Food for Thought: Strawberry Cake

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Strawberry Cake

My sister made this fabulously whimsical cake for a cottage meal a couple of years ago. I love the look of it. The vivid pink of that frosting comes from the addition of cherry juice to an ordinary icing recipe.

The original recipe was published as a Canada Day recipe by Pat Trew in the EMC news. You’ll notice in the instructions below that she used whipping cream and fresh strawberries instead of icing; a completely acceptable and patriotic alternative, although not quite as riveting as that glowing pink blanket of sugar on my sister's cake.

Ingredients for the cake:

1 super-moist white cake mix (enough for 2 layers)

1 package of frozen strawberries (or 2 cups)

85 gm package strawberry Jello, or other jelly powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

Topping:

heavy cream for whipping

as many fresh strawberries as you like

Instructions:

Partially thaw the strawberries before you start everything else. Grease and lightly flour a 13"x 8" cake pan and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, Jello powder, oil and eggs. Pour off any juice from the berries and add this to the bowl. With an electric mixer, mix the cake batter for 2 minutes. Turn the bowl occasionally to ensure that the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Fold the partially-thawed berries into the cake batter, then spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 325F for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Since it's easiest to serve this cake directly from the pan, cool it completely in the pan.

To finish the cake, whip heavy cream in a small bowl until it holds its shape. Spread this over the top of the cake. Arrange some fresh strawberries on top of the whipped cream with the tips pointing up. Keep chilled until serving time. Serves 12-14

'To Cut the Mustard'

Meaning: To succeed; to come up to expectations.

Origin: Why cutting mustard was chosen as an example of high quality is unclear. Some possibilities allude to the literal difficulty of cutting mustard;for example: - Mustard seed, which is hard to cut with a knife on account of being small and shiny. - Mustard plants, which are tough and stringy and grow densely. - Culinary mustard, which is cut (diluted) and made more palatable by the addition of vinegar. - Dried mustard paste, which was reputedly used to coat meat and then dried to form a crust.

The love of olive oil...

I finally figured it out...why I love olive oil so much. It was the television programming I was exposed to as a child. See the following description, from the online Encylclopedia Britanica, of a character I admired. I lusted after the large boxes of chocolates she would consume in one sitting.

Tall, gangly, big-footed Olive Oyl, whose black hair was almost always tied back in a bun, first co-starred with her brother, Castor Oyl, in 1919 in the newspaper comic strip Thimble Theatre. For the strip’s first 10 years, she was the girlfriend of Castor’s layabout pal, Ham Gravy, and her jealousy over his wandering eye fueled many comedic episodes. However, soon after the introduction of Popeye in 1929, Ham was written out of the strip as Olive found true love with the salty sailor. In this coupling, she was the more fickle character, as from time to time she became drawn to suitors with more education and refinement than the scrappy, wisecracking Popeye, though he always won her back. Popeye rescued Olive Oyl hundreds of times from the nefarious bully Bluto.

A Funky Review of a Funky Cookbook by a Funky Girl

“Bite me speaks to more than your stomach,” reads an excerpt on one of the first pages of the newly released cookbook, Bite me, by sassy sisters Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat. From the tongue in cheek, retro photographs that grace many of the pages to the aptly chosen, often perfectly crude quotations; Bite me is a cookbook that also speaks to your sense of humour and playfulness.
The book is decidedly un-pretentious, which is exactly what the sisters had in mind when creating the book, and exactly what appeals to me as a twenty something with not much experience in the kitchen. At the book’s launch on October 6th at an Indigo location in Toronto, Julie was the first to boast that many of the props in the self-published book came from the dollar store. The price- perfect. The look- genius. The props convey just the right amount of kitsch and comedy.
Heather Reisman, CEO of Indigo and famous as Heather of ‘Heather’s Picks’ obviously saw the same genius in these first time authors. The book is now the first cookbook to ever be chosen as a ‘Heather’s Pick’ at Chapters and Indigo stores nationwide.
I personally know Julie Albert, as I tutor her adorable, charming son Benjy, here in Toronto, Ontario. Julie is most often seen looking flawless, but approachable- laid back in jeans or yoga pants, shuffling her kids from one activity to another. She is exactly the involved Mom who wants delicious, easy, home cooking with a twist, to feed to her family. That was the goal for the sisters- no mushroom foam, no truffle scented this or that. Just fun, easy variations on your favourites- using simple ingredients with a dash of wit, and some of Lisa and Julie’s own kitchen secrets. Oh- and a man with his head stuffed down a woman’s shirt. You have to buy the book to take a look at that last one.
I am buying the book for all the cooks in my family this Christmas. Even for a cook with many books, this one is a standout- almost more coffee table material than shelved with other cookery bibles.
If you need a giggle- go buy it. If you need a recipe for pecan crusted lime chicken- buy it. To the self-professedly “not so sweet, tiny-bit salty” sisters- great job. I forkin’ love it.

Jessie Bass-West

Link to Bite me http://www.bitemecookbook.com/

Pages

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Strawberry Cake