Thursday, September 23, 2010

A Bite of Sweet, A Bite of Bitter

It's been a good long while since I've seen the Sugar High Fridays event around on the blogs. For a while, I thought our resident Domestic Goddess Jennifer had retired the long running event... but nope, it's back at Aparna's blog My Diverse Kitchen and the theme is tiny... literally. "Bite sized desserts"  are the order of the day, and lucky for me I've just done not one, but two, kinds of petit-fours perfect for the party!


In fact, the whole reason I made these elegant, ever so slightly cute squares of cake was a party. And what a party they were for! If you follow the movie-making, -watching or -star scene at all, you know that the Toronto International Film Fest wrapped last weekend. Well, with the end of anything media related goes the inevitable wrap parties, usually with guest lists guarded under lock and key that you pretty much have to drug the club managers in order to get on. Well, I certainly never planned on having anything at all to do with TIFF, and I've never been to a club ever (let alone know any club managers). It so happens, though, that I do "know somebody who knows somebody". My RMT, being in a band and all, was invited to a TIFF party on the weekend and asked me if I'd mind making a dessert platter for him to take! 

Does a fish swim in water? 

So naturally, I agreed... and then he invited me along to the fray as well! I was more than willing (and excited) to go - after all it would be my first time in a club - but alas, I didn't meet the 25+ age requirement. So that party's on hold - but the cakes went in my place and I still felt like a star! In fact, the ricotta pound cake with chocolate chunks has been termed a type of "crack" by everyone that's tried it, and more than one person has told me to market it as my "signature" item. I don't know what it is about it (seeing as I can't taste it myself) but hey, I'll take it as long as the praise is good!

Chocolate Chunk Ricotta Cake
Actually, this is adapted from a recipe of Aparna's! I doubled this for the party tray.
Serves 16
6 oz dry ricotta cheese
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
2.5 oz salted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup flour
pinch salt
1/2 tbsp baking powder
3 oz dark bar chocolate, broken into chunks

  1. Preheat oven to 350F, line a 9" pan with parchment or greased foil.
  2. Puree ricotta, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla.
  3. Cream butter and sugar, add ricotta mixture and beat well.
  4. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder.
  5. Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle with chocolate chunks.
  6. Bake 30 minutes. Chill before cutting.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 143.7
Total Fat: 7.8 g
Cholesterol: 28.7 mg
Sodium: 43.0 mg
Total Carbs: 17.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.5 g
Protein: 3.0 g

New Years Party Bars
Makes 16 Squares
1.8 oz (1/2 cup) flour
1 oz (1/4 cup) spelt flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 tbsp hot water
1/4 cup soymilk
1 oz (2 tbsp) shortening
2 oz (4 1/2 tbsp) brown sugar
2 oz (4 1/2 tbsp) coconut palm sugar
2.3 oz (1/2 cup) icing sugar
  1. Preheat oven to 350F, line a 9" pan with parchment or greased foil.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine flours, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
  3. Stir together espresso powder and hot water, then add to the soymilk and set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, cream shortening and all three sugars. Beat in the espresso mixture.
  5. Gently but thoroughly stir in the dry ingredients.
  6. Bake for 18 minutes. Chill before cutting.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 81.3
Total Fat: 1.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 5.2 mg
Total Carbs: 18.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.3 g
Protein: 0.8 g

2 comments :

  1. They look absolutely gorgeous, much better than my originalk cake!
    Thanks for senidng these sqaures in to SHF: Bite Size Desserts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. looks so good. feel like grabbing some

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!