Fudge, Cake - need I say more?

Glaze pools in the center - yum!

This cake made me realize a few things:
1. I need a new bundt pan.
2. When a cake sticks to the pan (see item 1), chocolate sauce hides a multitude
     of sins.
3. Patience is a virtue I don't possess - waiting for this cake to cool seemed an
    eternity.
4. If you gave me some cold milk, I could probably eat this entire cake by
     myself.

So what is this marvelous cake? It is the Tunnel of Fudge Cake from Cook's Country. I changed it up a little-slightly. I saw this suggestion after I had the cake in the oven. Mixing 1T of butter with 1T of melted butter and coating the pan. This might have helped me with item 1, but I still think I need a new pan. It is a good brand pan (Nordic Ware) and a pretty fleur de lis design. I see they now offer it with a different coating. Chocolate cakes seem to stick worse than yellow cakes. My pan has a black coating and I'm wondering if that has something to do with the sticking issue. The version now looks like it's just metal. I'm thinking they must have had some issues with my style pan.

Stick, Stuck, Stinks

One of the changes I made was omitting the nuts. Sometimes I don't like nuts in cakes and this looked like one of those instances and my instincts were correct. I also added 1tsp of chocolate extract. Next time I would definitely cut the chocolate glaze recipe in half. I'm all for chocolate but I had at least 1 cup left over (and I was pretty generous with it on the cake). Not that the chocolate glaze is going to waste-don't worry I will find a use for it even if I'm forced to just eat it with a spoon. Here are the ingredients halved:

1/4 + 2T(or 6 T) heavy cream
2 T corn syrup
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 t vanilla extract

I would also recommend putting torn pieces of wax paper partially under the cake when you pour the glaze on the cake. Otherwise you will be cleaning up the dish from all the glaze that runs down. It's much easier just to pull the wax paper out. I had some pooling issues in the center but hey that's OK - a little extra glaze goes with each slice.

See that fudgey center

Follow the directions when it says to remove the cake from the oven when the cake starts to pull away from the sides. It looks like it is not set and you start to think that you should leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes - resist this urge. My oven is a "slow oven" and I always have to leave things in for about 5 extra minutes and I did this time. But I can see that if I left this cake in for another 5 extra minutes, it would not have had that fudgey center and that would really be a shame!

After cooling 1 1/2 hours-it will shrink a little

To Recap:

Grease the pan with a mixture of 1T melted butter and 1T cocoa powder
Follow the above measurements for the glaze
Wax paper under the cake while glazing the cake
Cold glass of milk as a go with

What's that mess under that glaze? There's nothing to see here...

Waffled Hash Browns

I'm not that much of a fan of one-trick ponies taking up real estate in my kitchen. I know that a waffle iron can be classified as that, but now I can rationalize that it's not. Who knew you could make hash browns in it? Waffled Hash Browns (Adapted from Cooking Light ) 1 1/2 lb russet potato (shredded) salt/pepper to taste 1/4 t garlic powder 1 1/2T butter, melted Preheat waffle iron. Squeeze liquid out of potatoes by blotting between two paper towels. Toss potatoes, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Brush both sides of the waffle iron with butter. Spread potatoes evenly on waffle iron. Close and cook 2 minutes. Press iron closed completely and cook about 12 minutes or until golden brown. I did not feel that they browned as nicely as in the picture on the original recipe, but then again I don't have a food stylist do I? The drawback of this recipe is that you have to share this. Since they take about 15 minutes, it's a little difficult to make a second one...

Citrus Shortcake

In my mind, this cake is sort of a blank slate. The cornmeal gives it a little crunch but it is quite versatile. I drizzled a citrus icing on it this time around. I think there are many other things that you could do. You could macerate some berries in sugar and top the cake with them. I think some heated jam (orange, strawberry, or raspberry) drizzled over would be nice. I scoop of ice cream never hurt anyone. A dollop of whip cream never did either. I think you get the idea. Citrus Shortcake (Adapted from Cooking Light circa 2010) 3/4 c sugar 1/4 cup butter 2 eggs 1 T orange rind, grated 2T fresh OJ 1/2 t vanilla 1 c flour 2T cornmeal 3/4 t baking powder 1/2 t baking soda 1/4 t salt 2/3 c buttermilk Grease a 9" square pan set aside. Cream butter and sugar for 5 minutes in a mixer. Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl). Set aside. Add eggs one a time to butter mixture; beating well after ...

The Grappa Report

Star Anise, Cinnamon, Blueberry Once upon a time, we made Limoncello . We used straight-grain alcohol (which we had to buy in a different state because it was not sold it ours!). It was firewater. We tried to pawn it off on unsuspecting friends and relatives. It did not work. So when friends of ours said they wanted to share some Grappa that they had received from a friend, I was slightly suspicious. It was a little firewater-ish but not as much as the Limoncello. We decided to try to infuse it with some flavors - star anise, cinnamon, and blueberry. We got mixed results: Star Anise - was the most successful. It mellowed its sharpness. Cinnamon - We left the cinnamon in for about a week. I think it was too long. It left a very woody taste. Perhaps, less infusion time would have given a better result. Blueberry - We thought if we mashed the blueberries, they would make the Grappa murky. So we first put them in whole. Nothing happened. We then cut them in half. The...

Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

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