First of all, I want to thank everyone who replied to my thread requesting a chocolate cake recipe.  Being the sweetie (as in, "person who likes sweets") that I am I'm sure that I'll end up making all of them within the year.  In this post I want to especially thank paddyscake for the suggestion and qahtan for the recipe for Guinness Chocolate Cake, which is soooo worth making if you get the chance!

Before topping.....

Plain whipped cream (not the greatest decorating job but by this time I was in a big hurry since I underestimated the cake's cooling time)

No one at the party could believe that it was made with Guinness!  Deeeeelicious!

Summer

Hello everyone!  One of my friends is having a birthday party this weekend and I'm going to be making the cake.  She loves chocolate in pretty much any form so I was going to start there.  I've made lots of cakes over the years but I can't think of a seriously chocolatey chocolate cake recipe that really stands out.  Does anyone have one that you love so much that you go back to it over and over?  My friend makes a very nice flourless chocolate cake herself, so I don't want to do that.  I was thinking more along the lines of a traditional layered birthday cake, but I'm open to creative twists.  I also have fun doing decorations even though I'm no expert.  Any suggestions (hopefully with recipes or recipe links) would be much appreciated!

Summer

These are inspired by the "Chocolate Things" at the Cheesboard Bakery in Berkeley. However, since I've become somewhat obsessed with my sourdough starter (Sebastian) since growing it (him?) a month or so ago, I of course, decided to modify the recipe to use up some of my discards.

Recipe (all measurements are in volumes, and are also approximate--I am chronically incapable of sticking with any precision to any recipe whatsoever. I know it would probably help my baking if I did, but going by dough-poking feel is more fun.)

Combine in a bowl: 3/4 cup sourdough starter discards (straight from fridge, they'd been accumulating for about a week), 3/4 c water, 1 c flour. Let sit for 2 (or more) hours. Mine bubbled, but didn't rise very much.

Add in 3/4c water mixed with about 1/4 tsp. dry yeast (I was worried that my discard starter needed a bit of help, but you could probably skip this), 1 egg, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp very soft butter, and about 3-4 c flour until a soft, fairly moist dough forms. Knead for a few minutes, then cover and let rise for about 3 hours. My dough almost tripled in this time.

Fold/knead into the dough about 1cup coarsely chopped chocolate chips. Shape into balls (or a loaf) and let proof on a baking sheet for about 45 minutes while the oven preheats to 400. Bake for about 20 minutes. I sprayed the oven for steam right as I put them in.

The sourdough taste is less pronounced than I'd like, but they are great for a breakfast or snack treat. As the dough isn't too sweet, the chocolate doesn't seem too overly decadent. (Which of course is my justification for eating them right out of the oven.)

I made these last night.

Here's my blog post, plus the recipe.

In all honesty, the entire brownie baking night came about because I was bored and wanted something chocolate. The ranting about grocery store brownies was actually me being pissed at myself because I broke down and, instead of baking my much better tasting ones, bought some frosted ones at the store a few nights ago in a pregnancy-craving-induced spending spree.

I have been playing around with multiple Banana Bread recipes and I have ended up with my own recipe that I personally enjoy.  It's mildly easy to prepare and takes about an hour and ten to make.  This recipe makes two small loaves.

Nevans Banana Bread (with chocolate streusel)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In one bowl mix:

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 3-6 over-ripened bananas.  (this is a choice of taste, the more bananas, the more mushy your dough gets but the more flavor)

In another bowl mix:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 a stick of butter
• 1/3 cup of dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of white sugar

Mix these two bowls into one and add a handful of chopped walnuts or pecans if you choose, and even a handful of chocolate chunks is always fun.  Grease your loaf pans with butter and pour the dough.

Streusel Topping:

Mix this in a saucepan on the stove in order.

• 1/2 a stick of butter
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp of Cocoa
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• (optional) Handful of walnuts or pecans
• (optional) 1/2 tsp of ginger

Mix this well until butter is well mixed so that there is a crumbly feel.  Add to the top of the loaves, this amount should cover both loaves entirely.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Check at 30, if streusel starts to burn, add alluminum foil, hasn't happened to me yet.  After 40 minutes, shake the loaf pan to make sure that the loaf isn't liquidy on the top, this is another ten minutes if it is.

Let sit for 10 minutes to cool and finish cooking itself. 

To extract from the pan I seperate the sides with a spatula and then surround the loaf pan with foil and flip.  The foil allows you to flip the loaf back on to its bottom after you take off the pan.

Voila!  Enjoy a good breakfast, or snack.

Finally got myself an inexpensive digital camera and would like to show off one of my "creations" which is far from original.  I'm sure many of you have made this danish ring.  I got this recipe from www.cookscountry.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=3846&bcd=46152.  Cooks Country is a great web site, by the way, and would like to know how many of you are members and whether or not you use your membership.  They seem to have a gold mine of knowledge with truckloads of practical advice.  I'm thinking of signing up.

Anyway, I'm showing pictures of the (1) preparation for the dough where I slather it with the filling, (2) the finished product and (3) the product partially gobbled up.  I halved the recipe, and didn't quite succeed with the cutting and the turning upside of each slice, but the recipe gives a step-by-step.  I'll try it again one day, and hopefully, get the technique right!

Picture 1:  Prepping the dough.

2.  Danish ring fresh out of the oven:

3.  And now, as it was partially eaten (closer look of slices - as you can see I did not quite do the slices with flying colors!)

Published on www.evilshenanigans.com - 3/23/09

A few nights ago my husband and I had the opportunity to have dinner with a very old friend.  We had not seen him in a very long time and during our time apart he had gotten married to a lovely doctor who brought to the marriage her beautiful daughter.  A year and a half ago they had an adorable daughter of their own.  His family is beautiful.  He is very lucky!

He invited us to meet his new family and, of course, we agreed.  I asked what I could bring for dessert, as that is kind of my thing, and he said anything chocolate.  SCORE!  So, for the girls I made a batch of Cream Filled Cupcakes, and for the adults I made a Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart.

This tart is incredibly easy to make, it looks spectacular, tastes like chocolate heaven, and as our friend's wife commented it would be the perfect canvas for experimenting with different flavors.  We all agreed raspberry, orange, and mint would be lovely.  I also think some ground toasted hazelnuts in the filling would be nice for flavor and texture.

I did make a few changes to the original recipe.  I could not find the chocolate graham crackers, which I have seen before but not this visit to the store, so I used chocolate wafer cookies.  Because they grind up finer than graham crackers I used more crumbs but I did not increase the butter.  It did not need it.  I also reduced the sugar because chocolate wafer cookies are quite sweet on their own.

If you have someone you want to treat may I recommend this tart?   It is divine!

Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart    Serves 10

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups ground chocolate cookies
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar

For the filling:
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
9 ounces bittersweet (no more than 65%) chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the glaze:
2 tablespoon heavy cream
1 3/4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 tablespoon warm water

Begin by mixing the cookie crumbs, butter, and sugar well and press it into a 9-inch round fluted tart pan.  Press the filling up the sides of the pan.  If you have a tart pan with 1″ sides only press it up 3/4 of the way.  (My tart pan has short sides, so I carried it to the top)

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool while you prepare the filling.

Heat the cream in a heavy pot over medium heat until it bubbles around the edges.  Pour it over the chopped chocolate and allow to sit for three minutes, then stir until it is well mixed and all the chocolate is melted.

In a small bowl mix the egg and vanilla.  Pour it into the melted chocolate and mix well.

Pour it into the prepared curst.

Gently tap the tart to break any air bubbles.

Place on a sheet pan and bake the tart for 20 minutes, or until the edges are just set and the center is still slightly wobbly.  Allow to cool for an hour.

As it cools make the glaze.

Heat the cream until it simmers and pour over the chocolate.  Stir to melt, then add the corn syrup and water.  Mix well.  Pour over the cooled tart, and gently tilt the tart to spread the glaze to the edges.  Let set for an hour at room temp before serving.

Mmmmm... the top is chocolate & cherry sourdough and the bottom is cherry & pecans.

So I have been mucking about with my wild yeast sourdough starter a lot over the last few weeks. I made pain poilane, and a traditional american style sourdough, and was thinking..."what else can i do with this starter?"

The answer? Sourdough croissants!

I know this could fall in the pastry category, but decided that the wild yeast starter aspect kinda throws it into the realm of the sourdough junkie. I've gotta say, they turned out great. I even made some with chocolate in the middle. I wrote more about them here:

http://www.improveyourbaking.com/2009/01/21/sourdough-croissants/

Hopefully this will spark some interesting sourdough ideas. I'd love to here more. I'm planning on writing about the chocolate ones tonight.