Background

Monday, April 16, 2012

Dinner Club & Tres Leches Cake

Hey All! Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good. This past Saturday night was my Dinner Club dinner. I don't think I've mentioned my Dinner Club before, so I thought I'd tell you about it. Once every six weeks or so me a and a small group of friends get together for dinner. No kids, no hubbies or boyfriends, just a group of women doing what we do best - eating, drinking and lots and lots of talking.

Now the dinner part does have a little bit of structure to it. The hostess picks the theme of the night. This last one was South American. Some dinner themes in the past have been Italian, French, East Indian and one that was favorite comfort foods. Mmm!! Anyway, the hostess cooks the main dish and then the rest of us choose to make an appetizer, side dish or dessert. And of course a few of us bring wine or something equally as tasty to drink. It's always soo much fun! Great food and great conversation, can't beat that!

Once I heard our theme this time was going to be South American, I knew the dessert I wanted to make, Tres Leches Cake. OMG, ladies. It was soo good! OK, now I'm getting ahead of myself. heehee Of course I jumped on Pinterest to find a recipe, and the one that had a lot of pins was from Ree's blog, The Pioneer Woman. After reading review after review of people raving, I knew I had found the one. Would you like me to share it with you? OK, since you asked soo sweetly.

{image: The Pioneer Woman}
 Tres Leches Cake

 |   |   | 
  
Ingredients
  • 1 cup All-purpose Flour
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon Salt
  • 5 whole Eggs
  • 1 cup Sugar, Divided
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 1/3 cup Milk
  • 1 can Evaporated Milk
  • 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
  • 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
  • Maraschino Cherries, Optional
  • FOR THE ICING:
  • 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
  • 3 Tablespoons Sugar
Preparation Instructions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
- Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
- Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
- Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
- Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
- Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
- Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
- Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

My notes:

* After 30 minutes I checked the cake and it was done.
* I poked the holes in while the cake was still warm. I think it helped it cool quicker. I also poked some extra holes in it before I poured on the milk. 
* I added vanilla to my whipped cream and used powdered sugar instead of regular.
* I did not add any maraschino cherries. I don't like them and never even thought about the fact that the  other ladies might. Oops! Sorry Janet.  =)
* It was very tasty the next day with a little cinnamon sprinkled on top. Mmm. 
* And lastly, I kept the one cup of leftover milk mixture. I poured it in a jar and threw it in the fridge thinking it'd be good for tea. Oh boy was I right. I made a chocolate chai tea and added some - yummy!

OK, now for my review of the cake. WOW!!! It might have been the best cake I've ever eaten. You would think it'd be soggy, but it wasn't at all. All the ladies loved it. And Mr. CC, Miss E and Miss A all loved it too. The Mr. actually asked me tonight if I was making it again tomorrow. He doesn't even really like cake, so that's telling you something. And yes, I will definitely be making it again. Next time though I'm going to bake the cake in two round pans and layer it. I may even add a layer of dulce de leche in the middle with the whipped cream. How's that sound? My suggestion is to make this cake asap. You will not regret it. Hey Cinco De Mayo is coming up. That would be the perfect excuse.  =)

{A last pic because it looks soo tasty.}


Sharing With:

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Butter Tart Squares

Hey there - I'm back!! Well at least for a post or two. My computer is still in the dumper and with no extra money floating around right now, it's not looking like I'll be getting a new one anytime soon. My lovely stepdaughter, Miss E, left here laptop her for me to use. What a sweetie, huh? It's kind of funny how much I've missed blogging this past week. You're all like my digital buddies and I miss ya. So I'm happy to be back, even if it's only for a couple posts, for now. 

Last week I did my first guest post ever, over at my friend Kara's blog, Mine for the Making. Kara is one creative gal. Head on over and tell her I sent you.  =)

While there I shared a recipe for butter tart squares that I'd found on All Recipes last winter. I was going to a cookie exchange and wanted something quick, easy and delicious. These were perfect! Now, a classic butter tart is in a tart shell and has raisins in it. With this recipe you make a crust-like base and you can omit the raisins if you like. I chose to leave them out, not a big fan.

Butter Tart Squares
1 cup flour
2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or hard margarine
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/4 flaked coconut (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x9 or 8x8 pan. 
2.  In a medium sized bowl mix the flour and 2 tbs of brown sugar. Cut in the butter/margarine until mixture is crumbly. Press into bottom of pan. Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven. Crust should not be fully cooked. 
3.  In a large bowl mix together the eggs and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar. Combine the oats, salt and baking powder; stir into the egg mixture along with the vanilla. Mix in the raisins and coconut, if desired. Spread mixture over the partially baked crumb layer in the pan. 
4.  Bake 20 minutes. Cool completely, and cut into squares. 








That's it! Easy peasy. Make sure you let it cool completely before you cut them. Otherwise the top will crack and they won't look as pretty. Also a little tip for ya, I always line my pan with foil so I can lift it out and cut it into squares on the cutting board. I like to trim the edges so they look nicer. Plus you get to sample the pieces you cut off. heehee  : )  The pan I use is 8x8 and I get 16 squares. You could cut them a bit smaller or larger if you like. I've also cut them into triangles before for a different look. This time I made up some fresh whipped cream to dollop on top. Mmm!!

You should definitely give these a try. They don't disappoint and they're great for the upcoming holidays.  Happy baking!
Sharing With:
Centsational Girl
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...