Chocolate Walnut Ruffle Cake

Last Sunday, I was possessed by a baking demon. It took hold of me around 3:30 in the afternoon and didn't release its death-grip until 10:30 at night.

That's how long it took me to make this next cake. Just about.

It's another of my attempts to make a pretty cake with fancy decorating techniques, and it turned out semi-well (and delicious) despite major obstacles on the way. But I'm sure real pastry chefs would laugh at my chocolate ruffle attempt. I promise myself that I will try this recipe again a few times in the future--actually try perfecting a recipe instead of just doing it once and moving on.

Here it is, in all its complexity: Chocolate Walnut Ruffle Cake from Shirley O. Corriher's "Cookwise."

Chocolate Walnut Ruffle Cake:

Ingredients:

-Nonstick cooking spray with flour, or 1 T shortening and 1 T flour, to grease pan
-5 T butter
-1 c packed light brown sugar
-1/4 c vegetable oil
-1/4 c light corn syrup
-6 large egg yolks
-1 1/4 c cake flour [I actually found this! I'd never been able to find cake flour in my big chain grocery store, then, a couple trips ago, I noticed it in a cardboard box like a cake mix box.]
-2 T cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process [or normal cocoa powder with a pinch of baking soda]
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 carton (8 ounces) sour cream
-7 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, such as Hershey's King Size Special Dark [what I used, definitely the cheapest], Lindt, or Tobler, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
-1/4 c light cream or half-and-half
-2 tsp vanilla extract
*Roasted Walnut Butter Filling (see below)
*Chocolate Ribbons (see below)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan with a parchment circle and spray with nonstick spray with flour, or grease by rubbing the pan with shortening, shaking the pan with 1 tablespoon flour, and shaking out the excess.
2. Cream butter and sugar with whisk beater on low to medium speed for 5 minutes in mixer bowl, scraping down the sides at least once. Beat in the oil and corn syrup. Beat in egg yolks. Scrape down the sides.
3. Using a sifter or two large bowls and a large strainer, sift flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt three times to mix thoroughly. [Confession: I just stirred it well with a whisk.]
4. Add half of dry mixture to mixer bowl and beat on low for 20 seconds. Add sour cream and beat to blend in well. Add the rest of the dry mixture and beat to blend in well, about 10 seconds.
5. Heat 1 1/2 inches of water to a biol in a large skillet, then remove from the heat and let stand 3 to 4 minutes. Place chocolate and cream in a metal bowl and place the bowl in skillet of hot water. Stir constantly with a plastic spatula and remove the bowl from the water when most of the chocolate is melted. When the chocolate is completely melted, beat it and the vanilla into the batter until well mixed, 5 to 10 seconds, scraping down the sides once. Pour the batter into the pan, level with a spatula, and drop the pan from 2 to 3 inches above the counter onto the counter to level and remove bubbles from the batter. [I loved that part!]
6. Place on a shelf in the middle of the oven and bake 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted an inch from the center comes out clean. Place on a cooling rack and cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto the cooling rack. Cool completely.
7. Slice cake horizontally into three equal layers. Place the former top layer, cut side up, on a cake cardboard (or a 9-inch cardboard circle covered with foil) [I used the bottom of a spring-form pan]. Reserve 1/2 cup ganache in a measuring cup and set aside. Spoon and spread with about 1/4 cup ganache. Let it sit 1 to 2 minutes to soak in a little. Spoon on half of the nut butter in tablespoon-size dabs dotted all over the layer. With a spatula that was dipped in hot water and dried, spread dabs onto the layer. Top with middle layer. Spread it with ganache and nut butter just as before, then top with bottom layer, cut side down. Glaze top and sides with ganache, spreading as needed with a large cake spatula.
8. Let the cake sit for 30 minutes in a cool place to set the glaze. Heat reserved ganache in the microwave for 30 seconds or a small saucepan over low heat just to thin. Strain ganache through a medium strainer. Now pour strained ganache on top of cake and tilt to spread. Do not touch with a spatula.
9. Flute a circle of chocolate ribbon into a ruffle circle with the outer edge slightly larger than the cake and arrange on the cake. Make two or three progressively smaller ruffle circles and arrange on the cake. Serve at room temperature.


Modeling Chocolate:
Chop 10 ounces good semisweet chocolate and melt it very carefully--break or chop it into 1-inch or smaller pieces first and then process in a food processor with a steel knife until finely chopped. Then melt it either with a double boiler (very careful not to let the steam get to the chocolate) or in the microwave at 50 percent power, being sure to stir several times while it is heating. When chocolate is melted, stir in 1/3 cup corn syrup. Chocolate will tighten but still be a soft dough. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let stand refrigerated overnight. The modeling chocolate is now ready to shape into forms or ribbons.

After refrigerating, chocolate will be rock-hard but will become pliable when it warms up. Warm under a gooseneck lamp or by working with your fingers. If it is very hard, soften it with a 10-second burst in the microwave on Low (30 percent). If the dough gets too soft, let it stand to harden. When the dough is pliable, roll a 3-inch-long cylinder between your hand and the counter. Flatter into a thick ribbon. Roll this thick ribbon thin between sheets of wax paper with a rolling pin or, without the wax paper, in a pasta machine. [Who actually owns one of those?] Use the ribbon to create bows, ruffles, and other elaborate decorations. When left uncovered, the ruffles or bows harden into firm shapes that hold well. [On my first try, I didn't get mine nearly thin enough. I had run out of time, so I just made some super-chunky ruffles. But I want to do it again some time and do it right!]

Ganache Glaze:
1 pound good-quality semisweet chocolate, such as Hershey's King Size Special Dark, Lindt, or Tobler, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons corn syrup

1. Process chocolate in the food processor with the steel knife to chop fine.
2. In a heavy saucepan, carefully bring cream to a boil. Watch constantly. Let simmer for 1 minute. Pour the hot cream into a medium mixing bowl that has a wide surface. Let cool about 4 minutes. Sprinkle chopped chocolate over the entire surface. Start stirring in the middle, blending the melted chocolate and cream together. Stir steadily until all the chocolate is melted and blended. Stir in the corn syrup. [I also had ganache troubles. It was too thin and was falling off faster than I could put it on. Maybe I should have let it thicken in the fridge for a while before putting it on. I tried to beat it in the mixer to thicken it, and it lightened the color, so when I put the extra glaze on, it was different looking. But it still tasted good...]

Roasted Walnut Butter Filling:
1 pound walnuts, chopped
3 tablespoons and 4 tablespoons butter (7 total), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
pinch salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread the walnuts on a large baking sheet and roast until lightly browned, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir in 3 tablespoons butter and the salt while walnuts are hot. Let stand until no longer hot to the touch. Process the walnuts and 4 tablespoons butter in the food processor with the steel knife with quick on/off pulses until the nuts are just short of butter.

Rocky Mountain Caramel Apples

This year was the third time we've made Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory-style caramel apples with our friends the Felts for Halloween.


This year we had four couples there, we tried all new apple ideas, and we enjoyed the fruits (and candies) of our labors while watching "Arsenic and Old Lace."


This is a fun and easy treat--infinitely customizable. We always love dipping in caramel, then melted white chocolate, then crushed oreos. A favorite new one from this year was caramel, melted white or milk chocolate, then crushed graham cracker crust with cinnamon.


Basically, dip it in caramel, dip it in some kind of chocolate, and dip it in whatever other yummy thing you please--reese's pieces, chopped peanuts/pecans/walnuts, etc.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake--GRADUATION Cake!

I made this super-moist chocolate zucchini cake for a graduation cake for Jeff. It's from a recipe from our friend Matt Lambert's girlfriend, Adeline Zensius (awesome name, eh?).

Here's the directions Adeline sent me:

Mix in small bowl:
2 c flour
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2/3 c cocoa

Combine:
4 eggs
2 c sugar
1 1/2 c oil
2 T vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet, then add:

4 c grated zucchini (press it in a strainer to get out the excess liquid)
1/2 c mini chocolate chips (you can leave these out if you don't have 'em)

350 for 40-45 minutes for 2 nine inch rounds

So, the best thing to do when you bake it is to grease a piece of round parchment paper and place it at the bottom of each of the cake pans. I didn't do that last time and it wasn't pretty :)

I just did a chocolate ganache on top and chocolate powdered sugar frosting in the middle.

Also, to be honest, I like this recipe better as cupcakes... and you can also double it for sheet cake, I believe.

I think he liked it.

Lemon-Almond Pound Cake... and 3 more yummies

My Mom made this Lemon-Almond Pound Cake for Easter, and while we weren't there for that dinner, she loved it so much she passed the recipe along. We made it for a dinner with some new friends, and it was amazing. (Sadly, this one time in years that I've made something with poppyseeds, one of our guests was allergic to poppyseeds...) Plus (as with another recipe in this post), I was just so proud of it because it turned out so pretty. Jeff can attest to my stopping in front of the cake several times a day before we ate it to croon to it, "You're so beautiful. I love you!"

Here's how to make it. Not too tricky, though it's hard to find the almond paste. You'll need to go to a big store like Safeway/Smith's--and it has to be a big one. Mom says to make sure to break the almond paste up really well when you blend it--break it in pieces with your hands as you put it in.


This also gave us a chance to test our food-reservation system. One time, Jeff and I were joking about how if there's something in the fridge I don't want him to eat, I should put a hat on it to mark it as saved. I thought he was joking, but when I said to save the leftover cake for dinner with the missionaries, here's what I found on the counter.



For a fast and easy treat, try Baked Bananas. Super simple. I heard about it from a preschool grandma, and found a recipe online here.

Here is how to make the dessert:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Put 2 unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes until the skins are dark.Take them out,let it cool.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup light brown sugar in a pan with 3 tbsp of water, and boil until the sugar dissolves.
3. Turn down the heat and add 2-3 tbsp of heavy cream and cook until you get thick toffee colored sauce. Remove from the heat.
4. Transfer the baked bananas in their skin and split them lengthwise, each into two with a serrated knife.
5. place them on a plate, pour some of the toffee sauce over the bananas.
6. Serve with 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream. You can sprinkle some toasted walnuts on top as well. To eat, scoop the cooked Banana with a spoon along with some sauce and Ice cream and enjoy!:))

NY Times Best Chocolate Chip Cookies:

We made these for the Browns when they visited. Definitely a great way to impress. It's all about using fancy ingredients (so they're 'spensive cookies) plus the essential 24 + hours of "ripening" in the fridge.

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons

(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.

This last one I'll just share the picture for because I'm proud of myself. It's a basic Carrot-Zucchini bar (with yummy citrus cream cheese frosting!) from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. But look how pretty! (despite the dark picture) The secret: I cut it all slanty-wise. This also made for delicious extra edges for me and Jeff to finish off (Me: "Jeff! Help!" Jeff: "What! How can I help?" Me: "Look at these ugly extra pieces! What will we do?" Jeff: "I will dispose of these.").

Cranberry Fest

I had a leftover can of cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving that I was dying to use, so I went to oceanspray.com to look up recipes. This led me to a couple really delicious ones. The first is quick and easy. The second was pretty time consuming--though scrumptious and beautiful!--but I invented a casserole version that is much easier and just as good.

CRANBERRY ROAST CHICKEN AND SWEET POTATOES

I already love sweet potatoes (Though maybe what I really love is yams, because that's what I always end up buying. The canned kind say they're the same thing. Are they?), and the cranberry sauce makes this dish so sweet and comfort food-y.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound sweet potatoes, thinly sliced
4 bone-in chicken breast halves (about 2 1/4 lbs.)
1 14-ounce can Ocean Spray® Whole Berry or Jellied Cranberry Sauce
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Rinse potatoes; pat dry. Place potatoes evenly in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Place chicken on top. Whisk remaining ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl. Pour mixture evenly over chicken and potatoes.

Bake uncovered for 50 minutes or until chicken is cooked throughout and potatoes are tender.

Makes 4 servings.


BIG GAME CRANBERRY SAUSAGE-STUFFED APPLES

The combo of sweet cranberry and apple with savory sausage and cheese is really delicious and unique in this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

8 large Granny Smith apples
8 ounces sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup Ocean Spray® Cran•Apple™ Cranberry Apple Juice Drink
2 cups Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped plus 16 whole berries
1 large egg, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Slice off 1 inch from top of each apple. Core apples, but do not go through bottom. Scoop out remaining apple flesh, leaving 1/4-inch shell. Chop scooped apple flesh.

Cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat, stirring to crumble, until no longer pink. Add onion and chopped apples; cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until onion is softened. Add juice drink, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of skillet. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Add chopped cranberries, egg, brown sugar, parsley, thyme and 1 cup cheese; mix well. Fill apple shells with stuffing. Sprinkle tops with remaining cheese and the walnuts. Top each with 2 whole cranberries. Place apples in large baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

Casserole directions: I used four Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped, and I doubled the sausage to a pound. I used a mixture of cranberry sauce and craisins instead of the whole and chopped berries (since I couldn't find cranberries in the store out of season). I added an egg for extra stick-together power. Extra walnuts are also nice. Besides that, the directions are the same. But instead of filling apples, just mix all ingredients in a bowl (reserving 1/2 cup cheese and walnuts for top), place in a greased 9x13 pan, top with extra cheese and walnuts, and bake 20-30 minutes.

Yellow Food

I tried to think of some uniting theme for this post, and yellow is what I came up with. I got requests on my last main blog post, Julia Child-ing, for the recipes for the Lemon-Ginger Ice Cream and for Julia's omelettes.

The "Low-Fat Lemon-Ginger Ice Cream" is super easy. You just need an ice cream maker.


Ingredients:

3/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
2 large cartons (16 oz) nonfat sour cream
1 carton (8 oz) nonfat or low-fat lemon yogurt
3 T. light corn syrup (I used honey)
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
Finely grated zest of 1 1/2 lemons
3 T. minced candied ginger

Directions:

Push the brown sugar through a large-mesh strainer to remove lumps (I didn't have one, so I skipped this step, and it was fine). Place the brown sugar, sour cream, yogurt, corn syrup, salt, vanilla, zest, and ginger in a blender or food processor and process for several seconds to blend well. Chill the mixture for 10 minutes in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator (I didn't have one of these either, so I skipped this step, and it was fine). Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.


Omelette a la Julia Child


For Julia Child's omelettes (I found someone else's pretty picture since I didn't like mine), I refer you to the master herself. It's very simple, it just takes a little practice to do the shaking and flipping of the pan. She recommends practicing with a pan full of dry beans and trying to get them to flip over on themselves. The main differences between this method and my family's traditional method are heat (high instead of med/low) and time (30-50 seconds instead of a couple of minutes). We had to deal with underdone egg the first couple times we tried, but the light, fluffy omelette that results from getting it right is worth the practice.

Julia Child Brownies, a.k.a. Chocolate Heaven

I first had these brownies at a book club a couple of weeks ago. We were discussing Julia Child's autobiography, "My Life in France" (and, as is the highly entertaining habit of this book club, by "discussing," I mean that after about an hour of talking, we mentioned the book and chatted about it for 10 minutes or so before returning to other topics). They were divine, and I almost killed myself by eating three or four of them.

Here is a link to the recipe. And here's a quote from the site to whet your appetite:

"Those who are passionate about brownies argue in defense of their favorite type, cakey or fudgey. If you're a cakey fan, go on to another recipe. These are the epitome of soft, dark baked-just-until-barely-set brownies. Their creamy texture makes them seem wildly luxurious and very much a treat to be meted out in small servings (just small enough for a scoop of ice cream and some chocolate sauce). The mixing method is unorthodox for a brownie. Half of an egg-sugar mixture is stirred into the melted chocolate and butter, while the other half is whipped until it thickens and doubles in volume. The lightened eggs are folded into the chocolate with a delicate touch, as are the dry ingredients--tricks that enhance the brownies' lovely texture."


I baked them for about 30 minutes, and they were definitely fudgey. As you can see, some of them are still oozing chocolatey goodness. Personally, I loved them that way. But I also loved them the way I had them at the book club, which were a little more cooked. I'm guessing the baker that time followed the review recommendations on the site and baked them 40-50 minutes instead of 25. I think these are my favorite brownies now. And I'm never going back to the boxed kind! (Unless I'm feeling exceptionally lazy...)