Experiment 2

I love desserts no doubt but I just don’t have the desire to learn making one. I am always under the impression that it involves loads of work and steps as well as time consuming. Just the thought of baking itself is enough to make me quailed, let alone going through those intricate recipes.

Until one day a friend of mine gave me this recipe thinking that I might have liked it for it has got cream in it. After taking a good look at the recipe, I must say it appeared to be relatively simple, no sophisticated terms, no lengthy steps (in fact just 3 steps!). There’s always the first time, first step, first move, first love, first kiss… (oops, guess I’ve gone a bit too far, haven’t I? :p), so I decided to give it a try.

It’s called Mango Icebox and it’s supposed to be a layered dessert, so I was told.

Ingredients:
1 can condensed milk
1 box (250ml) all purpose cream ( I used fresh double cream)
1 can (370ml) evaporated milk
1 pack Graham crackers (I used digestive biscuits)
3 pcs ripe mango (I used the whole mango instead)
Sugar to taste

The steps:

1) Mix all liquid ingredients plus sugar.
2) Put enough amt of mixture into a square/rectangular container, just enough to cover the bottom of the container.
3) In the same container put one layer.

You see after Step 3, the subsequent steps were not explicitly stated which was a big No-No for a first timer like me. I was confused and turned to my friend again. He explained and apparently after laddering the mixture (to form the first layer) into the container, it has to be put into the freezer to solidify. Wahai kawanku, had I not asked I would have chucked everything in including the cracker crumbs and froze it last. Then my layered dessert would turn out to be all-in-one dessert. Alright I don’t blame him for he was not the one who made the dessert, his cousin did. That’s the consequences of getting a recipe from someone who happened to be responsible to eat only. :p

Ok, after the first layer has solidified (after an hour or so), add in the second layer which is the cracker crumbs. Put it back to the freezer to harden.

Take it out, add in the mango chunks and the mixture, put it back in. Just keep on layering. Didn’t get to finish layering until the next day, owing to some technical problems. Hehe~

When a girl learns baking, there's only for a few reason:
1) Interest
2) To impress her loved ones (be it family, close friends or spouse)
3) She has to coz she has no other choice.

Well in this case, I’d probably go for the second option.

Ok so here’s how it looks like. Not sure if it’s supposed to look this way for I have never seen the one that my friend had before. Will throw him the question when I meet him (online). In terms of visual presentation, I’d give myself 6/10, merely pass.

A problem occurred when I was trying to cut a portion out. It was frigging hard! Stone-hard! Geez, so much for an icebox, it has turned into ice cube now. HYin gave me a hand and after a few attempts, we finally got it out. Look at the mess we’ve made. Quite a struggle eh? Unfortunately the last two layers were too stony to cut through. So now on a scale to 10, I’d say negative!

Eager to find out how it tasted, I forked myself a bite as soon as I sank my butt down. It was slightly deformed at this point I have to say. Hmm...Very sweet (too much sugar probably), creamy, icy cold and HARD!

So we decided to leave it for a moment and play cho dai di.

Few minutes later: That was what left of me, there was no way I could win.

As expected I lost.

But then we managed to finish the whole piece of mango icebox eventually. :)

As for me there’s still plenty of room for improvement, both the cho dai di and dessert-making. :)