Thai Spring Rolls

Fast, easy, and delicious appetizer!

Always Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cake

This recipe for Red Velvet Cake was requested by Marquetta waaayyyy back in the middle of April! Marquetta… I must admit that you certainly threw me off kilter with your request!

Although I’ve heard of this cake several times, I’ve never baked one or tasted one. That’s not exactly surprising though since there are very few cakes that I’ve attempted. My cakes are either fabulous, or not fit for human or animal consumption. You can ask my daughter… her Rottweiler, named Chaka (although she can’t sing), won’t even sniff some of my failures.

Finally, I found a woman (through a friend) who bakes these all the time (says she!). I hope that this recipe meets your taste buds with a smile!

Your Ingredients:

1 T unsalted butter (to butter 2 cake pans)
2 T cake flour (for dusting cake pans)
2-1/2 cups cake flour, NOT self-rising
1-tsp salt
1/4-cup cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2-cups canola or vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 (1-ounce) bottles of red food coloring (1/4-cup)
1-tsp pure vanilla extract
1-cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons white vinegar (NOT apple cider vinegar)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

PREHEAT oven to 350ºF. Generously butter two 9-inch cake pans. Dust with flour and shake out the excess; set aside.

WHISK together the cake flour, salt, and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

IN the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and oil on medium speed until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time and blend well after each addition.

Note: DO NOT overmix the cake batter; overmixing will result in a tough cake.

ADD food coloring and vanilla and mix until well blended.

ADD 1/3 of your flour mixture and 1/3 of your buttermilk, mixing well and then repeating with another 1/3 flour and 1/3 buttermilk, mixing well, and then adding the last 1/3 of your flour and buttermilk, mixing well.

IN a separate bowl, whisk together the vinegar and baking soda. Add to your cake batter and mix for a few seconds.

DIVIDE batter evenly between both prepared cake pans. Place the pans in your preheated oven.

BAKE until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow cakes to cool on a rack in their pans about 5 minutes. Remove from pans and place cakes directly on the wire rack to cool completely.

Note: If you are adept at slicing each layer horizontally (and evenly) in half, you’ll have a 4-layer cake. Otherwise, you could just double the recipe and make 4 (9-inch) layers.

White Frosting: (You will need a candy thermometer.)

1/2-cup water
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2-tsp cream of tartar
1/8-tsp salt
4 egg whites, room temperature

IN a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the water, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Stir constantly until mixture is clear. Continue cooking (but NO more stirring) until mixture reaches 240ºF.

IN the bowl of an electric mixer, add egg white and beat until soft peaks form. When mixer is running, slowly pour the sugar mixture down the sides of the bowl (NOT in the center). Continue beating until stiff peaks form and frosting thickens to desired consistency.

SPREAD on thoroughly cooled cake layers.

Always Enjoy!

Easy New York Steak Sandwich

Here's a short video of Chef John preparing an easy and very tasty New York steak sandwich. I prepared this on the grill using rib eye steaks instead of strip steaks since they were everyone's favorite. I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

Always Enjoy!