If you know me, you know that I love to bake and decorate cakes.  Because of this hobby I usually am left with odd pieces of cakes.  Most of the time I end up making cake balls with these pieces, but this time I wanted to try something different.  Since my mom doesn’t understand English, I feel safe saying this.  Once, a long long time ago, she made a beautiful cake.  As she was moving it from the kitchen table to the fridge, the cake just collapsed.  It was a mess.  She took all the pieces and just threw everything inside of a Tupperware container.  This was the BEST cake she ever made. It had no shape or form, but it was delicious. I made this dessert inspired by this memory.  We will never forget that cake mom.

You will need:

Left over cake pieces (for this particular one I had chocolate cake and yellow cake -cuts from the top )

For the cream:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

same measure of milk

100 ml of coconut milk (if you don’t like coconut milk, just substitute this with milk)

2 egg yolks

1 T corn startch (dissolved in a little bit of water)

In a sauce pan (medium high heat), add sweetened condensed milk, milk, coconut milk and yolks.  Mix it until bubbly. Then add the dissolved corn starch. Cook until this mixture thickens up.

Divide this into two.  In on the the creams add a hand full of chocolate chips, while cream still warm, mix it to melt.

In a container, layer the creams and cakes like this: white cream, chocolate cake pieces, chocolate cream and white cake pieces. Refrigerate while you make the top.

For the top cream:

2 egg whites

4 T sugar

1 can of table cream

In a mixer, beat the whites until fluffy adding the sugar slowly.  When you have soft to hard peaks, mix in gently the table cream.

Add this to the top of reserved dessert.  Refrigerate.  You can decorate the top with chocolate or fresh fruits.

I also found out that this is really good if you freeze it for a couple of hours before serving it.  I put mine in the freezer overnight, then took it out about 1 hour before serving. It was nice, cold and delicious! Enjoy!

Cake for dinner? I wish, but not today. A classic April Fool’s Day, meatloaf cake.

For the meat loaf recipe click here: Brazilian Meat Loaf

For the cake. I used an 8 inch cake pan. Arranged 2 pieces of bacon around it. Lining the bottom and sides of pan. Then pressed some of the ground beef (like a big hamburger patty) on the bottom and a thin layer to the sides.

Added the filling: ham, cheese, boiled egg and carrots.

Covered with another layer of ground beef (thin)

2nd Filling: Salami and Cheese

Another layer of ground beef

Filling: Ham, cheese, boiled egg and carrots

Finally the last layer of ground beef.

Bake at 375 for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When done I “frosted” it with mashed potatoes 😀

It was a fun dinner!

This is a Brasilian classic dish. You will always see a version of this pie during parties or get togethers.  It is simple and easy to make. I also like it because you can pretty much use wherever you want as a filling. For this one I used ham and cheese.

For the dough:

2 eggs

1/2 c oil

2 c milk

1 c flour

3 T corn starch

1/2 t salt

1/2 T baking powder

1 c parmesan cheese

Blend it all together.  Mix it with fillings and pour into a oiled 9×13 casserole dish. Bake until done, about 45 minutes.

For the filling I used:

1 lb cubed ham

1 lb cubed cheese

1 can peas

1 can corn

oregano

You can pretty much add anything you want to fill this pie. You can make a vegetable only with shredded carrots, onions, tomatoes, green onions. Another one that is very common is one with shredded chicken and cheese, or sardines and peas.  Those are combinations you will find in these “blender” pies in brasil.

1/2 c oil

3 eggs

1 t vanilla

5-6 rippen bananas (mashed)

1 1/2 c flour

1 1/2 c sugar

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t baking powder

1/4 c milk

In  a bowl add flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and baking powder- set aside

In your mixer add oil, eggs, vanilla and mashed banana. Mix well.  Add 1/3 cup of flour mixture and half of milk. Mix. Keep adding flour and milk until it is all done.

Pour into flouered pan. Bake at 350 for about 40-50 minutes.

This rice takes me back to my childhood.  To this day, it is one of the dishes my mom makes for me when we go visit.  I love the aroma of the needles when they are toasting and the combinations with the rice is really good.  Hope you like it.

1/2 cup of angel hair pasta (you want to break it into pieces)

1 c long grain white rice (you can substitute with other types of rice)

2 T minced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T vegetable oil (I also like to use olive oil)

1 1/2 t salt 4 cups water (about)

Crunch the angel hair pasta. This it something the kids love to help with!

In a sauce pan, sautee the onions and garlic with the oil. Add the pasta and let it cook a bit. You can tell when it’s done when it is a toasty, dark brown color.

Add the rice and salt.  Then pour water over rice mixture so the water level is 2 fingers higher than the rice (*do not stir the rice after adding the water)

Cook until rice is soft. About 20-25 minutes.  I like to serve it with chopped green onions on top. YUM

This fruit pie is very common in brasil.  I remember making this with passion fruit, strawberries, chocolate and  lemon cream.  The dough is basic and can be used for anything your imagination can create.   It is a thick, almost like a short bread cookie dough.  The fillings are creamy and delicious. For this strawberry pie I used 2 fillings. The first one is a lemony creamy filling and the second one (most common in brasil) is a sweetened condensed milk cream.  You can do both like I did, or just add one or the other.  It is delicious.  Enjoy!

For the dough:

2 1/4 c flour

1/4 c water

2 T butter

1 t baking powder

pinch of salt

1 egg

Mix everything together. I usually like to add the water last, that way i can control how much it needs.  Sometimes it won’t take all of the water.  This recipe will make enough for two 9 inch pie or one pie if you choose to cover it.  I like to make the dough, then let it rest in the refrigerator for a little while.  When ready cover the pie pan with half of the dough.  Prickle with a fork and bake it at 350 for about 15 minutes.  Let it cool, then add fillings.

For cream #1:

4 T sugar

2 yolks

2 T lime juice

1 T corn starch (dissolved in 1/2 c water)

In a sauce pan over medium heat, mix all ingredients until thick.  This will be a yellow, lemony taste cream.  Pour into prepared pie pan and refrigerate.

For cream #2:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can (same measure of the sweetened condensed milk) of milk

2 T corn starch (dissolved in 1/4 c water)

Mix milks together in a sauce pan, when warm add the dissolved corn starch. Cook, mixing it constantly until it thickens it up.  Add on top of first cream. Refrigerate.

For the strawberries:

Wash and slice strawberries.  Add 3-5 T of sugar on top. (Depending on the sweetness of the strawberries). Let it sit for about 1 hour.  Drain the liquid it forms into a sauce pan.  Reserve the strawberries to top your pie.  When cream is cold, pour strawberries on top.  With the reserved liquid, boil it until it thickens a little bit, then brush the top of the pie with this sauce.

This is a lemony loaf cake that would be great to serve for breakfast or dessert paired with fresh fruits and whipped cream. Yum

1/3 c sour cream

¼ c cream

1 ½ c flour

1 t baking powder

½ t salt

4 eggs

Zest of 1 lemon (big or 2 small)

1 ½ c sugar

4 T butter

Mix sour cream, cream and lemon juice- set aside

Mix flour and baking powder- set aside

Beat, salt, eggs, zest, sugar then add ½ of sour cream mix, ½
of flour mix, ½ of sour cream mix, melted butter and end on the last ½ of flour
mix.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or
until tooth pick comes out clean.

Pour half of following liquid on top of warm cake when out
of oven. Turn cake and drizzle the rest.

2 T sugar

3 T water

4 T lemon juice

½ c powder sugar

Warm the water and sugar until sugar dissolves.  Take off heat and add the rest of
ingredients.

* If you want to taste like limão (lime), just swtich lemon juice for lime juice. It works very well!

It has been a bit crazy around the house lately.  I am loving the new addition to the family, my little baby boy! He is a lot of fun.  My parents were visiting from Brasil, so you can just imagine all the cooking that went on.  Here is one of the recipes we made recently.  Hope you enjoy it!

Esfihas

1 c milk

1 egg

1/2 c oil

1 T sugar

1 t salt

1 T yeast (I used the instant dry yeast)

Flour until the dough is soft and stays together. (it was about 3-4 cups or so of flour. I just add until it forms a dough)

Mix it all together, then make small balls (or big ones depending on the size of esfihas you want)

Open the dough flat into a triangle.

Fill with the meat filling (recipe bellow) or any other filling you may like.

Close the dough into a triangle shape.

Brush with egg wash and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 F or until golden brown. This recipe will be around 40 small esfihas.

For the meat filling:

1 lb ground beef

salt

pepper

2 tomatoes (diced)

1 diced onion (diced very small, or you can shred it)

2 T ketchup or tomato paste

4 small potatoes (shred them using the cheese shredder)

drizzle oil

1-2 limes (drizzle juice on top)

Mix it all together and fill the bread with this mixture.

If you would like you can also make esfihas abertas (open esfihas). Follow the recipe until you turn them into balls, then open them into a circle, leaving the sides a little thicker.

Fill (meat, or cheese) and Bake.

YUM

This was a cheese filled one topped with a bit of fresh salsa!

Directions:

What to say about Brasilian hot dogs… they are amazing!  That is the word. Just a bit different than American hot dogs, but delicious just the same.  There are many places in Brasil where you find hot dog stands, and they all offer many options of toppings.  However there are 2 kinds that I really like and every time we go to Brasil they are a MUST.  One of them is a hotdog that has shredded chicken and mayo. This is pressed and served hot.  Delicious, but it will be a recipe for another day. Today I want to share the recipe for what they call Passaporte.  It was given to me by my sister and it is always a crowd favorite.

For Brasilian Passaporte Hot dogs you will need:

Corn (fresh or canned)

Peas

Diced tomatoes mixed with a little bit of mayo

Potato sticks (batata palha)

Parmesan Cheese

Ground beef (recipe at the end of the post)

Needless to say you will need a bigger hot dog bun.  I usually find the hoagie rolls work very well.  I find them at my local grocery store, or you could make your own buns.

Cook the hot dog (boil and then grill them) and assemble the meal!

Bun, grilled hot dog, corn, peas, ground beef, tomato mix, potato and Parmesan cheese.

You can serve mayo, ketchup and mustard on the side.  This is very good!  YUM

Ps: For the ground beef I usually fry about 1/4 of diced onion with 2 gloves of garlic in 2 T of oil. When translucent add about 1 lb of ground beef and cook.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I also like a bit of cut green onions on top. YUM