you get six flavors in each box.  Whenever I have a craving for macaroons, this is where I go. 
I actually interned at Opera for a short time when I was a pastry student.  I guess my instructor, Chef Yves, thought it was the perfect place for me to go since I'm such a francophile.  Thierry and Vincent were great teachers and it would've been nice to learn more from them. Too bad I didn't get to watch them make macaroons.  I would've loved that!



Since Valentine's Day was coming up, I decided to drop a few hints and told Hubby that I would LOVE some Parisian macaroons. No roses. No chocolates. Just macaroons, s'il vous plait. And thank goodness he got me some.  Oh...have...mercy!  



Just in case you're looking for Parisian macaroons, I stumbled upon a list of where to find macaroons around the world over atSerious Eats.  If you have a favorite place to buy macarons, please feel free to share it.  You might be helping out someone who's searching for them in your town.  Let's spread the love for macarons!

Egg-Free Fresh Fruit Cake

For this Valentine's Day, I decided to draw inspiration from another one of my favorites from Hans and Harry Bakery. On a previous post, I shared my homemade version of their famous fresh fruit strudel. This time around, I've created an egg-free version of their equally popular fresh fruit cake.  It's a rich vanilla butter cake layered with Bavarian cream and topped with fresh fruit.

You might have noticed the even though the recipe makes two cake layers, I only have one layer in the photo. My son was hovering around me, smacking his lips and eagerly waiting for this cake.  So I just quickly arranged the fruit on top and let him eat his Valentine's Day cake :-)



Here's another variation of my fresh fruit cake with only strawberries (see, I got to use two cake layers for this one). Feel free to use any fruit you'd like and it doesn't necessarily have to be fresh fruit either.  Sometimes I use frozen fruit (like blueberries or raspberries) and canned fruit (like pineapple and peaches).



Happy Valentine's Day!

Egg-Free Fresh Fruit Cake
Makes 2 layers (6 1/2 cups of batter)
Allergy Note: contains wheat and dairy ingredients

cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cups butter, melted
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups warm milk
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

cream:
1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 pint whipping cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon flavored liqueur (optional)

cake syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam 

strawberries, cut in half
mandarin orange segments or peaches
blueberries

for the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter, vegetable oil, milk, vinegar and vanilla extract. Add to the dry ingredients. Mix till smooth. Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool completely. Level and trim the top of the cakes.

For the cream:
Using an electric mixer, whisk together instant pudding mix, milk and whipping cream (and flavored liqueur) together until thickened.

For the cake syrup:
Combine ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1 to 2 minutes on HIGH. Stir till the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool.

To assemble the cake:
Drizzle a little bit of cake syrup over the cake. Spread half of the seedless raspberry jam over the cake.  Spread half of the cream over the cake. Repeat for the second cake layer. Top with fruit. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.