“TEA @ 2” IS ABOUT CARING AND SHARING

Lois Held's chocolate mocha mousse cake

Good Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom! I’ve been enjoying a variety of delicious dairy dishes throughout the past week during the nine days of Av, but am looking forward to having a traditional Friday night dinner which will include tender, tasty roast chicken, assorted salads and vegetables and of course, dessert!

In my Facebook group, Norene’s Kitchen!, with 7,500 members from around the globe, sweets are always popular. Whenever someone posts a photo of a decadent dessert, you can be sure someone will be asking: “Recipe, please?”

On Fridays, people from all over the world share sweet wishes for Shabbat Shalom. Recently, several members began to share photos of tempting sweets that they’ve made from a small, charming fundraising cookbook, Tea @ 2, 40 Recipes to Make a Friend “One Piece of Cake at a Time,” created by Linda Chernin Rosenblatt of Montreal.

So what is Tea @ 2? It is a wonderful program sponsored by Cedars CanSupport for Oncology patients and their families at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Linda introduced the program in 2007, and since June 2015, a Tea is held every Thursday at 2 pm at the new Glen site of the MUHC. Linda and her team of CanSupport volunteers have won over the hearts and taste buds of the cancer patients, families, and staff at the Cedars Cancer Centre with delectable, home-baked cakes and cookies.

The Tea @ 2 Cookbook is a labour of love and was published as a fundraiser. The recipes came from Linda’s family and friends who have used these recipes with success for years and wanted to share them with her to use at the Tea @ 2 program. Linda inscribed my copy of the cookbook: “Always remember that caring is homemade.” I couldn’t agree more!

To purchase a copy of the Tea @ 2 cookbook and support this important program, call The Cedars Cancer Foundation, 514-656-6662 Ext. 332.


Reesa Barr of Montreal is a huge supporter of this heartwarming fundraising project. Reesa recently posted the recipe for Lemon Pound Cake (below), along with this bittersweet message:

“Tea @ 2 is a weekly event created by Linda Chernin Rosenblatt in Montreal. She creates a tea party every Thursday for Oncology patients and their families and serves tea in china cups and sauces along with an array or cakes, squares, and cookies – all homemade by her! Linda’s husband, Dr. David Rosenblatt (a physician at MUHC), provides the music and patients look forward to this break from the cancer routine. I met Linda last year when my sister spent 3 months in the hospital before triple negative breast cancer took her life. Linda’s lemon cake was something my sister looked forward to every week even if she only had two bites. Tea @ 2 is an ongoing Mitzvah!”


Reesa Barr’s lemond pound cake

LEMON POUND CAKE

Linda’s notes: “This lemon cake is requested more than any other cake at Tea @ 2.”

1 pkg Duncan Hines lemon cake mix

1 pkg lemon instant pudding mix

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

4 eggs

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or a Bundt pan.
  2. Combine cake mix and pudding. Add oil and water.
  3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan.
  4. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until center springs back when touched lightly.
  5. Cool 25 minutes before removing cake from pan.

Glaze:

1 cup icing sugar

2 Tbsp lemon juice

  1. Combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice and drizzle over cake.

Lois Held of Atlanta loves to bake and shares the most amazing recipes in Norene’s Kitchen! She recently posted a decadent photo of the Chocolate Mocha Mousse Cake from the Tea @ 2 cookbook. Lois shared: “Totally decadent – light texture, rich flavor, and yummy! I had to wrap it up and put it into the freezer!”


CHOCOLATE MOCHA MOUSSE CAKE

Linda’s notes: “This recipe freezes well. My friend, Linda, shared this recipe with me years ago.”

1 pkg chocolate wafers

4 Tbsp melted butter

38 large marshmallows

20 oz whipping cream

1 cup double strength coffee

4 squares (4 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate, grated

  1. Grease a 9-inch spring form pan. Line sides of pan with 12 or more wafers.
  2. Crush remaining wafers and add melted butter. Place on bottom of pan, saving some of the crumbs to decorate top.
  3. Melt marshmallows and coffee over low heat.
  4. Put in bowl of an electric mixer and put in freezer to set (about 1 hour).
  5. Whip cream.
  6. Whip coffee and marshmallow mixture together.
  7. Gently fold whipped cream into marshmallow mixture. Add grated chocolate.
  8. Pour into spring form pan. Top with remaining crumbs. Put in refrigerator.

Norene’s Suggestion: This dessert is dairy but you can make it pareve to serve at a meat meal by using nondairy whipping cream and margarine.


Shayna Swartz of Toronto posted the following hack along with her photo of Berries & Cream Cake: “When I went to bake the Berries & Cream Cake, I found that the bottom of my 10-inch spring form pan was still at my son’s from the ice cream cake at Father’s Day. So, necessity is the mother of invention. I put the ring on a piece of foil on a cookie sheet and proceeded to make the cake. It worked like a charm!”

READ: THE SHABBAT TABLE: SAVVY FAMILY TRAVEL… THEN AND NOW


Shayna Swartz berries and cream cake

BERRIES & CREAM CAKE (Raymond’s Cake)

Linda’s notes: “I made this cake so often for a patient at the Royal Victoria Hospital that it became known as Raymond’s Cake.”

Crust:

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

Filling:

1 quart berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)

2 cups sour cream

1 egg

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 10-inch spring form or removable-bottom pan.
  2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl: Combine the flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, egg and vanilla. Beat until combined.
  3. Pat the dough into the bottom of the pan, and spread the berries over the dough.
  4. In a small bowl: Beat together the sour cream, egg, sugar and vanilla. Spread this mixture on top of the berries.
  5. Bake for 1 hour, or until the edges are lightly browned.
  6. Remove the cake from the oven and cool to room temperature. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Norene Gilletz is the leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada. She is the author of 12 cookbooks and divides her time between work as a food writer, food manufacturer, consultant, spokesperson, cooking instructor, lecturer and cookbook editor. Norene lives in Toronto and her motto is, “Food that’s good for you should taste good!” For more information, visit her website www.gourmania.com or email her at [email protected].