Deep Dark Chocolate

The Cake Slice Bakers chose a really delicious cake this month...chocolate pound cake. Since Sweetie and I were planning on visiting Natasha we offered to bring dessert. Natasha and her Sweetie have a cool gadget that uses some sort of gas pellets to whip cream right in the gadget...you put in heavy cream and out comes whipped cream! My first try led to cream flying everywhere but then I got the hang of it and it really dressed up the cake slices. I also brought some raspberry coulis to drizzle over the cream and cake...it was hard not to have seconds!

This post is a day late...so sorry...because I was trapped (happily) yesterday in the Photoshop vortex. I had such a good time creating some graphics that I hope to use later that I completely lost track of changing the wet laundry to the dryer, never had lunch, and forgot to post the cake which I had made weeks ago! I truly love Photoshop time...guess it's my version of Sweetie's trainroom sessions.

Do bake this cake! It has a deep chocolate color and flavor and would also go great with some ice cream and salted caramel sauce, or I'll bet you could top that!

Please do visit the other Cake Slice Bakers blogs to see what glorious things they did with this recipe.

March’s Cake: Chocolate Cream Pound Cake
Makes one 9x5 inch loaf cake
(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

Ingredients
6 tbsp unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
¼ cup heavy cream
1 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup (1stick) unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
Heat the oven to 325F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan and dust with flour.

Sift the cocoa powder into a heatproof bowl. Place the cream in a microwavable bowl and heat for 30-60 seconds until just boiling. Pour the hot cream over the cocoa and stir and mash with a spoon to make a thick paste. Set aside to cool.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary. Beat in the cocoa powder paste until smooth.

With the mixer on medium-low speed add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Add the last addition, mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake the cake until it is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Invert it onto a wire rack and then turn it right side up on the rack to cool completely. Slice and serve.

Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

A Very Merry Un-Group To Us

While it is fun to belong to groups like the Daring Bakers or Daily Tiffin or Bread Baking Babes (and Buddies) or The Cake Slice, to name a few, sometimes it is nice to think about being part of an un-group.

What's that? you say.

Well, it has no rules to speak of, no chosen recipe, not deadlines for posting and, most importantly, it does require that you stretch yourself culinarily and challenge yourself. If you do, you get a high five (the badge) and the approbation of the other un-groupies.

If you challenge yourself ten times this year you'll get the satisfaction of doing so and maybe conquering some cooking and/or baking fears, add to your skills in the kitchen, and be part of the round up at the end.

Sound like fun? Want to push yourself a bit? Go on over to Cookie Baker Lynn's and get the skinny on this endeavor...and pick up the badge you'll award yourself while you are at it. She came up with this great idea! As you can see, this is a very low maintenance un-group...saving lots of energy for the main thing...the challenge you give yourself.

Have not figured out my first challenge to myself yet, but look for the badge in the next week or so on one of my posts. That's how you'll know I Did It!

Daring Cookies...Soon

The July Daring Baker's challenge has taken over a good sized portion of the food blogosphere today
.

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

We could choose to bake both cookie of just one of the two. Due to poor planning, a kinda last minute trip to Seattle, and an amazing heat wave once we reached Seattle, plus the move taking longer than expected (uh, and the dog ate my recipe??) no cookies were baked by this Daring Baker, but I think I have a day or two of grace to catch up now that I am home to the WONDERFUL cooler weather here in No. CA.

Won't tell you which kind to expect. Cookie Baker Lynn and Tanna of My Kitchen In Half Cups, who were also in Seattle and whom I met and had lunch with....they are wickedly fun!... are the only ones who know.

BTW, if you ever get an opportunity to meet-in-person any other bloggers whose blogs you read and enjoy, DO IT! There are few things as enjoyable as finding out that, yes, others do obsess about flours and do collect amazing amounts of cookbooks, too, and have lots more to talk about than just food. Chocolate tasting was an unexpected and wonderful part of the afternoon.

Tanna and Lynn are so generous and were even more fun and funnier than their blogs which are plenty funny and well written. We also talked about why we blog and our answers might surprise some who have come to blogging with different perspectives. It was a GREAT afternoon and I only wish that there had been more time. Who knows, the stars might align again and find all three of us in Seattle at the same time again...or they (or one or the other of them) might be visiting the Bay Area and have time to get togther closer to my home.

Lynn, I would love the recipe for the muffins. Tanna, the bread made it to a picnic that got rained on...crazy Seattle weather!...and was great! Thank you, thank you!

Oh, the cookies? Check back tomorrow.