BEST TORTAS RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Use a little of the butter to grease the sides and bases of two 20cm sandwich tins. Melt the rest of the butter in a small saucepan. Off the heat, add the milk, yogurt and vanilla, followed by the eggs. Beat well with a fork.
• Put the dry ingredients plus ¼ tsp salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine – this aerates and saves sifting. Tip in the wet ingredients and whisk to a smooth, silky batter.
• Don’t hang around at this point. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tins and put onto the middle shelf in the oven. Bake for 25 mins or until risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins in the tins, then carefully invert the cakes and leave to cool upside down on a cooling rack.
• Make the buttercream. Stir the cocoa into 2 tbsp milk until smooth. Put the butter into a large bowl and sift the icing sugar on top. Add the cocoa mixture, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Beat for a few mins with electric beaters until creamy and spreadable. Add the extra 1 tsp milk if you need to.
• Place one of the cakes towards the back of the board or plate, and fix it with a little of the buttercream to stop it slipping about. Spread with ¼ of the buttercream.
• Sandwich the second cake on top. With a small, serrated knife, cut away a scallop-shaped crater from the top cake. Cut about half way down into the sponge and removing about a quarter of the top of the cake. Keep the piece you remove. Position two diggers on the top of the cake to see if your crater is about the right size and shape, then set them aside again.
• Using a palette knife, paddle the rest of the buttercream evenly over the top of the cake and down its sides. Make sure that the edge of the excavated area is defined.
• Snap the ends from enough of the KitKat fingers to follow the edge of the excavated area, then press them into the buttercream. Now fix the rest of the whole fingers around the side of the cake.
• Crumble the cake that you removed in step 6, to make soil. Part-fill the excavated hole with the soil, adding a few Smarties, if you like. Position the diggers on top and put some soil and Smarties into their buckets.
• Fill a lorry or dump truck with more crumbs and Smarties, and let some of the soil and spill over the edge of the cake and the broken KitKats.
• Use the marker to write your message on the card and draw some diagonal black lines. Cut the straight part of the straw into two equal pieces, then fix these to the back of the card with tape to make a sign. Position the sign at the back of the cake. If the sponges are used fresh or within a day of baking (wrap well once cooled), the finished cake will keep in a cool place (not the fridge) for 2 days.

Steps:

• Fill a shallow, wide pan with high sides with about an inch of water, and set it over high heat. Add the peppercorns, bay leaf and 1 section of the lemon to the water, and allow it to come to a bare simmer. Place the fish into this poaching liquid, and cook, barely simmering, until the flesh has just begun to whiten all the way through, approximately 6 to 8 minutes. Using a wide spatula, carefully remove the fish from the water, and set aside to cool.
• Empty the pan, and return it to the stove, over medium-high heat. Add the butter, and allow it to melt, swirling it around the pan. When the butter foams, add the celery, onions and garlic, and sauté, stirring often, until the vegetables soften and the onions turn translucent, then transfer them to a large bowl.
• In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, eggs, salt, pepper and seasoning salt (or paprika and hot-pepper flakes), then add this mixture to the bowl with the sautéed vegetables, pour the crushed saltines or bread crumbs over them and stir to combine. Add the parsley, and stir again.
• Flake the cooked fish into the binding sauce carefully, keeping the flakes as whole as you can manage, then gather them into small balls, and form them into patties, 4-6 for a main course, 6-8 for an appetizer. Place them on a sheet pan or platter, cover loosely with plastic wrap and transfer them to the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to set.
• Set a large sauté pan over high heat, and add to it the neutral oil. When the oil is shimmering, remove the fish cakes from the refrigerator, and carefully sauté the patties until they are golden brown, approximately 4 to 5 minutes a side. Work in batches if necessary. (A small smear of mayonnaise on the exterior of the patties will give them a crisp crust.) Serve them alone, or with greens dressed in a lemony vinaigrette, with the remaining wedges of lemon.