Something posted (and personal!) for a change..

Posted on November 16, 2011 by mils

Hello all!!

It’s been awhile since I blogged or anything (across all my sites)…apparently the need to sleep like a baby do not go away!! Well, my excuse is I have a bun in the oven…..which is baking quite nicely at the moment….just waiting for my oven to go ‘ping’ and remove the bun from the oven! Pregnancy takes its toll on me – I hate the smell of raw meat and I just SLEEP and REST all the time. Apparently that’s what baby wants, so baby gets. Oh well….

Things that no one tells you about re the ‘Joys of Pregnancy’:
The Bads

  • You sleep, and you sleep and you sleep….and yet its never enough.
  • You eat, and eat and eat…..and then you feel sick from eating too much
  • I can spend all day sleeping, eating, going to the toilet and then repeat. So much for weekends. Sleep at night is interrupted about 4 times because the baby’s sat on your bladder. Ugh.
  • I am a walking burping and farting machine. Gross. That is if I can walk at all. Your changing figure is all well and fine , but it’s so hard to get off the sofa or the bed!! Or even out of the car!
  • Your belly button shrinks. Ugh. Mine’s not popped out yet, but it’s been threatening to do so.
  • How can someone so small need so many things bought even before they’re born?

The Goods

  • The kicks. OMG the kicks. They are ever so wonderful, even if it’s a roundhouse kick to your ribs. I love it and would lay in bed for hours just prodding and feeling the baby kick against me.
  • The sounds. I got a doppler listening device during my first trimester, and hunting for the baby’s heartbeat and hearing it go is just amazing. We tried it once when it was having a hiccuping session….the on-time gurgling was hilarious :)
  • I like having a reason to be fat. No one can say anything about me having double portions of dessert.
  • Touch wood – no stretchmarks as of yet. Hopefully lathering myself up twice a day since month 2 is going to help.
  • Cleaning. I have always been a slacker with cleaning the house and it’s usually left in a state of messiness. I am now thoroughly OBSESSED with getting it tidied up and cleaned in preparation for the baby. Poor bacon – as I can’t really move much at the moment, he’s the slave whilst I’m the slave-driver.

I’m well into my 3rd trimester now…and getting fatter by the day if it’s possible. Baby’s due on 9th Jan…which means I’ve got around 8 weeks. GULP. 8 WEEKS. I am terrified. Okay, so this was planned for (not an accident!), but still I can never imagine myself being responsible for someone else….let alone carrying it for 9 months. I’m just trying to enjoy it one day at a time at the moment as we honestly don’t know if there is going to be a no.2….just in case we don’t, then I want to remember this time of my life as I sit back and create a human being.

And also for those of you that don’t know – we’re having a boy :) .

 

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Just practising my photography before the imminent arrival – no babe of mine is going to be subjected to the regular vomit-inducing bossy photographers. Hah! :)

 

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Winner of SPAM giveaway!!!

Posted on May 25, 2011 by mils

Apologies all for being MIA; been pretty down with a stomach bug, ugh! I’ve picked my winner for the SPAM giveaway – congratulations Pam in the UK and Shannon in Canada!!

Yay!

You both shall be receiving some lovely SPAM goodies pretty soon in the mail. Hip hip Hooray!!

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SPAM muffins & a GIVEAWAY !!

Posted on April 21, 2011 by mils

 

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Continuing my SPAM experiments, today I thought I’ll share with you my SPAM muffins! Say whaaaa??!!!? Yes, SPAM muffins! Now if you are a regular visitor over at my bento blog, you would have seen SPAM muffins make an appearance over there in my bento. I love savory muffins, it’s not exactly the same as a light fluffy blueberry muffin – the cheese and SPAM makes it more like savory American-styled biscuits. I modified this from a couple of recipes – there are muffins which incorporates spinach and some which incorporates ham and I’ve match-made them together for a heavenly union. I added spinach for a little healthy kick – wilted spinach goes very well the cheddar and SPAM.

I would recommend using high-quality cupcake case or better still, parchment paper cones or silicon cupcake cups. Paper tend to stick to the bottom of the muffins, which is not what you want. This keeps well at room temperature (I’m still eating mine after 3 days) but it tastes best when warm; so zapping it in the microwave for a few minutes produces the great results. I would use the sharpest cheddar you can find for extra cheesy flavour.


Recipe for SPAM & Spinach Cheddar Muffins
(makes 12 mini-cupcake sized muffins – you can double the recipe)

  • 150g SPAM, cubed
  • 1 tbs pepper
  • 1 small red onion, cubed
  • 100ml milk
  • 1 egg
  • 60g washed baby spinach

dry ingredients

  • 180g plain flour
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder
  • 100g sharp cheddar
  1. Preheat oven to 170C/325F. Prepare mini cup cake cases by arranging them in a bun tin.
  2. Sautee SPAM over medium heat until lightly browned and oils have been released. Add onions and sautee until soft and lightly browned. Leave to cool slightly
  3. Measure out the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a jug, mix the milk and egg together. Slowly add the milk/egg mixture to the dry mixture, mixing with a whisk. If it becomes too thick, add a little more milk.
  4. Mix in the spinach to the SPAM – wilting it slightly. Incorporate this into the flour-egg mixture with a silicon spatula – the mixture gets very sticky and thick at this stage. Season with pepper – no need for salt as the cheese and SPAM would be salty enough.
  5. Using two spoons, scoop mixture into cupcake cases until it is 3/4 full. Bake this for about 20 minutes – remove immediately once golden brown and the muffins spring back when touched.
  6. Leave to cool on a wire rack – and devour with a salad, soup or in a bento!

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Now for the fun part – a giveaway!!!! I have been in touch with the kind people over at SPAM HQ and we thought it’ll be great to hear what are YOUR favorite way of consuming SPAM. It may be a fritter or a SPAM slider, but it’ll be fun to hear how one ingredient can be consumed in so many different ways, a little like a twitter food party. I have shown you a few recipes this past week – and hopefully it had inspired you to come up with your own SPAM-ilicious dish using SPAM!

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The good peeps from SPAM HQ here in the UK will be sending one lucky commentator a bagful of SPAM commemorative items plus some yummy cans too! It will contain everything in the picture above (minus my red sequin ribbon prop)  – SPAM (of course), a SPAM magnet, a SPAM teaspoon, SPAM-tula, SPAM pens and a SPAM camera – all in a SPAM shopper !!

As they can get pretty heavy, we have restricted this to only UK-based commentators. HOWEVER, I will personally send a commemorative SPAM disposable camera to one very lucky reader anywhere in the world (outside of the UK). Now everyone can join in the fun!

I will be opening up this giveaway until 10th May – giving you plenty of time to experiment with your SPAM creations. You can always link back with your favourite recipe – share the love! I for one would love to find new recipes in which I can incorporate SPAM in.

Remember; to win the loot above (UK delivery only) OR a commemorative SPAM disposable camera; please leave a comment below with your favourite way of eating SPAM!

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SPAM-preciation week – Phyllo baskets two ways

Posted on April 19, 2011 by mils

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Here at eatwithsticks I’m still celebrating SPAM appreciation week! I’ve always thought of SPAM as a meat substitute for a main meal – like in a sandwich or mixed in with my fried rice like my recipe here. I wanted to rethink the way I use SPAM and maybe create something totally different. But what? I have been meaning to try phyllo (or filo, whatever) pastry (no, not make it from scratch, just from the chiller section:) ) – which I had never used before but had eaten many a nice cheese parcels wrapped in phyllo. Hmm. What if I chucked SPAM in there as well?

The idea was planted, and it grew and grew….and turned into phyllo baskets that won’t look out of place disguised as hors d’oeurves! This is especially useful if unexpected guests turns up on your doorstep or if you needed food to impress on a short notice – a can of SPAM and some ready-made phyllo pastry does wonders for your kitchen cred. This is especially good if you are serving people who had always thought of SPAM as that very odd rectangular shaped meat – with this you cannot spot the SPAM unless you know it’s actually in it.

In this recipe, I used SPAM more as a flavouring than a main inggredient – the star of the baskets is most definately the pretty-looking if not slightly rustic baskets and the veggies. You can omit the SPAM for a veggie version, but I wouldn’t do that if I were you – just an idea if you’re having both veggies & non-veggies over for a meal! You could also add in celery, mushrooms – equally delicious!

Phyllo baskets two ways
makes 1 dozen baskets

  • 5 sheets phyllo (each pack comes with 12 sheets)
  • 150g SPAM of any variety – cut into tiny cubes
  • 1 red pepper (capscium/bell pepper) – strips
  • 1 red onion – strips
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 3 tbs creme fraiche
  • 3 tbs grated mature cheddar
  • chopped chives – optional to top
  • eggwash – optional

Preheat the oven to 170c
Separate the phyllo sheets, and cut into squares to fit your bun cases / cupcake cases. Glaze with some eggwash if you want a nicer golden color – I did not do this.
Press three sheets in each hole, asymmetrically.
In a non-stick skillet, fry the SPAM squares over medium heat, with no additional oil as the oils will released from the SPAM
Once the SPAM is browned and a the skillet is lightly coated with the oils from the SPAM, stir in the onions and brown.
Add in the cayenne and cubed pepper, and toss lightly until soften.
Remove for heat and cool until just warm to touch. Divide it into two bowls.
In one bowl, mix in the creme fraiche, and in the other bowl mix in the grated cheddar.
Spoon mixture in baskets
Cook in the oven for about 10-15 minutes; or until the phyllo is brown.
Leave in bun cases to cool until warm to touch, and then continue cooling on a wire rack.
Top with chives if you like – I top my creme fraiche ones with chives.
Consume within the day – the phyllo softens the next day and gets all soggy.

*bear in mind that how much phyllo/SPAM mixture you need will depend on the size of your bun cases. Mine is pretty tiny.

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Remember; please check back as I will be announcing a giveaway at the end of SPAM-preciation week!!

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Posted on April 18, 2011 by mils

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Here at eatwithsticks, good ole chocolate chip & pecan cookies reign supreme. However, Mr. Eatwithsticks (also commonly known as bacon) prefers the traditional (for him) oatmeal raisin cookies. He likes the oats primarily I think – I always think that oatmeal raisin cookies are way too sweet for me. When we buy a bag of oatmeal raisins, I can only go as far as half a cookie before stopping due to the sugar overload – and this is coming from a sweet tooth! Bacon usually gobbles up the rest of the pack – sweetness and all.

Over the weekend bacon was in charge of cleaning the house….all 4 rooms, kitchen and toilets. Heh. So as a thank-you I thought I’ll make him some of his favourite cookies to snack on. Not bad payment for a day of toil..give me the cooking over cleaning any day.

These cookies are crunchy and crisp; the way i like them. I baked mine at 175C for 17 minutes, but you can bake it for a shorter amount of time for a softer and chewier cookie. Like most baking done in the oven, be sure to keep checking your oven regularly after 10 minutes, and remove the cookies as soon as they are golden brown – temperature vary by ovens and mine is really tempermental.

Oatmeal Raisin cookies
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery book
(makes 12 large cookies – or 24 smaller ones)

  • 130g cubed and room temperature salted butter
  • 60g golden caster sugar
  • 60g brown demerera sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 110g raisins
  • 2 tbs orange juice
  • 60g rolled oats
  • 160g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

  1. Preheat oven to 170C.
  2. Soak raisins in orange juice in a jar; pressing down and shaking the jar to ensure all the raisins are covered. You can use more orange juice if you like.
  3. In a large bowl, cream the butter with sugar until soft and fluffy. This took me a few minutes with a handheld electric whisk.
  4. Incorporate the egg and vanilla extract into the butter-sugar mixture
  5. In a separate bowl, sieve in the flour,baking soda and ground cinnamon. Mix in the rolled oats.
  6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter-egg-sugar mixture, whisking as you go and scraping the sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula.
  7. I found this stage to be very, very dry and sticky – pour in the orange juice at this point if it gets too wet and incorporate with a spatula if you cannot whisk it. If you added more juice, in step 1, just be careful not to pour it all in at the same time.
  8. Once the cookie dough is incorporated, stir in the raisins evenly.
  9. Using two teaspoons, place dollops on two baking tray. The dough spreads slightly, so be sure to leave space around the dough if you don’t want a tray-shaped cookie.
  10. Leave to bake for about 15 minutes – until golden brown. Leave to cool in tray for a few minutes, and leave it on a wire rack to finish cooling. Or if you’re like me; bite into it asap :)

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SPAM-preciation Week – SPAM tomato fried rice

Posted on April 17, 2011 by mils

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I am properly late to the party – by about a month. Earlier in April, the people of SPAM HQ celebrated SPAM’s 70th anniversary in the UK. 70 years!! How amazing is that? SPAM here in the UK gets quite a lot of stick and snarky comments – for me, if you eat sausages there is no reason to be snarky about SPAM. It contains 87% pork shoulder – which is more than what most sausages contain. True, in it’s rectangular form it might not seem very appetizing or at all gourmet, but the flavours achieved in that little tin is amazing.

Like most things (even sausages), if this is all you eat all day every day, it probably isn’t going to be exactly good for you. Moderation to everything I say – even oysters, caviar and lobsters (high cholestrol). And I think really that’s the key to SPAM. True to form, for as long as I’ve run my own kitchen, I have always had at least a can of SPAM in the pantry; next to the can of tuna, bottle of soy sauce and tins of tomatoes. It is wonderful on instant(pot) noodles, a grilled cheese sandwich or over rice. And speaking of rice, this was what I made for my bento  – SPAM tomato egg fried rice.

I wouldn’t exactly call this my own conccotion; but a few squirts of tomato sauce in an egg fried rice produces a very tasty result. Combined with the tasty SPAM, this results in fried rice that is very different from the one at the local chinese takeaway. Perfect for a quick supper and great for using up leftover rice.

 

Recipe for SPAM tomato egg fried rice
serves 2

  • 1.5 cup leftover cooled cooked rice
  • 100g cubed SPAM
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1/2 cubed pepper (capsicum/bell pepper)
  • handful of frozen peas or sliced peapods
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • 3.5 tbs tomato ketchup
  • 1 tbs oil

 

- Heat up the oil in a wok. Saute minced garlic, just browning it and not burning.
- Stir in the SPAM, just browning it lightly.
- Add in the cooked rice, and stir to mix evenly with oil and SPAM.
- Make a ‘well’ with the rice and pour in the beaten egg in the middle. Stir quickly to ensure the egg is scrambled and well incorporated into the rice.
- Cook for a few minutes. Once the texture of the rice and egg is dry-ish, add in soy sauce and ketchup,stirring to ensure even distribution
- Add in the vegetables (you can use frozen mixed vegetable instead of fresh); again stirring to ensure even distribution. I add in my veggies at the very end because I like to maintain the crunch and color in cooked veggies.
- Serve!

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Simple right? The flavours of the SPAM would have been released in the oils and therefore flavouring the rice and making it tasty. The ketchup provides a slight tartness and tomatoey background – you can put in more or less depending on your tastebuds. A change from the regular egg fried rice that usually looks pretty brown and lonely. I even cut my SPAM into stars (because I’m cute like that – lol) with a mini cutter; another reason I love SPAM is the ease of it being turned into shapes = perfect for bentos.

To make it more substantial; I sometimes serve a few slices of panfried SPAM over it with an egg and a side of stirfried vegetable. You can just add more veggies in as well to have a more well rounded one-dish meal. Easy and simple, you can have a meal on the table within 15 minutes.

 

PS: Stay tuned for more ideas using SPAM throughout the week – and a giveaway to be announced later in the week!

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The Secret Tearoom

Posted on April 16, 2011 by mils

 

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The underground eating scene had certainly taken off with a fashion in the past few years. I first noticed Ms Marmitelovers’ blog just before she held her first underground dinner, and she had most definately take off style – and a cookbook too! I had yearned to pay a vist to one of these establishment, and with an underground tearoom right here in Leeds, I didn’t have to go far!I HATE making plans in advance, and bookings at the Secret Tearoom are taken up months in advance; so when Lynn had some last minute cancellation, I jumped at the chance.

This post is about a month in arrears – what with setting up a new blog and such I did get pretty distracted. The lovely Lynn of My Secret Tearoom is the queen of cakes up my way; not only she runs the underground tearoom on weekends she is also the founder of Clandestine Cake – where bakers gather on a monthly basis and share the cakes that they have baked – usually themed. Another story for another day; as I had yet to attend a Clandestine Cake event – shame on me!

Arriving at the secret location which was Lynn’s kitchen; we were greeted with a choice of coffess or teas – a very large selection as well I might add. As Lynn had a full house that day, we were divided into two tables, and me & bacon were on the table for 8. I had to sit in front of the wonderful spread whilst awaiting the arrival of other guests – it’s like a child in a sweetshop and being told that she must wait before gobbling up the sweets! Pure torture!! Fortunately the other guests were on time (I was way too early) and we got to dig in pretty soon after that.

The spread of food was amazing – from Earl Grey tea cakes to madelines, scones, array of sandwiches both veggie and not, and so much more. OH YUM. I am not a massive sandwich fan, but I loved Lynn’s sandwiches from the ham to egg and hummous. I love the savouries as well as the sweets, and combining both with endless pots of tea was an ideal way to spend a Saturday afternoon, eating, drinking and making idle chat.

 

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I think my favourite item the whole afternoon was the Earl Grey tea loaf. It was packed to the brim with plump raisins and not overly crumbly like some tea loaves can be. I still can’t get used to the Northern tradition of eating it with a slice of wensleydale, but am more than happy just eating it by itself so it’s great.

 

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The Earl Grey tea loaf with wensleydale cheeses on top.

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Mini quiches

It was a great way to spend an afternoon, stuffed to the gills and meeting new and interesting people. Like someone said, it’s like Come Dine With Me without the cooking bit. I tried things that I ordinarily wouldn’t have tried and loved them all. We met people, had chats about very random things like swimming in a Soviet bath (???) and suntanning nude in a village square (???!).We even got to doggy bag some cakes back – which made for a great breakfast the next morning. A belated thanks to Lynn for such a wonderful afternoon!

For reservations for the Secret Tea Room, please visit Lynn’s website for more details. For Clandestine Cake events, click here.

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Mochiko Chicken

Posted on April 13, 2011 by mils

 

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I adore mochiko chicken. Having being introduced to this island delicacy from my bento buddies Sheri, Debra & Susan , I really can’t get enough of it now. The marination makes the chicken meat oh so tasty and tender ; the perfect contrast to the crunch of the twice-fried crust. Don’t let the name mochiko chicken misled you; this is not a Japanese dish – born and bred in Hawai’i!

Twice-fried crust makes the chicken exceptionally crispy – even skinless chicken pieces which was what I used. When I can find it, I prefer to use skinless and boneless chicken thighs for ease and taste (it’s available at Sainsbury‘s if you’re in the UK) but boned and skinned chicken pieces works as well. Breast meat tend to be a little dry, but I do sometimes make mochiko chicken with it. It’s perfect for bentos as it doesn’t become super soggy when cold like most other fried chicken. I dip mine in bulldog sauce, and with a side of rice and steamed brocolli, a very delicious but simple dinner is ready.

It’s natural that tomorrow’s bento contains the leftovers of my mochiko chicken. I added two strawberries for that pop of colour, and curly lettuce as a baran to seperate the individual foods. I colored the rice with tumeric and shaped it round to turn it into an Easter chick; with carrot beaks. This bento is super speedy – from packing to photography it took me less than 10 minutes. Win!!

Recipe for Mochiko Chicken
serves 4

Marinade

  • 8 boneless and skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 in grated ginger
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup mirin/dry sherry
  • 1 clove finely minced garlic

Marinade the above for 30 mins-4 hours

Coating

  • 1/2 cup sweet glutinious rice flour
  • 1/2 cup corn flour
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp powdered ginger
  • optional – sesame seeds

Heat up oil in a pan (medium heat) or better still, use a deep fat fryer. When there is a slight haze on the oil, it is ready to fry!
I usually split the chicken into two or three batches as my pan is pretty small.
Dredge chicken pieces into flour mixture, and gently dip the chicken pieces into the bubbling oil.
When the chicken pieces are a light brown, take it out of the oil and rest on some kitchen paper to drain the oil away.
Start on the next batch of chicken, and when it turns light brown, remove and rest on kitchen paper – and return the first batch into the oil.
The second time around, cook the chicken until golden brown.
Drain, pat with kitchen towel and serve up with rice. Mm Mm.

 

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** this post have been cross-posted at notabrownbag; my bento blog!**

 

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Dandelion Fritters

Posted on April 12, 2011 by mils

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I am a sucker for all things weird – and eating weed (lol) is one of them. I make elderflower fritters when they are in bloom in the short few weeks in June/July – but have been wondering of what other flowers can I turn into fritters. I have hazy memories of tempura dandelions – so my dandelion fritters were born!

Don’t you think the blooms are so pretty? They come in varying sizes and bacon was just going to blitz them off in his lawn-mowing last Saturday evening. They are ever so pretty when they are flowering, and if you plucked them before the bees get to them there is a teeny bit of nectar inside that gives it a slight sweetness to counteract the slight bitterness of the green parts of the flower. Make sure you pick the flowers away from busy public roads and away from areas where weedkiller might’ve been applied.

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Dandellion fritters

1/4 cup plain flour, sieved
1/4 cup rice flour
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
pinch of salt
15 dandellion flowers

  • Soak and rinse flowers a good few times to get rid of all the bugs and nasty things
  • Whisk egg, slowly incorporating the flour. Add milk slowly, ensuring the texture is thick enough to coat the flowers without dripping off
  • Heat up vegetable oil in a deep pan or use a deep-fat fryer
  • The oil is ready when a drop of batter dripped into it bubbles and sizzles upon contact.
  • Dip the flower into the batter one by one and completely coat the bloom. The batter will still be slightly drippy at this point, it’s ok as it will hold together in the oil. Gently drop them into the oil away from you.
  • Do not overflow your pan, as I use a tiny pan, I took about 3-4 batches to finish all my fritters.
  • Each batch should only take a few minutes, the fritters are done when the whole bloom is golden brown and crispy.
  • Soak excess oil from the fritters with kitchen paper. Serve up immediately (nobody likes soggy fritters) by itself or with a dip.

Here I made a savory version with ketchup as a dip. It also tastes very nice with sweet chilli sauce. You can also do a ‘sweet’ version for dessert. Omit the salt from the batter, and when the fritters are done, drizzle with honey and dust with icing sugar. I do this to my foraged elderflower fritters and they’re absolutely wonderful. Try it….you might be eating your weeds instead of mowing them down :) .

Photo

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Chocolate Guinness Cake

Posted on April 5, 2011 by mils

 

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It took me a couple of cakes to get this right (and more than a few added inches to my waist); but I think I’ve got it right down to pat at last. I love the flavours of Guinness, even though I do sometimes feel that it tastes like soy sauce. This cake is supposed to look like a frothy pint of guinness, complete with a frothy cream cheese top. Mmm.

I like to skip the frosting when I’m baking at home; the super sweet icing sugar does not really appeal to me and usually gets scraped off anyway. However, the frosting on this just completely transforms the cake. It is pretty amazing stuff. I played around with the frosting as well, and made two versions; a normal cream cheese frosting and a guinness-infused cream cheese frosting. I have seen versions for a Bailey’s cream cheese frosting as well, but I had no Bailey’s at home :( . The cake is supremely moist due to the melted butter, sour cream and Guinness. The flavour of Guinness is not overly strong ; but the hint is definitely there. Deep mysterious flavours; it really doesn’t matter if you think you don’t like Guinness, but you will definitely enjoy this cake. It can be made with any stout, but I think the flavours might differ just ever so slightly with a different stout or porter.

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Chocolate Guinness Cake
adapted from my favourite cake book, Hummingbird Bakery and Nigella Lawson

* 250ml Guinness
* 250g unsalted butter
* 75g cocoa
* 300g icing sugar
* 140ml sour cream
* 2 eggs
* 1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
* 250g plain flour
* 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
* 1.5 teaspoon of baking powder

  • Preheat oven to 170c / 340F
  • In a saucepan, melt cubed butter in Guinness.
  • Measure out cocoa and sugar in a mixing bowl (preferably with a spout – the cake mixture is very liquid) , and pour in melted guinness butter mixture. Mix well
  • Add in wet inggredients, and whisk.
  • Add in dry ingredients, and whisk to mix well.
  • Pour mixture in ramekins, just filling it 3/4 – I like the transparent look the ramekins give the cake, but you can also just turn this into a loaf cake, a round cake tin or even cupcakes. Adjust cooking time appropriately; cupcakes should take about 20 minutes, ramekins 30 minutes and a loaf cake / round cake about 50 minutes.

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    Frosting
    * 300g Philadelphia cream cheese
    * 100g icing sugar
    * 1 tsp vanilla extract, or a scraped vanilla pod
    * 60ml double or whipping cream
    * 60ml Guinness

  • Empty the cream cheese into a food processor; and process for 1 minute or until smooth.
  • Add in the sugar, vanilla, all of the guinness and half the whipping cream.
  • Process for a minute or two; the longer you process the mixture the more it will churn and thicken.
  • Pour in the rest of the whipping cream once the mixture thickens, and process some more. The mixture should thicken up nicely.
  • Slather all over cooled cake. Devour

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    GuinnessCake2

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