You are stuck in my heart..Like counting a million stars...For that many reasons you are..
It seems like it was just yesterday when we met...our eyes met and we smiled at each other.
"Do you work for HSBC?" ..who knew this question would alter the course of my life...our lives!
Across the seven seas, in a foreign land..two stangers joined by fate.
We chatted at length over a cup of hot milk and biscotti, late into the evening. It seemed as if we knew each other already; He has his amazing ways to entwine fates of two souls...and I will forever be indebted to Him for blessing me with You.
Acquaintance made way for fondness and it turned into friendship and God knows when it grew into LOVE. I knew you were special and that I longed to be with you...share your exclusive companionship. Yet, when you asked me to share with you my life...I was overwhelmed. I'm glad we met and things happened the way they did. I wouldn't want a thing to be changed, except ofcourse, the wish that I had met you even earlier ...to have been able to be with you longer...(just not satiable..lol).
That is the story of how my hubby and I met for the first time. 17th Nov. 2006 in Florida, U.S.
Its 2 years since then. I love him more than ever...! A truly amazing man...someone up above is really happy with me...I know I am blessed!
Time to celebrate this milestone in our lives. So I did what I had never done before...Baked a Black Forest (strawberry) Cake.
I love baking, but I am a little too scared to try anything other than muffins,loaves,whole sponge cakes. I don't really slice a cake or add the frosting or do any kind of frills on it...scared to spoil the cake. But this occassion called for something special and my husband's favourite cake/gateau. I had to overcome my fears.....So I did a lot of reasearch and finally made it.
Heres' my recipe-
Black Forest Cake/Gateau
Ingredients-
For the chocolate sponge cake--
2 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon juice
For the syrup--
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tsp rum flavouring
For the strawberries--
(generally cherries are the norm...but hubby likes strawberries so the change!)
1 cup chopped strawberries
2 tbsp sugar (add more if strawberries are tart)
2 tbsp water
For the frosting--
whipped cream (for the inner layers of the gateau/cake)
chocolate ganache (for the outer coating)--1 cup bitter sweet chocolate chunks melted with half cup icing sugar and 1 tbsp butter
Method-
For sponge cake--
First seive the flour, salt, corn starch,cocoa three times.
In a bowl separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the yolks with the sugar ,butter and essence till soft and fluffy.
Whisk the egg whites with the lemon juice,till frothy (about 4 mins.).
Now to the yolks add slowly the beaten egg whites and mix slowly, so as no air escapes.
Finally add the dry ingredients to this mix. Fold in slowly,in movement of forming the digit 8, so that all the air remains trapped.
Bake in a microwave on high for 6 minutes.
(For a conventional oven, it should be around 15-16 mins at 375 degrees F.)
Once done (after the toothpick test). Cool and slice the sponge in 2-3 layers.
On medium flame, heat the water and sugar till dissolved. Remove from heat, add the rum flavoring.
On medium flame, in a different pan, cook the strawberries in sugar syrup. Cool.
For the assembling--
Place a slice of the sponge on serving plate. Pour out part syrup on the face-up side of the sponge cake. Now add the whipped cream. (I used store bought..Pillsbury.) Top it up with the strawberries.
Place another sponge slice on top of this. Repeat the process of layering with syrup, cream and strawberries.
Finally add the last sponge slice.
Now, coat the entire cake with the chocolate ganache with an offset spatula. Decorate as desired.
( I do not own an offset spatula, so I just used a butter knife, the result wasn't pro-shop like, but the taste was!)
Chill before serving.
The sponge was soft and fluffy soaked in the rum syrup and the whipped cream made it melt in the mouth. Strawberries were as usual ...yummmmm.
