Extremely Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

This chocolate cupcake, my version of Black Forest Cake, was supposed to be my entry to Sugar High Friday # 27: Chocolate by Brand hosted by David Lebovitz. I missed the January 22 deadline but I am still posting the finished cupcakes. For the chocolate I chose Hershey cocoa mixed with black cocoa from King Arthur Flour Company. The black cocoa gives the cakes a really dark and deep chocolate flavor. The recipe I used for the batter is the one on the Hershey label because of its simplicity, does not use butter, and the cakes always come out moist. You can use your favorite chocolate cake recipe but substitute no more than ¼ cup black cocoa.

Extremely Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
makes 30 cupcakes

2 cups sugar
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup Hershey's cocoa
¼ cup black cocoa
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
cherry brandy
morello cherries

• Cupcakes: Heat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup and one 6-cup muffin pans with paper bake cups. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 22 - 25 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.
• Kirschwasser syrup: Boil 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water for 2 minutes, let cool a little, add ½ cup kirschwasser/cherry brandy.
• To serve: Peel off paper liners from cooled cupcakes, dip in syrup. Serve with slightly sweetened whipped cream and morello cherries.

You can also bake this cake using two 9-inch layer cake pans, slice each cake in half, moisten all 4 layers with syrup, layer the second with halved morello cherries, ice each layer, top, and sides with slightly sweetened whipped cream. Decorate all over with chocolate curls or shavings. Please do not use canned cherry pie filling, that would be awful. :=)

Prawns With Snow Peas

When we were still in Manila we ate in a Chinese restaurant very often. And it was a real treat when we went to Chinatown for authentic Chinese (Fookien/Fujian) cuisine. We consider Chinese food our comfort food, that is why I own more than half a dozen Chinese cookbooks, the most in my growing cookbook 'library'. Of course when you eat in a Chinese restaurant in Manila, fried rice is always a must.

Prawns with Snow Peas
½ pound prawns, shelled and deveined
¼ pound snowpeas, ends trimmed and washed
2 spring onions, sliced
2 tablespoons rice wine
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 egg white
1 tablespoon cornstarch

• Put prawns in a small bowl, add ¼ teaspoon salt, egg white, rice wine and cornstarch, in that particular order, don't ask me why. Mix well, set aside. In a frying pan or wok, on medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and saute snow peas with ¼ teaspoon salt, stir fry for 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Add another teaspoon of oil to the pan and saute green onions for 1 minute, add the prawns and stir fry until prawns turn pink, add a little wine or water if it appears dry. Put the snow peas back in the pan and stir to mix, about 1 minute.

Fried Rice

2 eggs, well beaten
3 cups cooked rice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ tsp salt
2 spring onions, sliced
1 cup diced ham
½ cup frozen petite peas
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

• Cook the eggs on an oiled pan on medium heat, making sure it does not brown. Cut into chunks. Set aside. In a wok or deep pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil, add green onions and ham and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the rice and sprinkle with the soy sauce, add the salt. Stir fry to distribute the soy sauce evenly. Add the peas and stir fry for an additional 3 minutes. Drizzle the sesame seed oil, then add the cooked eggs, mix well. Serve hot. Adjust seasoning at the table.

Sandwich Roll-up

How to build a sandwich roll-up:

• Have ready thinly sliced tomatoes and shaved cucumber. Spread cheese pimiento on a rectangular whole grain soft flat bread/flour tortilla, then layer 2 slices each honey ham, mortadella and deli corned beef (forgot to photograph the layer of cheese pimiento spread). Layer tomatoes on top of meat, then layer shaved cucumber on top of tomato, then add salad mix. Roll up tightly, slice in half at an angle. Very nice with your favorite soup.

Cheese pimiento spread: char the skin of one sweet red bell pepper over stove fire (or broil in an oven toaster), wrap in a large piece of aluminum foil, let cool. When cool enough to handle, remove skin and innards, then coarsely chop. Grate 2 cups young Gouda cheese, mix in the pepper and 1 to 2 tablespoons mayonnaise. Store in a jar and keep in the fridge.

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá (Salt Cod Casserole)

We used to cook bacalao (salt cod) only during the Lent season, we went to a restaurant when we want to eat it at other times of the year. Nowadays, I prepare it whenever I feel like it. Salt cod is readily available in my area, rather cheap too, as there is a large Hispanic community here, from both South America and Europe. In Portugal, according to Tania Gomes, the author of the cookbook THE FLAVORS OF PORTUGAL bacalhau is an important part of the Portuguese Christmas Eve dinner.

This popular Portuguese salt cod dish is from my 17 year old cookbook THE FOOD OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz.

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá
1 pound dried salt cod
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, sliced
1 pound potatoes, boiled, then sliced
16 pitted oil-cured black olives, sliced in half
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
freshly ground black pepper
2 large hard boiled eggs, quartered

• Soak the cod in cold water for 24 hours, changing water often, if using Canadian (like mine) which is less salty, shorten the soaking time to 6 hours. Simmer the cod in water for 15 minutes, drain, cool, remove bones and skin, then flake meat. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onions until soft but do not let it brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Grease a shallow casserole and layer potatoes, onion, cod, olives and parsley, ending in onion rings, seasoning each layer with ground pepper.
• Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 40 minutes. Serve garnished with eggs and sprinkled with more parsley. I serve mine with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.