Team K: Cuban Mojito Cake and El Presidente!

For the month of August, Team K diverted from our normal "pork" path to make a dessert  We made a Cuban Mojito cake and served it with Strawberry Mint Lemonade with Ron Matusalem Rum (El Presidente!).

Cuban Mojito cake

Serves: 12-24

Cake Ingredients

20 ounce can crushed pineapple, un-drained
Juice of 1 lime
1 (1 lb.) box angel food cake mix
8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup limeade from concentrate
0-4 tablespoons powdered sugar — I used 4 tablespoons
1 teaspoon rum extract
8 ounce tub Cool Whip Lite (a little over 3 cups)
1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
Zest of lime
Mint leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13×9 inch metal pan with cooking spray. If you use a Pyrex dish, reduce the heat to 325 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the pineapple, lime juice and angel food cake mix. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake it using the following cook time - about 25 minutes for a 13×9 inch pan. Let cool completely in pan.

In mixing bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese and limeade concentrate. Check for sweetness. Add sugar if you feel you need it. Beat in rum extract, then fold in Cool Whip Lite. Spread over cooled cake. Sprinkle with coconut and lime zest. Top each serving with mint leaves.

Source: Larry's Mojito cake recipe from TasteofCuba.com

El Presidente Ingredients

Serves: 8-12

2 1/2 Cups of Fresh Strawberries chopped

1 cup Fresh Mint, chopped
1 1/2 cups Fresh Lemon Juice  (8 lemons)
1 cup of sugar
Zest of 1 Lemon 

Place 1/2 the Mint, sugar, and 1/2 cup of the Strawberries into a medium sauce pan with 11/2 cups water. Heat over medium heat for 3 minutes, cover and remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes.

Strain this mixture into the Lemon Juice and mix well Place the remainder of the Lemon Zest, Strawberries and Fresh Mint into a pitcher and pour the Lemon Mixture over the Strawberries and Fresh Mint.Add 2 cups of water, 1 cup of Rum, stir and let set for twenty to 30 minutes in the refrigerator before serving.

Source: A slightly modified version of The Brown Bag Special's version.
(http://brownbagspecials.blogspot.com/)

Oreo & PB mini pies

Kenny & I borrowed the recipe from ModCloth to make our Oreo & Peanut Butter mini pies. We paired our pies with a Rusty Nail (1 part Scotch/1 part Drambuie).

Oreo PB Mini Pies
2 refrigerated pie crusts
36 Oreo cookies (1 package)
28-ounce container of creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Bring pie crusts to room temperature before unrolling.
2. Unroll pie crusts & use the lid of your peanut butter container as a cookie cutter. Cut out as many 4-inch rounds as possible from your pie crust.
3. Press cut dough into each muffin pan.
4. Spread about a teaspoon of peanut butter over each Oreo cookie. When all cookies are covered, double stack your Oreos to an Oreo-PB-Oreo-PB ratio, and place each stack into a pie crust.
5. Any remaining dough is cut into 1/4-inch strips to prepare lattice tops.
6. Brush melted butter and generously sprinkle sugar over the latticed tops
7. Bake for 22-26 minutes, until golden brown. Let them cool before removing from pan.