CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

ACE BIRTHDAY CAKE RECIPE

 

 

Equipment required

3 greased 8-inch cake tins (depends on how many layer of cake you want)
Sieve
Large mixing bowl
Electric whisk

Ingredients

285g Self-raising flour
2.5 teaspoons (12.5ml) Baking powder
285g Margarine
285g Caster Sugar
5 Eggs

Dark Chocolate

 

Buttercream Ingredients

150g Softened Butter
340g Icing Sugar
3 tablespoons (45ml) Warm water

Vanilla extract

Dark chocolate
 

 

Cake Preparation

 

• Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.
  Add all the other ingredients into the bowl.
  Using an electric whisk or wooden spoon, beat/cream the ingredients together, starting slowly then medium until you get a smooth, creamy consistency.
• Divide the mixture between the 3 cake tins
• ** For the chocolate cake in the middle, melt dark chocolate over a pan of boiling water and add to the 3^rd mixture**
• Bake at 170 degrees centigrade for 30-40 minutes. The cake should be springy to the touch.
  When cooked immediately turn out onto a wire rack.

For the chocolate and vanilla buttercream filling

Soften the butter and beat until smooth
Gradually add the icing sugar, beating well .
and the water. Remove a portion for the chocolate buttercream and set aside.

Add vanilla extract in the remaining portion.  

Beat until smooth.

Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water as you did for the cake. While it is melting, whisk the removed portion for about 15 seconds. Then add the chocolate and whisk again. The buttercream should look creamy and light.

Spread in between the cakes to your taste and satisfaction. Please be careful while lifting the cake to avoid hazards happening.

Hope this my explanation helps maka na oyibo bu agbara!

Stay Blessed. XoXo

PERFECT FISH PIE AND PASTRY DOUGH RECIPE - CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!

Rolled out dough

One of the secrets to a piecrust is to work with very cold butter. Cut the butter into cubes and freeze, at least 15 minutes, best over an hour.

Ingredients

·      2½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling

·      1 cup unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

·      1 teaspoon salt

·      1 teaspoon sugar

·      6 to 8 Tbsp. of ice water

For the filling

·      2 large carrots

·      ½ cup peas

·      ½ cup sweet corn

·      3 tins of tuna fish in sunflower oil

·      1 bulb of onions

·      Ginger

·      Thyme

·      Curry

·      Pepper

·      1½ Knorr cube

·      5 medium sized irish potatoes

Directions for making the pastry dough:

Butter

Mixed butter and flour

Dough formed

·      Rapidly blend flour and butter together in a large mixing bowl, either with tips of fingers or with a pastry blender, until mixture is like very coarse meal.

·      Dissolve salt and sugar in the iced water, blend into flour and butter with a rubber spatula, pressing mixture into a rough mass.

·      Knead the dough mixture into the table top with the heel of the palm of your hand a few times. This will help flatten the butter into layers.

·      Gather dough into a ball, divided into two parts and flour lightly, wrap in waxed paper and chill for 2 hours or overnight.

·      Once refrigerated and time elapsed, allow to sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier.

·      Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface.

·      As you roll out the dough, put on the oven at 250C or gas 5, and also check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking.

·      Make sure the rolled dough is not too thick

·      With the aid of a knife, cut in circle shapes and put in you fillings and cover

·      Put in the pie in your foil wrapped baking pan (grease the pan with butter or olive oil)

·      Put in the oven and reduce the oven to 175C

 

·      While in the oven, beat 2 medium eggs and set aside – this is for glazing, to get that golden shiny pie.)

·      After about 30 minutes, bring out the pie and coat with the egg using a brush. Put in back in the oven.

·      After 10 minutes, repeat the coating and put back in the oven.

·      Once it starts browning, just know the pie will be ready soon. So at your own satisfaction, turn off the gas and bring out the pie. Allow cooling down a bit, and then u can dig in.

NB. For those of us in the UK, you can save yourself the stress by going to Sainsbury and buying the already made shortcrust pastry. That’s what I buy, if I do have the strength to go through the long process. But I love doing the long process on special occasions, for that special home made taste.

Preparing the filling:

Peel the carrots and potatoes

In a small pot, cook the potatoes until done

Cut 2 of the cooked potatoes into cubes and set aside

Mash up the rest in a bowl and also set aside

 

In medium pot, empty the sunflower oil from the tuna and allow to heat.

Slice in the onions, reduce the heat and allow simmering for about a minute

Then add the carrot, the peas, and sweet corn

Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, and then add all the species

Continue frying for the next 5 minutes; add the tuna and the cubed potatoes stir and cover.

Leave to cook for 2 minutes and the turn of the gas.

Finally add the mashed potatoes and we are good to go!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS 

LOVE Y'ALL

STAY BLESSED

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVEY!

Birthday cake baked by mi

23^rd of December a very pleasant day in the month of December; two days to the most magnificent celebration in a child’s life – Christmas is the best celebration for children. Today the 23^rd, is my Boss man’s birthday.  

He usually say “Those born on this day were created with so much intelligence” and I believe him because he is just the best. I love this day too, because his birthday kind of ushers the merriment of the season.  It is not a mistake that the greatest man that ever-lived on earth was born on December 25.

This is a period of extreme happiness, enjoyment and sharing.  So I will be sharing with you the things I prepared for this special day. I would be availing the recipe on my next post.

Enjoy!!!

Straight from the Oven

In the Making

Lamb shoulder getting ready to be popped into the oven

 

Roasted Lamb shoulder

Crab and Crayfish Ravioli

 

Curry goat Pasta

A friend of mine that came around, asked how I manage to do these; my answer was, I just love cooking and I manage my time so well. God also blessed me with a man that doesn’t eat out, its kind of a motivational factor.  

I will be baking tuna fish pie tomorrow. Hopefully, I will be blogging soon for recipes.

Thank you for visiting.

Stay blessed and happy Xmas in advance.

COW LEG NKWOBI - the abroad style!

There are days when a friend from far away calls to say they will be visiting. Most times we rack our brain, thinking of what to offer these visitors. At the end of the day, we still go along with rice. C’mon, a friend won’t travel that distance just for you to offer  the same thing they've been eating. We have to be creative at times in the kitchen. Prepare a meal that will make them feel welcomed, loved and cherished.

Your food says a lot about you. It can portray more than you can ever imagine and please don’t be stingy when it comes to food. Me for one, I love to entertain my family/friends/visitors… For those of us living abroad, it could be hard because there are no varieties of foods stuff available except if you managed to bring things from back home. Today, I will be sharing the cow leg nkwobi recipe.

For those of us expecting loads of friends this Christmas, this could be the touch you are looking for.

uncooked cow leg

INGREDIENTS

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·      3 Knorr cubes

·      A bulb of onion

·      Potash (akawu)

·      Abacha

·      Ugba

·     palm oil

·      Salt

·      Pepper

·      Crayfish

·      Cow leg

PREPARATIONS

cooked and scraped cow leg

Abacha

Ugba

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·      Spice the cow leg with 2 Knorr cubes and a pinch of salt

·      Cooking the cow leg until done, soft and tender (I usually cook mine a night before because it takes longer time to cook).

·      Remove the cooked cow leg from the pot leaving the water behind

·      Scrape out the meaty parts, cut into smaller pieces, plate them and set aside

·      Blend the crayfish and pepper: set aside

·      In a sieve, put in a small portion of abacha

·      Boil water and pour on the abacha so as to moisten and soften it

·      Set aside to cool

·      In a small soup bowl, put in the potash and add the boiled water

·      Use a tablespoon and stir the potash to aid melting

·      In a frying pan, put in the ugba and fry so as to dry the water

DIRECTIONS

 

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·      In a clean medium pot, put in the processed cow leg, the abacha and ugba

·      Add in the blended crayfish and pepper

·      Add a cube of knorr

·      Then add about 2 to 3 soup spoons of the water from the cooked cow leg

·      Add a soup spoon of red oil (you can add more to your satisfaction)

·      Put the pot on a gas-low heat

·      Use a wooden spoon, stir in the potash until the colour of the red oil changes

·      Continue to stir until the mixture has blended.

·      Serve hot!  

Nkwobi ukwu efi

recently made this, chopped the cow leg smaller and added more ugba.

I hope this helps.

Happy Sunday y’all.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Stay blessed!