Saturday, December 25, 2010

Goodness Graham!

Behold the Graham Cake!
It goes by monikers like Refrigerator Cake and Upside Down Cake --which are all too generic-sounding.  I would rather call it by its prime ingredient:  graham.  And Graham sounds like the name of a nice grandpa who owns a cozy house with a fireplace, so I like it.
This is part of my Dump and Dive Dish Recipes and a mainstay at our Noche Buena Feast.  It's so easy to make. Literally, you just dump everything in and then dive into the munching.

The items you dump:

1 medium-sized pack of Graham Crackers

1 medium-sized can of fruit cocktail, or if you're a minimalist, solo fruits like mangoes or peaches will do

2 packs of Premium Cream (All-Purpose can work but I find the Premium kind to hold better)

1 to 2 cans of condensed milk (depends on how much of a sweet tooth you are)

1/4 shredded or itsy-bitsy cubed cheese

2 tablespoons of choco or mocha powder (optional)

Dumping time:

1.  First off, you beat those Graham Crackers to powdery submission.

2.  Drain the fruit cocktail of its juice and let it stand for 5-10 minutes.

3.  In a bowl, mix the cream and milk together.  And then fold the cheese along with the mixture.  Stir until the ingredients form one pasty concoction.

4.  Get a 2-inch high plastic dish with a lid.  Set it on a level surface.  Here is where all the dumping action happens.

5.  Now, its time for layering --the key to the whole Graham Cake creation.  You can do it in any order you want, but I want to start the first layer with the cream mixture.  It's like the glue that holds everything together.  Pour about a centimeter or 2 of this in the plastic dish.  Make sure the whole bottom of the container is covered.

6.  Follow this up with the same amount of Graham powder, then the fruit cocktail.  Repeat the process --cream, Graham, fruit cocktail.  Just make sure that for every layer, you have good coverage.  You don't want a piece of cherry peeping out from under your layer of Graham.

7.  Top it off with a final layer of cream and fruit slices and maybe a sprinkling of choco or mocha powder.

8.  Cover the container and refrigerate.  Better yet, stick it in the freezer.  And make sure the container still sits on a level surface while in deep freeze.

You can start diving your choppers into this delectable sweetie as soon as the mixture hardens to cake consistency.  I usually start serving after 10 hours of freeze time.  So if you're planning to serve this as an after Christmas dinner dessert, you better get a move on.  Enjoy!

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