Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am getting involved with an organization who bakes dessert every Wednesday for a local soup kitchen. I swear these guys who eat here are eating better than I do!

The theme for this week was chocolate cake, and I had decided early on that I wanted to make a good, old fashioned, moist and dense Devil's Food Cake. After toying with the idea of a salted caramel filling, I decided to just take it back and go classic with a bittersweet chocolate ganache (I told you these guys are eating better than I do!)

I've recently become very infatuated with the blogworld of David Lebovitz, so decided to see if his site offered up any hits. Oh yes indeedy, a perfect classic recipe for devil's food cake with chocolate ganache! Sometimes I'll alter the recipe to adjust sugar content or cream content or whatever, but I found this recipe to be simply divine. Here it is, direct from the site:

For the cake:
9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup strong coffee (or water)
½ cup whole or low-fat milk

For the ganache frosting:
10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup water (or cream)
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter

1. Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Butter two 9" x 2" cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.

3. To make the cake layers, sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.

4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.)

5. Mix together the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.

6. Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

steps 3-6. Easy as pie (or cake)

7. To make the frosting, melt the chopped chocolate with the water (or cream) in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

8. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk them into the chocolate until completely melted and the ganache is smooth. Cool until spreadable, which may take about 1 hour at room temperature.

ganache-goodness

To frost the cake:

Run a knife around the inside of each of the cakes which will help release them from the pans. Tilt one cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper from the bottom and invert it back onto a cake plate. Spread a good-sized layer of icing over the top. Top with the second cake layer and spread the top and sides with the remaining icing as decoratively as you want.

Storage: Cake is best the day it is made, although it's fine the next day. Store at room temperature under a cake dome. Just be sure to keep cake out of the sunin the meantime.

Lazy Sundaes

David Lebovitz's CANDIED BACON ICE CREAM

Grrrr I did it again. I've had trouble sleeping lately, and have been falling asleep at annoyingly late hours (3am, 4am) and as a result waking up much later than I ever intend to, not to mention with bags under my eyes. This is something I really wanted to avoid whilst unemployed- just because I don't have a job doesn't mean I don't have (or shouldn't have) things to do! Today I woke up so late that I am embarrassed to tell you exactly what time my clock read when I finally awoke from the restless state that was my slumber. I had huge plans for the day and they were squandered (yes, I really had huge plans), so I shamefully I ended up hanging out at home doing a lot of stuff around the house.

While doing things around the house my mind wandered to ice cream. I've been thinking of ice cream a lot lately. I was never a huge fan of it when I was little, but it's been growing on me through the years. I still prefer a solid vanilla or coffee ice cream over any of those chubby hubby funky monkey ice cream flavors, though. Clean and simple, that's how I like my ice cream.

But recently, I've taken notice to chefs starting to play with their ice creams and using really great ingredients to create what are truly artisanal ice creams and ice cream flavours (I am using the English way of spelling as it seems more delectable and artisinal to me). Nick Morgenstern, chef of the General Greene (and my big fat General Crush) has created an ice cream stand outside of his restaurant with five special daily flavors, flavors like Salted Caramel, Bourbon Raisin, Burnt-Honey Vanilla, and even Bacon! The Van Leeuwan Brothers have made a killing, not only with their truck which silently brings the freshest, most pure and simple flavor all around downtown Manhattan, but now with their packaged cartons selling at Whole Foods stores as well. Sweet Melissa just opened up a creamery, with a nice sit-down parlor-esque restaurant in the back, serving up crazy sundaes and old fashioned delights like Egg Creams (chocolate syrup, heavy cream/mill, and seltzer, hm...).

Since today was the first truly humid day of the year, I was reminded why ice cream fares so well out here in NYC. While in LA I was talking ice cream with Gillian, a very normal foodie conversation. We were thinking of how to re-invent flavors into ice creams, how to make them at their best. S'more Ice Cream! Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream! I think this is why ice cream is so fun and can be so delectable- it's like that part in willy wonka where little Violet Beauregard pops that piece of Wonka Gum in her mouth, which simulated a full course meal- you can recreate the flavors of a whole, solid pumpkin pie, of into a spoonful of creamy, icy goodness! David Lebovitz, true ice cream conisseur, is constantly exploring & writing about such creations and where he finds his flavors and inspirations. He's even written a book on ice cream which I am just dying to get my hands on.

Anyway during my little day dream session I decided that I want to create Caramel Apple ice cream. It's not that I am obsessed with Caramel Apples, or that I love apple products (because I don't, I actually quite despise apple sauce and apple juice and even apple pie), but rather I think that this ice cream would have a really cool flavor profile. Anyway, I will update you if this seemingly genius idea really is genius. Because I have a feeling it'll either be that or a huge disaster. We'll see!