Quest Cake #2

If you read my blog entry from a few days ago you know I'm in search of the perfect chocolate cake recipe. I tried another recipe from the Chocolate Cakes - 50 Great Cakes for Every Occasion book. This one is called "Pound of Chocolate Cake" and has in it, you guessed it, a pound of chocolate that is covered in chocolate ganache.

I adjusted the recipe slightly. The recipe asks you to bake the cake in a square pan but I used a springform pan instead (my perfect chocolate cake is supposed to be round, don't know why I have that idea in my head but it is). It also calls for 13 oz. of semisweet chocolate but I didn't have quite enough so I used about 9 oz. of semisweet and 4 of bittersweet. The recipe says to butter the pan but I went ahead and dusted it with cocoa powder as well.

The cake turned out well, better than well, actually. The center was moist and dense - nearly perfect in texture. Rose, my daughter, says it's better than the first chocolate cake recipe I tried. Ryan, my son, thinks the first one was better. My mom likes this second try better. Not sure what anyone else in the family had to say but on day two the cake is nearly gone so that's a sign that people liked it!

A slice of "Pound of Chocolate Cake" - note the rich, dark, moist center. Yum!

As for me? Well, I think that the cake was, perhaps, a little too chocolaty. I'm wondering if I used all semisweet chocolate like the recipe said if that would have helped. Still, I'm thinking all the chocolate needs to be offset with something a little on the sweet side. The recipe suggests serving the cake with ice cream, which I did. That bit of sweetness helps the cake but I want to find a chocolate cake that stands on its own without ice cream.

So, even though I may make "Pound of Chocolate Cake" again, I'm still on a quest for the perfect chocolate cake recipe. Maybe a chocolate cake with a bit of raspberry flavor mixed in? Or topped with a raspberry sauce of some sort?

Hmmm. I'll keep trying recipes and I'll keep you posted on my findings. I like this kind of research - but I definitely need to ride my bike more to offset the taste testing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Change in Plans

Image
My kids, Rose and Ryan, started a theater day camp today called Young People's Theater Workshop (YPTW). YPTW is a program put on through the Northfield Arts Guild  during which the kids, grouped by age, write a play, rehearse it, and then perform it at the end of the three week session. Rose loves the camp and this is her fourth year. In her first year I saw a huge change in her confidence from the beginning of the session to the end. She has grown each year since and I expect she will benefit from the camp again this year. Ryan has never been in YPTW and has been somewhat reluctant to go. But, to save on gas (it's a 30 mile round trip to town), make our schedule easier and give me time to work, Owen and I decided that Ryan should give YPTW a try. Given how good the program has been for Rose, we're hoping Ryan will benefit from the program as well. I dropped the kids off this morning and right off the bat Ryan found two friends from his class at Greenvale. He found...
Read more

Making tracks

Image
I just looked out my office window and saw my snowshoe tracks in the snow. For some reason they surprised me. Seeing them I had concrete evidence that I actually have been getting out on my snowshoes every day. That I've actually been going somewhere. And, for some reason, I find this comforting. I've been fighting my 30 Days of Snowshoeing commitment and am kind of mad at myself for creating the challenge for myself. I haven't wanted to get out every day and snowshoe. It's cold outside. I don't like putting on my snowpants, my hat, scarf, gloves, jacket. Perhaps because I'm doing the challenge alone, unlike the 30 Days of Biking challenges where hundreds of other people biked every day and helped motivate each other, I don't really feel like it matters that I'm doing this. And I've lost momentum and motivation and simply want to sit inside and read a book. Or sleep. Or watch Monk and Cake Boss on Netflix. But I keep snowshoeing. Every day. Ev...
Read more

A Little Bike Schooling on the B Ride

I'll be honest with you, my two main motivations for riding my bike any distance are coffee and conversation. A good workout is also a motivator but going really fast is not. I'm more of a slow and steady - okay, really slow and not that steady - sort of bicyclist. But for months now I've wanted to join in on a group ride. From what I've heard people ride their bikes, chat away the miles and stop somewhere for a cup of coffee mid-way or at the end of the ride. Sounds like my kind of ride. Right? Maybe not. Most of the group rides I've heard about promise average speeds of 18 to 20 miles per hour or more and go 40 or more miles. Some sound brutal and talk about hill climbs and sprints. Granted, these are the "A" rides, rides geared towards competitive riders, riders who want to push their limits. "B" rides are supposed to be slower, "C" rides even more so but I've seen some C rides that sound too fast for me, some B rides with leng...
Read more