ice cream cake

If you make a cake that falls apart, save it.
If you make a cake and it is undercooked in the middle, save the edges.
If you make a cake that isn’t fabulously moist, save.
If you make cookies or brownies that are dry, save
If you have left over meringues, save as well.

(You can freeze all of these above to make your cake at a later date…)

MAKE AN ICE CREAM CAKE.  My fave.

Great thing about ice cream cake is that you can make it from all sorts of scraps and failures and it will still taste scrumptious.  You can also make an ice cream cake with your successes.

Line a spring-form pan with plastic wrap.  I have some 6 inch spring form pans that are perfect for this.  Place the cake, or pieces of the cake (and squish together) on the bottom making one solid layer.  Now fill with some softened ice cream.  You have fun with your flavors…maybe some coffee chip and vanilla (2 different layers) or chocolate and mint.  You can then add another layer of your failure…be it cookies, brownies, more cake…what ever you want.  Add another layer or two of ice cream.  And top with more failed attempts.  If you happen to have meringues, this is nice too – to mix into the ice cream or make the top layer (eventually the bottom).

Freeze until you feel like eating or serving it.

Unmold pan and peel off the wrap.  Place bottom side up as this should be the smoothest and easier to frost.

I like to then pour layers of ganache on my cake, eventually covering the whole cake.  And then decorate (while still wet) with goodies (sprinkles, chips, anything you like!)

Pull to room temp for a 25 m before you plan to serve.

Enjoy-

ganache
3/4 cup heavy cream
6 ounces chocolate (semi, bitter or milk)

Chop chocolate.  Heat the cream until just about boils.  Pour on top of the chocolate and let sit for a minute.  Stir to combine.

 

 

chocolate pecan (ground up) torte

Oh, so scrumptious and rich and chocolaty and a new love affair with my ice cream!  This torte is worth every calorie.  Dense and moist with it’s curious texture (ground pecans), this one surprised me.  Rob loved it and so did friends.  This, with his chocolate sorbet turns his lips brown and smiling.  And me too – but with vanilla ice cream and jimmies.  We were both very happy with our leftovers and this cake stayed fresh and tasty for several days under a cake dome.  I topped it with ganache – but you can also skip that and just dust with powdered sugar.  Enjoy-

chocolate pecan torte (from Alice Medrich’s Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts):

IMG_51701 cup (3.5 ounces) pecan halves (toast them now)
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (66-72 percent), coarsely chopped
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool – cut into chunks
3/4 cup (5.25 ounces) sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 cold large eggs
powdered sugar
freshly whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom and sides of springform pan. Toast the pecans by baking them for 7-10 minutes.  Stir once or twice as they bake for even toasting.  They should be fragrant and golden (but don’t burn or they will become bitter).  Let cool completely.

Turn the oven up to 375 degrees.

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place over a pot with an inch of simmering water.  Melt the chocolate.  Do not cook it.  The simmering water should not touch the bowl with the chocolate in it.

Place the cooled pecans and flour in a food processor and plus until finely ground.

Place the melted chocolate, softened butter, sugar and salt in a bowl fitted with the paddle attachment of your mixer and beat on medium speed until the butter is completely melted and the mixture thickens and gets a little lighter in color.

Add the eggs, one at a time and mix on med/high speed until the is fluffier and even lighter in color.  2-3 minutes.

Stir in the pecan mixture and pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 30-35 m.  A toothpick inserted in the outer edges of the pan should come out clean, but the inner area of the cake should still be gooey.

Place the cake on a cooling rack and carefully run a thin knife along the inside of the pan to loosen the cake and allow the think crust to sink a little.

Let cool completely.  Remove from pan.

Serve with confectioners sugar and a little whipped cream makes it extra special.

Enjoy-

 

 

 

 

 

 

brown butter brownies

Baked these brownies for a charity and they wrote to say how much they looooovvved them!  The mattress delivery men were eyeing the brownies as they went up and down the stairs…and were happy to leave with their goodie bags.  They said best brownie they ever had.  Wow.  (Although these are very good, I’m thinking they were hungry).  But it is amazing what a little treat can do for someone.  That is prob my favorite part of baking.  The delight (my own, and others).  My family prefers the “favorite fudge brownies” and although I too love those, they can be a bit rich at times.  These are chewier and have a shiny top which is fun for some reason.  If you can, add the walnuts because the texture and taste is definitely heightened and you can get a good dose of omega-3 fats too (making them healthy?!)  🙂

You will need a little muscle for this recipe.

brown butter brownies (from Alice Medrich’s Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts):

10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup (2.4 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably natural
rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (1.78 ounces) all purpose flour
1 cup (3.5 ounces) walnut pieces
chocolate chips (optional)

Toast your walnuts if you have time – 350 degree oven for about 10 min – plus or minus — basically until fragrant.  Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch square baking pan with tin foil and spray with  a non stick spray or rub some butter on it.

(In case you don’t remember the easiest way to line the pan, turn the pan upside-down and place the foil on top gently folding around the edges and sides.  Turn pan right side up and now you have a “mold” so to speak that you can easily push into the pan to prevent the foil from tearing.)

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and cook until it melts, and then turns golden brown.  Then quickly remote pan from heat and add the sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla extract.  This will stop the butter from burning.  Mix well and let cool for 5 minutes or so.

Add the eggs, one at a time and beat very well after each addition.  Add the flour and mix well again.  Once the flour is incorporated, beat the mixture with a wooden spoon – about 50 times.  Yup.  Hard, fast and vigorously  — you want the mixture to get good and shiny.

Fold in the nuts and if  you are using chocolate chips, add as well.

Pour into the foil lined pan and bake until done.   A toothpick should come out just clean.  Alice says 20-25 m – but check before and after.  I just learned that my oven is off by 25 degrees – and yours might be too, so bake them until you think done, not the timer.

Let cool.  Then remove brownies by carrying them with the foil onto a cutting board and slice.  You can also invert them and gently peel off the foil first as it will be sticky.

Enjoy –

 

 

 

triple chocolate chip cookie

I really really really like these cookies.  A lot a lot a lot.  Right up my alley with milk, white and semisweet chocolate – these, in my vanilla ice cream…well, my mouth is watering right now as I think about it.  I’m not sure what the others thought because honestly, I wasn’t listening because I was eating.  Hard sometimes to do at the same time.  If you are opposed to white and milk chips, then obviously you can just put in your semi – but I do think these are special as they are and will round out a cookie platter very nicely.   Try not to over bake these — it can be hard with chocolate cookies but do your best.  Enjoy-

triple chocolate chip cookie (A Baker’s Field Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies by Dede Wilson):

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks
3/4 cup milk chocolate chunks
3/4 cup white chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk together the dry ingredients.

Melt chopped semisweet and unsweetened chocolates and butter together in a non reactive bowl over a sauce pan of barely simmering water.  Let cool to room temp.

With the paddle attachment, beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla together on high speed until light and fluffy – 4-5 minutes.  Remove from mixer and gently fold in chocolate mixture and then gently fold in the flour until just incorporated.

Toss all the chocolate chunks together in a bowl, then set aside about one quarter of the mixture into another bowl (to place on top of cookies).  Fold the large portion of chunks into the batter.

Drop by generously rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Take the leftover chips and place one of each kind on top of each cookie to show off the flavors.

Bake until cookies look a littler dryer on top – a little crusty on the sides, but still very moist inside.  (This can be tricky).  Somewhere around 10 m – but really can be more or less.  Remember to rotate your sheet pans and know it will take longer if you put a couple of pans in the oven.  The trick with baking is to figure out when to pull your cookies and cakes and this takes practice.

Enjoy-

 

 

chocolate chocolate tea cake (moist and good!)

Yum yum yum – everyone said this is good!  Especially me as I nibbled and nibbled.  So good in my ice cream the other night.  Really good!  This was an especially sweet success after many baking failures this month.  Sylvie said this was the best thing I’ve made in a long while.  (Which was of course good and bad to hear.)   This chocolate cake is light in texture yet very satisfying.  Moist.  Chocolate.  Delicate.  Those are the adjectives that come to mind.  The unmelted chocolate chunks and chips fell to the bottom a bit – creating a chewy chocolatey section on the bottom of the cake.  I LOVE that.  I do.  So does my family.  Enjoy this – I would double the recipe since it freezes so well.  (If you manage not to eat it all!)  This recipe is from my new book Huckleberry.  I really really adore this book.  It is filled with so many fresh takes and beautiful photos.  I’m excited to bake from it again and again.

The recipe includes weighted measurement so if you have a scale, use it.  Much more accurate!

Anyway, enjoy this one.  Perfect for fall.

chocolate tea cake (from Huckleberry by Zoe Nathan):

3/4 cup/100 grams pastry flour
6 tablespoons/45 grams all purpose flour
6 tablespoons/30 grams cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup/120 ml strong brewed coffee, cooled
1/2 cup/120 ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups/300 grams coarsely chopped dark chocolate, 60-70 percent cacao
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons/140 g unsalted butter, cubed at room temp
1 cup + 2 tablespoons/225 grams sugar
1/2 teaspoon, plus a dash, kosher salt
3 eggs, room temp
sugar for dusting/powdered sugar for presentation

Pull your eggs, butter, buttermilk to room temp.  Brew coffee.  Place 3/4 cup of the chopped chocolate (reserve a cup)  in a double boiler or in a bowl over barely simmering water to melt.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  You can use a 9×5 loaf pan, or divide this into smaller pans and shapes.  And if you double use two pans – or again, a mix of different sizes.  Just adjust baking time accordingly and check often for doneness.  Grease pans and I like to line the bottom with parchment to assure there is no chance of sticking.

Whisk together the pastry flour, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Combine cooled coffee, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.

Beat butter and sugar with paddle attachment on medium high until lighter and fluffy.  4-6 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Scrape bowl down and beat again to combine.

Stop the mixer.  Add the dry ingredients and mix on low for a a few seconds.  Add the buttermilk mixture on low, and mix until just combined.

Remove from mixer and finish by folding in the melted chocolate and the chopped chocolate.

Pour into prepped pans.  Do not overstuff pans – (if you double and use various sized pans).

Sprinkle with granulated sugar (this forms a yummy crust.

Bake until cake starts to pull away slightly from pan.  And/or when the top springs back gently if touched.  Or, when a toothpick comes out almost clean.  You really don’t want to over bake this one.

Set your timer for 30 minutes and peek – the 9×4 will likely take 50-60 m – but you really want to learn how to check for doneness without a book telling you the time.  Oven temps vary – outside temp varies – so the more comfy you get checking yourself is best.

If you do over bake – just make teacake parfait with whipped cream and ice cream layers.  Delicious.

 

 

bittersweet decadence cookies

“This is the most amazing cookie I’ve ever had.”
“Lisi, you are the best” (obi my favorite comment :))
“The chocolate!”
“I’ve never had anything so delicious.”
“Lisi – please make these again.”
“Mom, where did all the cookies go?”
“Oh My God!”
“No more cookies???”

Do I need to say more?  I mean – seriously no other cookie quite like it.  Every now and then I get a ripped out piece of newspaper on my desk and as I get closer I see that Rob has pulled something from somewhere that I’m thinking he might want me to make!  This scrap of paper has been on my desk since May 10 – so I guess not that long – but my intention was to make them much much sooner.  And boy – were they worth the wait!

Please make with good high quality chocolate!

I didn’t add the nuts because my kids have become a bit nut averse – but they would be good I bet.

The first time I doubled this recipe.  The second time I quadrupled!  I put the extra dough in the freezer (rolled up first in saran) for slice and bake at a later date.

bittersweet decadence cookies (from The Wall Street Journal May 10, 2014 – adapted from Seriously Bittersweet” by Alice Medrich):

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
5 1/2 ounces of 70-72 percent chocolate
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups walnuts or pecans broken into pieces (optional – see note above)
6 ounces 54 – 72 percent chocolate, chopped into chunks.  I used all different percentages – some intensely bitter (72) and some less so 60 – and I threw in some regular old semi sweets as well.

IMG_7403

 

 

NOEMA chocolate

This chocolate is made without peanut, tree nuts, dairy, egg, soy, wheat, fish and shellfish, as well as sesame.  NOEMA stands for None Of the Eight Major Allergens.  You can be worry free if you or your family suffers with allergies.  The equipment is brand new and has never touched any of the ingredients above.

Check out their website here!

chocolate bundt cake

I really really liked this cake a lot.  A lot a lot.  I don’t usually love plain old chocolate cake but I must say again…liked it a lot!  Rob said “good cake!” and he is a hard one to please in that his cake should be moist, rich with chocolate flavor and well – that’s it!

The recipe calls for mini chips, but I was out of stock so subbed regular chips.  I figured they might fall to the bottom (then the top!) and they did.  But I really liked that.  Made a thick crust of chocolate on the entire outside of the cake.  Up to you of course.  Enjoy –

triple chocolate bundt cake (modified from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman):

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
1 cup milk
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (if using table salt, only 1/4 teaspoon)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups mini choc chips or normal (just read above to decide)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan and dust with flour.  Be thorough!!

Place the chocolate and cocoa in a bowl, add the boiling water.  Whisk until smooth and let cool.

Whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla in a glass measuring cup.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Beat together the butter and sugar with paddle attachment (or electric beaters) until lighter and fluffy.  5 m or so.  Scrape bowl, and beat to combine.

Add the chocolate to the butter and sugar and mix on low until combined.

Still on slow, add 1/3rd of the dry ingredients, then 1/2 of the wet mixture and repeat alternating the flour and milk, ending with flour.

Turn the mixer to high and beat for one minute.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scrape batter into pan and bake until a toothpick comes out JUST clean.  Do not over bake.

Let cake cool in the pan for 20 m or so then invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Slice and serve.  Yum!

 

 

 

things i love

Chocolations

I love Chocolations in Mamaroneck.  Combine high quality chocolate, a warm and generous owner and chocolate maker, great staff and decent prices… well, what’s not to love?  They have so many delicious shaped chocolates (you can order almost any shape you want), barks, truffles and dipped yumminess that it is hard to pick.  I worked there for a second a few years ago and just wanted to share.

flour-less chocolate cake (la bete noire)

The black beast lives up to its name.  Great for Passover – or really anytime (I made it for Rob’s birthday).  This cake is delicious, rich and satisfying.  It may seem daunting for a second (the water bath and layers of foil) but it is really easy.  Don’t be afraid and try.  I followed the recipe but added a dash of kosher salt.  But otherwise left it as is.  And I used all bittersweet chocolate because that is what Rob likes.  However, if for me, I would have used more semi-sweet.  Oh, and lastly I only had a 9 inch springform pan, so I made a few ramekins on the side (also cooked in a water bath) and gave to the kids since they weren’t invited to the party 🙂

For the water bath – place the springform pan into the roasting pan with out the water.  Then place the pans in the oven and pull the rack out.  Then add hot water to the roasting pan.  This way you don’t have to balance the water and the pan, and the cake pan.

Enjoy – here is the link to epicurious.