Dark Chocolate Pear Cake

This cake was fairly simple to make, with truly delightful results! I made two- one that we could try to make sure it was good, and when it was, one for the restaurant.

I followed this recipe from Smitten Kitchen again..

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/bittersweet-chocolate-and-pear-cake/

pouring the batter into the springform pan

Sprinkling the top with pears and chocolate

The cake rises up over the fruit and chocolate, moist and sweet.

I really need a sugar duster.

It's best served warm. Whipped cream or ice cream complete the look.

BBA Ciabatta Bread

This is good bread.

BUT-

This bread broke my mixer.

At least, it makes a funny noise now, and it won't blend anything thick. I certainly hope that when I sent in to receive the rebate, I was also registering for the warranty.

I sound calm, but I am devastated.

Anyway, I made the Cibatta bread from the Bread Baker's Apprentice book, and I am pleased with the flavor and it rose the way it was supposed to.

I baked the first loaf directly on the stone on the lowest rack in the oven, and I would not recommend that as it burned the bottom of the loaf. The second loaf, I baked it on a sheet on the stone in the middle of the oven and it turned out nicely.

This recipe involved several risings and folding the dough "letter style" between risings.

Golden brown loaves...I always forget to slash my loaves.

stupid mixer.

The cupcakes that weren't.

I have this amazing Roald Dahl Cookbook, written by his wife after he died. It's recipes are all lovingly illustrated by Quentin Blake, and are fun to look at, even if they don't sound very good. (Snozzcumbers? Mosquito Toes? Not good in the original books, not good in real life.)

HOWEVER, there IS a recipe for Boris Bogtrotter's Chocolate Cake from the book Matilda. In the story, Bruce gets caught sneaking a piece of cake belonging to the terrifying headmistress Miss Trunchbull, who is best known for shot-putting kids by their hair. His punishment? Eat an entire chocolate cake in front of the school assembly- and not just any cake- a 2 ft diameter, dense, seductive chocolate cake. Good for Bruce, he ate it all.

I made the cake once in college, and I remember it being lovely, though now that I think about it, not very stable.

And for some reason, I decided I would use this recipe as cupcakes and then fill them with different fillings- aztec gold ganache, caramel and peanut butter cream.

I also decided I'd add a bit of baking soda to give it some rising power.

Oh, and then I decided to overfill the cupcake papers.

So this is what I got:

SUPERBLY delicious, but not cupcake-like at all. Eric sat down and ate 4 and was heading for a 5th before I pointed out (kindly, I might add) that just because they are sunken doesn't mean there isn't just as much cupcake batter in each one.

I'd say this cake is worth a shot, though maybe not the way I made it.

Here is the original recipe:

8 oz good quality semisweet chocolate

1.5 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 c plus 2 T sugar

1/4 c all purpose flour

6 eggs, separated, yolks slightly beaten

Icing:

8oz quality chocolate

8 oz heavy cream

Overn: 350F.

Line a 8.5 in round cake pan with wax paper and butter bottom and sides of the paper. (I would totally disregard this if I was making this cake. Well, maybe I would line the bottom. I hate extra steps like this.)

Melt chocolate in a double boiler, or a Pyrex bowl set in a saucepan of simmering water. Mix in butter and stir til melted.

Transfer to a large bowl and add sugar, flour, and lightly beaten egg yolks.

Whisk egg whites til stiff. Fold half the whites into mixture, blend thoroughly, then mix in the other half. (maybe someone can explain to me why it is necessary to go through the half-stop-half thing. I'd really like to know.)

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for about 35 min. There will be a thin crust on top of the cake, and may appear undercooked. It will get firmed as it cools.

While the cake is cooling, prepare ganache. Melt chocolate into cream over low heat. Stir til blended, cool slightly.

When cake is cool, flip upside down if it is sinking in the middle and spread chocolate ganache all over cake.

It's good with strawberries and raspberries too!

Making ganache:

Blueberry Jam

After making 200 jars of jam for wedding favors this summer, I would say without hesitation that I know me some blueberry jam. I know it intimately in all it's stages; from freshly mashed berries, to the thickly bubbling mess turned dark purple by gobs of sugar, to the pleasant ping pinging pops made by the lids sealing themselves.

Maybe it's the superb Windrush Farm organic blueberries I'm using, but the recipe in the pectin box does just fine for my jam needs. We did try blueberry lime jam for the first couple batches this summer, but it didn't set well, and we found the flavor of plain ol' blueberry was not improved by the lime. (odd, I am usually in favor of the addition of lime to anything.)

Especially for jams, I found you don't need fancy canners or even racks. You need a large pot in which to boil the jars and lids, and you need some tongs to grab them with. It's important to jar the jam while everything's hot- jam, jars and lids- so that the jar will seal itself as it cools. With two part lids, you don't need to boil the outside ring- that part can be room temperature. It's also important to wipe the rim of the glass jar clean before screwing on the lid, to avoid bacteria and get a solid seal. Jam funnels are indispensable in this endeavor. It can help to have two people- one to tong and pour, one to wipe and screw. Right.

It's not as big of an ordeal as you might think. A batch takes an hour to make at most. Give homemade jam a shot next time you find fruit on sale or go a little ape in the berry patch.

Eric and I went picking in Blacksburg a couple weekends ago and I turned the berries into 4 more batches. I think we'll be set for awhile.

Spiced Orange and Fig Cheesecake

This cheesecake was made possible by the addition of a food processor to our appliance family. Thankyou, B,B&B returns, gift certificates and coupon for facilitating this acquisition.

The first thing you should know about this cheesecake, is that when a woman tasted it at the restaurant, she immediately inquired how she could buy a whole cheesecake to give to a friend. I made her the cheesecake, and she requested yet another for the near future. It's that unusual, and that good.

This is why:

The spices are just right for fall, it's not too sweet, there are several textures to contend with, and you feel cool eating figs and liking it.

The cheesecake layer isn't super thick, the finished cake ends up being about half cheesecake, half figs and crust, so next time (I've made this three times so far), I might increase the cheesecake mixture, just to see what happens.

The Recipe:

The Directions:

First, mist a spring form pan with oil. Get out your food processor and blend brazil nuts and vanilla wafers until fine. (I used pecans, still very good). While the processor is running, add the melted butter and run until combined. Press this mixture into the bottom of your pan and refrigerate for 30 min to let the butter harden.

Next, process the figs until finely chopped.

Put the chopped figs in a pot with the OJ and spices. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until most of the OF is absorbed. If there is too much liquid, it will bubble over to the top of the cheesecake, marring it's pretty face.

Add the cheesecake mixture and bake at 325...the recipe says 1 and 1/4 hours, but I rarely make it past an hour.

The final product has the tendency to look like a cheese pizza, so I think a dusting of powdered sugar goes a long way to help the aesthetic of the thing.

Aztec Gold

I've been obsessed with the idea of making a spicy cupcake, like the Aztec Gold Truffles at the Chocolate Spike in Blacksburg. (the picture above shows a mini bar of Aztec Gold chocolate, to which I compared the taste)

I found some recipes for chili-chocolate cupcakes, but I wanted some other flavors too, so I ended up adding cinnamon and orange flavors as well. Next time I will add ginger, too.

I also bought some edible gold dust at Michael's and dusted the cupcakes before bringing them to the restaurant. I think a little detail like that makes people feel loads better about paying big bucks for cupcakes.

I mostly went off this recipe from chockylit at Cupcake blog.

Cupcakes
~24 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/4 cup water
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground pequin chilies
2 sticks butter
1-1/2 cups dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Boil water in a kettle then measure out 1-1/4 cup.
2. Combine chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium sized bowl, add boiling water, whisk until smooth, set aside.
3. Sift flours, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Add the ground pepper, set aside.
4. In a standing mixer, beat butter until creamy.
5. Add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
6. At medium speed, add eggs one at a time, beat well between each.
7. Add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined.
8. Add about a third of the flour mixture, beat briefly until combined.
9. Add about half of the chocolate mixture, beat briefly until combined.
10. Repeat, adding flour, chocolate, then flour. Beat until just combined. Scrape down bowl if needed.
11. Fill cupcake papers about 3/4s full. Bake at 350 degree oven for 22-25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean

Chili Chocolate Ganache Frosting

1-1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon ground pequin chilies
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
2-3 cups powdered sugar, optional

1. Heat the cream over medium heat until it bubbles around saucepan edge.
2. Place pepper and chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl.
3. Pour heated cream over the chocolate
4. Let the mixture sit for about 30 seconds then start whisking it until smooth.
5. Add butter in pats and mix until combined.
6. set aside mixture and stir occasionally with a wooden spoon until cool.
7. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Optionally you can add sifted powdered sugar and beat until combine. This will sweeten the frosting and make it less rich and intense. Also helpful if you are low on chocolate and want to stretch the frosting a bit further…

However, I couldn't find pequin chilies, so I used cayenne pepper and cinnamon instead.

When heating the cream for the ganache, I added about a 1/2 tablespoon of orange zest and next time, I will grate some fresh ginger as well.

I added more cayenne and cinnamon in the ganache as well, and beat it after it cooled, adding a generous cup of confectioner's sugar.

making the ganache:

The cupcakes fell a lot when they came out of the oven, and I think it's because I over mixed them. Who knows though. Next time I'm going to try my Martha chocolate cake recipe and just add my spices. It will be less dense- though with this cupcake the density is pretty nice.

cupacakes cooling on new baking racks:

I must say that I LOVE these cupcakes. When selling them at the restaurant (a big hit, might I add) I described them as "warm" chocolate. I think people feel exotic when they eat spicy chocolate.

(this is my fantastic new double decker cupcake holder) (collapsable, too)

My new friend, figs.

Dried figs. Sweet, raisiny and crunchy. Very fashionable. The star of the Spiced Orange and Fig Cheesecake.