The Foodie's Food Trip

My Craving For Silvanas

Being away from the Philippines made me crave a lot of food, that although I do not eat them often I still crave for them. One of the food/dessert that I've been craving for years, even when we were still living in Singapore, is silvanas.

Silvanas are frozen cookies/dessert wherein meringue-like cookies, usually made of cashew nuts, are sandwiched and covered with buttercream then coated with cake or cookie crumbs and sometimes ground cashew nuts. It is very similar to sans rival, cake version of silvanas.

I've been looking for a recipe for a looong time but can't find one. Then a few months ago, I asked my sister if she has a recipe of silvanas (or sans rival)... she's got both! And so I made some! :D

Now for the ingredients... Most of the ingredients I needed were easy to buy - eggs, sugar, butter. But the cashew nuts... I searched for weeks (or maybe even months)!

In the Philippines, I realized that cashew nuts are not that expensive and you can buy them in almost any supermarket. Here in London, it's more expensive than I thought it would be! But still the craving wins. I've checked three supermarkets and all of them sell salted (and even peppered) cashew nuts... and I need plain unsalted ones. I finally found one from a store that sells vitamins & supplements, they sell organic and healthy food. They even have banana chips... product of the Philippines. :D

And the baking begins... Here are some steps/notes while making silvanas:

The first thing I made was the buttercream. My sister gave me a recipe for Swiss buttercream frosting. But everything was in metric measurement, even the eggs! Although I can approximate the weight of an egg white, I still wanted a recipe wherein it says the number of eggs I need (not in grams/millilitres). So I searched for other Swiss buttercream recipes online and found one from Smitten Kitchen.
Next is the meringue cookies. I have two options for making them round and small,
1. Pipe the meringue into perfect little circles
2. Pour them in a tray and just cut them in circles after baking.
I opted for the second one, since I do not trust my piping skills. The only downside of the second option is the excess cookies left. In my case, I still used them as coating for the finished silvanas. :D

My meringue cookies getting ready for the oven

I decided to use my square pans for this instead of my rectangular ones because my rectangular pans kept on warping/popping/bending once inside the oven, and my square pans are all stable and steady.
After baking, I let them cool a bit then pried them out of those baking paper... they're stubborn and sticky! So next time I'll make sure to butter and flour them more generously.
After that I cut them into perfect circles. I used a cookie/biscuit cutter to form these circles then let them cool some more.
For the cookie rejects and the sides, I baked them some more to make them a bit crunchier, then ground them up. I them mixed those ground meringue cookies with some ground cashew nuts. That's what I used to coat the silvanas.
Once perfectly cool enough, I spread some buttercream on one cookie, sandwich it with another, then put them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. I put mine in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the sandwich cookies from the refrigerator. Cover the sandwich with more buttercream, then coat with the ground meringue cookies mixed with cashew nuts. Put them back in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

The finish product... yummy!

My lovely Silvana

Unfortunately I can't share the recipe for the meringue cookies. But for the Swiss buttercream frosting recipe, you can get them from Smitten Kitchen.

Today's Comic Strip: Shrimp & Sausage Kabobs

I haven't posted a comic strip for a looong time, and I've missed reading them. :D

Here's something that looks yummy and easy to do.

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

I loooove chocolates! I know I've said it before... I'll say it again! I loooove chocolates!

I am a fan of Hershey's! I like it more than other brands. When we moved to London, I thought I can easily buy them here... I was wrong! They are not easily available in groceries/supermarkets!

I've found some store selling Hershey's and other American sweets/candies. I try to avoid these stores because I will surely buy something (more of some things) whenever I go there.

Here are a few of my favorites

You can make me eat the most expensive milk chocolate there is, but I always go back to Hershey's Milk Chocolate. My aunt sent me some a few weeks ago, their Easter themed products, shaped like a bunny. :D

Another new Hershey's product is the Hershey's Drops. It kinda looks like M&Ms, but without the candy coating and they're bigger. It comes in resealable packs. When hubby and I opened a pack that my mom sent me, we finished it in two days! :D

Let's not forget Hershey's Kisses! Same chocolate, just cuter. :D

Another Hershey's product - Reese's. I never liked the peanut butter-chocolate combination before, and I can't remember when I started loving this. All I know is I love it! My aunt also sent me some Reese's, their Easter themed product shaped like an egg. Whenever I eat one, I'd stop myself from eating more than three in one sitting.

Since I started liking Reese's, I love anything with a chocolate & peanut butter combination. These will include the Twix Peanut Butter bars and Oreo Peanut Butter Cakesters. This is the first time I bought these products and I love them! Good thing the store's very far away from our place. Otherwise I'd be there almost every week. haha!

Speaking of Oreo, I also like this! Good thing this is also available in groceries/supermarkets here. The cookies & cream combination is sooo perfect! I found this Oreo Brownies from the store and I love it! I'd buy one again the next time I go to the store.

Okay, now I'm hungry! S E L F - C O N T R O L.

FYI, this is not a sponsored post. It's all me!

Chocolate Mousse Cake

I was craving for the chocolate mousse cake from Red Ribbon, a bakery in the Philippines. Since there's no Red Ribbon here, I decided to try and make one myself - another baking challenge for me.

I found one recipe from Annie's Eats, called a Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake which she got from Cook's Illustrated. The cake is made of three layers - bottom layer is chocolate mousse cake or a flourless chocolate cake, middle layer is made of chocolate mousse, and the top layer is made of white chocolate mousse.

Red Ribbon's version is ALMOST the same with a slight difference - bottom layer is a plain chocolate cake, middle layer is chocolate mousse, and top layer is whipped cream.

I followed Annie's Eats recipe, except for the top layer. To make it more of Red Ribbon's version, instead of making white chocolate mousse for the top layer I just removed the white chocolate and just used whipped cream with a bit of gelatin. So I can't really say that this is a triple chocolate mousse cake because the top layer isn't made of chocolate. :D Check out Annie's Eats to see the recipe with the white chocolate mousse.

Hubby liked it! I love it! He even added some chocolate chips on top to make it more like Red Ribbon's.

The recipe below calls for a 9 inch (or 10 inch) springform pan. But since there were only two of us that will eat the whole cake, I cut the recipe in half and used my 6inch springform pan.

Chocolate Mousse Cake
adapted from Annie's Eats

Ingredients

For the bottom layer

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces (plus extra for greasing the pan)
7 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
¾ tsp. instant espresso powder
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

For the middle layer

2 tbsp. cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
5 tbsp. hot water
7 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1½ cups heavy cream
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
Pinch of salt

For the top layer

¾ tsp. powdered gelatin
1 tbsp. water
1½ cups heavy cream

Direction

To make the bottom layer, butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 325˚ F. Combine the butter, chocolate, and espresso powder in a large heatproof bowl set over simmering water. Stir occasionally until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the vanilla and egg yolks. Set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and salt on medium speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. Crumble half of the brown sugar into the mixing bowl with your fingers to remove any lumps. Beat until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Add the remaining brown sugar and continue to beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 1 minute more. Using a whisk, mix one-third of the beaten egg whites to the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining egg whites gently with a rubber spatula until no streaks remain. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake until the cake has risen, is firm around the edges and the center has just set but is still soft (center of cake will spring back after pressing gently with finger), about 14-18 minutes. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely, at least 1 hour. Do not remove the cake from the pan. (If not making the second layer right away, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to proceed.)
To make the second layer, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water in a small bowl; set aside. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Once melted, remove from the heat and let cool slightly, 2-5 minutes.
In the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream, sugar and salt on medium speed until the mixture begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when the whisk is lifted, 30-60 seconds. Whisk in the cocoa powder mixture until smooth. Using a whisk, mix one-third of the whipped cream to the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whipped cream gently with a rubber spatula until no streaks remain. Pour the mousse into the springform pan over the cooled cake and tap gently on the counter 3 times to remove air bubbles. Gently smooth the top with a spatula. Wipe the inside edge of the pan to remove any drips. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes while preparing the top layer.
To make the top layer, sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small bowl and let stand at least 5 minutes to soften. Bring ½ cup of the cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat, add the gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved. Let stand about 1 minute. Cool to room temperature, about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the remaining 1 cup of cream at medium speed until it begins to thicken. Increase the speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when the whisk is lifted, 30-60 seconds. Using a whisk, mix one-third of the whipped cream to the gelatin mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whipped cream gently with a rubber spatula until no streaks remain. Spoon the cream into the pan over the middle layer. Smooth the top with an offset spatula. Return the cake to the refrigerator and chill until set, at least 2½ hours.

Notes:

The flourless cake will really shrink and collapse when it cools. It shrank so much that it pulled away from the sides. Next time I'll try making a normal chocolate cake for the bottom layer. From the picture below that the bottom layer's sides were already covered by the chocolate mousse layer, because there was too much space when I poured the chocolate mousse to the cake.
The bottom layer was too bitter for our taste. I think it was because I used 70% dark chocolate, and on top of that I added too much espresso powder. I used the Starbucks Via for this. Will adjust this next time.

Movie Date Turned Dinner Date

Hubby and I were suppose to go out to watch a movie after work. But laziness struck... for both of us! So we just went out for dinner instead.

We went to Canteen, a British restaurant in Canary Wharf. It's my first time there, hubby's second.

I don't know about their other branches but their branch in Canary Wharf is oh so spacious! And easily located near office buildings.

Hubby ordered Canteen 'Full English' Breakfast