Tuesday, February 19, 2013

TWD: Boga Negra

February is birthday month here. My birthday, Tom's birthday, Gramma Smith's birthday. What better way to celebrate then birthday dinner and a decadent chocolate cake!!
I gathered the supplies, lots of good chocolate. We went through the liquor cabinet for bourbon where we found lots of whiskey. We determined whiskey to be bourbon but named such as because of area or at least that is what we believe.
I have been watching The Chew and they had a great salmon dish on and I thought I would give that a try for dinner.  Dessert was a no-brainer Boca Negra and it would keep me up to date with TWD.
This recipe is the chocolate addicts worst nightmare (or dream). Just the smell of the chocolate as you chop it up is enough to send you over the edge.
 The whole cake was made in the food processor. Incredibly easy. The batter is so creamy and divine. I guess that is what you get with that much chocolate, 5 eggs and 2 sticks of butter. I wanted to dance it went so well. I buttered my 9" cake pan poured the batter in and then read the recipe again. OM!!! I forgot parchment paper on the butter of the pan....... It was beautiful and I was sure it was going to be a disaster coming out.

Needless to say it came out in one piece. It did take running a knife around the the edge and tapping but it came out!. In one piece! It looks like it would be dense but it is really creamy and loads of chocolate. The mouth feel is incredible.  The topping is a white chocolate, cream with bourbon (or whiskey).  It really set off the dark chocolate. The topping seemed more like stiff butter in its texture so I don't know if the consistency was right but the taste was really good. Since we have had almost springlike weather here my mint is sprouting and I thought it would be funny to imitate the picture from the book. I forgot to get the forks placed on the plate....close but not a good copy.
 This is an incredible quick chocolate fix that you could make to impress dinner guests. For our birthday presents we got these great bracelets that track your movement & intake from Thomas, Molly, Jamie and Shawn. It is just what we need to know how hard we have to work to work this dessert off!
 By the way the salmon was delicious too! Long slow cooking topped with pesto and avocado salad makes for a light delicious treat.
Thanks to Cathy of A Frederick Food Garden. You can find the recipe there if you do not have Baking with Julia.

The salmon recipe can be found at:
 http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Slow-Roasted-Salmon-Michael-Symon

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Cake Pops

This is for Kathy since we couldn't get together to make these. They are a little time consuming but when needed...weddings and fundraisers come in real handy when something special is needed.

Looks simple enough.

All you need for the inside of the cake pops are basic cake mixes and a tub of cream cheese frosting. I like the cream cheese because it adds a good flavor.

Bake the cake according to the directions. Let cool completely. I like to cut the cake into squares and crumble it by rubbing together. Its important to crumble without just mashing it together. Pull out any hard edges.

 Once finally crumbled mix in 3/4's or more of the frosting. It takes a lot of mixing. You want it to stick together and hold its shape.

Once mixed wrap and chill.

This is what the funfetti cake mix looked like before headed for a chillin. I have been known to leave them in this state for a couple days. Just so I can have them ready for when I can devote time to the rest of the making.

After a good chilling start rolling little balls. I use an ice cream scoop so they are uniform.

When all the balls are rolled send for another chilling

 I use candy mold trays for the bottom of the cake pops. They look like the bottom of cupcakes.

Here is a tray full! One box usually gets me 40 balls.

Use the melting chocolates - I find them at JoAnns. Melt the chocolate according to the instructions on the package. Different colors seem to have different consistencies. Yellow is not fun to work with but white and chocolate I find the best.  I fill the trays maybe to half full. You want the chocolate to come completely up the sides without spilling over the top when you put the ball into the chocolate. It is important on the sides because you will be holding on to that when dipping the top. Once in the trays you must chill it again. When the chocolate is solid it will let you pop it out of the trays pretty easily.

Now for the top of the cupcake.  Here is the top going into the chocolate.  Swirl it and let the excess chocolate drip off.  Be sure to make sure the top and bottom (the ball) is completely covered. If it isn't the cake will ooze out of any gaps or cracks. Once it is dipped this is when you can use sprinkles and/or M & M's.
At this point you are done chilling. I then slip them in to candy bags and ribbon. This past weekend we sold them at the Sweet Heart Luncheon for Down Syndrome
The Queen of Cake Pops can be found on this blog Bakerella
this entry specifically http://www.bakerella.com/cupcake-bites-made-easy/