Deep, Dark Chocolate Cake

My son is obsessed with the solar system right now. So for his 4th birthday I made him a solar system cake, complete with black frosting. To go with that, I made this deep, dark chocolate cake from a recipe that I found in Bake Wise by Shirley O. Corriher. I never noticed a single speck of crumb make it into the frosting. It was nice and moist too. I modified it slightly to make it a tiny bit healthier and more suited to its task as a birthday cake.

Deep, Dark Chocolate* Cake

Nonstick cooking spray and parchment paper, cut to fit pan
2 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder (all they sell around here is "natural"cocoa powder)
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup water
1cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup cake flour and 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, next time I'll increase the amount of whole wheat and decrease the cake flour and see if it works)
4 large egg yolks
2 large eggs (I omitted the egg yolks and used a total of 4 large eggs. If you want it more dense and moist, stick with the yolks. I thought it was still plenty moist and may have held up better to the decorating.)
1/4 cup buttermilk (soured milk for me)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place baking stone in center of oven if you have one.
2. Generously spray cake pan(s). Line the bottom of the pan(s) with parchment paper that has been cut to size. Spray top of parchment paper.
3. In a heavy saucepan, stir together the sugar, salt, cocoa, and baking soda. In another pan, heat water to boiling. Stirring constantly, pour boiling water a little at a time into cocoa mixture, mixing well. Place on heat and bring back to a boil. Turn off heat and allow to stand in pan for at least 10 minutes.
4. Pour cocoa mixture into a mixing bowl. Add the oil and vanilla and beat on low for 10 seconds. On low speed, beat in the flour and then, with minimum of beating, beat in the yolks, eggs, and buttermilk.
 5. Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Place in oven on the stone and bake until the center feels springy to the touch, about 25 minutes for round layers or 35 minutes for a 9x13 sheet cake. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a rack. Run a thin knife around the edge and jar the edge of the pan to loosen. Invert onto the serving platter. Cool completely before icing. (I like to freeze it to make it even easier to de-crumb and frost.)

From here you can go many places. I did a more traditional decorating job on it. You can layer it with ganache, nuts, berries, cream, or whatever you like for a more grown-up version.

*Note that "dark chocolate" here does not refer to your typical antioxidant-rich dark chocolate. Here we are talking about alkalizing (raising pH with baking soda) the cocoa to darken its color for purely cosmetic reasons. This process actually decreases the nutrition of the cocoa somewhat :-(  So if you want a chocolate cake that's even a little bit better for you, I'd look for a different recipe. Or if you're like me and after a point you say to yourself, "It's cake for crying out loud!" then just enjoy it as it is and save the real dark chocolate for another night. After all, how often do I actually eat cake? (Answer: birthdays, so maybe once every couple of months.)

Rosemary

Gooey Delicious Whole Wheat Orange Rolls, updated

UPDATE: I've played with this recipe more since originally posting and have found that the more orange, the better. So below you'll find some additions and increases in the orange ingredients that make these rolls even yummier.

If I were a poet, I would write an ode to my sister Cayenne and dough enhancer. Together, you two have rocked my world.

If you will recall, a while back Cayenne posted a recipe for Gooey Delicious Cinnamon Rolls.
I'm a dietitian, so I've had a great food nerd dream of making them with whole wheat flour. Well I finally picked up some dough enhancer* and my dream has come to fruition. Sort of. I was out of brown sugar, so I made orange rolls instead. SO YUMMY! My husband actually thought I'd bought them somewhere. I want to play around a little more and see if maybe I can use honey instead of granulated sugar, but for now these are delicious just the way they are. They're not low cal or in any way better to eat more of than normal orange or cinnamon rolls, but it's great to know that I can get a couple of servings of whole grains while indulging myself.

Here is the modified recipe, changes are in italics:

Whole Wheat Orange Rolls
1 1/4 oz package active dry yeast (since I'm not sure exactly what that is I throw in about 2 TBS)
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup margarine (I like butter better) melted (Smart Balance)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp dough enhancer 
1-2 tbsp orange zest (more never hurts)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Throw in everything else but the flour and mix it well. Then slowly add the flour and start getting your elbows good and dirty kneading it (this is the best part, get out all those frustrations grrr)

Put the dough into a bowl, cover and let it rise for about an hour or until it is doubled in size. Once it is you can take it out, plop it on a floured surface and roll it out to about a quarter of an inch thick. Melt or soften some butter and spread it all over. Combine 3/4 cup sugar with 2 tbsp or more fresh orange zest then sprinkle on top of butter.

Roll it up and using some handy dandy floss cut it into about 1-2 inch chunks. place them on a pan and let them raise another 1/2 hour or so. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Just until thy are beautifully golden brown. mmmm, making myself hungry!




Now for the BEST part. The icing.

1/4 cup butter or margarine (Smart Balance)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar or thereabouts
1/4 cup (2 oz) cream cheese (fat free...we bought some by accident and while I usually find it inedible and gross, it was great in the frosting and I will definitely use it again)
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

Cream together softened butter and cream cheese. Beat in powdered sugar then add orange juice. Should make a nice thick glaze but not a stiff frosting. Once the little beauties are cooled, ice to taste.

*Dough enhancer is a specialty baking product that helps whole wheat flour behave more like white all-purpose flour. It's more than just wheat gluten. It has stabilizers that keep baked goods aloft rather than becoming dense and hard. You can buy dough enhancer or make your own. 

Rosemary

And yes, those are pictures of Cayenne's Cinnamon Rolls. I am terrible at remembering to take pictures.

Black Bean & Salmon Tostadas

I finally did it. I bought canned salmon. I've been meaning to do this for a while but just never get around to it. Canned salmon is an excellent way to incorporate more omega-3 rich fish into the diet and it is far less expensive than fresh or frozen salmon. But I've never played with canned salmon before so I wasn't sure exactly what I'd do with it. So I turned to my faithful eatingwell.com and found this recipe for Black Bean & Salmon Tostadas. I didn't have those exact ingredients, so this post is documenting my riff on their recipe since I think it turned out great.

Oh, and Thyme, my version is allergen-free for your little dude so long as your salsa and chili powder have been vetted.

Black Bean & Salmon Tostadas
8 6-inch corn tortillas
Canola Oil
1 15 ounce can boneless, skinless wild Alaskan salmon, drained
1 large avocado, diced
1/2 tsp chili powder or to taste
2 tsp lime juice or to taste (not sure exactly how much I put in)
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons prepared salsa
1/2 cup red onion, diced
2 cups thinly sliced lettuce

1. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 375°F.
2. Brush tortillas on both sides with canola oil. Place on 2 baking sheets. Bake, turning once, until light brown, 12 to 14 minutes.
3. Combine salmon, avocado, chili powder and lime juice in a bowl. Process black beans, olive oil, salsa and red onions in a food processor until smooth. (I used an immersion blender.) Transfer to a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on High until hot, about 2 minutes.
4. To assemble tostadas, spread each tortilla with some bean mixture and some salmon mixture and top with lettuce.

Rosemary

Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry

This recipe is brought to you by the letter C and this original recipe here.

We've found ourselves eating more curries rather than stir fries these days (a favorite stand-by until my son's soy allergies made recipes with soy sauce more difficult), and while I can only use the word curry in the vaguest sense and not in any way resembling authentic Indian cooking, I think they're turning out pretty good. This is basically how I make most of mine, but rotate out whatever vegetables/beans/meat I have on hand at the moment.

1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tsp cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans/chickpeas (I actually made some in the slow cooker, so I don't know exactly how many I used)
1 head of cauliflower, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

Cook the onion and garlic in the oil until they are soft and on the verge of carmelization, add the spices and saute until you think you've almost burnt it (or in my case, until you're done chopping the cauliflower, which was close to the same amount of time).

Add the chickpeas, cauliflower, and bell pepper - cook for a few more minutes while your children distract you and you try to get the can of coconut milk open. Add the coconut milk, cover and simmer until the cauliflower is soft (10-15 minutes, I think - I actually lost track).

We ate it over brown rice, and the 2-year-old shoveled it in his mouth faster than I thought possible while the 3 year old almost completely ignored his entire plate. Overall, I considered it a success.

Chocolate Rice Krispies Treats

Here is my entry for the chocolate contest. I've been puzzling over what to enter since I'm not much of a chocolatier. Then today I came up with these on the fly and I thought, "Why not?" They're not very sophisticated, but simple and easy is good too. You can vary the recipe quite a bit and still get the idea. Not to mention, they should be easy to judge since most of you should be able to get the ingredients and have the time to make them.

Chocolate Rice Krispies Treats

1 can sweetened condensed milk
10 oz marshmallows
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (could do more or less; also could probably do unsweetened chocolate because of how sweet everything else is...bittersweet was the least sweet that I had)
1 cup dried cranberries
5 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1. Heat sweetened condensed milk and marshmallows on the stove in a large sauce pan. Stir until marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat.

2. Stir in chocolate chips completely. Then stir in cranberries and cereal.

3. Press mixture into a 9x13 baking dish that's been coated with cooking spray and allow to cool. Tip: Wet your hands first and they won't stick.

These are a fun way to get a chocolate fix. I went with the bittersweet chocolate and cranberries to cut through the sweetness of the marshmallows and sweetened condensed milk. You could add anything that you like to it really; especially if it's unsweetened. Things like coconut and nuts would be particularly good. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas to improve it.

Rosemary

Love me some Baked Oatmeal

Amish baked oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfasts. It's warm, comforting, and tasty. It's a nice variation to the usual bowl of oatmeal. You can prep it the night before; the only down side is that you do need to wake up early enough to bake it before the kids get cranky. Here's my favorite recipe so far (thanks food.com) with my tweaks in parentheses.

Amish Baked Oatmeal

1/3 cup butter, melted (when I doubled this, I made almost half of it butternut squash puree; you can also use applesauce or some other fat substitute if you like and I'm sure you could completely replace the butter, I just haven't vetted that theory yet)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg (it says 1 tsp nutmeg but I'd use 1/4 to 1/2 if subbing for cinnamon)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk
3 cups oatmeal, regular or quick


1. Spray an 8"x8" baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Beat eggs well.
3. Add brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.
4. Whisk in butter, milk and then add oats.
5. Stir well, pour in pan and refrigerate overnight (or bake immediately if you didn't plan ahead).
6. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-45 min. or until set in the middle.
7. Serve hot with milk poured over (and fresh or dried fruit) (also good cold if you don't want to trouble with reheating the leftovers).

This feeds the kids and I for 2 or 3 days at least.

Rosemary

P.S. I made this with steel cut oats once. Turned out great, just chewier, which is fine as long as everyone at the table can chew well enough.