Tag Archives: dessert

Chocolate Candy Bar Coffee Cake

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chocolate coffee cake_n

Warm afternoon sunshine streamed in through the windows on a cool fall day, illuminating this rich, moist afternoon snack created from a favorite chocolate candy bar. Served with freshly brewed cups of hot tea it was just the thing before a walk into town.

Chocolate coffee cake is tempting straight out of the oven. But this cake tastes best the day after it is baked. The traditional streusel topping turns a good cake into an irresistible afternoon treat.

Chocolate Candy Bar Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Streusel top:

  • 2/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/2 quality chocolate candy bar, chopped fine

Cake:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1  1/4 cups plain yoghurt
  • 1  1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Grease a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.
  3. In a small bowl, mix together the following streusel ingredients: flour, sugar, and cinnamon.
  4. Rub in butter into streusel mixture, until coarse crumbs form.
  5. Fold in chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.
  6. To make the cake, in a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  7. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
  8. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly.
  9. Mix in yoghurt and vanilla extract.
  10. Stir wet ingredients into dry. Mix thoroughly.
  11. Fold in chopped pecans.
  12. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  13. Sprinkle streusel mixture evenly over batter.
  14. Bake until topping is golden, about 40 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
  15. Let pan cool on wire rack. Cut into squares to serve.

Stacking Up Shortbread Cookie Recipes: Espresso-Chocolate and Almond

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shortbread cookies_new

A quintessential shortbread recipe revamped twice for two deliciously buttery versions of a classic cookie.

Shortbread cookies offer delectably crunchy bites that still maintain the sense of a soft cookie. Using powdered sugar as the sweetener gives these cookies their appealing melt-in-your-mouth texture. A blog I follow, Smitten Kitchen, posted a scrumptious coffee flavored version of these cookies featuring a deep, chocolately finish. Her recipe included a clever trick of rolling out the dough in a zip top plastic bag and then allowing it to chill in the bag, making for quick and easy cutting of the chilled dough. I made a batch of her espresso-chocolate flavored cookies and then experimented with my own almond flavored version. How did these two recipes stack up? Deliciously!

After successful experimentation substituting the coffee and chocolate with almonds, I can imagine a whole host of substitute flavors to continue playing with – lemon, caramel, anise…

Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp coffee extract (or highly concentrated coffee)
  • 8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 oz of your favorite chocolate bar, chopped finely. I found one with toffee bits inside which worked fabulously.

Directions

  1. Thoroughly mix butter and powdered sugar in a medium bowl.
  2. Stir in coffee and vanilla.
  3. Mix in flour. Don’t overmix.
  4. Fold in chopped chocolate.
  5. Transfer dough to a gallon-sized zip top bag.
  6. Roll the dough out until it is about 1/4 inch thick. You should have a rectangle about 9 x 10 inches.
  7. Squeeze out the air and zip bag closed. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours. Refrigerated dough will keep for a couple of days.
  8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  10. Cut the dough-filled plastic bag so you can remove top layer.
  11. Turn dough out onto a board.
  12. Cut dough into cookies – about 1 1/2 inch squares.
  13. Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheet.
  14. Bake for 10 minutes. Then rotate pan and bake for additional 10 minutes.
  15. Cool cookies on wire rack.
  16. Cookies will taste best when they are fully cooled.

Recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.

Almond Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp almond extract
  • 8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 oz almonds, chopped fine.

Directions

  1. Thoroughly mix butter and powdered sugar in a medium bowl.
  2. Stir in almond and vanilla extracts.
  3. Mix in flour. Don’t overmix.
  4. Fold in chopped almonds.
  5. Transfer dough to a gallon-sized zip top bag.
  6. Roll the dough out until it is about 1/4 inch thick. You should have a rectangle about 9 x 10 inches.
  7. Squeeze out the air and zip bag closed. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours. Refrigerated dough will keep for a couple of days.
  8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  10. Cut the dough-filled plastic bag so you can remove top layer.
  11. Turn dough out onto a board.
  12. Cut dough into cookies – about 1 1/2 inch squares.
  13. Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheet.
  14. Bake for 10 minutes. Then rotate pan and bake for additional 10 minutes.
  15. Cool cookies on wire rack.
  16. Cookies will taste best when they are fully cooled.

Armed With Lemon, Cream Cheese and a Kitchen Torch

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lemon cheesecake brulee_n

How to improve the creamy texture and flavor of lemon cheesecake bars baked atop a sugar cookie crust? Sprinkle with sugar and torch it to add a crunchy layer of caramel! 

After creating a delectable two-toned crème brûlée and a chai crème brûlée, we became hopelessly smitten with our kitchen torch and the multi-sensory delight it produces when applied to sugar crystals. We applied the technique to a different dessert with a creamy texture, cheesecake, and ended up with very satisfying results. We baked the cheesecakes in a rectangular pan so they could be cut into squares about two bites each, which is the perfect size – a miniature feast for the senses.

In recipes that call for sweetened condensed milk, we make our own. In addition to being less expensive and more natural, our homemade version has none of the tin-can aftertaste common to many canned products, and none of the harmful BPA manufacturers use to line cans. With the help of a stick blender, it’s easy to whip together 1 cup of powdered milk, 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of boiling water, and 3 tablespoons of butter to create 14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk. This homemade version keeps well covered in the refrigerator.

Lemon Brûlée Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

  • 5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 oz. softened cream cheese
  • 7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest
  • 4 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 tbsp fine granulated sugar for brulee-ing, approximately

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8.5″ x 4.5″ glass loaf pan with parchment paper and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
  2. In large bowl, combine butter, sugar, flour and vanilla until dough forms.
  3. Press evenly into the bottom of prepared dish. Set aside.
  4. In another bowl, whip cream cheese.
  5. Stir in sweetened condensed milk. Scrape sides and mix again.
  6. Pour in egg, lemon zest and juice.
  7. Mix until mixture starts to thicken, 20-30 seconds. Scrape sides and mix again briefly.
  8. Pour overtop cookie bottom and smooth the top.
  9. Bake 20 minutes or until cheesecake is completely set.
  10. Cool, then refrigerate.
  11. Cut into 16 squares and separate.
  12. Sprinkle the tops of each square with 1 teaspoon of sugar and spread around with finger to evenly distribute sugar. Torch the tops until the sugar melts and turns an amber color. (If you don’t have a torch, place under the broiler.)

Let the top cool for a few minutes, then serve immediately.

Sometimes Things Freeze in the Arctic (Mochi Cake With Black Bananas)

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Mochi Banana Bread_n

A delicious way to use the unusable, banana mochi bread has the moistness and flavor of banana and the dense, rich texture of mochi cake. Slathered with cream cheese this is a delicious afternoon snack.

Guided by a philosophy of not wanting to waste anything, we are sometimes the recipients of fruit past its prime. This week boxes of bananas arrived for snacks for our students at Tikigaq School in Point Hope, Alaska. Unfortunately, many had frozen on the plane on the way up. Most people will not eat thawed-out, blackened bananas. And then there are people like us.

The obvious response to these bananas was banana bread. I have a tried and true fruit bread recipe which I’ve used for bananas, blueberries, cloudberries, and pears. But this is the time of year to be a bit more creative in order to use up pantry items. With this in mind, I give you mochi banana bread. Mochi is a Japanese creation which uses sweet rice flour to make a dense, rich, but not-too-sweet dessert. With previous success baking a chocolate mochi cake, I wanted to give bananas a try.

The results of this experiment were a sugary-crisp crust enclosing the nicely dense banana bread I was going for. Blog worth! (Of course, we only publish the good stuff!)

Banana Mochi Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cup mochiko (sweet rice flour)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • pinch salt
  • 1 1/2 cups smashed overripe bananas (about 6)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil (substituting applesauce will lighten the bread)
  • 1 tsp Penzeys double strength vanilla extract (or 2 tsp regular vanilla extract)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9″ x 5″ loaf pan. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix dry ingredients.
  3. In bowl of stand mixer, mix together all wet ingredients until thoroughly mixed.
  4. Stir dry ingredients into wet. Mix until just incorporated.
  5. Pour batter into loaf pan.
  6. Bake for 55 – 60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
  7. Cool loaf pan on wire rack until it can be handled. Then remove loaf from pan and continue cooling on wire rack.

“Bring Some Chocolate Home…”

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Triple Chocolate_n

Three types of chocolate plus melted toffee bits on the top nestled in a chewy cookie will satisfy even the strongest chocolate craving. 

When traveling from the tiny bush village of Point Hope to the big city of Anchorage, it is customary to bring home produce or other items that are difficult to find in the village.

Standing in the produce section of our favorite Anchorage grocer surrounded by a bounty of colorful, crisp, juicy offerings such as asparagus, leeks, zucchini, avocados, and mangoes, I call Jack to see if there is anything special he wants me to bring back. “Bring Some Chocolate Home,” he requests (demands). Knowing I still have ten pounds of chocolate chips to use up in the next two-and-a-half months, I respond as my students do to me in their cute, slightly cheeky way: “Nope.” Poor guy was suffering not only from a lack of chocolate, but from a lack of freshly baked goods as well due to my absence of several days.

So, this delicious, chocolate-stuffed, brownie-like cookie is dedicated to Jack. When I asked him what he thought of this recipe, he merely pointed to his empty plate indicating a request for another. That’s my Jack.

Triple Chocolate Toffee Almond Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup dutch pressed cocoa
  • dash salt
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 tbsp Penzeys double vanilla extract
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup crushed toffee bits
  • 1 cup chopped almonds

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa. Set aside.
  3. In bowl of stand mixer, blend together butter, sugars, and vanilla.
  4. Gradually stir in flour mixture into butter mixture.
  5. Stir in chocolate chips, toffee bits and almonds.
  6. Drop dough by tablespoons onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.
  7. Baked for 10 minutes.
  8. Cool on wire rack.
  9. Store in airtight container.

Sweet Nosh – Homemade Lemon Curd and Almond Scones

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scone lemon curd and almond n

Creamy, sweet lemon curd is the perfect partner to a freshly baked almond scone for a light breakfast or an afternoon nosh. See lemon curd and scone recipes below.

Any excuse to make lemon curd is a good excuse. I’ve been playing around with a lemon lava cake recipe and decided the ingredient it needed is lemon curd. With the lava cake in mind, I whipped up four cups of this zesty conserve, which happened to be more than my recipe required. What to do? Enjoy the tangy, sweet, creamy curd with a freshly baked batch of almond scones.

I’ve made many iterations of scones in my kitchen, but lemon curd seemed to fit with savory almond flavor as opposed to blends of fruits or other sweet ingredients.

The curd is a cinch to make. The Meyer lemons that grow in our backyard in Sacramento would have been the choice ingredient, but even without our favorite Meyers on hand in our Arctic kitchen, we can make a darn good curd with Nellie & Joe’s brand lemon juice and Penzeys dried lemon peel. The small scones, too, are a snap to make. The time it took from gathering pantry ingredients to pulling freshly baked scones from the oven was only about half an hour – about as long as it takes to have a first cup of Joe and get fully awake on a leisurely weekend or holiday morning.

Pantry Lemon Curd

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tbsp Penzeys dried lemon peel
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • pinch salt
  • 1/4 lb unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, mix together lemon peel and sugar.
  2. Whisk eggs into sugar mixture, one at a time.
  3. Whisk in lemon juice and salt.
  4. Pour mixture into a medium pot. Add butter in pieces.
  5. Cook over low heat until thickened, about 10 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat and let cool before serving with fresh-baked almond scones hot from the oven.
  7. Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Snack-Sized Almond Scones

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • healthy pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp frozen butter
  • 1/3 cup whole milk
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
  3. Using a cheese grater, grate butter into flour mixture. Stir until butter is well dispersed in flour.
  4. In a second bowl, whisk together whole milk, buttermilk, egg, and extract.
  5. Pour wet ingredients into dry. Stir together.
  6. Stir in almonds. Dough will be sticky.
  7. Coat your hands with flour and divide dough into thirds.
  8. Flatten each third into a disc about 1-inch tall. Place 3 discs apart on parchment-covered baking sheet. Cut each disc into fourths, but do not separate. This will allow the scones to be broken easily when they are finished baking.
  9. Bake for about 15 minutes. Scones will be very lightly browned when done.
  10. Serve with hot tea and homemade lemon curd.

Swiss Spitzbueben Cookies Featuring Alaskan Wild Blueberry Jam

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spitzbueben cookies_n

Two thin, crispy cookies sandwich delicious homemade Alaska blueberry jam. This “anytime” cookie is too good to reserve for holiday cookie trays!

When we received a Christmas package from our friends at Alaskagraphy, we knew that these crispy vanilla cookies would be the perfect canvas for the flavor-packed wild blueberry jam they included. Experiment with your own jam creations!

Swiss Spitzbueben Cookies

Ingredients

  • 5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Alaskan blueberry jam, or jam of your choosing
  • 2 tbsp confectioners sugar, for dusting

Directions

  1. In bowl of stand mixer, beat butter until soft and fluffy.
  2. Add sugar,  vanilla, and salt. Beat until completely mixed.
  3. Add egg white. Beat until completely mixed.
  4. Add flour. Mix until flour is incorporated completely.
  5. Turn dough out onto plastic wrap. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
  7. Roll dough out on parchment-covered surface to about 1/4 inch thickness.
  8. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Keep in mind that you need two cookies for each sandwich and the top cookie needs to have a smaller shape cut out in order for jam to show through.
  9. Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes. Cookies should just brown at bottom edges.
  10. Jam needs to be thick. If it is runny, cook down jam over medium heat for a few minutes. Spread jam on bottom cookie and place second cookie with cut-out atop first.
  11. Dust cookies with powdered sugar when cool.

Recipe makes approximately 1 dozen spitzbueben.

Rustic Pear Gallette with Whole Wheat Blend Crust

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gallette pear n

The sweet secret to this gallette is a generous layer of homemade cloudberry jam beneath the pears No cloudberries? Try raspberry, blackberry or apricot jam.

A gallette is a beautiful dessert that can whipped up on short notice – a perfect answer to a seasonal abundance of fresh fruit. During the summer, we made a delicious strawberry-port gallette with sliced almonds in the galley of our sailboat. Since it is wintertime, we decided to make the gallette a bit more full-bodied by adding wheat flour and some cornmeal to the crust. We happened to have pears on hand, but many other fruits readily lend themselves to this recipe. Enjoy a slice of pear gallette with a side salad, a favorite cheese and a freshly brewed cup of tea for a satisfying lunch in any season.

Rustic Pear Gallette

Ingredients

  • 1  cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup coarse cornmeal
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk (we made this from powdered)
  • 2 tablespoons cloudberry jam, or jam of your choice
  • 2 D’Anjou pears, thinly sliced
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar mixed with a pinch of ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Mix together flours, sugar, cornmeal and salt in a medium bowl.
  2. Using a pastry blender, mix in cold butter. Continue mixing until cold butter is the size of peas.
  3. Slowly mix in buttermilk. Stir with rubber spatula until dough forms into a ball.
  4. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for about 30-45 minutes in refrigerator.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  6. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the size of a baking sheet.
  7. Place chilled dough on center of parchment paper.
  8. Roll dough to about a 15-inch circle. This is a rustic dessert, so no need to be a perfectionist here.
  9. Brush the entire rolled dough with jam.
  10. Arrange pear slices atop dough, leaving a 2-inch border.
  11. Fold border over pears, pressing down any folds of dough.
  12. Brush dough with egg.
  13. Sprinkle dough and pears with sugar and cinnamon mixture.
  14. Bake gallette 40 – 45 minutes, until dough is golden brown and pears are soft.
  15. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Homemade Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream in Chocolate Orange Wafer

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brownie chocolate ice cream n

To create this ice cream, we use the same brownie as in our ice cream sandwiches. These brownies work well because they retain their chewy, firm, moist texture when frozen. The edible serving cups are created from a modified fortune cookie recipe infused with orange flavor. See recipes below.

Dig in!

Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped brownies, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (see recipe below)

Directions

  1. Melt chocolate chips in top of double boiler.
  2. Whisk cocoa powder into melted chips until smooth.
  3. Whisk in milk a little at a time until completely blended.
  4. Remove from heat and let cool.
  5. Beat eggs in bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
  6. Mix in sugar a little at a time until completely blended.
  7. Mix in cream and vanilla. Thoroughly combine.
  8. Pour chocolate mixture into cream mixture and whisk to blend.
  9. Cool completely. I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight before I use it.
  10. Pour into freezer bowl of ice cream machine. Turn machine on and mix until mixture thickens, about 20 minutes. 5 minutes before ice cream is complete, add chopped brownies to freezer bowl.
  11. Transfer to airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

Brownies for Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • pinch salt
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9″ x 9″ baking dish. Set aside.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water. Mix completely. Let mixture cool slightly.
  3. Beat eggs and salt in a mixing bowl.
  4. Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla.
  5. Mix in cooled chocolate.
  6. Mix in flour.
  7. Pour batter in baking dish.
  8. Bake for 30 minutes. Brownies are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before using for ice cream recipe.

Edible Chocolate Orange Ice Cream Bowls (makes 4 wafers)

Ingredients

  • 1 egg white
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 tsp orange zest
  • 1/2 tsp orange extract
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp orange juice

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. Have two small teacups or ramekins ready.
  2. Whisk egg white in a medium bowl until foamy, not stiff.
  3. Add salt and whisk to incorporate.
  4. Whisk in orange zest and orange extract.
  5. Whisk in sugar.
  6. Whisk in flour.
  7. Whisk in orange juice.
  8. Drop a teaspoon of batter onto parchment-lined baking sheet.
  9. Spread the batter around in a circular motion with the back of teaspoon until you have about a 4 inch circle. Repeat to make second wafer.
  10. Bake for 6 minutes.
  11. Immediately remove wafers with an offset spatula and place on an upside-down teacup to cool and dry in the shape of a cup.
  12. Repeat with batter for second 2 wafers.
  13. If desired, dip edges of wafers in chocolate.
  14. Let cool completely before using.

Chocolate Mousse Cake – Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!

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chocolate mousse cake n

Alternate layers of moist, airy devil’s food cake and rich chocolate mousse are topped with chocolate ganache. This is the kind of cake that makes you want to skip straight to dessert!

The culminating task for The Great Courses baking classes, taught by Chef Stephen Durfee of the Culinary Institute of America, was a chocolate mousse cake. This “final exam” would test my cake, mousse and ganache making skills. After careful scrutiny and tasting, Jack gave this cake an A+. Being a bit of an overachiever, that’s the lowest grade I would accept. The recipes below did make extra mousse and ganache. Extra mousse keeps well in the refrigerator to be enjoyed later. We used the extra ganache on sundaes served in almond lace bowls.

One of the benefits to living in the Arctic is our Arctic entry. This tiny room is like a decompression chamber when coming in from icy weather outside. There are two heavy metal doors, one leading outside and one leading inside, which keeps the icy weather at bay. This time of year the temperature in the Arctic entry is warmer than outside and cooler than the house – effectively making it a refrigerator. So, it is a perfect place to chill dough, store vegetables, and cool a chocolate mousse cake before serving to dinner guests.

chocolate mousse cake w torch n

Chef Durfee instructed his class to give the outside of the pan a burst of torch heat in order to loosen the mousse without melting it. Good thing I have a handy kitchen torch.

Chocolate Mouse Cake

Devil’s Food Cake

Ingredients

  • 2.5 oz. cocoa powder
  • 14 oz granulated sugar
  • 14 oz boiling water
  • 5 oz canola oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 10 oz all-purpose flour
  • 1.5 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Sift cocoa powder into a bowl.
  3. Add some of the boiling water to cocoa powder and whisk it together. Continue adding boiling water and whisking until mixture is smooth.
  4. Let cocoa mixture cool to body temperature before adding eggs.
  5. Blend sugar, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl.
  6. Sift flour into dry ingredients. Mix well.
  7. To the cooled cocoa mixture add oil, vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
  8. Stir wet mixture into dry and blend well.
  9. Divide batter into two pans and place in preheated oven.
  10. Cake is done when it has a glossy sheen on surface, about 30 minutes.
  11. Allow cake to cool completely.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

  • 16 oz heavy whipping cream
  • 8 oz half and half
  • 1 oz sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 12 oz chocolate, chopped
  • 1 oz espresso or liqueur (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat half and half and sugar in a pan over medium heat until it is steaming, not boiling.
  2. Place egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk yolks.
  3. Slowly pour hot half and half mixture into yolks, whisking the whole time. This will temper the eggs.
  4. Pour the egg mixture back in the pan over medium heat until custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
  5. Place chocolate in a large mixing bowl. Pour hot egg mixture over chocolate. Allow to rest for a few minutes so chocolate will begin to melt.
  6. Whisk mixture until smooth.
  7. Stir in optional espresso or liqueur.
  8. Beat heavy whipping cream with mixer to soft peaks. The cream should still be pourable.
  9. Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Keep blending until it’s thoroughly mixed.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

  • 5 oz heavy cream
  • 1 oz corn syrup
  • 8 ox finely chopped chocolate

Directions

  1. Bring heavy cream and corn syrup to a boil.
  2. Pour cream mixture over chopped chocolate in a bowl.
  3. Allow mixture to rest for about 30 seconds.
  4. Whisk mixture in the center of the bowl. Once the center is mixed, whisk in larger circles to incorporate more of the mixture.
  5. Ganache should be shiny and thick when it is finished.

Assembling the chocolate mousse cake

If you have a cake ring, retrieve it from your cupboards. If, like me, you don’t, then use a springform pan for a cake mold.

  1. Place one devil’s food cake at the bottom of your mold.
  2. Pour some of the chocolate mousse on top of the cake layer.
  3. Fit the next cake on top of the mousse layer.
  4. Pour the rest of the mousse on top of the cake, or as much as you can.
  5. Place the mousse cake into your Arctic entry (or your refrigerator) to set up.
  6. After the cake has set up, pour the ganache on the cake. Smooth with an offset spatula.
  7. Continue to chill cake until right before serving.
  8. It is helpful to give the mold short bursts of heat from a propane torch to unmold it. Otherwise, run a knife around the circumference of the cake to loosen mousse and cake from ring. Remove ring and enjoy!