Tag Archives: chocolate

Vegan Dark Chocolate Cake Pops

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Veronica

Chocolate Covered Katie will be doing a “Hug A Vegan Dessert” post featuring all vegan dessert recipes submitted to her (click here for details!), and while I’m not vegan, I do enjoy vegan foods quite often, and I took this on as a challenge to create something fun and so delicious that anyone, regardless of dietary choices or restrictions, could enjoy.

Since I’ve had cake pops (and cake balls and cupcake bites) on the brain lately, I decided that’s what I would veganize. It needed to be done, don’t you think? Who says we need butter and eggs to make a delicious cake pop? This recipe proves you don’t! And you don’t even need any strange or fake ingredients to get your dairy and egg-free cake pops groove on. This recipe consists of common, every day ingredients, or those that you can easily find at any supermarket without looking in any special sections.

And.

They are delicious! In a side-by-side comparison I have to admit I do slightly prefer the taste of regular cake pops, but I donated most of this vegan batch to be served at a sister’s housewarming to non-vegan guests and they were none the wiser, all enjoying them thoroughly. These have more of a homemade taste and aren’t as sweet, but there was nary a complaint and I even overheard the children begging for seconds. I ate six of them myself, so that should give you an idea of how much I liked them since I pretty much blew my entire weekly Weight Watchers Points Plus allowance on them.

One reader recently left a comment on my cake pops post asking if they were any good because I failed to mention that in my post. What? Me, forget to rhapsodize about how great cake pops are? How did that happen? I couldn’t believe it! Well, let me ameliorate that omission right here and now.

They. are. so. good. The center is more dense than cake and the frosting, being mixed in, gives it a little bit of a truffle-like consistency (but still with the taste of cake), and the chocolate shell gives it more of a candy feel. A cake pop is like the perfect blend of cake and candy. And that is just what these are. Cake-candy perfection.

Need I say more? Let’s do this!

Vegan Dark Chocolate Cake Pops

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 recipe Wacky Cake, prepared with Dutch process cocoa powder
1 recipe Shiny Chocolate Icing, prepared with Dutch process cocoa powder
1 (12 oz) bag Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coconut oil
Sprinkles/nonpareils/cookie crumbs/other decorations of choice
50-70 lollipop sticks
Foam board

Optional packaging supplies:
50-70 clear treat bags
Curling ribbon or twist ties

**Veronica’s notes: I used only 2/3 of my Wacky Cake for this and still got more than 50 cake pops, so unless you need enough to feed an army, feel free to enjoy some of the cake before making it into cake pops. If you do use the entire cake, you may need a second bag of chocolate chips. Also, many canned frostings are naturally vegan, so if you prefer, you can save yourself a step and purchase a can of dark chocolate frosting to use in this recipe. **

Pull off chunks of cooled cake and process them in a food processor in batches until fine crumbs, putting the crumbs in a large bowl. Add 1 cup of the icing and mix up with your hands until the icing is completely incorporated. You will most likely need more, but it is better to start with less than to add too much right off the bat. I added more after taking this photo, using about a cup total, and I should have used a little more–the dough was a little stiff and should have been less thick.

Roll into balls the size of walnuts (a small cookie scoop works well for portioning–mine fits a tablespoon of dough) and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate two hours or overnight.

Gently melt chocolate with the oil in a double boiler or in the microwave. If using the microwave, stir every fifteen seconds after an initial 30 seconds. Once chocolate is mostly melted, remove from heat and stir, stir, stir, until the residual heat melts the rest of it. Don’t overheat your chocolate or it will become too thick to dip your pops.

Check out the ingredients-Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips are naturally vegan and have a delicious chocolate flavor with underlying floral notes.

Remove cake balls from refrigerator and dip one end of the lollipop sticks into the chocolate, then insert half way into each ball. Once there are sticks in all the balls, place the tray in the fridge and take them out one by one to dip so they stay cold during the dipping process.

Take each by the stick and dip into the chocolate, tapping off excess, apply sprinkles if you wish, then insert into foam block to set up. Repeat until all pops are dipped.

I was multitasking on Saturday. Behind the cake pops are two round cakes, wrapped until I had the time to frost them, two sticks of butter waiting to be turned into frosting, and cake tops in a small bowl, waiting to be turned into more cake pops once the icing was made. I never waste cake!

Most sprinkles are naturally vegan. I checked the labels on my entire sprinkles collection and found no animal products listed in the ingredients, inlcluding in the mini candy-coated chocolate drops in the Chocolate Accents jar.

Place your foam block in the refrigerator or freezer to set the chocolate. Once it’s hardened, you can arrange them on a platter or package them individually by slipping a small plastic treat bag over the top and tie it with a ribbon. The chocolate coating on these melts at a lower temperature than regular candy coating, so store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

OK, Katie, I’m reluctantly posting a picture here of me hugging my vegan dessert, just for you! I even kept my face makeup free because I’m lazy in keeping with the all-natural theme here. :)

56 Comments

Posted in Cake & Frosting, Candy, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged chocolate, chocolate covered katie, recipe, vegan cake pops. Bookmark the permalink.

Wacky Cake {Vegan}

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Veronica

Wacky Cake (also called Crazy Cake), so named because it uses vinegar and no eggs, is perhaps the first cake I ever baked, and the only recipe my Mom really passed on to me. The first time she told me about it I was a little girl, and she fondly recalled baking it when she was a little girl at a time when I was lamenting the lack of eggs in the house. I immediately asked if she still had the recipe, because anything that had chocolate in it and had such a cool name had to be good. I was the designated family baker even at the age of nine, and I baked up this cake that night, much to my family’s delight.

It became popular during the depression, when eggs and butter were rationed and hard to come by, and many of us continue to enjoy it today because it is economical, delicious, and easy to make! I’ve made this cake many times over the years, including as the base for my vegan Mounds Cake, and was just about to use it as the base in another recipe when I realized I should probably give it a post of it’s own so I can link to it each time I post a recipe that uses it, rather than typing it out each time.

Many recipes for Wacky Cake make an 8×8″ pan, but this one will give you a 9×13 pan (or two 9″ round layers) full of chocolatey goodness. I’m also going to include a yummy vegan frosting recipe that goes really good on this cake. The cake is great just with a dusting of powdered sugar (I really like to eat it a little warm like this), but the shiny chocolate icing really puts it over the top. Enjoy!

Wacky Cake

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with pic

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup cocoa powder*
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 cups cold water

*I use Dutch process cocoa powder because it makes a darker cake with more intense chocolate flavor, but you can use any kind you wish. Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder is available in most supermarkets, which works well here.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and set aside. Sift all dry ingredients together into a large bowl.

Make three wells and put the oil in one, the vanilla in another and the vinegar in the last. Is this really necessary? I don’t know, I’ve never disobeyed the recipe. I like to think of it as keeping history alive. Our foremothers made Wacky Cake this way, so who am I to change it now?

Pour water over it all and mix until well blended. Look at all the bubbles as the vinegar interacts with the baking soda! This is the kind of science I can get behind.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack. Frost or sprinkle with powdered sugar to serve. I love how dark it gets while baking–the magic of Dutch process cocoa!

You wouldn’t believe how moist and delicious a vegan cake can be! This is one of my hubby’s faves.

Now let’s frost Dennis’ piece…

Shiny Chocolate Icing

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with pic

1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup cocoa*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water or nondairy milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix sugars, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa in a medium sauce pan. Whisk in the coconut milk. Stirring constantly, heat over medium until it gets thick and starts to boil. Continue stirring and boil for 1-2 minutes or until very thick. Remove from heat and stir in oil and vanilla. Allow to cool to room temperature, then spread over the top of your cooled cake.

*Again, I used Dutch processed cocoa, but regular is fine.

Recipe source: I apologize to the originator of this recipe! I did not copy the source and since I changed it, I couldn’t locate it by entering the recipe words into Google. The original was very similar but called for water instead of milk. Both work great but I like using coconut milk.

Usually it’s a little thicker like real frosting, but I made this one a little thinner like a glaze, plus I put it on a slightly warm cake which made it run a little more.

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Posted in Cake & Frosting, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged chocolate, crazy cake, frosting, glaze, shiny chocolate icing, vegan, wacky cake. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Torte

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Veronica

*A note before the blog: I have updated my cherry cordials recipe with notes on how to make sure the centers liquify and included a new picture from my latest batch with liquified centers.

Without realizing it, I scheduled a sandwich bread recipe to post today, Valentine’s Day, which included no mention of love or chocolate, or even an apology for giving a bread recipe on the international day of love. So I hurriedly snapped pictures of our dessert today so that I could atone for my sins. ;)

Usually I steer clear of desserts that don’t include real butter, sugar (preferably more than one kind), and white flour. But I’m discovering that not all sweet treats need to be loaded with fat and processed sugar and flour to taste good.

I made this chocolate torte for our Valentine’s Day dessert and we both loved it with a little whipped cream on top. It is soft, moist, and almost fudgy because of the dates. The recipe was born of a mistake, having used dates instead of the prunes it originally called for. I really liked the result, but will be trying it with prunes next time, which I think will give it more of a cake consistency. With the dates, it’s somewhere between and a brownie and a cake. It definitely tastes healthier than regular full-fat and full-sugar desserts, but not in an off-putting way. It is probably my favorite diet-friendly dessert to date! That it has natural, whole-food ingredients like dates and whole wheat flour is as an added bonus and makes me feel like I’m almost eating health-food.

Chocolate Torte

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1/3 cup cocoa powder, plus 1 tsp for dusting
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup strong, hot coffee
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp egg substitute or 1 egg white
2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350˚. Coat a 9″ tart pan with cooking spray. Dust with 1 tsp cocoa. Set aside. Combine dates and coffee in a large bowl. Set aside to cool. Sift remaining 1/3 cup cocoa, flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a small bowl and stir. To the date mixture, add sugar, applesauce, egg substitute and vanilla and stir until combined. Pour dry mixture into the wet and stir until combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out mostly clean, about 25 minutes. Cool completely before removing and slicing. Serve with whipped cream.

Serves 8. Per slice: 153 calories; .7 fat; 43 g carbohydrates; 4 g fiber; 3 g protein

Recipe source: adapted from Self

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Posted in Brownies & Bars, Cake & Frosting, Lighter Fare and tagged chocolate, chocolate torte recipe, diet, diet-friendly, healthy, love, low calorie, romance, romantic, Valentine's Day, whole. Bookmark the permalink.

Ghirardelli Sinful Chocolate Truffles

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Veronica

Perhaps two posts on truffles in a row is a bit excessive, but it’s the holidays and if I can’t be excessive now, then when can I?

Needless to say, I adore truffles. This is the recipe I’ve used most because it’s simple and reliable, but feel free to change it up by adding extracts or liqueur, or rolling the centers in different things (nuts, coconut, toffee), or by dipping them in chocolate. As with any good truffle recipe, this one yields a deliciously soft, creamy, satin-smooth, and deeply chocolate center that is sweet enough to offset the coating’s bitter edge. If you’ve never made truffles before, try this recipe–you won’t be disappointed!

Ghirardelli Sinful Chocolate Truffles

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 pound semisweet chocolate
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate and butter. In a medium sized skillet, bring 1/2 inch of water to a slow simmer. Set the saucepan in the skillet over low heat. Stir mixture just until chocolate has completely melted. Remove from heat. Pour the chocolate mixture into a pie plate. Cool, cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
Pour the cocoa into a pie plate. Line an airtight container with waxed paper. Dip a melon baller or small spoon into a glass of warm water and quickly scrape across the surface of the chilled truffle mixture to form a rough 1-inch ball. Drop the ball into the cocoa. Repeat with the remaining truffle mixture. Gently shake the pie plate to coat truffles evenly. Transfer truffles to the prepared container, separating layers with additional waxed paper. Cover tightly and refrigerate up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 3 months.

Recipe source: slightly tweaked from Food Network

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Posted in Candy and tagged candy, chocolate, christmas, holidays, simple, truffles. Bookmark the permalink.

THE Mocha Crunch Cake

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Veronica

Although I have made this recipe my own, I must give credit where it is due. Early in my cake-making days, I purchased Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible and used recipes out of it to make the first stages of this cake. I’ve continually changed and evolved the recipe since then, and while I always ultimately preferred to use a Betty Crocker devil’s food cake mix rather than bake the cake from scratch, I have now found THE chocolate cake recipe that I actually prefer over the mix, and I have Mel of My Kitchen Cafe to thank for that.

Let’s talk about the current stage of this cake. The cake itself is light, moist, deeply chocolatey. An excellent crumb. Really, the best texture I’ve ever gotten from a chocolate cake recipe, except for this one. It’s perfect. The cake is enveloped in a buttercream that is deceptively light and almost mousse-like with a great balance of sweet coffee and chocolate flavor. The flavor combined with the velvety smooth texture makes it so good that I have been known to scoop the leftover frosting into a bowl and eat it straight. I chose to press chopped toffee into the sides of the cake because, to me, the flavor of toffee has always been a perfect compliment to chocolate and coffee, and it adds a nice contrast of texture to the bite. Finally, I eventually began smothering the whole finished cake in ganache to make it more visually appealing and to intensify the chocolate flavor. It is an immensely pleasurable treat that can be dangerous because it doesn’t feel fattening when it’s in your mouth and it’s easy to overindulge because it is so light. Do not be decieved! My thighs are a testament to the immense caloric level of each bite.

This cake is time consuming to prepare, but very much worth the effort, especially if you are making it for a birthday. And fear not that the little ones won’t enjoy it. My nephew has been devouring it since he was old enough to be allowed chocolate. And one of the ladies present at a birthday party where it was served told me that her daughter hates chocolate and she ate an enormous piece all by herself. I had to laugh, because that little girl is not the only one who has enjoyed the cake despite their aversions to aspects of it.

My Dad is a dessert hater. Honestly, I don’t know how he could have spawned me, the Dessert Queen, but it doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t have a sweet tooth. But he loves this cake. My youngest sister is a frosting hater. She scrapes it off the cake. When I make this one she gets excited if I put extra frosting in the middle. And she licks the plate clean, frosting and all. My middle sister is a cake hater, and really just a hater of all things not raw and rich in antioxidants. But she scarfs this cake every time I make it and it is the only cake she will let me make for her birthday. My husband? A coffee hater. An intense coffee hater. And yet he perks up on the rare occasion I make a morning cup of Joe, hoping the smell means I’m making this cake. My Mom likes everything I make, but this is her favorite cake and also the one she prefers on her birthday. And not to toot my own horn or anything, but Michael Jackson left instructions in his will to be buried with three of these cakes. Or at least, I think he would have if he’d ever tried one. :)

A friend recently told me that this cake would be one of the only things she thought she would miss in heaven. Of course she said it to be funny since I doubt we’ll miss anything in heaven, but if were possible to miss something…I think I would miss it too.

THE Mocha Crunch Cake

Printable recipe

Printable recipe with picture

Cake
1 ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 ½ cups sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoons salt

2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
1 ¼ cups warm water
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Mocha Buttercream

¼ cup Kahlua
1 tablespoon instant coffee crystals
10 oz semisweet chocolate
6 large egg yolks
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup corn syrup

1 lb (4 sticks) unsalted butter

Ganache
4 oz semisweet chocolate
½ cup heavy cream

Additional

1-1 ½ cups toffee bits
2 toffee candy bars (such as Heath)

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is in the middle of the oven. Prepare two 9” round cake pans by cutting out a piece of parchment or wax paper to line the bottom of them. Grease the pans, place the parchment or wax paper in the bottoms and lightly grease again. Dust the pans with flour (or cocoa powder if you don’t want the white dusting on the finished cakes). Set the pans aside.

Sift together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix on low speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for about 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Do not overbake! Remove the pans from the oven and set the pans on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Gently run a thin knife around the edges of the pans and unmold the cakes, removing the parchment paper liners from the bottom of the cakes. Let them cool completely, top sides ups, on a wire rack. Trim the tops of the cake layers with a long serrated knife to make them level.

Make the buttercream: Put Kahlua in a microwave safe dish and heat until boiling. Remove and add instant coffee. Mixture will immediately boil up high and once it goes back down, gently stir it until the coffee is dissolved. Set aside to come to room temperature. Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe dish and heat for 30 seconds and stir. Continue heating in 15-second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is almost melted. Stir and allow the residual heat to melt it completely. Set aside and allow to come to room temperature.

Beat the egg yolks until light and mixer blades make tracks in them. Spray a 1-cup glass measure with cooking spray and set beside the stove. Combine sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full rolling boil. Immediately remove from heat and pour into the prepared measuring cup to stop the cooking. While mixer is running, pour the syrup in a steady stream into the egg yolks, careful not to pour it onto the beaters. Continue beating until mixture is room temperature. Beat the butter in a small bowl until fluffy, then begin adding it to the egg mixture a tablespoon or two at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Once the chocolate is cooled, turn the mixer back on and add the chocolate to the buttercream, beating until smooth. Add the cooled Kahlua mixture and beat until uniform & smooth.

Make the ganache: Place the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe dish and heat for a minute; stir. Continue heating in 15-30 second intervals until the chocolate emulsifies and the mixture is shiny, dark, uniform, and smooth. Allow to come to room temperature.

Assemble: Place one cake layer on plate and spread about 1 cup of mocha buttercream over the top. Put second cake layer on top and frost the top and sides with the remaining buttercream. Take handfuls of toffee bits and press them into the sides of the cake. Chop the candy bars into four pieces each and place with a pointed side up around the edge of the cake. Slowly pour the cooled ganache over the top of the cake and use a spatula to spread to the edges so that it will ooze out between the candy bars and down the sides a little. Sprinkle some toffee bits in the middle of the cake. Serve at room temperature.

Veronica’s notes: As many people have had trouble with the cake batter overflowing the pans during baking, I recommend you do what I did and only fill your pans 1/2-2/3 full and use the extra batter for cupcakes.

Recipe by Veronica Miller, with help from this recipe, and The Cake Bible.

And now, a photographic timeline to show the evolution of the Mocha Crunch Cake.

1st stage: three layers of (from scratch) devil’s food cake with mocha frosting and chocolate curls.

Stage 2: same as stage 1, except with toffee on the sides.

Stage 3: using a cake mix and with much shorter layers to make the frosting to cake ratio more equal, as my sister likes it. Mom wasn’t complaining! (On a side note, this is before I learned how to pipe roses and I was holding the tip upside down so the petals are backwards, which makes them look too fluffy–LOL!)

Stage 4: toffee removed and baked in a sheet pan to turn into a baby shower cake.

Stage 5: a ganache drizzle is added.

Stage 6: no more pussyfooting around. I slathered on a whole cup of ganache and embellished with candy bars!

And everyone rejoiced. The end.

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Posted in Cake & Frosting, My Favorites and tagged baking, birthday, celebration, chocolate, coffee, mocha crunch cake, recipe, special occasion cake, toffee. Bookmark the permalink.

Cookie Mondays: Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Veronica

A MySpace friend posted this recipe on her blog last week and I knew as soon as I read it that I had to use it for the following Cookie Monday.

Recognize anything about the title? You would if you’re half as obsessed with Gooey Butter Cake (my favorite is pumpkin) as I am. This is Paula Deen’s spin-off of her famous cake, turned into a cookie. The cake mix makes it simple and the butter and cream cheese helps to create a very moist, almost brownie-like center. These were another big hit at the office–Den came home with an empty platter and lots of compliments from his co-workers. Another cookie success. :)

CHOCOLATE GOOEY BUTTER COOKIES
Recipe by Paula Deen

Ingredients
1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner’s sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and “gooey.” Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

Makes 2 Dozen

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Posted in Cookies and tagged butter, chocolate, Cookies, gooey, paula deen. Bookmark the permalink.

Rich Chocolate and Caramel Cake

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Veronica

My friend, Jaci, in Texas contacted me last week to order a cake for her sister’s birthday. Her sister and I are both in Kansas and she figured since she was unable to make a cake for her herself, she’d get the next best thing.

After she told me that Liz loves chocolate and caramel, I started brainstorming and finally settled on this conconction: two layers of devil’s food cake, filled with caramel buttercream, iced with whipped caramel ganache and decorated with ganache and caramel sauce. With all the chocolate, caramel, cream, and butter involved, this is definitely a special-occasion cake!

Rich Chocolate and Caramel Cake

1 recipe of your favorite chocolate cake, made into two round layers and cooled (I used a Pillsbury devil’s food cake mix)

Caramel Sauce
1 c sugar
6 T unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
1/2 c heavy cream

Caramel Buttercream
6 T unsalted butter, softened
1 T dulce de leche, room temperature
1 c powdered sugar
2 T caramel sauce, room temperature

Whipped Caramel Ganache
1 c sugar
1 ½ c heavy cream
1/8 t salt
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 lb (4 sticks) butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces, softened

Simple Ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Prepare the Caramel Sauce at least 4 hours in advance: Heat the sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until the sugar has begun to melt and is brown around the edges, about 3 minutes. Using a heat-safe spatula or spoon, pull the melted sugar toward the center until all sugar is melted and caramel is deep amber in color, about 3 minutes more. Continue pulling and stirring until all the sugar is melted. It will be amber in color. Remove from heat and immediately stir in the butter, vanilla and salt. When mixed, whisk in the heavy cream. Pour into a heat-proof bowl and allow to come to room temperature. After removing 2 T for the buttercream, cover and refrigerate the remaining sauce.

Prepare the Caramel Buttercream: Beat the butter, then mix in the dulce de leche until smooth. Beat in the caramel sauce and then the powdered sugar.

Prepare the Whipped Caramel Ganache: Make a dry caramel with the cup of sugar by putting it into a large saucepan and setting it over medium heat. When the bottom starts to melt and the sides turn brown, start pulling the melted sugar toward the center. Continue doing this, constantly pulling & stirring, until all the sugar is melted and it has turned a deep amber color. Remove from heat.

While the sugar is melting, take a minute to bring the cream to boiling and then remove from heat.

Immediately pour the hot cream into the burnt sugar as soon as you remove it from the heat. It will bubble like crazy and scare the heck out of you, but just keep stirring until all the caramel is dissolved into the cream. If some of the caramel seizes up, put the saucepan back on medium heat and stir, stir, stir, until all the caramel is dissolved and you have a thin, smooth mixture.

Let the mixture sit for five minutes.

Meanwhile, measure your chocolate into a metal or glass bowl. Pour the caramel mixture over the chocolate and allow to sit for a minute before stirring. Stir until all the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth. Allow to sit until the mixture is room temperature, about fifteen minutes. You can pop it in the fridge to speed the process, stirring every few minutes.

With an electric mixer, beat the softened butter into the caramel ganache on low speed and then increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is thickened and lighter in color, about 2 minutes.

Prepare the Ganache: Bring the cream just to a boil over medium heat (or in the microwave). Place the chocolate in a glass or metal bowl and pour the hot cream over the top. Allow to sit for a couple minutes and then stir, stir, stir, until the chocolate is completely emulsified and you have a smooth, shiny dark ganache. Allow to cool slightly before using. You’ll want it still slightly runny but not hot.

Assemble the cake: Place one cake layer on a plate and spread the caramel buttercream over the top. Place the second cake layer over that and then smooth the whipped caramel ganache over the top and sides of the cake. Garnish the cake with the ganache and caramel sauce. Serve at room temperature. The butter and chocolate in the whipped ganache get hard when refrigerated, which isn’t as fun to eat as a light & velvety frosting. For a pretty presentation, you could drizzle some caramel sauce over each plate before placing the cake slices on them.

If you wish to write a message with the ganache as I did, you will have to let it set up further, so wait until it’s the consistency of thick buttercream before attempting that. Otherwise, it will just leak out of your pastry bag and you’ll have smears and pools of dark shiny ganache on top and your sentiments will look like a threat rather than the good thoughts you’d intended. :)

You can use the extra whipped caramel ganache to pipe a border around the top and bottom. There will be enough leftover whipped ganache to make 1-2 dozen cupcakes, so do it and take them to work to brighten everyone’s day!

Recipe by Veronica Miller

A word of warning: because of the light, velvety texture of the whipped ganache, it couldn’t support the weight of the ganache and caramel I put around the edges of the cake and the sides slid down to the bottom of the cake eventually. (Luckily Liz got her cake while it was still pretty and everyone enjoyed a piece before this happened). Next time I make this cake, I will pour the ganache over the iced cake and let it ooze down the sides so that the weight is evenly distributed. Then I’d use caramel buttercream (I’d double the recipe so there’s enough for decorating) to write on top. I’d recommend the same to you, unless you plan on serving the cake shortly after applying the ganache.

These are (poor) photos of a birthday cake I made last year that illustrate my suggestion about pouring ganache over the top and letting it ooze down the sides.

Thanks to Liz for providing the following photos!

The beautiful birthday girl with her cake. Happy birthday, Liz!

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Posted in Cake & Frosting and tagged cake, caramel, chocolate, rich. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Peppermint Chip Cookies

Posted on December 19, 2009 by Veronica

I absolutely do not have time to be posting this, but I absolutely can not wait another year to do it so I’m squeezing it in for your benefit (don’t you feel special?), and also to participate in the Christmas recipe roundup for All Through The Year Cheer.

Every winter, these Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips make an appearance on the baking aisle by the chocolate chips. Until last year, I ignored them because I’d never seen a recipe that used them and I’m not a huge mint enthusiast except when it comes to Girl Scout Thin Mints. After last Christmas, however, they were deeply discounted and, being unable to resist a bargain, I decided to buy a few bags and come up with some recipes for them.

*Note: despite the name, the baking chips are not crunchy like peppermint candy, but more like the consistency of white chocolate chips with tiny little pieces of peppermint candy in them…thus the “crunch” in the name.

Lucky for me, the first recipe I tried ending up tasting just like my cherished Thin Mints, except very soft and buttery with a homemade taste. The red flecks peeking through the dark chocolate gives them a festive appearance, and peppermint is probably the flavor most associated with Christmas, and it’s even better when paired with chocolate!

If you see the chips on sale after Christmas, stock up on them so you can make these cookies throughout the year. (I actually used year-old chips on this batch of cookies and they tasted perfect, so you can even stock up a year in advance in preparation for next Christmas!) They may have a festive look, but the taste is classic and can be enjoyed in any season.

Chocolate Peppermint Chip Cookies
If you can not find dark cocoa powder, regular may be substituted.

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt
1 (12-oz) bag Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugars together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, a few minut

es. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the vanilla and mix well. Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt and mix just until combined. Mix in the mint & chocolate chips last.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 6 minutes (10-12 for larger cookies), or until just starting to set around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet (sitting atop a cooling rack) for sev

eral minutes before removing to the cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Once cool, store the cookies in an airtight container. If you’re making them in advance, they freeze well for months on end. My method for freezing cookies is putting them in rows inside a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and sticking them in the freezer until needed.

*You can use regular chocolate chips if you will be making larger cookies with a tablespoon like those pictured first. I usually make them small, the size of thin mints, like in the pictures below.

Recipe & photos by Veronica Miller

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Chocolate Eclair Squares

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Veronica

I. LOVE. CHOCOLATE. ECLAIRS.

Which is one reason why it took me so long to try this recipe. French vanilla pudding and graham crackers? There’s no way that combination could yield anything that even remotely resembled my beloved eclairs (or so I thought).

Thankfully I got over myself and made the recipe because it really is almost exactly like a chocolate eclair–so similar I was truly amazed. I don’t know how it’s possible, but I’m too busy eating them to try and figure it out. Even my husband, who didn’t think he liked eclairs, ate two helpings of this desserts, so either it’s different enough that anyone can enjoy it or he was just delusional…which is more likely to be true. I mean, is it even possible to not like eclairs? I think not.

Without further ado, I present to you the recipe that’s been floating around so long who knows where it originally came from. My source is the great baking legend herself, Marina Castle (aka Food Editor).

Chocolate Eclair Squares

Splendour In My Kitchen by Marina Castle

Serves 12

Filling

1 (14.4 oz) box honey graham crackers

2 (4 oz) boxes French vanilla instant pudding mix

2 3/4 c whole milk

1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip

Topping

6 T cocoa powder

2 T vegetable oil

2 T light corn syrup

2 t vanilla extract

3 T butter, softened

1 1/2 c powdered sugar

3 T whole milk

Blend pudding mixes with milk until thickened, then beat in Cool Whip. Butter a 9×13 inch pan. Arrange crackers in a single layer on the bottom. Pour half the pudding mixture over the top and cover with another layer of graham crackers. Cover them with the other half of the pudding mixture and finish with a final layer of graham crackers. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Blend all topping ingredients well, then spread over the top of the dessert. Refrigerate overnight and cut into 12 squares to serve.

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Posted in Sweets and tagged chocolate, eclair, squares. Bookmark the permalink.

Egg White Chocolate Buttercream

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Veronica

Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible is literally my cake bible. It contains recipes for the only from-scratch cakes that ever turned out any good in my kitchen, and her buttercreams & fillings are all superb. I have yet to try a recipe in it that has failed, not only because they are excellent, but because she is very specific in her directions and gives plenty of tips for beginners.

This chocolate egg white buttercream is one of my favorites because it’s relatively simple (believe me, she’s got some majorly complicated ones in that book) but extremely delicious. I’d compare it to a light mousse. It’s firm but airy and kind of dissolves on your tongue…sometimes it’s like I’m eating rich chocolate air…but it does have substance so that’s not exactly right. How about I let Rose do the talking…

“This special version of chocolate buttercream is the color of rich milk chocolate and has a more assertive chocolate flavor than the traditional one made with egg yolks. In fact, it is just as smooth and even easier and faster to prepare than Classic or Neoclassic Buttercream because a sugar syrup is not needed.

“This buttercream is airy yet, because of the whites’ structure, has more body than a buttercream made with all yolks. It is an excellent texture and flavor for both chocolate butter cakes and chocolate genoise.”

Thanks Rose, that about sums it up. Except I like it on any chocolate cake, any yellow cake, or white cake. I just like it period. It is NOT your typical frosting and I’ve found that frosting haters (the women in my family) usually enjoy this one, along with everyone else that is normal (frosting lovers).

Classic Egg White Chocolate Buttercream
Printable recipe

10 oz bittersweet chocolate (I always use semi-sweet chocolate chips)
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter (must be room temperature)
4 large egg whites (must be room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar

Melt the chocolate using a double boiler or in the microwave. I use the microwave & stir every 15 seconds (after an initial 30 seconds). This time I accidentally did 45 seconds initially and that caused enough heat for the chips to completely melt as I stirred them. Do not overheat or the chocolate will seize up & you’ll have to start over. Once melted, set aside to cool completely. (Update: do not wait until the chocolate has re-solidified, you just want there to be no heat left to the chocolate mixture, but it should still be liquid when you add it.)

Beat the butter until smooth & creamy & set aside. In another mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form when the beater is raised. (Veronica’s note: if you’re using the same beaters you used to beat the butter, wash them thoroughly before using them on the egg whites or they won’t ever fluff up or get stiff. Fat is the enemy when it comes to beating egg whites!) Gradually beat in the sugar until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised slowly. Beat in the butter by the tablespoon. If the mixture looks slightly curdled, increase the speed a little and beat until smooth before continuing to add more butter (In my experience, sometimes the curdled look won’t go away until all the butter has been added). Add the melted and cooled chocolate all at once and beat until smooth and uniform in color. Use immediately or place in an airtight bowl. Rebeat to restore texture.

You can store it 3 days at room temp, 2 weeks refrigerated, or six months frozen.

Makes 4 3/4 Cups, enough to fill & frost a two layer cake

*Note : While it is necessary to cook egg yolks for a buttercream to prevent bacterial growth, raw egg whites are far less prone to this problem.
*Veronica’s note: I know people are seriously paranoid about raw eggs, but I’ve made this a lot and can promise you that no one has gotten sick off of it yet–even after more than three days at room temp. I know, I live on the edge.

Recipe source: Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible