A friend called up yesterday, asking if I knew where he could purchase fake blood. What was he thinking? Why shill out good money to buy something which is FUN to make, especially when he probably had everything in his kitchen already. Of course I had a recipe, I’ve several, and unlike the traditional boring corn syrup and food coloring mixes, all my formulas server double duty, being deliciously edible on their own.
As a public service for my friend and others, I'll be featuring several special recipes for fake blood over the coming weeks. Yes, this sounds fairly grim, but having an extra quart or two in the fridge can come in really handy, like the impromptu horror movie shoot or a trail of fake evidence, or maybe you’ve got unexpected guests and you just need a killer dessert topping.
My featured fake blood recipe #1 is the sweet fruit filling for petite Valentine’s cakes. I used a basic Devils Food recipe and iced it with a simple butter cream topping, then decided to do something really special for the center... Strawberry Malbec! You could use just about any kind of wine for the sauce but I like the plum hints of a nice Argentinean Malbec and since you won't be using the whole bottle you might as well pick up something you like drinking.
For Strawberry Malbec Fake Blood:
1 Cup strawberry preserves
1 Cup frozen strawberries
1/2 Cup honey
1/4-1/2 Cup red wine
Combine preserves, strawberries and honey over low heat cooking for about 10 minutes, until strawberries begin to fall apart and mixture has thickened a bit. Let sauce cool to room temperature. Put mix into food processor, blender or burr mixer to smooth out. Whisk in wine slowly, frequently checking the sauce viscosity. You want something which will ooze out of cake or cupcakes, if the sauce is too thick it won't move, if it is too thin it will get absorbed by the cake.
To Make Dessert:
Bake up your favorite Devil's Food Cake recipe in either extra large muffin tins, small loaf tins or tall cake rounds a bundt pan works nicely as there is lots of room for filling. You can use a box mix or something like this...
Cut the top inch off of cake and set aside. You could actually frost this part of the cake now, rather when it is re-assembled. It is easer to move around and there is less chance of jostling the filling this way.
Insert a small knife partially into the cake cutting a small well out of the center. Make sure not to cut all the way through the cake. Basically you're making a big bathtub shape here, something to hold the straw berry sauce in...
Pour the sauce into cake
Replace top on the cake
Cake is ready to serve. To get the full effect of surprise center you'll want to cut it in half with a very sharp knife. You'll want to serve this sooner rather than later since the cake will begin to absorb strawberry sauce. Sauce makes a great drink mixer too!