Chai This Creamer Out

I recently went to a Birthday Breakfast where everyone was asked to bring something that begun with the letter 'C'. So I thought I would go big a make something that started with 3 C's: Chai Coffee Creamer.

Super simple and super delicious, especially if you are a Chai lover.

Chai Coffee Creamer

Ingredients

10 whole green cardamom pods, lightly crushed

5 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

1 piece fresh ginger (about 2 inches), peeled and quartered

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup honey, plus more for serving (optional)

4 bags black tea

2 cups half-n-half

Directions

Place the half-n-half in a small saucepan; add the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla extract. Cook over low-medium heat for 30 minutes, being carful not to boil (I accidentally made this mistake, it will cause the milk fat to separate). Whisk in the honey and drop the tea bags into the pan. Turn off heat, and let steep 5 minutes. Alternatively, you can let it steep longer if it's not strong enough yet. You can also add more honey if it is not sweet enough.(Remember you are adding it to coffee, not drinking it by itself so it should be pretty strong and sweet.)

Strain the mixture through a fine strainer or a coffee filter into your container of choice. Cool then store in the fridge until ready to jazz up your coffee.

A Guy Walks Into A Bar...

So a guy walks into a bar, and it is dense and it is delicious and it has a full bodied chocolate espresso flavor. Then he says to the bar, "Even though you are drop dead as it is, you would be even better sandwiching some ice cream." So he did just that, then he ate the ice cream sandwich and he was satisfied.

A guy walks into a bar, it is ooey-gooey over the top good. Filled with his favorite trio of ingredients from his childhood: graham, hershey's chocolate and mallow. He stops to devour one, then he devours another, and pretty soon he has devoured seven bars and he was satisfied.

A guy walks into a bar, and this time he is disappointed that they only serve alcohol and not delicious desserts.

Trouble Coffee Company

I drink 1 latte a week, and that's simply becouse my body can not handle coffee. Don't get me wrong, I do love it! But alas, it doesn't love me :( But I figured, I can set aside one day a week to deal with consequences of drinking a luscious latte. Especially when that latte comes from Trouble Coffee Company. 

Located in the Outer Sunset, it has more of a Mission feel then anything. Not in the annoyingly uber-cool way, but in the way that one appreciates their attention to interior detail, theme and most of all good coffee and espresso! Granted, it is small, so don't show up with your laptop or large group of friends, but that is just part of it's charm.

Their lattes are fantastic! Great espresso, great soy milk, and an excellent head on the top. In fact, this may have become one of my favorite lattes in the city. I don't think it surpasses Four Barrel, but it is pretty darn close and also pretty darn close to my apartment. Plus, the rumor of the out-of-this-world cinnamon toast have me dying to go back. So keep posted with the Sass for more on this wonderful coffee shop.

Prince Poppy Coffee Cake

All hail Prince Poppy Coffee Cake! You are delicious, you are moist, you are caffeinated! Impostors may try imitate you, ie. this guy...

But no one can ever replicate your royally groovy taste. I shall put you on a (cake) pedestal, admire you and than devour you. I hope your predecessor is equally as delicious. 

Poppy Coffee Cake

*Cake adapted from Joy the Baker


Cake Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Cake Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 325 and grease up a 10-inch bundt pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

3. In another medium bowl whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, vinegar and vanilla. 

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk together until JUST combined and lump-free.

5. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Invert the cake onto a wire cooling rack after 20 minutes. Allow the cake to cool COMPLETELY before icing.

 Glaze Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup strong brewed coffee ( I used Intelligentsia and it was phenomenal)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground coffee, superfine

1. Mix all the ingredients together until smooth. If you want more of a coffee taste, add more fine ground coffee. Refrigerate the icing for 15-20 minutes to thicken, mixing at 10 minute intervals.

2. To ice the cake, place tinfoil under the cooling rack the cake is on. And slowly drizzle the glaze over the cake. Take the excess icing that falls to the bottom and continue to drizzle it over the cake till most of it sticks.

Lamill House Blend Ice Cream

You say tomato, I say tomato. You say Intelligentsia, I say Lamill. It's debatable, but ultimately it comes down to an opinion and in my opinion Lamill makes a better cup o' mud. Which is exactly why I choose Lamill's House Blend to make my coffee ice cream. Good coffee beans really make a difference in coffee ice cream, a huge difference! So needless to say since the coffee was fantastic, so was the ice cream, creamy smooth caffeinated fantastic!

Lamill House Blend Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 1/1 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of finely ground coffee

Directions

1. Warm the milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt and 1/2 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. Once the mixture is very hot to the touch but not boiling, cover the saucepan, remove from the heat and let it steep at room temp for 2 hours.

2. After the 2 hours have past, place the remaining 1 cup of cream in a medium bowl with a mesh strainer over it. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Rewarm the coffee infused milk mixture (yes leave the beans in there) until very hot but not boiling. Slowly pour the hot coffee mixture into the egg yolks whisking constantly and vigorously, then pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan.

3. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickly coats the back of your spatula to the point where the custard doesn't run together when you run your finger across the back of the spatula. Pour the custard through the stainer into the cream, pressing the coffee beans against the strainer to extract as much flavor as possible, then set the beans aside. Stir the mixture over an ice bath to cool it down, while stirring add the vanilla and finely ground coffee. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator partially covered with plastic wrap for 8 hours or overnight.

*4. At this point if the cream is not "coffee tasting enough" for you, let the beans soak in the mixture a little longer at room temp until desired flavor is achieved. Strain out the beans and refrigerate the same as above.

5. Church in your ice cream maker according to manufacturers directions.

Lavender... The New Bacon

That might sound like an odd title if you're not one to pay close attention to the new trends in pastry and desserts, but trust me... the title is nothing but the truth. Bacon use to be, and to some extent still is, the new hip ingredient to include in desserts; for example: Animal's Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar, Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies, Dynamo Donuts' Maple Bacon Donut, Maple Bacon Cupcakes, and even Pirate Cat Radio's Maple Bacon Latte. Can you believe that I blogged about all that bacon!

Let's face it, bacon on anything will always be delicious, but the new in vogue ingredient is now Lavender. You may have noticed I have already bought into this trend with my Lavender Orange Honey Macarons and my Lavender Rhubarb Crumble (plus one great recipe coming soon!) and fortunately, so has the SweetSalt Food Shop in Toluca Lake. Opened by a former Top Chef contestant, the Food Shop boasts a killer line up of gourmet sandwiches, creative soups and even Cake Monkey desserts!

 

 Not the actual latte, just thought it got the point across better than a pic of the original since the original just looks like a normal latte 

They also have a full espresso bar menu which includes the delicious Vanilla Lavender Latte. After trying a bite of my husbands Lavender Duck Confit Sandwich I decided I had to finish my meal off in a similar fashion with this amazing sounding latte, and it was amazing! Great espresso, slightly sweet vanilla syrup with a refreshing finish of lavender. It was perfect on a cool spring afternoon and I can only imagine how fantastic it would be when paired with good girlfriends and a shared Cake Monkey Cakewich :)

Hittin' the Bar Early

If I wasn't talking about the Coffee Bar in San Francisco then I would hope you would all be worried about me. But since I am, sit back and enjoy my little review.

Josh and I were fortunate enough to head up to San Francisco a couple weeks ago for a quick one day trip. When I say fortunate I mean that we were blessed to be in the city we love, to meet with friends we love and to have good coffee and great pastries, which I love. In no way do I include the insane 8 hours of driving we did in a two day period, which was actually quite unfortunate. 

Before we completed the latter half of our 8 hour driving excursion, we met up with our friends Chris and Christine at the Coffee Bar, a new coffee shop/cafe in the outer Mission. We met for breakfast, but the also serve lunch and on Thursday and Friday night's dinner thanks to Radio Africa & Kitchen.

Pirate Cat Radio

No that is not a clever title I made up for my new post (although I am quite good at them if I do say so myself), it is actually the name the place my friend Cheryl and I visited in San Francisco. I will explain more later why the name is so befitting of the institution and why us visiting it together is nothing out of the norm.

Cheryl is one of my best friends in the world, and probably the most absurd friend I have as well, which I appreciate because it allows me to be my absurd self around her. To give you an idea of what she is like, I will share this picture with you.

Here she is holding what seems to be a large grasshopper of some sort with a look that says, "Continue wise grasshopper, I hear all you say."

Anyways, Cheryl and I usually do stuff like pulling one another behind a bike on rollerblades or trying to attempt a 3 person shoulder sit or even watching movies in the graveyard. Most things also involve our friend Maddy, who due to distance was not able to make it.

You get the point. So when Cheryl invited me to a place called Pirate Cat Radio , it totally clicked once we arrived.

Finishing Strong & Trying On: Buche De Noel part 2

It's finally here! The post you have all been waiting in yule tide anticipation for...... the final and complete Buche de Noel recipe! And let me tell you, this cake was fantastic! Unlike any cake I have ever made! Let me explain... because it is a European recipe the cake is spongey (not dense and overwhelming like our American cakes) and the filling (a Swiss buttercream) is light and creamy, less rich than American buttercream. For someone who loves indulgent and heavy desserts this was an eye-opener because it was as delicious, if not more, than my favorite overstated go-to triple fudge cake.

Last post I showed you how to create some decorations for the Buche de Noel and now I will tell you how to make the actual cake and how to assemble it into a masterpiece of buttercream and bark. The recipe is quite long, but not too hard, so no mindless banter this time around, lets get straight to the good stuff!

However, let me preface the recipe with a tip. When making a recipe with so many steps it is helpful and way less stressful to measure out your ingredients for each step before you actually beginning making that element. Here are my ingredients for the cake all ready to go.



Let's start with the cake!

Basic Chiffon Cake (for Buche De Noel)
adapted from Tartine

Ingredients: Given in standard baking measures and ounces (which is more accurate)

1 C + 2tbsp or 5 1/2 oz All-purpose flour
1/4 C or 5 1/4 oz Sugar
1 tsp Backing Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 C or 2 oz Vegetable Oil
3 Large Egg Yolks
1/3 C + 1 tbsp or 3 oz Water
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3/4 tsp Lemon Zest
5 Egg Whites, at room temp
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325, line the bottom of a 12x17 jelly roll pan with parchment paper to fit exactly, do not grease the sides of the pan.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a large mixing bowl. Mix in all but 3 tbsp of the sugar and all of the salt into the flour mixture.

3. In a small bowl whisk the oil, egg yolks (save the the leftover whites for later), water, vanilla and lemon zest together.
* See pic below for an easy way to seperate egg yolks with you hand.



4. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the egg mixture into it, whisk quickly for 1 min, set aside.



5. Pour the egg whites (remember you already have 3 set aside so you only need to add 2 more) into a stand mixer bowl, or large mixing bowl. Using the whisk attachment, or a hand mixer, beat on med-high speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat at the same speed until the whites hold soft peaks.

6. Slowly add the 3 tbsp of sugar you reserved and beat at the same speed until whites hold stiff shiny peaks.

7. Gently fold in about 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture to lighten. Then gently fold in the rest of the whites.

8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Bake 15-25 min or until cake is set to the touch, ie it springs back and is not gooey when a toothpick is inserted. Set aside to cool in the pan. Once cool run a small knife along the edge to loosen, then invert the cake onto a cooling rack, peel off the parchment and set aside.



Next for the buttercream, you still following??

Swiss Coffee Buttercream
adapted from Tartine

Ingredients:
1 1/4 C or 10 oz Unsalted Butter, at room temp
1 C + 2 tbsp or 8 oz Sugar
1/2 C or 4 oz Egg Whites
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 C or 2 oz Coffee, brewed double strength

Directions:
1. Cut the butter into tbsp increments.

2. Fill a sauce pan with about 2 inches of water and bring to a simmer.

3. Combine sugar, egg whites and salt in a stainless steal bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk together to combine. Place the bowl over the simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the simmering water. Whisk over the water until the mixture reaches 120 degrees or is hot to the touch, about 3-5 min.

4. Remove the bowl from the heat and place in the bowl into the stand mixer with the whisk attachment in place. Mix on high speed until the the mixture is thick, glossy and holds very stiff peaks, about 5-7 min. Note! Make sure the mixture is cool before moving on to the next step or your buttercream will be soupy, which is redeemable but best to avoid.

5. Reduce the speed to med-high and add the butter to the mixture 1 tbsp at a time, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next. Mix in the coffee at a low speed, than increase to med to fully incorporate, set aside. Note! If your buttercream is soupy and not buttercream like, prepare an ice bath and immerse the bowl, without getting water inside, until it firms up.



Don't worry, it gets easier from here.

Coffee Syrup
adapted from Tartine

Ingredients:
1/2 C or 4 oz Coffee, brewed double strength
1/3 C or 2 1/2 oz Sugar

Directions:
1. In a small sauce pan, combine the coffee and sugar and bring to a simmer, stirring to disolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and let it cool, the fridge will speed up this process.



While the coffee syrup is cooling lets make the pistachio moss.

Pistachio Moss:
adapted from Tartine

Ingredients:
1/4 C or 1 1/4 oz Pistachio, shells taken off (Trader Joes sells them pre-shelled!)

Directions:
1. In a blender or food processor process the pistachios into a powder.



Once the coffee syrup is fully cooled, begin the first phase of assembly.

Directions:
1. Place the cooled cake on plastic wrap.

2. Using a pastry brush, moisten the entire cake with the cooled coffee syrup.



3. Transfer all the buttercream to the cake and spread evenly with a spatula leaving a 1 inch strip on each long side of the cake void of buttercream.



4. Starting from the longest side nearest you, begin rolling the cake tightly, using the plastic wrap to help you. Don't worry about the state of the ends, they will both be cut off anyways. Refrigerate the rolled cake for 2 hours.



After an hour and a half of fridge time for the cake begin making almond ganache bark, this will be what covers the outside of the cake and also gives it it's wood like appearance.

Almond Ganache Bark
adapted from Tartine

Ingredients:
1 C or 3 1/2 oz Sliced Almonds
6 oz Bittersweet Chocolate, chopped
3/4 C or 6 oz Heavy Cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Spread the almonds out on a baking sheet and bake for 5 min or until toasted. Stir halfway through to ensure even toasting. Transfer to a small plate to cool.

2. Place the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl.

3. In a small saucepan bring the heavy cream to just under a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for 1 min, then stir the mixture until it is melted, smooth and shiny.

4. Add the cooled almonds and mix gently. Place the mixture in the fridge for 15 min or until it has thickened and is a good spreading consistency.



On to the final touches!

Assembly Directions part 2:

1. Using a sharp knife, cut a thick slice off each end at the diagonal (make sure the diagonals run parallel to each other). Set the cleanest best looking end aside. (The other end you can eat later with any leftover ganache to make sure it's good!)



2. To frost the cake, use a frosting spatula and spread the ganache bark evenly over the cake leaving the faces of the two ends exposed. Make sure you reserve enough ganache to frost the "bough" which is your reserved end piece.

3. Place the diagonal slice, the "bough, on top of the frosted cake towards one of the cakes ends. Make sure the diagonal end is facing up. Next frost the sides of the bough leaving the top face exposed.

4. Transfer the cake to your serving dish. I recommend buying a cake transfer tool, they are so handy!

Now it's time to decorate!

1. Take out those mushrooms you made days before. Whittle little holes in the bottom of the mushroom caps big enough for the stems to fit in. Put a little ganache in the hole and attach the stem. Then place the mushrooms on your cake going every which way. You can even put some on your platter around the cake.

2. Next sprinkle patches of powder sugar on the cake to look like snow patches they have collected on a log.

3. Than sprinkle the moss on the cake in patches to look like patches of moss growing on the log.

4. Next use large and medium sized silver dragees, which are hard candies that look like metal (pictured below), to create dew drops on the cake.



5. Attach any other decorations you have made for the cake at this time. I did not put my gnome or leaves on from my earlier post because they looked to kitschy and my cake came out more organic looking. Basically, they clashed. Do you see the sad looks on their faces?



And finally breathe in deep and take in the beautiful piece of art you have just created! Did I already mention it is delicious too?






Will you attempt to make a Buche De Noel this Christmas season? Please do! It's really not too hard, just a time commitment. But it is a time commitment that is sure to impress friends, family and loved ones. And impressing people is what Christmas is all about right? To quote Wayne Campbell, "Not!" It's about something totally different, it's about celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world. That's right He came to rescue us from ourselves and make us new here and now continuing into eternity. If you try anything this Holiday season, try Jesus on first.... then try the cake :)

Give it a Chai!

Are you ready? Are you really ready? Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas is even closer, which is evident if you have been in any Starbucks or Target lately. And do you know what the means? It means the stress and exhaustion of organizing and cooking a thanksgiving dinner, Christmas shopping, putting up lights and decorations, standing in grocery store lines the size of the Splash Mountain queue and much more are at hand. But I am here to share with you a recipe for a great drink that will both comfort and energize you this holiday season. It's called the Chai Au Lait. Basically it is just half coffee (make sure it's good coffee), half warmed milk (I prefer vanilla soy to make it a little sweeter) and a half a scoop of Trader Joe's Spicy Chai powder. The result if a warm and creamy caffeinated beverage with a hint of sweet and spicy goodness sure to invoke your fondest memories of holiday seasons past. Enjoy!

Coffee, that's FOR the birds

So if you are a regular reader (do I even have those?) you might be wondering why I am writing about coffee since my usual topics are devoted to any and everything sweet. Well I thought I could stretch this post into being topically relevant because frankly... my coffee always ends up being sweet when I am done with it!

Enough legitimizing and on to the post. Cafecito Organico = good coffee. This LA based independent organic coffee company was recently featured in the Food section of the LA Times, so when I ran across their stand at the Hollywood Farmers' Market I could not resist buying a bag of their Guatemala roast. Upon tasting it, (after the addition of vanilla soy milk and raw honey to make it pleasantly sweet) I was very pleased! Cafecito Organico definitely knows how to roast their coffee in a way that brings out the flavor of bean's origin and it is O-so-smooth :)

And get this all their coffees carry one or multiple of the following certifications "Fair Trade, Organic, Shade Grown, Bird Friendly (which mean the birds get free coffee since they are friends with the owners), Rainforest Alliance and Eco-Q. Please don't ask me what those all mean, that's what google is for. 

You can pick up your own bag of Cafecito Organico at the Hollywood or Silverlake Farmers' Market or online by clicking here. So be FOR the birds as well and pick up a bag, you won't be disappointed.