The Dads’ Menu for an Intimate Dinner Party!
This week, we threw a dear friend’s very special birthday dinner!
Our friend, Xavier recently moved to the U.S. from Barcelona, Spain. So, this was his first birthday celebrated here in the U.S! We were delighted to be able to help make his night extra special!
Here was our menu plan for the evening:
5:00 PM
Guests arrive!
Happy Hour
· Bombay Sapphire Martinis
· Red Wine
· Antipasti Tray with Assorted Imported Meats, Cheeses, Olives, Peppers, etc. (See The Dads’ Antipasti Picture below!)
6:00 PM
Dinner (Serving 6)
First course
Fois Gras pate’
– Wine pairing: Ice Wine
Second course
Poached Pears in Port Wine (See The Dads’ Recipe in our “Recipe” Section!)
– Served on a bed of salad with Gorgonzola Cheese, Spanish Candied Walnuts. Dressing: Homemade Balsamic Vinegar infused with Pear and Cinnamon Vinaigrette.
Third course
Rack of Lamb with Rosemary Parmesan Pesto
– Served with Pewee Potatoes roasted with Pearl Onions and French Green Beans. (See The Dads’ Recipe in the previous post below!)
Wine pairing: French Bordeaux
Fourth course
Harris’ Yellow Cake with Decadent Chocolate Frosting (See The Dads’ Recipe in the previous post below!)
Needless to say, the evening was a success!
Be sure to look under our “Recipes” and “Videos” tab to find our Rack of Lamb and Poached Pears recipe! Also, we will be posting Harris’ recipe for Yellow Layer Cake very soon! Stay Tuned!
Harris’ Yellow Layer Cake!
Since we just threw our friend a birthday dinner at our home, we wanted to share with you the recipe for Harris’ Yellow Layer Cake!
Yellow Layer Cake
Ingredients
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
10 tablespoons soften butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
Directions
Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottom with wax paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl whisk together and set aside, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium size bowl whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add ¼ cup of sugar and whisk until moderate peaks form and set aside.
Beat in large bowl, using whisk attachment if possible, beat together, 1 ½ cups sugar, butter and oil until lite and fluffy, which usually take 4 minutes. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
With mixer set to slow speed add flour mixture alternating with buttermilk and beat until smooth. Fold in egg whites. Pour into cake pans and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
1 10 oz. Package of Semisweet Chocolate Chips or Squares
¾ Light Cream or Half & Half – Room Temperature
¾ lb. of Unsalted Butter
3 ¼ C Confectioners Sugar
Directions
In saucepan on low heat, melt and combine the butter and chocolate. Add cream and sugar. Whisk until smooth and holds shape.
Video: Harris Bakes a 3 Layer Chocolate Cake!
Recipe: The Dads’ Perfect Chocolate Cake!
Who can resist a bite of this delicious, decadent Chocolate Cake?!
Chocolate Cake
Cake Ingredients:
1 C Unsweetened Cocoa
2 C Boiling Water
2 ¾ C Sifted All-Purpose Flour
2 t Baking Soda
½ t Salt
½ t Baking Powder
½ lb. Unsalted Butter – softened
2 ½ C Sugar
4 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
In a bowl, combine cocoa and boiling water. Mix with whisk until smooth. Allow to cool completely. When cooled, preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour-dust three 9 inch layer cake pans. Cut rounds of wax or parchment paper and place on bottom of cake pans to help remove cake from pans after baking.
In large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In large mixing bowl, at high speed cream together butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. At low speed, alternately beat in 25 percent of flour mixture and chocolate mixture until fully incorporated – do not over beat. Divide equally into the 3 cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top springs bake when gently pressed with fingertip. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Allow to completely cool on rack.
Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
1 10 oz. Package of Semisweet Chocolate Chips or Squares
¾ Light Cream or Half & Half – Room Temperature
¾ lb. of Unsalted Butter
3 ¼ C Confectioners Sugar
In saucepan on low heat, melt and combine the butter and chocolate. Add cream and sugar. Whisk until smooth and holds shape.
Assemble and frost the cake. Enjoy!
Video: Jewish Apple Cake
Harris and Dave demonstrate how to make the Jewish Apple Cake.
The Dads’ Jewish Apple Cake
Jewish Apple Cake is a recipe which we absolutely love. It’s the perfect holiday dessert which works not only for the evening, but also for the next morning. It’s also great to bring to parties, and when sliced, has beautiful rings of apple and cinnamon between the layers of cake. We will be serving it at our Thanksgiving feast! We hope you will give it a try for your next holiday party or brunch. What are your favorite comfort desserts?
Ingredients
- 5-6 Granny Smith Apples, thinly sliced
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 5 teaspoons white granulated sugar
- 3 cups flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 2 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
Directions
Mix cinnamon and 5 teaspoons of sugar.
Place sliced apples in a bowl, sprinkling each slice with the cinnamon and sugar.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
In another separate bowl, beat together on medium-high speed, the vegetable oil, butter, and remaining sugar until light and creamy. If you wish, you can use all butter, all oil, or a combination, so long as you have a half cup of oil, butter, or a combination of both.
Add one egg at a time to the wet mixture with a mixer on low speed.
Add the vanilla to the wet mixture.
While still on a low speed, alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the orange juice, until well blended.
Grease your pan. We prefer to use a bundt pan for this recipe.
Pour a short layer of batter in bottom of pan, just enough to cover the bottom.
Line the pan with apples.
Continue to alternate between layers of batter and apples, ending with apples on top.
Bake 350 degrees for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Test with a toothpick, but you will know your cake is ready when it looks like this:
Simply flip your cake and enjoy. This cake is delightful warm, but is just as good for breakfast/brunch the next day. Enjoy!
