Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

So I have a local chat board that I like to hang out on. The other day someone had a dinner party and we were passing around the recipe for the dessert, a bittersweet tart found on Epicurious.com. One of the girls wanted me to make the tart and put it up on the blog so she could see photos of it. I totally understood this. I like to see pictures of food too. Don’t get me wrong I have several cookbooks that have no photos what so ever and I love them, but I really think I would love them more with pictures. So off I went to make this simple tart. The original recipe called for jasmine whipped cream, which I don’t like Jasmine(and neither does my husband….the one who will be eating the tart) so I omitted that. I also didn’t make the candied orange peel because it is one of my least favorite garnishes. It is a nice elegant tart that I could definitely see serving at a dinner party. My one gripe is that it gets “sweaty” when it is defrosting which of course makes for a less appeasing presentation.

Bittersweet Chocolate Citrus Tart 

Crust
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
Filling
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces
1/2 teaspoon (lightly packed) finely grated blood orange peel or orange peel
1/2 teaspoon (lightly packed) finely grated pink grapefruit peel

1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1/4 cup boiling water

Whipped Cream

For crust:
Combine first 4 ingredients in bowl. Add flour and stir just until blended; let stand 5 minutes. Press dough onto bottom and up sides of 9- to 91/2-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Chill 30 minutes.

Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Bake crust until deep golden, pressing down with back of spoon if bubbles form, about 25 minutes. Cool crust in pan on rack.

For filling:
Combine chocolate, butter, and both peels in medium metal bowl. Place bowl in skillet of barely simmering water set over low heat. Stir just until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth. Remove bowl from water. Place fine strainer over bowl with melted chocolate. Keep skillet with water set over low heat.

Whisk egg yolk in small metal bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in 1/4 cup boiling water. Place bowl in skillet of hot water; stir constantly with heatproof rubber spatula, scraping bottom of bowl to prevent egg from cooking, until instant-read thermometer inserted into egg mixture registers 160°F, about 3 minutes. Immediately pour egg mixture into strainer set over bowl of chocolate. Stir just until egg is incorporated into chocolate and mixture is smooth.

Pour chocolate filling into crust; tilt slightly to spread evenly (crust will not be completely filled). Cover and chill overnight or up to 2 days. Before serving, let tart soften slightly at room temperature.

Remove pan sides. Place tart on platter. Using pastry bag fitted with star tip, pipe whipped cream rosettes around edge of tart. Garnish with candied peel.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Bon Appétit
Time For Dessert
December 2004

So I must admit that I am not a chocolate cake lover(flourless being the exception to this), in fact I will usually pass on it. However, back when I was 9 years old we went back to visit my grandmother and grandfather. My grandmother was a horrible cook and luckily for us, rarely did cook. My grandfather loved to trap us in the car and go for drives in the car that lasted for hours. For a 9 year old nothing is worse. One afternoon we made a stop….thank God, we usually didn’t get to stop. We stopped at my aunt’s mothers house and she invited us in for cake. I was very excited….released from the car AND cake. Then I saw it, chocolate cake. Ugh. I had already said that I wanted cake before I knew what it was, so I knew I had to be polite and eat it or my mother would have killed me. So there it sat in front of me. It was a homely cake, the frosting all uneven, but piled up nice and high. It sat there with my big glass of milk. And sat there. Until finally, my mother broke down and gave me the evil eye. In I popped a piece of cake to my mouth. Oh my God, this is good. Really, really good. It was like no other chocolate cake that I have ever had. It could just be that it was the taste of freedom(from the 5 hour ride in the back of the Oldsmobile) but I’m pretty sure it was the cake. My aunt’s mother has long since past and no one seems to remember that cake….except me, so it was up to me to recreate it. I was inspired by Lis and her quest for finding a good chocolate cake recipe….well Lis, here it is. It comes from Tish Boyle’s Cake book(you should buy this people). I chose to find a non-fancy cake since my aunt’s mother didn’t seem like the fancy type of lady. This recipe had ingredients I am quite sure were around in those days. I’m not positive this is the exact cake but close and the frosting is it for sure!

Deeply Dark Devil’s Food Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
11 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups warm water

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease two 9 inch cake rounds and dust with flour.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix to incorporate.
3. Beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high speed for about 3 minutes. Add the cocoa powder and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides with a spatula. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, add the flour mixture in three additons alternating with the warm water in two additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix at low speed for 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake cake for 45-55 mintues. Cool cake for 20 minutes after baking.
5. Remove cake from pan and let cool completely before frosting.

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting 

3 ounces unsweetended chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 TBSP vanilla extract

1. Put both chocolates in a stainless steel bowl and place bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. Heat, stirring frequently, until the chocoalte is completely melted. Remove the bowl from the pot and set the chocolate aside to cool.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium until creamy, about 30 seconds. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat at high speed untl light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Add the cooled chocolate at low speed, mixing until blended and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Increase the speed to high and beat until slightly aerated, about 1 minute.

Source: Both recipes are from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle(recipes were slightly changed in the instruction part)

Originally I was not going to participate in this go around of HHDD. I’m just not a fritter girl. I mean I eat them, the apple ones that are all gooped up with icing and such from the bakery but I wasn’t sure I wanted to make them. I was uninspired until I ran across a recipe in a cookbook I bought last week, Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table. She is a local chef(but you can buy the book anywhere) and I think she is very inventive. I have two of her cookbooks now and I love them both, if you are a more advanced chef I highly recommed you go out and buy her cookbooks. Anyway, I ran across a recipe for Chanterelle Fritters. The only problem was that these were the kind of fritter where you dip the item(in this case a mushroom) in a batter and fry it….and well, I don’t like that kind of fritter. So again I thought I would skip this round. I was running out of time but circumstances changed(it is raining big time…and we were suppose to go to the pumpkin patch) and time opened up. Knowing that I didn’t want to just dip the mushroom in batter and fry it, I messed with the recipe and came up with something that is more of what I think a fritter should be. I also made a saffron aioli to go with it.

Mushroom Medley Fritters

1/4 pound chanteralle mushrooms

1/4 pound crimini mushrooms

1/4 pound of button mushrooms

2 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup semolina

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme

vegetable oil for frying

Wipe of brush the mushrooms of any dirt. Chop the mushrooms into a 1 inch dice. Mix the mushroom varieties together and set aside.

In a deep fryer or Dutch Oven, heat 4 inches of oil to 350F.

In a bowl mix together the remaining ingredients, adding the buttermilk last. Depending on your preference you may or may not want to use the whole 3/4 cup of buttermilk. So slowly add the buttermilk until you get the consistancy you want. I wanted mine to be like pancake batter. Add chopped mushrooms to batter and mix until incorporated.

Working in small batches, scoop out the batter(I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup) and place into the hot oil. Do not over-crowd the fryer. Move the fritters around with a spoon or thongs and turn as needed to get even cooking. Fry until golden and very crispy. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Source: Recipe inspired by Kathy Casey’s Chanterelle Fritters from her book Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table

Saffron Aioli
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Large pinch of saffron threads
1 cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves, minced
Whisk vinegar, honey, and saffron threads in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Cool completely. Mix mayonnaise and garlic in medium bowl to blend. Mix in cooled vinegar mixture. Season aioli to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Bon Appétit
July 2000
Bobby Flay

So in a comment on my last post, Lis, asked if I knew of a recipe for caramel cake. Not yellow cake with caramel frosting, but caramel cake. I happened to have one. I told her in the email that I had not made it but I got to sitting and thought, how dumb to give her a recipe I haven’t tried, so I just went ahead and made it today. I have to say that this smelled so good that I had to break down and take a bite(just one) of this cake. It was SUPER yummy. There is definitely more caramel flavor in the frosting than the cake but the cake does have a distinct flavor of caramel and all the extra sugar gives it a nice crispy(yet soft…doens’t make sense I know) top. It’s also a nice moist cake, which I love.

This cake does have quite a few steps. It is important for the cake that you make sure that your caramel for the cake cool or else the minute it hits the batter it will harden up. If this does happen, don’t fret, put your mixer on high speed and blend for 3 minutes. You wont get all the chunks out but it will be kind of like toffee chips in your cake and there is nothing wrong with that. If you cake cracks simply cut it into pieces(not including one with the crack) and frost each one individually. If your cake is beyond crack repair, chop it up into little squares. Place a scoop of  vanilla or better yet Haagen Dazs Caramel Cone on top of it. Make a caramel sauce and drizzle over.

Double Caramel Cake

1/3 cup plus 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided use
1/4 cup boiling water
3/4 cup butter or margarine
3 eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel Frosting (recipe below)
1. Melt the one-third cup sugar in a heavy skillet, stirring constantly until deep-brown syrup is formed - a process called caramelization. Remove from heat and slowly stir in boiling water, being careful that steam does not burn your hand. Set syrup aside to cool.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, place parchment paper in the bottoms, then grease and flour the bottoms and sides.

3. Cream butter in bowl of electric mixer. Add 11/4 cups sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each is well-incorporated. Stir in 4 tablespoons of the reserved syrup.

4. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Combine milk and vanilla. Add flour mixture to the batter alternately with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until smooth. Divide batter evenly among the two prepared pans and bake 25 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Remove pans from oven and let stand about 10 minutes, then turn out cakes onto wire rack, peel off paper and cool completely.

6. Frost cooled cake, stacking layers.
Caramel Frosting
3 cups (light) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons half and half
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Mix sugar and half and half in a heavy saucepan and cook, stirring over low heat until syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. If lacking a thermometer, check doneness by dropping a tiny bit of syrup into a cup of cold water. When the syrup can be gathered up in fingers and will almost hold its shape, it has reached the soft-ball stage.

2. Remove pan from heat. Stir in butter, then let syrup cool. Add vanilla and beat until frosting reaches spreading consistency. A little cream (or half-and-half) may be added is mixture is too thick.

I don’t know the source of this recipe but it is not mine, so if you do know where it came from, please let me know. Hope this is what you were looking for Lis, if not it is still a great cake.

All text and images on this site have ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Copyright (c) 2006 by Peabody Rudd