Perfect Party

I am a most fortunate woman! My loving and lovely daughter just planned and pulled off a magnificent birthday party for me at a local restaurant with 21 guests, a delicious lunch with choices of entree and side dish and salad, a champagne toast, coffee service and a beautiful themed decor. She did have help from Sweetie, of course, and a little help from me with ironing the linens (labeled cotton but clearly poly!), but most of it was her doing. A surprise guest, NoHandle, was the best part of all, especially because he is doing well after some major health issues.

My part in the event, other than compiling a guest list and showing up ready to party, was to create a two tiered birthday cake. Truly, I did try to find one that I could purchase, but most places don't do fully dairy-free cakes that taste good and the one I did find wanted $100. It helps that I love baking and took it as a challenge to create a major-event worthy cake with no dairy.

First I baked a 'practice' 9" cake because I had combined a few recipes to make the chocolate cake and I wanted to make sure that it would work. The cake needed to be firm enough that I could put two layers on top but still moist and delicious. For the filling I wanted to use raspberry jam and vanilla 'buttercream' because I love chocolate and raspberry together and the vanilla 'buttercream' would be a nice contrast to the intense chocolate. I use the marks around 'buttercream' because no actual butter was used. Instead I used a non-dairy margarine.

For the frosting I used a ganache that was nothing more than high-quality semi-sweet chocolate and Silk brand soy creamer. The key thing with ganache is to make it many hours ahead of using it because you want it to cool. Once it's cool it is spreadable and doesn't run off the cake. Too warm and it just blobs or runs, as I found out the hard way.

The practice cake was a big hit, probably because I split both 9" layers and so there were three ribbons of jam and vanilla 'buttercream' instead of one. The later, larger cake would have been better that way, too, but cutting and moving thin layers of split 12' diameter cake was more than I could manage. Remember, I've never made a 12" cake before, much less a tiered cake!

I baked all the cake layers the day before the party. Then I tried to make the 'buttercream'. It failed. It never was anything more solid than soup. Discouraging. Then I made the ganache so that it could cool overnight.

The next morning I tried again with the 'buttercream' and this time it worked! Everything went together really well, but by the time I had finished frosting the top tier, I was out of buttercream and ganache. I tried making a small batch of ganache to see if I could use it for decorating the area where the two tiers join, but it never thickened up enough. I added confectioners sugar and it seemed to be O.K., but when I piped some on, it started to run. We had some gorgeous magenta roses, still closed in buds, to use as cake toppers, so I used them to hide the blobby ganache instead. It looked like I had meant to do that...really made the cake look spectacular!

At the top is the photo of the decorated table, with the finished cake as the centerpiece. It did taste great and there was plenty left over to give to our local firemen, neighbors and family after the party.

Although it was a bit stressful here and there, I'm glad I made the cake and now know that I can create a tiered cake that is delicious, pretty, and dairy-free so that I can eat it. Give this a try yourself if you want a challenge and a great cake at the end of it!

Thank you Sweetie and Kate! Well done.

Special Chocolate Party Cake - Non-Dairy

my recipe

14 servings (For 42 servings [or more] if you make this amount as two 9" cakes and then make the recipe twice to fill a 12" diameter cake pan twice, then tier it. Will go into making it tiered this way at the end.)

Please use a kitchen scale for the chocolate and cocoa powder

1 oz. unsweetened or semisweet chocolate, chopped finely

1/4 teaspoon espresso powder

2.2 oz. unsweetened (alkalized) cocoa powder - I used Hershey's

1 cup boiling water

1 cup cake flour

1 1/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour (bleached gives more stability to the structure if making tiered cake, but you can use unbleached if only making the 9" cake)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 oz - 1/4 cup - soy milk or almond milk yogurt

2 large egg

2 egg yolks from large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter at room temperature (70 degrees F)

Prepare two 9" x 2" cake pans: grease the bottom and sides with shortening, then line bottom with parchment paper and grease the bottom again. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk the chocolate, espresso and cocoa powder. Add the boiling water and whisk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature. (About 1 hour.)

When chocolate mixture is cool, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, yolks, yogurt and vanilla until just combined. Set aside.

In a stand mixer bowl use a flat beater to cake flour, bleached all-purpose flour, sugars, salt, baking powder and baking soda of low speed 30 seconds.

Add the butter, cut into roughly one-tablespoon pieces. Mix on low until dry ingredients are crumbly.

Add egg mixture and beat on medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes until light and well incorporated. Scrape the bowl and beater.

On low speed gradually add the cool chocolate mixture. Scrape any left in chocolate bowl into batter. Mix a few seconds, then scrape bowl and beater well. Beat at medium speed for 30 seconds. Batter will be slightly fluffy.

Divide batter between the pans. Smooth the top. Pans will be about half full.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Toothpick inserted in center will come out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack, then run a thin knife around the sides of the pans and turn each cake out and cool on wire racks sprayed with cooking spray (which will help cakes release from the wire racks). In general, cool with bottoms up. Remove parchment paper if it sticks to the bottoms. Once cool, trim tops, if necessary, using a serrated knife longer than the width of the cake. Layered cakes do best if the top and bottom both are flat. If you used cake strips on the outsides of the pans you may already have tops that are flat enough.

If only making a 9" layer cake, split each layer in half using that serrated knife. Place the first layer over a dab of icing/ganache/buttercream that you have put on the cake plate or cake cardboard. This little dab hold it in place. Use a fork to stir appropriate jam to break it up. Apply thin layer of raspberry, strawberry, or apricot jam, if desired, then a layer of buttercream. (I piped mine, then spread it together using a small offset spatula.) Place cut side down of next layer and repeat jam and buttercream. Place bottom of next layer, more jam and buttercream, then cut side down of final layer. Frost sides and top with buttercream or ganache. Decorate as desired. Chill at least an hour before serving. If chilled longer than an hour, let sit at room temperature for at least an hour before serving.

For a two tiered cake, make the 9" layers as described above. If you like, skip the splitting of the cakes, just doing the jam and buttercream between the two 9" cakes, then frosting them with buttercream or ganache. Then prepare a 12" pan with the shortening, parchment paper and shortening over the bottom as described for the 9" pan. Set aside. Have another parchment circle ready for the final layer.

Make a full batch of the batter used for the 9" cake. That is just the right amount for one 12" layer. If at all possible, use cake strips around the outside of the 12" pan...it helps the outer part from becoming dry and helps the top be mostly level. Bake for 45-55 minutes in 350 degree F preheated oven. Use same test for doneness as above.

While the first 12" pan is baking, prepare the batter for the second 12" layer, but wait to mix the egg mixture and chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients until you remove the first 12" layer from the oven. Once the cake has cooled 20 minutes, carefully remove it from the pan to a wire rack coated with cooking spray and remove the used parchment paper from the bottom.

Clean the 12" pan, dry, and prepare it as you did the first time. Now continue with the batter, adding the egg mixture, scraping, adding the chocolate mixture, scraping, and incorporating the scraped portions for the final batter. Place in 12" pan, (make sure cake strips are moist and attached) and smooth top. Bake for 45-55 minutes and treat baked second layer as you did the first layer.

Place the bottom of one 12" layer on a dab of frosting or ganache on a cake cardboard. Apply jam and buttercream (recipe below) to the top (trimming to make the top of the layer flat first if necessary) then put on the second layer, top side down (again trimming first if top isn't flat). Frost with buttercream or ganache (ganache recipe below - if using buttercream, you will need to make more than one batch of the recipe below).

Use the 9" cake pan to use a toothpick to draw a thin circle in the frosting or ganache where the outside edges of the 9" layer will be placed on top of the 12" layer.

Get 9 plastic straws. Push one down in the middle of that circle and mark where the top of the cake is on the straw. Remove the straw and trim it to that mark, then use that as a template to mark the other 8 straws. Replace the center straw, then space the other eight roughly equally far apart around the drawn circle, but in about an inch. This will be the way the top layer is stabilized.

With your hand under the edges of the cake cardboard holding the 9" layer, carefully place the layer and cardboard on the 12" cake where the circle is drawn. Use extra buttercream or ganache to pipe stars all around where the cardboard meets the lower layer (or use any other decorative piping you choose as long as it covers any cardboard showing.

Decorate cake as desired.

Cake can sit at cool room temperature up to 24 hours. Once it is cut, refrigerate any leftovers.

Vanilla Swiss Buttercream
4 lg. egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm (I used the same amount of non-dairy margarine)
1 tsp. vanilla

Place the egg whites in a large bowl of a electric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until the whites are foamy and they begin to thicken (just before the soft peak stage). Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with about 2 inches of simmering water, making sure the bowl is not touching the water. Then, whisk in the sugar by adding 1-2 tablespoon of sugar at a time over a minutes time. Continue beating 2-3 minutes or until the whites are warm (about 120 degrees) and the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should look thick and like whipped marshmallows.
Remove from pan and with either the paddle or whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and sugar on med-high until its a thick, cool meringue – about 5-7 minutes. *Do not overbeat*. Set aside.

Place the butter in a separate clean mixing bowl and, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter at medium speed for 40-60 seconds, or until smooth and creamy. *Do not overbeat or the butter will become toooooo soft.*

On med-low speed, blend the meringue into the butter, about 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, over 1 minute. Add the liqueur and vanilla and mix for 30-45 seconds longer, until thick and creamy.

Refrigerate 10-15 minutes before using.

Wait! My buttercream won’t come together!  Reheat the buttercream briefly over simmering water for about 5 seconds, stirring with a wooden spoon. Be careful and do not overbeat. The mixture will look broken with some liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Return the bowl to the mixer and whip on medium speed just until the cream comes back together.

Wait! My buttercream is too soft! Chill the buttercream in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and rewhip. If that doesn’t work, cream an additional 2-4 Tbsp. of butter in a small bowl– making sure the butter is not as soft as the original amount, so make sure is cool and smooth. On low speed, quickly add the creamed butter to the buttercream, 1 Tbsp. at a time.

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to 6 months. If freezing, store in 2 16-oz. plastic containers and thaw in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for several hours.

Ganache

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped fine (which you can do easily in a food processor, breaking into chunks before putting the chocolate into the processor)

8 oz. (1 cup) soy creamer (not soy milk - the creamer is thicker) plus 1 tablespoon

Put the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the soy creamer in a small pot until almost to a boil...there will be tiny bubbles just at the sides of the pot. Remove from the heat and pour over the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute. Stir gently with a silicone spatula until smooth. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the chocolate mixture and then let sit until cool, about 4-5 hours. If necessary, use the spatula to stir the ganache a bit just before using it to frost the cakes. 

You will need a double recipe of this to do the two tiered cake. Do each recipe by itself and then let cool. Use one recipe for the bottom, one for the top and decorations.

Special thanks to Rose Levy Bernanbaum, author of Rose's Heavenly Cakes and the Cake Bible which were both helpful in this enterprise, and to Dorie Greenspan, author of Baking:from my home to yours which was also helpful.

Dessert For A Queen

The Cake Slice Bakers are almost finished with the wonderful Maida Heatter's Cakes book, with this month being the last for sets of recipes to choose from. Be sure to come back October 20th to see which recipe I choose for the final bake from this book!

This month I chose the lovely Queen Mother Cake, a rich flourless chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache. I wasn't really sure that I could make a nice ganache with soy creamer, but it worked beautifully and no one knew that I didn't use whipping cream.

The original recipe calls for toasting almonds and grinding them in a food processor with sugar to create a fine flour. I've done this, but the particles of almond are variable. The flavor may have been different by just using the pre-made almond flour which isn't toasted, but the texture is then uniform, especially if you sift the almond flour as I do.

I found that the soy creamer worked just fine instead of whipping cream for the icing. I used two-thirds of a package of Scharffen Berger's chocolate for the cake and the remaining third, plus 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips for the icing. This worked well, too. You really taste the chocolate in this cake, so use the chocolate you most enjoy eating out of hand.

The original recipe had some instructions for cooling the cake on a damp towel. I skipped that and let it cool for a while on a wire rack in the pan. This seemed to work just fine. I also baked it on Friday night for a Saturday dinner, so I wrapped the cooled cake up in a plastic bag, with the pan bottom still attached, and put it in the fridge until the next afternoon. That made it very easy to handle because the chilled cake wasn't at all delicate. I always make a mess and create a mass of crumb when I trim the top of a cake as called for in the recipe, so I skipped that step and iced it right side up.

This is a rich cake. Small pieces are just fine. A bowl of berries (strawberries in my case) passed with the cake and some whipped cream are nice. The strawberries cut the richness a bit, for a thoroughly enjoyable serving of a very pretty cake. I already have requests to make it again.

It might seem like a lot of directions, but read it through a few times and then just take it slowly and have fun with it :)

Be sure to check out the choices that my fellow Cake Slice Bakers have made. Look at the bottom of the post!

Queen Mother's Cake
Adapted from Maida Heatter's Cakes

12 portions

6 eggs, separated
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
6 oz. almond flour (I used King Arthur Flour's)
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces (I used Scharffen Berger's)
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
6 oz. (1 1/2 sticks) non-dairy margarine or butter, at room temperature

Note: I don't have two stand mixer bowls, so I changed the directions so that I whipped the egg whites first. If you have two bowls, you can make the chocolate mixture, then whip the whites.

Adjust a rack one-third up in the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 3-inch springform pan and line the bottom with a round of baking-pan liner (parchment works well) cut to fit. Grease the paper. Dust the pan all over the inside with fine, dry bread crumbs. Invert the pan over paper, and tap lightly to shake out excess crumbs. Set the prepared pan aside.

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over warm water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted, then uncover and stir until just melted and smooth. Remove top pan from double boiler and set it aside until tepid or room temperature.

Sift the almond flour into a small bowl and stir in 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Set aside.

In the large bowl of a stand mixer, with clean beaters (I used the whisk attachment) beat the whites with the salt and lemon juice, starting on low speed and increasing it gradually. When the whites barely hold a soft shape, reduce the speed a bit and gradually add 1/4 cup granulated sugar. On high speed continue to beat until the whites hold a straight point when the beaters are slowly raised. Do not overbeat. Transfer the beaten whites to another bowl and set aside.

Rinse and dry the stand mixer bowl. Put in the butter. Beat the butter until soft. Add the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar and beat to mix. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating and scarping the sides of the bowl as necessary until smooth. On low speed add the chocolate and beat until mixed. Then add the almond flour/sugar mixture and beat, scraping the bowl, until incorporated.

Stir a large spoonful of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture to soften it a bit. Then, in three additions, fold in the remaining whites. Do not fold thoroughly until the last addition and do not handle any more than necessary.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Rotate the pan a bit briskly from left to right in order to level the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F. and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. and continue to bake for an additional 50 minutes (total baking time is 1 hour and 10 minutes). Do not over bake; the cake should remain soft and moist in the center. (The top might crack a bit, but that is OK.)

Let cake stand on cooling rack until tepid, 50 - 60 minutes.

Release and remove the sides of the pan. Do not cut around the sides with a knife - it will make the rim of the cake messy. Let the cake stand until it is completely cool, or longer if you wish.

The cake will sink a little in the middle as it cools. Use a long, thin, sharp knife and cut the top level, removing the higher sides. Brush away loose crumbs. (I skipped this part, iced the cake right side up, and was very happy with the results. When the icing goes on its a little thicker in the center, which we found to be fine.)

Place a rack or a small board over the cake and carefully invert. Remove the bottom of the pan and the paper lining. The cake is now upside down; that is the way it will be iced (unless you do as I did and ice the top). Place four strips of baking-pan liner paper (each about 3 x 12 inches) around the edges of a cake plate. With a large, wide spatula, carefully  transfer the cake to the plate; check to be sure that the cake is touching the papers all around. The paper help to keep the icing off the plate when you ice the cake. (I chilled the cake, still on the springform pan bottom, overnight, then turned it out onto my hand, finger spread, removed the pan bottom & the paper and set the cake on a cake plate. Because it was cold it wasn't difficult to work with.)

Icing

1/2 cup soy creamer (or whipping cream)
1 teaspoon powdered espresso powder
8 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces (I used half Scharffen Berger semisweet and half chocolate chips)

Scald the soy creamer  or whipping cream in a 5-6 cup saucepan over moderate heat until it begins to form small bubbles around the edges. Add the dry espresso powder and whisk to dissolve. Add the chocolate and stir occasionally over heat for 1 minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat and whisk or stir until the chocolate is all melted and the mixture is smooth.

Let the icing stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until the icing barely begins to thicken.

Stir to  mix the icing and pour it slowly over the top of the cake, pouring onto the middle. Use a long, narrow metal spatula to smooth the top and spread the icing until a little runs down the sides, then use a small, narrow metal spatula to smooth that icing over the sides. The icing on the sides should be thinner than that on the top.

Remove the strips of paper by pulling each on out toward a narrow end.

An InLinkz Link-up

Truly Fall - A Time For Ganache

The signs of fall are all around. It takes the sun a much longer time...til after 7 am...to rise in the morning and evening comes much sooner, too.

The acorns are falling all around the base of the oak tree by the barn and the oak leaves are turning gold and brown and falling.

I collected a whole basket of walnuts on the deck yesterday. I prefer to gather them from the deck than from the ground because they bake on the deck and are ready to shell. The tomatoes are winding down and I harvested almost all of my pumpkins this morning and set them marching up the front steps. I changed out the wreath by the door to my fall one.

Since fall is my favorite season, it's great to see the signs of the season. There are also quite a few family birthdays around this time of year. Happy birthday to each of you...you know who you are, including the great guy in the photo at the top of the post (enjoying his cake with ganache topping)  who started celebrating early, for which I am grateful.

Even though I love the crisp fall air, it was lovely that yesterday was warm and dry. Our darling daughter visited and we sat out at the table on the front deck at lunch time catching up and

admiring her new painted rock art. Isn't she talented?

Later we lounged on the wicker couch and in the rocking chair on the newer part of the front deck after gathering morning glory seeds from the little dried pods left on the plant for just that reason. Next year we will have an amazing array of morning glories if all the seeds germinate. In the evening we went into town and ate outside so as to enjoy the lingering warmth of the evening. Soon there will be chilly evenings and (we hope!) rain to keep us inside. The furniture and rug will go inside, too, for the late fall and winter.

When we were back East for our visit, I made my sailing brother his favorite birthday cake ...chocolate cake, chocolate icing and raspberry jam in the middle. Just to make it even more decadent (and because I was using a cake mix and pre-made frosting due to a scarcity of baking equipment, especially a stand mixer, in the Marshall St. kitchen) I left the frosting off most of the top of the cake and instead poured on ganache, a decadent mixture of chocolate and cream. The birthday 'boy' even got to lick the bowl.

The trick to doing this kind of topping on a cake is to let the ganache mixture cool enough that it thickens a bit and doesn't run off the top of the cake, but is still warm enough that it will pour and spread without much help from your spatula. If you pour a little out and it is too thin, just wait a bit more and try again. Those drips down the side of the cake should be drips, not fountains.

I had fun with the decorations, using star shaped multi-colored sprinkles, spiral candles and some tiny silver dragees that everyone decided were about 30 years old. My Mom was not one to throw things away that still had use. She was a keeper.

Chocolate Ganache to top a cake 

4 oz. semi-sweet good quality chocolate, chopped fine
4 oz. heavy cream

Place the chopped chocolate into a medium bowl.
Over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Stir or swirl the cream to make sure all of it is hot. Pour heated cream over the chocolate and stir until mixture is smooth. Let cool, stirring gently every few minutes, until mixture reaches desired consistency.

Pour cooled ganache over the top of your cake. Use a spatula if necessary to smooth the top and encourage some of the ganache to drip down the sides. Chill in the refrigerator to set the ganache.

Using Up the Egg Whites

Time has been flying! I finally looked at my photo set and discovered that I never posted about some cookies I made a couple of weeks ago. Making two coconut cream pies had left me with quite a lot of egg whites. My favorite thing to do with egg whites is to make macrons. The crispy shell of the cookie shatters when you bite down, which is when you discover the chewy inside and the delicious filling.

I decided to make two flavors in one batch. The simple one was chocolate cookies and ganache filling. The second half was raspberry. I used some freeze dried raspberries to flavor them and raspberry jam for filling. Both are fairly traditional and not odd flavor combinations, but the chocolate goes well with the raspberry, so you could easily switch out the fillings and still have awesome macrons.

Since I didn't want all the seeds from the dried raspberries, I decided to grind them up with a little bit of powdered sugar and then put that through a fine mesh strainer. There are still tiny bits of raspberry in the cookie but no chunks that way. I forgot to add food coloring, so they are pale, pale pink. Pretty tasty, especially with the red jam as filling.

The part I often forget about is that you need to make the batter, pipe them onto the baking sheets, and then wait at least 30 minutes before you bake them. That helps create the little 'feet' and round smooth tops. My tops were not smooth and one batch had no feet, but they still were wonderful to eat.

Two Kinds of Macrons - Chocolate with Ganache and Raspberry with Raspberry Jam


Ingredients:
90 gr egg whites (about 3)
30 gr granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
110 gr almonds
1/4 cup cocoa powder (Dutch process preferred) for the chocolate half of the batter
3 tablespoons freeze dried raspberries (or 2 tablespoons powdered raspberries)

Prepare the macrons: in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue. Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry. Divide meringue in half (in two bowls) if making two flavors from one batch as I did.

Place the half the almonds, half the powdered sugar and all of the cocoa in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add them to one bowl of meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes.

Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809) with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets. Let the macrons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit.

Place 1/4 cup powdered sugar and all of the dried raspberries in the food processor and process until the raspberries are as fine as possible. Strain the mixture into a small bowl, discarding the pieces too large to go through a fine mesh strainer. (If using powdered raspberries, just add to the food processor and continue with recipe.) Place the strained mixture, half the almonds, and the remaining powdered sugar in the food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add this mixture to the second bowl of meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes.

Pipe this mixture the same way you piped the chocolate macrons. Let these sit out for 30 minutes too.

Preheat the oven to 280F and then bake macrons for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool. Remove from pan.

If you have trouble removing the baked macrons, pour a couple of drops of water under the parchment paper while the sheet is still a bit warm and the macrons will lift up more easily do to the moisture. Don't let them sit there in it too long or they will become soggy.

Once baked and if you are not using them right away, store them in an airtight container out of the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer. When ready, fill with ganache or jam.



Semisweet Chocolate Ganache Filling
Heat ¼ cup heavy cream in the microwave 1 minute on high power. Remove bowl from microwave and add 2 oz. of semisweet excellent quality chocolate that has been chopped finely. Stir with a small spatula, very gently, until chocolate melts and thoroughly combined. Avoid adding extra air.

Let cool 2-3 minutes, then put into a pastry bag and pipe about ½ tablespoon on half of the macarons on the flat side. Top with the other half of the macarons, rounded side up. Let the ganache firm up before serving.

Filling for Raspberry Macrons:
Fill them with best quality raspberry jam. Sandwich together as described above.

Colorful Brownies

Sweetie and I have been doing some major construction repairing a couple of windows on the south side of the house where the rain leaked in. The folks who built the house apparently neglected to put flashing in, so we've been dealing with many, many years of leaking. Being the type who tries to look at the bright side, I must admit that it has been a trial to find any silver lining, but learning to put up a fifteen foot high scaffolding was that tiny sliver of silver. It was sort of like playing on jungle gyms as we got higher and higher.

One of the results of this unexpected extra work was that I had committed to bringing more desserts to the picnic on the weekend than I had time to bake from scratch. I decided that the mini peach pies really deserved the time.

It also didn't take very long to slice up some juicy ripe watermelon and cut it into wedges. We kept it cold right up until it was served, so it was quite popular on a warm evening.

The third dessert was brownies. Brownies made from a mix, but dolled up with a few things to make them more appealing.

While they were still hot, I placed halves of York peppermint patties on half of the brownies (I used the small ones) and covered it all up with foil to melt the candies. Once they were melted, I spread the minty goodness over half the pan of brownies. The whole pan then went into the 'fridge to cool overnight.

A few hours before the party I made ganache with

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup whipping cream

The combination, in a bowl, was microwaved on half power for a minute at a time, with vigorous whisking after each minute, until the ganache was smooth.

After it had cooled a bit to thicken up, I poured about half of it over the pan of brownies and spread it out over the entire pan. While the ganache was still runny, I sprinkled mini-chocolate M&Ms over it.

On the half with the mint, I used only green ones.

On the other half, I used multi-colored M&Ms. This made for some pretty colorful and tasty brownies...and they sure looked like a party!

Sinfully Chocolate

One of my co-workers is half a hundred, so I made half a cake to help her celebrate. Since Sweetie and I had to make sure that it wasn't poisoned, the birthday celebration included less than half a cake, but it was a spectacular cake nonetheless.

This cake is the one I promised you, after tantalizing you with that photo of the batter on the paddle with lots of bittersweet chocolate all over it. Make it for a special day, make it for someone you care for, make it to cheer yourself up, or for no good reason other than the need to have a rich, fudgy, very chocolate cake with hints of fruit and cream. Even the batter looks decadent.

This recipe is based upon one in the book Chocolate Cake by Michele Urvater. This book has bunches of great chocolate cake recipes, plus icings, sauces, decorations...the works! As usual, I played around a bit with the recipe (details can be found after the recipe) but I'm sure it would be great as written, too. It was even better the next day, chilled, but do keep it closely wrapped to keep that moist, dense crumb.

The recipe in the book didn't include the jelly and fruit and whipped cream additions. You can use poached apple or pear for this, or even fresh raspberries or strawberry slices, but I'd use strawberry jam in that case. Instead of the jelly you could use apple butter with apple slices...you get the idea...be creative. You can see in the photo below how lovely the crumb was...it was almost falling apart...in a good way.

Sin City Cake

2 ½ cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon (1 pound) superfine sugar
4 large eggs
8 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 cups water or regular coffee

Ganache
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 ounces heavy cream

Raspberry or current jelly – about 6-8 ounces
Poached fruit, sliced thin – pears work well

For the cake:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour three 9 x 1.5-inch round cake pans, tap out the excess, and line the bottoms with parchment or greased and floured waxed paper circles. (Note from Elle: If you combine some cocoa with the flour for dusting the pans, your cake will have a nice chocolate edge to it.)

Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt twice, and set it aside.
With an electric mixer on low speed (or with a stationary mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the butter for 1 minute, or until light. Slowly add the sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, and when all of it has been added, continue to beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping down the beaters and sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture will look like fluffy wet sand.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 10 seconds between additions, or until absorbed by the butter. Add the chocolate, scrape down the beaters and sides of the bowl, and beat for 1 minute longer, or until light and smooth.

With a large rubber spatula, fold the sifted ingredients into the batter in four additions, alternating with the water (or coffee) in three additions. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute, or until the mixture looks smooth.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pans, smooth the tops with a rubber or small offset spatula, and rap the pans sharply on the counter to break up any large air bubbles. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out dry.

Remove the cakes from the oven and cool them to room temperature in their pans on a wire rack. Unmold, peel off the paper circles, and frost when the cakes are cool. Serves 16.

For the Ganache
Set the chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl.

Pour on the cream and mix well.

At half power in the microwave, heat the mixture for a minute. Stir well. Repeat until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Let the ganache stand and come to room temperature before using.

Elle’s notes: As usual I didn’t follow the recipe exactly.

I cut the recipe in half (because with cake this rich, who needs a full recipe?) and baked it as one layer in a 9 inch spring form pan. After it had cooled, I cut that layer in half horizontally with a long serrated knife. I took off the top layer and set it aside. When I was ready to frost the cake, I spread raspberry jelly on the cut layer, added some poached fruit, sliced very thin, then put the other layer on top. I used the same knife to cut the cake in half to make two half moons. I beat up some whipping cream with a little sugar, spread that on one of the half moons, then topped it with the other half moon. So you had cake layer, jelly and fruit, cake layer, whipped cream, cake layer, jelly and fruit, cake layer, just half a cake instead of a full round.

Then I made the ganache and let it cool until it was thick enough to spread. Although the cake listed slightly since I can’t make a horizontal cut to save my soul, the ganache covered a multitude of sins and the cake as a whole lived up to it’s name…very dense and fudgy, sweet from the chocolate ganache and rich, too. The fruit and heavy dairy flavor from the whipped cream helped tone down the sweetness a bit but the jelly added to it . Still, it was a delicious cake and the piece I took to my boss had him on a real sugar high since he usually does not eat things that are sweet, rich, or so chocolate. I made the cake so that I could do a little birthday party for my co-worker who will be leaving soon. She seemed pleased. She is a sweet person, so a sweet cake seemed just right.