Strawberry Lime Confetti Bundt Cake

Today, I had some of my family over to celebrate my father's birthday. While preparing a dessert, I knew I had to keep it simple - the kids were underfoot, there were other things to be seen to, and multi-tasking doesn't usually lead to tastier desserts, if you know what I mean. So, I took a shortcut and pulled out a box of cake mix. I keep them on hand for days like today - when you need a little something, but just don't have the mental capacity to measure out cups and teaspoons, no matter how simple or delicious the recipe. I doctored the mix up, and the results were pretty tasty! 

(Special thanks to my little brother Ted for the photos - he grabbed my camera and snapped these shots while I was serving cake and ice cream to the hungry masses.) 

Strawberry Lime Confetti Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix
3 1/2 Tbsp. strawberry gelatin
5 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water
10 drops lime essential oil (I use doTERRA brand)
1/3 cup large sprinkles

Preheat your oven to 350. Spray a 9-cup Bundt cake pan with cooking spray, sprinkle with flour, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cake mix, gelatin, eggs, oil and water. Mix together on low until combined, then on medium for 2 minutes. Reduce speed and add essential oil and sprinkles. Mix until combined. Pour your cake batter into your prepared Bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, or both! (A lime glaze would also be nice.)

Soy Milk / Tofu Fa (Tofu Pudding) (Vegan)

Sometime last year, I heard about a book called Asian Tofu, by Amy Nguyen. I wouldn't usually be excited about a book on tofu, but this book had something different - tofu fa. Since living in Hong Kong over a decade ago, I have been looking for a way to make this treat at home. Sure, it is available at stores, but I could always find something to complain about. It had a weird odor. The syrup was mouth-numbingly ginger-y. It was only available at a tiny tofu shop on Mott Street, in NYC Chinatown. (*drool*)

So. This book was praised by someone I trust, AND it had a recipe for my elusive Tofu Fa! I was sold. Onto the Christmas Wishlist it went, and (lo and behold), there it was on Christmas morning. (Thanks, Aunt Winnie!!)

It still took me a few weeks to get my act together and gather the perfect trifecta of time, inclination, and ingredients. I followed Amy's recipe for soy milk, with one small change, but when it came time to make the actual tofu, I realized I had picked up the wrong solidifying agent. Oh well - it worked out in the end. 

Amy suggests using gypsum, a food-grade plaster of paris. I have never been able to find that in stores, so I grabbed agar-agar instead (a gelatin made from seaweed). I looked online, and found that the general consensus was to use a ratio of 1/2 tsp. of agar agar to 3 cups of soy milk. The resulting tofu was a bit firmer than the traditional tofu fa, and didn't weep at all. (Usually, water will seep out of tofu as it slowly becomes firmer. This tofu was...well, it was more like very tender jello. I didn't mind at all, but a purist might turn their nose up.) 

The other change I made was to remove the bean skins, after soaking the soy beans overnight. It only took a few minutes. I used my hands to crush the beans up a bit, and then scooped the skins out. If you do this under water, the skins will naturally settle to the top of the pile. If you agitate the water, it is pretty easy to pull out the skins. You don't need to get them all, but you want to get the majority out as they are pretty bitter. 

The night before you want to make your soy milk or tofu, put a scant cup dry soy beans into a large pot, and cover with water by about 3-4". The beans are ready when they split in half easily. Crush the beans lightly with your hands, and remove the bean skins from the mix. If you swirl the beans around with your hands, the skins will rise to the top of the beans and you can scoop them out and throw them away. 

When you are ready to make your soy milk and/or tofu fa, you need to get set up. Get out your blender, a large pot (non-stick is awesome here),  a colander, a bowl just smaller than your colander, a cotton towel, a potato masher, and a wooden spoon. Once you get started, you don't want to be wandering all over the kitchen looking for stuff! 

Put the colander over the top of the bowl, line it with a cotton towel, put the potato masher nearby, and set the whole thing aside. 

Drain your beans and put them in the blender with 2 cups of water. Meanwhile, put 3 cups of water in the large pot and put it on the stove to boil. Blend your beans until they are completely smooth and creamy, then add them to your pot of water. Bring the whole thing JUST to a boil. Be VERY careful. What you are looking for is for the whole pot to foam up. It will look like a root beer float, and you have about 5 seconds to kill the heat and do your best to beat back the foam if your pot isn't tall enough to contain it. Good luck. Don't blink! 

Once the foam has subsided, carefully pour the whole pot into the towel-lined colander set up. While that drains, immediately rinse your pot out in the sink. Once these beans get dried onto a pot, it's really, really, REALLY hard to get them off. Really hard. (That's a pun. Get it? It's hard? Whatever.) 

This was my Draining Set-Up. I lined the colander with a cotton towel (in the first picture), and poured my boiled "bean smoothie" into it. After it had drained for about 5 minutes, I gathered up the edges of the towel and twisted them together with one hand, compacting the okara into one glob. Then I kept twisting, and pressing on the bundle with my potato masher, until all the liquid had been extracted. 

(okara, after pressing out the soy milk)

(It is very important to rinse everything immediately. Otherwise, the leftover bean residue is pretty stubborn!)

My strained soy milk. Obviously, I used a pot to catch the milk, instead of a bowl. My second time, I used a huge 10 qt. non-stick dutch oven for all the stove-top bits, and it was a DREAM to clean up. I highly recommend it. Not as pretty as a lime-green Le Creuset pot, though. So, there ya go. Get your strained "milk" onto the stove, in something you don't mind cleaning afterward, and bring it to a low boil. Simmer it for 5 minutes to finish cooking the raw beans, and...congratulations! You have soy milk! It is delicious hot, it is delicious plain, it is delicious sweetened, and it is delicious cold. 

However, if you are like me and prefer to eat your soy milk in a semi-gelatinous state...keep going! Ladle half of your soy milk into a container. I like to use the container I am going to pour my finished tofu fa into, so I have one less dish to wash. So. Find a container that will hold at least 3 cups, and has a lid. Ladle about half of your soy milk into that container, and whisk in 1/2 tsp. of Agar-Agar. Bring your remaining soy milk back to a low boil, and pour your Agar-Agar/soy mil mixture back into the pot. Really stir this well - the Agar-Agar will want to settle to the bottom, and that won't give you nice tofu fa. Whisk it up, stir it violently...whatever floats your boat. Just get it back up to a boil, boil it for about a minute or so, and then kill the heat. 

You might want to put your container in the sink for this next step. You're going to pour the tofu fa mixture into the container, from at least 12" above the container. Putting it in the sink makes sure you don't need a step stool for this. Pouring it from high up makes sure that the whole mixture has one last time to really churn up and get that coagulant mixed through out the whole batch. Now cover the container with a towel, then the lid, and put it somewhere for at least 15 minutes. Don't touch it! After 15 minutes, you can carefully transfer it to the refrigerator. After an hour or so, your soy milk has magically transformed into tender, melt in your mouth...tofu fa! 

Serve topped with syrup. Plain old maple syrup will certainly work, and I think my tofu-loving 5 year old prefers Mrs. Butterworth's. The more traditional route would be to simmer 1 brick of Chinese brown sugar (pin tong) on the stove with about 1 cup of water to make a sweet syrup. A slice of ginger can be added as well. 

Divide the tofu fa between four bowls, and top with a few spoonfuls of the syrup. Enjoy warm or cold! 

Soy Milk / Tofu Fa (Tofu Pudding)

Serves 4

Ingredients: 

1 scant cup dry soy beans

Water, divided

1/2 tsp. Agar-Agar

Syrup (optional)

1 brick pin tong (Chinese brown sugar)

1 cup water

The night before: 

Soak your soy beans in enough water to cover them by about 3-4 inches. The beans will swell. 

Cooking time: 

Drain the beans and place in the blender. Line a colander with a tea towel, place it over a bowl, and set aside. Put a non-stick pot on the stove with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Put 2 cups of water into the blender and blend the beans until they are smooth and creamy. 

Pour your pulverized beans into the pot of boiling water, and bring back to a boil. Be very careful - it will foam up quickly and will overflow the pot if you are not careful. As soon as it foams up, turn off the heat and carefully blow and stir the bubbles back into submission. Pour the mixture into your lined colander and let it drain into the bowl. 

Immediately rinse out your pot, and put it back on the stove to use again. Gather the edges of your tea towel and press the bean pulp (okara/ dau ja) into a ball. Use a potato masher to press the remaining liquid out. (The okara can be discarded, or saved for eating in other recipes. I feed it to my chickens.) 

Pour the drained milk back into your pot and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent it from scorching. If you see a skin form on the top, you can pull it off and eat it. It is called tofu stick, and can be dried and saved. I prefer to call it a mid-chore snack, though. 

Stop here for soy milk. Allow to cool and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. 

To make tofu fa: 

Ladle half of the soy milk into a container that has a lid. Bring the remaining soy milk back to a boil. Whisk the Agar-Agar into the soy milk you ladled out, then carefully pour that mixture back into the pot. Bring the whole thing back to a boil for about 1 minute, then carefully pour it back into your container. Loosely cover with a towel, then put the lid on the container. Do not disturb the container for at least 15 minutes. After that, it can be moved to the refrigerator. Once the tofu fa has solidified, it can be served warm or cold, with syrup.* 

Syrup: 

In a small sauce pan, combine 1 cup of water and 1 brick of Chinese brown sugar (pin tong). Simmer until the sugar has dissolved. 

Enjoy! 

Aunt LoLo's Apple Blackberry Pie

The other day, I decided that what my family needed was an apple pie. Ever have one of those days? When you just really, really need a pie, to make everything right in the world?

I only had 4 apples left from the crate of apples I bought in the fall, so I dug through the freezer and grabbed a bag of blackberries I picked last summer to make sure I had enough filling. A search online gave me a pie crust recipe that didn't involve digging my food processor out of the back of the cupboard, and I got to work.

The pie was, unexpectedly, delicious. Probably the yummiest pie I've ever made! The real star of the show, though, was the crust. As my husband dug into his piece, he asked, "Where did you get the crust?" "Oh, I made it." "No, I know you made the pie, but where did you get the crust??" He thought I bought it. The crust is tender and flaky, and just a bit salty, to counteract the sweetness of the filling. This is a keeper!

Aunt LoLo's Apple Blackberry Pie
Makes one 9" pie

Crust: (recipe adapted from here)

Fill a measuring cup with ice and water. Set aside.

In a high powered blender, or food processor*, combine:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

Turn the blender on at the lowest speed (variable 1) and slowly increase to medium speed (variable 5). Blend for 10 seconds, then remove the plug from the middle of the lid.

With the blender running, drop in:
3/4 cup Crisco

Blend for 5 seconds.

Add:
5 Tbsp. ice water

Blend until just combined. This should not form a ball. You just want it all equally damp.

*If you are using a food processor, you should be pulsing at each step to combine. 

Prepare your counter with two largish pieces of plastic wrap. Dump your damp dough onto one of the pieces and carefully knead it a few times until it makes a ball. Divide the ball in half, shape each half into a disc, and wrap them up their own pieces of plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Assembling the pie:

Preheat the oven to 425 and set aside a 9" pie dish.

Peel, core, and chop :
4 medium sized apples

In a large mixing bowl, combine:

Chopped apples
1 lb. frozen blackberries, thawed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup corn starch

Stir to combine, and set aside.

Remove your wrapped pie crusts from the refrigerator. Flour your countertop, and unwrap one pie crust disc. Roll it out until it is 12" across, and carefully move into your pan. The easiest way is to carefully fold it in half over your hand, and then unfold it into the pan. Settle your crust into the pan, making sure you aren't stretching it at all. Trim it so that the top of the crust is about even with the edge of the pan. Fill the crust with your prepared fruit mixture, stirring it first in the bowl to make sure the corn starch is evenly distributed.

Unwrap the second crust and roll it out so it is approximately 10"-11" across. Drape it across your filled pie crust. Go around the edges of the pan, rolling the excess crust under and using your fingers to press it into a pretty shape. Use a sharp paring knife to poke about a dozen holes in the top crust. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired, or brush with milk or egg wash.

Place the pie on a cookie sheet, just in case it boils over, and bake it until the top is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

Sticky, Crumby Fruitcake

If you hate fruitcake, you can just go ahead and stop reading right now. Myrnie and I, co-authors on this blog, both happen to adore fruitcake with a passion. We grew up eating our grandmother's fruitcake every Christmas, the "proper" way - sliced thick and topped with a generous slab of sharp cheddar. Grandma's fruitcake was dense and tended to the dry side (since our loaf wasn't allowed to be soaked in rum), but we always thought it delicious as we didn't know any different.

Grandma, rest her soul, has been gone for over five years now. It was time for Myrnie and I to try and bring back the fruitcake tradition. We both started with bargain bin neon fruit assortments and went from there. Myrnie found a copy of what she believes is the recipe Grandma used. I went with a recipe from King Arthur Flour that was titled Fruitcake Even Fruitcake Non-Lovers Will Love. (Now THAT is a mouthful!)

The verdict? We both prefer our versions best. Figures, eh? Hers came out as dense and sliceable and yummy as we remember Grandma's being. Mine came out sticky and soft and delicious and I can't stop eating it.

(Myrnie? This is your cue to get your recipe written down here so we don't lose it!)

My fruitcake, ready to pop into the oven. 

An inside shot of my finished fruitcake. Check out those glorious day-glo fruits! That's my favorite part...

Half of a finished mini loaf. The other half was my breakfast. Just keeping it real, folks.

I give you...my new favorite fruitcake recipe. I made a few tweaks, so I'll go ahead and share my take here. The original recipe includes slightly different spices, a different assortment of fruit, and a lot of nuts. I didn't have all-spice, I prefer the neon fruit from the baking aisle, and I don't like nuts in my cake. So...there ya go.

Aunt LoLo's Sticky Fruitcake
(adapted from King Arthur Flour's recipe here)

As I prepared this, it makes 12 "mini loaves", or it could make one giant 9x5 loaf

Ingredients:
2 pounds "fruitcake mix" (sold in plastic tubs in the baking section during the holidays - includes cherries and candied citrus peel)
8-10 (minimum) chopped dates
1/2 to 1 cup of juice (I used a cherry/grape/apple blend)
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tbsp. cocoa
1/4 cup dark corn syrup

Glaze (I used straight agave syrup, but simple syrup is what is recommended in the original recipe) (Simple syrup is made by cooking equal parts sugar and water in a pot until the sugar dissolves.)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a half sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.

1. In a medium saucepan, combine your assortment of fruit, and your juice. Cook it over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally. The idea is to plump up your fruit. Mine was particularly chewy, so I added a few extra splashes. When you can easily chew a piece of the fruit, you're good to go. Set the pot aside to cool.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine your softened butter and your brown sugar. Cream those two things together until they are nice and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add your salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and baking powder.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time. Scrape the bowl well after each egg (or use a plastic paddle with rubber scrapers on it).

4. Add your flour, cocoa, and corn syrup. Mix until everything is very well combined.

5. Turn off the mixer, remove the bowl, and dump your batter into the largest mixing bowl you have (at least 6 quarts). (If your mixer has a 6 quart bowl, you're good to go. Just take the bowl off the mixer.)

6. Stir in your plumped fruit and any leftover juice. Make sure everything is combined.

7. Carefully scrape all of your fruited batter into your prepared pan. Pop your pan into the oven, and set the timer for 90 minutes. Start checking it every ten minutes after an hour. The cake is done with a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs, not a smear of dough.

8. When the cake is done, carefully remove the pan from the oven (you have nearly 3 pounds of yumminess there - it's heavy!). Immediately brush the top with your glaze of choice and then set the pan aside to cool. When the cake is completely cool, flip it out onto a cutting board and use a long, sharp knife to slice it up.  I cut mine into 12 "mini loaves". Wrap each piece up carefully and tightly in plastic wrap.

Enjoy!

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Black Rice and Coconut Milk Dessert

It's hard to know just what to call this - a traditional rice pudding, in America, is a sort of egg and cream custard, with rice cooked into it. This is almost closer to a risotto. A sweet, nutty risotto. This is my favorite dessert to order at Thai restaurants, so I thought I should try and make it at home!

Black Rice and Coconut Milk Dessert
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 cup black rice ("forbidden rice". I've heard black glutinous rice can be used, but I haven't seen that, and plain black rice worked just fine. I think brown rice would work as well, but you'd be missing the classic deep purple color)
3 cups water
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar (or more, to taste)
1 can of coconut milk, shaken well and divided

In a saucepan with a good-fitting lid, combine your rice and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer (covered) for 30 minutes. The rice should still look like it's swimming in water, like a porridge, but if you try a bite, it should be soft and ready to eat.

Stir in your sugar and 12 oz. of coconut milk. Return to a boil, and then reduce the heat again and simmer for another 45 minutes. Stir it every 10 minutes or so - you really don't want it to burn! It will continue to cook, and get pretty thick. After about 45 minutes, it will resemble a classic rice pudding - thick and spoonable. Let it cool a bit, then divide it between 8 bowls and top each bowl with a bit of the leftover coconut milk from the can.

Coconut-Scented Black Bean "Brownies"

I usually like to blog recipes when I have pictures to go with them...but I've been sitting on this recipe for about two months, and just need to get it off my to-do list. So. Picture little fudgey bites, completely gluten and flour free. Dairy free. Full of trendy coconut oil. Mmmm. I made these for a girls luncheon, and we ate the entire pan. It's the coconut oil that really makes these babies sing! I used a Vitamix to make these, but other blenders would probably work just as well. Just make sure you get everything completely blended and smooth.

Coconut-Scented Black Bean "Brownies"
Makes 1 8x8 pan

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan. Set aside.

In your blender, add these ingredients, in this order:
3 eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tsp. vanilla
1 can black beans, washed and drained

Blend until everything is completely smooth - a few errant bean skins won't ruin these brownies, but too many would be distracting.

Pour your batter into your prepared pan and sprinkle the top generously with semi-sweet chocolate chips. (If you need your brownies to be completely dairy-free, skip the chocolate chips.) Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out batter-free.

Serve warm or cold, but consume judiciously - these are a big ol' pan of magical beans, after all. *grin*

Welsh Cakes

Fact: My family has done quite a bit of genealogy, and has turned up ancestors in nearly every part of the Caucasian world. (I'm quite the mutt!) Including Wales.

Fact: March 1 is St. David's Day, a rather important day in Wales as St. David is the patron saint there.

Fact: On St. David's Day, it is traditional to eat welsh cakes.


It probably won't surprise you to know that, prior to seeing a delicious looking pin on Pinterest on March 1, I had no idea St. David had a day, much less a patronage, and I had never heard of a welsh cake.

Being the adaptable person that I am, I decided on the spot that welsh cakes must be a part of that evening's meal. They are absolutely delicious. Moist, chewy, dense, studded with fruit. Picture a pan-fried scone, and you are pretty close. I turned to Joy of Baking to find a recipe, as she has never ever steered me wrong. This time was no different. I made a few alterations, based on what I had on hand and some dietary preferences. While Joy of Baking used sultanas, butter and milk, I used Craisins, butter, and soy milk. (Next time, I think I will try coconut oil instead of the butter.) When you throw these lovelies onto a hot griddle, the butter melts out, frying the exterior to golden perfection. The inside remains moist and toothsome. I'm sure you won't think badly of me if I told you that we ate the entire batch for dinner and when my son asked to have these again the next morning for breakfast, I happily complied.


Welsh Cakes
(Adapted from Joy of Baking)

Ingredients:
2 cups AP flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 dashes nutmeg
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small chunks
1/3 cup dried cranberries (ie - Craisins)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup soy milk, as needed

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cut in the cold butter until the entire mixture appears crumbly and pebbly (just like making a pie). Add your dried cranberries. Add the beaten egg, and enough soy milk to make a rollable dough.

Sprinkle a countertop or cutting board with flour, and throw your dough down. Knead it into a ball, and flatten it out with the palm of your hand to approximately 1/2" thickness. Using a 3" biscuit cutter or glass, cut out rounds. Cut straight down, without twisting, for the tallest cakes possible after baking. Gather up the scraps and re-roll as many times as necessary to use all the dough, handling it as little as possible each time.

Heat a griddle over medium heat (cast iron is traditional), and cook your cakes until golden on both sides and done in the middle, approximately 2-3 minutes per side.



Serve sprinkled with powdered sugar if desired. Can also be spread with jam, but that is completely optional. Best warm, but also quite delicious after they have cooled down!

Enjoy!

Tong Yuen

My apologies. This post has been sitting in my queue for…well, since the Super Bowl. I didn’t want to publish it until I could successfully use it to make my own tong yuen. And tonight…I did it! Tong Yuen are very simple, if you know what you’re looking for. Simply combine glutinous rice flour with enough water to make a dough. Easy peasy.

Tong Yuen are one of my favorite Chinese treats. One of my companions introduced them to me when I was a missionary in Hong Kong. We were both craving something sweet and, since I was freshly arrived from America, my sweet companion was scouring the grocery store for ice cream that didn’t cost half of our weekly food budget. “No,” I said. “I don’t want something that sweet…” Right after she picked her jaw up off the floor (she knew I had a sweet tooth!), she grabbed a package of tong yuen from the freezer department. “Try these!” she said. We brought them home and boiled them up. They were delicious! Soft and chewy, filled with sweet black sesame seed paste, they were amazing. They are still one of my favorite ways to satisfy a sweet tooth, but I rarely get to enjoy them. They aren’t too expensive ($4 a package for the good ones), but I always seem to want to save them for a Special Occasion.

 

When my mother in law came to visit this month and told me she knew how to make them herself, I was so excited! She whipped these up, literally, an hour before we took her to the airport to fly home. They come together quickly, but create a lot of dirty dishes as there are several components coming together.

 

The trickiest part is, of course, making up the tong yuen. They are a simple mixture of glutinous rice flour and water. That’s it!

This is too dry.

 

This is too wet.

This is just right! It should resemble…playdough? It’s similar to the Gaak you might have played with in elementary school (cornstarch and water). It stretches if you pull slowly, but snaps off if you pull quickly. You need to be able to roll it out into firm balls that will hold their shape. Just keep adding glutinous rice flour, or water, until you’ve got it right. My MIL started out with 2 cups of flour, and then decided to just mix up the whole bag. We made it our lunch. Yum!

The boiled, and syruped, tong yuen waiting in a pan to be eaten.

Our “dipping plate.”

 

One very excited Lo Gung. He hadn’t had his mothers homemade tong yuen in years! (I was smarter than him, though. While he was busy watching the Super Bowl, I was hovering near his mother in the kitchen, hoovering up any unclaimed tong yuen as fast as I could. Heh.

 

These are very “traditional”. MaMa laughed when I said I wanted to learn. These are the treats of her youth, not the lovely filled ones you can find in Asian grocery stores now. However, I think these are just perfect. If you like fillings in your dumplings, you could definitely use this recipe to wrap up some red bean paste or sesame seed paste.

 

MaMa’s Tong Yuen

Makes enough for 4-6 people

Ingredients:

Dip:

2 Tbsp. sesame seeds

3 tsp. white sugar

1/4 cup nuts (cashew, peanuts, almonds, etc. Whatever you want.)

 

Syrup:

2 bars Chinese brown sugar (pin tong) (these are sold in Asian grocery stores and look like small bricks)

1/4 cup water

 

Tong Yuen:

2 cups glutinous rice flour, plus extra for adjustments

1/2 cup water, plus extra for adjustments

 

1. Prepare a medium sized pot and fill it about half way with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer until you are ready to cook your tong yuen.

 

2. In a small sauce pan, combine your pin tong (Chinese brown sugar) and water. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved. You may need to help it along by breaking up the sugar bars with your spoon.

 

3. In the bowl of a small food processor, pulse your nuts until coarsely ground. (Alternately, you can put your nuts in a plastic bag and use a mallet or rolling pin to bash them up.) It should look like chunky cornmeal when you are done. Combine with your white sugar and sesame seeds in a small bowl, and set aside.

4. In a bowl, combine your glutinous rice flour and 1/2 cup water.  Mix it with your fingers and adjust the water or glutinous rice flour until you have the right consistency. Do not over-mix this. Over-mixed tong yuen are chewy, gummy, dense tong yuen. Not good eats. Use three-four fingers to lightly mix the flour and water together, sort of pinching and folding until everything is right. You should be able to roll it out into balls that will keep their shape. It will look a little like spackling!

 

5. When your tong yuen are rolled out, carefully lower them into your simmering water. Return to a boil, and cook until the tong yuen float (about 2-3 minutes).

 

6. When the tong yuen are finished cooking, use a spider or slotted spoon to fish them out of the water and into the pot of syrup. Stir to coat, then use your spider or slotted spoon to remove to a serving dish. You can sprinkle with your nut/sugar mixture, or allow your guests to dip their tong yuen individually as they eat them.

 

Enjoy!

Gai Mei Bau (Rooster Tail Bun)

Hello, all! Welcome to my crazy. I am trying (and trying and trying) to recreate the Hong Kong Gai Mei Bau (雞尾包). It is my husband’s favorite bakery bun, and we haven’t found any great ones near our home. Oh, I’m sure they’re out there, but I’m too lazy to drive around and test buns from all the local bakeries to find a great one!

 

I’m just lazy enough to stay home and test recipe after recipe to figure out how to make them myself. Because that is how my crazy works.

 

My first attempt was using a recipe from Auntie Yochana (here). They were delicious. I omitted the Mexican Cream topping, as well as the egg wash and the sesame seeds. (They would have been delicious, I’m sure, but at that point in the day, I was tired of adding butter to my creation, and I was just tired in general. So…there.)

 

Oh my goodness, guys. These buns were seriously delicious. However, as tasty as they were, they didn’t taste like the real buns. The filling was declared “right” by Lo Gung, and so I will keep that portion of the recipe. The bread portion came out tasting a lot like the Australian Toaster Biscuits I loved to eat when I was a kid (and didn’t realize how much butter could be packed into a baked good. Mmmm…those were the days!).

 

So. Here’s the filling recipe (adapted from Yochana’s Cake Delight!)

Coconut Filling for Buns

250 gm. Butter, softened
250 gm. shredded coconut
120 gm. plain flour
100 gm. powdered milk
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract

 

Combine all ingredients  in a bowl and set aside.

When I made my initial batch of buns, I made a half batch, and froze half of my filling mixture. If that doesn’t work out well….well, then, I will let you know.

My next attempt at the dough will be using this recipe, from Hong Kong Breads.

The first recipe I tried involved custard powder, which is fabulous in other applications, but I don’t think it quite works here. I’ll let you know how this goes!

Flourless Chocolate Crisps

Adapted from Kumquat

 

Ingredients:

3 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cups sifted cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

2 tsp vanilla

2-4 large egg whites

 

Preheat oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.

 

In a bowl, combine your powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, chocolate chips and vanilla. Add two egg whites, and give it a stir. It will probably look like wet chalk. Add another. Maybe another. You’re looking for anything between brownie batter (a slightly thicker cookie) and Elmer’s Glue (a thinner cookie).

 

When desired consistency is reached, put your cookies by spoonful onto your cookie sheets. Two tablespoon-sized heaps will give you 24 cookies. One tablespoon-sized heaps will give you smaller cookies, and more of them.

 

Bake 14 minutes per sheet, or until the cookies are shiny on top and slightly cracked. Cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then carefully move your paper/mat to your cooling rack. When you are able, peel your cookies off and allow them to finish cooling on the rack.

Cheater S’Mores

 

So…s’mores aren’t exactly rocket science. For those of you that didn’t grow up in America, a s’more is a treat we enjoy as children, usually around a campfire. It is short for “some more” as in “I want some more.” The classic version is a marshmallow, skewered on a long stick, and roasted over a campfire. The crispy, gooey marshmallow is then sandwiched with two squares of graham cracker and a piece of chocolate…almost always Hersheys, because it’s the only chocolate in the right shape.

 

That’s all very well and good, but campfires aren’t always plentiful around Suburbia. One night, I had the brilliant idea to skewer my marshmallow on a long lobster fork and roast it over an open flame…on my gas stove. Hrm. Well, it was toasty and gooey, but it wasn’t quite right.

 

Then I figured, as long as I was butchering a classic, I might as well take it all the way.

 

And my kids’ new favorite treat was born.

 

LoLo’s Cheater S’mores

Ingredients:

Graham crackers

Marshmallow

Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread. peanut butter is delicious here, too.)

 

Spread one square of graham cracker with Nutella, and put the other square on a plate with one marshmallow on top. Microwave your marshmallow clad graham cracker for 15-20 seconds (be sure to watch it – it’s pretty impressive to see a marshmallow the size of an apple!). Take your plate out of the microwave, and smash your Nutella-smeared graham cracker on top.

 

Hand it to a toddler, stand back, and enjoy the view.

 

Oh, and you might want to have a wet rag handy. Just in case.

 

A Vanilla Cake That Looks Like Cake

My fellow Chow-ians…I give you a vanilla cake. It is not a “white cake”, because it involves egg yolks…so it’s yellow. But it’s tall! And fluffy! And it looks like a cake. My father will laugh when he hears this, but I spent all weekend trying to recreate, from scratch, what would take me $.99 with a box. My father’s grandmother was brilliant, both in the classroom and in the kitchen. Her husband was a scientist. They both appreciated a good cake…and knew that the easiest way to get one was to take advantage of all the science and work that went into the boxed mixes. They drilled that fact into their grandson, who in turn passed the wisdom on to me – Use The Box.

 

And, can I vent for a moment? Indulge me. Last weekend, I baked four white cakes. Why? Because the second one didn’t turn out how I wanted it to…neither did the third. Or the fourth. The first one was for us, and I used Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake recipe. It makes the most amazing cupcakes – tiny crumb, moist, tender. However, my cake? Didn’t rise more than 1/2”. Not acceptable, but it was just for us, so…what are you going to do, right? (After some research, it turns out that great cupcake recipes don’t often translate to great cake recipes. However, great cakes can usually be made into great cupcakes. Weird, right? It’s sad, too, since Dorie’s cake was intended to be baked as a cake! However, she knows all about the issues with the cake, going so far as to nickname it “The Cake that Won’t Rise.” She has no idea why her cakes work and ours don’t.) The second cake was an “order” from a friend, for her mother’s birthday. It was the same recipe, baked in a 9x13 pan. It hardly rose. I tried again, to make a second layer for the cake (since the first cake couldn’t very well be split). I followed the directions exactly…and got the same results.

 

The next day, after hours of research the night before, I tried another recipe…just to see what would happen. It was the Cook’s Illustrated White Cake. Not only was the rise as sad as Dorie’s cake when baked in a 9x13 pan, but the texture of the cake was something like sweet, butter-laden cornbread. It was great with strawberries and whipped cream…but it wasn’t the white cake I was looking for. (It was at this point that I started to get just a little bit Mad at The Universe. Seriously, folks – if a white cake should be WHITE, why does it rely on temperamental YELLOW butter??!) (I realize now, after some more research, but I probably could have solved a lot of my problems by just substituting in shortening for the butter. And my cake would have been white.)

 

Finally, I came across King Arthur Flour’s Golden Vanilla Cake. Not only did it use ingredients I commonly kept in the cupboard (who keeps cake flour around??!), it came with a KAF guarantee, oodles of great reviews, and a handful of horrible reviews…followed by responses from the KAF team with suggestions for the bakers, or offers of telephone assistance, or both. When I found the recipe (in the middle of the night), I very nearly jumped out of bed and baked it right then and there. However, I decided that the quest for a Great Vanilla Cake wasn’t worth a 2 am bed time, so I held off.

 

Kids? I’ve found My Vanilla Cake recipe. Huge thanks to King Arthur Flour for another great recipe!

 

To find the recipe go here. And please, if you can, use a kitchen scale and the “weight” option to get the recipe in ounces instead of cups.

Banana Bars

Well, hi there. This is a recipe that was a STAPLE in Myrnie’s repertoire a few years ago. Babies, and lactose intolerance, came between her and her beloved banana bars…but we are bringing them BACK. The recipe comes from her mother-in-law’s kitchen, and is just a simple, straightforward banana bar. These are dense and sweet and excellent cold.

 

I made these a few days ago and had to adapt to what I had in my fridge – a little vanilla yogurt to replace the sour cream I didn’t have, with an extra banana thrown in to finish out the “wet ingredients.” However, these are much better if made following the ingredients listed below.

 

 

Debbie’s Banana Bars:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare your pan. (I used a half-size jelly roll pan, lined with a silicone baking mat. A 9x13, greased and floured, would give you thicker bars, but fewer of them.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup mashed bananas

Sour Cream Frosting (recipe to follow)

 

In a bowl, whisk or sift together your flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

 

In the large bowl of your electric mixer, cream together your butter and sugar. Then add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Beat to combine. Stir in the mashed bananas. Add your flour mixture, and stir to combine.

 

Dump into your prepared pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the pan comes out dough free.  Cool and frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar

 

Whip together cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make the icing hold a peak.

Lavender Brownies

Oh, I know they don’t look like much. Just some fudgy brownies, from a box. In fact, what makes these brownies so special is something so subtle, you could miss it completely if you’re not paying attention. You might think they taste a little different…just a smidge floral perhaps?

And you’d be right.

The lavender in these was so subtle, but so delicious. I was really surprised! The lavender I used was bought from a tea shop in China, so it is not as fresh as what I could gather from my own yard. These brownies were made as refreshments for a class at church on building your own hanging baskets, and meant to highlight what you could do with herbs from your own garden. (The surprise hit of the night was the Herb Hanging Basket. Brilliant, right? Stick seven of your favorite herbs in a hanging pot, hang it…and enjoy a slug-less and bunny-less herb garden all summer long!)

(Please note – I doubled the recipe and baked it in a Silpat-lined half-sheet jelly roll pan for about 30 minutes, and they were perfect. I probably should have stuck them in the freezer for about 10 minutes before cutting them, though, to help me get the edges prettier.)

(Also, this would absolutely work with a from-scratch brownie recipe. Brownies aren’t a favorite around here, so I don’t make them very often. That being the case, I haven’t tried to make them from-scratch since I was about 13. I didn’t want to experiment on my friends at church, so…a mix it was! I used a Milk Chocolate mix, and that was perfect.)

Lavender Brownies

Ingredients:
1 boxed brownie mix (or your favorite brownie recipe)
(Ingredients required for your mix. Generally water, oil and eggs)
2 Tbsp. dried lavender flowers, plus extra for garnish

The night before, open your bag of brownie mix and add the lavender. Twist the top shut, shake to combine, and let sit overnight. This marinates the flavor of the lavender into your brownies. (If you are making brownies from scratch, the night before you bake them, measure out the required sugar and add your lavender to that. Let the sugar and lavender sit overnight and bake as usual the next day.)

On baking day, prepare your brownies and bake as directed. Before baking, sprinkle more lavender across the top of the brownies.

Serve sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Our Favorite Chocolate Cake

So, this is just for your benefit. A sort of public service announcement. (Ok, and it’s for me, too, so I don’t lose track of these recipes.)

 

If you are looking for an awesome chocolate cake recipe, go here. It’s absolutely, positively awesome. Perfect for cupcakes and layer cakes.

You’re welcome.

 

(PS – If you want my favorite white cake recipe, go here.)

 

You’re welcome!

Perfectly Awesome Party Cake

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake, from Baking, From My Home to Yours

Makes two 9” round cakes, or 30 cupcakes. These are lovely little white cupcakes, flecked with orange zest and flavored with vanilla. The crumb is small and tight, and they are just fabulous.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups milk (I used homemade buttermilk – 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, plus milk to 1 1/4 cups)

4 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp. orange zest (optional) (originally lemon) (I used orange, but might leave it out next time and simply make a vanilla cake.)

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (originally pure lemon extract)

 

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare pans. Prep with butter and flour if you are baking round cakes, or line muffin pans with paper liners. I made cupcakes and filled two 12-pocket muffin pans, plus an extra 6 cupcake liners on a baking sheet.

 

In a medium bowl, sift together flower, baking powder and salt. Don’t cheat and use a whisk this time. Go with the sifter.

 

In a small bowl, combine your milk and egg whites.  Whisk these up, and set aside.

 

In the bowl of your mixer, combine your sugar and zest, if using. Mix with your fingers until it smells fabulous and looks slightly damp, then add in your butter and beat on medium speed in your stand mixer for 3 minutes, at least, or until light and fluffy. (This took about four minutes for me, as my butter was still a little cold when I put it in.) Add your extract.

 

Add in 1/3 of your flour mixture, then half of your milk, 1/3 of your flour, the rest of your milk, then the rest of your flour. You want to beat this cake well, but (experience has taught me that) no matter how carefully you add your flour and milk, it will FLY if your mixer is still humming along on medium. Slow it down, add your next ingredient, then speed it up as quickly as you are able to, without slopping your ingredients out the sides.

 

When everything is in the bowl, leave it on medium and give it a good mix for another two minutes. This makes a rather sturdy, and fluffy, cake batter. It reminded me of un-set marshmallows.

 

Spoon your batter into your prepared pans, and bake, on the center shelf in your oven. 30-35 minutes for 9” rounds, or about 25 minutes for cupcakes. They are done when a toothpick, inserted into the middle of the cake, comes out batter-free. Cool in the pans for a few minutes, then carefully remove your cakes to wire racks to finish cooling.

 

I will warn you – my cupcakes puffed up just above the edge of my paper liners and looked adorable. When they cooled, however, the cakes shrank back on themselves, giving me a perfectly flat plain to pipe my icing onto. Some of them were filled less than others, and actually pulled away from the paper liner. You want them 2/3 full.

 

This makes a sturdy, but light, cake with a tiny crumb. Just what I was looking for! This is a cake that can be sliced, stacked, filled or (possibly?) carved. I’ve found my vanilla cake recipe!

 

PS – I frosted these with Bright White Icing, from Better Homes and Gardens. It’s a basic shortening/powdered sugar/milk frosting, with vanilla, almond extract and added pink food coloring. Quick and easy!

Tofu Fruit Whip (Or Fruity Pudding)

Try this recipe if you don't like tofu.  Really.  The uproar, grimaces, groans that were heard when I announced the dessert were quickly replaced by..."Um.  I like it.  Can I have some more?"  I lost count, but I think most people had at least 3 servings.

A more common version of tofu "pudding" involves melting a measure of chocolate chips equal in weight to your tofu, mixing together in a blender, and letting set up in the fridge.  I've done that with extra-firm tofu, plus a little peanut butter, to great results.  (It was firm, like cheesecake, although a little grainy.)

This turned out more like a mild yogurt- not too sweet, but addicting and light.  Try it, you'll like it!  We used the last of a raspberry compote from the last of Mom's frozen raspberries, but thought that peach, banana, or strawberry would all be good ones to try next.  I'm not sure if it was the citric acid in the raspberries, or the extra liquids I added, but this never set up into pudding- it was definitely yogurt consistency.  (It was also pretty good with mint-chocolate sauce drizzled on top.  Yum.)

Tofu Fruit Whip
3 14-ounce boxes of silken tofu
3/4 cup mashed raspberries
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup soy milk (add if this won't blend)

Blend all together in a blender until smooth- decant into a bowl and refrigerate.

A New (Old) Apple Cake

My son celebrated his birthday in December, and for his party with his friends I made his (new) favorite cake - an apple cake. The recipe originally came from my Great-Grandma Susie. Story is that, should you happen to find yourself in her front room during the autumn or winter, more likely than not you'd find yourself in the company of this particular cake. The secret, I believe, is that the cake is heavy handed on the oil...meaning that you have a cake that is as delicious, squishy and moist on Sunday evening as it was on the Monday before. Brilliant, right? It's almost a cross between a pudding, a bread and a cake.

I found two copies of the recipe - the one I copied from my grandmother's recipe files, and the one that my great-aunt published in their church cookbook 30 years ago. For the first run through, I made the cake as my grandmother taught me. However, with 3 cups of flour, two cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of oil...it was a bit of a once-a-year-treat. Since I had already made it that way once (for a party at church), I decided to put a bit of a LoLo spin on it. The results were delicious and, for some of the guests who sampled both cakes, actually preferrable! My version is by no means a diet version, but certainly less oil-some than the original. It is perfect plain, for breakfast, or topped with a dollop of Cool Whip. (I can't break tradition, guys - sorry! It was always Cool Whip at Grandma's house.)

Aunt LoLo's Fresh Apple Cake

Serves 12-15

Ingredients:

3 cups AP flour (unsifted)

2 cups white sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon (Saigon, please!)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup oil

1 cup apple juice

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

4 medium sized apples, cored and chopped. (I used two Granny Smith - tart- and two Cortland - sweet. Peels on, please. No need to be fussy!)

Preheat your oven to 325F.

Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan well. Really, really, really well. Some of the cake will still stick...but don't let that discourage you. Just do your best!

In a LARGE bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt).

In a 2 cup measuring cup, pour in 1/2 cup oil and then 1 cup apple juice. (You could, of course, do this in two steps - but I'm trying to save you time here!) Pour that into your dry ingredients. In the same cup, crack two eggs and whisk them lightly. Dump them into the flour bowl. Squeeze in your vanilla (one short squeeze is about right) and your lemon juice (one long squeeze). (Just trying to keep it real here!).

Stir that all together. I like using a spatula, so I can make sure all of the flour is mixed in. Fold in your apples.

Give it a taste. Yummy? Great! Now spoon it into your prepared Bundt pan. (Trust me - if you try to pour it, your arm will get tired and fall off, and your cake will end up all over the counter. This is definitely a spooning operation.) (Heh.)

Put your cake into the oven and set a timer for an hour. It won't be done after an hour - it will take closer to an hour and a half - but you really don't want to leave the kitchen for that last half hour, as this is not an exact science. The cake is done when a toothpick stuck into the deepest part comes out batter-free. A few crumbs are ok. You don't want this cake to get dry!

Enjoy with just a dollop of Whipped Cream...or not, as the case may be.

Oreo Pops

These were so simple to make, but they turned out pretty cute!

You'll need:
Oreos (either Double Stuff or twice as many cookies as you want pops)
Lollipop sticks
Chocolate (almond bark, candy coating, or chocolate chips and shortening)
Bling (Jelly Beans, Coconut, sprinkles...whatever!)

(Lollipop sticks, Lollipop bags and candy coating can all be found in a crafts store, such as Michaels or Hobby Lobby.)

If using Double Stuff: carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cookie.

If using normal Oreos: carefully separate each cookie, making sure that all the filling is on one side of the cookie. Set aside the "naked" half to munch on while you work. Lay a lollipop stick on the "cream" half, and top with another "cream" half. Gently push the two sides together to mold the cream around the lollipop stick.

Place your "sticked" cookies on a plate and put them in the refrigerator to chill for 15-20 minutes. (I'm told this helps the chocolate stick to the cookies better. It also helps the cream set up so your sticks won't come sliding out.)

While your cookies cool, melt your chocolate in a tall, narrow mug. If using almond bark or candy coating, melt according to package directions. If, like me, you'd rather use the chocolate chips hanging out in your baking cupboard, in your mug combine:
1 cup chocolate chips
1 T. shortening

(The shortening thins the chocolate out so you don't get such a gloppy chocolate coating.)

Microwave for about 90 seconds, stirring every thirty seconds.

Carefully dunk your cookies down into the chocolate to cover, and tap the stick against the side of the cup to knock the excess chocolate back into the mug.

Lay the coated cookies on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper or a silicone baking mat. Press your desired Bling into the chocolate and leave the cookies to harden. (If using almond bark or candy coating, this will take about 10 minutes. If using chocolate chips, allow at least an hour.)

When hard, carefully remove each cookie pop from the baking sheet. I put my finished Oreo pops inside of small lollipop bags and tied them up with curling ribbon.

Enjoy!

Dairy-Free Yellow Cake

This recipe is adapted from Better Homes and Garden's 75th Anniversary Edition cookbook. Originally, this was the Yellow Cake recipe, with the Simple White Frosting. My family liked how the edges of the cake were a little crispy, but the cake itself was moist like a breakfast muffin, but not as dense. If the only yellow cake you've had is from a box, try this one! I'm always surprised how it's not very much extra work to make a cake from scratch, but the quality is so much improved that it's almost unrecognizable when compared to a mix.

The frosting is from the same cookbook, their "Creamy White Frosting." It already called for shortening, so I just subbed non-dairy creamer for the milk.



I used non-dairy creamer- this is the first time I've tried this, and it worked well. Definitely a different taste from dairy, but also a different taste from soy milk (which can be a good thing in baking.) A friend with Crohn's disease taught me- she uses non dairy cream and water in a 1:3 or 1:1 ratio for her baking. It's inexpensive, and a good substitute for dairy in most recipes. She even uses it for crepes.

Oh. And about the very green frosting. You see, Ernie managed to fill up her ball jar on Saturday, and chose a cake for her treat. With green frosting. It's St. Patrick's Day, a little early!

Yellow Cake

Ingredients:
3/4 cup shortening
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 to 3/4 cups non-dairy creamer plus enough water to equal 1 1/4 cups total

Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.

In stand mixer, cream shortening and gradually add sugar. Beat on medium for minutes more, and add eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla.

Alternately add non-dairy creamer mixture and dry ingredients, beating just enough to mix after each addition.

Spread batter into greased and floured pans.

Bake at 375 degrees. 20-25 minutes for 9" pans, 30-35 minutes for 8" pans, or 25-30 minutes for a 13x9" pan, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (I used square pans, and needed 30 minutes- I don't know if it was my pan size or the substitutions. Just a heads up.)

Creamy White Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon, orange, or almond extract (I just used more vanilla)
8 drops food coloring
4 1/2 cups SIFTED powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp non-dairy creamer

Cream shortening in mixer bowl, then add vanilla and other extract, and food coloring. Slowly add half the powdered sugar. Add 2 Tablespoons non-dairy creamer, and gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar. Add more non-dairy creamer to reach spreading consistency.

This makes enough to frost top and sides or two 8- or 9-inch cake layers. (Halve the recipe to frost a 13x9x2- inch cake.)