The Efx3 Recipe Collection

I found a cupcake recipe that yields 2 cupcakes, perfect when there are only two people, or if you want to have a nice dessert for yourself. Normally I don’t make cakes or brownies because the usual recipes are just too much. This one is not only tasty, but lends itself well to experimentation. And you don’t have to have the same type as the person you’re sharing with, a huge plus when you live with someone who doesn’t understand why chocolate is the best flavour. ^_^

Frosting/icing idea: I use a basic icing (confectioner’s) sugar mixed with a drop of milk. It’s quick and easy, and I can make enough for 2 cupcakes. Anything else you can mix small batches of would work well.

Ingredients

1 egg (whites only)

2 tablespoons butter (melted)

1 1/2 tablespoons of milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla (reduce to 1/2 teaspoon if you don’t want super vanilla-y cakes)

1/4 cup flour (I used cake flour, but all purpose works well too)

1/4 heaping teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

Method

preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

The original recipe just had you combine all dry ingredients, add milk, butter, and egg white, then bake. I found that the cakes turned out more dense than I’d like (more like a muffin and less like cake) if I followed that route. If you’d rather have more spongy, airy cake, then try this:

Mix all dry ingredients. Add milk and butter.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg white by hand until very frothy and bubbly, but still runny. Just enough to add some air and volume to the batter, we’re not going for a meringue here.

Then carefully whisk in the egg white to the dry ingredients.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

So here is my favorite recipe for scones, I’m sure the purists out there will say they are too sweet or too “americanised” but that doesn’t matter, they are still the best I’ve had and I love them.

Basic Recipe

2 cups all purpose flour

1/8-1/4 cup sugar, it varies depending on what you add into them, more on that later

2 teaspoons baking powder

5 Tablespoons Butter

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

That is the basic recipe, you can add into it up to 2 cups of mix in’s, like chopped dates, coconut, dried fruits(pineapple, papaya, cranberries, cherries, etc) chocolate, orange or lemon zest, nuts, the options are quite endless, if you use a very sweet mix in’s like sweetened coconut or dried pineapple use the smaller amount of sugar.

here are a few of my favorites to get you started

Date Nut

1/2 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup shredded coconut

Cranberry White Chocolate

1/2 cup “crasins” plumped in cranberry juice(or water) and chopped

1/2 cup white chocolate bits( I melted the chocolate and spread it thin to harden, then crumbled it up to get nice small pieces)

1 cup coconut

Cherry dark chocolate

3/4 cup dried cherries plumped in cherry juice (or water) and chopped

1/2 cup dark chocolate shavings

1/4 cup walnuts chopped

use 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp almond extract instead of just vanilla

Lemon Poppyseed

2 Tablespoons poppyseeds

zest and juice from one lemon

use 1 tsp lemon flavoring and 1/2 tsp vanilla instead of just vanilla

use slightly more sugar and flour to make up for the added lemon juice

Method:

sift together the flour, sugar and baking powder.

cut in the butter until the mix looks like crumbs

now add in any mix in’s you want to use

place the milk, egg and extract(s) in a small cup/bowl and whisk it until the egg is well blended

pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until it’s all incorporated.

pat out the dough on a floured counter(chunky mix in’s make using a rolling pin problematic)

use a large knife or pizza wheel to cut the dough into triangles

transfer them to a lightly greased baking sheet

Bake: @ 350 for 20 minutes

So good piping hot and slightly crisp on the outside, bet ya can’t eat just one

Alrighty then, I have been on a sweets baking binge of late, here is another cake recipe to tempt your taste buds and thunder your thighs. I made a fudge cake, filled it with cherries and cherry frosting and then topped it with white chocolate frosting.

Prize Fudge Cake

First grease and flour 2 9inch cake pans

Preheat oven to 350

1/4 cup shorting

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 egg yolks

4 squares(4 oz) baking chocolate melted

2 cups unbleached flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1.Cream together the shortening and sugar

2. melt the chocolate, blend it into the creamed mixture along with the egg yolks

3. sift together the flour, baking powder and salt

4. add the vanilla to the milk

5. mix the flour into the wet mixture, alternating a little flour with a little milk until it’s all incorporated.

6. make a meringue out of the 2 egg whites and 1/2 cup sugar.

7. carefully fold the meringue into the cake batter.

Bake layers at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until the cake tests done.

While that’s cooking make the frosting.

White chocolate frosting

3 squares(3 oz) of white chocolate

1/8 cup whipping cream

1 stick(1/2 cup) butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. melt the chocolate with the cream in the top of a double boiler, once the chocolate is all melted let it cool COMPLETELY, this is very important.

2. once the chocolate and cream mix is cool blend in the butter and the sugar, keep whipping it until it’s fluffy.

If you add the butter too soon it gets all melty, it needs to stay solid and creamy, if it does get melty just pop the bowl into the fridge to cool it down.

Filling

1 jar of maraschino cherries cut in half

1/2 tub of cherry frosting(any brand, I had this on hand)

The stacking

1. trim your cakes so they are flat and won’t give you a lopsided finished product.

2. place the bottom cake on your cake server and spread enough cherry frosting to just cover it

3. place the cherry halves on/in the frosting cut side down

4. spread the remaining cherry frosting over the cherry halves

5. place the second layer carefully on top

6. I gave my cake a quick and dirty crumb coat with spare regular frosting I had laying around, and let that crumb coat dry

7. once the crumb coat is dry spread the yummy white chocolate frosting over the entire thing.

Don’t eat it all in one night

PeanutButter cake

I had a craving for peanut-butter cake the other day, and I wondered, is there even a recipe for that? turns out there is and this is it, the tastes is amazing! I found the original recipe a little dry so I tweaked some ingredients, it should be just right now

Dry ingredients:

2 1/8 cups flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 Tblsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter( I used half smooth and half chunky)

a note on peanut butter: if you use a regular modern peanut-butter(with sugar, salt, high fructose cs and all that) I’d decrease the sugar a bit, if you use a more natural older style peanut-butter then the sugar amount is just right, this cook book is from the 50′s after all

1 cup milk

1/2 packet(4oz) cream cheese

2 eggs

preheat oven to 350

grease and flour two 9 inch layer pans, set aside

sift all the dry ingredients together

add in the wet ingredients except the eggs, beat for 2 minutes

now add the eggs and beat another two minutes

pour into the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, set them out to cool once they are baked while you make the frosting

Fudge Frosting

3 cups sugar

1 cup water

2 Tblsp cornsyrup

2 Tblsp butter

4 sqs(4 oz) un-sweetened chocolate cut into small chunks

combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, cook without stirring to a soft ball temp(234) keep it covered for the first three minutes, remove from heat and let cool.

add 1 1/2 tsp vanilla and beat until it’s thick enough to hold a shape.

if it gets to thick add a little cream, if it’s too thin add a little confectioners(powdered) sugar.

frost your cooled cake and enjoy!

Oh and if you aren’t brave enough to make this frosting you can use any chocolate frosting you like, but the cooked fudge stuff is amazing, very gooey and good.

Here is a very simple but tasty brisket recipe.

You will need:

10 to 12lbs beef  brisket (4.5kg to 5.5kg)

salt

pepper

3 T brown sugar (can be less if you dont want it sweet)

2 Cans beef consume or 4 cups beef broth

1/4 t. sriracha

3 to 5 cloves of garlic

1 C soy sauce

1/4 C worcestershire sauce

1. Mix soy sauce, worcestershire, beef consume/broth, sriracha and brown sugar together till well blended.

2. Dice garlic, add to step 1 mixture.

3. In a large pan, pour half mixture over brisket, then salt and pepper.  Flip brisket to where the fat side is up.  Pour the rest of the mixture over it.  Salt and pepper again.

4. Cover pan with foil and refrigerated for 24 to 48 hrs.

5. Place in preheated oven at 300 F or 148 to 150 C.  Cook for 45minutes/lb or 90 minute/kg

Once it is done, take out and let it rest for at least 15 to 20 minutes.  So the juices can be reabsorbed.  The drippings make for a great Au Jus.

Hope you like it.