Flourless Chocolate Cake

Tags

baking, Cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, flourless chocolate cake, food, recipe, recipes

There are few things greater in life than chocolate. So naturally chocolate cake is my favorite kind of cake. But what even tops the traditional chocolate birthday cake is a rich, dense, buttery, moist flourless chocolate cake.

So I decided to make this cake for Chris’s birthday this past weekend. And man. Oh man. Was this good.

Flourless Chocolate Cake (Adapted from Martha Stewart)

Serves 8 (if you’re lucky)

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 8 oz semisweet, bittersweet OR milk chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips)
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• Confectioners’ sugar for dusting and/or whipped cream for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Place butter and chocolate in a double boiler. Stir until completely melted. Set aside and let it cool until warm, but not hot anymore. Then whisk in the egg yolks.
3. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until glossy stiff peaks form. Whisk 1/4 cup of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture; then gently fold in remaining egg whites.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and is set in the center, 50 minutes to 1 hour. (I adjusted my oven temp to 300 for the last 10 minutes because it was not set yet at 50.) Cool completely on a wire rack. Remove sides of pan and serve. Or place in the fridge and serve it the next day (can be reheated in the microwave).

My Two Cents: First of all, this is very rich. So it’s not for the light of heart, or those concerned about their cholesterol or thighs.

Second, this takes some work, and I don’t recommend making this unless you have electric beaters or a stand mixer. Whipping egg whites by hand would probably be a nightmare, which is why I’ve never tried doing them that way. Also, fun fact—this was the first time I ever whipped egg whites. And they came out perfect! Hooray! Ruby Red made it possible, and easy.

Third, chocolate type. I went to my cupboard thinking I had semisweet chocolate chips in there. But the bag I had was milk chocolate. I briefly debated whether or not to go to the store and buy the right type of chocolate that the recipe stated, but laziness set in, so I decided to use milk chocolate chips. I also didn’t weigh them, but did the ghetto thing of laying the 11.5 oz bag of chocolate chips flat and cutting the bag where I thought 8 oz should be. Laugh if you will, but my method worked. And I actually really liked the milk chocolate in place of semi/bittersweet. It wasn’t as dense or as rich as past flourless chocolate cakes, but I assure you, it was so. good.

Fourth, it’s really really really hard to have just one, or even just two pieces. That’s why I said you’ll get 8 servings out of this if you’re lucky. Because you won’t be. Chris and I are on day 2 of this cake, and it’s more than half gone. (Wedding dress? Who said I have to fit into a wedding dress….)

Have fun, good luck, and happy eating

Cake Balls

Tags

baking, Cake, cake balls, dessert, food, fun, improvising, recipes

Every once in a while you have to improvise.

Last week Chris and I threw an engagement party to celebrate our upcoming marriage (only 1 year away!). He volunteered to go get beer and wine. I stayed behind, rolled up my sleeves, preheated the oven, and decided to make two very simple things for our guests: cake and cookies. I even sinned a little and bought a cake mix. Because it was 7 PM the night before the party, and I didn’t feel like slaving over the stove for more than 2 hours.

I started with the cake. I whipped it up, threw it in the pan (it was only a one layer cake), and popped it in the oven. Took it out, let it cool a little, then turned it upside down to shake out the cake.

Shake it out…

….sh…dang….it.

It was stuck. Very stuck. Not just like a little piece of the bottom of the cake was left on the pan. It was like my Pam had suddenly transformed into super glue and was holding onto my cake for dear life. So I sighed, starting humming tunes to the Sound of Music (because how can those songs not make you happy?) and scraped the cake into a bowl. I furrowed my brow and thought, “Well, hey, this isn’t so bad. I’ll just make a trifle…or something?) And admist my flustered cake failure, I posted on Facebook that people were going to get a trifle, not a cake at the party.

Then it was Amanda to the rescue, who piped up and said “Why not make cake balls?”

She’s my friend for many reasons, this being one of them.

So I took my crumbled cake, whipped up some frosting, and made some cake balls. And they were a hit! If your cake ever sticks to the pan, this is one easy solution to the problem.

Cake Balls

Makes 30 cake balls

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg cake mix (mine was for a single layer cake)
• 1 can of frosting (or 1 recipe of your favorite frosting)
• 1 bag melting chocolate (I only had chocolate chips, so I used both white and semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Bake the cake according to package directions. Let cool. Then crumble into a large bowl. Add the frosting and mix. You may need to use your hands for this.

2. Form the mixture into individual balls, then place them on a pan lined with parchment paper. Stick in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably overnight. If you’re pressed for time, you can also stick them in the freezer.

3. Melt your chocolate according to package directions. Dip the balls into the chocolate to coat (using either a toothpick or a spoon). Place back on parchment paper. Place in fridge overnight and take out the next day when it’s time to serve them.

My Two Cents: This recipe is so versatile. Funfetti your favorite cake? Do it. Strawberry? That sounds fun. You can make cream cheese frosting, buttercream, regular vanilla sugar, or whatever exciting frosting recipes you have up your sleeve. Alternately you can use your favorite canned frosting.The possibilities are endless.

I highly recommend using melting chocolate for this. Chocolate chips don’t melt very well, so the cake balls end up being a little clumpier–and you end up with a more chocolatey coating. But hey, this wasn’t my application to pastry school, and if you’re in a pinch, they’ll work.

Have fun! These are great for parties

Blue Velvet Cake?

Tags

baking, birthday, birthday cake, blue velvet cake, Cake, dessert, food, recipe, recipes

Ah, cake. You are so beautiful. You with your luscious cream cheese frosting, pretty piping, and blue velvetiness inside…

What’s that?

You’re not blue!?

What happened!

Okay. So even though this “blue” velvet cake turned out more turquoise, it was still delicious. I made this for mother’s day this past weekend (also a joint birthday party for me and my sister. Yes, I make my own birthday cakes! Who doesn’t??) I was inspired to go the non-traditional route for a birthday cake for several reasons.

a.) My older sister requested a red velvet cake instead of chocolate.

b.) My younger sister got a new blue car this past weekend.

So I combined the two and came up with blue velvet cake. This should be easy! Simply take a red velvet cake recipe and replace the red food coloring with blue. Everyone will be so impressed over my baking skills!

Instead, my two brothers relentlessly made fun of me, laughing over my “moldy” cake and my unsuccessful attempts at making it blue.

Oh well Everyone ate it anyway.

Blue Velvet Cake (This is the same as my Red Velvet Cupcake recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3-4 tbsp blue food coloring
• 1 tsp white distilled vinegar
• 1 tsp baking soda

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
• 2-3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter two 9 inch cake pans.

2. In mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside.

3. With an electric mixer, beat butter until soft and then add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.

4. Measure out the buttermilk in a measure cup and mix in the blue food coloring. NOTE: As you can see, I did not use enough blue food coloring here. If you don’t add enough, the blue mixed with the brown cocoa powder will turn a weird green color. I recommend adding more blue food coloring, or purple if you can find it. You want the buttermilk mixture to be extra extra dark. Alternately, you can also add more food coloring as necessary to the batter.

5. With mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter/sugar mixture.

6. In a small cup, combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

7. Spread evenly in cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the pan. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

8. For frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese for 3 minutes until smooth.

10. Add vanilla and mix. Slowly add the confectioners sugar until you get desired sweetness and thickness. Frost your cooled cake!

My Two Cents: Regardless of the color, this cake is DELICIOUS. If you don’t want to risk the odd green color you see here, either add more blue or go with the traditional red velvet cake (2 tbsp of red food coloring).

Good luck! I hope your cake comes out blue!

Devil’s Food Cake

Tags

baked goods, baking, Cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, dessert, food, recipes

If I had a good excuse to bake cakes every day, I think I would.

My family had a birthday party for my parents the other day, and I was asked to bake the cake. I immediately whipped out my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and flipped to the cake section.

Spice cake? nah. German chocolate cake? My family isn’t too fond of coconut…  White? Boring, we’re more of a chocolate family.

Devil’s food cake?

Yes.

oh yes.

And a Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting to top it off? Double yes.

I tabbed the page with a sticky note, eagerly awaiting Saturday afternoon when I could smell this slice of heaven rising in the oven.

Devil’s Food Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups cold water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 inch round pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and grease the parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Add the flour mixture and the water alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until combined. Pour evenly into greased pans.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Cool the cakes in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from rack and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan or double boiler melt the chocolate and butter over low heat stirring frequently until butter and chocolate are melted. Cool for 5 minutes.

2. Stir in the sour cream to the chocolate, then gradually add the powdered sugar, beating with an electric mixer until the frosting is smooth and easy to spread.

3. Store the frosted cake in the refrigerator.

My Two Cents: I’ve found that you really cannot go wrong with cake recipes in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. They always rise to perfection, have just the right amount of moisture, and taste amazing. If you don’t have this cookbook, go out and buy it–it’s a great staple cookbook to have around.

This cake actually turned out bigger than I expected, which is a wonderful thing. I’ve made many a box cake in my day, and the height of this 9 inch cake compared to a box mix 9 inch cake was crazy. Look at that piece. Fat and wonderful.

The chocolate sour cream frosting was the perfect addition to this cake. I love pairing frostings with cakes and cupcakes, and I love making frostings that are beyond just powdered sugar and shortening/butter. Sour cream adds a distinct kick.

Also, I’d like to note that this cake was gone by the end of the night.

Enjoy!

Rich Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte

Tags

baking, brownie, Cake, chocolate, food, fudgy, peanut butter, recipes, torte

Warning: This dessert is not for the light of heart. Also, it will ruin any diet you are on. Luckily I have a hard heart, and am not on a diet (yet).

I made this for the Soup Swap I went to this past Sunday. I volunteered to provide the dessert. I was browsing my bookmarks for inspiration and saw this beauty from My Baking Addiction. And after drooling over the pictures, I knew I had to make it.

Also, make sure you have a large glass of milk on hand, and be sure not to take TOO big of a slice. It will paralyze you.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte: (From My Baking Addiction)

Ingredients:

Brownie Layers:

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 15 mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, chopped

Filling:

• 1/4 cup peanut butter, warmed for easy spreading

Peanut Butter Ganache

• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar (plus more if needed for desired thickness)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• chocolate chips and chopped peanut butter cups for decoration

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round pans and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. Combine the melted butter and cocoa in a large mixing bowl and stir until cocoa is dissolved.

3. Add sugar, 1/4 cup at a time and mix well after each addition. Add eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Stir in vanilla, flour, and salt and combine just  until the flour is no longer visible. Fold in chopped peanut butter cups and divide evenly between the two pans.

4. Bake for 25 minutes or until the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, place one layer on a cake dish.

5. Spread the warmed 1/4 cup of peanut butter (microwave for 20-30 seconds) over the first layer.

6. Then make the ganache: Combine 3 tbsp of peanut butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and cream in a small bowl. If the ganache is too runny, add more confectioners sugar until it reaches your desired thickness. Pour the glaze on top of the cake and allow to drip over the sides. Decorate with chocolate chips and chopped peanut butter cups.

7. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

My Two Cents: This torte was almost like fudge. I thought it would be a mixture of a fudgy brownie and moist cake, but after I left it overnight in the fridge, it solidified into basically a huge hunk of fudge. And trust me, that’s not a bad thing, at all. But it is really really rich.

The chopped up peanut butter cups in the center of the cake were pretty fantastic. The mini cups or the regular sized cups will work for this recipe–and you don’t have to use the name brand. They added a rich flavor to this already immensely rich dessert.

Ummm…I don’t know what else I can say about this except….enjoy

Yellow Cake with Rich Buttercream Frosting

Tags

buttercream frosting, Cake

White on white? I’m more of a chocolate on chocolate and chocolate person myself. But this yellow cake with buttercream frosting was exceptional. If you can’t each chocolate (or for some godforsaken reason don’t like it), this is one cake you have to try.

Yellow Cake: (I found this on www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch pans.

2. Cream together the shortening and the sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk. Then pour evenly into the pans.

4. Bake 35-40 minutes or until the cake is done. (Test by inserting a toothpick in the center–if it comes out clean, it’s done.)

5. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack. While they’re cooking, make the buttercream frosting.

Buttercream Frosting: (This recipe is originally from The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Whisk flour into milk in a small saucepan. Heat the mixture, stirring constantly until it thickens. Remove from the heat and let it cool. Stir in vanilla.

2. While the flour mixture is cooling, cream butter and sugar together in a separate bowl. Then add the cooled mixture to the butter. Beat until it resembles whipped cream.

3. Frost the cake!

My observations: Make sure you check your cakes when they are cooking around the 35 minute mark. The original directions said 45 minutes,  but mine were done very early for some reason. You don’t want them to burn! Also, make sure you stir the flour and milk constantly without stopping, otherwise you won’t get a stiff enough mixture to spread on the cake. And FYI, I beat the butter and flour mixture together for a good 5-7 minutes before it resembled whipped cream. So make sure you make that with a mixer–no way this is happening by hand.

Enjoy! Everyone loved it!! I got stuck with the leftovers and had to freeze it to prevent myself  from eating it all.