Best Dark Chocolate Cake

In our quest for the best tasting chocolate cake, we've come to find some good recipes online but this one stands the best because of the taste and it is super quick and easy to prepare and foolproof too. Even if you're just a newbie in baking, you can never go wrong with this recipe.


This cake has very rich chocolaty taste, soft and light. Frost it with dark chocolate ganache and you have a rich chocolate cake.




Dark Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa (I use Hintz dutch processed cocoa and it makes a lot of difference)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling fresh milk



1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda. Add sugar,salt, eggs, 1 cup of buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and orange zest. Mix for 2 minutes, then add the boiling milk and stir until well combined.
3. Transfer the cake batter to 9x13" pan or 2 10" pan and bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick tests done.
4. Cool and frost with your favorite frosting.

Roasted Lamb With Sweet Caramelized Crust

Lamb is one of the meat that is available and affordable in Saudi Arabia. I don't like its pungent smell when cooking, but I love the taste of its meat. It reminds me of  Durian, an exotic fruit in the Philippines, many people couldn't take the aroma of the fruit but the taste is just heavenly.

Back in Al Khobar, I tried cooking lamb but I didn't like the aroma. But the meat is always on sale and more available than beef. I would say it is an opportunity to indulge in lamb while here while it's cheap. Until a Cambodian friend of mine advised me to rub chinese five spice on it. I was surprised because I did miracle removing the pungent smell of lamb I liked the sweet smell as it cooks. The shredded ginger and sugar also added a delectable caramelized and crispy crust on the meat. It is now a regular dish in our house because it is easy to cook and doesn't require too much preparation. So here is the recipe I made and experimented myself.

Sweet Lamb Roast

Ingredients:

1 medium Leg of lamb, or lamb racks

3 cloves of garlic (I shred it finely)

lots of shredded ginger 

chinese five spice just enough for rubbing

5 tbsp brown sugar for rubbing too

salt and pepper

250 ml sprite or 7 up

1. Make incisions on the flesh of lamb and put some shredded garlic in it.  Then rub the remaining garlic, ginger, chinese 5 spice, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Then soak the lamb in sprite or 7 up. Marinate for at least a day. 

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Place the lamb in a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 2-3 hours or until tender. Once it is tender turn it over and remove the foil and   return it back to the oven. You might want to taste the sauce so you can adjust the sweetness you may sprinkle some more brown sugar and salt on top to suit your taste, it will also help caramelize the top part so you can have a crispy and sweet crust on the meat. Once the meat has caramelized or browned you may flip it over to brown the other side.

And don't forget to cover it again with foil after you take it from the oven, this will help keep the meat moist.

Beef Embotido

I know, I've been posting too many recipe today. But since I have time doing so, I hope the blog can bear with me.

On a positive side, I used to say we're lucky to live in Jeddah, because you wouldn't be tempted to eat pork. The fats and layers of fats found on pork looks disgusting because you know it is never healthy specially for the heart but the taste is always irresistibly yummy! But because we're missing out on pork means we will try to enjoy every other meat available. For now, I'll post beef embotido or Filipino style meatloaf. I like making this because you can prepare it ahead of time, freeze it and just thaw when you needed. This is convenient food to have ready in my freezer because there are days when the two kiddos wouldn't let me cook anything. Shopping can also be challenge in Saudi Arabia because I always have to wait for my husband to bring me to the supermarket and when time doesn't permit me to do my shopping on time at least there are still some foods left in the freezer and we won't starve.





1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup carrot, minced
1/4 cup onion, minced
1/4 cup red bell pepper, small diced
1/3 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup chedar cheese
2 tablespoons pickle relish
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs( I don't advise using other breadcrumbs but if you will do you can add 3 tbsp sugar to sweeten it, panko has some sweetness when mixed with meat which is missing on regular breadcrumbs)
3 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper
2 hot dogs, sliced horizontally----( you can substitute viena sausage or in my case cheddar cheese strips because I don't like canned foods, the thought of preservatives makes me feel bad when I see my kids eating)
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered






1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. or prepare your steamer, this can be cooked either way.

2. In a large bowl, mix together ground beef, carrots, onion, red bell pepper, tomato sauce, cheese, pickle relish, garlic, panko, eggs, salt and pepper.

3. Mix well.

4. Place the Foil on a flat surface.

5. Place the meat mixture on the foil and flatten, about 1/2 inch thick. Make sure you have enough space on the sides for sealing.

6. Place the sliced hotdog and quartered hard boiled egg in the middle of the meat mixture (forming a line).

7. Grab one end of the foil and fold over towards the middle covering the hotdog and egg. Press down gently to pack in the meat.

8. Grab the other end of the foil and fold again towards the center, forming a cylinder. Try to make your "meat roll" as compact as possible.

9. Grab the two ends of the cylinder and give it a twist to seal.

10. Do the same for the rest of the meat mixture.
11. Get a bigger pan and put hot water on it and place the pan with the meat rolls over it. Another option is steaming the meat rolls for 1 1/2 hours.

Light And Fluffy Carrot Cake

I'm not really a huge fan of dense cakes. I always oft to a light and fluffy version, and I always change the recipe to make it healthier. Most of the time I also decrease the sugar as much as possible.

Carrot cake is one of my husband's favorite. And I have tried lots of recipe and have made lots of versions that I could.

The one that I will share now uses yogurt instead of milk and I also increased the yogurt and have lessened the oil called for the recipe that I found. I also don't frost my cake if there is no occasion so feel free to frost it with your favorite frosting.

Ingredient:

3 medium carrots shredded
2 cups flour
1 cup oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup yogurt
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla
1 tbsp cinnamon powder

Procedure:

1. Sift the all purpose flour 3 times and mix it with the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

2. Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, maybe 3-5 minutes until the color turns light yellow. Then add the oil, yogurt and vanilla and beat again for 2 minutes. Add the flour and beat until well incorporated, don't overbeat or your cake will turn out rubbery or rustic-it happened to me. Once it is well incorporated fold in the carrots using your spatula.

3. Bake in a greased 9"x13" pan in a preheated 350 F oven for 40 minutes. Cool and frost with your favorite frosting.

Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

My daughter loves baking. Most of the time she will ask me to bake cake, but if I feel lazy I measure ingredients and let her do cookies. She enjoys mixing the ingredients.

The recipe below is a cookie recipe I found in my Email. Its is called 250$ recipe, because that was the cost paid for by a woman to get this recipe from a cefeteria. Anyway we call it Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies and when ingredients permit I use all brown sugar and it is even more perfect!

Ingredients:

2 c. butter (1/2 c)
2 c. sugar (1/2 c)
2 c. brown sugar (1/2 c)
4 eggs (1 egg)
2 tsp. vanilla (1/2 tsp)
4 c. flour (1 c)
5 c. blended oatmeal (1 1/4 c)
2 tsp. baking powder (1/2 tsp)
2 tsp. baking soda (1/2 tsp)
1 tsp. salt (1/2tsp)
24 oz. chocolate chips (6 oz)
1 (8 oz.) grated Hershey bar (1/4 oz)
3 c. chopped nuts (3/4 c)

1. Blended oatmeal: Measure and blend in blender or food processor to a fine powder.
2. Cream butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together with flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add chips, candy and nuts. Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 6 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies. Recipe can be halved or quartered and the size made smaller. Possible to get four dozen of a 1 1/2 inch cookie from quartered recipe.

Bulgur Champorado "Chocolate Porridge"

When I was a little girl, most morning we have this champorado. It is like rice porridge but is flavored with cocoa or chocolate and enjoyed with lots of evaporated milk to make it creamy. I didn't like it that much as I could remember because it tasted too sweet for me, and it wasn't much creamy according my likes. My mom is using an organic cocoa powder back then, and also glutinous rice to make the porridge thick, I don't recall that she's adding any evaporated milk too. 

When I started working, my co-workers would usually buy this for their afternoon snack, and I got hooked too specially when the weather is cold and rainy. I started cooking champorado for my own family lately but I made few modifications. 

Because glutinous rice is hard to find in Jeddah, I have modified my champorado using bulgur wheat which I think is healthier because it is packed with lots of fiber, iron and protein instead of the carbohydrates from glutinous rice. My kids loves them and could eat it for the entire day if I would permit. 

Here is my recipe:

1 cup bulgur wheat

4 cups water

3 tbsp dark cocoa powder

6 tbsp sugar or more according to your preference, I like the taste of dark chocolate so I prefer less sugar

1/2 tsp of vanilla

1. wash the bulgur and boil it in 4 cups of water. Once it starts boiling lower the heat and simmer it until the bulgur has cracked open or soft enough and the water has decreased according to your preferred consistency. It will not get sticky nor thick like the glutinous rice do.

2. Once the bulgur is cooked and the consistency of water is achieved add the cocoa powder, sugar and vanilla and let simmer for 5 minutes. It is now ready to serve. Put it in bowls and serve with evaporated milk or powdered milk for creamy chocolate milk flavor. 

Another variation you could try if you don't have cocoa powder is substituting  2 small Hershey's chocolate bars, break it to smaller pieces to melt faster. It gives it creamier and more chocolaty taste.