My Ideal Birthday “Cake” (is Meatloaf!)

A savory dish made with ground meat, my ideal birthday cake is meatloaf! This one is filled with curried carrots and covered with buttery cream potatoes. Happy Easter to all who celebrate and an early Happy April Fool's Day to all!

We all love a good prank for April Fool’s Day but I can’t remember the last time I actually pulled one. Probably when our girls still lived at home and that’s was a very long time ago – COVID days excepted. 

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you probably know that I’m not much of a sweet eater so when our Sunday FunDay host for this week challenged us to make a dish that looked like something else for April Fool’s Day, I knew I’d make a savory dish. 

I also wanted to make a fun recipe that we could actually enjoy for a main course. I created this meatloaf recipe to fit the bill. Doesn’t it look like cake?!!!

My Ideal Birthday Cake is Meatloaf

I used two 6-in or 15cm round “smash” cake pans to bake the meatloaf layers. A tradition that started well after my two girls had turned one, smash cakes are little cakes baked so the birthday baby can put her whole face in. I presume there’s another cake for the rest of the guests at the birthday party.

Ingredients

For the “cake” layers:

2 slices sandwich bread (brown or white)

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion

1 lb or 450g ground beef

1/2 lb or 225g ground pork

2 eggs

1/4 cup or 60ml ketchup

2 teaspoons dry mustard powder (like Colman’s)

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the cream potato “frosting”:

4 medium Russet potatoes (weight peeled: about 1 lb 6 oz or 625g)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt to boil, plus extra after mashing, if needed

1/2 cup or 120ml whipping or heavy cream

1/4 cup or 57g butter

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

For the savory carrot filling: 

3 medium carrots (weight peeled: about 7 3/4 oz or 215g)

1/4 medium onion

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon salt  

For decorating:

1 teaspoon paprika

Large piping tip

Piping bag

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Cut the bread into small squares and pour the milk over it in a small bowl, pushing the pieces down into the milk. Soak until all the milk is absorbed.

Mince your onion finely. I usually use a small food processor for this to make sure there are no big bits because no one wants to bite into a big bit of onion.

In a large bowl, add your onion, ground beef, ground pork, eggs, ketchup, mustard powder and salt. Mash the soggy bread with a fork till it falls apart and then add it to the large bowl with all of the other ingredients.  Mix well.

Divide the mixture in half and press it into the smash cake pans. My whole mixture weighed 1062g so each pan holds 531g.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the meatloaf is browned nicely and cooked through to a safe internal temperature of 160°F or 71°C.

While your layers are baking, make the filling and "frosting." Peel your potatoes and cut them into chunks. Boil them until tender with the teaspoon of salt. 

Warm the cream and butter together till the butter is just melted. I do this in a microwaveable vessel, with quick zaps, watching carefully so it doesn’t boil over. 

Drain the potatoes and mash them right away. I find they mash with fewer lumps while still hot. Add in the melted butter/cream and the white pepper. 

Stir well till combined. Taste and add more salt if needed. 

Peel and cut the carrots into chunks. Finely mince the onion (or use a processor) for the filling. 

Boil the carrots until very tender then drain and mash them right away. 

Transfer the carrots to a heat -proof bowl and melt the butter in the pot you used to boil them. Sauté the curry powder and chopped onions in the butter until the onions are translucent and very soft. 

Add the carrots back into the pot with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and mix well. Set aside.

When they are done, remove the meatloaf layers from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Run a silicone spatula around the edge to loosen. Carefully remove them to plates.

Top one meatloaf layer with the carrot filling. 

Carefully put the second meatloaf layer on top. 

Cover the “cake” with the cream potatoes. 

You should have plenty left over so don't be shy.

Add the paprika to 3/4 cup or 170g of the cream potatoes and mix well.

Fit a large tip on your piping bag and use a spatula to add the paprika potato down the insides of the bag in stripes. Spoon the rest of the cream potatoes in the middle of the piping bag. Decorate the “cake” by piping on little rosettes or stars.

I did a row around the bottom, then a row around the top. And because more is more, I piped rosettes to cover the top. You do you. 

(You will probably have potato leftover at the end unless you choose to cover the whole cake with rosettes. Eat it as is or follow these instructions to make baked Marquis potatoes with the rest. 

I must confess that by the time I finished assembling the “cake” it was closer to room temperature than hot so we sliced it up and warmed it by the slice in the microwave. Delicious! 

If you make one to trick your family, I’d love to hear about it!

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and, as mentioned above, we are sharing April Fool’s Day recipes. Many thanks to our host, Camilla from Culinary Cam. Check out all the illusion recipes below:

• April Fools Calzone Donut by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• April Fools' Day Chicken Nuggets & French Fries by Sneha's Recipe
• Big Ice Cream Taco by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Grogu's Frog Egg Dessert by Palatable Pastime
• Hot Beef Sundae by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• My Ideal Birthday "Cake" by Food Lust People Love
• Potted Plant Cremeux by Culinary Cam

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Grape Juice Jigglers

Grape juice jigglers are a healthy treat your children will love, made with vegetarian gelatin and naturally sweet grape juice. Maybe make some for Easter? 

When my girls were growing up, I was a bake-from-scratch-type mom, but the two exceptions to that were boxed chewy brownie mix and Jello®. I guess I have to include Jello® pudding in that category as well. I had to help with brownies and Jello® because of the hot oven and the boiling water but instant pudding was sooo easy that my girls could make it by themselves from when they were very little. Cold milk, whisk in the powder. Done! How did it thicken? It was like a creamy sweet miracle. 

I don’t know who the genius behind jigglers was but I put him or her right up there with the marketing person who first thought of “lather, rinse, repeat” on shampoo bottle labels. After all, jigglers get you to use two boxes of that powdered, sweetened gelatin to make the same size pan and it’s probably eaten just as quickly. Or maybe even more quickly since jigglers of all flavors are kid favorites. A cold jiggly treat you can eat with your hands? Yes, please! 

A little research reveals that jigglers were first touted in a cookbook given away by the makers of Jello® in the 1930s. The recipe was rediscovered in the ’70s when, as sales declined, the company looked for ways to reinvigorate the market for their jiggly product, thumbing through their old cookbooks for inspiration. And another generation of jiggler lovers was born. Count me and my girls in that number.

I know a lot of moms try to limit their children’s intake of sugar with no nutritional value and I did too. So drinks and sugar-full Jell-O® were a special treat on weekends. I was not a fan of sugar-free versions because sugar seemed less harmful than the chemicals that made up the unnatural sweeteners. And what about all the coloring additives? Let’s not even go there. So what’s a mom to do?

 

Make grape juice jigglers from pure, naturally colored, naturally sweetened grape juice! Or frankly, any juice of your choice, as long as it is not very acidic, which inhibits the gelatin from firming up.

 

Grape Juice Jigglers

Most gelatin powders are still made from animal products, but vegan/vegetarian friendly gelatin is now widely available as well. Just read the labels if that is a concern for you. I will tell you that if you use the non-animal gelatin, you need just a bit more than usual to get your juice to set. 

Ingredients

4 1/4 cups cups or 1 liter no-sugar added grape juice

4 1/2 teaspoons unflavored vegetarian gelatin powder 

Method

Sprinkle the vegetarian gelatin powder over the grape juice in medium-sized pot.  Stir thoroughly until the powder is completely dissolved and the liquid appears to thicken just a little.

 

Put the pot on the stove and, over a medium flame, heat till just boiling. (About 200°F or 93°C by my candy thermometer.) Tiny bubbles will start appearing. 

Pour the hot liquid into a heatproof rectangular casserole dish about 9x13 in or 23x33cm. 

Leave to cool, then cover with cling film and chill for at least 2 hours or until firm. 

Cut into squares to serve.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 8th edition of our 2024 Alphabet Challenge being brought to you by the letter G. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the G sponsored recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Gavar Sabji 
• Culinary Cam: Aïgo Bouido (Provençal Garlic Soup) 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Shrimp and Grits 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Guacamole Salad 
• Food Lust People Love: Grape Juice Jigglers 
• Palatable Pastime: Grilled Vegetables with Hot Bacon Dressing 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Gyoza Wrapper Pizza Bites 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Garlic Butter Gnocchi with Green Beans 
• Blogghetti: Easy Baked Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Creamy Simple Stovetop Gouda Mac & Cheese 
• Magical Ingredients: Green and Red Salsa Paratha

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far: 

A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs

B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly

C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw

D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing

E: Everything Pizza Tartin

F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

G: Grape Juice Jigglers - today's post!

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Cheesy Spelt Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

These cheesy spelt mini muffins are a great little one/two bite snack that will disappear in record time. Leave them uncovered at your peril! It’s so easy to pop one in your mouth as you go by the plate.

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means my Muffin Monday friends are sharing muffin recipes. It somehow sneaks up on me every month and that makes me wonder how on earth I ever managed to do Muffin Monday every week for almost three whole years!

I was just counting and I have, including this one, 241 muffin recipes on this blog. Crazy talk! Most are sweet with only 54 falling into the savory category. I just love baking muffins and how quick and easy they are. Muffin Monday is an effort to tell the world! 

Cheesy Spelt Mini Muffins

You could also bake this batter in a six-cup muffin pan but the minis are so cute, why would you, except if you just don’t own a mini muffin pan? Plus they will take longer to bake. 

Ingredients

Canola or other light oil for greasing the muffin pan

½ cup or 60g spelt flour½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 oz or 56g extra sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated

3 tablespoons or 43g butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons milk

1 egg

Method

Preheat your oven to 400F° or 200°C and prepare a 12-hole mini muffin pan by greasing it with canola or another light oil. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Set aside a small amount of the grated cheese for topping, then add the bigger pile to the flour mixture and toss to coat.

In another smaller mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter and milk. 

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones, until just mixed. Divide the mixture between the muffin cups. 

I like to use a little scoop. Add a good pinch of the reserved grated cheddar to each muffin.

Bake for 10-12 minutes in your preheated oven or until golden brown on top.

Cool on a wire cooling rack for a few minutes and then run a spatula around the edges to loosen the muffins. 

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it's Muffin Monday. Check out all the great muffin recipe links below:

• Blood Orange Yogurt Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Cardamom and Orange Sourdough Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Cheddar Cheese Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Cheesy Spelt Mini Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Irish Soda Bread Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Hot Cross Buns from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Sourdough Multi-grain Grape Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Crab Rangoon Ravioli

Fresh sheets of egg pasta filled with crabmeat, cream cheese, chives and garlic make the most succulent crab Rangoon ravioli! Serve simply buttered or with the sauce of your choice.  

We don’t eat out very often since I love to cook and my husband has gotten pretty good at it himself, since he started taking turns during the recent pandemic. One place we do like to go is a Chinese buffet that has wonderful sticky ribs and crispy shell on shrimp. It also serves my late sister's favorite, crab Rangoon, crunchy deep-fried wonton wrappers filled with cream cheese and crab. 

Crab and cream cheese are a delightful mixture but I'm not big on deep frying at home so when I had leftover crab a while back filling ravioli to boil seemed like much a better idea.

This is a dish that takes time to make but homemade ravioli dough is so worth it. And the filling is super easy to make! It’s special enough for either the main course at an intimate dinner party, or like fancy Italian restaurants do, you can serve just three or four per person in shallow bowls, as your starter. 

Crab Rangoon Ravioli

This recipe makes about 24 ravioli but is easily doubled. After making and filling the ravioli, any scraps of pasta can be cut into noodles and refrigerated to be boiled for another dish, another day. I used my leftovers in a stir-fry. This recipe was adapted from one on Thailand 1 Dollar Meals.

Ingredients  

For the egg pasta dough:

1 1/2 - 1 2/3 cups or 187.5- 208g tipo 00 flour (plus extra for rolling out the pasta)

1 egg 

1 egg yolk (save white for filling)

2 teaspoons olive oil 

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the filling:

Small bunch chives

1 clove garlic

4 3/4 oz or 135g cream cheese

3/4 cup, lightly packed, or 130g crabmeat

1 egg white (saved from making the egg dough)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

For serving:

Pasta sauce of your choice or simply melted butter and garlic

Parmesan cheese, grated

Extra chives for garnish

Crushed red pepper (optional)

Method

In large bowl, combine 3/4 cup or 94g flour, 1/4 cup or 60ml water and remaining dough ingredients. With mixer at slow speed, beat for two minutes, occasionally scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Using a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. I start with half and go from there. You may not use it all. 

Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Wrap in cling film and let stand at least 30 minutes. (After the 30 minutes, refrigerate the dough if you aren’t ready to assemble your ravioli yet.) 

While the dough rests, we can get on to the ravioli filling. It couldn’t be simpler. 

Finely chop the chives and mince the garlic. 

Mix all the ingredients together well in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Once the dough has rested, cut it in four equal pieces and remove one. Wrap the rest of the dough again with the cling film.

Flour the dough ball well and use a rolling pin or a pasta roller to roll it out quite thinly to the size of your ravioli plaque. Check out my original ravioli post to see my roller in action.

Flour your ravioli plaque liberally and lay the sheet of pasta on top. Fill each hole with about a teaspoon of the filling.

Using the second quarter of the dough and, following the same instructions, roll it out to the size of your ravioli plaque.

Use a pastry brush to wet the pasta on the plaque between the spoons of filling.

Carefully, starting at one end, lay the second sheet of pasta on top of the filled one, sticking the two sheets together and pressing out the air as you go along.

Turn the ravioli plaque over and let the filled pasta drop out onto your countertop. If it sticks, just gently pry it off.

Trim the ravioli around the edges and cut them apart.

Set them aside on a plate lined with cling film that has been well floured.

Continue the process until all the ravioli are rolled out, filled and cut apart. I put another layer of cling film and flour again with each layer of ravioli.

The ravioli should be stored in the refrigerator, covered with cling film until you are ready to boil them.

When you are ready to cook the ravioli, warm your sauce of choice or serve simply with some melted butter, perhaps with a little chopped garlic. 

When your sauce is simmering, if using, heat a pot of salted water to boiling. 

Add several ravioli at a time, using a slotted spoon being careful not to over-crowd the pot. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender.

Remove with a slotted spoon to the pan with the warmed sauce. As you can see, I added mine to a pan with just butter and garlic. 

Stir gently to coat then spoon into plates or bowls to serve. Top with grated Parmesan, crushed red chili pepper and some chopped chives for garnish, if desired.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing dinner party dishes! Check out the links below. 

• Anti-Hero Appetizers from Culinary Cam
• Banana Cream Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Black Eyed Peas Curry - Safed Lobia ka Salan from Sneha's Recipe
• Crab Rangoon Ravioli from Food Lust People Love
• Crockpot Pulled Pork with Ale from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Mini Chicken Tostada Appetizers from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Shrimp, Papaya and Pineapple Salad from Palatable Pastime

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus with Garlicky Baked Brie

This Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus with Garlicky Baked Brie is a quick appetizer that is more than the sum of its parts! It looks fancy but is so easy.

When my husband and I first got married, there were three things he absolutely would not eat. Asparagus was one of them. As I questioned his aversion more closely, it turned out that the only asparagus he’d ever tried was from a can. Tinned, as he and the rest of his British contingent would say. 

Well, I had to agree with him on that front. My mom LOVED canned asparagus – could, in fact, make a quick meal of it when she’d get home from work, just opening a can, eating the asparagus and, I’m stifling a gag here, drinking the salty juice. 

So we always had canned asparagus in the pantry. Occasionally it would turn up on the dinner table, slimy and soft. Ugh. Definitely NOT my favorite thing.

But when I got older, I discovered fresh asparagus. What a revelation! Pan-fried, roasted or steamed till just done, still a bit crunchy, fresh asparagus was nothing like its canned/tinned relative. A third cousin, twice removed, if you will. Removed to far, far away, please. 

I introduced my husband to fresh asparagus and suddenly, we were down to two things he would not eat. Score! (In case anyone is wondering, the other two were olives and beets. He loves olives now too. After almost 38 years of wedded bliss, I’ve given up on ever getting him to like beets. He will tolerate the golden ones roasted but it's okay. The more for me.)

Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus with Garlicky Baked Brie 

As you can see from the photos, I have a small round baking dish that is expressly for the purpose of baking Brie or Camembert. If your dish is a bit larger, no worries. The Brie will still be delicious albeit a bit more spread out when it bakes. This recipe is inspired by one on deliciousmagazine.co.uk. 

N.B. This dish needs to be served right out of the oven. It can be assembled earlier in the day and kept refrigerated until ready for baking. Remove both pans from the fridge as you preheat your oven as not all oven-safe pans can go straight from chilled to a hot oven. 

Ingredients

1 round (8.8 oz or 250g) Brie 

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

Black pepper

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, stems discarded

12 slices prosciutto or parma ham

12 asparagus spears, hard ends trimmed

Olive oil to drizzle

Optional to serve: Some crusty bread

Method

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Carefully slice the top rind off of the Brie and put it in a small baking dish. (Discard the rind.) Spread the garlic and thyme leaves around then give the whole thing a couple of generous grinds of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Wrap a prosciutto slice around each asparagus spear and put them in a baking pan. Do not crowd them. We want them to crisp up so they can’t be jammed in close together. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Put both the asparagus pan and the Brie baking dish in your hot oven for 10-15 minutes or until the prosciutto is crisp and the Brie is golden and melted.

Serve immediately while the melted Brie is still hot so you can dip the asparagus in it! The Brie is also fabulous spread on crusty bread, if you are serving some alongside it. 

Enjoy! 

It's Sunday FunDay and have we got some great recipes for you! Many thanks to our host, Sue from Palatable Pastime and her chosen seasonal ingredient, asparagus! 

• Asparagus and Herbed Ricotta Tart from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Roasted Asparagus with Tangerine Gastrique from Palatable Pastime
• Asparagus Pesto from Sneha’s Recipe
• Quick Pickled Asparagus from Culinary Cam
• Asparagus with Lemon, Mint, and Red Peppers from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Asparagus Soup from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus with Garlicky Baked Brie from Food Lust People Love

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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