Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting

(Cafe World inspired dish # 3)

Patience is not one of my greatest virtue. That was why I was surprised that I found joy in baking this masterpiece.  Although I intended to make cupcakes at first since it's less the works and I have more chances of success, this project was all worth the effort. It was not only me who waited with anticipation, the kids were there watching the cake with wonder, "is that strawberry cake mommy?"  was  the question repeated for the whole hour.

Red Velvet cake is said to have originated south of the US. There are many speculations but  there's just nowhere to point, just like other legendary foods that made us wonder and crave...well, go ahead and just eat it, we can research later!

Originally, beets were used to color this reddish treat, but red food coloring has replaced it long ago. Other common ingredients are buttermilk, butter, flour, cocoa and is normally finished off with white icing, usually of cream cheese. I am not so sure about the sweetness of this particular recipe, I didn't put in buttermilk but it still turned out moist.

Some recipes include coconut flakes for the icing, since my "customers" are kids, I opted for candy sprinkles. For now, I am posting the ingredients of the other Red Velvet cake I'm planning to bake...directions will be posted soon.

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Red Velvet Cake:

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup  buttermilk
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 - 8 ounce  cream cheese, room temperature
1 - 8 ounce  tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup  confectioners' sugar, sifted

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Guacamole and Chips

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My youngest kid likes munching on chips. He got that from his dad. He doesn't prefer a certain brand, as long as it's chips he'll munch it (lol). The dad loves paprika flavored chips while I enjoy cheese, so the little boy gets to taste either from us...but I don't think he even knows the difference haha....

So here's Guacomale dip and nacho cheese chips that the little boy snacked on with much gusto. He can't be bothered, he won't even look up the camera! Guacamole is easy to make and here is the simplest recipe I got.
Ingredients

* 2 avocados
* 1 small onion, finely chopped
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 ripe tomato, chopped
* 1 lime, juiced
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Peel and mash avocados in a medium serving bowl. Stir in onion, garlic, tomato, lime juice, salt and pepper. Season with remaining lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Chill for half an hour to blend flavors.

Oh, Cafe World serves this as well... ;)

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Herbed Halibut (Cafe World inspired!)

;-)

So last post was Restaurant City inspired, this time it's from Cafe World! This is a perfect dish for the kids, they love fish. I thought they might not like to have fish for now since  our 4 year-old arowana died 2 weeks ago :( . Markus, a name given by a friend to which the kids agreed, was our long and graceful silver arowana. Anyway, this is not the arowana, lol, this is halibut fillet with lemon and dill.

I do not have exact measurements so heat up the pan, melt  butter, saute garlic then add lemon juice. Add dill then let cool.

Season your halibut with salt and pepper and a bit olive oil. Grill on both sides brushing with the  lemon-dill mixture until firm and beautifully browned.

Served with steamed broccoli, seasoned with some sea salt and grilled pineapple tidbits (I run out of chunks but the bits did the trick as well).

A healthy and simple meal in a few minutes!

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