Cooking with Ish

One day, As we continued on our journey of North America, I took along an El Salvadorian quesadilla cake. It is a rich breakfast cake, more like a pound cake that doesn’t look or taste anything like a “quesadilla.” It has rice flour, sour cream and salty cheese. So, it is sweet, sour, salty and crunchy with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Even though, Parmesan cheese is usually seen in most recipes, other recipes call for any salty cheese like Queso Fresco, Cheddar or Feta.

While covering North America at our geography Club. Of Course Canada figures, United States and Mexico too, but everything below Mexico pretty much gets forgotten. So, we try to put in that extra focus on the smaller countries below Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. And yet, the tendency among the students is to get back to United States and mark up the “familiar – looking ” states.

I am sure this cake will help them remember El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America.

The first time, I made it was when my son had to take a North American treat in sixth grade. He loved it, so I made some more. Then, I made it for the Geography club as well, it was a huge favorite. The last few times, I used Parmesan cheese, but yesterday I went with Queso Fresco. The difference I found was in the flavor and texture, it was softer, milder and slightly crumbly and strangely reminiscent of a cake made by a friend from the Philippines many years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe……

1/2 C Butter
 1 Cups Sugar
 2 Eggs
 1 C Sour cream
1/2 C Queso Fresco/ Parmesan Cheese
 1 C Rice Flour/ cake flour
 1 T Baking powder
 2 T Sesame seeds ( I love them)

Equipment: a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.
Spray pan with Baker’s Joy or any other Baking spray with flour.
Whisk together flour, baking powder.
Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until blended, about 1 minute.
Beat in eggs, sour cream, and cheese.
Reduce speed to low and mix in milk.
Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Transfer batter to pan and smooth top.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes.