Tres Leches Flan Cake

The following recipe was prepared for my Tamales cooking class. You can read about my class and get other links to recipes HERE.

Tres Leches Flan Cake

Cake:
1 (18.25 oz.) box butter/yellow cake mix and ingredients to prepare as directed on box
1 (12 oz) can of regular Coke or Pepsi

Topping:
1 (10.9-oz.) jar cajeta (caramel topping) or caramel ice cream topping

Flan:
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees

1.) Follow instructions to make cake, but use the can of coke instead of water.
2.) Set cake mix aside and make flan
3.) Put the flan ingredients in a blender and mix well
4.) Spray the bundt pan with Pam and then cover the bottom with carmel
5.) Pour cake mix into bundt pan.
6.) Pour the flan mix gently down one side of the pan. The flan will go to the bottom and the cake mix will raise up a bit as the flan mixture fills the bottom of the pan.
7.) Set the bundt pan in a larger pan or tray with hot water. You are creating a bain marie or water bath, so you only need a couple inches of water.
8.) Put it all in the oven and it will cook for at least 45 minutes and as much as an hour.
9.) Check the cake doneness with a toothpick. The cake will stay more moist than most cakes you've ever made and you will see it separate a bit from the pan when it is done.
10.) Let it cool and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
11.) Take it out two hours before you plan to serve. Turn the bundt pan over and let it sit while warming to room temperature.
12.) The bundt pan should then lift off to reveal a layer of flan, topped with carmel sitting atop a very moist cake.

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Coffee Flan

The following recipe was made and shared at my Tapas party. You can read about the event and view links to the other recipes shared HERE.

Coffee Flan
unpictured
shared at the event by Sue
recipe from here

5 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup espresso (at room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar

Beat together eggs, yolks, sweetened condensed milk, whole milk and espresso in a large bowl with an electric mixer, or process in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Cook the 1 cup sugar in a small heavy saucepan or copper caramelizing pot over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar turns a honey color. As the sugar begins to dissolve, stir only occasionally. Once it dissolves, continue cooking without stirring until the caramelized sugar is deep amber in color. The color will change rapidly, so watch the saucepan carefully. Immediately after you remove the caramelized sugar from the burner, pour it into an 8-inch soufflé dish. Quickly tilt the dish in various directions so that the caramelized sugar coats the bottom and sides.

Carefully pour the coffee mixture into the soufflé dish, and then place them in a water bath, any shallow pan large enough to hold the dish with room to spare and filled with 1 inch of hot water. Bake the flan on the middle rack in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Remove the flan from the oven and carefully lift the dish from the water bath. Allow the flan to cool to room temperature, and then chill it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Unmold the flan by first running a non-serrated knife along the inside edge of the dish. Next invert the flan onto a serving platter. The caramelized sugar syrup will cascade over the flan. Cut the flan into 6 wedges to serve. Garnish each portion with some of the sugar syrup. Serve at once.

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Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

Dinner was a bust... as in not cooking what I had planned. My hubby picked me up from work and we ended up going to one of our fave Asian restaurants for dinner, Joy Yee's. If you live in Chicago, you know Joy Yee's pretty well... and if you live in Chicago and don't, you better find a way to Joy Yee's soon!

But I do have a recipe to share... for Key Lime Pie ice cream! I've been on a key lime kick lately and I was due for another creamy concoction from my ice cream maker. I initially wanted to use a recipe calling for egg yolks that require no cooking/tempering. Instead, I used this recipe, adapted from My Recipes.Here's my adaption of Key Lime Pie Ice Cream:

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup bottled Key lime juice
1/2 cup whipping cream
Dash of salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
Key lime wedges (optional)

Combine first 5 ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Pour mixture into freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Stir 1/3 cup graham crackers into ice cream. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container, and cover and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Sprinkle each serving with 1 teaspoon graham crackers. Garnish with lime wedges, if desired. **I'm also submitting this to the Got Milk? blogging event, hosted by Linda of Make Life Sweeter. She's accepting recipes using milk, so if you have one, share it!**

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Key Lime Tarts

And for dessert during our Independence Day, I made Key Lime Tarts, using a recipe from Peabody of Culinary Concoctions of Peabody. She has a delicious blog that always has me wishing I were in the Pacific Northwest! What inspired me to use Peabody's recipe was the recent Tasty Tools blog event entry of Carrie of Carrie's Sweet Life. Carrie recently made the same recipe last month. So seeing her recipe submission and having some fresh key limes from Florida on hand (from my friend Jessy), it was only logical for me to make it. Whoa - that was a long explanation for why I made this, huh? Sorry... I wanted to make sure I give credit where credit was due!Here is Peabody's recipe for Key Lime Pie, which I made to fill small tart shells:

1/2 cup fresh key lime juice
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 to 2 teaspoons finely grated key lime zest, divided
5 egg yolks
whipped cream, for garnish
6 pre-made graham cracker tart shells

Whisk sweetened condensed milk with the egg yolks. Whisk in Mascarpone cheese. Stir in whipping cream and lime juice. Stir in 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest. Pour into a prepared graham cracker tart shells and bake at 325° for 15 to 20 minutes.

What a day in the kitchen! Although it wasn't quite a day of freedom from cooking and baking, I thoroughly enjoyed it... and sharing my creations with my husband. Here's wishing you all had a fabulous Fourth of July!

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Horchata Hankerings

In our house, we don't drink any sodas. We usually quench our thirst with water, fiber rich fruit juices (Odwalla or Trader Joes brand), ice teas, etc. But when our fridge had nothing but water to drink, I decided to make an alternative beverage.

Over the weekend I hosted a Mexican ethnic tour, however I missed out on something. Horchata, a sweet rice milk with a hint of cinnamon, is my drink of choice when I eat at a Mexican place. So since I didn't get a chance to try the restaurant's horchata last weekend, I made my own.

Taking a look at a few different recipes (like this one) and what I had on hand to work with, here's my recipe for Horchata:

2 cups uncooked white long-grain rice
10 cups water
2 3-inch sticks of cinnamon
2/3 can of condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla paste (or extract)

Pour half of the rice and half of the water into a blender; blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1 minute. Pour rice and water into a large pitcher. Repeat with remaining rice & water.

Add cinnamon sticks to the pitcher and let rice and water stand at room temperature for a minimum of 3 hours.

Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice and cinnamon sticks. Stir the condensed milk and vanilla into the rice water. Chill and stir before serving over ice.

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