Cake con Pere e Cioccolato

Today  I was looking for this recipe and realized I had never put it on the blog.  I got this recipe out of an Italian cooking magazine. The chocolate-pear combination is tasty and it isn't super sweet.

Chocolate Pear Cake
Pears, 500g (about 2.5 pears--I usually use red pears)
Chocolate, 150g (about 5.25 ounces)
Flour, 200g (about 1.75 cups)
sugar, 150g (3/4 cup)
butter, 150g (1/2 stick + 4 Tbl)
5 eggs
salt
butter and flour for the pan

0. Preheat oven to 325 F. Butter and flour bundt pan.
1. Chop the chocolate and melt in a double boiler (or microwave)
2.  Peel, core, and dice pears. Toss the diced pears with 1 Tbl. flour.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.
4. Add chocolate, flour, sugar, and five egg yolks--reserve 2 egg whites.
5. Beat 2 egg whites with a pinch of salt until firm.
6. Fold beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture.
7. Fold coated pear pieces into cake mixture.
8. Put cake into bundt pan.
9. Bake cake for one hour.

Rod's Mexican Sheet Cake

I went to a little pot luck get together last night.  I didn't want to go to the store and buy things to make a main dish (I had originally thought of making gnocchi del Cassentino), so I decided to bake a cake. I mean, if there's anything I am in the cooking department, it's a cake baker. I figured I had everything to make Dad's Mexican Sheet cake. I measured, and I only had 4 Tbl. of cocoa. Oops. I had to go to the store anyway to buy cocoa powder. Still, this cake is easier than gnocchi.  The cake was a real hit last night and I promised to post the recipe. So--full credit to my dad, Rod Burton, who perfected this recipe (and of course I still mess with it).

Rod's Mexican Sheet Cake
Ingredients:
1 c. butter (2 sticks)
1 c. water
6 Tbl. cocoa powder
2 c. sugar (I skimp a little)
2 c. flour
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla (preferably Mexican)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. pasilla chile
1/2. tsp. chile arbol
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (I omit this sometimes and just throw in some other kind of chile powder)
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Spray 9 x 13 inch pan with nonstick spray.
3. Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil.
4. Add sugar and flour and mix to combine.
5. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.
6. Mix in vanilla and spices.
7. Stir baking soda into buttermilk and to chocolate mixture.
8. Mix thoroughly.
9. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.
10. Nom. Nom. Nom.

For the fancy lace top: use either a paper lace or lace fabric and lay it on the cake. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the cake/lace--I use a fine mesh thingy and tap it to sprinkle the sugar.  Then carefully remove the lace. Don't put too much sugar, or it will go everywhere when you try to remove the lace. I use a lace shirt that I have to do the design. Last night I was really tempted to add black pepper to the cake, but I decided not to. Maybe next time.

If you like this cake you might like my Chocolate Pink Peppercorn Honey Cake. I used my dad's sheet cake recipe as a base--along with a ginger cake that I've made before. I guess I really like pepper.

Mexican Rockets

I came across a recipe for Mexican chocolate fudge pops. It sounded easy enough, so I tried it out. Of course I have to tweak every recipe I try.

Mexican Chocolate Fudge Pops
2 cups 2% milk
1 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup (the recipe called for agave nectar, but I'm out)
1 teaspoon vanilla (preferably Mexican vanilla)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
Pasilla chile powder
Ancho chile powder
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1. Bring all ingredients except for semisweet chocolate to a simmer over medium heat, whisking to blend it all together. Give it a taste to see if it needs more heat or sugar.
2. After milk mixture is well blended add chopped semisweet chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted.
3. Pour fudge mixture into pop molds.  The recipe says it makes 9. I made 9, but they were skimpy.
4. Freeze pops for a few hours before nom, nom, nomming them.

I have Pasilla and Ancho chile powder because that's what I make Dad's Mexican Sheet Cake with. You can just use any kind of chile powder. I probably put about a total of 3/4 teaspoon--you know I don't measure.

Honey Cake

For Rosh Hashanah I decided to make a honey cake.  A chocolate, pink peppercorn, and honey cake. I developed this recipe for a contest--then I read the rules--the recipe could only have 5 ingredients--so I didn't enter the recipe, but I came up with a pretty tasty cake.

Pink Peppercorn Chocolate Cake

1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/4 tsp ground pink peppercorns
3.5 oz 70% cocoa chocolate
1 c water
3 Tbl cocoa powder
1 c butter
1 c honey (12 oz bear)
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs

1. Heat oven to 325 F.
2. Line 9 inch sprinform pan with parchment paper and butter pan and paper.
3. Sift together baking soda, salt, flour and pepper.
4. Melt chocolate.
5. Bring water, cocoa powder, and butter to a boil, whisking occasionally.
6. Pour water mixture into a large bowl.
7. Add melted chocolate, honey, and sugar to hot liquid.
8. Mix until well combined.
9. Add eggs one at at time.
10. Gradually mix in dry ingredients.
11. Pour into prepared pan.
12. Cook for 50 minutes. If cake isn't done cook for up to 10 more minutes.  Watch closely--top may burn.

This cake goes great with whipped cream, ice cream (especially Amy's), and apparently White Russians.

9th Birthday in NYC

We took the bus up to NYC to celebrate my 9th birthday. This is a great panoramic shot of the hotel room that Ross took. Man, the hotel was whack. The color combinations were awful, lamps in our room were broken, and the carpet was so ugly. It didn't really matter though. We were just there to sleep. Still, the white patent leather headboard was funny.

Our first stop in NYC was Ess-a-Bagel, where we got some breakfast. I only ate half of my poppy seed bagel with scallion cream cheese because I wanted to save room for everything else I had on my list of things to eat.

This photo is of one of the ceiling paintings in the New York City Public Library. The library was really cool. I like that it isn't just a beautiful old building, it is still in use.

After the libro we had some hot chocolate at Lily O'Brien's cafe. We got a dark hot chocolate and a milk hot chocolate. I think if we had mixed the two of them together it would have been perfect. I think the milk was a little too sweet and the dark was a little too flat. We also got some chocolates in a box to go. I had a ganache last night and it was pretty good.

Still full from hot chocolate we walked back up to Del Frisco's for steak and cake. My salad, steak, and cake were fabulous. As you can see we dug into the cake before I remembered to take a picture. This cake is so good that every time I eat it, I say I'm going to write an ode to it. I need to get around to that. This is my favorite cake of all time. It was wonderful with my cup of tea. I really didn't want to share with Ross, but there is no way I could eat it all myself.

We took the subway downtown after lunch and I bought some flavored green teas at Harney & Sons. I had a couple of cups of their Bangkok blend this morning. Mmmmm. Yummy.

We ate churros at La Churreria after we finally managed to find it. The churros were fresh and came with a chocolate dipping sauce, but I really didn't think they needed the sauce. They were better without it.

Then came shoes. We spent a while at Miz Mooz shoes. I left with two pairs. A pair of short lace-up boots and a pair of flats. I love them both. The boots were on my birthday wish list. I'm so happy I got them. I'll do a separate post with photos of all my bday presents.

Cake, shoes, and tea. I'm happy.

This Year's Choco-Matzoh

On Sunday night I made some chocolate matzoh. I really wanted to make sure the sugar was dissolved, so I boiled it for at least 3 minutes. I used brown sugar and when it cooled it was hard and tasted like toffee. I put half the batch into the fridge to cool and today when I headed into the kitchen Highway to the Danger Zone was playing in my head. That stuff is passover crack. It's so hard to stop eating it. I bought more brown sugar and chocolate chips today. I'll probably make another batch this weekend.

My New Favorite Breakfast

I have fallen in love with this smoothie:

Chocolate Smoothie

chocolate soy milk
1 banana
kefir cultured milk (plain, unsweetened)
1 tsp. cocoa powder (optional)
1 Tbl. whey powder OR 1 Tbl. peanut butter

Puree and serve, it's that easy! I usually make enough for breakfast and an afternoon snack. Okay, i just finished my smoothie, time to get to work!

Choco Matzoh

Well, tonight I made two things: upside down pineapple muffins and choco matzoh. My mom gave me this recipe a long time ago. I think she found it in the newspaper. In this month's Bon Apetit there was the same recipe, except it used brown sugar. Tonight I used brown sugar just to try it out.

Choco Matzoh

8 matzos
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar (white or brown)
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cover two cookie sheets with foil and arrange matzos onto the sheets.
3. Melt the butter and sugar in a small saucepan, stirring constantly.
4. Boil the mixture for 3 minutes.--I think this is the most critical step. Sometimes the mixture is very grainy and I think that happens when it isn't boiled long enough.
5. Pour and spread the sugar butter mix over the matzos.--You kinda have to work quickly at this, or the mixture can harden or separate.
6. Bake the matzos for 5 minutes.
7. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the matzos.
8. Return pans to oven for 30 seconds--just to melt the chocolate chips.
9. Smooth out the chocolate chips.--I use an icing spatula, but the back of a spoon works too.
10. Allow to cool and harden, then refrigerate in a ziploc bag.--If you have room you can cool and harden them in the fridge.

America's Test Kitchen In My Kitchen

Last weekend while laying on the couch I caught the tail end of America's Test Kitchen on PBS. They were handing out slices of chocolate cake. I love cake. I want cake. So I decided to find the recipe and try it out myself. So, yesterday I made old fashioned chocolate cake. It wasn't too difficult. The chocolate for the cake didn't exactly melt into creaminess. Since it was just unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder and a little water it formed a kind of paste. I cooked the cake layers for 25 minutes (the recipe says 25-30 mins), but it was still liquid. After another 7 minutes, it was fudgy. So I left it in another 7 minutes. I think that was a little too long. The cake is slightly dry and didn't want to come out of the pans. There were chocolate cake crumbs all over the kitchen. The icing was a little more tricky. Man, there's a whole pound of chocolate and a stick of butter in the frosting! I thought the icing had a funny aftertaste, but it got better after regfrigeration. As you can see half of the cake is already gone. I lost the photos of the whole cake....something might be wrong with my memory card. Anyways, I don't think the cake turned out in my kitchen the way it did in America's Test Kitchen, but it's definitely edible.

I was trying to bake because I haven't baked in a long time. I'm not sure I like cooking and baking. I get mad when things don't turn out perfectly. I just made do when the cake disintegrated (I glued it with icing), and things turned to seem out all right. I'm not sure what I'll bake up next, but I think I might like the chocolate frosting on a yellow cake. That's saying a lot, because I'm not a frosting fan. If I try something next week maybe I'll make it something a little less sinful ... I'm trying to lose weight before my trip to NYC.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake