Someday ~

Someday.  Someday.  I've used the word and feeling a lot in my life.  Someday.  Saving this, saving that, putting things in the back of my mind that whatever I was thinking of doing/using in the moment didn't fit, but it would someday.  Turns out, every day is someday.

If one can hold affection for an aspen tree trunk, I do.  I have been wanting a slice for some time, they are just gorgeous.  I picked one up a few months ago as there was a tree service cutting down two trees near my children's school.  Two other women were also gathered - I had to smile - creative women appreciating beauty, coveting limbs and trunk slices of that beauty.  

I was very happy to have the opportunity to use it for the first time two days ago, at a cozy wedding in a Sunriver home.  There is something nicely intimate about smaller weddings.  This one felt especially warm, evening vows, natural tones and winter. { Someday.}

I wish the pictures were better - I was on my own again, confused and oddly forlorn, not knowing which setting to use with what lighting with what focus, wishing I had someone to call and ask as this was one of the prettiest table settings I have done to date.   The colors of the table complimented the natural accents that were used surrounding the desserts.

Chocolate stout cake, espresso buttercream, ganache covering

Crisp meringue mushrooms, mini pumpkin cupcakes with caramel buttercream

Oh Sweet Mother Earth - these were omg good, I love myself. Lemon tarts with dark chocolate drizzle.

Desserts for 38

Chocolate ganache, peanut-butter ganache dollop.

Buche de Noel 2010

Chocolate peanut butter ganache ~

12 oz. dark chocolate, chopped - semi-sweet is fine.
1 1/3 c. heaving whipping cream.  I use 40%.
Peanut butter of your choice.  I prefer a natural peanut butter.

•  Place chocolate in a bowl.
• Heat cream to almost boiling, pour over chocolate.
• Let sit covered for five minutes.  Stir to smooth.
• Let sit several hours to thicken.
• Add peanut butter to taste.

This makes a lot for home use.  Truffles, anyone?

~ Someday ~ 

Dads & Chocolate ~

Father's day.  A quiet day without one, while sitting in gratitude for half of what brought me here in the moment.  Whatever the day might mean to you ~ I hope it's a good one for you and those you love.


And now for something completely different......
(To steal a good line)

Chocolate ganache ~

So much cream, so many slight variations.

As a baker I take into consideration the weather and how much time I have for the ganache to set, how and what I am applying the ganache...poured, spread or piped.  This morning it was piped.   Quietly alone on a Sunday morning...soft dark none-too-sweet chocolate and cream falling from a star tip onto chocolate cupcakes.  Men love chocolate!  Don't they?  :)  Today I believe they do.

Do you require something precise?  This might not be the place.  Do you need a definition of what it means to have it set up for several hours and exactly how long is that?  This is not the place to be precise, as much as baking is a science.  Ganache is on it's own time when it's ready, interacting with the temperature of the air it rests in, along with the readiness of the baker that is going to use it.

I use a 40% cream.  You might find only a heavy cream that is 36%.  Leave the whipping cream of less than 35% on the shelf for other purposes. 


If you want to pipe, I suggest leaving it overnight - in a spot neither too warm or too cool.  There is that non-precise part again.  I can only suggest that you take a spoon to it after several hours or overnight to see if it it is firm enough to pipe.  You get one bag filled with ganache to pipe...no reusing it as once hands move the ganache through the bag it starts softening and losing it's sharper piping.  

Fear not perfection for it doesn't exist...just dollop it on with a spoon and forget the piping - the taste is what it ultimately important.


Ganache ~

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped.
1 1/2 to 1 2/3 c. heavy cream

• Place chocolate in a bowl, stainless or Pyrex.
• Put cream in heavy in a saucepan and heat to almost a boil.  
• Pull off just before the boil and pour over chocolate.  Let sit for about five minutes.  
• Gently stir with a whisk or spoon until blended.  Let sit for several hours.  
• If you cover it all the way with plastic wrap, condensation will form and drip down into the chocolate.  Leave it uncovered until it's not so warm to prevent condensation. 
• I'm not going to be a food snob.  If you use chocolate chips and don't want to chop them, be happy with that.  Picking one of the better brand of chocolate chips will give you a better end resu

Frost, pipe or schmear - heck...don't wanna wait?  Dip chocolate cupcake tops in it when it's warm.  Have at it.  Take a spoon, scoop it up and eat it.   Be indulgent.  Ganache makes it easy.

This cupcake in particular is going to my former husband today.  I will go meet him to pick the kids up from their weekend with him.  We made three beautiful children together that we both love dearly.  I have decided to stand under the umbrella of all that means and call it good.  He is their dad ~ there is a lot of love there. 





 

Truffle cake ~

Truffles.  Soft....melting....rich.  So many subtle variations, so little time.  This is an easy peasy recipe - as are most truffles.  Get out your favorite dark chocolate...find some yummy heavy whipping cream.  Got some favorite libation you feel like dripping in the mix?  Good for you!  Go!

This is a very soft truffle ~

10.5 oz. chopped chocolate
1 c. heavy whipping cream
2 T. liqueur of your choice

• Place chocolate into a glass bowl.  
• Heat cream to almost a boil.
• Pour over chocolate, cover with a plate.
• Wait five minutes.
• Stir chocolate and cream until combined.  Add liqueur.
• Place in fridge for at least three hours, or up to over night.
• Use a little scoop or spoon, place on parchment.   
• Put back into the fridge for an hour. 
• Dredge in dutch-processed cocoa.

For the cake, I dipped the truffles in chocolate, letting them harden.  Then coated them with gorgeous cocoa.  What a lovely shade, a dreamy-dusty scent that lingered in my Eskimo nose.   


Truffles ~ a nice little decoration, don't you think?  :)

Toodles!
xoxo

Simply pictures ~

A donation for a holiday fundraiser.



























A three layer cake consisting of one layer of hazelnut cake sandwiched between two layers of fudge cake. Praline buttercream inside, dressed in chocolate ganache, accented with bittersweet chocolate dough leaves.

Hot chocolate crumb cake ~

Hot chocolate crumb cake ~

Oooooo…this was a hit with the Round Table Taste Testers. It’s a diverse group, I tell ya. A six year old is honest without awareness of manners and the twelve year has had an adult palette since he was a wee one. That ten year old, well, she’s silent in her opinion if she doesn’t love something, but there is no mistaking the results by the amount of food left on her plate. This was recipe got a score of Three Clean Plates. Hey. I like that. I’m going to use it again. Where can I find how to get make a rating gif/photo like that? Anyone?

The original recipe is attributed to a Woman’s Day holiday magazine edition. I cannot find the original online. I played with changes of pan size and leavening because I wanted a higher rise than the original, a white sugar instead of brown because I didn’t want the molasses to come through, a little more sugar, added instant espresso to kick up the chocolate flavor, my favorite streusel recipe and pecans, because I want ‘em.

Why did I name it Hot Chocolate Crumb Cake? Because we cut into it less than ten minutes out of the oven and it was melty-yummy. I knew it’s consistency would be soft, but not airy because of the warm temperature. It is dense and soft the next day, but served warm….definitely worth the timing to make this particular recipe to serve soon after it comes out of the oven.

Start with the streusel ~

4 T. butter, melted and cooled slightly
¼ c. flour
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. finely chopped pecans

Mix and set aside.

Hot chocolate crumb cake ~

4 oz. butter
1 c. chocolate chips, dark or semi-sweet
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 T. instant espresso
1 ¼ unbleached flour
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

• Melt the butter and chocolate on low. Set aside to cool a bit.

• Prep an 8” springform pan with with a bottom round of parchment and sides greased.

• Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Set aside.

• Mix the sugar, eggs and instant espresso until espresso is dissolved and starting to lighten. Slowly add chocolate and butter mixture.

• Mix in the flour mixture until just combined without lumps.

• Add a ½ c. of chocolate chips and ½ c. of chopped pecans.

• Put batter into pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 40-55 minutes. Start checking at 40, remove when just barely any crumbs cling to the toothpick.

• Let sit about ten minutes, slide a knife around the edges and release from pan. Serve warm.

Toodles ~
xoxo

Cocoa-banana bread and originality pondered

I love reading recipes. *Thud* There is nothing new in that statement. Reading a food list to join, stating X-number of blog entries are required before being allowed to join, I get that, which makes sense to me. What caught my eye, what has been lingering on my mind since, was one of the requirements….”must be an original recipe”. I’ve felt nothing is really new. Isn’t one chocolate buttermilk cake similar in most ways to the next chocolate buttermilk cake? Sure, slight ingredient variations, but new? No. Enjoyable? Oh, to me ~ absolutely. In those variations I find my interest, what draws me in, where I can get lost for a few moments.

Glancing over the ingredients, comparing the amount of flour to the sugar to the dairy to the fat of choice, even to the number of eggs, and then judging the texture, the level of sweetness. Ahhhh……….

Cocoa-banana bread. Not new. But a recipe that has changed evolved and adjusted over time. I’m not beyond tweaking it again on a whim, but it has remained as listed below for some time now. I’m happy with it ~

COCOA-BANANA BREAD

4 c. flour, unbleached

1 c. cocoa

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

2 ¾ c. sugar

2/3 c. oil

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/3 c. buttermilk

6 bananas

1 c. chocolate chips

Optional nuts – 1 c.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and line sides and bottom of two 9” x 5” loaf pans with parchment.

Mix flour, cocoa, salt and leavening in a bowl, set aside.

Mix sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla on high for two-three minutes.

In thirds, alternate dry ingredients with the buttermilk, starting with flour, ending with buttermilk.

Add bananas and mix just until blended. Remove mixing bowl from mixer and fold in chocolate chips.

Bake for 65-80 minutes. That’s quite the range, isn’t it? Yep, I don’t know your oven, only mine.

Now the notes ~ I almost always have notes.

• Yes, I like butter. I feel it’s glory. Go right ahead. Melt the same amount of butter (slightly cooled) and add in place of oil. Or cream softened butter with the sugar, and then add eggs.
• The particular bread in the picture was made with four bananas mooshed, two chopped and folded in. Mooshing the banana in a separate bowl to your level of chunky love works. I do like seeing a bit of banana in the final result…even if they look like apples.
• I usually have to adjust leavening in some recipes even though I’m only baking at almost 3000 ft.
• I like mini-chocolate chips more so than regular size. Regular size is what I use most often, as I can get those readily in bulk at a better price.
• The glaze is simply powdered sugar, some cocoa, some vanilla, some water. Chocolate ganache is much yummier.
• The sprinkles? I had some praline leftover from a cake order. That is something else I’ll have to blather on about – Filbert Love, Oregon style.
• I feel protective of my recipes, but since I still remember that nothing is really new….and knowing that letting go of control feels good…that includes sharing….I send this out there with a breath of fresh mental air ~
  

I hope you find it. Let me know when you do. *wink*

Xoxo

Toodles!