Inside Out German Chocolate Cake

Did you know that the "German" in German chocolate cake has nothing to do with lederhosen or the beautiful green hills of Bavaria? It refers to Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, an American product developed by Sam German. The recipe was submitted by a Texas housewife and was first published in 1957.

This version is from an Epicurious recipe I found a couple years ago. I thought it looked great, but was too blown away by the richness of it to make it right away. It's finally found its way to the top of the queue, and it is a humdinger. It's a three-layered, very moist chocolate cake with dulce de leche, toasted coconut and toasted almond filling. The whole thing works because it is topped with a bittersweet ganache that balances the sweetness of the filling. The toasted pecans in the filling really hit a lovely nutty note contrasting with the berry-like fruitiness of the chocolate ganache icing.

Having grown up with a born and bred German grandmother, I suffered for many years under the illusion that this over-the-top confection was one Grandma Gusti must have eaten as a golden-haired youth. Grandma was the widely heralded baker in my family. I remember she always had a fresh pound cake ready for visitors. During holidays, my naive Midwestern palate was entertained by lebkuchen and vanillekipferln. I had no idea what I was was eating, but I loved it.

When I read the book, "Confections of a Closet Master Baker" by Gesine Bullock Prado, my heart started to ache a little bit. She tells of the relationship she had with her German mother-- the culture she learned from her and fond memories of her baking native treats. I only wish my grandmother was still alive for me to ask all sorts of cooking questions. Alas, I found my love of culinary arts too late. I can only hope that Grandma is somewhere looking down and saying, "My Gott, I am so proud of you!" Absence really does make the heart go find her.

Bacon and Eggs and Asparagus Salad

Quick post--

I happened to look at "French Fridays with Dorie" the other day and noticed this recipe was on the slate for this week. I did a quick calculation and was happy to find out that although it looks like a high calorie dish, it's really only around 225 calories per serving. That fits into my down-sizing plan!

How could you not love a recipe with bacon and eggs? I used white asparagus for fun. It does taste a bit different than the usual green stuff. Kind of more "woodsy" tasting, surprisingly. My favorite part was the soft-boiled egg. When I cracked it open, the partly cooked golden yolk oozed out onto the slender, ivory asparagus. Rolling the egg in hot bacon grease before serving is my idea of genius.

Whoopty Doo, It's Easter

Isn't it funny when people in real life or on TV taste some food prepared by a contestant and proclaim, "Well, THAT'S not the way you make lasagna/peanut butter and jelly/apple pie/carne asada/ cheesey poufs!" As if their idea of whatever they're eating is the ultimate, unquestionable definition of the dish. As if Granny or Aunt Mabel or Chef-Boy-Ardee perfected it and it is beyond improvement. My goodness, if Granny made it with canned peas and Campbell's mushroom soup, that MUST be the best and ONLY way to make it.


Whoopie pies have become publicized of late by reality TV cooking shows and food magazines. Apparently, these are a lexicon of childhood indulgence in New England and Pennsylvania. While trying to find a good recipe on the internet for whoopie pies, I came across some rabid proclamations that marshmallow fluff was NEVER to be used in an honest whoopie or the maker would be shunned far and wide by little children and grown-ups alike. Others asked, "Can't you just give me the recipe that uses the cake mix? It sounds so much easier." 


Well, I don't know how "authentic" whoopie pies taste, but I do know when I taste something gross. That was a good description of the first whoopie pie recipe I made from the book "Whoopie Pies" by Sarah Billingsley, Amy Treadwell and Antonis Achilleos. The filling was made with marshmallow fluff, sugar and shortening. The shortening made the mouthfeel kind of waxy and just gross. 


I found a recipe for the cake part that I really like because it has an intense chocolate flavor. I think it may be more chocolate-y than the traditional Amish version, but I don't care. I like it. Finally, I found a cream filling recipe that is not as waxy as the one in the book and doesn't require refrigeration. 


From what I understand, whoopie pies traditionally have a lightly sweet filling that is NOT supposed to be like frosting!!! I'm somewhat horrified that I'm using shortening in both of these recipes, but I guess that's the standard here. Eventually, I'll try a shortening-free recipe, but for now-- I share my version of perhaps non-authentic, yet still delicious whoopie pies.


Whoopie Pies
Yield: 18 filled pies


Cakes
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (I prefer Hershey's Special Dark) 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment and set aside. (I use my precious whoopie pie pan)

In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together the sugar and the shortening. Add eggs and beat well.

Onto a sheet of parchment, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk. Add vanilla extract and beat well. Drop by 1.5 tablespoons (#40 cookie scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 9-10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.

Filling

1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm whole milk 


Place all ingredients in large bowl if using hand mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer.  Beat on medium-high to high speed for about 5 minutes. The mixture will suddenly transform from a liquid into a thick cream. When it thickens, beat another minute or so. Use a piping bag or spatula to apply a generous 2-3 tablespoons to one half of a whoopie. Top with matching half. 

Peeps Heavy Cake of Sadness

You know how it is when you get into a little fuss with someone at work? You're mad and hurt and kind of want to plot revenge, but starting rumors is childish and horse heads are kind of hard to come by. Then you realize that you're just torturing yourself obsessing about such a minor, stupid thing. I bet most men don't really care if everyone likes them. Why should they? Why do I?

Oh, well. Make a cake. Share it with your nemesis. Life goes on.

This is Paula Deen's coconut cake recipe decorated in the style of cheap, white trash for Easter. Appropriately, it was real purty on the outside, yet somehow a heavy and bland disappointment on the inside.

:)

2/12/11 I'm Too Lazy Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I'm too lazy to get out one of the many, many cookbooks on my shelf, find a recipe to make, then go to the store and buy the ingredients. Instead, I see what's on the counter, in the fridge, tucked away in the pantry and find a recipe to fit it. More challenging that way, don't ya think?

I bought pineapples on sale, two for the price of one, at Sprouts the other day. One of them, I juiced. The other was sitting on the counter, looking perky but out of place. Flour by Joanne Chang is one of my newest cookbooks. I found it has a divine recipe for "Old-Fashioned Pineapple Upside-Down Cake." Lazy-ass that I am, it has more steps than I might tolerate on an ordinary day. But what the hell, it's Saturday and I needed to burn some calories. I'm too paranoid to post the whole recipe, but if you are interested, shoot me an email and I'll share.

Look at this luscious hunk o' sugar, fruit and butter. Golden caramel, juicy pineapple, delicate crusty cake... Oooh, makes your salivary glands squirt!

Biscuits--The Way I Like Them

On a family trip when I was around ten years old, we somehow became stranded in my mom's hometown without a place to stay overnight. I think we were passing through and were going to stay at my grandpa's place but he wasn't home. We ended up staying at the sweet, small home of my mom's elderly uncle and aunt. They were the old folks from Kentucky and I think they were thrilled to have visitors. I was a bit shy, so I wasn't that thrilled to be spending time with people I didn't know very well. All that dissolved, though, when we were served wonderful homemade Southern biscuits for breakfast. 


I had always loved biscuits, but no one in my inner circle ever made them regularly. Oh sure, my step mom would bust out the Pillsbury cans now and then, but she usually poked a hole in the middle and fried them for "doughnuts." Mom was more likely to make a rare baked good with grains used by ancient cultures to build pyramids. I was left to my own devices to fill my primal need for homemade buttermilk biscuits. 


I started with the recipe in my little Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. They were edible, but leaden. Eventually, I moved to biscuit country in Tennessee and started using the White Lily Self-Rising Flour biscuit recipe from the back of the bag. Occasionally, that recipe produced semi-respectable pastries. Sometimes they were soggy. Sometimes they were crumbly. I kept trying to find my holy grail biscuit formula. Over the years, my cooking skills improved and after making thousands of biscuits, I have come close to a solution. My recipe is based on one from Tyler Florence of the Food Network, of all people. Hey, he IS from Charleston, so maybe it's not that surprising. 


This recipe is lower in fat than many of it's cohorts. That's partly because I prefer a lighter texture and partly because the lower calorie count means you can eat twice as many. Shortening is a man-made wax that should never taint delicious biscuits, so my recipe uses only butter. I also prefer a flaky, rather than fluffy, biscuit so I borrowed a technique suggested by Cook's Illustrated magazine to enhance the flakiness . You can use all buttermilk, half buttermilk and half plain yogurt, or half yogurt and half regular milk. 


The most difficult thing for me is getting the moisture content just perfect. The quantity of liquid required seems to vary almost every time I make it. It's impossible to tell you exactly how much you will need, but you want a dough that feels moist, almost sticky. If the dough is crumbly, add a couple tablespoons more of liquid. It is better to err on the side of a bit too moist because the finished product will be better than if they are too dry. If the dough is sticky when you are rolling it out, just dust it with more flour. 

Tabitha's Holy Grail Light Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
Yields 8-9 biscuits


2 cups all-purpose flour (use White Lily if you can get it)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons ice cold (from freezer) butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup buttermilk


In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients with a fork. Toss the butter cubes into the dry ingredients, making sure each cube is separated and coated with flour mixture. Using your fingers, rub the butter cubes into flat discs about the size of pennies. When all the butter is flattened, add the buttermilk  and gently stir just to combine all the dry ingredients. 


Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Gather dough into a ball, kneading gently a couple times just to bring it into a cohesive form. Flatten the dough ball to about 1/2 inch thick with your hands or a rolling pin, dusting top of dough with flour as needed to prevent sticking. 


Shape the flattened dough into a rectangle with your hands. Fold the rectangle into overlapping thirds, like a business letter. Press the dough into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle again and fold into thirds once more. Roll or flatten dough to 1/2-3/4 inch thickness and cut biscuits out with a 2.5 inch biscuit cutter by pressing down on the cutter without twisting. You can use a glass after dipping it in flour if you don't have a biscuit cutter. I have also made square biscuits by cutting 2.5 inch wide squares from the dough with a knife. 


Gather up the scraps and very gently re-incorporate them into a cohesive piece of dough, roll to 1/2-3/4 inch thickness and cut out more biscuits. Repeat until all dough is used. The "re-rolled" dough won't make "purty" biscuits, but they are still very tasty. It is important to handle the dough gently during all steps of shaping. Too much kneading develops gluten in the flour and makes better bread than biscuits!


Place biscuits at least 2 inches apart on a heavy baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. If you don't have parchment or silicone mats, just put the biscuits directly on the baking sheet. If they stick a bit, use a spatula to remove them after cooling a few minutes.


Bake on middle rack in pre-heated oven at 400 degrees (or 380 degrees if you are lucky enough to have a convection oven). Bake for 13-16 minutes, turning baking sheet 180 degrees half way through baking time. 


Watch them very closely because they go from raw to overcooked in a heartbeat sometimes! I like to leave the oven light on and start watching them through the oven window during the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Remove them from the oven when they are medium golden brown on top. They never all get the same color, so just take them out when all the biscuits have at least some brown on top. Let cool on baking sheet a few minutes before serving. 


Sometimes I make sausage gravy to smother the biscuits. Other days, homemade jam or apple butter is the perfect lighter breakfast. If you want a nice, unusual treat serve the biscuits with butter and warm maple syrup. I guess it's a southern thing, but I can't imagine that anyone wouldn't like it once they've tried it!

12/23/10 "My Go-to Beef Daube"

I've overdone the holiday eating and imbibing. Rumple Minze, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, flourless chocolate cake, sugar cookies, peanut brittle, candy canes, glazed nuts, coquito, enchiladas, turkey... It's easier to list the things I haven't eaten in the last two weeks!

I'm not sure if I can muster up any interesting ideas to write about right now. Not that I ever sit down with any particular intention for a story. Usually I just start typing, and before you know it, mental purging begins and I'm spilling out information that may be funny or offensive.

I am trying to de-tox from the holidays with juice and yoga. I bought a new juicer after resisting for the last couple years. Shockingly, fresh vegetable and fruit juice is kind of addictive. I can't even believe I'm saying that. I grew up subject to my hippie-ish mom's crazy health food avocation. It's taken 30 plus years for me to overcome my aversion to beets after she deceptively told me we were having "beef burgers" for dinner when I was around 10 years old. In reality, she had said beet burgers and, yes, my psyche was deeply bruised by the experience.

She had other cute, clever tricks she tried on me, but I was almost never fooled. I just groaned and went along with it most of the time. At least, that's the way I remember it. Don't even get me started on the humiliation of being a social outcast at the elementary school lunch table. While everyone else was cramming bologna sandwiches and Twinkies in their pieholes, I was quietly gnawing away at my peanut butter and alfalfa sprouts on homemade wheat bread that was "so good for you that you can't even swallow it." Now that I'm an adult, I realize my mom put more love in my lunches than all the WASP Stepford wives ever even felt. Ah, but I digress...

On Christmas day, we had been invited to join our sweet neighbors for dinner. Knowing I'd be foregoing the usual all-day cook-and-get-drunk fest I look forward to every year, I made "My Go-to Beef Daube" on Christmas Eve. Dorie's recipe is easy and turns out a delicious end product. Get this, I used golden beets instead of parsnips. This recipe is different than the one I've used for beef daube in the past in that there are no tomatoes. There is, however, an entire bottle of syrah in there. The flavor was a bit less acidic but still multi-layered and worthy of a special meal. At least when I say I'm making beef, you can be sure I'm talking about meat (with maybe just a little bit of beets in there, too).