It’s been a while since I made this cake for Chris’ birthday about a month ago, and the pictures have been sitting around on the computer while I got busy with other things, such as cooking live shrimp and making this olive [...]]]>

It’s been a while since I made this cake for Chris’ birthday about a month ago, and the pictures have been sitting around on the computer while I got busy with other things, such as cooking live shrimp and making this olive bread.  But as it is pouring today and I have no excuse to procrastinate any longer, I thought I’d share my go-to chocolate cake recipe with you all.

This chocolate cake is simple, easy to make, and bakes into two delightfully moist, chocolatey layers that are not too sweet and quite possibly the best chocolate cake EVER!  And guess what?  It comes from the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa Powder box.  I kid you not.  But hey, that recipe has been on that box for ages, and you know why?  Cause it’s a classic, that’s why.

The secret to the dark moist chocolate layers is, in my opinion, “blooming” the cocoa powder in boiling water.  This seems to release the intense flavors of the chocolate and makes the texture of the cake silky and moist.  Basically, you mix together all the components of the cake, then stir in boiling water at the end and pour the runny batter into two 8-inch round cake pans.

I iced the cake with the accompanying “Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting”, which is an easy version of buttercream that uses melted butter, making it easy to mix by hand.  However, I found that the frosting hardened a little too quickly and I would have liked it to be creamier.  Next time I might make a ganache frosting with melted chocolate and heavy cream, like this one from David Lebovitz.

I pressed some chopped pistachios onto the sides of the cake after it was iced.

Click here to find the recipe for Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake and Frosting.

Although I love baking, I rarely make brownies from scratch, much to the chagrin of my chocolate loving sweetheart. But it’s easy to see why, right? Betty Crocker does such a better job than me. Why mess with a good thing, when [...]]]>

Although I love baking, I rarely make brownies from scratch, much to the chagrin of my chocolate loving sweetheart. But it’s easy to see why, right? Betty Crocker does such a better job than me. Why mess with a good thing, when brownie mixes are as close as you can get to brownie perfection?

But fortunately for me, living in China means that I have no access to brownie mix. Well, okay I’m exaggerating. I do, but brownie mixes are expensive and you have to go to Metro, a 45-minute bus ride away, to get them. So making brownies from scratch became the more attractive alternative the other night and I hopped on Allrecipes.com and got this recipe for “Rich Chocolate Brownies”. And I’m so glad I did.

If you like super-fudgy brownies, you might want to tweak this recipe a little bit (try omitting the baking powder and/or reducing the baking time). This recipe makes a brownie somewhere between cakey and fudgy. We found they got a little moister and fudgier and were at their peak the day after they were baked.

Chocolate Brownies
From Allrecipes.com

To cut down on the saturated fat, I substituted vegetable oil for the melted butter originally called for in the recipe.  If you’re planning to put icing on your brownies, reduce the sugar to 1 cup.

1 ¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup oil
½ cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and oil together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients (flour, cocoa, bp, and salt). Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together until smooth. Pour into a buttered 8 or 9-inch square baking pan.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until edges of brownies are just starting to pull away from sides of the pan. Cool and serve.

Mmm. Pie.

Have you seen “Waitress” yet? If not, go and rent the DVD or something. If you love pies, you’ll love this cute little romantic comedy.

Keri Russell (I love her – in my eyes she can do no wrong) is Jenna, a [...]]]>

Mmm. Pie.

Have you seen “Waitress” yet? If not, go and rent the DVD or something. If you love pies, you’ll love this cute little romantic comedy.

Keri Russell (I love her – in my eyes she can do no wrong) is Jenna, a waitress with a cute Southern accent at a diner in the deep South. She spends her days dreaming up and making all sorts of unique pies, when she finds out, horror of horrors, that she is pregnant and can therefore never hope to escape her controlling lout of a husband.

The movie follows Jenna through her pregnancy, a secret love affair, and a girl-power ending, but my favorite parts are when Jenna makes her pies. Keri Russell in a ruffly apron stirring a smooth chocolate ganache over a vintage stove in a pastel tinted kitchen has me channeling my inner 50’s domestic goddess and has got me a-hankering after a good ol’ slice of pie myself.

And even aside from the mouthwatering pies, it’s a good movie. It’s a light-hearted, offbeat, sometimes kitschy romantic comedy with some funny parts and just a few serious moments, and it does that well.

Anyway, inspired by “Waitress”, I made this dark chocolate pudding pie. It’s really easy, but impressive for company (or for a chocolate-loving hubby, perhaps?), and stirring that creamy chocolate filling as it thickened over the stove made even ME feel like a blue ribbon winner!

The dark chocolate pudding filling is smooth and creamy, though a bit sweet – I might cut down on the sugar next time.  Oh, and use the best quality chocolate you can afford.  It makes a difference.

Mmm.  Top it with some whipped cream, if you’re not a WUSS!

Look, modern art!  An installment piece depicting the ennui of modern life springing from the unbridled gluttony of our overindulgent population.  Hey, that might work!  Think I can sell it for a million bucks?  Oops, too late.  Already washed the dishes.

Dark Chocolate Pie
Bon Appetit Jan 2009

1 piecrust (premade or your favorite all-butter pie crust)

2 ¼ cups of whole milk
6 egg yolks
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tsp cornstarch
4 ounces (about 100g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 tbsp unsalted butter (though I only had salted and it worked fine)

Bake the piecrust at 350 F, lined with foil and with pie weights for about 10 minutes, then another 10-15 minutes without foil and pie weights, until lightly browned and cooked through. Let cool.

Heat 2 cups of milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and ¼ cup milk.

Gradually pour the hot milk into the chocolate mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the chocolate milk mixture back into the saucepan and set over medium heat. Add the chopped chocolate and butter and stir until melted. Heat chocolate mixture, stirring constantly, until it thickens and begins to boil.

Pour chocolate filling into cooled pie crust. Refrigerate (uncovered) until set, about 4 hours. Decorate if you want with little leaves made from excess pie dough.