And the Oscar goes to...Champagne Chocolate Sauce!

9:59 AM | Labels: , , ,


In order to make this fantastic dessert, you will need: champagne, chocolate, and a long red carpet to roll out when you present it to your naive party guests. My abysmally-lit photographs won't be winning any Oscars tonight, but this dessert should. This is because this chocolate sauce is, quite simply, the bomb. And if you know me, words such as those are entirely uncharacteristic of me, which means it really has to be that good. I'm sure that most people, if they're attending or hosting an Oscar party, already know what elegant (or not) food they want to make, so I don't expect anyone to rush out and change their plans. However, if you chose to do that after hearing about this precious gem...well, I certainly wouldn't blame you.

I want to let you in on a little secret before you do anything drastic, though: this is a perfect leftover recipe. As in, tomorrow, post-Oscars, if you find yourself with some leftover champagne? Maybe it went flat from sitting out for too long? Perhaps it's a little presumptuous to assume that there would be any leftover champagne in the first place, but I urge you to save just a little bit of it for this exact purpose. So, there's leftover champagne, and instead of drinking it, you put it in a sauce pan. And you heat it up, and then mix it with some cocoa powder. Then you add things like sugar and a little bit of butter, and stir them all together to form this warm, insanely rich chocolate liquid with a strong taste of champagne permeating throughout. And since you're making it after your Oscar party, you don't have to share it with anyone else, which might just be the best part of all.

If you're insane, you will let it "set" in the fridge for a little bit and then eat it straight. If you're even remotely sane still, it will be way too intense on its own for you, in which case I have several suggestions: serve it over ice cream (vanilla is wonderful but I tried it with some black raspberry swirl frozen yogurt and think I went to heaven in that moment), sandwich it between two pieces of bread and toast it, keep it warm and use it as a chocolate fondue for fruits and cubes of pound cake, just pour it over cake in general...I mean, do something with it, because it's one of the most uniquely indulgent combinations of flavors I've tasted in a long time. I had intended for it to be a thick mousse, but as it never actually thickened (go figure based on the ingredients), it's more of a sauce, and that's perfectly fine by me. The bottom line is that whatever consistency this champagne and chocolate combination comes to you in, you will not complain. I promise.

Champagne Chocolate Sauce
Yield: Approximately 2 cups*
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients
3/4 - 1 cup + 1 tablespoon champagne or sparkling wine, divided (I used Asti)
1 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup milk (any fat is fine)

The Method
Bring (3/4 or) 1 cup champagne to a boil in a medium sauce pan, and then pour into a bowl with the cocoa, whisking vigorously until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and set aside. Combine the butter and remaining tablespoon of champagne in the same sauce pan as before over low heat. Add in the flour and both sugars, and stir until smooth. Pour in the milk and whisk vigorously until thickened, about 5 minutes.** Remove from heat and fold in the chocolate mixture. Serve immediately warm, or allow to cool for a later use.

Notes: *I didn't actually measure it out, so I'm not totally sure. It made enough that I froze some of it and gave some of it to my parents, but probably would not be enough for a big crowd of chocolate fondue enthusiasts.
**"Thicken" is a relative term. Like I said, it never thickened as I had intended, and I might play around with this the next time I find myself with a little extra champagne. Corn starch might do the trick, though I would use less than 3 tablespoons and add it to some cold water before pouring it into the mixture, if you decide to try that.

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Posted by toni

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies: Chewy but Sweet

12:33 PM | Labels: , , ,

I mentioned a while back that the only New Year's Resolution I made, on-record, officially, was to find My Sugar Cookie Recipe and learn how make them as gosh darn cute with royal icing as the pros can. So, like any true Resolution-er in mid-January, I pounced on any opportunity to start tackling this goal. Overwhelmed by all of the sugar cookie recipes I have saved as bookmarks, I just chose the very first one on the list, meaning the one that has been sitting there untouched for the absolute longest time. As a side note, my unhealthy, borderline compulsive collection of recipes has begun to make me feel self-conscious, and I've been doing a "Spring Cleaning" of sorts in which I go through and examine each and every recipe, clearing out all the dead links, duplicate recipes, and recipes that are so similar they might as well be duplicates. It's tedious, but I'm already feeling less obsessive, and also less tied down by recipes. I've noticed how similar all the recipes for, say, a coffee cake are, and it's boosted my confidence in being able to one day just formulate my own version. But for right now, we'll stick to the recipes, and I'm pretty happy with the recipe I have for you today.


These aren't typically sugar cookies that you'd decorate, which I knew going into it, but I still wanted to try them and figured I could at least tackle the art of flooding a cookie, if not work on the actual design technique.

Now, the title says they're whole wheat. They're not. Mine were, because that's the only flour we had in the house (shocking, really), and I just figured, why not? It really produces a beautifully colored cookie - a beige or tan, very light brown and just slightly golden disc of crackly-topped cookie goodness. It does look fantastic, and I think even better than it would with all purpose flour, and it still makes the house smell like heaven. But, as anyone who has baked a cookie knows, whole wheat flour is a little...domineering, isn't it? It's very brusque and loud, unwilling to let its present go unnoticed by, well, anyone. Because of this, you bite into this cookie, and you know. It's chewier, it's nuttier, it's a little denser. It has a very whole wheat quality to it, sans doute. Now, once I flooded the top with royal icing, I found these to be tremendously addicting, as did everyone who tasted them (ignore the fact that about 98% of the taste testers were fellow nutrition majors...). I don't know that I would encourage you to use all whole wheat if you don't plan to use them as, say, a sandwiched cookie, or iced, or something that involves the addition of a very sweet spread. But if you do plan to make them with an added indulgence dolloped on top, go for the whole wheat - it's a very nice contrast. Alternatively, you could do white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour (or a combo of white and whole wheat) to get a less in-your-face product, but really, I don't know that all that is necessary.

So, we've established that these cookies were delicious when I flooded them with icing, which must mean that my first attempt at flooding was a brilliant success, right? Ha! Oh, how assuming we are. Flooding those belligerent cookies was one of the least rewarding, most torturous culinary experiences of my life. First, and this is all because of the cookie I chose, that beautifully crackled top that I mentioned earlier made it a real pain to get the icing into every nook and cranny for a smooth, consistent finish. Second, I'm pretty sure I didn't thin the icing out enough, because it was extremely labor intensive to get it to actually flood. Third, I don't have adequate work surfaces, so I spent the better part of 2 hours bent in half over my kitchen table, trying desperately to get these cookies finished. And last but not least, I must have cut the most bizarre hole in my ziplock bag for piping, because that icing was just clambering out. I had dried up royal icing everywhere - my shirt sleeves, the table, other cookies, the towels I was working on, the counters - everywhere.

But I did it! Although I couldn't stand up straight for the rest of the night (and, I think, cracked every vertebra in my spine when I finally did straighten out), and although these will win me no professional cookie-decorating contest, I flooded my first batch of cookies! AND they didn't get thrown in the trash. Besides, it's only February, right? I still have plenty of time to master this art! Now all I need is another excuse to whip up a batch for more practice...maybe L's roommates could use a little sugary snack when I go to visit next week...and what's the next holiday, St. Patty's Day?

Forget baking cakes, Floptimism's about to go All Cookies, All the Time! (What about cookies for breakfast? Yes? No? Too much?)

Chewy Whole Wheat (or not!) Sugar Cookies, courtesy of Food Network
Yield: 4 dozen cookies

The Ingredients
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons buttermilk
raw sugar or sprinkles (optional)

The Method
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Meanwhile, stir the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together into a small-medium mixing bowl, and set aside. In a separate, larger bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth, a good 4-5 minutes. With the mixer still on, add in the egg and vanilla, and stir until incorporated. Gradually add in the flour mixture; I usually do this with the mixer on a lower speed to reduce the amount of flour that the mixer spits out. Lastly, pour in the buttermilk slowly, stopping as soon as the dough is soft but not wet.

Portion out the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, an inch or two apart. Use a brush or your fingers to moisten the top of each cookie with the leftover buttermilk, and then gently flatten each cookie slightly. If not icing, sprinkle each cookie with a little raw sugar or colored sprinkles.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, looking for them to develop a slightly golden color (if you're using whole wheat flour, this can be tricky to discern - just do your best). Allow the cookies to rest on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes once out of the oven before transferring to a rack to cool completely (if you can be that patient - which, if you're icing them, you'll have to be).

If you're planning to ice them, head on over to Annie's Eats, because she is my Patron Saint of Cookie Decorating, and I do not presume to know enough to tell you on my own how to flood a good cookie. She has all kinds of tips and techniques. Once I become a pro at this whole business, I plan to write my own How To for sharing with you nice folks, but for right now, I'm no more knowledgeable than you are, I'm sure. The recipe that I used for royal icing is also in her how-to, so you should be all set. PS I absolutely do not have photos of the finished, iced cookie - this is not because they were homely. It's because I was so worn out by the time I finished, having a photoshoot was the last thing I wanted to do with those cookies. I apologize.

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Posted by toni

Saucey (and sassy!) Eggplant Parmesan

3:32 PM | Labels: , ,


Any meal ending in parmesan is, I think, worthy of being in the "best foods ever created" category, if for no reason other than smothering anything in tomato sauce and gooey cheese is enough to incite drooling in even the most corpulent of Americans, full from the biggest, baddest Thanksgiving meal ever. You just can't beat that combination. It's because of this that whenever I go to an Italian restaurant or pizza-y joint, the insert-vegetable-or-meat-here parmesan calls to me. But then I almost always order something else. Why? What I get placed in front of me is always disappointing: you could have put dog poop under all that breading, sauce, and cheese, and we'd all eat it, happy as clams and so tragically ignorant of the truth. This is especially true with eggplant parmesan. Yes, what makes these parmesan dishes so fantastic is the fact that they're drenched in sauce and cheese, and the somewhat bland vehicle certainly takes a backseat to those two indulgences. But I still want to taste something, you know?

I tend to prefer my eggplant parmesan un-breaded for this reason. When you take that coat of breadcrumbs off, you can let the eggplant shine in a way that most parmesan recipes don't. That's why, when I had some extra eggplant sitting around a while ago, I decided to try my hand at the meal that restaurants tempt me with so often, but that I know will only lead to heart break. Or heart attack.

This recipe, loosely based off one from $5 Dinners, is absolute perfection. You can tell that beneath the generous layers of sauce and cheese, yes, there is eggplant there, and not just some mystery substance. The rosemary in particular allows the dish to come alive, and there was something in that pan that night that gave a slightly fermented taste (in a good way, of course) to the dish as a whole. Maybe it was the rosemary mixed with some eggplant juice or oil. I'm no food expert. But whatever was going on in my saute pan? It was good. Really good.

Eggplant Parmesan, inspired by $5 Dinners
Yield: 4 servings, perhaps?
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients*
2 medium eggplants, top and bottom trimmed, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for sauteeing
dried rosemary, to taste
1 scant tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 - 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
2-3 cups tomato sauce (I used premade, but there's a recipe for making one in the original directions)
salt and pepper, to taste
egg whites, for dipping
1 teaspoon water
1 cup bread crumbs
2 cups cheese of your choice (I used provolone + parmesan)
2 cups loosely packed spinach

The Method
Sprinkle the sliced eggplant with salt and place in a colander in the sink to drain the bitterness out. Let the eggplant sit for 30 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Meanwhile, combine the egg whites and water in a shallow bowl (such as a pie plate) and the breadcrumbs in a separate, shallow bowl.

Dip the dry eggplant first in the egg mixture, then the bread crumbs, and add the eggplant along with the garlic, onion, and peppers to a medium saute pan coated in olive oil. Sprinkle the rosemary and some black pepper onto the exposed side of eggplant. Saute the eggplant 3-4 minutes per side to brown, adding more rosemary and pepper once the pieces are flipped.

While the eggplant is cooking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of a baking dish. A 9x13" baking dish is recommended for the full recipe, but I just made enough eggplant for one serving, so I used a single-serving dish. Once the eggplant and vegetables are finished, layer the dish with the eggplant, vegetables, spinach, and cheese, repeating if ingredients permit more than one layer. Bake the casserole in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, waiting for the cheese to melt and turn a slight golden color. Finally, enjoy your piping hot, gooey, savory, rosemary-y eggplant parm that - gasp - tastes like eggplant parm!

Notes:
*All of these quantities are estimations. Like I said, I really used the original recipe as guidelines in order to use up some extra eggplant I had on hand, and I made a single-serving meal. I've tried to scale up the ingredients I added, but for the most part I just threw things together, so use your own judgment regarding your taste preferences if you choose to make this. You can't go wrong if you do that.

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Posted by toni

Buttermilk Pancakes Topped with a Yogurt Fruit Puree

9:54 AM | Labels: , , ,


I love breakfast food. I could (and often do) find myself craving something designated "for breakfast" throughout the entire day. I like to think that it's a twisted form of the Russian within me. I've heard that in Russia, there's no actual designated "breakfast foods" (this is where the twisted form of Russian comes in); rather, they just eat whatever they want, essentially. It's interesting to see how different breakfast can be cross-culturally, and I think it's refreshing to see a culture that acknowledges the arbitrary nature of time-specific recipes. Just as they might have, I don't know, beet salad and vodka for breakfast (I may be way off here, but you get the gist - they aren't eating cereal simply because it's morning and that's what you do), I find myself wanting to have pancakes for dinner and cereal for lunch. It's fun to turn food conventionality on its head sometimes. Kind of like eating dessert first, but that's a whole other topic...

Because of all of this, every so often I plan breakfast for dinner. A little while back, I did this with pancakes. Now, I don't know about you, but I was raised an Aunt Jemima girl. Those pancakes are tres bien, and as they are among the few processed, packaged mixes of any kind of food that I can still eat, it somewhat pains me to leave Aunt Jemima behind in search of my own, from-scratch version. But, being that I can't leave things well alone, search I do. This journey becomes increasingly disheartening each and every time I try a recipe and discover that it, well....sucks. I am becoming ever more frightened that I am incapable of making a from-scratch pancake as good as dear old Aunt Jemima.

These pancakes are not bad. They don't burn or have any kind of off flavors. They do taste like pancakes, and they turn a relatively acceptable color. The problem that I have with them is that they are quite literally, as flat as a pancake. And I like my pancakes very un-pancake like in that regard: fluff is key. I like restaurant pancakes that come out as big as your plate and as thick as, well, a thick and fluffy pancake. Maybe I did something incorrectly and this recipe isn't supposed to yield surprisingly thin pancakes, but I have too many pancake recipes to try to give any one of them a second chance. One strike, you're out, and I move on, determined to find my Aunt Jemima equivalent.

Because I didn't approve of the pancakes, and because I didn't change a darn thing about the recipe (to my knowledge), I'm just going to direct you to 2 Make Ends Meet, where you can find the original post. It's entirely possible that I did something careless, since her pictures look adequately fluffy, and it's also entirely possible that there are readers out there who would really enjoy a thinner pancake. They did have a nice flavor to them. So, don't be discouraged by what this jaded pancake critic has to say, at least not without checking it out yourself.

Still, the fruit and yogurt puree I threw together with it was pretty good, if not a little pungent from an accidental overload on the extracts I used. I will definitely use greek yogurt next time to thicken it a little, but overall, it was very nice.

Yogurt & Fruit Puree Topping
Yield: 2-4 servings*
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients
1 cup frozen fruit (I used a tropical mix), thawed
6 ounces plain or vanilla greek yogurt
splash extract (I used rum-flavored)

The Method
Once the fruit has thawed, puree it to your desired consistency. You may reserve several pieces for garnishing at the end. Combine the puree in a small bowl with the yogurt and stir to combine. Mix in the extract or any other desired flavorings, and serve alongside any reserved fruit.

Notes:
*For pancakes as thin as the ones that I made, you don't need a lot of the yogurt mixture for topping in order to achieve the right pancake:topping ratio. I only used a small portion of the puree when I ate my pancakes, (really, no more than 2 tablespoons should be fine) and had a lot leftover. However, if you're using it with something more substantial (like a thick waffle) or you'd like to enjoy it as more of a stand-alone with some granola or cake or something, it won't yield quite so many servings.

Sometimes I wonder if I should bother writing about recipe flops here. I know most food blogs, especially the really "successful" ones, only share successes because, really, how many people come here to find a recipe that isn't endorsed by the person who made it? But I'm not a professional, or even really good at this cooking (or blogging!) thing yet, and I think my flops are a key component to my learning process. So, it isn't that I'm trying to lure you in with a delicious-sounding recipe only to tell you two paragraphs later that I hated it; I just like to keep tabs on the things I've made. This blog does more than share my journey with other people and hopefully inspire some readers to make some of these recipes on their own - it's about keeping a record of what I make so that I can notice trends in things that work or don't work, and really improve myself as a cook.

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Posted by toni

Caramelized Apple Grilled Cheese Sandwich

11:52 AM | Labels: , ,


As part of my nutrition education, I volunteer as the assistant for a food lab that all nutrition majors need to take. It is by no means a healthy cooking class; rather, it's an introduction to the fundamentals of cooking and food preparation, as well as to the notion of food safety and sanitation practices. This week in lab, the students each made their own, individual apple pie. I watched as the girls cringed as they filled their measuring cups with shortening, and I helped them maneuver their delicate crusts to their foil pie tins. It's a fun lab. And at the end of it, the professor always passes around a plate of cheddar cheese slices for the students to top over their still-warm-and-fresh-from-the-oven pies. Many people refuse or, at the very least, hesitate considerably. It's totally weird, right?

Wrong!

Alright, maybe I shouldn't be that harsh or that black and white with things as subjective as flavors and food. However, even if you forget the sophisticated cheese-and-fruit classic pairing or you have never heard that sweet + salty = pretty darn tasty, even for a salt-phobe like me, I have this recipe to prove to you just how heavenly warm cheese and apples can be. It comes directly from the blog, Closet Cooking, (and, in fact, he says the inspiration for the sandwich came from hearing about the apple pie + cheddar combo) and I made it just about a half century ago (re: last semester). So, although it's definitely not apple season anymore and I did recently (kind of) post a cheesy, melty, pan-sauteed sandwich type of thing, I ask you to hear me out. Because this recipe is good. Healthy? Not so much. But good? Times five hundred percent, two thumbs and both big toes up. Seriously. I didn't even write any notes about it (that's how long ago I made it), and I can tell you emphatically just how worth it this conglomeration of hearty whole grain bread, gooey cheese and warmed, caramelized apples is. Yes, I did say caramelized - as in, you cook the apples in a whole lot of butter mixed with some cinnamon before even introducing the words cheese or bread to the pan. I'm shocked that you're still sitting here, actually, unless you do come here for healthy(ish) recipes and you have the restraint of a saint.

I really shouldn't even re-post the recipe, since I changed nothing and think that it is absolute perfection just the way it is, so I'll simply direct you over here for the Real Deal.

I will say, though, that I wholeheartedly encourage the use of a heavier, heartier bread - I use a whole grain oatmeal bread almost without exception for my grilled sandwiches because it adds a significantly noticeable level of complexity to the texture and flavor. It's not just because Wonder Bread frightens me. Also, as you can see in the picture, I paired it with a side salad consisting of mixed greens, walnuts, and cranberries to round out this Autumn (and, I'd argue, winter...) meal.

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Posted by toni

Very Veggie "Mac"-n-Cheese Spaghetti

3:59 PM | Labels: , , ,


First of all, some housekeeping: before I say anything, I have to apologize for disappearing for so long. L was in for the weekend and what kind of Valentine would I be if I left him to his own devices while I wrote to you guys for an hour? Not the worst, for sure, but I decided against it, anyway. He thanks you for your understanding. Second, I got an unexpected Valentine's Weekend Surprise of being awarded my very first blog award! The Food Hound, a witty and engaging food blogger who took notice of Floptimism when I was seriously doubting that anyone actually read my ramblings, picked me (and 15 other people, shh!) for her Stylish Blog Award! technically I'm supposed to pass this one and do a whole bunch of stuff, but I think I'll pass because (a) it's been a long day and a longer weekend, and I'm a bit beat (b) I don't actually interact with many food bloggers; I really just admire from afar, and I tend to gush about those blogs every time I tell you about one of their recipes (c) yes, I'm one of those stinkers who reads chain emails and then just hits delete, no matter how many wishes they prove to grant if you pass it on. But I nonetheless appreciate it, and as I told her via a lengthy comment to her post: Food Hound, if I weren't such a party pooper, you would be at the top of my Stylish Food Blog Award list.

Now, onto the food! You have to say the name of this dish with a bounce in your voice. Go on, try it - I like to think it's fairly reminiscent of Dr. Suess himself, not that I'm tooting my own horn at all. This recipe is technically not of my own doing, but I did spiffy it up a little bit with tons of veggies and even some chicken to make you feel less guilty for making a meal out of globs of cheese and carbs, even if you do use the complex, whole wheat variety as I did. This pasta dish is really good - I know this because in my notes I wrote that phrase in all capitals. It's cheesy and creamy, with a fresh crunch from essentially flash-cooked veggies. It's filling and satisfying, and, yes, it meets all of my standard requirements for a keeper meal that I repeat virtually every recipe: it's versatile enough that I can throw in whatever I have on hand, it's a fast meal so I can walk in at 6:00 and be eating by 6:30, and it just tastes good. The only thing it really doesn't have going for it is the amount of dishes it dirties, but I wouldn't let that stop you.

The original recipe is called "No Bake Mac-n-Cheese" and the headline of the article containing it is titled, "All-natural, healthy creamy mac & cheese in 25 minutes." For a while I teeter-tottered back and forth between agreeing with this "health claim" and not - it's certainly a trimmed down version of the Classic American Comfort Food, and the changes I made to it definitely up the nutrition factor, but...I dunno, it's still mac-n-cheese. In the end, though, once you see this recipe I think you'll agree that there's not too much to criticize about this recipe (unless, of course, you want the uber-heavy, loaded-down-with-cheese traditional form of mac).

Very Veggie "Mac"-n-Cheese Spaghetti, based on Food on Shine (Yahoo)
Yield: 4 servings
(printer friendly version)

The Ingredients
8 ounces whole-wheat pasta (I used spaghetti, but you certainly don't have to), about 2 cups
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped broccoli
1 small-medium green bell pepper
couple handfuls halved cherry tomatoes, maybe 1/3 - 1/2 cup
12 ounces cooked chicken
1/4 cup (heaping) chopped onion
1 3/4 cups low-fat milk, divided
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (omitted)
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper (I used regular black)
3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
nutmeg, to taste
olive oil, for sauteeing

The Method
Prepare the pasta by bringing a large pot of water to boil and adding in the pasta. After 5 minutes, pour in the broccoli* and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until the broccoli is just tender.

Meanwhile, bring 1 1/2 cups milk to a gentle simmer over medium-high heat in another large sauce pan. Combine the rest of the milk, flour, garlic powder, nutmeg, salt (if using), and pepper in a small bowl and then whisk into the milk. Allow the milk mixture to return to a simmer, whisking constantly until the mixture has thickened, approximately 2 or 3 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in both cheeses and mustard. Add the rest of the vegetables and chicken to the milk and cheese mixture and, once the pasta is ready, return the cheese mixture to low heat.

Drain the pasta and broccoli and add to the milk and cheese pan, allowing the entire mixture to become heated through, another 2 minutes or so.**

Notes:
*I normally do not boil vegetables. No, scratch that - I never boil vegetables. However, a nutrition professor once told me that when you boil vegetables either at the same time as or just before cooking pasta in the same water allows the pasta to absorb all (or, okay, lots) of the lost nutrients as it swells and cooks. I never double checked that factoid, but went for it in this recipe, anyway.
**If you'd like the veggies more cooked than this, you can simmer them in the milk once the flour has been added or just add another pan to the stove and saute them briefly.

Update: This post was featured @ This is what I eat..., by Angela, along with many other delicious looking recipes. Check it out!

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Posted by toni

Classic Chocolate Cake with Ganache Frosting

4:30 PM | Labels: , , , ,


Tonight's post is a very special one. It's very convenient that I am writing to you about a deliciously decadent and ridiculously easy and satisfying to make chocolate cake on the eve of Valentine's Weekend (how long can we stretch a holiday out for?), and I do hope that if you're searching for a last minute dessert for The Big Day you find what you're looking for in this recipe...but alas, this is not why I made this cake. L can feel free to enjoy a thawed piece of it when he arrives this weekend, but he, too, is not the reason why I went into a chocolate baking frenzy last weekend. No, I chose to make this cake to celebrate a very different occasion...

...Are you dying of suspense yet? Why, this is my 100th post!!

As soon as I realized my blog was becoming a centenarian (if posts were equivalent to years, I guess - in terms of years Floptimism is still quite the youngster), there was no doubt in my mind that I had to try my hand at a classic chocolate cake. You see, I used to get this crazy-expensive, seven-layer, rich, indulgent, sinfully heavenly chocolate cake from a local deli each year for my birthday (as well as a slice any time I went to the deli for breakfast - don't worry, I saved it for later like a good girl!). After my internal trans-fat ban, and with the knowledge that $45 for a birthday cake is kind of insane, even if it is humongous and would last me for months and months in the freezer, I stopped buying that cake, and have had every intention since then of recreating it in my own kitchen.

This cake is not that cake. Although I haven't yet had it only partially thawed, still chilled, I have my doubts that it is fudgy enough to stand up to that seven layer behemoth I'm used to. This isn't seven layers, at all - it's a modest single layer cake, making it much more fathomable and humble. In fact, humble seems like a great word for this cake - it's unassuming and simple, with a subtle chocolately cake and a richer yet still manageable ganache topping. If I make this again I would increase the chocolate factor by either adding more chocolate or adding in some decaf coffee, which is said to enhance chocolate desserts. Yet, with each successive slice I sit down to enjoy, I find myself loving its understated beauty more and more. This is Ye Olde Faithful Chocolate Cake - aside from maybe the heavy cream and baker's chocolate for the frosting, the ingredients are almost definitely in your kitchen already; they come together in smooth, flowing steps, the cake bakes absolutely beautifully and comes out of the oven to flood the house with the tantalizing smell of chocolate, and as all good cakes should, it only gets better over time (to a certain extent - like I said, I have transferred the remaining slices to the freezer for safer keeping). It's not dense or overwhelming, and in that lack of indulgence I find myself wanting to still search for That Perfect Recipe, but if you're looking for a simple, classic chocolate cake, particularly one for a birthday celebration but certainly for this weekend of romance, I encourage you to try this. I don't think you will regret it.

Also in honor of my 100th post, I thought I would do something to improve the blog itself more than just the appetites of my readers, so I've set up a GoogleDocs account and will now be providing you with printable recipes! I haven't decided if I will include the link on every post, or just the ones whose recipes are not available from other, original sources - but I just had to do it at least for this first one. Enjoy!

Classic Chocolate with Ganache Frosting, courtesy of Dana Treat
Yield: 1 9-inch. round cake (8-12 servings)*
Printable Recipe

The Ingredients - The Cake
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (omitted)
1/2 cup plus 1.5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water**
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 large eggs
6 tablespoons (unsalted) butter, room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces***
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk mixed with 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

The Ingredients - The Ganache
2.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped****
2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

The Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper, spraying the paper as well. Dust with cocoa powder (the recipe says flour, but after I did this step I realized that cocoa powder might be more appropriate), shaking out excess.

Over a medium-large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt (if using). In another medium bowl, sift the cocoa powder. Pour the boiling water (or coffee) over the cocoa and whisk until fully dissolved; the mixture will resemble thick, melted chocolate more than a liquid.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until light an fluffy, approximately two minutes - don't underestimate this step, since you're beating air into the mixture. Add in the softened butter and continue mixing until well blended. Then, beat in the cocoa mixture, followed by the buttermilk and vanilla, lowering the mixer speed to low and only mixing until just incorporated. Finally, slowly mix in the dry ingredients, again taking care to only mix as much as it takes to just blend. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake in the preheated oven for about 38 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Without removing the cake from the pan, allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the ganache: combine the butter, chocolate, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Place a small-medium sauce pan over no higher than medium heat and add in the cream and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring all the while to dissolve the sugar. Once it reaches a boil, remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour it over the chocolate mixture. Let it sit for approximately one minute before whisking until a smooth consistency is reached. At this point, it will still be thin and liquidy. Chill the frosting, covered, for roughly one hour, to attain the correct, spreadable consistency.

To assemble the cake, invert the cooled cake onto a work surface or unrimmed plate and remove the parchment paper. Spread the ganache liberally over the cake, smoothing it out to cover the top and sides. Allow the cake to set for at least one hour, though I found letting it sit for longer was even better. Both the cake part of the recipe as well as the recipe in its entirety can be made up to one day in advance and kept either at room temperature (without the ganache) or in the refrigerator (with the ganache), in an airtight container in both cases. However, I must admit, I let this cake sit at room temperature (which is, at this time of year, not exactly 60 degrees...) for several days and have not yet suffered from soured cream or anything of the sort.

Notes: *The original cake was baked in a 24-inch pan, which is a wedding-cake scale pan. I halved the recipe and made a beautiful 9-inch single layer cake, and altered the recipe to reflect this, as I would imagine not many people own the originally-called for 24'inch pan. **Here is where I would add in the coffee to bring out the chocolate flavor, dissolved into the boiling water. ***As per usual, I forgot to bring my butter to room temperature, so I hastily tossed the whole stick into the microwave to soften it. I then not only did not chop it into bits, but added the entire stick instead of 6 tablespoons. Clearly, I will not repeat this, despite perceiving no negative effects in the finished product - especially since using just 6 tablespoons leaves you with the 2 extra you need for the frosting. ****I could only find semi-sweet chocolate squares, and just in case you were curious, I did some research on the amount of sugar it added. It was the equivalent of 1 extra teaspoon, so rather than measure out 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons of sugar, I made the executive decision that an extra teaspoon from the chocolate was perfectly acceptable. So, feel free to do the same, though if you can find unsweetened you might as well use that.

So there it is, Floptimism's 100th entry! I never would have imagined sticking with this crazy thing for half as long. And now, I must say, it might be about time for this cake to meet the microwave and then, of course, my belly. Happy Early Valentine's Day, everyone - I hope it is enjoyable and sweet, however it is spent!


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Posted by toni
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