FAK !! ChaCha Cherry Sangria

“Friday Afternoon Kocktails” time…  Made a delicious refreshing Sour Cherry Sangria.  Yum yum, this hit the spot Friday afternoon after work, a tall glass loaded with ice, sitting by the pool, chilling with my Sangria, on a hot sunny day, I couldn’t ask for more.  Cheers!

Sour Cherry Sangria

– 1 Bottle of Zinfandel (750ml)

– 3 Cups of FRESH squeezed Orange Juice (I used about 4 Really Big oranges).

– 2 Cups Club Soda or 7-Up  (I like the fizzy and I used 7-Up)

– 1/4 Cup Triple Sec

– 1 Jar Sour Pitted Cherries, juice drained  (NOT Maraschino)

– 1/2 Cup of the Sour Cherry Juice (from the jar)

– Several Slices of Oranges  (keep a few to decorate your glasses)

– Several Slices of Lemons

– Lots of Ice (for the glasses not the pitcher)

In a glass pitcher add the Zinfandel, the fresh squeezed Orange Juice, Club Soda or 7-Up, Triple Sec, Sour Cherries, Sour Cherry Juice, Orange and Lemon slices.  Stir well and refrigerate until very cold.  In a tall glass, fill with ice, pour in Sangria, decorate the rim with a few orange slices…Enjoy!  Simply refreshing !!

Cherry Sangria

“FAK!” Pina Coladas

“FAK !”   I hope to have a recipe every Friday for our “Friday Afternoon Kocktails”.  It is nice to just sit and relax and have a cocktail (you can make it virgin, they still taste amazing even if you don’t add the alcohol) and cocktails look soooo pretty too!  Weather has been rather hot here to say the least,  the humidity just makes it more unbearable.  At least I have some comfort in the enjoyment of my pool and a nice cold  refreshment makes it so much more enjoyable.  My recipe for my cold frothy Pina Coladas.  You can hold the alcohol or not, your choice.  I opted for the booze (Oooops!).

PINA COLADA

–  2  Cups Fresh Pineapple (Blended and pureed and put into ice cube trays, Freeze.  Do this a day ahead)

–  3 oz Rum  (I used 1 oz Bacardi White Rum and 2 oz Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum)

–  1/2 Cup Coconut Cream

–  1 Cup Pineapple Juice

–  1 Cup Crushed Ice

–  Fresh Slices of Pineapple and Maraschino Cherries (on the stem if you can find them) for Decoration and eating enjoyment  🙂

Put all the ingredients into a blender and Blend, Blend, Blend…  Serve immediately in a tall glass and decorate with Pineapple slice (I forgot to keep myself a few slices of fresh pineapple, o0yyy!  But I did add the cherries heehee).  A cute little paper parasol was missing, oh well next time.

Cold Frothy Pina Colada Drink

Shamrock Shake

Living in Quebec, I had a hard time finding these Milkshakes, after receiving several requests to “pick me one up on your way home please”.  Unfortunately, the McD’s around here don’t know what a Shamrock Shake is….Oooops!  So the next alternative was to make one myself.  I have never had a Shamrock Shake so I can’t compare.   I enjoyed this frothy cold minty delight.  

SHAMROCK SHAKE

–   2 Cups Whole Milk 

–   1/4 Cup 35% Cream

–   6-8 Large Scoops Vanilla Ice Cream (I used 8, I like it thick!)

–   1 teaspoon Pure Peppermint Extract

–   Several drops of green food coloring

–   ColdWhipped topping

–   Shaved chocolate for topping

–   Maraschino Cherries  (one with stems would have been even cuter)

You know what to do…Throw it all into a blender and process until smooth.  Top with some whipped topping, shaved chocolate and a cherry.  Voila!  You’re homemade Shamrock Shake.  Who needs McDonald’s anyways.  LOL!

 

 

 

Christmas Desserts

Getting ready for our show this weekend.  We have 200+ pounds of our special family recipe Fruitcake all ready to go.  Have been working on Yuletide Cakes (Bûche de Noël) as well this week.  We have these delicious cakes available for order .  A festive dessert for your holiday table.  They make beautiful host or hostess gifts as well.  A Bûche de Noël has been a longtime tradition at Christmas in my family ( Mocha is my favorite 😀 ).   

Vanilla Cake with a Tutti-Frutti Cherry and Peach Filling, Frosted with a Vanilla Buttercream and decorated with a Vanilla-Coconut Bark.

 

Black Forest Cake A La Grande

Wow!  what a few months it has been!  Working, activities, events… I just can’t keep up it seems.  I am sure most of you have days (months  :O ) like these and it seems like it is never ending, I am finding it very hard to find “ME” time, Oooops. 

Anyhow, I finally found a moment to get on my blog and blog about a wonderful cake recipe I made this past week for a special birthday.  This was my first attempt to make a Grand “Black Forest Cake” (which was the special guests favorite).  I searched the Internet endlessly for a recipe I thought would really be deliciously yummy.  I wanted a really moist cake and a true to true made Black Forest Cake using all the actual ingredients.  Even the Kirsch Liquor   :O  (not just cherry liquid for me).  I wanted to make an authentic german Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest Gateau).

So this is what I came up with.  I will post the link where to get the recipe below.  Now mind you this was  fairly easy to make, however you have to have patience because there are a few steps, and you can actually make the cake a day ahead (I made my cake in one day and put it in the refrigerator for one day to allow the cake to absorb all the cherry liquid that has the kirsch (Cherry liqueur)  in it, made me feel like the cake was fresher hahaha, if you make the cake a day ahead, it sits in the refrigerator for two days),  and do the cherries step a day ahead as well, and actually doing the cherries the day ahead is better because they should soak in the kirsch for at least a day (and the liquid as well).   This recipe was great because it also includes a how to video.  So here is my finished product,  drumroll please  (LOL)…

Black Forest Cake Supreme

So this is my four layer Black Forest Cake.  I did double the recipe from the Joy Of Baking Site, as I wanted a BIG Supreme cake and I also cut back on the Kirsch, using 2 Tblsp. for the cherry mix and using only 1 Tblsp.  for the cherry liquid mix.  However I do recommend using the 2 Tblsp. for the cherry liquid mix as in the recipe.  I was a little nervous about the Kirsch overpowering the cake, (have you ever smelled that stuff  ?!)  but it actually made the taste, oh my ummm well YUMMY!  So go ahead and follow the recipe.  I did also hold back on spreading the liquid on the cake, again that overpowring the Kirsch took over on me, but go ahead be liberal the cake does not get soggy (just don’t go craycray).  But like I mentioned I did double the entire recipe to make the cake pictured.  This cake was delicious, it is actually a Genoise cake and verrrrrrrrrry good.  Everyone enjoyed the cake and there was none left for take home goodies (well I still have quite the bottle of Kirsch left, so I will definitely be making this again, my thumbs up!).

*TIP:  Please use ACTUAL Sour Cherries for this recipe, (they come bottled or canned)  not maraschino, maraschino cherries can be used to decorate the top of the cake, cherries with stems are preferrable, but I could not locate them for my recipe   boohoo  😦

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ot5YdDTLTBY

Black Forest Gateau Recipe:  http://www.joyofbaking.com/printpages/BlackForestCakeprint.html