Comunidad Health Foods

I told you last time that dessert for my sister's graduation party didn't end with the epic cake, although in some people's opinions, it might as well have. This is because that raspberry and chocolate ganache cake stole the spotlight away from these subtle little gems. The dense richness of a black forest dessert can't compete with the layered perfection of that cake, and putting them up against each other wasn't fair. Over the course of the week, I gave them second, third, and fourth chances, ignoring the cake and just trying them on their own. And I have to say, these "Black Bottom" Black Forest Cupcakes are solid desserts.

That being said, I fudged up the recipe. You see, when checking my ingredients before going food shopping, I looked in my cabinet and saw a container of cocoa powder, and said, "Oh, good, I won't need to pick any up." Lesson learned: before deciding that you have an ingredient, open it up and check how much of it is left. While the recipe called for 1/2 C, I had a meager 1/4, something I did not realize until spooning it out into my measuring cup to use. Oops.

There were a few areas of these recipe in which I took chances. First, before even getting to the cocoa powder mishap, this recipe is for a cake. A big, whole cake. And as much as I would love for it to be as easy as pouring the cake batter into a muffin pan instead of a cake tin and cooking it for a shorter period of time, I'm developing the sneaking suspicion that some recipes just don't work like that. I took a chance, assuming that this would be fine. For all I know, it would have been if that were the only chance I took.

Then, there was the cocoa powder. It calls for Dutch Process, I didn't have it and neither did the store. I remember reading an article a little while back about the differences between them, but heck if I can recall exactly what it said. So I used my Hershey's powder. All 1/4 C of it. And then, I let out a groan, and had to figure out what to do with the empty space in my 1/2 C measuring cup.

I shaved chocolate down as fine as I could. So, in addition to my cocoa powder, I added 1/4 C of the best shaved 100% dark chocolate I could manage, and added it to the sifter to be double sifted. Clearly, many of my chocolate shavings did not go through. So I dumped them in after. Why not?

Finally, there is no leavening agent in this recipe. Rewind: there is no baking soda or powder (or yeast for that matter, of course). There are eggs, whipped up to be 3x their original volume. This should be enough. It should be enough, but not if you sit there and over fold them, which I presumably - though not definitely - did.

Needless to say, the combination of potentially overzealous egg mixture folding and adding denser chocolate than is called for resulted in a, well, dense little "cupcake." And by cupcake, I mean it was more of a brownie masquerading in cupcake attire. The cupcakes not only failed to rise, but fell in the center a little bit, leaving a little divet in the middle; additionally, you could see a clear division between the top 2/3 of the cupcake and the bottom 1/3, which was much darker. Three guesses as to where my 100% chocolate shavings wound up.

The original recipe is not called a Black Bottom Black Forest Cupcake. However, that is a much more accurate description of what I produced. As it turns out, I could play the layered effect off as intentional, and the well in the center of the cupcakes turned out to be a perfect holder for the poached cherry component. And, once you add a big (artistically piped) blog of homemade whipped cream on top, the fact that they're much more like brownies than light and fluffy cupcakes becomes significantly less of an issue. The verdict? I kind of liked my mess up this time. Because of this, I'm going to give you both versions of the recipe - I have the sneaking suspicion that the original is much more appetizing, in a soft, fluffy, moist, traditional-Black-Forest-flavors kind of way, but my changes didn't belly flop, either.

Well, as you can see from the picture, taking on the unthinkable turned out to be fairly doable in the end. Saturday was a long day (8 hours just for the cake!), and I had to change my game plan several times, but I finished the cake.

Now, about this cake. You have to go bake this. It's not difficult to make - a little more expensive than your typical vanilla celebration cake, and certainly more labor intensive than Betty Crocker's mixes, but everything goes smoothly and turns out as the recipe says it should. Also, I'm sure that it would not take most people 8 hours to make this (though, be warned that there are several different chill times ranging from one to four hours).

The Vanilla Cake is my new go-to layer cake. It comes together easily, requires no fussy ingredients, baked for 10 minutes less than called for (though, to be fair, I had to use 8x1 1/2" pans instead of 8x3"), came out moist, didn't stick to the pan (very much), and did not dry out during the nerve-wracking several hour chill periods in the refrigerator. The vanilla cake was such a treat to work with, and had a distinctly homemade - but deliciously so - taste to it that it made me call into question why I would ever eat a prepared cake again.

The Raspberry Curd came out to be this stunning dusk rose color, and I really think the only other thing that needs to be said about this is that it is the product of real, fresh raspberries. Puree them, strain them, and simmer them alongside sugar and lemon juice. Add butter. Taste. Understand why, despite halving the cake recipe, I am thrilled to have so much extra raspberry curd. A dip for fresh fruit? A yogurt mix-in? A near-future baking ingredient? Yes, yes, and yes. The raspberry flavor is sweet but not too sweet, and tart but not too tart. The consistency is heavenly.


The Chocolate Ganache is what all chocolate ganaches should be: rich, creamy, and decadent, and forgiving. I say this as though I'm a ganache expert and this was, of course, my first attempt at making one myself and only one of several experiences tasting it. So, maybe it's more accurate to say that this chocolate ganache is what I would imagine all chocolate ganaches should be, because I can't really think of how it could have been better. I blended 100% chocolate with 60%, added heavy cream, and omitted the vanilla bean because, let's face it, I'm not splurging for one measly bean (I simply added 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract instead). However, if you have some lying around, I'm sure the vanilla bean would add another layer of depth to an already wonderful layer.

The White Chocolate Buttercream is what makes this layer cake. I am picky about my buttercreams - homemade, that is (as in, sans shortening, which makes my stomach turn). I don't want to bite into cake and feel as though the icing is a pureed stick of butter, which I have experienced before. This buttercream recipe? Perfection. A little pricey because of the addition of a chocolate bar, and consequently/potentially impractical for everyday use, but whip this baby out when it matters, because people notice. People who don't even usually like the icing on cakes very much notice, and love it. The white chocolate adds such a gentle sophistication to it, and really cuts the butter nicely. For as many compliments as I receive on the cake as a whole, I received a separate comment just on the frosting.

I don't want to take up any more space with the actual recipe, as I followed it (almost) to a T. I cut the cake recipe in half to make a three layer instead of a six layer cake, swapped the vanilla bean for an extra 1/2 tsp. extract in the ganache, and found that I only needed 2 cups of powdered sugar to get the buttercream to the right consistency (but added more later on - one teaspoon at a time - to pipe on the accents, since I had to refrigerate the icing between decorating sessions). So, instead of repeating word for word what this wonderful blogger said, I will simply direct you here. Also, her decorations wound up being extraordinarily more impressive than mine - and rightly so, based on our respective levels of experience and skill.

In the end, I have to recommend this recipe with all of my being. I have the testimonials of all of the party guests, many of whom do not love cake to begin with, to prove how fantastic this recipe is, and how close it comes to perfection. I don't really know who Evil Shenanigans is, and I found her blog via foodbuzz as opposed to being an avid follower of it - but after testing out this cake, I can assure you that you'll be seeing my versions of or attempts at many more of her recipes in the (very near) future.

Watch out for my posts on how the Black Forest Cupcakes and Spring Vegetable Pizza went!

Lamingtons. Has anyone else heard of these? They are little sponge cakes drenched in a chocolate sauce and rolled around in "dessicated" coconut, and they hail from New Zealand. Or maybe Australia originally, but for all intents and purposes, we're going to say New Zealand. See, I have this culture class - Nutrition and Culture - and we had to choose a country and essentially become experts in it over the course of the semester. It ends with a food tasting where we all make little samples of classic dishes, so of course I baked.

And this is what came of it: Little rectangles of moist sponge cake soaked in cocoa powder, butter, and levels of confectioner's sugar that should be illegal, and topped with just enough coconut (alas, not "dessicated") to keep them traditional without forcing my mostly coconut-averse peers to eat lumps and lumps of the stuff.

My one complaint is that the chocolate didn't set - and really, I don't know why I was expecting it to. After all, the recipe called for cocoa powder, not chocolate chips, so the cakes are now being stored awkwardly in my much-too-small dorm refrigerator, as I sit here worrying about them and fussing over them in the hopes that they will not dry out or melt away before class time comes. I'm happy that I stuck to the recipe closely, as it's supposed to be an example of what New Zealander's typically eat, but if I make this in the future (and I just might!), I will be sure to experiment with a chocolate glaze/coating that will set. I will also replace the coconut with one of any number of toppings: nuts, chocolate shavings, chocolate chips, candies, powdered sugar, sprinkles, fondant, edible flowers - the possibilities are endless!

I'm sorry that I don't have step by step pictures of the process. I'm continually debating whether I should have more or less pictures than I currently provide - as I don't know how to put my text behind a cut, I'm afraid too many will make my blog tedious to scroll through. However, I've read blogs that do step-by-step pictures alongside instructions, and it's an interesting approach.

For now, just this one picture, and the following ridiculously-simple but very tasty recipe for (what google informs me is) a well-loved New Zealand dessert. Also, I doubled this recipe and baked it in a 9x13 pyrex lasagna dish (it was all I had). I mean, I had to feed 40 people, and was worried that it would take me a few trials before I got the hang of the chocolate-coating process.

Lamingtons, courtesy of About.Com
Ingredients
for the cakes:
2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt (omitted - you should know that by now!)
2 large eggs
1/2 C (1 stick) room temperature butter
3/4 C white sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 C milk (I used 2%, what we had in the house)
for the chocolate coating:
2 C powdered sugar (I didn't exactly measure this...)
1/3 C cocoa powder
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 C milk
*unspecified amounts of "dessicated" coconut (because I didn't roll them in it as the recipe called for, I can't tell you how much you'll need; however, I can tell you that I used sweetened coconut because it was the only coconut available in the store.)
*whipped cream for serving

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C)
2. Lightly butter an 8 inch square cake tin. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, use an electric beater to cream the butter and sugar mixture together until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time to the butter/sugar mixture. Beat well after adding each egg.
6. Add the vanilla to the mixture and mix well to combine.
7. Next, use a spatula to alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, starting and finishing with the flour.
8. Spread the batter into the cake tin, making sure it's evenly spread.
9. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Test the center of the cake with a toothpick and make sure it comes out clean.
10. Cool the cake in the tin for about 5 minutes and then invert it onto a wire rack to cool.
11. Once the cake has cooled cut it into squares of a desired size and place them in an airtight container. Pop the container in the fridge for at least 2 hours or even overnight.
12. Now for the icing. Place the icing sugar, cocoa powder, butter and milk in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
13. Stir the mixture until it is smooth but still a bit thick. You don't want the liquid to get too thin otherwise the sponge cake won't absorb the coating.
14. Now it's time to assemble the Lamingtons. Put out some newspaper under wire racks to catch any mess. Place the cake pieces on the racks and have your chocolate icing and desiccated coconut ready.
15. Quickly coat the sponge cake on all sides in the icing mixture and then gently roll the cake in the coconut. Repeat the process.
16. The Lamingtons can be stored in an airtight container for 5 days.

Today, I accomplished a "first:" for the first time, in two years of being in college, I used a dorm kitchen.

And I survived. And so did my project.

Honestly, I don't really know why I have been so against it for so long. I'm sure it's a combination of my first dorm having an old, beat-up and constantly dirty kitchen that you could hardly turn around in, and the harsh stereotype that such dorm kitchens have developed for all dorm kitchens nationwide. But you see, I have the privilege this year of living in a brand spanking new dorm, with a brand spanking new kitchen that is, quite frankly, roughly 1.5x the size of the kitchen in the apartment I'll be living in next year.

So, it was with unfounded trepidation that I entered into the kitchen this afternoon, roommate in tow for company, to bake a treat to bring with me for an induction ceremony I'm attending tomorrow night. And despite having a fully equipped kitchen at my disposal, I nonetheless wanted to keep things simple - after all, I only had one set of ingredients to work with, and if I messed up, I believe it would be Entenman's to the rescue. Or, more realistically, I would've hung my head in shame and pretended I never signed up for anything to begin with, because I can't have store bought goods associated with my name. I have a reputation to uphold, you know?

I settled on a blondie recipe over at Smitten Kitchen (which I am, for the record, pretty smitten with) that seemed dirt simple, yet sufficiently tempting and delicious-seeming. Of course, I couldn't just hand over a simple blondie for my peers to eat. How Plain! It had to be fun, different, and much more effort than that - because as my mother likes to say of me, I really don't know how to do anything normal. Or simple.
So, I set off on my grocery store run - now, all of you folks with normal kitchens and living arrangements probably have absolutely everything this recipe calls for, but seeing as how I keep my room stocked with cheerios, yogurt, and the occasional piece of fruit if I'm lucky, I had some work to do. I also needed inspiration for my anything-but-just-plain-blondies*; clearly, a visit to the candy aisle was in order. I picked up some m&ms, then I considered a chocolate-peanut butter chip version, then I sat contemplating the twix bars and wondering how well they would chop up and mix in with the batter.
But then I found these:


Marshmallows! I picked them up with one hand and grabbed a bag of chocolate chunks in the other, and weighed the possibilities in my mind. While nothing revolutionary, the idea of a s'mores blondie called out to me. I had never attempted something along those lines, it was classic enough to appeal to the average college kid, and it was certainly not-just-a-plain-blondie.

This required some further research, though, and after sifting through two pages of google searches on s'mores bars, I had my plan of attack.S'mores Blondies, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen and the lovely people of google world
Ingredients
1 stick butter, melted
1 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp almond extract (I used vanilla)1 C all purpose flour
a pinch of salt (omitted!)
1 bag chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
1/2 bag (roughly) mini marshmallows

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and grease either a 9x13" pan, two 8x8" pans, or - if you'd like a traditionally thick blondie, as the recipe calls for - one 8x8" pan. Because of all of the toppings I was adding, I spread the batter thin over two pans, and I think they turned out well (although they haven't undergone a taste test yet, so I may retract that statement at a later date...)
2. Mix the melted butter and sugar, whisking until smooth.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla, beating thoroughly.
4. Add the salt (if using) and stir in the flour.5. Bake the blondies for roughly 20-25 minutes or until the center sets. I thought that mine would take less time, as mine were half as thick as the recipe intended, but they took the full time, and even then I wouldn't be surprised if cutting into them later today reveals a slightly gooey center (not that I will complain).
6. With roughly 5-10 minutes left, remove the pan(s) from the oven and layer fairly evenly first with chocolate, and then with marshmallows. Return to the over and finish baking.
7. My marshmallows hadn't browned at this point, and with the blondies having been in there for a full 30 minutes, I didn't want to kill the cookie layer by overcooking. So, I preheated the broiler and broiled them for no more than a minute to give the marshmallows a perfectly toasted, golden look.

This process, which takes no more than an hour from start to finish (I would imagine no more than 40 minutes for those who move more quickly than I do in a kitchen), will leave you with these gems:




The one on the left could have used a little longer under the broiler - I confess, I was using disposable aluminum pans, and when trying to pull that one out of the oven to switch it to the broiler, I accidentally punched up that corner that didn't brown. I'm not really sure why the convex corner refused to brown, especially since it was consequently closer to the broiler coil, but c'est la vie. I think the (abysmal) lighting also makes them look less brown than they actually are; I apologize for that. If I wind up cutting them and putting them in some serving platter that I don't think I possess in this room, I will take a picture of their insides - I know I'm at least itching to see them in all of their layered glory (I hope)!

So, dorm kitchen cooking was a success, and I feel absolutely silly for taking two years to come to this conclusion - a mere 2 weeks before I leave dorm living for good, of course. Maybe it'll even persuade me to make another appearance in this kitchen before the end of the year, but really...well, we'll see.

*Note: I realized that this post seems to be bashing the regular, Plain Jane blondie, and I am certainly not. I love eating a simple, little thick-cookie-cakey-bar-concoction, without the help of toppings and additives. However, I can never muster up the enthusiasm about actually baking such understated delights, and instead always give in to the temptation of over-indulging my imagination and doctoring opportunities. I'm sure that these blondies are delicious plain, and yes, I should have tried them as they were before diving into the recipe with a scalpel, but when preparing something for a potluck ceremony, I could not leave things well alone. Forgive me, purists and lovers of the small things in life. One day, I hope to get over myself enough to join you, but for now, these are the antics I ask you to endure.

Update: I had every intention of photographing the insides of this gooey treat and posting them, but they were all devoured at tonight's ceremony before I had the chance. Needless to say, they were a sweeping success, and I'm starting to think I should slightly under-cook my cookie bars/blondies more often!

I lied to you, you mysterious internet peruse-ers out there. I told you back in the days of Passover 2010 that I would update within the following week with my delicious, innovative Strawberry Mango Crisp dessert. And then, as things tend to go at school, my mind strayed to less interesting yet clearly more pertinent to my eventual graduation things, and now here we are, still twiddling our thumbs until my recipe decides to show its sorry face.
I'm not posting it tonight, either.

You see, I did this 5k Walk for Hunger over the weekend, and halfway through they handed us all big bushels of bananas - seriously, seven bananas per person. I'm not sure why, since none of us were hungry in the serious or long-term sense of the word, nor could any of us eat a whopping seven bananas over the course of the roughly 1.5 remaining miles. Maybe they didn't think the 5k was challenging enough, and so they added several pounds of banana weights to our loads. Regardless, I came home 7 bananas richer than I left, and by the next day, they were all a beautiful brown, begging for banana bread. Two loaves worth, in fact.

I have this killer recipe that everyone who tastes falls in love with. It's nothing more than a simple Food Network steal, but it turns out perfectly every time, so who's to argue? Still, there was this other recipe that has been calling to me, intriguing me, for months, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it up against the tried and true recipe. I bookmark thousands of recipes (you think I'm exaggerating), yet I am constantly thinking about this one saved recipe: naturally sweetened banana bread - whole wheat flour, applesauce instead of butter, bringing the sugar of the bananas out in place of any added sweeteners. Curious, aren't you?

How curious do you become when I tell you that it rose beautifully, baked perfectly, and made me a very proud baker when I pulled it out of the oven?

Maybe you don't share my enthusiasm, but if that's the case, I will now tell you that upon tasting it, my enthusiasm dwindled. Severely. And then my family tried it - and deflated my ego down into negative values. Rubbery. Bland. Dry. My grandmother pointed to the piece on her plate with just one bite taken from it, and told me the rest was going in the trash.

I didn't think it was that bad. The banana flavor definitely did not come through, and I can't figure out why. Does applesauce cancel out banana flavors? Does added sugar enhance it? Anyone? Help!?

I haven't given up on it, though. We all agreed that a combination of the two recipes might be in order - an experiment that I will tackle over the summer, perhaps. You see, "my" original recipe is pretty perfect, but the temptation to slim it down a little bit (I know, I know, some things need to be full-fat and beautiful as the world intended them to be) is too much to bear. I am all for high calorie, decadent chocolate cakes, but banana bread with its masquerade as breakfast food? It could use a few fewer slabs of butter and heaps of sugar. It is pretty darn sweet, after all, and I think a slight modification in that department might not hurt, at the very least.

Anyway, I would appreciate any input any of you ghost readers out there may have. Have you experienced this before? Do you have a favorite banana bread recipe?

While you ponder these thought-provoking questions, I leave you with the recipes:



Banana (Walnut) Bread, courtesy of foodnetwork.com
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (Note: I have successfully swapped in all whole-wheat flour several times)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt (of course, omitted, thanks to mama's salted butter)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 C unsalted butter
1 C sugar
3 very ripe bananas (the ones I had were enormous, so I just used two)
1/2 C toasted walnut pieces (I wish I could bake it with these, but no one in my family will eat nuts in their food, so I have always made it without).

Instructions

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl, set aside. Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a liquid measuring cup with a spout, set aside. Lightly brush a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan with butter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with an electric hand-held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually pour the egg mixture into the butter while mixing until incorporated. Add the bananas (the mixture will appear to be curdled, so don't worry), and remove the bowl from the mixer.

With a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the nuts and transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Turn the bread out of the pan and let cool completely on the rack. Wrap in plastic wrap. The banana bread is best if served the next day.

Naturally Sweetened Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 Mashed Bananas

1/3 C vegetable oil, butter, or applesauce

2 eggs

2 C flour (whatever you desire - I didn't have whole wheat on hand so I used all purpose)

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 C chopped nuts (again, omitted)

Pinch of Salt (omitted)

Instructions

Mash bananas in a bowl. Add oil (or butter) and eggs and mix until creamy. Mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the nuts.

Oil a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Pour mixture into pan. Bake at 325°F for 45 minutes to an hour. To check if it’s done, insert a knife or toothpick in center and if it comes out clean, it’s cooked.

Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice.