A delicious soaked “tres leches” with a red velvet cake base… Apt for any celebration or party…
I know I have been taking long breaks in between, but isn’t that what vacations are meant to be? 😉 Having a blog is a lot of work as well, and takes up a lot of time and energy. With the way days are going, it has been a bit time cranked and I have just let it be. I can’t stress myself too much to be feeding my blog when there is enough content for it to be working on. 🙂 We have had a really busy time. We did a five day trip to Niagra and New York with a couple of families and it was fantastic.
The first day, July 7 – apparently was World Chocolate Day, was aptly started with a visit to the Hersheys Chocolate World in Pennsylvania. It was a very interesting visit and the amount of chocolate there – oh wow! This was then followed by a whole blissful drive towards the US-Canada border. It was just stretches of farms and single homes for a long distance and it looked very peaceful to the eye, even though at times we did wonder how much they would be affected by loneliness. I attribute that thought to the life in Dubai, which is filled with people at every corner. Hehe… We had a night view of the Niagra Falls, got drenched heavily in some rain before we retreated into our hotel room for the day.
We spent the next day completely at Niagra. We walked all around, took the boat ride which was completely amazing, but we couldn’t take the steps down to the waterfall due to heavy rains. I can’t even explain how the whole sight felt like. Our legs were totally tired with all the walk, but the gushing waters, the greenery and all about that gigantic waterfall was a lot to take in. The next day, we head towards New Jersey for our next stop. It was a more relaxed day, with a delicious lunch at a friend’s place.
The fourth day was dedicated to a whirlwind tour of New York. We took the Big Bus and went all around seeing the Times Square, Manhattan, Brooklyn and the surrounding areas. After lunch, we went for a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. The walk was long and hot, but truly breathtaking. We then went for a stride around the World Trade Center and surrounding areas, which was unfortunately cordoned off, so we could only view it from far. We then experienced a metro ride, before we went to The Edge for a fantastic on-the-top view of the New York City, in daylight as well as after sunset. Even though our day ended, we got lost in the gigantic city and it took us more than an hour, with all the tired kids, to get to the bus stand. It was frustrating that day, but when we think of it right now, it feels funny. Hehe… The last day of our trip was dedicated to the Statue of Liberty and then a drive back home.
The main reason we took that whirlwind trip was because HD’s stay was quickly coming to an end. He left last Thursday. He did enjoy his stay over here, and totally loved how slow life is around. More than that, it has to do with not having to go thorugh the unbearable UAE heat. He is now back and already bickering about it, while I thank Allah for an extended stay over here. I have been trying to drive around and so far, it feels like driving back in the UAE, but with much lesser traffic.
I am particularly excited to see how Eid will be here. Apart from last year, a few years before we have been spenting it with my parents back home. The good thing is that the area where my sister stays has a decent Muslim community and a masjid close by that has all sorts of activities. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to go there till now and I am really hoping to go there for Eid prayers. In a country like the US where most of the families are on their own, it is so heart warming to say that everyone has friends that are like family. I have been fortunate to meet up with five of my sister’s friends and their families and they are all very warm people. They meet up very often so that the kids play, the women and men chat up of their various interests, have potlucks and just have some good time. Alhamdulillah, for such joys…
This year, as well, Hajj has very limited participants, since Covid is still very much in between us. Yes, it is way better than how it was last year, but still access from all countries are still restricted. Things back home are also getting better, though we keep telling my parents and close relatives not to interact too much with anyone who is outside of our relative zone, for our own safety and theirs. We can only hope that everyone has a safe Eid. We are all aware of the importance of this Eid – how important Ibrahim (AS) was to Allah, that He called him His Khaleel. I am not going to dwell around it, but this is the time when we need to ponder over the lessons and significance of the incidents and its relation to all the rituals done during Hajj and Umrah.
Since many of them get involved in the wudhiyat, we all tend to cook a lot of meat recipes during Eid. You can refer to all the meat recipes that are already on the blog for some ideas. Since we are here, my sister is planning to stick to our usual Eid breakfast of chicken cutlet and ela ada. We have thought of making Kunafa as the dessert and are still trying to finalize what to cook for lunch. Hope to have a relaxed Eid, InShaAllah. If you are already looking for some dessert ideas, here are some that you can try:
The regular Tres Leches – a good make-ahead dessert to impress a crowd
Serradura – if you want a really lazy dessert
Biscoff Cheesecake Tiramisu – the best of two worlds!
Easy Trifle – for a club pudding feel…
Broken Jelly Pudding – colorful and delicious…
These are just a few that I get from my head, but there are many more ideas already on the blog. Or maybe, you can try this one that I am going to post…
I had initially decided to post this recipe last Eid but the Kunafa took over and this was sidelined. I loved this recipe so much that I really wanted to wait for a special occasion, and what better than Eid? I already have a few milk cake recipes, like pistachio, saffron and rose, and this one is another addition to it. Red velvet is always considered a distant cousin of chocolate cake, for people who are really not into too much of chocolate. The last time I loved the red velvet was when I made an ice cream cake of it. This time, with a high influence of Shabina’s recipe, I really wanted to try it. Just like every milk cakes, the base is a red velvet cake, usually an oil based one to ensure that it soaks as much as liquid as possible. The topping is a cheese included whipping cream, since red velvet and cream cheese frosting are best friends. I didn’t want to use the regular milk mixture and hence decided to use some melted white chocolate into the milk mixture. It added a beautiful dimension of sweetness against the slight saltiness of the frosting.
The recipe is quite simple, except with the requirement of red food coloring, wihch is easy to procure from your nearby grocery store. Maybe a bar of white chocolate too… Just include them into your grocery list and make this dessert to impress your guests, if you plan to have any, or maybe just to treat yourself. A small portion goes a long way. The time I made it, it stayed in our fridge for two days, since it was quite a rich treat and it isn’t possible to eat more than a fixed quantity. Before moving to the recipe, here’s wishing all my beautiful readers a lovely Eid. I hope I can come back sooner to do a post than the way I did now… 😉
Red Velvet Milk Cake | Red Velvet Tres Leches
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 30 ml red food coloring bottle
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tsp baking soda
FOR POURING MILK
- 50 gm white chocolate melted
- 400 ml evaporated milk one can
- 1/2 can condensed milk
- 1/4 cup milk
FOR FROSTING
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1/4 cup cream cheese
- 1/4 cup icing sugar
- 50 gm white chocolate melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line an 8 inch baking pan.
- Whisk the eggs with sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the oil, vanilla and red color and beat till incorporated.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into the mixture.
- In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar and soda and allow it to froth. Immediately add into the mixing bowl and beat until just incorporated - do not overmix!
- Pour immediately into pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or till skewer comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
- For making the milk, whisk or blend together all the ingredients. Set in fridge till time of use.
- When the cake is completely cooled, trim the sides and transfer into a bigger plate. Reserve the sides for decorating.
- Poke holes using a fork. Pour around half the milk over the cake. Allow it to rest in the fridge for two hours.
- To make the frosting, whip cream till soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and whip till done. Refrigerate till use.
- Before serving, pipe out the frosting on top of the cake. Pour some more cream over it. Crumble the reserved cake and sprinkle on the top.
- Serve cold with a drizzling of the remaining milk.
Notes
Thanks For Sharing this Amazing Recipe. My Family Loved It. I will be sharing this Recipe with my Friends. Hope They will like it.
Thank you so much for trying and sharing your feedback! 🙂
Is the 180 degrees Fahrenheit? Plan to make this today and just noticed the temperature — seems low.
This is in celcius,so in Fahrenheit it would be 350.