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Tag Archives: Chocolate
This weeks challenge was brought to us by Lyb of And then I do the dishes and she picked the cake that Dorie got fired over: the Chocolate Armagnac Cake.
I have to say right off, I am glad that Dorie got fired over the creation of this cake – it is FANTASTIC! Basically, Dorie got bored day in and day out of making the same thing and decided to get a little creative when making this cake, in the end she was fired for being creative! I love that! Not, that you lost your job, Dorie; but, the part about being creative and taking a chance.
The past couple of weeks I have made two incredibly dense chocolate cakes that require very little flour if any at all, which I find interesting as the texture is really amazingly light, so different from your tradition cake. This particular recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate and I used the deepest I could find, Scharffen Berger 70% as well it uses ground pecans. I did toast the pecans a bit before grinding which gave them a nice toasty and warm taste. As well we got to flambe prunes in Armagnac, this is the second recipe of Dorie’s that I have gotten to flambe and it is a very fun addition to your baking afternoon. Now you may be thinking to yourself, prunes in a cake? This addition made the cake incredibly moist. The cake is frosted with a simple glaze of more chocolate, very little sugar and butter.
This is a recipe that will become a fall back onto for us. It was ultra moist, dense, nice bite of deep bittersweet chocolate and not overly sweet. With the addition of prunes we like to think it is healthier for us as well, after all we all could use some fiber with our chocolate! It really is a fantastic recipe.
Be sure to check out all the other wonderful Tuesday With Dorie bakers!
A sinful flourless chocolate cake. This is the ultimate flourless chocolate cake; dense, but moist; rich with deep dark chocolate, but slightly sweet. This is an easy chocolate cake recipe to fall back on for last minute dessert ideas and it is gluten free.
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef and they picked a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge. The DB challenge rules were that we were suppose to make the cake, serve it with an ice cream or we could use another sauce of choice.
When I read about this challenge I knew that I would be able to come with at least three reasons to make this sinful cake, 1) my friend Evelyn’s birthday, 2) Valentine’s Day, or 3) my birthday. Guess what? I did not use any of those reasons to make it. I waited until the perfect rainy day last weekend and made it for no reason at all except pure indulgence!
Since we were going all out with sin for this dessert we used a pound of bittersweet Scharffen Berger Chocolate, if one is going to be bad, then one may as well be bad. The recipe is so simple. You melt butter with chocolate and then fold in yolks and whites that have been beaten stiff. I thought it was going to turn out souffle like, but it did not. It was dense but moist and so incredibly rich.
When I first read the recipe I had all sorts of plans for what kind of ice cream to serve with this cake, Vanilla Bean, Burnt Caramel or Cardamon. Then I switched to thoughts of sweet raspberries, which in turn went to sugary fruit sauces. The end result was a slightly sweet sauce I made out of some Marion Blackberries that I found in the frozen section of the market. They were so sweet that they really did not need any sugar and they went nicely with the ultra dark chocolate.
I loved this recipe and can definitely see it being a fall back on recipe. Especially for those last minute desserts as the ingredient list includes everything that is a staple in our house. Be sure to check out all of the other decadent Daring Bakers challenges today.
Recipe
Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated
Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.
Heather of Sherry Trifle is the Tuesday with Dorie (TWD) host this week and she picked a very refreshing dessert, the Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread. I have always thought about making gingerbread or gingerbread cookies with fresh ginger but never have. I am so glad Dorie created this recipe, it is really lovely.
The recipe calls for fresh ginger, dried ginger and stem ginger (I could not find so I used candied baking ginger) as well as cloves and cinnamon, lucky for us, I still had some of that lovely cinnamon bark so I used that. In addition to molasses (which I forgot how much I liked until I licked the spoon) there is melted bittersweet chocolate and pieces of chocolate mixed into the batter. I was suppose to frost the finished gingerbread with more chocolate but opted to keep it simple and on the light side. Overall, we like it as it is moist, spicy, light and really refreshing. Perfect after a nice meal or as a simple afternoon snack with a nice cup of espresso.
Thank you Heather for hosting!
This gingerbread is also the dessert for our Recession/Depression dinner series.
On our way home yesterday, Maggie (the littlest M of MEM) said that she wanted to make “real” cookies not “pretend” ones, when we got home. I could not think of a better idea for a rainy afternoon.
From the suggestion of Evelyn we decided to make the Barefoot Contessa Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe instead of my usual Toll House. It is similar to the traditional Toll House recipe, except there is more brown sugar and less granulated sugar and flour. Also, you use chunks instead of chips and you get to use lots of them! I have to say one can not go wrong with lots of butter, brown sugar and chocolate. The cookies were thinner and crispier, which makes for a better dunking cookie for that glass of milk or cup of coffee. Maggie, this was the perfect afternoon project for a rainy day!
Speaking of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, we had the honor of meeting her at the Fancy Food Show this past Monday. We talked to her for a bit and she even let us snap this picture. Ms. Garten was a delight. She is soft spoken and very sweet as well she seemed interested in what we are doing at Chez Us (maybe she was just being nice ); regardless it was fantastic to meet the woman who is hanging out with us in our pjs every Saturday morning!
Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs at room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/4 pounds semisweet chocolate chunks
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter with the mixer on low speed, mixing only until combined. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chunks.
Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4 inch- diameter ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Clara over at I Heart Food for Thought was our gracious host for this weeks Tuesday With Dorie (TWD) challenge and she choose Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes! I heart chocolate as well so I knew this would be a fun challenge for me. As well we had a birthday celebration to go to over at Bryan’s house and I knew this would be the perfect gift for his girlfriend, Erin.
The recipe was pretty simple, chocolate, flour, sugar and buttermilk, basically. In fact, it was so easy, that I kept reading through it thinking I had missed something. As with all of Dorie’s recipes, that I have made so far, it was true to the serving amounts – twelve cute little cupcakes.
Kept going back and forth on whether I should fill them or not. I really wanted too, but, I was not sure I would have time and I did not want to use store bought fluff. Right before the final step, I whipped up a batch of Dorie’s Marshmallows flavored with cardamon to use as my fluff! The finishing touch was a very deep bittersweet chocolate ganache topping with whimsical sprinkles! Very fun birthday celebration!
The end result: very easy recipe, great flavor but a bit on the dry side. I may try again before going back to my fall on cupcake recipe; but, I will add more buttermilk and bake a short amount of time.
Be sure to pour yourself a big glass of milk and head over to nosh on more cupcakes with the other TWD bakers!
Hey Hey Hey, it’s time for Donna! Hay Hay it’s Donna Day, is an event that was originally created by Barbara of Winos and Foodies and now has been taken over by the wonderful Bron Marshall. Alexandra, over at Addicted Sweet Tooth is hosting this month’s Hay Hay it’s Donna Day and lucky for all of us it is Tiramisu. The Italian classic Tiramisu translates into “Pick me up” or “Make me feel better” and after a long tiring day at work, we both needed this!
I remember the first time I had REALLY good Tiramisu, I was over in Rome. We were dining at a place behind the college laden stairs of the Spanish Steps, a hidden treasure, as we were told. This treasure was called Ristorante Alla Rampa and it turns out that they have quite the cult following. The highlight of the evening was when this slurpy cute waiter came out and announced that Tiramisu would be for dessert; not him! My friend, Sheena, loves the stuff and we were pretty excited to see him walking to our table with a huge bowl of Tiramisus. The best part, we could have as much as we wanted, a little scoop, a bowl of it or just leave the serving dish and we will do it good! This was the first time, the first real Italian Tiramisu and what a fond memory of the ultra creamy marscapone and chocolate, as it melts away on your tongue with every single bit……
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Warning: DO NOT eat before going to bed!
This weeks TWD challenge, spelled comfort! Melissa, over at Melissa’s Kitchen picked Chocolate pudding. As soon as I saw what our challenge was, it brought up all kinds of memories of childhood. Mind you back in those days, it basically was Jello brand pudding around our house, only. I use to love the creamiest of pudding, especially Chocolate and Banana, not necessarily together either. I loved it in a bowl, on a spoon, or in my mouth.
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and you all know what that means, Dorie Time! Due to busy schedules at work and taking a mini-vacation, I have not had a chance to par-take in the weekly baking club – my waist line is definitely Thanking Me! I was bummed to miss the last two weeks as we were making Madelines and Pecan Sticky Buns, two of our faves around the house.
Thank you to Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook for choosing an Outrageous recipe. Our challenge this week was French Chocolate Brownies – now one can not go wrong with Brownies! The recipe had a twist thrown in, raisins! Since I was giving this away to a non-raisin lover, I did leave them out and I added some bittersweet chocolate chips. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to a T and it is very straightforward and easy. The verdict …. Lenny said they are “crazy moist” and I have to agree, the moistest brownie I have ever had, at the same time the top is lightly crunchy and flaky.
Pour yourself a big cold glass of milk, grab a book or turn on a movie and sit back and eat yourself into a chocolate bliss, this is definitely ….Sinful!
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