Christine Cooks: cake

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Dark Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Blueberry Ginger Filling and Whipped Cream Frosting

A gathering of good friends helped Mr CC celebrate his birthday yesterday. We feasted on typical North Coast potluck-style Beach Night fare followed by a dense chocolate cake with such long candles on top I couldn't fit them into the photo.

Two tries to blow them all out - not bad for so many candles!

This cake is a breeze to make. Use really good chocolate and cocoa powder or you will be doing the birthday star and your company a disservice. The whipped cream filling and topping is a snap to make and can be kept chilled until ready to use.

I used organic, dried blueberries in the filling because I was afraid that fresh ones would turn the cream purple, but as Mr CC says, "Purple isn't a bad color", so go ahead and use fresh if you prefer.

Dark Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Blueberry Ginger Filling and Whipped Cream Frosting

Christine's original recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dark organic cocoa powder (Green & Black's)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Splenda-Brown Sugar blend
1/2 cup Splenda-Sugar blend
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 ounces good dark chocolate (Scharffen Berger 70%) melted

Preparation:
Heat oven to 350-degrees with rack in middle.
Butter and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans, tapping out excess flour. Set aside.
Combine flour, cocoa, soda, baking powder and salt, whisk well to combine. Set aside.
Using the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together in mixer on med-high setting.
Add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla.
Beginning with the flour mixture, add 1/3 of it to the butter mixture using medium power.
Add 1/2 of the buttermilk and beat until combined. Repeat with 1/3 flour and 1/2 buttermilk, ending with the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. Mix well.
Blend in the melted chocolate until well incorporated.
Divide batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a pick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Remove pans from oven, set on racks to cool 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cake pans to loosen the cake and flip them out to finish cooling on the racks.

Filling/Frosting
Ingredients:
1 pint whipping cream
2 tablespoons clear corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup blueberries - dried or fresh
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Preparation:
Whip the cream until soft peaks form. With mixer running, add the corn syrup and vanilla and continue beating until the cream is almost stiff. Careful to not turn it into butter.
Divide the whipped cream evenly between two bowls. Add 1/4 cup of the ginger and all the blueberries to one of the bowls and fold into the whipped cream. Put the other bowl of whipped cream in the fridge to keep cold.
Place one cake layer flat side down on a cake plate. Spoon the ginger-blueberry whipped cream over the top and spread evenly to within 1/2-inch of the edge. It will be thick.
Place the second cake layer, flat side up (you may have to cut the rounded side to flatten it) atop the first. Use the plain whipped cream to frost the top and sides of the cake.
Sprinkle the top with the remaining tablespoon of chopped ginger. Avoid putting blueberries on the outside of the cake as they will stain the whipped cream.

Keep the finished cake in the fridge until time to put on the candles and serve.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Low(er) Glycemic Carrot Hazelnut Cake

I'm currently taking a series of classes at the Eureka Co-op in regional French cooking with local chef Alex Begovic. In our last class Alex made a simple carrot cake for dessert, unadorned with pineapple or other too-sweet detractions. Just lots of carrots plus chopped hazelnuts. It was delicious, the flavors were perfect, it wasn't too sweet, and I was determined to take the recipe home, up the fiber and lower the glycemic impact. I think I did a pretty good job. The cake came out moist and delicate despite the large chunks of hazelnut you see in the photo. And the carrots fairly sing their presence. A very nice nosh to have with your afternoon tea.

Low(er) Glycemic Carrot Hazelnut Cake
Adapted from a recipe by Alex Begovic
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded carrots
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup Splenda Granular (or 1/2 cup Splenda-Sugar Blend)*
1 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped (husks removed, see Cook's Notes)**
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
3 eggs (I used 2 large and 1 x-tra large)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (fine kosher is best)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 12x8 glass baking dish and set aside.

Using the fine shredding disc on a food processor, shred enough peeled carrots to equal 2 cups. (I shredded too many carrots, the excess of which ended up in this soup.)

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, the hazelnuts will go in later.

In a small bowl whisk the eggs until blended then whisk in the melted butter, a little at a time so you don't cook the eggs.

Stir the egg-butter mixture into the dry ingredients until blended.

Stir the shredded carrots and the chopped hazelnuts into the batter until fully incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared dish and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Alex said it should cook for a full 35 minutes, but mine was done within thirty.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes then loosen the edges with a spatula and turn out on a board. Flip the cake right side up and set on a rack to cool.

This can be served warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream or without. It goes especially well with Simona's orange ice cream. You'll have to ask her to post it though. ;)

Cook's Notes:

*If you're not a Splenda user, 1 cup of sugar is what Alex used in his cake.

**Please notice the measurement here. Measure 1 cup of hazelnuts THEN chop them.

To toast and husk hazelnuts, place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet in a 350 degrees oven for no more than 15 minutes or until you can smell the nuts. Immediately remove the nuts from the oven and pour onto a clean terrycloth kitchen towel. Enclose the nuts in the towel and rub them vigorously until most of the husk has been removed.

I used 2 large eggs and 1 extra-large egg because that's what I had on hand. They worked well in this cake because I used white whole wheat flour for one-half of the flour called for, and it's been my experience that this coarser flour needs more moisture. You could up the fiber even more by using 1 cup of the white whole wheat flour and 1/3 cup regular flour or even whole wheat flour. Just remember that you will may need to adjust the eggs to add more moisture. I wouldn't compensate by adding more butter.

This cake may be made vegan by substituting 1/2 cup Earth Balance Stick for the butter and 3 ripe mashed bananas for the eggs.