Tres Leche Cake With Whipped Cream and Fresh Fruit Topping

After going through a long-list of cake ideas, I decided that Tres Leche Cake is what we will all be sinking our tooth into on hubby's birthday. Since I was baking for a 12+ crowd, I wanted a fail-safe recipe. So I went surfing in Martha's website. I have tried many recipes from her site(Remember Italian Plum Cake? Eggless Pear-Upside Down Cake?) and they have all turned out splendid! So I was 100% sure that this cake would be a sucess too. Base recipe is from here.

A tip about making the Whipped Cream Topping: I read in some site that to make the best whipped cream, "all elements" have to be cold - This means the bowl, whisk besides the heavycream too. I stuck the bowl and whisk in the freezer for 5 minutes before I begun. Overwhipping will cause the heavy cream to seperate into butter and buttermilk. So keep a wary eye while the mixer is whipping away.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup/ 1 Stick Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 5 Eggs, at room temperature
• 1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1-1/2 Cup Whole Milk
• 1/2 Can Evaporated Milk
• 1 Small Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

For the Whipped Cream and Fruits Topping:

• 2 Cups Cold Heavy Cream
• 6 Tbsp Confectioner's Sugar
• 1 Red Plum, thinly sliced
• 2 Ripe Kiwi, thinly sliced
• 1 Cup Blackberries
• 8-10 Strawberries, roughly sliced

Tool:

• 12" X 8" Oven-proof Pan

Procedure:

• Sift the flour, baking powder in a wide bowl. Mix in the salt. Using an electric mixer, whip the butter and sugar. Add the room temperature eggs one by one and mix at medium speed until the mixture is pale yellow.Add the sifted flour mixture in batches. Mix to incorporate. Do not overmix. 

•  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the rectangular pan with aluminum foil. Pour the batter and spread evenly. Bake for 30-32 minutes,rotating the dish half way through. 

• Once out of the oven, prick in several places with the tines of the fork.

•  Quickly mix the milk, evaporate milk and condensed milk. 

•  Pour over the still warm cake. Let it sit and soak for 2 hours.

• Meanwhile cut all the fruits.

• Make the Whipped Cream: Stick the electric whisk, stainless steel bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes.

• Add the cold heavy cream and confectioner's sugar. Start to whip at slow and then high. Keep a wary eye and do not over-whip. Once the heavy cream turns foamy and stiff peaks are formed, stop whipping. Over-whipping will cause it to turn to butter + Buttermilk. You get ~4 to 4-1/2 Cups whipped cream.

•  Scoop the whipped cream using a soft silicone spatula and spread it on the cake. 

• Remove the cake from the baking pan at this stage. The cake doesn't absorb all the milk-mixture.

• Decorate the top with fresh fruits. Cute and serve immediately and refrigerate the left-overs rightaway! Truly Scrumptious Scrumptious Scrumptious!

Enjoy! 
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#18

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Tortilla roll-ups and the winner of CSNStores gift e-card giveway

Tortilla roll-ups are great idea for a quick snack or party-food. One that can be made in a jiffy that also happens to be a total crowd-pleaser. This recipe is my healthy interpretation of this ever popular dish.
Sending this to "A veggie/Fruit A month Event".

Ingredients:

• Whole-Wheat Tortilla - 4, medium
• Avocado - 2, pitted and smashed roughly
• Black Olives - a handful, finely chopped
• Red Roasted peppers - 4 tbsp, finely chopped
• Laughing Cow Soft Swiss Cheese - 4 Wedges
• Lime/Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
• Salt and pepper - for taste

Procedure:

• Spread a wedge of Swiss cheese on the tortilla.
• Quickly mix smashed avocado along with black olives, roasted red pepper, salt and pepper and lime Juice.
• Top the cheese-smeared tortilla with a portion of avocado mixture.

• Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and slather on the tortilla.

• Roll each tortilla and wrap it in plastic. 

• Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
• Using a sharp serrated knife slice the tortilla and serve cold.

Makes ~32 bite-sized roll-ups

The winner of CSN Stores $80 Gift e-card Giveway  is comment # 168 -

That would be FancyGrlNancy. Will send you an email shortly.
Thanks to everyone for participating in this event. If it was up to me, I would give everyone of you a gift-card. But sadly it not up to me. :(. Well, you could get lucky next time. Stay tuned for an upcoming Giveaway.

Enjoy!

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Avocado, Pineapple and Black Olive Salsa

This appetizer is something that will invigorate a person to jump and do a Salsa. Me for instance, as I am totally feeling the blues due to the Pollen allergy. My loud sneeze is giving my little boy heart palpitations and the watery, itchy eye is driving me nuts.Don't feel like doing anything at all but curl up on the couch and vegetate.

Ingredients:

• Avocado, Pineapple, Tomato - Each 1/4 cup, fine diced
• Black Olives - 1/8 cup, fine diced
• Red Onion - 2 tbsp or more, fine diced
• Jalepenos or Cracked pepper  and Salt for taste
• Lemon juice - 2-3 tbsp

Procedure:

• In a bowl, add all of the above ingredients and toss gently to incorporate.
• Chill for an hour before serving.

Enjoy!

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PowerFood#2 - Avocado: Effortless Guacamole With Cucumber Chips

Nutrition facts of Avocado from www.avocado.org sent to me by my uncle many moons ago:

• Avocados provide more than 25 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins, and folic acid.
  
• One-fifth of a medium avocado or about one ounce is 55 calories, but contributes beneficial nutrients such as fiber, potassium, Vitamin E and lutein to the diet.
• One-fifth of a medium avocado provides beneficial phytochemicals such as glutathione, beta-sitosterol, and lutein. Phytonutrients are thought to help prevent many chronic diseases.
• Avocados act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotene as well as lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit.
• The avocado is virtually the only fruit that has monounsaturated fat.
• Avocados are a good source of fiber and fiber may help maintain heart health. 

Avocados can be eaten by itself, with a squeeze of lime/lemon, in a salad or as a dip called Guacamole. Guacamole is a thick, avocado-based dip typically served with tortilla chips. Guacamole boasts an infinite number of recipes, with ingredients depending on the cultural surroundings and taste preferences. This is my mom's version of Guacamole.I love the dip the best due to its ease of making and certainly its delish factor.

Here goes the recipe:Ingredients:
 For the Dip:

• Avocado - 1 ripe, preferably Hass
• Red onion - 2 tbsp, diced
• Tomato - 2 tbsp, diced
• Black Olives - 3#s,pitted,  thinly sliced (optional)
  
• Lemon/Lime Juice - 1 tbsp
• Salt
• Pepper - 1/2 tsp

For the Chip:

• Cucumber - 1, skinned and thinly sliced like chips
  

Procedure:

• Remove the skin and the stone of the avocado.
• Smash it with a fork or a mortar-pestle in a bowl.
• Add the red onion,tomato, sliced olives(if using) and give it a gentle mix.
• Sprinkle the salt and pepper. 
• Pour in the juice of lemon/lime and give it a final mix.
• Refrigerate until serving.
• Serve with cucumber chips.

Makes 2 Servings.

Enjoy!

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