Very Very Special Occasion Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Well, what can I say? Iain's 23rd birthday was a little over a week ago, and I (Emily) know that chocolate with berries is his favorite kind of cake. Each year for the last three I've sorta tried to out-do my previous chocolate-and-berry cake, and this year I think I took it as far as I ever will. I won't say that this is the best cake I've ever had. Cakes, like brownies, come in many forms, and thus cannot be stacked up against each other as though all of the same make. However, I will say that when it comes to rich, chocolaty cakes, this one was quite excellent, and I had a really fun time making (and decorating, and serving, and eating) it.

This recipe comes in 5 parts: cake, filling, raspberry-cream, ganache, and assembly. I didn't photograph each section as well as I might have, but hopefully there will be enough guidance for all. Not including chill time, the whole thing took about 3 hours to put together (I think). Do it on a day where you've got time, and do let the whole thing chill in the fridge for an hour+ (as long as you want, really), so the chocolate firms up nicely.



Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Ingredients (for a 2-layer cake)

• 2 cups flour (pastry would be ideal, but I used all-purpose)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup hot water
• 2/3 cup lukewarm milk
• 1 1/4 sticks (10 TBS) unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
• 1 1/2-3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, left out on the counter for a bit
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• about 1/3 cup frozen strawberries, left out for 10 minutes and smashed with a fork
• about 30 raspberries (fresh or frozen), reserved for decoration
  

Procedure

• Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and grease two 9" round cake pans (or 8 or 10 if you don't have 9s. Your layers will be taller or shorter accordingly). Line with wax paper, then grease the paper.
  
• Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
• Whisk the cocoa and hot water in a small bowl, then whisk in the milk.
  
• In a large bowl, beat the butter until very creamy (this will take a few minutes if you're doing it by hand). Gradually stir in the sugar and beat 'till light and fluffy, then add the vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mix, stirring well. Follow with 1/2 of the cocoa mixture, another 1/3 of the flour, the rest of the cocoa, and the rest of the flour. Stir slowly after each addition until it's incorporated.
• Stir in the chocolate chips and raspberries
  
• Pour half of the batter into each pan and smooth with a spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
  
• Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack. Let them cool for a good long while before trying to frost. (That was a mistake I made. Oops!)

Chocolate-Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients

• one 3-4 oz. bar milk chocolate, broken into pieces
  
• 4-5 oz. dark chocolate (I used Green and Black bars for both. Great success, highly recommended), broken into pieces
  
• 1/2 stick butter (four TBS), softened
• 4 oz. cream cheese (or light cream cheese)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Procedure

• Using the double boiler method (for a how-to, check out the bonus brownie recipe here), melt the chocolates together. Cool for a bit.
• Stir the butter and cream cheese together until it's all one big mass, then add the vanilla. Mix in the chocolate once it's cooled for 10+ minutes. If the filling seems too liquidy, you can add a bit of milk or more melted chocolate. If it's too chocolaty, you can add more butter.

Raspberry Cream
Ingredients

• 1-2 TBS heavy cream
• about 3/4 cup- 1 cup frozen raspberries (if you're using a bag, whatever's left after the cake and the 30 for the top), left to thaw for 10 minutes

Procedure

• On a large plate, mash the raspberries with a fork. Stir in the cream. The raspberries will still be very lumpy and not very creamy, but this is a good thing.

Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients

• 1 TBS butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 5 oz. dark chocolate, chopped. This can be a bar or a
  

Procedure

• Combine the bream and butter in a small pot and heat gently to just below scalding point (which is where there are little bubbles popping up around the edge and it steams).
  
• Place the chocolate in a heat-safe pan (a pie pan works well) and cover with the heated cream. Leave the chocolate to melt for a few minutes, then stir until smooth. If it seems to be not melty enough after several minutes, you can place that pan onto the double boiler and heat briefly.
  

Assembly!!

Here comes the fun part. I mean this in both the sarcastic and genuine senses-- sarcastic because the assembly is complicated, genuine because it really is quite enjoyable to see it all come together. Again, sorry I don't have more pictures. I'll explain the best I can.

• First off, you need to cut one of the cake layers in half to form two thin layers. If I had good advice for how best to do this, I'd share it. As it is, I basically did just saw through a layer with my good knife. It crumbled a little but there's enough stuff on each layer to stick it all together again.
• Place the bottom half off the split layer on a large plate suitable for decorating. Carefully spread a thick layer of the cream cheese filling on top. I found it best to warm the filling briefly so it was a bit more spreadable.
  
• Place the top half of the split layer, rounded side down, on top of the filling. Spoon the raspberry cream on top.
• Place the unsplit layer on top of the raspberry cream.
  
• Now, using a knife or a spatula (whichever is easy for you) very carefully spread a thick layer of filling over the top layer, smoothing it as much as possible. Fill in the sides where the layers meet. Again, feel free to warm the filling slightly if it's too difficult to spread on its own. You might not use all of the filling, and the same is true of the ganache.
  
• Spoon ganache gently over the filling and use a spatula to smooth the top and sides. Use a spoon or paper towel to mop up the ganache that gathers at the bottom of the plate, especially if it seems in danger of escaping the edges.
  
• Dip the reserved raspberries in the remaining ganache and place around the cake. It's important to do this relatively quickly before the ganache hardens.
• Place the cake in the fridge for at least one hour to set and serve. No ice cream required.
  

Toffee Triangles

Happy Holidays to one and all! Hanukkah is in full swing (third night coming up-- I have my JCC menorah that I made when I was three, and I found candles at target). You can expect a post on latkes later this week. Also sufgoniyot, but only if I get really ambitious. For now, however, I have a Christmas tradition to share. For those of you going "But I thought you were Jewish," I should point out that my mom is Quaker (and for those of you now going "Well, then you can't be Jewish," we should have a nice little chat.) Anyway, since my mom grew up with Christmas, we've always had a Christmas tree in our house, and on Christmas Eve we sing Christmas carols and have a candlelit tea party with lots of lots of cookies. It's great fun. These particular cookies have been a staple for our tea party since I can remember. I made this particular batch for a Christmas party that I didn't end up going to because we went to see Bozzie's play and got home later than expected (sorry Eric!). But they're still fantastic cookies (and freeze super well). I mean, this is a recipe that I actually follow instead of improvising my way through. Ok, so I may not have measured the flour exactly (sorry Mom).

Toffee Triangles

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (fat free or not--but keep in mind that condensed milk is not the same as evaporated milk)
• 2 TBS butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. These are sweet bars, so I like to use semi-sweet chocolate, but milk would be fine too
• 1 cup crushed heath bars or other toffee bits (if they're coated in chocolate that's fine)

Procedure

• Preheat the oven to 350°F
• Cream the butter and sugar (always an auspicious start--I mean, how can something that starts out like this not be good?)
• Add in the egg yolk and mix well. For those of you who don't know how to separate eggs, basically what you want to do is crack the egg over a bowl and tip the yolk back and forth from one half of the shell to the other, letting the white drip into the bowl (if you're not saving the white, you can also do this over a sink and save yourself having to clean a bowl).
• Mix in the flour and salt. The dough will be very, very crumbly. When everything's incorporated, tip it into a well-greased 9x13 pan (I prefer the glass ones, but we don't have one here, so metal works too). Pat it down and lick your hands, because they'll taste really good (why yes, of course that's in the original recipe). It should look like this.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown
• Meanwhile, pour the sweetened condensed milk into a small-medium saucepan and put in the butter. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a low boil. Then keep cooking for 3-5 minutes until it's thick and creamy. This is the most difficult part of the recipe because this stuff burns super, super easily. Like, it'll go from good to charred in seconds. So keep a close watch on it and keep stirring. According to my mom, if brown bits start to come up from the bottom, stop cooking it immediately, pick out the biggest brown pieces, and don't think about it anymore because it'll still taste good.
• Once the milk has reached the desired consistency, pour in the vanilla and mix it in, then quickly remove from heat.
• When the cookie layer is done, pour the milk mix on top, using a spatula to spread it around, and bake for 10-12 minutes more, until set and golden.
• Here's the fun part. As soon as the bars come out of the oven, sprinkle on the chocolate and stick them back in for a minute or two so it melts. Then use a spatula to spread the chocolate (if the chocolate isn't spreadable, stick it back in the oven for a minute until it is. Mmmm.
• Sprinkle the toffee bits on top and let the whole thing cool for a bit. Looks heavenly, right? The longer you let them cool, the easier they'll be to cut (theoretically). The chocolate will eventually harden, and if you're trying to layer them on a plate like I was yesterday you can stick them in the fridge to quicken this process.
• When you cut them, I find it easiest to cut squares/rectangles first and then cut each one diagonally to form two triangles. I suppose ultimately there's no reason these must be toffee triangles and not toffee squares, but I like that shape much better (as well as the resulting alliteration). Hey, try it, see what works for you. Dangerously enough, these are just as good right out of the freezer as they are right out of the oven, so if you're trying to do Christmas yummies in moderation (or hide some of the cookies until the candlelit tea party, like my mom does,)the freezer is not an adequate deterrent. Just sayin'....
  

Another Simple Pasta Supper (and bonus brownies!!)

Ok, so I know my last post concerned pesto, but, especially in the summer, simple pasta dishes are just great. They're easy, relatively fast, and total comfort food. Plus, there are endless possibilities.

So for dinner a couple nights ago, I decided I wanted eggplant. This is mostly because I love eggplant and Iain's not a big fan, so since he's out of town I decided to capitalize on my chance to indulge as much as possible. I do not understand this dislike of eggplant, because eggplant is amazing, but, then, this is also the boy who doesn't like cheese. So sad....

A few notes on eggplant:

This is fairly common knowledge, but just in case-- it's a good idea to salt eggplant before you cook with it. Eggplants carry a lot of bitter juices, so about 20 minutes before you start cooking, cut the eggplant into slices and sprinkle salt onto them. This will cause the eggplant to release the juices. When there's liquid beading on the top of the eggplant slices, rinse them off and pat them dry with a paper towel. Well, at least that's how I do it. I know some people advocate sticking the pieces in a colander after you put the salt on. But just doing it on the counter works for me.

Personally, I don't much like to fry up eggplant. I mean, eggplant parm every once in a while is pretty awesome, but generally I find that broiling leaves in a lot more flavor and awesome texture. Plus it's super fast.

Also, I almost never peel eggplant. I really like the texture. And it's nutritious, I'm sure. But I know a lot of people who do like to peel their eggplant, so whatever works for you...


Anyway, I'll call this "Eggplant, Sun-Dried Tomato, and Basil Pasta" (creative, I know)



Ingredients

• half an eggplant, sliced thickly
  
• a few sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil, cut into small pieces
  
• 1-3 cloves garlic, minced (as a rule, I tend to like lots of garlic, but if you like less, by all means stick to a clove)
  
• a handful of basil leaves, chopped into bite size bits
  
• olive oil. You'll need at least a tablespoon or two for the garlic. Use more at your discretion.
  
• a pinch of dried oregano
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• pasta of whatever variety you like. I found that about half a box of pasta was appropriate for the amount of sauce I made, but I'm sure everything could be easily doubled if you want to do a whole box.
  

Preparation

1. Brush a tray with olive oil and brush the top of each slice of eggplant with additional oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, if desired. Broil five minutes a side, or until golden-brown and soft. Cut the pieces into strips.

2. Meanwhile, get some water boiling for the pasta. I used whole wheat penne, which in my opinion complemented the relatively light sauce well, adding more texture.

3. About five minutes before the pasta's done, heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the oregano, stirring. Add the garlic and turn down the heat so that it cooks relatively slowly, releasing flavor. You don't want the garlic to brown.

4. A couple of minutes before the pasta's done, add to the oil and garlic the pieces of sun-dried tomato and salt and pepper to taste and cook over low heat. Add the eggplant and basil just before draining the pasta, so it incorporates.

5. Serve with parmesan cheese, if you like. You may also need to add more oil to get the sauce to come together, but it's up to you really.

And....Bonus Brownies!

(adapted from a recipe I found online. I am so sorry that I didn't bookmark it so I can link you all directly, but I did mess with it slightly in 'baking adventure' fashion, so it wouldn't have been exactly the same anyway)

For the record, I do not believe in "the perfect brownie." I think that cakey and chewy both have their place, and although I generally prefer the latter, I do not think that it is inherently better. Generally, I go for recipes that have fewer than four eggs and use real chocolate (rather than cocoa powder exclusively). These, however, are awesome brownies. They're not so so sweet, so you really taste the chocolate, and the almond extract adds an awesome kick of extra flavor. My housemates seemed to like them too, as evidenced by the fact that this is the closest I have to a picture.

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter
  
• 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
  
• 1.5 cups of sugar
  
• 1/4 tsp. salt
  
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 a tsp almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 2 TBS cocoa powder
• 1/3 bag chocolate chips-- I used semi-sweet, and the 1/3 bag is an estimate. Basically, throw some in if you got 'em.

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and butter a pan. I used a 9in round pan. Probably an 8x8 would work well too.

2. In a double boiler, if you're fortunate enough to have one (if not, use a pot in a pan or skillet), melt the chocolate and butter together. For those who've never done this before, basically you want hot (not boiling) water in the bottom of the two containers. In the top one you want just the things your melting. Let them melt and when the chocolate is shiny, stir them together.

3. Remove from heat and cool slightly, then add the sugar, salt, extracts, and eggs (one at a time). As a side note, feel free to experiment with the extracts. Almond is my new favorite, but I'm sure mint or orange or something could be excellent too.

4. Stir in the flour and cocoa powder. The batter should be stiff at this point, so don't worry if it's a bit difficult to stir. Then add the chocolate chips.

5. Dump the batter into the prepared pan. The batter should be seriously thick at this point. Do not think slightly-lumpy-but-still-liquidy cake mix brownie batter. If that's the consistency you've done something...well...I won't say wrong, but certainly different, and you'll need to have a baking adventure all your own!

6. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs sticking to it and cook slightly. I highly recommend serving with milk. Also, these are super rich and clearly dessert brownies--- not "I just got home from work and want a snack" brownies. I learned this the hard way yesterday and wasn't hungry for dinner until a while after I'd planned to start cooking.