MAJA BLANCA CAKE

Maja Blanca Cake Tart

Good morning everyone( or evening depending under what palm tree you are reading this post) and Happy Birthday! Who's birthday? Depends on specific cases ( Happy Bday Ate A and Gabrielle (counting that you'll be a Feb. baby, people born this month are the best!), but mostly generic we should celebrate the best day of all, Women's Day, on March 1st! Why the best? Because it's well known they always bring the best ( or worst ) in us ( but for this specific occasion we shall assume it's the best! ), and as such I have researched deep inside my endless bucket of inspiration for an appropriate gift. Not having found one and considering that flowers are overrated, I shall give you the best gift of all: the gift of knowledge, as I shall bake the best cake ever, using an old filipino recipe and my best unique ideas for an astonishing end result that I shall eat all alone while you cheer Sarap, Sarap !

Yes, as you already figured it out from the title, we shall prepare Maja Blanca as a tart! ( or should I say...art?)

Now, Maja Blanca is well known and loved by everyone because, aside for the delicious filipino coconut milk, it can be combined with whatever else you have in the fridge ( but usually sweet corn and mozzarella cheese on top). But fear not, today I shall bring Maja to another level of complexity by infusing new canadian ingredients.

First things first, do your shopping carefully and don't forget to buy the mozzarella cheese as I did.

So equip your cooking bonnet and let's start baking! Start by shoving the tart pie crust into the oven at a nice 400 degr for about 10 minutes in order to make it nice and crisp (use your fork to design a harmonious renaissance decor on it before so that it doesn't develop bubbles). As Michelangelo used to say, stick those walls with a fork before doing art! Apparently he didn't do it properly as the Chapel developed a big bubble dome on the ceiling. Oh well, you can't be super good at everything!At least in the end  he managed to make the best out of the situation and execute a satisfactory work of art.

But let's get back to our pots and coconuts. We shall start by opening a nice can of coco milk ( and wash the lid before you do it because , from my today's experience, there's a high probability you'll drop it inside the milk can) and a jar of chestnut cream ( Yum! ). Mix half and half together to create an integer which I shall name Cocochest Nutmilk.

You can use your smoothie maker to mix them nicely but I preferred to do it manually because no success comes without pain, labor, and great sacrifices!

Now that the mix is done, get the pie crust out of the oven before it gets burned, fill it half with CocoChest Nutmilk Cream and let it cool down with the cold breeze outside the window.

Throw in some cranberries or raisins ( depending on who you hate - I mean love - and plan to share it with).

 Now get back to the pot (where you belong) and start cooking the maja blanca. Don't worry, it's as easy as opening a box ( literally ) because the future foreseeing 18th woman's sense R has, worked once again and she has hidden a Maja Blanca instant powder mix in my bag last time I visited.

 So, get the powder, mix it with the rest of coconut milk and set it aside while boiling 1.5 cups of water along with the coconut powder from the second bag in the box. After about 2 minutes of intense preparation pour them together and start yelling at the pot to toughen the mixture up and prepare it for the real life! The mixture should be tough enough soon after hearing about taxes and house credits and ready to be placed on top of the CocoChest pie tart.

 Now that we have 2 layers already, don't do as I did and have some patience so that the maja mix cools down a bit or else the layers will infuse with one another. But I was just dying with impatience to show you the final result so I've put the rest of the CocoChest NutMilk Cream on top immediately! Well, not ideal but I'll follow Michelangelo's example and do the best of the situation by decorating the tart with the rest of cranberries so your better half will know how much effort you've put in especially for for her/him !

 Now let it chill for a bit and then let your half get fat on those lots of calories and sugar ( but don't tell her, at least today). And to make it real traditional, if you are a real filipino you should throw on top some of those M&Ms you love and have around. Sarap!

Edit: don't forget the cheese, if you have mozzarella, put some on top, it's delicious!