Recipes from Aishah's Bistro and Natalie's Canadian Kitchen

Very easy to make and fun to spread on an Angel Food Cake, store-bought or your own.

Swirling the icing into peaks reminds me of the fun-filled winter days I spent growing up on the  Canadian prairies, when the wind had whipped the snow into swirls and overhanging peaks.  The now hardened snow curled into formations  that I could actually crawl under and, lying very still,  hide in my own private snow castle.  Enjoy those thoughts while you design your cake into a winter wonderland.

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup egg whites (2 medium size eggs)

1/4 cup white corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon white vanilla

Blend sugar, syrup and water and boil rapidly until mixture spins a 6-8 inch thread (approx. 242 degrees F)

Beat egg whites in separate bowl until they stand in stiff peaks.

Pour hot syrup mixture in steady stream into beaten egg whites, beat constantly until icing stands in very stiff  peaks.

Blend in 1 teaspoon white vanilla.

For colour variations feel free to add food colouring.

Works well for Angel Food or other layer cakes.

What are Nanaimo bars? (Pronounced Nah-nigh-mo)  And how do I make them?
In “Because We Love” Natalie often makes Nanaimo bars as a dessert for the family.  No one suspects that she is from Canada, but the Nanaimo bars should have been a clue, because they are a Canadian treat, voted Canada’s favourite dessert. (One journalist even called them “the hockey of desserts"). They were invented in the 1950s by a women’s group in Nanaimo, a small town on  Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Nanaimo Bars are a three-layer, no-bake square:  the bottom layer is chocolate and coconut and nuts, the next layer is creamy buttercream icing infused with vanilla custard powder, and the top layer is dark chocolate icing. 

The recipe below is from St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Nanaimo, B.C.  If you live in the U.S., you will have to substitute the Bird’s Eye Custard mix with vanilla pudding powder (or try World Market which has $4 packets of Bird’s Eye mix, or call a Canadian friend to mail you some authentic Bird’s Eye).

Bottom Layer:    ½ cup butter or margarine
                          ¼ cup white sugar
                          5 tbsp. cocoa
                          1 egg beaten
                          1¾ cups graham wafer crumbs
                          1 cup fine coconut
                           ½ cup chopped walnuts

Melt first 3 ingredients in top of double boiler.  Add egg slowly and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut and nuts.  Press down into ungreased 9x9-inch pan.

Middle layer:      ½ cup butter or margarine
                          3 tbsp. milk  
                          2 tbsp. Birds Eye Custard powder  (U.S. try vanilla pudding powder)
                          2 cups icing sugar

Cream butter, milk, custard powder and icing sugar together. Beat until light. Spread over bottom layer.

Top Layer:       2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or 4 – l oz. chocolate squares
                       2 tbsp butter or margarine.

Melt chocolate and butter over low heat.  Cool.  When cool, but still runny, spread over second layer.  

Chill in refrigerator. Use a sharp knife to cut.  Makes 36 squares. 

(Can be frozen)