Michi Cakes: Ace of Pastries

Welcome to Michi Cakes: Ace of Pastries :D

[cakeattorney]

Lemon Cake

AGAIN not my picture. I ate everything before I could remember to take it D: and it's technically not from scratch, since it uses lemon cake mix, but it's SO GOOD.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

200ml greek yogurt (or plain yogurt)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup butter

1 pack of lemon jelly

1 pack of lemon cake mix

1/2 cup of lemon juice

1 can of condensed milk

You'll also need

A round cake tin of about 20cm in diameter, coated in butter and some sugar.

1- Beat the eggs, the yogurt, the oil, the butter and the jelly powder together with a mixer.

2- Pour the mixture onto a bowl and add the cake mix.

3- Pour the batter onto the cake tin and bake it on a 180ºC heat for about 40 minutes.

4- Mix the condensed milk and the lemon juice together and cover the cake with the mixture after it's baked and cooled.

[cakeattorney]

Strogonoff

I didn't even take this picture, I looked it up on the internet... Guess I ate everything before I could think of photographing it lol

Ingredients:

Chicken or Meat chopped in cubes (the quantity depends on how much meat you want in your recipe D: but I think I used like 500g)

2 tomatoes, chopped in cubes

Minced garlic

3 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 tablespoons of mustard

1 box/can of heavy cream

1 can/jar of button mushrooms

Some cooking wine or cognac

Olive oil

Salt, Black Pepper and Lemon for seasoning.

1- Pour some olive oil on a pan and fry the garlic until golden. Add the tomato cubes and stir. Let it cook for 10 minutes.

2- Season the chopped meat with salt, black pepper and lemon juice. Pour it into the pan with the tomatoes. Add the wine/cognac and stir well. After about 5 minutes, let it cook with the pan's lid blocking the steam from escaping. This should continue for about 15 minutes, while you stir.

3- Wash the mushrooms and chop them in half. Add them to the pan and stir well. Leave it there for more 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and the mustard, stirring very well so they'll mix into the "sauce".

4- Let it cook for more 5 minutes, turn off the fire and add the heavy cream.

Eat this with some rice and potato chips :D

[cakeattorney]

Charlie's Chocolate Brownies

So, huh I guess most of us is familiar with Charlie McDonnell. So I tried to make his chocolate brownies from this video. As I didn't have chocolate chips, I just used m&m's instead.

AND no photo this time, because I fucked up the recipe, adding 3 times more salt than I needed. I'm very disappointed on myself for this.

Ingredients:

60g of dark chocolate

180g of milk chocolate

3/4 cup of butter

2 1/2 cups of sugar

1 cup of flour

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of salt

4 large eggs

Optional:

1 cup of chocolate chips/m&m's

1 cup of walnuts

some icing sugar

You'll also need:

a baking tin, already coated with butter and flour (I tried to check the size in his video and compare with my baking tins until I found the one which is the closest one)

1- Preheat the oven at 180ºC

2- Boil some water in a pan, put the chocolate and the butter into a bowl and put the bowl on top of the pan with boiling water. Mix the butter into the chocolate, which will melt. When it's a homogeneous chocolate mixture, take the bowl out of the pan.

3- Mix the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and put it in the oven.

4- Keep checking the development of your brownie, when it's passed the "toothpick test" (when you insert a toothpick into the brownie, it comes out clean), just take it out of the oven.

That's it :D

[cakeattorney]

Chocolate cake with no eggs

I currently have a lot of strawberry jelly jars in my house, so I decided to make a chocolate cake... Becase I always heard that chocolate cake was great with jelly... And this recipe is neat, because it doesn't need any eggs. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

3/4 tablespoons of baking powder

1/2 tablespoon of salt

1 cup of warm water

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of white vinegar

You'll also need:

A round baking tin with 20cm in diameter, coated with oil and sprinkled with unsweetened cocoa powder.

1- Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

2- Mix the flour, the sugar, the baking powder and the salt in a bowl. Dissolve the cocoa powder into warm water. 

3- Mix the dissolved cocoa powder, the vanilla and the oil into the flour mix. Stir well, and when it's homogeneous, pour in the vinegar. Mix it throughly and pour the batter onto the baking tin. Take it to the oven immediately. 

4- Leave it in the oven for 30~35 minutes, and keep checking the cake.

That's it!

[cakeattorney]

Coconut Cake

This cake is probably one of my favorite cakes of all time. My grandma used to make this all the time before she got sick. 

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of baking powder

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons of butter

1 cup of milk

4 egg whites (beaten until firm, like snow)

For the coating:

1 bottle of coconut milk

1 can of condensed milk

1/2 cup of milk

1 bag of grated coconut

You'll also need:

a baking tin of 20cmx30cm, already coated with butter and flour.

some tin foil to wrap the cake.

1- Preheat the oven at 180ºC. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until firm like snow. Leave it aside for now.

2- Mix the egg yolks, the sugar and the oil with the mixer until it's homogeneous. Add the flour and the milk, little by little, while mixing. When the batter is pretty and homogeneous, add the baking powder and mix it with a spoon. Finally, add the egg whites and mix them into the batter with a spoon too. Be careful and mix it softly.

3- Pour the batter onto the baking tin and put it in the oven. Leave it there for about 30 minutes, but keep checking. Use a toothpick to check if the cake is ready, if you stick it into the cake and it comes out with batter, then you should leave the cake in the oven for some more minutes. 

4- When it's ready, leave it to cool for a while. When it's cooled down, cut the cake into pieces of like, 5cmx4cm maybe? it's up to you how big they are. Now, mix together the condensed milk, the coconut milk and the regular milk onto a bowl. Take the grated coconut bag and pour it's contents onto a plate. 

5- Now, dive the cake pieces onto the milk mix and coat them with grated coconut afterwards. Wrap tin foil around the cake pieces and leave them in the fridge for one night. 

That's it :D

[cakeattorney]

Apple Cake

I really love apples, doesn't matter if it's in a pie, in a cake or a juice... They're just so fresh and wonderful! (and the picture is better, lol I took it with my mom's Iphone).

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

2 cups of sugar

3 eggs

1 1/3 cup of vegetable oil (like sunflower oil)

3~4 apples peeled, cored and cut in cubes

1 cup of walnuts (optional)

You'll also need:

a round baking tin of 25 cm in diameter, already coated with butter and flour.

1- Preheat the oven at 180ºC and prepare the apples. Leave them aside. Sieve the flour, the baking powder, the salt and the cinnamon. Mix them together in a bowl and leave them be.

2- Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs, the oil and the sugar together. When it's all homogeneous and yellow, add the flour mixture little by little, while you mix it with the electric mixer.

3- When it's and homogeneous batter, add the apples and the nuts, mixing them well into the batter with a big spoon. Pour the batter into the baking tin (the batter can get really sticky, so it might be a hassle).

4- Put the baking tin in the oven and leave it there for about 50 minutes~ 1 hour, but keep checking the development of the cake from time to time. Use a toothpick to see if it's ready, stick it in the middle of the cake and take it off. If it comes out with batter on it, then the cake is probably not ready yet.

That's it :D you can sprinkle some sugar on top of it once it's ready if you want. 

[cakeattorney]

Pasta with Mushroom sauce

I know this picture is REALLY BAD lol. I tried to make it more clear, but this was the best I could do, really. This pasta is really delicious. Seriously, I think it's one of my favorites.

Ingredients: 

 1/2 a package of pasta. Could be anything you want, really. Spaghetti, Penne, whatever. (Because yeah, I'm too lazy to make pasta from scratch)

2 cans/boxes of heavy cream

Porcini mushrooms

Shitake mushrooms

Shimeji mushrooms

Champignon mushrooms (not the ones from a can or a glass flask, they must be fresh)

The juice of half a lemon

2/3 cup of white wine

50g of grated parmesan cheese

Black Pepper, Parsley, Grated Nutmeg and salt to season.

1- You should start by making the pasta as the instructions on the package. I prefer it al dente, so I always take it out of the water a little early, but it's really up to you.

2- Now that the water is boiling, you can start preparing the sauce. Wash all the mushrooms and chop them in tiny bits. Drip a little bit of olive oil onto a pan and stir fry the mushrooms. They will probably shed some water, and you should wait until it evaporates almost completely. When that happens, pour the white wine and the lemon juice. Stir the mixture for about 30~60 seconds and pour the heavy cream.

3- Stir the sauce for some more minutes, and add the parmesan cheese. Stir well and season it with black pepper, parsley, salt and grated nutmeg.

4-  Pour the sauce onto the pasta and enjoy!

[cakeattorney]

Carrot Cake with Brigadeiro Topping

I personally prefer using brigadeiro as a topping and filling, but I'll add an alternate recipe of chocolate sauce that can be used in this cake as well.

Ingredients: 

For the cake:

2 big carrots, peeled and grated

3 cups of flour

2 cups of sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 cup of oil

For the filling/topping:

a) Make a Brigadeiro recipe.

or

b) Make this recipe of chocolate sauce:

8 tablespoons of cocoa powder

8 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of butter

1 cup of milk

Heat all of the ingredients together, mix them well until it boils. When it does, leave it for more 3 minutes and take it out of the heat. Then pour the sauce on top of the cake. (it helps if you make little holes on the cake with a toothpick or a fork so the sauce can infiltrate it better).

You'll also need:

 A baking tin (you should probably coat it with butter and flour first, so the cake won't stick to it so much)

1- At first, preheat the oven at medium heat.

2- Mix the carrots, the sugar, the eggs and the oil together in a mixer, until it's homogeneous.

3- Put the mixture in a bowl and add the flour. Mix them together well, and at last,  add the baking powder.

4- I have two baking tins that are exactly the same, so I thought of putting half the dough in each one of them so I wouldn't have to cut the cake in half later. But  you don't even have to fill the cake if you don't want to, so just pour the mixture into the baking tin and leave it in the oven for about 30 minutes. But I'd say it's a good thing to check on the cake every now and then to see how it's developing.

Once the cake is ready, if you decided to use the alternate chocolate sauce recipe, you just haveO pour the sauce on top of the cake and it's finished. In case you wanted to use brigadeiro, this is what you should do:

5- Let it cool down for a while and check on the brigadeiro. If it's firm enough to be used as filling, take it out of the fridge. Once the cake has cooled down, take it out of the baking tin and cut it in half (so you'll be able to put the filling between the two halves). Now you can:

a) Carve a little "pool" inside one of the halves so you can pour the filling inside it.

or

b) Just spread the brigadeiro on top of one of the halves.

6- Take the other half and place it on top of the filled half. Spread another coat of brigadeiro on top of everything and it's ready! :D There will be probably some leftover brigadeiro, but that's okay,  you can eat it by itself or with some bread.

:3

[cakeattorney]

Brigadeiro

so, I know this picture is crappy as hell, but as you may know, I only have the DSi camera. The pictures that look better usually weren't taken by me. Anyway this recipe is my take on a Brazilian classic, so I'll write my version and the tradicional recipe that most people use. Feel free to choose between them.

My Recipe:

1 can of condensed milk

1 box/can of heavy cream

3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (PLEASE DO NOT USE DRINKING CHOCOLATE)

1 tablespoon of butter

1- Heat the condensed milk with the butter in medium heat, stirring until the butter blends into the condensed milk. Dissolve the cocoa powder into a little bit of milk and pour the mixture onto the condensed milk. Stir until it boils, after that, let it boil for more 5 minutes and add the heavy cream. Mix them together and pour the mixture into some glass bowl so it can cool down. Leave it in the fridge for a while so it can harden a bit.

This can be eaten by itself, or it can be poured into a cake or a loaf of bread. I usually use this as a cake topping or as filling for some pie, IDK.

Tradicional Recipe:

 1 can of condensed milk

1 tablespoons of butter

3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

little chocolate sprinkles

The recipe is basically the same, the only difference is that you have to let it boil for longer (and you don't add heavy cream). The reason for that is that you're looking for a more firm cream that can be rolled into little balls and covered with chocolate sprinkles like this:

[cakeattorney]

Apple Pie

So, my boyfriend REALLY loves this apple pie. According to him, it's the Best Apple Pie in the world.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

2 cups of flour

200g (this is probably 1 stick) of butter in room temperature

1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons of oil (like sunflower oil for instance, idk)

Cinnamon powder

For the filling:

6~8 apples, peeled and cored.

1 cup of sugar (I'd recommend using brown sugar if you don't like your sweets TOO sweet)

The juice of one lemon mixed with one tablespoon of water

1 tablespoon of flour dissolved in water

For the frosting:

2 egg whites

6 tablespoons of sugar

You'll also need:

A tart tin of maybe... 25 cm in diameter. 

1- You should start with the filling, so chop the apples into pieces and heat them with the rest of  the ingredients, minus the flour. Mix the apples with the sugar, then probably the apples will shed some water, so you should mix them and heat them until that water is gone. When this happens, throw in the flour dissolved in water, and mix them until the water evaporates. So the filling is ready, it should look like an apple jam, only not so gooey and with bigger apple pieces :D

2- Turn off the heat and leave the filling alone for a while. Let's make the frosting! Separate the yolks from the whites of two eggs and store them in separate bowls. Save the yolk for later. Now, get a beater and start beating the egg whites until they're firm (like snow :3, for instance). Keep beating and add one tablespoon of sugar at a time. It'll start to get heavier and shinier, until you have a white frosting. Save it for later.

3- Now you'll start making the pastry... Well, put all the ingredients in a bowl except for the cinnamon powder. Start mixing the stuff with your hands, until a firm pastry is formed. What I mean by firm is firm enough to line a tart tin. So, line the tart tin with a thin (as thin as you want it to be, really) layer of pastry. Even it out and make several little holes with a fork on the pastry (so it wont form bubbles).

4- Put the tart tin in the oven (low heat) for a little while (maybe 5~10 minutes) just so it can dry a little. Take it out of the oven (but don't turn it off!) and sprinkle some cinnamon powder on top of the pastry. Tip the filling onto the pastry and spread the frosting on top of it. 

5- Now the tart tin goes back in the oven, (still low heat) and it stays there until the frosting is golden on the edges. Leave just a little peek of the oven door open (use a towel to keep it open). Keep checking the pie so it wont burn... When you feel it's golden and firm enough, take the tart out of the oven!

That's it :D

[cakeattorney]

White Chocolate cups filled with dark chocolate ganache

So, huh... I can't come up with a name to this, since it's just really another way of making a chocolate treat.

Ingredients

One bar of white chocolate

One bar of dark chocolate 

One can (or like 200g) of heavy cream 

Sprinkles (optional) or M&M's.

You'll also need

Either a cupcake tray made of silicone, or an ice tray with neat shapes (like one that makes heart-shaped ice, idk). If you're using an ice tray, be sure to make the ganache before you melt the white chocolate.

So, the instructions:

1- Break the white chocolate onto little pieces and melt it by either

a) Putting the pieces in a bowl and water-bathing them. 

b) Putting the pieces in a bowl and microwaving them in little intervals of 10-15 seconds and between each interval, mix the chocolate and check if it's soft and gooey enough to be mixed. Be careful, because if you melt chocolate this way, the chances of going to far and burning the chocolate are high. And burnt chocolate is practically useless.

2- Once it's melted:

a) In case of cupcake tray: dab a brush into the chocolate and "paint" the inside of a cupcake tray so you have a thin layer of chocolate inside it. When you feel it's enough to make a white chocolate cup, put it in the fridge.

b) In case of ice tray: just fill them with white chocolate and drown a little ball of ganache inside the chocolate. Put it in the fridge. 

3- Now start making the ganache. It's really simple, you just have to break the dark chocolate in pieces and throw them in a pan with the heavy cream. Mix them together and heat them in the stove until you see a shiny, rich ganache. Let it cool for a while.

4- Check if the white chocolate inside the cupcake tray is hard enough. If you feel it's hard enough, try taking the white chocolate cups out. As it's a silicone tray, it should be fairly easy, unless it's not hard enough. After that, you just have to fill them with ganache and, I don't know, maybe sprinkle some stuff on top of them.

5- If you're using ice trays, just check if the chocolate is hard enough, and if it is, just take them out. :D

THAT'S IT.

[cakeattorney]

Tags

Cake

Pie

Cookie

Assorted Sweets

Pasta/Risotto

Personal

I'll update those as the recipes grow in number D: at least I'm trying to be organized, huh?

[cakeattorney]

About

My name is Laura, but most people just call me Miya. I decided to create this blog to sort out my favorite recipes neatly (like with pictures and stuff) but I only had this crappy DSi camera, so the pictures probably won't help out much. I hope I can improve their quality with time (maybe my boyfriend will take the pictures, he's got a fancypants Nikon camera). 

Cocola-Weda came up with this name, as I was in doubt between many names, mostly related to videogames like 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Cookies and Cake Attorney. I was particularly drawn to Cake Attorney, so I set it as my url. 

So if you want to know more about me, check out my personal blog: Queen Bitch. (yes, I love David Bowie).

Ps: Some of the recipes I invented myself, some are from my grandma's cookbook, some I found on the internet and decided to try, some are from my friends... If I can remember the source, I'll credit them, but... Mostly I don't really know where they come from.