Cook-Your-Books #12

Cook-Your-Books is all about cooking or baking from your many cookbooks or magazines that you have collected over the years. If you love collecting cookbooks, read them like novels and love trying out new recipes, then this is the perfect place to share. It's time to get those books (or magazines) out of the shelves, and start using them. Bake or cook anything from any of your books or magazines, and link your posts to Cook-Your-Books here at Kitchen Flavours. The linky will start on the 7th of every month right up to the end of the month. The three most viewed submissions will be featured at the next Cook-Your-Books.

Featured posts for this month

The three most viewed posts from Cook-Your-Books #11

Pumpkin Bread 
by Copycake Kitchen

Sweet Mui Choy and Pork Belly Pau 
by Cooking Pleasure


Coffee Yoghurt Cheesecake with Brownie Base 
by Phong Hong Bakes

Thank you everyone for sharing all the delicious dishes and bakes from your cookbooks!

It's now time to link-up!

A little note when submitting your post to Cook-Your-Books

1. Linky for submissions will start on the 7th of every month right up to the end of the month. The submission with the most views will be featured at the next Cook-Your-Books.
2. All submissions must be new and current posts, within the current month. Old posts will be deleted. Please link directly to your post, not your homepage.
3. Please mention from which book or magazine you are cooking or baking from.
4. Please mention Cook-Your-Books in your post and link it back to Kitchen Flavours. You may display Cook-Your-Books badge anywhere in your post.
5. Please leave a comment after you have linked.
6. Optional, but it would be great if you could visit at least one link, everyone loves visitors.

Link-up with Cook-Your-Books #12 from 7th - 31th May 2014

An InLinkz Link-up

Triple Chocolate Cake : Bake-Along #60 - Chocolate Cake for Bake-Along 3rd Anniversary

Bake-Along is three years old! The month of May marks the 3rd Anniversary of Bake-Along. Lena, Zoe and myself, are entering into our fourth year of baking together! WOW! When I've started my blog, I've never thought that I would bake together with two awesome ladies for three years and we are still going strong! Thanks to Lena and Zoe for being such wonderful baking partners, THE BEST! To all our blogger friends who has baked along with us, thank you for your support these past three years. Here's to another year of wonderful baking together! Cheers!

Our special theme for Bake-Along 3rd Anniversary is Chocolate Cake. Yum! Yum! There are lots of chocolate cakes that just calls out for a celebration, and since I am not one who is into cake decorating, I've made a simple chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and chocolate frosting. 

 Happy 3rd Anniversary, Bake-Along !!!

I've made some little changes to the recipe. I have replaced the buttermilk with milk, and have reduced the sugar to 180gm (original is 1-1/2 cups, about 300gm). The batter is baked in two 9" round cake pans, and when the cake is cooled, each cake is cut into two layers to make a total of 4 layers. However, since the cake is not really that high, I have omit this step, as I am not confident that I would cut an even layer. I spread the Chocolate Ganache on one cake and top with the second cake. And frost the cake with the Chocolate Frosting, and finish off with a sprinkling of cocoa powder over the top.

For the Chocolate Ganache, I've made only half a recipe since I only have one layer to fill. And for the Chocolate Frosting, I have used only 3 cups of icing sugar and about 1/3 cup of milk.

Cake is really moist, tender and soft. Not too sweet, just right, since I've reduced the sugar. Yummy cake! The chocolate ganache is so chocolaty good.

A slice to everyone! Cheers!

Triple Chocolate Cake
(adapted from "Chocolate" Favourite Brand Name)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda (1 tsp baking soda + 1 tsp baking powder)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups sugar (only 180gm)
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk (replace with milk)
3/4 cup sour cream
Chocolate ganache filling (recipe follows)
Easy Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until blended. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk and sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat well after each addition. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.
2. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Cut each cake layer in half horizontally.
3. Meanwhile, prepare filling and frosting. Place one cake layer on serving plate; spread with one third of filling. Repeat layers two more times. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread frosting over cake.

Chocolate Ganache Filling :

Bring 3/4 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon sugar to a boil; stir until sugar is dissolved. Place 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips in medium bowl; pour cream mixture over chocolate and let stand 5 minutes. Stir until smooth; let stand 15 minutes or until filling reaches desired consistency. (Filling will thicken as it cools). Makes about 1-1/2 cups.

Easy Chocolate Frosting :

Beat 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add 4 cups (I use 3 cups) powdered sugar and 3/4 cup cocoa in batches alternately with 1/2 cup  (I use about 1/3 cup) milk; beat until smooth. Stir in 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Makes about 3 cups.

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Please visit my baking buddies, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and all our friends who has baked along with us in the linky below :

For our next Bake-Along, we will be baking Lemon-Scented Pull-Apart Coffee Cake from Baking For All Occasions by Flo Braker or here. Please do join us, the linky will start on 19th May until 28th May. Everyone is welcome! 

A friendly reminder when linking to our blog hop :

1. Please mention Bake-Along event in your own post linking direct to any of the hosts' post (Joyce, Lena or Zoe)

2. Please link only new and current post, related to the current bake or theme provided by us. Unrelated post will be deleted.
3. Feel free to display our Bake-Along badge in your post.

Join our blog hop, click on the link to get the codes :

get the InLinkz code

An InLinkz Link-up

Spiced Roast Potatoes with Yoghurt and Mint

"Rootie Patootie", is our catchy theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) for this week. It's all about root vegetables, and I've chosen to cook with the humble potatoes. 

I wanted a potato dish to serve with some baked rice and chicken. And this recipe from Nigel Slater's cookbook, "The Kitchen Diaries" looks nice, especially since I have all the ingredients, my homemade yoghurt and mint leaves from the garden pot.

Firstly, the potatoes, I've used russet, are first peeled, cut to big chunks and boil until they are just tender. Shake the potatoes chunks gently in the pan to bruise them a little with fluff edges. Onions are peeled, sliced thinly and fry in a little oil until soften, then stir in the chopped chillies, garlic and cumin seeds and let them warm through, taking care not to let them burn. Add the potatoes and turmeric, stir till they are evenly covered in the oil. Roast the potatoes in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden but not brown. For serving, place potatoes pieces on a plate and spoon over some yoghurt, a little sprinkle of mild chilli powder and chopped mint leaves.

 

My notes : Really nice, though in my opinion, it could do with a little bit more of spice, as this is rather mildly spiced. Maybe the next time, I would add some garam masala to give it a spice kick. Overall, a lovely dish, and I served this with some baked rice and a chicken dish.

Spiced Roast Potatoes with Yoghurt and Mint
(adapted from "The Kitchen Diaries", Nigel Slater)
4 medium potatoes
2 medium onions
vegetable or groundnut oil
2 chopped red chilli, as hot as you like
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

To finish :
4 tablespoons natural yoghurt
a little mild ground chilli
young mint leaves - a palmful, chopped

Peel the potatoes, cut them into the sort of pieces you would for normal roasting, then bring them to the boil in deep water. Add salt to the pot and simmer for ten to fifteen minutes, until the potatoes are approaching tenderness. You should be able to slide a knifepoint through them with almost no pressure. Drain the potatoes thoroughly, then very gently shake them in their pan so the edges fluff and bruise. Set the oven at 180C/Gas 4.
Peel the onions and slice them finely. Heat enough oil in a roasting tin to make a thin film over the bottom. The thicker the base, the less likelihood there is of the spices burning. As the oil warms, add the sliced onions and let them soften, then stir in the chopped chillies, garlic and cumin and let them warm through, stirring (and watching like a hawk) so that they do not burn. Add the potatoes to the hot oil, add the turmeric, then slowly stir and toss the potatoes so that they are covered with the seasoned oil.
Roast the potatoes in the preheated oven until they have started to crisp. Thirty to thirty-five minutes or so should it. You don't want them to be as brown as classic roast potatoes. They should be golden, and flecked with spice.
As the potatoes come from the oven, grind over a seasoning of salt, then spoon over the yoghurt, sprinkle with a very little mild ground chilli and scatter with the chopped mint leaves.
Enough for 4 as a side dish.

I'm linking this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC)

and 

Cook-Your-Books #12