Gooey Chocolate-Caramel Bars

I made these awesome soft caramels last week, and after making the Girl Scout cookies I still had almost a pound of caramels left over. An upcoming potluck was the perfect excuse to put this caramel to good use. I made a decadent flourless chocolate cake base, topped it with softened caramel, and finished the bars with a chocolate ganache topping.

The flavor combination and texture was delicious--the flourless chocolate cake had a rich, almost cheesecake-like texture, and the caramel and ganache were both silky smooth. However, after sitting out at room temperature for about 3 hours, the caramel got too soft and oozed out the sides of the bars. The taste wasn't affected, but next time I will definitely add less cream to the caramel, and keep these refrigerated until 10 minutes before serving.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
(makes one 9" round cake, or 9x13" bars)

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 large eggs at room temperature, separated
12 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper or waxed paper; spray paper. Wrap outside of pan with foil. Alternately, line 9x13" pan with foil or parchment and spray with nonstick spray. Melt chocolate and butter in microwave-safe bowl until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm, stirring often.

Using electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg yolks and 6 tablespoons sugar in large bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Fold yolk mixture into lukewarm chocolate, and stir in vanilla. Clean the mixer bowl and beaters. Beat egg whites in the clean bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, beating until glossy medium-firm peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 additions. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake until top is puffed and cracked and tester inserted into center comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes for 9x13 and 40 minutes for 9" pan. Cool cake in pan on rack (cake will fall).

Gently press down crusty top to make evenly thick cake, or trim the top so that it is even. If making round cake, cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Remove pan sides. Place 9-inch-diameter tart pan bottom or cardboard round atop cake. Invert cake onto tart pan bottom. Peel off parchment paper. If making bars, leave the cake in the pan.

Caramel Layer

1 pound soft and chewy caramels
1/4 cup heavy cream (or less--I might only use 2 tbsp next time)

Melt the caramels and the cream in a microwave-safe bowl and stir until it is melted and smooth. Pour the caramel over the cake and spread it into a smooth, even layer.

Ganache Layer

1.25 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream

Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Place the cream in a small saucepan and heat it until it simmers with small bubbles forming around the edges. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and allow it to sit and melt the chocolate for one minute. Gently whisk the cream and chocolate until the mixture is smooth and homogenous. Pour the ganache over the caramel layer and smooth it into an even layer. Place the bars in the refrigerator to set the caramel and ganache, about 3 hours or overnight.

To serve, use the foil to lift the bars out of the pan. Dip a large knife in hot water (this is the easiest way to get clean cuts) and cut the bars into small squares, dipping and wiping the knife blade as necessary. These bars are decadent and very rich, so you can easily get 20, 24 or even 28 squares out of one 9x13 pan. They taste best at room temperature, but don't let them get too warm or the caramel will become messy.

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Homemade Girl Scout Cookies

About a month ago, I found a great recipe for homemade Samoas (aka Caramel De-Lites, the best Girl Scout cookie ever) on Baking Bites. I filed it away as one to make eventually, then promptly forgot about it and went up to the Bay Area to visit my family. On that visit, my mom presented me with a box of these cookies to bring back to Jason, because they are his favorite. Never one to avoid jumping to conclusions, I decided that fate wanted me to make these cookies. To add to the serendipity, I made caramels this week for the candy website, and had about two pounds of amazingly soft, creamy caramels left over. Usually we give the extra candy away (or throw it out) but fortunately, I had the perfect use for the extra caramels this time.

So how did they turn out? They're fantastic! A rich, crisp butter cookie topped with chewy caramel and toasted coconut, dunked in chocolate and drizzled with more semi-sweet chocolate. But can they match up to the original? I'll let this picture do the talking...original Girl Scout cookie on the right, *cough*muchimproved*cough* homemade version on the left.

Here is the recipe I used, adapted from Nic at Baking Bites. I would say my biggest suggestion would be to NOT put holes in the cookies. Yes, it makes them look like the originals, but it's a big pain to cut the holes and then spread the coconut-caramel frosting over the top and maintain the hole. Unless you're wedded to the idea of making identical cookies, save your time and sanity and just make plain circles. Also, as you can see, my cookie is quite a bit larger. My cutter was a bit too large and the dough spread more than I thought it would, so I have jumbo Girl Scout cookies. That's not a bad thing, but they are pretty substantial, so I'll try and make them smaller next time. I also tweaked the original recipe a bit, so this recipe reflects my changes.

COOKIES:
2 sticks room temperature butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
up to 2 tbsp milk (I used 1 tbsp)

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. When light and fluffy, add the salt and vanilla extract. Turn off the mixer and add the flour and baking powder, then turn it on to low speed and mix until the flour is incorporated. Add 1 tbsp of milk and mix. If the dough is still too dry, add an additional spoonful of milk. It should come together but not be sticky.

Roll the dough (working in two or three batches) out between pieces of wax paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. (My cutter was about 2 inches and the cookies turned out quite large). If you like, use a smaller cutter or a knife to cut out a center hole--I recommend omitting this step for convenience. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

TOPPING:
3 cups coconut, toasted golden brown*
1 pound soft caramels, homemade or store-bought (like Werther's chewy caramels)
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp milk or cream
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

*To toast coconut, place it in an even layer on a cookie sheet and bake it for about 20 minutes, stirring every 4-5 minutes until it achieves a beautiful dark golden brown color. Allow it to cool before you use it.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk or cream and salt. Cook on high for 2-3 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. If it is still very stiff, add another spoonful or two of milk or cream. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.

Place a heaping spoonful of the caramel mixture on top of each cookie. Spray your hands with cooking spray and mold it into a flat, even layer that covers the whole top of the cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and caramel.

Microwave the chips in a bowl until melted, stirring every 45 seconds to prevent overheating. If the chocolate is quite stiff once melted, add a spoonful or two of vegetable oil or shortening to thin it out and make it easy to dip the cookies. Dip the base of each cookie in the chocolate, covering the base completely, and place on a baking sheet covered with waxed paper. Repeat with remaining cookies. Place the extra chocolate in a Ziploc bag and snip off a tiny bit of one corner. Squeeze the chocolate out through the hole, drizzling stripes over the cookies. Refrigerate the cookies until the chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.
I got about 3 dozen cookies out of this recipe.

We give it two chocolate-covered thumbs up!

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Pudding with your cake?

I was creating a tutorial on using chocolate transfer sheets for the website yesterday, so I made a little cake to demonstrate on. Since it was only for show I didn't want to spend much time making it, so I used a cake mix and a new easy frosting recipe.

(Side note: not to be a snob, but this cake mix was so gross. I don't know if it was old or if it's just been a really long time since I had a cake mix, but this one was terrible. It didn't even taste like chocolate, just chemicals. That was actually a blessing, since I didn't want to eat any of the cake!)

Ahem. This post is actually about the frosting recipe, which was weird and kind of terrible but also so easy I thought I should share. I got it from a cake decorator I know from a livejournal baking group. She went on and on about how great it is, how it stands up in any heat, smooths out perfectly, pipes well, etc. So of course I had to try it, right? Here's the half batch recipe I used:

1 regular-sized tub of Cool-Whip (any variety, not generic)
1 3.5-oz instant pudding mix (any flavor)
1/2 cup ice cold water

Mix the Cool-Whip and instant pudding in the bowl of a stand mixer. (I used the paddle attachment and it worked fine, I don't know if the whisk is better or not). Once combined, add half of the water and mix it, stopping often to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the other half of the water and continue to mix until it is glossy and fluffy.

Okay, so looking at the ingredients, I don't know exactly what I expected, but in retrospect, it's easy to predict what I got: frosting with the flavor and texture of fakey instant pudding. (Duh). Pros: super simple, comes together in about 2 minutes, absolutely no cooking skills required, stays set in the heat and firms up at room temperature, but never gets "hard." Cons: chock-full of chemicals and gross things like hydrogenated oils, waxy mouth-feel, very artificial taste. I might use this recipe again if I needed something for looks but not taste, but I wouldn't use it for any desserts I actually wanted to, you know, eat.

The bright side is that I didn't binge on chocolate cake, and all the baked goods turned out pretty adorable anyhow.

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Hazelnut Gelato: The Cure for A Hot Day

Chewy chocolate cookies sandwich homemade hazelnut gelato, topped with chocolate-hazelnut sauce (like homemade Nutella). We had the Nutella left over from our annual Valentine's Day crepefest; it had been languishing in the refrigerator ever since. I used my own chocolate cookie recipe and this gelato recipe. The whole package tasted great, but I wasn't too impressed with the gelato by itself. Although I liked that it didn't call for two cups of whole cream the way most ice cream recipes do, the truth is that all of the fat in the cream produces a great texture that can't be equaled by less fatty half and half. It wasn't bad, and the hazelnut flavor was great, but the texture was a bit too thin for my taste.

We don't make ice cream too frequently around here, since there's just the two of us to eat it, but I've already picked the ice cream flavor to be made next time the urge strikes. David Lebovitz shared this recipe for Salted Butter Caramel ice cream that sounds amazing. We need to have a dinner party to give me an excuse to make it.

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Happy Love Day pt 2

Raspberry-Chocolate Bars. Fudgy chocolate-raspberry cake, a layer of homemade raspberry marshmallow, and a topping of chocolate-raspberry ganache.

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Happy Love Day!

"Love Stinks" and "I Love Me" were the first to sell, going within 10 minutes of putting them in the display case. Feel free to postulate upon the character of our patrons and Angelenos in general.


Faux Hostess cupcakes, filled with vanilla buttercream:


Chocolate-Peppermint cupcakes:

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Spring Came Sooner

It's been warm and springish in LA recently (but really, when is it not?) so I thought we should celebrate with some festive floral cupcakes.

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Curiouser and curiouser

We sell these as "gourmet ding-dongs." Two layers of fudgy chocolate cake cover a filling of whipped cream or chocolate mousse. The whole sandwich is enrobed in a double layer of chocolate ganache. Really rich, but oh so adorable.


I won the argument with my boss over whether the cakes should read "Eat me" or "Bite me." I prefer my cakes only passive aggressively hostile.

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These are a few of my favorite things

This is one of my favorite things I have made recently...maybe ever:



It's not much to look at, but it tastes fantastic. It's an apple caramel trifle: layers of spice cake, creamy caramel sauce, ginger-cinnamon pastry cream, and caramelized apples cooked down so that they barely held their shape. Topped with whipped cream (of course). It is cakey and creamy and gooey and tastes just like fall. Love.

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Ebony and Ivory

Chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate ganache filling, vanilla buttercream, and a tiny marbled sable cookie on top.




As an aside, almost all of the cupcakes I do for the shop are filled. I think it adds another layer of interest to have a complimentary or contrasting filling in a cupcake. (Recent favorites include vanilla cupcakes with a lemon curd filling and lemon-ginger frosting, and apple spice cupcakes with caramel filling and caramel buttercream). Plus, moist fillings keep the cupcakes from getting stale right away, which is no easy task. Dry little buggers. So filling + cupcakes = win.

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Pumpkin Pie, Shmumpkin Pie

Jason & I enjoyed our first Thanksgiving alone this year, which was seriously fantastic. Since I had to work the day before and the day after, we figured traveling or hosting would be too overwhelming. In addition to the obvious benefits of not having hosting duties (didn't shower till 2pm, yesssss) I was also free to NOT fix the usual Thanksgiving foods. I dislike pretty much all the "traditional" fixings--about the only things I usually enjoy at Thanksgiving are the rolls and the green salad.

No more of that! This year we had grilled salmon, quinoa pilaf, spinach salad with pomegranates, orange, hazelnuts and chevre, and salt-crusted rosemary potatoes. It was very low-maintenance and, best of all, I actually liked eating it. But the best part of throwing tradition out the window was the dessert:

Fudgy Orange-Chocolate Cake with homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream



Aaaaah! SO good. The cake was dense, slightly gooey, and darkly chocolatey with a citrus aroma and hints of cinnamon and spice. The ice cream was still soft and fragrant with real vanilla bean. I'm usually not a huge vanilla ice cream fan, but it was completely necessary in this dessert to cut the richness of the cake.

Fudgy Orange-Chocolate Cake
Makes one 6" cake

1 stick + 1 tbsp butter
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
zest of one orange
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. For best results, use a 6" cake pan with a removable bottom or a 6" springform pan. Place a round of parchment in the bottom, and spray the entire pan. Wrap two layers of foil around the outside of the pan to prevent water from the water bath from seeping in. Place a 9x9 pan in the oven and fill the pan with 1" of water, allow it to heat while you prepare the cake batter. (I like using a water bath, but you can omit that step and it'll still turn out okay).

Chop the chocolate in small pieces, and melt it with the butter in the microwave. Remove it from the microwave and allow it to cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, and stir in the flour, zest and spices. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate and stir until it's smooth. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the whites until they're stiff but not dry. Fold the whites into the chocolate and stir just until incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Place the pan in the prepared water bath in the oven, being careful not to get any water in the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until set in the center. Remove from the oven and carefully take out of the water bath. Allow the cake to cool for 1 hour, then place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours. The cake is best served at room temperature, so bring it out of the refrigerator an hour before you want to serve it.

Very Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup sugar
1 cup milk (I use 1%)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cup cream
1/2 vanilla bean
1 tsp vanilla extract

Begin by slicing the vanilla pod in half lengthwise, and use the edge of a knife to scrape the seeds from the pod. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, vanilla seeds, milk, and 1/2 cup cream. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture simmers and has bubbles at the edges. Add a cup of the milk to the eggs, whisking quickly to avoid cooking the eggs. Pour the eggs back into the saucepan, continuing to whisk so that they do not cook. Add the remaining 1 cup of cream and cook, stirring constantly, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (180 degrees on a candy thermometer).

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour into a tupperware container and place a layer of cling wrap directly on top of the custard so a skin doesn't form. Refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours. Pour the cooled custard into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

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Pancake or Death?

For breakfast on a lazy Thanksgiving morning, we had a Dutch Oven Pancake (also known as a Dutch Baby) with caramelized apples. I have very fond childhood memories of my mom cooking Dutch Oven Pancakes on special occasions; they were too unhealthy (all that butter! All those eggs!) to be an everyday breakfast.

Since Thanksgiving is, by definition, a holiday of excess, I decided Thanksgiving breakfast was the perfect time to indulge in a caloriffic treat.



Caramelized Apple Dutch Oven Pancake

4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a 10-inch cast iron (or other oven-safe) skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the apples and 1/2 cup sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid is evaporated and the apples caramelize--about 20 minutes. Turn the oven to 400 degrees.

While the apples are cooking, make the batter by whisking together the remaining 2 tbsp sugar, the milk, eggs, flour, and salt. Whisk until the mixture is smooth--it will be thin.

Once the apples are caramelized, add the vanilla to the apples, then pour the batter on top. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for 20 minutes, until puffed and cooked in the center. If it is not cooked after 20 minutes, lower the heat to 350 and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Serves 4 normal adults or 2 piggy adults. (Ahem)

To serve, invert the pancake onto a serving platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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Baby shower cake

Strawberries and cream cake for a baby shower, 12x24 inches. (And the berries weren't really black, somehow the color just came out that way).

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Happy Halloween!

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Semi-Sincere Flattery

I spent the entire day at work creating these fairly ugly cakes. It was a little depressing to slave over something I didn't design and didn't particularly like.


The worst (best?) part is, they're not even real. It's just styrofoam rounds covered with fondant and buttercream. They were for a photo shoot, and the client wanted them to look exactly like this picture:

We thought styrofoam would be easier and cheaper (the quote for real cakes on such short notice would have been astronomical) but in the end it was a huge pain cutting it to size, and it was more expensive than we thought it would be, so we probably ate the cost on this one. Live and learn.

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Chocolate & Strawberry, Sitting in a Tree...

Chocolate-Strawberry layer cake, alternating layers of chocolate and strawberry sponge with contrasting chocolate/strawberry buttercream. This was a 9" for the shop:


This was a 6" birthday order. 6" cakes are the cutest! Everything is more adorable in miniature...


Chocolate-dipped berries, decorative AND tasty:

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Hip to Be Square

12" Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting:


The car is a buttercream plaque. I'd never done it before and was pleasantly surprised at the results, although it wasn't perfect and I could definitely use more practice. I reinforced the back too much and it ended up being too thick to my liking, although my boss loved it because it looked 3-D.



10" Chocolate cake with chocolate-sour cream frosting. THIS is one I would make for myself. (I wouldn't mind being retired, either...)

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Polka Dotted Love

I am still obsessed with polka dots. Et voila:


Max is a "creative, sophisticated" three-year old. No cartoon characters for our darling Max, no sir.


Neopolitan cake:


Six layers of alternating vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate cake and buttercream.

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Drive-by Caking

Two quickies from work:

Banana Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting.


Triple Strawberry Cake. Strawberry cake and with berry buttercream, layered with strawberry slices. I seriously used 5 lbs of berries making the puree to put in the batter and buttercream. YUM.

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