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Polish Housewife

Polish recipes served up with tidbits of folklore, customs, and history

Chocolate

Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse

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Topped with a dollop of whipped cream before serving
Inspired by the salted caramel hot chocolate Marybeth made for me at Sweet Surrender – the one that was gone in no time at all.  🙂 

I used Alton Brown’s chocolate mouse recipe with 70 % dark chocolate, as recommended.  Next time, I’ll mix in some milk chocolate.  The chocolate was just too dark and intense for me.  The recipe said 6 – 8 serving.  I made 6, and the portions should have been smaller because of the intensity, 8 – 10 would have been better, just a few bites.  To end on a more positive note for a milk chocolate lover, I had a cup of caramel left over, Elise’s caramel sauce from Simply Recipes.   I heated it, poured it into a buttered bread plate and sprinkled with flaked salt.  The salted caramel was so good that it kept calling to us from the fridge.

Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake with Espresso Swiss Meringue

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I’ve been following ButterYum’s food blog for years.  When she posted a Bailey’s Irish Cream and Pistachio Fudge recipe, I had to take a look.  The white fudge with green bits of pistachio looked so good (and sounds so easy) that I know I will make it one day.  So many wonderful recipes out there but too few calories in a day!

ButterYum’s post is also where I first learned about the once a month Crazy Cooking Challenge.  After participating in a weekly baking group (which I loved, please don’t misunderstand), a monthly activity sounded like just the thing. (So now I’m in two monthly group, stay tuned to see if it grows to four!)

Photobucket

Every month the Crazy Cooks will prepare the same item, whether it’s fudge or a chocolate cake, from a recipe found on a food blog other than their own.  We’re all selecting different recipes, so the entries are the same, but different if you see what I mean. What a great way to visually sample the best of what’s out there!

My challenge this month was to find a yummy chocolate cake, other than my own go-to chocolate cake, which I have bake for two recent birthdays.  (You can catch the second one at the end of this post.)

I found what I knew would be a delicious  chocolate cake with striking appearance on lululu at home.  Thanks so much for sharing this, Fanny!  Fanny’s blog captures some wonderful recipes along with posts about her life as a mom.  I hope you’ll pay her a visit.

the original recipe calls for a 5 layer8 inch cake – I have 9 inch cake pans, so I only got 3 layers

I also had the perfect reason to make a cake; our friend Remi had invited us to stop by the Cocktails of Dreams club to have a birthday drink with him.  The cake was a big hit with Remi and his friends.

Ingredients

for the cake:
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
 
for the frosting:
5 large egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 cup strong espresso, cooled
1 cup sliced almond
 
 
Directions
for cake:
  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Grease five 8-inch round or three 9-inch round cake pans, lining the bottoms with parchment paper
  • Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
  • In a small bowl, whisk the boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth
  • Beat butter and sugar together on medium speed in a bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy Beat in eggs, one at a time
  • Beat in buttermilk and vanilla extract
  • Reduce the speed to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by half of the chocolate mixture
  • Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the remaining chocolate mixture
  • Beat in the remaining flour mixture until just incorporated
  • Pour the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with a spatula
  • Bake 13 to 15 minutes (for 8 inch), 20 to 25 minutes (for 9 inch), or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean
  • Cool the cakes (in the pans) on a wire rack
  • Then invert the cakes onto a greased rack, making certain they are completely cool before frosting
for the frosting:
  • Put egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl over a pot of  simmering water
  • Use an electric hand mixer to beat constantly until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot
  • Remove from heat
  • With whisk attachment, continue whipping the mixture in a stand  mixer (I only have portable) until thick, glossy, and cool
  • Switch over to paddle attachment and mix on medium speed, continuously adding softened butter in chunks until incorporated, and it has a silky smooth texture
  • If curdles, keep mixing and it will come back together
  • Add vanilla and salt, mix well
  • Add the espresso and  beat  for  another  10  seconds
  • Reserve 1 cup of buttercream for piping on top
  • To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on your serving plate and spread the buttercream
  • Repeat this process until all cake layers are placed
  • Spread buttercream on top and sides of the cake
  • Garnish with the sliced almonds
  • Using a large star tip to pipe a decorative border on the top edge of the cake
  • Cover and refrigerate the cake
  • Leave out in room temperature for at least an hour prior to serving.
Can’t visit Cocktails of Dreams without one of their beautiful creations

Zosia’s Birthday Cake – Chocolate and Nutella!

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I didn’t get around to making a HCB free choice this week, but I did make the chocolate cake with Nutella flavored Italian Meringue Butter Cream for Zosia’s 10th birthday.  Perfect for the chocoholic!  I also made the pumpkin cheesecake last weekend (to post on Monday).  HCB friends, if you’re on the fence about this cake, it was fabulous!  By all means, make it.  You and your friends will be glad you did .

For the cake:

Ingredients

1 1/4 c. sour cream
1 1/4 vegetable oil
1 3/4 c. water
2 1/2 T white vinegar
2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
2 1/2 c. flour
3 c. sugar
1 c. dutch process cocoa powder
1 T baking soda
1 t. salt

Directions

  • Grease and flour three 9″ round cake pans.  (I also line the bottom with parchment paper – no risk of anything sticking that way.)
  • Preheat oven at 350.
  • Whisk together wet  ingredients.
  • In another bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
  • Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients and stir until smooth.
  • Divide batter evenly into the three pans.
  • Bake for 40-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  • Cool

For the frosting:

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar (1 7/8)
2/3 cup water (1)
5 egg whites (8)
pinch cream of tartar
1 pound butter, chilled and cut into chunks of 1 or 2 tablespoons (1 1/2)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 jar Nutella (the Jif chocolate hazelnut spread is thicker and give a better frosting texture)
2 ounces dark chocolate, melted (optional)
8 Ferrero Rocher candies

For the main ingredients, I used the amounts in parenthesis because I wanted to be sure I’d have enough frosting for 3 layers and to do some piping.  I had more than enough and froze the leftover.  If you’re only frosting 2 layers or not piping extra buttercream on the cake, the basic amounts should be fine.

Directions

  • Bring the sugar and water to a boil.  Stirring only until the sugar dissolves.
  • Cook to soft ball stage, 238 degrees
  • While the sugar is cooking, prepare the egg whites
  • Beat whites until foamy, add cream of tartar
  • Beat until stiff peaks form
  • With the mixer running, slowly drizzle the hot syrup into the egg whites.  I was using a hand mixer, so I drizzled between the beaters and the edge of the bowl. Stopped drizzling and moved the beaters to incorporate the syrup, over and over.  If the syrup hits the beaters, it will just get flung about rather than mixed in.
  • Continue to beat for about 3 minutes
  • With the mixer running, slowing add the chunks of butter, the buttercream may look like it’s seperating, but just keep beating.  It will magically come together with a fluffly, even texture and enough body to make a nice frsoting to work with.
  • Add the vanilla, Nutella, and melted chocolate.
  • Frost the cake.  Pipe any pattern you wish along the base of the cake; make 16 large stars around the outside of the top.
  • Place 1/2 a Ferrero Rocher on each star.

First Attempt at Macarons

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I’ve been a Heavenly Cake baker for over a year now.  Many of Rose’s recipes will call for just egg yolks, or just egg whites.  Every time I put egg whites in my freezer, I tell myself, I should try making macarons.  I finally did.  Inspired by a recent trip to Paris which could best be described as a macaron spree.

From a bakery/cafe near our hotel
Ladurée – my brother’s favorite

After reading several recipes online, I tried David Lebovitz’s French Chocolate Macaron recipe.  My technique needs work.  I had a few turn out close to right.  They were a little too domed and a little too crisp, but it’s not so intimidating now.

The Good
The Bad and The Ugly

Chocolate Pretzel Potato Chip Cookies (Dale’s Sesame Street Quickfire Recipe from Top Chef All-stars)

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I caught a rerun of the Sesame Street Quickfire Challenge on Top Chef All-stars last night, and stayed up later than we intended to watch it.  The muppets were of course, very cute and funny, but what really enjoyed was watching the chefs’ reactions to the characters.  It was a happy, fun side of the competitors that we don’t usually see.  The all-stars are all young enough to have grown up with Sesame Street and some now have children watching the show.  I’m sure it was a very special moment for them.

Back to the food and a little TC gossip- Dale won the challenge with a cookie he made by crushing up potato chips and pretzels and covering it all with  chocolate.  It was so crazy; I had to try it.

I think my sister told me that Dale has been through anger management since his season on the show.  I haven’t caught all of the episodes, but it seems like it’s working for him.  He seems more effective and less distracted by the others.

Thankfully, the recipe was available online.  His measurements for the main components are not precise, so I’ll tell you what I did (European packaging) in my attempt to make half a recipe since I’m working in an apartment kitchen rather than a commercial kitchen.  It’s enough for a household, even if you are feeding a cookie monster.

Ingredients

300 grams pretzel sticks
310 grams Lays potato chips
1.5 ounces flour
5 ounces sugar
1 pound butter, melted (I only had 10.5 ounces, so that’s what I used, and they were too crumbly – crazy as it sounds, you really do need a pound of butter)

For ganache:
5 ounces sugar
1 quart heavy cream, (I only had a pint, so that’s all I used and the ganache was still runnier than I would have liked.)
8 ounces chocolate, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)
Crush pretzels and potato chip.  Turn them into crumbs in food processor.  It works best if you have some of each in the bowl.
Combine crumbs with butter, flour, and sugar.
Press into a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

For ganache:
Melt sugar in a pan, it will become liquid and caramelized.
Stir in cream, bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and add chocolate.
Allow both the cookie and ganache to cool.  Spread cookie with ganache.
Cut into squares of use a round cookie cutter.

Note:  We found these were best the day they were made.  The crumbs still had a unique, identifiable tastes and texture that was surprising and compelling.  (As in, I need to taste that again because that was pretzel!)  The second day, everything seemed more uniform and it lost part of its charm. 

Chocolate Creme Brulee (includes metric)

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You know how some people have very set ideas of what a birthday celebration should be?  My family typically serves cake, usually chocolate.  Ice cream is an occasional afterthought.  I had to laugh when a girlfriend told me that her husband and son (who had been with us for a birthday celebration while she was out of town) were so surprised that I hadn’t served ice cream with the cake that they had to stop at Dairy Queen on their way home – it just didn’t seem like a birthday to them without it.

I hope my coworkers aren’t so set in their ways.  Today was the November birthday party and the overwhelming request from the birthday kids was chocolate.  So I made chocolate creme brulee – no cake, no ice cream.  You’ll notice that my sugar technique needs a little work, but the comments were very positive.  I think Sandi compared it to a thicker, creamier hot chocolate.

Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

1 quart heavy cream (945 ml)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (10 ml)
1/2 cup sugar (100 g)
9 egg yolks
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (170 g)
Turbinado sugar

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 325F (165 C)
  • Place 8-6 ounce ramekins on baking sheet.
  • Combine cream with vanilla and sugar in a saucepan.  Heat until simmering.
  • Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl.  Slowly add hot cream mixture, whisking in 2 tablespoons at a time, until you’ve added about 1 cup.
  • Then add remaining cream, whisk.
  • Add chocolate chips, wait 5 minutes, then whisk.
  • Ladle into ramekins.
  • Bake 20 – 25 minutes, until just set, center may still have a little jiggle to it.
  • Cool 45 minutes, then refrigerate at least 6 hours before serving.
  • Sprinkle the top of the custard with a thin layer of turbinado sugar.  Melt and caramelize the sugar with a torch or under the broiler.

Brie – Chocolate Panini

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My daughter gave me Giada’s Kitchen: New Italian Favorites for my birthday; it’s a cookbook that I know I’ll use a lot – the color photos are very tempting.  This is the first recipe I’ve made from the book.  Her sister, the vegetarian, thought this would be a great way to combine protein and antioxidants.  The chocolate flavor was subtle, just another note contrasting with the savory combination of cheese, olive oil and basil.  It’s defiantly on the do-again list.

Ingredients:

12 slices sourdough bread
1/3 cup olive oil
12 ounces brie, thinly sliced
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

Directions:

Brush both sides of bread with olive oil.  Toast on hot panini grill until lightly golden.  Place a layer of brie on six slices of bread.  Top with chocolate chips and basil, and then top with remaining bread slices.  Toast in panini grill until cheese and chocolate are melted.

Serves 6

A little messy but so worth it!

Bernachon Palet d’Or Gâteau

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Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #14

I took this cake and my Stary Browar Apple Almond Tart for the May birthday celebration with my coworkers.  I didn’t have time to make the lacquer glaze, but the presentation was still impressive with just the creme fraiche ganache.

The cake batter consists of cocoa, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla combined with cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and butter.  It’s baked in a 9 x 2 pan.  I don’t have a 9 x 2, as my previous overflow can attest, so I made a parchment collar for my pan.

I popped the cake and the oven, and then tasted a spot of batter.  Yikes!  There was nothing sweet about it.  I quickly reviewed the recipe and my process.  I had forgotten the sugar.  The cake was pulled from the oven.  I dumped a cup of sugar on top and stirred it in.  Fortunately, the batter hadn’t begun to bake.  The point of this story, dear friends, is always lick the beater, and do it sooner rather than later.

After calling all of the local markets that tend to carry unusual produce and emailing one online supplier, I was unable to find fresh red currants to garnish the cake – a pity because they looked like red jewels in Rose’s photos.  I lamented the situation to my friend, Sandi; she suggested substituting cherries, which I did.  Because of the cherries, I used kirsh in place of the creme de cassis in the ganache.  I also purchased a small shaker of edible gold to sprinkle on top.

My friends loved both desserts.  As for this gateau, specifically, it has the most intense chocolate flavor I’ve ever tasted – a good thing in my book.  I’m sure the cake is true to French tradition, but it was a little dry for my taste.

Unlike my other blog posts, as part of the Heavenly Cake Bakers, I don’t post recipes from this book on the internet.  One of the reasons for this baking group is to encourage readers to purchase the cookbook.  That strategy worked on me!  After follow the group’s baking adventures for a couple of months, I ordered a copy from Amazon.

Le Succès

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Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #10
Almonds and chocolate in a cake that’s easy to put together; what could be better?
Blanched almonds are ground with superfine sugar then folded into stiff egg whites.  Voilà, your cake batter!  The batter is piped into 3 circles on parchment paper before baking.  I made 3 extra very tiny circles.  I’m taking this cake to a friend’s house, so the little cake is for me to taste.  (It was 3 bites and it was delicious!  I loved the chewiness of the succès juxtaposed with the creamy ganache.)

The ganache called for a teaspoon of instant lemon tea powder.  I knew that a jar of instant tea would sit in my pantry forever, so I steeped tea and lemon zest in warm cream before mixing it into the other ingredients.  Buying a special liqueur, sugar, or flour to use just a bit wouldn’t bother me, but instant tea? Pantry snob?  Perhaps.Unlike my other blog posts, as part of the Heavenly Cake Bakers, I don’t post recipes from this book on the internet.  One of the reasons for this baking group is to encourage readers to purchase the cookbook.  That strategy worked on me!  After follow the group’s baking adventures for a couple of months, I ordered a copy from Amazon.  You can too.

Peanut Butter Ingots

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I baked this financier recipe in mini muffin pans – what an experience!  Preparing this batter was aroma therapy.   Mmmmm!
First, I toasted the almonds, and while they were in the oven, I browned the butter.   The fantastic smells in the kitchen got even better when the almonds were ground in the food processor with powdered sugar.  Once they’re very fine, a little flour was worked into the mixture.
Egg whites were mixed until frothy, then the dry, nutty ingredients were mixed in.  Next, the browned butter and then the peanut butter.
I put the batter in a big ziplock bag and snipped a corner and used this to pipe my batter into the mini muffin pans.  The recipe made 24 mini cupcakes.  I baked them at 375 for 12 minutes.  I sampled a bit of the batter and the flavor reminded me of a Bit-O-Honey candy, only more sophisticated.
I also sampled a couple of the mini cupcakes.  The crust is crisp and the inside is almost creamy; they have a wonderful nutty flavor.
I remember the rave reviews for the lacquer glaze.  So, I decided that I would glaze these little gems; after all, chocolate and peanut butter go so well together.  I used a serrated knife to level the top because I wanted to serve them upside down.
A friend is cooking us dinner this week because I’m going to help him amend his tax return.  I thought I’d take these along for dessert.  I know everyone will enjoy them.  I will definitely bake the peanut butter ingots again, but next time I’ll skip the glaze.  The glaze is so wonderfully, chocolaty that I think it over-powers the delicate cake.  Next time, the peanut butter ingots will stand alone.
Unlike my other blog posts, as part of the Heavenly Cake Bakers, I don’t post recipes from this book on the internet.  One of the reasons for this baking group is to encourage readers to purchase the cookbook.  That strategy worked on me!  After follow the group’s baking adventures for a couple of months, I ordered a copy from Amazon.  You can too.