That Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake... those two little words can get the attention of just about anybody. Who doesn't like chocolate cake? I mean, for real! 

I found this recipe a couple of years ago and have wanted to make it ever since, and I finally did. Now I keep asking myself why I waited so long. This has to be THE best chocolate cake I have ever had!

It's from The Essence of Chocolate cookbook, and the introduction to this recipe is:

“If you could only have one recipe for chocolate cake, this would be the one.”

They didn't lie. Hello??? You have to make it, right? So I wanted to share the recipe with all of you so that you can enjoy it as well.

For the Cake

INGREDIENTS
Unsalted butter and flour for pans
2 cups granulated sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup SCHARFFEN BERGER unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup canola oil
1 cup whole milk
1 cup boiling water

For the Frosting

INGREDIENTS
1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream
5 ounces SCHARFFEN BERGER 99% Cacao Unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

PREPARATION

For the Cake:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the parchment and the sides of the pans.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, mixing on low speed. Mix in the eggs, oil, and milk.

Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the water. The batter will be soupy.

Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then turn the layers out onto the rack and cool completely.

When the cakes have cooled, check the frosting. It should have the consistency of mayonnaise. If it is still too thin, allow it to cool longer.

For the Frosting:

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and cream and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer for 6 minutes. Add the chocolate and butter and stir until melted. Pour into a bowl and stir in the vanilla.

To Frost the Cake:

Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread the frosting with a hot palette knife or icing spatula to give the frosting a beautiful shine. Run the knife under hot tap water and dry with a towel. Spread about ¾ cup of the frosting over the top of the first layer. Top with the second layer. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake, heating the knife again as necessary.

  

 

 

My son was willing to taste test it for me.

And he gives it two thumbs up!

TIP: When you want to line the bottom of a pan with parchment paper, especially a round pan, sometimes it can be a real pain. My tip to you is, tear off two sheets of parchment paper that are larger than your pan, on a surface that you can run a sharp knife on, lay the pan on top of the two sheets of parchment paper, hold the pan down securely against the parchment paper while dragging a knife with a sharp point around the edges of the pan. Now you have your two round pieces of parchment paper that will fit perfectly into your pan. =)

 

Until next time...

Lady by the Bay

A Culinary Discovery

Don't you love the smell of sizzling meat on a hot grill?  Doesn't it remind you of summertime?  I know it does me.  I love grilling.  I grill year-round, rain or shine. I was in a rush to throw something together with some chicken I had taken out of the freezer the night before.  And as we all know, chicken can be boring; I wanted to spice it up.  This started me scouring through my spice cabinet, and I came up with this delicious combination of ingredients, and will definitely be making it again...


2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. Old Western Barbecue Spice (http://www.amazon.com/Carls-Gourmet-Natural-Barbecue-Seasoning/dp/B000TQFSGQ)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme or 1 tsp. fresh thyme
2 tbsp. olive oil

Clean chicken, pat dry and place in a shallow bowl.  Combine garlic, pepper, salt, barbecue spice and thyme in a small bowl.  Whisk in olive oil until combined.  Pour mixture over chicken and move chicken around to coat both sides.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 1-2 hours.  

A half hour before grilling the chicken, sit bowl with chicken on the counter to remove some of the chill from the chicken.  

Wrap two bricks with aluminum foil.  Heat grill on high and let come up to temperature.  Once grill is heated, reduce heat to medium.  Place chicken on the grill and then place each brick on top of each piece of chicken.  Close the lid and grill for 10 minutes, without lifting the lid again.  After 10 minutes, remove bricks from atop chicken, flip chicken, replace bricks on top of each piece of chicken.  Close the lid and grill for 10 more minutes, without lifting the lid.  After those 10 minutes, remove bricks and chicken from grill.  It's done!

The chicken was paired with orzo salad, which I've made so many times.  When it's that time of year and we get invited to a barbecue, it's under the condition that only if the orzo salad comes with us. =)  Hopefully the people in your life will enjoy it as much as the people in mine, and you'll bring this dish to your next barbecue.


Orzo Salad

1 box of Orzo pasta - orzo is a small rice shaped pasta that is perfect for this salad

1 small pack of cherry or grape tomatoes

1 half medium red onion, chopped

1 regular sized cucumber or half of a long cucumber (like the Japanese ones),   

   peeled and diced

1/4 cup sliced peperoncinis

4 oz. of feta cheese, crumbled (I like the herb flavored feta cheeses)

1 tsp. Cavender’s All Purpose Greek Seasoning 

1/2 tsp. dried Greek oregano

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

Juice of two lemons

1/4 cup good quality white wine vinegar

1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for drizzling over pasta

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add about a tablespoon of sea salt to the water, then add the orzo.  Stir.  Cook the orzo 9 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Drain and rinse immediately with cold water to stop the cooking process.  Put in a bowl and drizzle with a little of the olive oil to keep from sticking together.

Cut the tomatoes in halves (unless they're really small, then you can leave them whole), chop the red onion and cucumber to about the same size (or whatever size you want) to keep the salad uniform.  I remove the seeds from the cucmber before chopping.  Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the pasta and toss.  Add vegetables to the bowl of pasta, along with peperoncinis, and toss.

In a mesauring cup or bowl, add the juice of one lemon, vinegar, garlic, Greek seasoning, oregano, salt and pepper.  Whisk in olive oil.  Pour over the pasta and vegetables and toss together gently.  Then add the feta cheese last and fold it into the salad.  If you like olives, add black Greek olives as well.

My husband picking tomatoes for the salad.

Enjoy!

Until next time...

Lady by the Bay

When She Comes To Visit...

It is a time of shared laughter, experiences, thoughts, and the ability to see and touch; not just hear a voice over the phone.  For me, it is one of the happiest things to ever happen.  What is this I speak of you ask?  My sister coming to visit.  

My sister means so much to me, and getting to spend time with her is very special.  We live 3,000 miles apart, but we talk every single day over the phone, sometimes for hours at a time.  We find we’re able to accomplish quite a bit while talking.  For me, it’s usually making a meal or cleaning up the house.  Then the day arrives that she’s actually here!  Every time she gets here and unpacks, she brings a myriad of stuff into my office to show me (remember I work from home), and winds up turning my office into a mini department store.  My makeup table becomes shared with her stuff and begins to take on the form of a makeup counter at MAC.  She starts to apologize for stuff being in my way, but she has no idea how much I love her stuff everywhere.  The sad part is when the stuff is no longer there and I just sit and wish for our cluttered mess. 

But as we all know, all good things must come to an end and the worst is a day like today … the day she leaves.  The day everything looks bare because all of her stuff has been packed up and I am no longer able to sit and smile over the clutter.  The day I have to say goodbye to my sister.  Days like today make me very sad, but oh what fun we did have while she was here.  And a very good friend of mine just told me today, “Don't be sad.  Just go outside with a glass of wine and think back on your fun times and smile.”  I will do this for sure!

With each visit of my sister also comes a list of meals she wants me to make for her while she is here.  You see, my sister believes I am “the best cook ever”.  I am quite modest and know she may feel that way, but to me it’s just cooking.  I share the recipes with my sister and every time she makes one at home I get a phone call saying “It’s just not as good as yours; it’s not the same”.  Although she uses all of the same ingredients and prepares it in the same manner as I do, she swears it isn’t the same.  She has lots of favorites, and we were able to fill 15 days with meals that I could make for her.  One item is a particular favorite of hers that I have dubbed “pecan twirlies”.  I saved ‘em for last and made ‘em for her this morning, so that she had some to take on the plane with her to snack on (aren’t I sweet?). =)

Well, since these are my sister’s favorite I wanted to share them with you.  I can’t take credit for this recipe as I found it a long time ago online, but I will share it with you here.  They are so super yummy and are perfect with a cup of coffee.  Or, in my sister’s case, with a glass of Diet Mt. Dew!

Cinnamon-Pecan Spirals

From Country Living

6 tbsp. sugar

1 ¼ tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough (thawed)

½ cup chopped pecans

Zest of 1 orange

Directions

1.   Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Melt butter. Unfold puff pastry dough. Lightly brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Press into dough. Flip dough and repeat.

2.   Roll to 11- by 16-inch rectangle. Toss pecans with orange zest and sprinkle half of mixture over dough. Fold dough in half to 11- by 8-inch rectangle. Press remaining nut mixture into dough, covering surface.

3.   Starting from a long side, roll into a tight log. Trim edges. Wrap in plastic and chill for 20 minutes. Cut log into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Place 2 inches apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes.

I hope you enjoy these and can share them with someone special in your life!

Until next time …

Lady by the Bay

And because everything is better with pictures...