Kitchen3N

Recipes and food fun from Apt 3N

Small Chocolate Cake

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There are many a great chocolate cake recipes out there. Why, say you, post yet another? Take for example the great Beatty’s Chocolate cake recipe that I made for many years. All the elements of a great chocolate cake: good quality cocoa, buttermilk, coffee. The problem is, they’re quite big if you’re making something for an intimate gathering. I’ve learned an 8in cake feeds approximately 20 people, and 9 feeds about 25. So, if you’re looking for a small celebration cake for the family, this is the recipe for you. If you invest (~$20) in 3 6in round pans, you can have small, chic cakes any time. I always freeze my cake layers by inverting onto plastic wrap lined 6in cake board, then wrapping well with the plastic wrap. Small cakes can be kind of wobbly and difficult to decorate unless frozen solid. Then, let come to room temperature before serving.
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I also recommend using a good quality cocoa powder for your chocolate cakes. You don’t have to break the bank. Rodelle from Amazon is really good quality for a reasonable price. You’ll get 6 to 12 servings, depending on how big you cut each slice.
I always find the best chocolate cakes are the ones with coffee in the batter. The batter will be quite thin – don’t let this worry you. It makes for a wonderfully aromatic and moist cake – doesn’t taste like coffee or mocha at all.
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For the biggest chocolate fans, frost with a chocolate ganache, using a 1:1 weight ratio of chocolate to heavy cream. Otherwise this goes great with salted caramel, vanilla, chocolate or raspberry buttercream. Links to each below!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup freshly brewed strong, hot coffee

Directions

1. Spray 3 6in cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Place the pans on top of a big sheet of parchment paper and draw circles around the bottom of each pan. Cut out each circle and line the bottom of each pan with one. Spray the parchment lined bottoms of the pans with a bit more non stick spray.
2. Brew coffee. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Add sugar to the bottom of a large bowl or the mixing bowl of your stand mixer.* Place a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda. Sift into the bowl. Add salt. Whisk to combine.
3. In a large measuring cup or bowl, combine oil, milk, eggs and vanilla extract. With the mixer running on low, or by hand, slowly add wet ingredients to dry, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Finally, add the coffee, stirring slowly and carefully, until batter is combined.
4. Divide evenly between the three cake pans (I use a scale to determine this). Bake for 25-28 minutes in preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool, then remove from pan and slice off the domes before stacking and frosting. Frost with my raspberry swiss meringue buttercream, american buttercream, vanilla swiss meringue buttercream, chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, chocolate ganache or your choice of frosting.

*I do this step first because I’ve forgotten to add the sugar too many times.

Tiramisu

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Tiramisu is the rare dessert that can compete with chocolate anything. And, no, the dusting of cocoa powder on top does not a chocolate dessert make. Fluffy zabaglione – an italian custard composed of raw eggs, sugar and usually some flavoring, layered with espresso or coffee soaked ladyfingers. It is the most delicious no-bake dessert you can whip up. Though, not in a snap. This dessert is best served cold, having spent the previous night in the fridge. The hardest part of this recipe, is the wait. Yes, my husband dug into his birthday tiramisu about 3o minutes after I assembled it. And yes, he enjoyed it. But you can bet when he had it the next day, the MMM! reverberated around the apartment.

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For some reason, it’s hard to come by a tiramisu in this country without some sort of liqueur or marsala. Same goes for the top tiramisu recipes online. But I can’t recall having a single tiramisu during my time in Italy that was made with alcohol. Unless my memory serves me wrong. However,  my suspicion that traditional tiramisu is not made with alcohol was confirmed with the recipe of the ladyfingers package. Then again, tira-mi-su does mean pick-me-up. Either way – this is an alcohol free recipe for those of you desiring one.

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The whipped cream is something I added in lieu of a whipped egg white that the original recipe suggests. When has a cup of cream, whipped, hurt anything (except the needle on the scale?). For tips on whipping cream no matter what kitchen equipment you have, check out this helpful how-to.

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I also used regular ol’ brewed coffee. My espresso machine was decommissioned ages ago. My limited NY kitchen counter space could not accommodate it. So regular brewed coffee it is – and trust me, you do not miss a thing.

 Ingredients

  • 5 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 16 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temp
  • 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
  • 2 cups brewed coffee
  • about 18 ladyfingers, available at Italian groceries, more if you are using a longer pan
  • cocoa powder, for dusting

Directions

  • Using a stand mixer or hand held electric beater, beat egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until pale yellow. Add mascarpone and continue beating until well blended.
  • In a separate bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Add the cream to the egg and mascarpone mixture, by folding gently with a spatula so as not to deflate the whipped cream.
  • Carefully pour coffee onto a plate with raised edges. In a square dish, spread 1/3 of the cream mixture along the bottom. Briskly dip a ladyfinger into the coffee, and place it on top of the cream, repeating with more ladyfingers until they are arranged in a single layer (see above pictures). Spread half of the remaining cream on top of the ladyfingers. Continue by soaking the remaining ladyfingers briefly in the coffee and arranging them on top of the second cream layer. Spread the remaining cream on top. Dust the top with cocoa powder. Let chill in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. It’s best the next day.

Food finds in San Juan, PR

After three and a half years, I made it out of the continental US!! My last trip was our babymoon to Istanbul when I was six months pregnant with my daughter. After having two kids back to back, managing getting them through infancy, we finally made it! Now, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the US (and the influence is apparent in any supermarket, shopping mall or any commercial area dotted with American chains). There are a lot of shared services (US Customs, highways, currency) so you can definitely take a breather if you’re traveling with small kids.  One less thing to worry about, you know? But the flip side to that is that everything is imported! When we drove through the rainforest and some of the mountainous regions near the center of the island, there is no denying the lush, fertile environment. Banana, papaya and tomato just growing randomly here and there. The land is just wringing with potential for agriculture. But as a sector, it is practically non existent (apart from some coffee and rum). It is probably due to its function as a trading post for hundreds of years. But far from indulging in some gorgeous tropical fruits like I anticipated, I was greeted with bananas from Ecuador! Driscoll berries! Pineapples from who knows where!

The first picture above shows some fruits I got from a fruit stand off Rt. 149 some 20 miles from San Juan. After some crowdsourcing, I figured out that the green fruit is soursop or guanabana. After allowing it to ripen for two days as the seller suggested, I could not manage a knife sharp enough to deal with this thing! It reminded me of this Portlandia bit when they attempt to open a dorian. A lot of people aren’t crazy about it – but they add it to their drinks. Go fig.

The second picture is a traditional Mofongo (mashed plantain base) with shrimp (in a garlic, tomato sauce) atop. You can top it with any meat or fish (or bacalao – dried salted cod, but I wasn’t a fan).

The third is a picture from the local grocery store (Dorothy, you’re kind of still in Kansas).

One thing that was great about Puerto Rico, is that good coffee is universal. Everyone from hole in the wall diners to this fancy scene out of Williamsburg offers a good cup o’ joe. This place is Caficultura and it’s right in the middle of old San Juan (a few blocks down from where we stayed). And it is every American tourist’s dream. The owners of this place have figured out that while some tourists may venture to try some bacalao and plátanos, most of them would LOVE some traditional American foods, dressed up in “tropical flavors”. See exhibit F, if you will. The french toast with pineapple marmalade and coconut. Exhibit C, though, is more along the lines of traditional puerto rican food. The mallorca bread with tangy/sweet guava jam. Definitely worth trying but not nearly as good as a quesito (puff pastry with sweetened cream cheese filling).

Finally, we have Jose Enrique. A bit more upscale, without being stuffy. A little bit further out from the more touristy parts of town like Old San Juan and Condado. Our appetizers of crab ceviche on plantains, cheese fritters and fried fish (I forgot what kind of fish!) were amazing. The fritters came with this sweet and spicy sauce that I will have to try to recreate (definitely had honey, orange juice, hot peppers and cilantro). We ordered Caribbean cherry and the house juice (a blend of pineapple and other juices). For the main course, my husband got the whole fried fish (I believe it was yellowtail) and I got the pan seared sea bass in a romesco ragout with artichokes. The creaminess of the vegetables perfectly complimented the texture of the fish. His yellowtail came with some sweet potatoes and papaya that I wasn’t crazy about.

If we had more time (and a sitter for the kids) we would definitely check out the