Instructions: For the Italian Sponge Cake: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F/190 degrees C. Butter and flour two 8 or 9-inch cake pans. Set aside.
Place egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until lemon colored. Add flour, a little at a time, blending it in well. Add vanilla and lemon rind (if using it).
Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and fold into cake mixture.
Pour cake batter into prepared pans and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cakes from oven and turn out of pans onto wire racks to cool completely.
Note: Cakes can be tightly wrapped and refrigerated overnight, or frozen (up to 3 weeks) for future use.
For the Italian Pastry Cream: Place sugar, egg yolks, flour, lemon rind (if using), and vanilla in a saucepan and mix together well.
In a separate saucepan, scald milk. Very slowly pour milk over egg yolk mixture, in a thin stream, beating constantly with rotary beater. Continue cooking on low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until mixture reaches the boiling point. Cook 4 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat, add butter and mix well. Pour into bowl and let cool, stir occasionally to prevent skin from forming over the top.
If using as a filling, chill (with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming) until very thick (about 3-4 hours).
For the Chocolate Pastry Cream: Place sugar, egg yolks flour, and vanilla in a saucepan and mix together well.
In a separate saucepan, scald milk. Very slowly pour milk over egg yolk mixture, in a thin stream, beating constantly with rotary beater. Continue cooking on low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until mixture reaches the boiling point. Cook 4 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Add chocolate and while stirring, cook 1 minute longer. Remove pan from heat, add butter and mix well. Pour into bowl and let cool, stir occasionally to prevent skin from forming over the top.
If using as a filling, chill (with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming) until very thick (about 3-4 hours).
For the Rum Syrup: Note: If you prefer not to use rum syrup, you may sprinkle/brush cake layers with 1/3 cup rum which has been diluted with 1/4 cup water.
Mix together the water, sugar, and rum in a small pot. Bring to a boil, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool before using.
For the Stabilized Whipped Cream-Corn Syrup Method:
In a large chilled bowl, with chilled beaters, beat cold cream until it just starts to thicken. Add corn syrup and vanilla from the side of the bowl, and beat until stiff peaks form.
For the Stabilized Whipped Cream-Gelatin Method:
Prepare Gelatin: Soak plain gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes. Dissolve by placing it in a container over a small pot of simmering water, stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool before using.
In a large well chilled bowl, with well chilled beaters, beat cream with electric mixer. Just before it becomes soft and billowy, slowly add the sugar and vanilla to the whipped cream at the sides of the bowl, continue to whip as you do. Whip the cream until barely stiff.
Add melted and cooled gelatin all at once to cream during whipping. Stop whipping when cream forms soft peaks. Finish beating with whisk to adjust consistency to stiff peaks.
Use or serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until needed.
If peaks have softened during refrigeration, re-whip by hand using a whisk.
If men actually read our profiles they would save themselves a lot of time and wasted energy. Most of my first emails include a personal email address and phone number. If they read my profile it clearly states I will not answer emails with the statements to email them personally , cause they are hardly on CS site.... which is absurd, cause you can see when they've been online......duh, so basically it is their own fault for not reading profiles to begin with.
I also replied to most emails, but the responses back were crazy and ridiculous that I completely stopped answering.
So, the best response is no response = NO THANKS!!
Don't give up yet, come and hang out in the forums, some really nice people here. I've been here a little over 2 years, and I've come to the conclusion that when you least expect it to happen it will happen in it's own time.
Until than, read and respond here in the forums. That's the reason why I've stayed here so long.
Relax and have fun and enjoy all the banter here. Cause, it sure gets really interesting.
Yes, it is hard for all of us to find that one special person to be in love with forever. We are all hoping to find that person to be a friend/lover/partner to be in a committed relationship.
We just have to keep trying, looking and when we least expect it that person appears, sometimes it may take awhile by I believe we all have a soul mate out there somewhere.
Just be positive and it will happen sooner or later.
It is hard, but in the end when we do find that special person it will definitely be worth the long wait.
Everyone needs someone to love. Be patient and it will happen.
Yes, I believe technology is slowly killing eye contact.
I've had people contact me through CS who only want to have conversations via facebook or texting. That, unfortunately is very sad, cause that does not help you get to know the other person.
So, I will refuse contact with said person, if that is how they wish to get to know each other.
Anyway, it should go back to the old fashioned ways of talking on the phone, versus messages through facebook etc. JMO
1April Forum Posts (471)
RE: Pick a Dessert