Cake "Kiev"

By popular demand, I'm posting the recipe to cake "Kiev". It's a very famous cake from the city I was born in, there's event a Wikipedia article about it. The recipe is a "GOST" recipe which means it was used by standardized factory where the cake was made. In my opinion, if you follow the recipe exactly (to the gram), the result is always perfect so get your scale out to weight all your ingredients. I do not have pictures and I borrowed them from another blog (http://chadeyka.livejournal.com/176528.html) for which I apologize, hopefully this does not constitute plagiarism. A warning, you have to start the cake 48 hours before serving it, don't be alarmed, it's not difficult, just requires a bit of planning. So here it goes.

Ingredients:
Cake:
200 grams egg whites
50 grams sugar
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
45 grams flour (may use potato starch for gluten free version)
150 grams roasted cashews
185 grams sugar

Frosting:
175 grams sugar
1 egg
150 milliliters milk
250 grams unsalted butter
10 g cocoa
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cognac or brandy

Merengue layers:
1. take 200 grams of egg whites, put in a bowl and set the bowl out at room temperature for 12-24 hours. Don't worry, nothing happens to egg whites at room temperature, you'll see a few tiny champagne like bubbles form. This is done to make the merengue stiffer.
2. Next day, preheat oven to 300 degrees.
3. Line one 9 inch pan and one 8 inch pan with parchment paper. Of you may draw a 9 or 8 inch diameter circle on parchment paper, turn the paper over and put it on the baking sheet. You'll be able to spread merengue inside the circle and get your merengue baked that way. Basically you'll need one merengue layer that's wider than the other, then you'll even the larger one out and will have crumbs to decorate the sides of the cake with.
4. Mix 45 grams sifted flour, 150 grams roasted and chopped cashews and 185 grams sugar.












5. Beat egg whites in soft peaks, add 50 grams sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat into stiff peaks.












6. Into egg whites, carefully add mixture from step 4 and mix being careful to not deflate the egg white.












5. Put your mixture into the cake pans. You have to bake both layers of merengue at the same time which should be not problem. The average height of a merengue layer before baking is 2 cm (a little less than 1 inch).












6. Bake both layers at 300 degrees for 2 hours (don't open the oven). The resulting merengue will be beige in color.












7. Take layers out of the oven, you may remove them from pans when cool but don't remove the parchment paper. Let them rest for 12-24 hours with the paper intact and only then remove the paper.

Frosting:
1. The next day, bring unsalted butter to room temperature.
2. In a sauce pan, whisk 150 ml milk and 1 egg really well (unmixed egg may burn or curdle).
3. Add 175 grams sugar and put on a stove.












4. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Your syrup will thicken and will be consistency and color of condensed milk.












5. Remove thickened syrup from heat, transfer to a bowl, cover with wrap and let cool.
6. Whip unsalted butter with vanilla extract until fluffy using a mixer.
7. Add cooled syrup one tablespoon at a time, mixing well.












8. Take 200 grams of the resulting frosting and transfer to a different bowl, add cocoa powder and mix well.
9. Add cognac or brandy to the remaining frosting and mix well.

Assembly:
1. Take the larger layer of merengue, frost with the white frosting (the one with cognac), reserve a bit for decorations.
2. Put the second (smaller) layer of merengue on top, trim the larger layer to match the smaller layer's size. Reserve crumbs.













3. Frost the top and the sides of the cake with the chocolate frosting (reserve a bit for decorations).












4. Sprinkle the sides with the reserved crumbs.
5. Put reserved frostings into decorator bag and decorate the top of the cake with rosettes or shells. Alternatively you decorate with sugared fruit or fruit jellys. Or both.












You're done! Enjoy!

Spinach Dip

This is unbelievably good and when served with fresh veggies such as cut up carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower and broccoli will erase any guilt you'll feel eating something this rich.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup light sour cream
1 cup light cream cheese
1/3 cup mayo (use light or at least canola/olive oil kind)
2 cups shredded parmesan (yes, stuff out of the green can)
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
10 oz frozen spinach thawed and drained well
1 can artichoke hearts, drained (tip: Trader Joe's brand is really cheap and good)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop each artichoke heart into about 5 pieces. In a mixing bowl, combine spinach, parmesan and artichoke hearts. Combine remaining ingredients and add the spinach mixture. Bake 30 minutes. Serve hot with veggies or crackers or bread, the possibilities are endless.

Crab stuffed mushrooms

Serve hot for a great appetizer.

1 lb fresh mushrooms
7-8 oz canned crab meat (not imitation)
4 green onions thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (green can stuff)
1/3 cup mayo
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese (also from green can)
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse canned crab meat. In a mixing bowl combine crab meat, green onions, herbs and pepper. Mix in mayo and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.
Clean mushrooms, removing stems and gills making deep cups. Chop stems and add to the filling.
Fill mushroom caps with the filling and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and paprika.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until mushrooms are soft. Serve immediately.

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

Prosciutto, asparagus, cream cheese, what's not to like. I buy light cream cheese and lowest-salt prosciutto I can find.

1/2 lb sliced prosciutto
4 oz light cream cheese
about 18 asparagus spears, trimmed.

Blanche asparagus in boiling water for 40 seconds, immediately placed in iced water to stop the cooking process. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread prosciutto slices with cream cheese and wrap each slice around 2 or 3 asparagus spears. Arrange spears in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes and serve immeditely.

Baked Brie with Pine Nuts

Very elegant but super simple recipe. Taken from a low carb cooking website. Again, I buy all the ingredients at Trader Joe's.

Ingredients:
1 round (8 oz) brie cheese
1 tbsp finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp pine nuts


Heat oven to 450 degrees. With a sharp knife, trim white rind off top of the cheese. Place cheese on a pie place. Mix sundried tomatoes and parsley and spread evenly over the surface of the cheese. Sprinkle with pine nuts. Bake 10 minutes until heated through.

Coat in a coat

This is a fun version of a very common russian dish: herring in a fur coat. Unlike the original it travels well and works for a buffet table. The directions look a bit complicated but they just look that way. The resulting dish will be like a stuffed french baguette loaf with veggies and fish inside.

Ingredients:
1 loaf french baguette bread
herring filet (1 small jar)
3 oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp mayo
1 boiled beet
2 boiled carrots
1/2 thinly sliced onion soaked in vinegar and boiling water for 10 minutes
dill

In a small bowl combine room-temperature butter and dill. Cut french baguette along the long side (parallel to the cutting board), opening it up. Be careful not to separate the two halves. Scoop out some of the soft bread inside leaving you with a shell for the filling.
Spread butter mixture on the inside surfaces of the loaf reserving some for later. Now start layering the filling.
Shred beets, combine with 1 tbsp mayo and put them on one half of the loaf. On the other half, put shredded carrots combined with 1 tbsp mayo. On the beets side, put chopped herring, then sliced onions. On the carrots side, finely shred hard boiled eggs.
Your goal is to take the loaf and put the two (still connected) halves back together. To make them stick, take the remaining butter mixture and spread it on the surfaces where the two halves will touch. Now put the loaf back together and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. To serve, cut slices of the loaf and enjoy.

Rafaello cheese balls

These are little crab meat and cheese balls that look really cute

Ingredients:
4 oz cheese (plavlennii from Russian deli is best, in case you get those you need 2)
2 hard boiled eggs
1 garlic clove
1 cup mayo
2 whole walnuts (shelled)
3.5 oz imitation crab meat

Shred eggs and cheese. To the mixture, add minced garlic, chopped walnuts, add 1 tablespoon mayo. Form little balls from the resulting mixture. Shred imitation crab meat and put into a shallow plate. Roll cheese balls in the shredded crab meat. Refrigerate 1/2 hours.