Chocolate frosting, versions 2 and 3

I made a nice chocolate frosting for my Osterlamm (lamb-shaped German Easter cake) a couple of years back, but didn't write it down and didn't remember it well. This week, I wrote a frosting recipe down, but it didn't work. Here's the failed recipe and the way I fixed it.

Chocolate Frosting, version 2

1 stick unsalted butter
1 package semisweet chocolate chips
about 1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Melt butter over medium heat. Turn off heat and whisk in small batches of chocolate chips until they melt. Whisk in cocoa and powdered sugar. Cool in separate container.

I should add to these instructions "do not put the bowl of frosting in refrigerator" because when I went to look at it the next morning, I had a large, solid truffle instead.

How to rescue it to frost a cake before taking it to a party later that day? Break the truffle into pieces and whisk in 3/4 cup hot milk (in my case, I used almond milk). This turns the truffle back into something more like fudge sauce. Whisk in a bit more cocoa powder to stiffen it up a little more and cool to room temperature for frosting. The end result is a cake covered in ganache, which is kind of like turning the Osterlamm into the best-tasting chocolate bunny ever.

Once again, if stored in the refrigerator, this will turn solid again (although much softer with the liquid milk in it). It needs to come back to room temp again to be at all spreadable. Warmer than room temp would be easier to frost with. I just ended up putting slightly warmed "version 3" in big globs on chunks of leftover cake yesterday. A chocoholic's dream.

Next time, I'm using cream for a proper ganache frosting, or I'm making chocolate buttercream. None of this fence-sitting butter-ganache, delicious and decadent as it may be.

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Smoothie #8

Green, green and more green. With little tart black specks from kiwi seeds. Sweet-tart and tastes like it must be healthy.

3 kiwis, peeled
a few sprigs of parsley
1 honeydew melon, peeled, seeded and cut into small chunks

Put kiwis and parsley in a 1.25 Liter/5 cup blender. Fill as far as possible with melon chunks. Some may be left over. Blend until smooth.

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Smoothie #7

A sweet and tangy combination my husband put together for breakfast today. We both thought it could stand to taste a little more like kiwi, so next time we'd probably add two kiwis.

1 kiwifruit, peeled
1 banana
12 frozen dark sweet cherries
equal amounts of cranberry-pomegranate juice and unsweetened almond milk, to taste

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth and pourable. Dairy milk or unsweetened soy/rice milk could be substituted.

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Bacon that is not bacon

For the math department potluck held at our place on April Fool's Day, it seemed appropriate to make a joke dish. I took my inspiration for "the bacon that isn't bacon" from hundreds of years ago.

Diners of the Middle Ages were amused by illusion foods, foods that pretended to be other things. I made a simple marzipan recipe a couple of years ago, based on a couple of pre-1600 recipes I'd found, that resulted in a paste that could be colored and molded into fun shapes. The reason for creating the recipe was to make marzipan look like bacon. Here's how it works:

Marzipan Bacon
Take equal weights almond flour (ground blanched almonds with no brown bits from nut skins) and powdered sugar and whisk together. Make two batches of the same mixture. A little goes a long way here. I made two batches, using 25 grams of almond flour and 25 grams of powdered sugar each, to make enough for a potluck of 20 people.

With one batch, moisten lightly with water and food coloring. For red, a historically appropriate coloring is powdered saunders. I've also had good luck with cranberry juice reduced until it is syrupy (not historically accurate for pre-1600 Europe). If a rose flavor is desired, add a few drops of rosewater. To the other batch, just add water with or without rosewater. Stir and knead until the marzipan and coloring/water are thoroughly mixed, adding more almond/sugar mix or water if needed to get a claylike texture.

For best results, chill the almond paste wrapped tightly in plastic, then shape after 3 to 5 hours or the next day. Simply resting the paste in a cool place (not the refrigerator) would be more historically accurate. Divide the red paste into two or three parts, and the white paste into three or five parts. Roll out each part into a small rectangle, making all the rectangles the same width and length. Thicknesses will vary, which is fine. Layer the rectangles: start with white, lay red on top, then white, red, white, red, white. Cut off the short ends of the rectangles, then start slicing the marzipan into strips. Take each strip and roll it gently with the rolling pin to stretch it out and smooth it. Now you have bacon!

Keep covered in plastic and chilled for best texture if you have to wait before serving.

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