Chocolate Éclair Cake

Some of you were interested in the following recipe, so here it is! As I said, it's our son, Andrew's, favorite cake for his birthday. Actually, it's very similar to a big cream puff, so it's more like a dessert than a cake.

I don't have a pretty pan that's large enough for it, so I bake it in this stainless steel roasting pan, which is a little bigger than the standard 13x9 size. It works fine, but doesn't look particularly attractive. I'll have to see about getting a prettier pan.

(Note to kids and husband: There's a future birthday gift suggestion, since you're always asking!)

I'm not sure my conversions are absolutely accurate, but they should be close.

BTW everyone, if you go to visit Olive (in the post below), don't forget to say hello. She loves to hear from you!

Chocolate Éclair Cake

Crust:
1 cup of water
½ cup butter of margarine


Put water and butter in a medium saucepan, bring water to boil & simmer until butter melts. Remove from heat.


½ tsp. Salt
1 cup plain flour


Mix salt & flour & add all at once to water & butter mixture. Stir until dough forms a ball.


4 eggs


Add one at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.
Spread in a
greased jelly roll pan (15x10x1 inches) (38x25x2.5 cm) I think a 13x9 (33x23) pan would work if you don’t have the bigger one.


Bake at 400ºF (approx. 205C) for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and press flat (wait a minute or two so you don’t burn yourself).
Cool.

Filling:
2 packages of instant vanilla pudding.
2 ½ cups of milk
1 8oz (227 g)package of cream cheese, softened


With electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and add just a little milk at first (if you add too much at once you’ll end up with lumps of cream cheese). Keep adding milk gradually while beating. Then add the 2 puddings and beat until thick. Spread over crust.

Topping:
1 8oz tub of Cool Whip


Spread on top of pudding mixture.

Glaze:
½ cup of chocolate chips
2 tbsp. Butter or margarine
1 cup confectioners sugar (icing sugar for the Aussies)


Melt choc chips with butter in the microwave or on the stove. Stir in confectioners sugar.
Drizzle over the Cool Whip.

Make at least 2 days ahead so crust can soften and flavors blend.
(I never make it ahead and it tastes wonderful anyway)

Enjoy!

Things I Miss About Oz (AKA DownUnder)

Eating Fish & Chips. This is circa 1971

What great table manners...reading the paper at the table!

We're getting our fill of salt and grease...two of the main food groups.

That's half of my mum on the left!

Starting with foods ……..

Fish and Chips
Wrapped in butchers paper and preferably eaten with a view of the ocean, and fresh lemon, of course. This is the best meal ever. Really! For those of you who haven’t yet tasted Australian fish and chips, put this on your list of "things I want to do before I die". Way back then they used newspaper for the final wrapping, as you’ll see in the pic. It was probably great insulation and no one seemed concerned about the germs :)

Vegemite on toast. I tried to make it look appealing, but....Maybe it will to the Aussies :)

Vegemite
On toast, Jatz crackers, Vita Wheats (remember squeezing the little vegemite worms through the wholes?) etc. Even Wheat Bix with butter and vegemite as a snack after school….that was my favorite. Americans just don’t get it. You have to start out eating it on toast fingers as a baby, and then grow up with it. A few years ago I found it here in our area in a specialty gift shop…..a very small jar, and expensive, of course, but some things are worth paying a bit more for.

Fresh Seafood
I haven’t had good seafood since I left Australia, I’m sorry to say. Most of what I’ve eaten here is fairly tasteless, especially the prawns (shrimp). I’m sure it must taste better near some of the coastal regions, but here in the country it’s a sad situation (this is strictly my personal opinion). People around here seem to love the shrimp but I doubt they’ve ever tasted Myall River prawns (Port Stephens, NSW)!! My brother tells me they’ve been fished out. What a terrible loss!

Lamb
Weekly lamb chops or a roast leg of lamb just doesn’t happen here. Occasionally I find it in the local grocery store but it’s very expensive. Until recently we could buy it from a local couple who raised lambs for meat, but they’ve retired now and given it up. We’ll have to find a new supplier. The meat is not generally a favorite in this country but our kids consider it a real treat to come home and have roast lamb. I guess that’s because they grew up with it.

Aussie sausages
These were one of Ross’ favorite meals when we lived in Oz. He cooked them once for Kylie and Andrew when I was in the hospital after giving birth to Kathy. I must interject that he is generally not the chief cook and bottle washer around here (in fact this is a rarity). He neglected to prick the skins before placing them under the broiler and they blew up….splattered all over the place, even the ceiling. The kids thought this was hysterical. It was the highlight of their time home alone with Dad and they still tell the story with glee :)

Golden Syrup
I love ginger snaps made with it. Molasses is NOT the same! When I was little I used to occasionally sneak a tablespoonful from the can when nobody was looking.

Aussie fruit
Passionfruit and mangos mostly. We can buy mangos in our local stores but they’re usually quite green, and when they finally ripen they’re not nearly as tasty as the Oz mangos. Passionfruit are just not found around here (well, they probably are somewhere....just not here in our area). Oh for a ripe passionfruit, spread over sliced bananas and topped with whipped cream. Mmmmm! I’d love a nice fresh pineapple too. They’re available here but they’re not as good and sweet.

A local Pie Shop!!
A trip to the local bakery….oh, what bliss! Meat pies, sausage rolls, lamingtons, vanilla slices, creamhorns and matchsticks are all things I loved as a child (and as an adult!).

Queensland Blue Pumpkins
We’ve found the squash that tastes the most similar is buttercup squash. We grow an abundant supply of it in our vegetable garden and freeze some for winter. But I really miss those delicious 'blues' baked with a leg of lamb, potatoes, peas and gravy. This was my mum's specialty. Mmmm, good!

I guess that’s enough for one post, lest I bore you all, if I haven’t already.
The other things I miss will be a subject for another post.

Now I'm hungry....I'd better go and cook dinner.