Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Coulis

Recently, I took a French cooking class, the essentials of burgundian cooking at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in Manhattan.  The class was a fun class where we broke into groups and made an entire French meal.  I perfected my boeuf bourguignon skills, which I will be making at home again this weekend.  The dessert for the class was this delicious French style chocolate cake, Gauteau ay Chocolate avec Framboise Coulis, which I made again at home, and it was even better.  My husband was a huge fan of this classic French dessert which is perfect for any dinner party.

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Coulis
Cake
6 oz semi sweet chocolate
1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into 1 T pieces
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
3 T pureed almonds, or almond flour
4 T flour
pinch of cream of tartar
pinch of salt

Glaze (I made a half recipe of the laze at home because I thought that was enough)
6 oz semisweet chocolate
4 T coffee
6 T butter

Rasberry Coulis
1 pint fresh raspberries
1 T lemon juice
1 T Framboise
powdered sugar to taste (I like the sauce to be tart, so I only used 2 T)

Spray an eight inch cake pan with pam and line with parchment paper, sprayed with pam.  Preheat the oven to 350.

Melt the chocolate and butter for the cake batter in a double boiler.  In an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the yolks with 1/4 cup of the sugar until the mixture forms ribbons that fall from the mixer.  This takes about four minutes at a high speed.  Add the chocolate mixture and blend together.  Add the flour and almond flour and combine.  Remove and clean the mixer and set aside.

In the mixer with a whisk attachment in a separate bowl, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until it forms a soft peak, on high speed.  Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Fold the beaten whites into the chocolate batter with a spatula.  Pour into prepared cake pan.  Bake for 30 minutes or ubtil cake pulls away from sides of pan.

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes.  Invert and remove from pan and take off the parchment paper liner.  Cool completely before glazing.

To make the glaze, heat the chocolate and coffee over a double boiler.  Off heat add the butter and stir gently to combine.  Pour on cooled cake.

Blend the ingredients for the coulis in your blender.  Serve with cake.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Coulis

Sasha's Kitchen: Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones

I made these delicious breakfast and/or dessert scones a few weeks ago since I was able to score some delicious strawberries, even in the dead of winter.  The recipe comes from Alice's Tea Cup's cookbook, which is one of my favorite places in Manhattan to go for scones.  They are always a treat in any flavor!

Alice's Tea Cup's Strawberry-Chocolate Chop Scones
Makes about 12-14 scones
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/4 cups hulled and quartered strawberries
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 425.  In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  With clean hands work in the butter until thoroughly incorporated and has the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.  Add the strawberries and chocolate and combine well.

Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk and vanilla.  Combine the mixture but do not knead.  Pat the dough to make a rectangle about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Cut the scones into 3/12 to 4 inch wedges.  Lay on a non-stick baking sheet and brush liberally with the cream, sprinkling some sugar on top.  Bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Sasha's Kitchen: Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Stout Brownies

Brownies are one of the best sweet comfort foods of all time.  As a member of ShopRite's blog panel, I had received a huge bag of delicious chocolate chips and other baking supplies that came in handy when making this delicious recipe that I found in the recent Bon Appetit magazine for chocolate stout brownies that I made for the Super Bowl party that we went to for the now Championship NY Giants (whoo-hoo).  The stout adds a nice, rich flavor to the brownies, similar to the way it did when I made my chocolate stout cupcakes awhile back. These are just pure chocolatey goodness!  I adapted the recipe from Bon Appetit a bit and eliminated the frosting, because quite frankly they don't need anything else.  These are fudgy, chewy, moist and amazing.

Chocolate Stout Brownies (adapted from this recipe)
1 cup chocolate stout (I used local Brooklyn Brewery Chocolate Stout, but you could also use Guinness)
16 oz Shoprite chocolate chips
2 sticks uf unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

First, boil the stout, and reduce one cup to half a cup of stout.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a 9 x 9 metal baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2 inch overhang.  Bring the stout to a boil in a medium sauce pan and cook until reduced to half a cup, about twelve minutes.  Allow to cool.

Stir 12 oz of the chocolate chips and two sticks of butter in a medium metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (like a double boiler).  until melted and smooth, stirring occasionally.

Whisk the sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl to blend, and then gradually whisk in the chocolate mixture.  Add about 1/4 plus 2 T of the stout from the pan, then fold in the flour and the salt.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the brownies until the surface begins to crack and a tester comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool for at least twenty minutes before slicing.  No glaze needed!

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Stout Brownies

Sasha's Kitchen: Magnolia Bakery's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Magnolia Bakery is one of New York's most famous bakeries and also one of my favorites.  Recently, I stopped by and picked up a copy of the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, which I am so excited to explore.  So far I have made two recipes - I made Magnolia's chocolate chip cookies and I made their famous banana pudding, both of which were delicious.  I plan to make their apple walnut cake with cream cheese caramel frosting for New Years and explore some new baking recipes, including cupcakes, in January.  As I mentioned in a recent post, I received a whole box of baking supplies from ShopRite, which is right up my sleeve since I LOVE TO BAKE!  I figured chocolate chip cookies were another perfect recipe for using all of these goodies.  These were the best chocolate chip cookies I've made yet - chewy and chocolate-ey just like I like them.  The combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar is the trick that makes the cookie what it is.  Be sure to bake the cookies only the time allotted, even if they seem soft when they come out of the oven. They continue cooking after they come out of the oven and will be just perfect after 12 minutes or so in the oven, once they cool.  I used the brown sugar, sugar, vanilla, chocolate chips and flour that ShopRite sent me in this recipe.

Magnolia Bakery's Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  In your stand mixer, cream the butter and the sugars for three minutes until smooth.  Beat in the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Add in the flour mixture and mix thoroughly, and then stir in the chocolate chips.  Drop well rounded, heaping teaspoonfuls of cookie dough onto cookies sheets lined with parchment paper, leaving space for expansion.  Bake 10-12 minutes, one sheet at a time, in the center of your oven until lightly golden brown.

Sasha's Kitchen: Magnolia Bakery's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Cinnamon Jack O'Lantern Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream

Time for my halloween cupcakes!  I had originally planned on making these pumpkin cupcakes with maple buttercream, but was craving something chocolate.  I used a recipe in one of my cupcake books, Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcakes to make a nice cinnamon spiced cupcake (a mexican chocolate cupcake, I suppose) that's the perfect spicing for fall.  It was also a lovely complement to the maple buttercream that I made using my maple extract.  I made two batches of the buttercream.  I dyed one batch orange using gel food color to spread on the cupcakes.  I dyed the second batch black/grey and green, for the faces and the stems.  I'm not planning on carving a pumpkin this year, but these jack'o lanterns are just as good for the halloween spirit.  Happy Halloween! Note: no eggs are used in the recipe, but the balsamic vinegar activates the baking soda and helps the cupcakes rise.  The vinegar evaporates and has no taste.

Chocolate Cinnamon Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I used about 3/4 of a tsp)
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 cup granulated sugar (less than the original recipe calls for)
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 T balsamic vinegar

Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda and cinnamon) in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, coffee, coil, vanilla and almond extract.  Mix in the flour mixture until smooth.  Mix in the balsamic vinegar.  Scoop batter into 12 lined cupcakes in a silicon cupcake tray.    Fill 3/4 of the way full.  Bake for 25-30 minutes in an oven preheated to 350 until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting.

Maple Buttercream (I made two batches of the recipe below)
1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 T maple syrup
1 tsp maple extract

Beat the buttercream ingredients until smooth before frosting.  Enjoy!

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Cinnamon Jack O'Lantern Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Biscotti

I've been craving some good biscotti for awhile now so I figured I'd make my own chocolate biscotti with almonds.  I've always been a big fan of Dave Lebovitz, an American chef cooking from my beloved city of Paris, who focuses on the sweet life in Paris - desserts and pastries.  I came across this recipe for chocolate biscotti on Dave's blog, and it's truly great - decadently chocolate, crisp biscotti, perfect for dunking in a nice cup of hot tea (sorry i don't drink coffee, but you get the idea).  It's also not that difficult to make, either and made a nice large batch that you can enjoy for a couple of weeks as long as you store them in an airtight container.  This recipe is a great way to start the day with a cup of tea, or coffee if you prefer, and reminds me the chocolate croissants starting off a morning in Paris.

Dave Lebovitz's chocolate biscotti
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups good quality cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup almonds toasted and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup chocolate chips
For the galze
1 large egg
2 T of coarse sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat togther the eggs, sugar, vanilla and almond extract. I did this using a stand mixer.  Then I mixed in the dry ingredients, nuts and chocolate chips until the dough holds together in the mixer.  It doesn't quite come together in the mixer on its own - you're going to need to pull it together with your hands - very chocolatey!

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and divide the dough in half.  Roll the dough into two long logs, nearly the length of the baking sheet. Flatten the tops of the logs and glaze with the remaining egg. Sprinkle the remaining sugar on top and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, until the dough is firm to the touch.

Remove the dough from the oven and cool for 15 minutes. Use a serrated knife to diagonally cut the cookies into 1/2 inch slices.  Lay the cookies cut side down on the baking sheet and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how crisp you like you biscotti. For my oven, which is brand new, I found 20 minutes to be perfect.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Biscotti

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Panna Cotta

I've made panna cotta many times, but for some reason I've never made chocolate panna cotta. Well why not? It's so easy, so rewarding and decadently chocolate.  This is very simple recipe for whenever you are craving a chocolate dessert but don't have time for cupcakes or cake.  It's all about the gelatin and basically is foolproof to set properly.  I made some raspberry sauce a couple weeks ago that I canned (it was supposed to be raspberry jam, so it didn't turn out quite right.  However, raspberry sauce is great with chocolate and I was able to put some to good use to top the panna cotta.

Sasha's Chocolate Panna Cotta (makes 6) based on this recipe from Epicurious
1 cup skim milk
3 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 cups heavy whipping cream
5 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract

Spray six glass custard cups or individual sized souffle ramekins with Pam or canola oil. Pour milk into a bowl and sprinkle gelatin over it.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Stir cream and sugar in saucepan over medium high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and take off heat.  Add the chocolate and whisk until melted and evenly combined.  Combine the chocolate mixture with the gelatin/milk mixture and stir in the vanilla. Make sure the mixture is evenly combined by blending in a blender, but do not overmix.  Divide in the six cups and chill 24 hours.  To plate, cut around the outside and flip over. It's panna cotta!!!

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Panna Cotta

Sasha's Kitchen: Three Tiered Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Recently, my husband and I hosted a lovely dinner party for some old college friends. A good time was had by all and we served a four course menu that was matched with beer and wine pairings that one of your friends brought to share with the meal. We have a nice backyard here in Brooklyn, so we first had cheese and crackers with champagne outside since it was a lovely summer night.  Second course brought us inside for chinese style duck dumplings, followed by zucchini-corn fritters with yogurt sauce.  The third course was my homemade spinach ravioli with a three cheese filling (show here is a plain, non spinach batch). And, finally, its cake time.  I did another garden party themed cake, decorated with pretty pink flowers that I piped on with vanilla buttercream that I dyed pink for the flowers and yellow for the centers. I used the special wilton flower tip for making the petals for each of the pink flowers in the cake.  This time, I went with the cookbook from Alice's Tea Cup by Haley & Lauren Fox for the chocolate cake recipe, and also followed their recipe for peanut butter buttercream, which I used to frost the outside of the cake and between the layers.  I found using a rotating cake turner to be very useful for both frosting and decorating the cake. I decorated using a basic vanilla buttercream. 

Chocolate Cake - (makes three 8'' layers) - recipe from the Alice's Tea Cup Cookbook

2 cups of sugar
1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup hot brewed coffee

To prepare the cake, preheat the oven to 350. You will need three eight inch cake pans.  Prepare the three eight inch cake pans and combine the fry ingredients together in a bowl (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt). In the basin of your stand mixer, on medium speed, beat the sour cream and eggs (one at a time), milk, oil and vanilla, and add in the dry ingredients, mixing for two minutes. Scape down the bowl and drizzle in the coffee and blend until smooth. It will be a very liquidy mixture, which is fine and appropriate.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans before gently removing from the pans and allowing to cool on a wire rack until room temperature.  If necessary, trim the tops of the cake to level them, but I found that this recipe did not require any leveling. Frost between layers and on the top and sides of the cake with the buttercream. To make the buttercream, beat the ingredients until smooth.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/4 cups cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup peanut butter

5 cups confectioner's sugar

1 T milk

Sasha's Kitchen: Three Tiered Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Sasha's Kitchen: Garden Party Themed Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I had recently made a cake with all kinds of flowers in a garden party theme, and then decided to reverse it a couple weekends later into cupcakes, with pretty little flowers made using the Wilton flower tip. Flowers are just so pretty to decorate with, and this made a truly lovely batch of cupcakes. I used made a batch of chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, with my favorite peanut butter frosting. Really, there's no better flavor combination for a cake or cupcake than chocolate and peanut butter! These are perfect for a lovely summer party.

Sasha's Garden Party Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Cupcakes (adapted from Julie Hasson)
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup smooth lowfat peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup whole milk

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl - the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Beat the sugars and the butter in the  basin of a stand mixer until well combined. Then  beat in the peanut butter until smooth, followed by the egg and vanilla. Alternatively beat in the flour mixture and the milk and beat until smooth. Fill cupcake molds (lined) 3/4 of the way to the top and bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Peanut butter frosting
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter
pinch salt
1/2 cup creamy non-fat peanut butter
2 T milk

Vanilla buttercream (for decorating)
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T milk
gel based food coloring in pink, purple and yellow

Beat together the ingredients for the peanut butter frosting for about five minutes in your stand mixer until smooth. Frost the cupcakes using a frosting bag.

Make the regular vanilla butter cream the same way. Once you have beaten together the ingredients into a smooth frosting, divide into three bowls and color with a drop or two of the gel food coloring. Make the petals using the wilton flower tip, and use a traditional dot tip to make the dot in the center with the yellow buttercream.

Sasha's Kitchen: Garden Party Themed Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Garden Party Themed Three Tier Chocolate Cake

Most of the time, I make and decorate cupcakes instead of cakes, because cakes are just - well so big. But making cakes is so much fun for a large gathering of people, especially big and even multi tiered cakes. Last weekend, my in laws had the family over for July 4th and I decided to make a large, three layered chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. I decorated the cake with lovely flowers of all colors on a blue background for a garden party theme. I was really pleased with the results so I thought I would share the cake and recipe here. I used Wilton cake tips to do the petals on the flowers and the leaves, as well as the vines. I got all of the supplies for the decorating at New York Cake, a fabulous baking supply store. Since I had to reuse the petal tip for the different color flowers, I found that using disposable pastry bags for the buttercream was easiest when decorating with the tips. I got the recipe for this delicious chocolate cake from the Alice's Tea Cup Cookbook, and found that their chocolate cake recipe was moist and delicious.

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
2 cups of sugar
1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup hot brewed coffe

Vanilla Buttercream (make two batches, one for the layers and covering the cake and one for decorating)
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 lb confectioner's sugar (about four cups)
2 T whole milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

To prepare the cake, preheat the oven to 350. You will need three eight inch cake pans. Next time I make this, I am going to do a second tier, whip up another batch, and also make three six inch cake plans as well for the smaller tier on top. Prepare the three eight inch cake pans and combine the fry ingredients together in a bowl (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt). In the basin of your stand mixer, on medium speed, beat the sour cream and eggs (one at a time), milk, oil and vanilla, and add in the dry ingredients, mixing for two minutes. Scape down the bowl and drizzle in the coffee and blend until smooth. It will be a very liquidy mixture, which is fine and appropriate.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans before gently removing from the pans and allowing to cool on a wire rack until room temperature.  If necessary, trim the tops of the cake to level them, but I found that this recipe did not require any leveling.

Make a first batch of buttercream by beating together those ingredients into a smooth buttercream. I added a drop of blue gel food color to get the desired color.

To build the cake, frost the three layers with buttercream and stack. Then frost the sides. I recommend using a large metal spatula to frost and to smooth the cakes so the frosting is nice and even. You can use a little metal device (no idea what its called, sorry) to make some texture on the side of the cake as well (See the photo above). You will want to get the base frosting as smooth as possible before decorating. I used blue as  for the inside as well (baby blue, actually) but you could be more traditional and use plain instead. Also, another tip - I bought a cake turntable for rotating the cake while building and decorating - it makes the entire process much easier. I got mine here in Park Slope at Tarzian West.

Make another batch of buttercream to decorate. I divided this batch into five parts and dyed with the gel food color to make orange, purple, pink, green, and yellow. The I used the Wilton flower tip to do the petals in each color, a star tip to do the yellow centers, a leaf tip for the leaves and a thin circle tip for the vines. It's cake art!

Sasha's Kitchen: Garden Party Themed Three Tier Chocolate Cake