A New Idea for Mishloach Manot Stuffers – Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Balls

Chocolate covered cookie dough balls

Purim’s early this year, so I’m in a mad rush to organize my mishlochei manot and get going on my Purim baking. Last year, I posted lots of recipes that you can use to make some fun, home made goodies to add to your mishlochei manot – check out parts I, II and III (Oznei Haman)… But that’s not enough!! A few months ago, I made these really delish chocolate covered cookie dough balls. Now who doesn’t like cookie dough? Then cover them in chocolate, and what’s not to love?

This recipe ensures that the cookie dough is safe as it’s made without eggs. It can also easily be made parev so it’s a great little addition to your give-aways for the chag.

Chag Purim Sameach!

Ingredients

½ cup butter or margarine

1 cup packed brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons water

1¼ cups flour

1/3 cup parev chocolate chips

350 grams (12 ounces) parev dark/semi-sweet chocolate

How to do it

1. Using an electric mixer, beat margarine and brown sugar on high speed until properly creamed for about 5 minutes (to ensure that there are no gritty bits of sugar left)

2. Add vanilla, salt and water and mix till combined.

3. Add flour and mix till combined.

Dipping the chilled cookie dough balls into the melted chocolate

4. Fold in the chocolate chips by hand. Cover dough and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

5. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. With your (very clean) hands, roll the dough into balls that are about 2 cm/1 inch in diameter, and place them on the baking sheets. Freeze for at least 20 minutes.

6. Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler (bring about 5cm/2 inches of water to the boil in a medium-sized pot. In a smaller pot that can easily fit over the bottom pot, break up the chocolate and melt it over the simmering water, making sure that the top pot does touch the water below. Stir until all melted). Allow the melted chocolate to cool to nearly room temperature.

7. Dip the dough balls. Remove one tray of cookie dough balls from the freezer. One by one, drop each ball into the melted chocolate, using two forks, roll it in the chocolate until it’s completely covered. Remove the ball and place it back on the baking sheet. When you’ve done all the balls, put the tray back in the fridge and repeat the process with the second tray.

8. Chill for at least 20 minutes and store in refrigerator until your serve them or give them as a gift.

Very easy parev ice cream

Parev chocolate chip ice cream with grate chocolate garnish

Years ago, not long after I got married, my late mother arrived on a visit to Israel with a pile of yellow A4 pages on which she had hand written some of her favorite recipes. The truth is that not all her favorites were my favorites, but I kept them anyway. Some I used and referred to; others I ignored. Needless to say, after she passed away, these aging pieces of paper with my mother’s distinctive handwriting because priceless to me and even if I wasn’t going to use all the recipes, I certainly wasn’t planning on disposing of them.

So while I had resigned myself to the fact that some of these recipes weren’t every going to be made, one day not long ago I did take a quick glance at one that looked like, in spite of my initial misgiving, could be OK. It was a recipe for a parev coffee ice cream. I always remember the parev desserts of my childhood tasting like the parev cream they were made of, in other words, fake. In South Africa it was Orly Whip that gave parev desserts their artificial taste. Nevertheless, in need of a new parev dessert for my repertoire, I decided to give this one a go. Not only did it turn out well, but when I had finished serving dessert, the teenagers at my Shabbat dinner table grabbed the bowl and licked last remnants of the ice cream. Now that’s what I call success.

This recipe makes a large amount of ice cream, so I split the basic mixture in half and made one half with the coffee ingredients and the other half with grated dark chocolate. Both were wonderful, and the non-adults loved the chocolate chip version the best. You can also opt for just one flavor (if you’re having kids, go for the chocolate chip).

This can be made several days ahead of time and kept in the freezer.

PAREV COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM

Ingredients

500 ml (1 pint) non-dairy cream

1½ cups sugar

5 eggs separated

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons coffee liqueur

3 tablespoon instant coffee granules

50g (2 oz) grated dark or semi-sweet chocolate (parev)

How to do it

1. In a large bowl, beat the non-dairy cream until it’s stiff.

Instead of grating the chocolate, you can also use a large, sharp knife to roughly slice it

2. Add the egg yolks, vanilla and sugar and beat well.

3. Divide the mixture in two (if you decided to only make one flavor, then don’t divide the mixture, and double the quantities of the flavoring in step 4 below that you choose)

4. In one bowl, add the coffee liqueur and the coffee granules and mix well till combined. In the other bowl, add the grated chocolate and mix well.

5. In a mixer, beat the egg whites until they are very stiff. Fold into each of the flavors (half and half) until the whites are combined and you have a creamy consistency.

6. Pour each flavor into a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and freeze.

Parev dessert can be yummy – try trifle

Parev Trifle

Parev desserts are often the sticking point of  a Jewish hostess. After serving a gorgeous meat meal, there’s nothing more disappointing to you guests than a few dry parev yeast cakes to end the evening. A good meal deserves a fitting ending. Over the years, I have come up with quite a few parev desserts that taste really good and allow you to end the meal with a flourish.

One of my standby parev desserts takes me way back to my childhood. My late mother was well known for her trifle. We would often have dairy meals when guests came over as the fish in South Africa was so good that it rivaled the meat for taste. At the end those meals, my mother would often bring out her large trifle, topped with whipped cream, glace cherries and crushed Cadbury’s Flake chocolate. The decoration was always the same, and the desserts was always delicious, with it’s custard and jelly base with fruit and cake.

After making it a few times in Israel, using vanilla pudding instead of custard (you can get custard powder here, but it’s a pain to make), I developed a parev version. It’s so easy to make and looks great on the table. I always serve mine in a glass bowl on a long foot, and it never fails to elicit wolf whistles. This is a dessert that’s far more about assembly than baking, so it’s good for all kitchen skill levels. If there are lots of kids at the table, I leave out the alcohol, but if the average age is over 25, I merrily add sherry or sweet wine to the dessert for that extra kick. Another tip: Used bought cake – it’s not worth baking cake for this as after you’ve added all the liquids, no-one will taste the difference.

PAREV TRIFLE

Ingredients

1 Elite or Osem plain packaged cake – ugat habayit (I use marble, but you can use chocolate or a plain white cake if you can find it. Don’t use cakes with bits in them)

About ½ cup sweet sherry or dessert wine (enough to drizzle over all the pieces of cake)

1 packet strawberry jelly (80g/2.8 oz)

1 800g (28 oz) can mixed fruit cocktail drained

1 packet instant vanilla pudding (80g/2.8 oz)

400ml (13.5 fl oz) soy milk

250 ml (8.5 fl oz) non-dairy cream

Parev dark chocolate for decoration

How to do it

1. Cut the cake into 2cm/1 inch slices and lay at the bottom of a medium-sized glass bowl, trying not to leave any spaces between them.

2. Drizzle the sherry or dessert wine over each piece of cake evenly.

3. Pour the drained fruit cocktail over the cake pieces evenly (try to arrange the red fruits near the glass to make the desert look most colorful when it’s done)

A trifle too close

4. Prepare the jelly according to the directions on the packet. Pour over the fruit. Refrigerate until the jelly is set (about an hour)

5. Prepare the vanilla pudding according to the directions on the packet, using the soy milk instead of regular milk. Pour over the jelly. Refrigerate until the pudding is set (about half an hour)

6. Whip the cream and spread over the set vanilla pudding. Using the fine part of a grater, grate parev dark chocolate over the cream as decoration. You can also add other decorations to taste – if you have lots of kids, you can use gummy sweets to decorate as well.

7. Refrigerate until you serve.

Serves about 10-12.

Make your own ice cream sandwiches

Summer’s almost here, and it’s time to start making those fun summer desserts. Years ago I was watching “The Barefoot Contessa” and she made ice cream sandwiches from home-made chocolate white chocolate chip cookies. I loved the idea and quickly jotted down her cookie recipe and made them. The cookies and the sandwiches came out perfectly. I knew the kids would love them but I was amazed by how excited the grownups got when they saw the ice cream sandwiches coming out on a tray.

Who can resist a tray of ice cream sandwiches on a hot day?

These are great to serve after a BBQ, and can be easily made parev. The cookies themselves are delicious. You can also make a batch, forget the ice cream and just eat them as is, because they are really good.

I know that you can very easily buy a box of ice cream sandwiches in the supermarket, but the upgrade you get when you make your own isn’t something money can buy, so try these next time you’re looking for a fun, unique and tasty summer dessert.

CHOCOLATE COOKIE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

Ingredients

250g (9oz) butter or margarine softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 cups cocoa powder

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups white chocolate chips

1.3 liters (2.75 pints) vanilla and/or chocolate ice cream (you can also use other flavors that you like, but try to avoid flavors with chunks in them.)

How to do it

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F)

Leave space between the cookie dough blobs for the cookies to spread

2. In a mixer, cream the butter/margarine and the sugars until they are fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until they are combined. Add the vanilla. Slowly beat in all the dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Line cookie sheets with baking paper. Drop heaped teaspoons of cookie dough about 5 cm (2 inches) apart on the tray – try to be consistent with this quantity and the shape so the cookies are uniform in size. Bake for 15 minutes, turning the trays around in the oven mid-way if necessary. (I always find that with cookies, ovens are never sensitive enough and tend to be hotter in some areas, even with the turbo, so I always turn my trays around.)

Making the sandwiches

4. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for a few minutes on the tray before using a spatula to remove them from the trays and allow to cool on a wire rack. Keep going until all your batter is used up. Tip: To save paper, after I have baked one batch, I turn the baking paper over and use the other side. It works just fine because you don’t have to grease the paper and it doesn’t get soggy.

5. Once they are cooled, store the cookies in an air tight container, and place in the freezer when you are done for at least 4 hours. I try to pair up the cookies according to shape so they make even sized sandwiches.

Ice cream sandwiches ready to eat

6. Once the cookies are frozen, take out the ice cream and let it stand for a few minutes to very slightly soften up. Scoop about one large dessert spoon full of ice cream and spread it onto the flat side of a cookie. Take a second cookie, and place its flat side on top of the ice cream and squeeze the ice cream between the cookies so it reaches the edges. You can fill in some extra ice cream with a teaspoon if you haven’t used enough to fill the sandwich out to the sides. You can smooth the sides with a teaspoon, but don’t worry about making them too perfect – they will taste great no matter what!

7. Work quickly to make sure the ice cream doesn’t melt. After making 6-8 sandwiches, start storing them in the freezer so they don’t melt. If your ice cream starts to get too soft, put it back into the freezer for a while and continue making the sandwiches once the ice cream is no longer too soft. You can keep the sandwiches in the freezer, covered for 2-3 days.

Makes about 70 cookies/35 sandwiches.

Half a Century: Time for Something Special

According to the statistics that WordPress provides me with every time I post, this is my 50th blog post. Clearly I should probably get a life and get out more, but for now, I’m here, blogging away and trying to get as many fun kosher recipes up on my blog as I can.

Having reached this mini-milestone, I thought that I should post a recipe that constantly hits it out of the park. So it has to be a dessert, and the one dessert that keeps proving itself over and over is my cream puffs.

Many years ago I decided to overcome my fear of making choux pastry. There was always something intimidating about the step where it tells you to throw all the flour into the pot at once and the dough will form into a ball. In retrospect, I am not sure what was so daunting about this –  maybe the un-pronounced “x”?. When I finally plucked up the courage, I saw it was a lot easier than I imagined to make your own cream puff cases, and they taste a million times better than the bought ones. You can also have fun with fillings and add whatever tickles your fancy, including savory fillings.

Cream Puffs

Next step: I decided that it was time to try to slay the holy French cow of butter in pastries. Again, I had been intimidated by the prospect of replacing the butter in the pastry with margarine. But I went for it, and the cream puff cases turned out perfectly. As a result, this has turned into one of my favorite and most flexible desserts as it can be both dairy and parev. It also looks great on a plate and everyone loves them. They do involve a little effort as there are three steps to making them: The pastry, the filing and the chocolate topping, but none of these stages is particularly difficult so I urge you to try this and celebrate my 50th post with me.

CREAM PUFFS

Ingredients

1 cup water

½ cup butter/margarine

Pinch of salt

1 cup flour

4 eggs

Ingredients For Filling

1 packet instant vanilla pudding

400 ml (13 fl oz) whipping cream/non-dairy whipping cream (one and a half small containers)

Ingredients For Topping

150 g (5 oz) bitter sweet chocolate chopped

2 tablespoons butter/margarine

How to do it

Pastry

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F)

2. In a medium-sized saucepan, add the water, butter and salt and bring to the boil. Add the flour all at once and stir quickly until the mixture forms a ball. This will happen very quickly. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg is added. This will take a little muscle power and on the way the dough looks like it is separating, but keep going. By the last egg you will have a beautiful, smooth, unified dough.

3. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray and spray it with non-stick spray. Drop tablespoons of dough on the tray keeping about 3 cm (1 inch) between each. You should get about 16-18 out of one recipe. To make eclairs, place the dough into a piping bag with a round tip (about a 1 cm opening) and pipe 8 cm (3 inch) strips onto the sheet about 6 cm (2 inches) apart.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the puffs are golden brown. Allow to cool completely before filling them.

Slit the puffs toward the bottom for filling

5. For filling: With a sharp small knife, make small 2 cm (1 inch) slits in each puff (I do it towards the bottom) partially whip the cream till barely very soft peaks (do not whip it stiffly as the vanilla pudding will set the cream) Add the vanilla pudding powder and mix till all combined. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Place the vanilla cream in a piping bag into

Pipe the cream into the puffs

which you’ve inserted a medium sized nozzle. Pipe about 1 tablespoon of cream into each puff. For eclairs, split the puffs in half before filling.

6. For chocolate topping: Melt chocolate and butter/margarine over low heat in a small saucepan until melted. Remove from heat and spread about 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate over each puff.

A very sinful dessert inspired by my personal trainer

What I am about to write will sound ridiculous.

Once a week for the past few years I have been meeting with my personal trainer at my gym for a torturous workout. Needless to say, she’s in amazing shape, and I’m happy to say she’s not 18-years-old either (it’s would be rude to reveal her age, but suffice to say she probably also rocked to Duran Duran in her youth!).

While I puff and pant as she pushes me to lift heavier weights, our conversations most often turn to, of all things, recipes. Over the years we’ve swapped more than our fair share of recipes, and happily, hers don’t feature wheat germ or bean sprouts. In fact, she often comes up with great dessert ideas. The most recent was a real winner, and she instructed me to try it out and then post in on my blog. So in fear of a particularly painful workout this Friday morning, I am posting it as ordered.

Actually, I didn’t need the threat of grievous bodily harm to prompt me to share this recipe, as it’s terrific. It works for both parev and dairy. So far I’ve only made the parev version, and everyone loves it. It’s that perfect combination of peanut butter, chocolate and vanilla cream, and the twist is that the base is made out of  salted pretzels. When the salty meets the sweet, the result is blissful.

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CREAM CAKE

Ingredients 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cream Cake with Salted Pretzel Crust

2 cups of crushed salted pretzels (quantity after crushing)

½ cup smooth peanut butter

2 tablespoons butter/margarine

2 cups whipping cream/non-dairy cream

2 packets instant vanilla pudding

150g (5 oz) dark chocolate

¼ cup butter/margarine

¼ cup milk/non-dairy cream

How to do it

Crust

1. Finely crush the pretzels in a food processor (you won’t get them completely crushed, but get them as fine as you can)

2. Melt the butter/margarine, and microwave the peanut butter on medium for about 20 seconds, just until it loosens up (not longer otherwise it will split), add both to the pretzels and mix well.

3. Cover the bottom of a 26 cm (10 inch) spring form pan with baking paper and evenly spread the pretzel crust over the bottom (Tip: use the bottom of a measuring cup to get an even surface). Place in the fridge or freezer to set for about 10 minutes.

Vanilla Cream

4. Lightly whisk the cream until it just starts thickening (don’t beat otherwise the vanilla cream will become too hard once the pudding is added)

5. Add the vanilla pudding powder and mix well.

6. Spread over the crust and return to the fridge to set (at least an hour)

Chocolate Topping

7. Break the chocolate up into small pieces and place in a small saucepan with the ¼ cup butter/margarine and the ¼ cup milk/cream. Melt over low heat while stirring.

8. Evenly spread over the vanilla and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

Time for Something Sweet – Upside Down Lemon Meringue Cake

Almost an entire week has gone by without a dessert recipe. That’s not like me. Time to change that.

A loving close up

I adapted this recipe from “Gooey Desserts” by Elaine Corn, so all you “dessert in 10 minutes” people, avert your eyes! This one does take a little more effort than my one-bowl wonders. On the other hand, it’s one of those desserts for which you won’t need to dirty a Tupperware for storage afterwards, because there won’t be any left. When my friend Yossi tasted this dessert one Shabbat, he threw up his hands and yelled, “Geheinom!” (hell!). Oddly enough, this was one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received for a dessert, because he meant that it was so decadently delicious that he was destined for “geheinom” after eating it (at least that’s what he claimed).

This works really well as a parev dessert, and it’s light and tart, with that perfect combo of lemon curd and meringue, so it goes down really well after a heavy meat meal. But I can’t imagine that anyone would complain about eating this after a light meal either. It’s “upside down” because it doesn’t have a pie crust, and the meringue is on the bottom instead.

UPSIDE DOWN LEMON MERINGUE CAKE

Meringue

Ingredients

5 egg whites (save the yolks for the filling)

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make the meringue 

The baked meringue

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150ºC (300ºF)

2. Line a large over tray with baking paper and grease it well.

3. Beat the egg whites, baking powder and lemon juice until you reach the stiff peak stage

4. Add the sugar and beat to stiff peak stage again and fold in the vanilla.

5. Spread the meringue into the oven tray evenly

6. Bake for 1 hour or until the meringue is crisp. Cool the meringue completely before filling.

Lemon Filling

Ingredients

6 egg yolks

Whisk the egg yolks in a double boiler or saucepan over a pot of boiling water

¾ cups sugar

Finely grated zest of one lemon

2/3 cups fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

How to make the lemon filling

1. With a whisk, on top of a double boiler with rapidly boiling water, whisk the yolks, sugar and zest until it thickens (I don’t have a double boiler, and instead I use a saucepan with a long handle over a pot of water – make sure it’s a snug fit so it’s easy to rest the saucepan on the sides of the pot without it touching the water)

2. Add the lemon juice and carry on mixing, until it cooks and thickens. This will take about 10 minutes, so clear your schedule. Note: It’s really important to keep mixing so you don’t get lumps.

Cover the cooked lemon filling in plastic wrap and cool

3. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap so the wrap comes into contact with the entire surface of the lemon mixture (to prevent a skin from forming) and cool.

Cream

Ingredients

2 cups of cream or non-dairy cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar (omit the powdered sugar for non-dairy cream, which is already sweetened)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make the cream

 Whip all the ingredients together until you reach the stiff peak stage.

Assembling the dessert 

With lemon filling atop a third of the whipped cream...nearly done

1. Placed the cooled meringue on a large tray or serving dish. You can turn it over and peel off the paper. I just trim the paper from the bottom of the meringue and leave it upside up as I prefer to have the top part of the baked meringue exposed.

2. Spread about one third of the whipped cream over the bottom of the meringue.

3. Give the lemon filling a mix to soften it up again, and spread it over the cream, trying as best as you can not to mix it with the cream

4. Put the rest of the cream into a piping bag with a large nozzle and pipe it onto the top of the lemon in any pattern you like. If you don’t want to patchke, you can spread the cream on top, being careful not to mix it into the lemon.

You can decorate with fresh fruit if you choose to.

The Final Product: Upside - Down Lemon Meringue Cake

Quickest (parev) cake ever

I keep hearing my friend Sara in the back of my mind saying “post recipes using less than two pots, less than 15 minutes of prep…” Seeing as I have yet to post a dessert recipe this week, and at the same time I am haunted by Sara’s request for quick recipes, I think it’s time for the ultimate in very quick, very easy, very parev and most importantly, very delicious cakes.

This is a recipe that oddly enough comes from a book filled with the most complicated dessert recipes that use millions of eggs and tons of butter and even reading them makes your arteries feel clogged. In the midst of these insane recipes is this gem. Here are its advantages: It really does take about 5 minutes to prepare and then 20-25 minutes to bake, so in a total of 30 minutes you have a baked cake; its parev; it doesn’t require eggs; you don’t need to use an electric mixer; it comes out really moist; and did I mention it takes no time to prepare?

These quantities are for a medium-size cake, but I have doubled and even tripled this depending on the need – a birthday cake for the whole class needs a triple recipe.

QUICKEST PAREV CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER 

Cupcakes made from this mixture

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1½ cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

⅓ cup oil

1 tablespoon vinegar (yes indeed!)

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

1 cup cold water

How to do it

1. Preheat oven to 180°c, grease a 24 cm dish

2. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl (no mixer required)

3. Add all liquids and mix together till combined

4. Pour into prepared dish or you can make them as cupcakes.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or for cupcakes, bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

You can top this cake with a chocolate glaze – 150g parev chocolate melted into 100ml non-diary cream.

As a cupcake and decorated with cream cheese frosting (dairy), but you can substitute the cream cheese with whipped non-dairy cream and add powdered sugar until you have a spreading or piping consistency, and hey presto!

For the Holy Grail of Parev Desserts try my Carrot Cake

For any kosher cook, one of the greatest challenges must be parev (non-dairy) desserts. Replacing the joys of butter, cream, buttermilk and all those other dairy ingredients that make for the creamiest and dreamiest of desserts hurts the purists among us. But it doesn’t have to be so.

Carrot cake with parev lemon glaze

I have tried out and tested many parev dessserts. Some of them leave with a taste of chemicals in your mouth, while others are simply delicious. Of course I find that the best parev desserts are those that don’t require any substitutes for dairy ingredients. Here’s my old favorite non-dairy cake that everyone loves – carrot cake. I think I have written out and sent this recipe hundreds of times, because whoever tastes it, wants to make it.

CARROT CAKE

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups finely grated carrots

1 cup cooking oil

4 eggs

How to do it

Preheat your oven to 180ºC (350ºF)

Grease one large baking pan 32x22x10cm (13x9x2 inch) pan (I use the large disposable aluminium pans), or two 22 cm (9-inch) round baking pans. Tip: Line the pan with baking paper and spray with non-stick spray – it comes out cleanly every time.

Finely shred the carrots in a food processor (make sure you use the finest grater, otherwise the carrots will sink to the bottom of the cake – yuck!)

Mix ALL ingredients together in a mixer until combined. Pour into the greased pans and bake for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to rest for about 10 minutes and then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.

You can serve this without a topping or you can add a lemon glaze topping of the juice of half a lemon mixed with powdered sugar, until you get a spreading consistency (it shouldn’t be too runny or it will run off the cake)

Another parev topping option is to beat one container or non-dairy cream until it forms soft peaks. Then add powdered sugar until you achieve spreading consistency.

If you are having a dairy meal or aren’t baking this to serve after a meat meal, you can add Cream Cheese Frosting, which is the perfect complement to this cake.

Here’s the recipe for the frosting for the one layer cake:

Cream Cheese Frosting (Dairy)

Mix together in a bowl 2 tablespoons of soft butter, 100 grams of 30% fat cream cheese (Napoleon) and a few drops of vanilla. When it is smooth, slowly start adding powdered sugar and mix until you get a good spreading consistency (the mixture should not fall off the spoon). This will be about 300 grams of powdered sugar. Spread onto the cooled cake. For the double layer cake, double the recipe  so that you will have enough to spread in the middle and up the sides.

Note: You can make this recipe into cupcakes as well. Very yummy with the frosting!