Happy Birthday, Matthew!

I finally baked a cake again! It was our usual chocolate pound cake with ganache, but since Sean would be eating some I left out the soak in Chambord. I have to warn you, it is very chocolatey.

HORTENSIA'S BEST-EVER CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

Recipe courtesy LATIN FLAVORS ON THE GRILL by Douglas Rodriguez (Ten Speed Press, 2000)

Unsalted butter, at room temperature (but still firm), to brush pan
¼ cup sugar, to line pan
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Van Leer Dutch process medium cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ¾ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons espresso extract (or substitute 2 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon buttermilk)
5 eggs
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
Cocoa powder or confectioners' sugar, to finish

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Brush a 10-inch Bundt pan with the room-temperature (but still firm) unsalted butter. Pour ¼ cup sugar into the pan, swirling the sugar in the pan so that the chimney and sides are covered well. Turn the pan upside down to remove any excess sugar and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter on medium speed. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beating at medium speed, add the eggs, one by one, beating only until they are well blended.

Beating on low speed, add a third of the flour mixture and a third of the buttermilk. Do this twice more with the remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula in between. Finally, beat the batter on medium speed for 30 seconds, until it is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top feels springy and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. Then turn it out onto the wire rack to finish cooling.

To finish, dust the cake with cocoa or confectioners' sugar.

Yield: Serves 12
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Chocolate Ganache Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2003

2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Heat the cream until it just comes to a simmer. Remove from the heat. Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Pour the cream over the chocolate. Allow to sit for about 10 to 15 seconds. Then, whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Allow to cool slightly, stirring occasionally. Mixture should be a little thick, but still pourable.

Place the cake on a metal rack set over a sheet pan. Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake and smooth the top and sides with a palette knife. Let set for 1 hour.

Happy (Early) 1st Birthday to Sean!

I bought this sandcastle cake pan at Williams-Sonoma's after Christmas sale and immediately thought of Sean's first birthday. I used a pound cake recipe and unfortunately, some of the turret details didn't come out well because I forgot to tamp the pan before I put it in the oven to release the bubbles in the batter. Well, there's always next time... Maybe a haunted castle for Halloween?

I used brown sugar mixed with raw sugar for the sand. (The raw sugar didn't really make a difference, just got lost in all that brown sugar.) Then finished off with gummi candies in fish and shell shapes and milk chocolate rocks. Served with ice cream, of course!

Uber Chocolate

About a month ago, I saw a show on The Food Network that featured chocolate chip cookies from the Levain Bakery in New York. Of course, I am a fan of chocolate chip cookies (all things chocolate, really), and I was intrigued by their large size. After some online research, I found this recipe:

Dark Chocolate Coconut Cookies (Yields 1 dozen cookies)

by Connie McDonald & Pamela Weekes

Ingredients

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
10 ounces (1 1/4 cup) granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 ounces (1/2 cup) dark cocoa powder
10 ounces (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
Pinch of Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 1/2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
3 ounces (1 cup) large walnut pieces
3 ounces (1 1/8 cup) unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugar until well-blended and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until well-incorporated, then beat in cocoa powder. Mix in flour, salt and baking powder until just combined. Gently fold in remaining ingredients. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions and place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in oven 12 minutes, taking care not to overbake. Let cool on rack and store in airtight container.

I made a few modifications: I left out the walnuts and shredded coconut and just put in two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also left them in the oven for two extra minutes (14 minutes total) since I had read from some people that the interior is rather raw. The cookies were very chocolatey - almost like a brownie with a crisp exterior. But they were definitely large and had great height.