Chocolate-Caramel Sticky Pudding

Day 110

As you can clearly see, this one isn’t pudding at all, so don’t let the name deceive you. In the tradition of English desserts, this is a very moist and decadent chocolate cake with a sticky sauce and a rich but surprisingly fluffy icing. I found the cake part of the recipe on a homesteader’s blog that I enjoy following (check it out: http://oursimplelife-sc.com), and I just had to try it. Then, I wondered what would happen if I tried something completely different with it; what if I poured a hot

Photo by Maggie Kapustin

caramel sauce over the cake and covered it overnight? And, the next day, what if I made a heavy cream-mascarpone icing for it?  Sometimes when I question things like that, I set myself up for an immediate failure, but this time, it was a raging success.

It was such a success in fact, that when I shared the cake with coworkers and friends, I got some incredibly positive feedback. One colleague said it was “a wicked good dessert” while another said it should be renamed “better than sex cake”! I had to come straight home, take a picture of the tiny remaining sliver, and share the recipe here.

Oh man, who knows what words of pleasure you’ll exclaim after that first bite, but I’m sure they’ll be comparable to my colleagues’ affirmations. This cake really is better than…well…almost everything. Enjoy!

Chocolate-Caramel Sticky Pudding

The steps are:

1.     Make cake and put in oven to bake (recipe below).

2.     While baking, make caramel sauce (recipe below).

3.     Once cake is out of oven, use a fork, toothpick, or skewer to make little holes all over.

4.     Pour caramel sauce all over cake. It will look really wet, but that’s a good thing.

5.     Cover tightly and allow to rest 3 hours or overnight.

6.     Make heavy cream-mascarpone icing (recipe below). This should keep cold to stay firm, so store in refrigerator until ready to spread over cake, just before service.

7.     Store any leftover cake in fridge.

8.     Note: This cake can be served cold (simply add “refrigerate” to step 5) or room temperature. It has a “wet” texture at room temperature and a “supremely moist” texture in fridge. The icing must be refrigerated, though, so once it’s iced, the fridge is the only option.

Cake* Ingredients:

         2 cups sugar

            2 cups sifted unbleached flour

            1 teaspoon baking powder

            2 teaspoons baking soda

            1/4 teaspoon salt

            1/2 cup cocoa

            1/2 cup vegetable oil

            1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

            2 eggs

            1 cup whole milk

            1 teaspoon vanilla

Cake Instructions:

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl and set aside.

In large mixing bowl dissolve cocoa in the hot coffee. Add oil and sugar, and mix well. Add flour mixture to the cocoa, coffee and oil mixtures.
Stir in milk and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well until all blended. Cake batter will be runny. Using a 9x13 cake pan, pour batter into a greased and floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cake cool completely on a wire rack.

*Cake recipe from the incredibly impressive and useful website “Our Simple Homestead” at this link:  http://oursimplelife-sc.com/moist-chocolate-cake/

Caramel Sauce* Ingredients:

2 cups packed dark brown sugar

½ cup half and half

½ cup heavy cream

1 stick butter

pinch salt

2 tbs. vanilla extract

Caramel Sauce Directions:

Mix brown sugar, half and half, heavy cream, butter, and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5-7 minutes, until it gets thicker. It won’t be very thick. Add vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off heat and cool slightly before pouring over warm chocolate cake.

*Sauce recipe is from the amazing Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. Don’t you just love her? As usual, her recipe is spot-on perfection. Thank God she cooks for a living so the rest of us can enjoy the fruits of her labor. And learn to cook a little better ourselves. Here’s the link to her original recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/easy-caramel-sauce-recipe.html

Heavy Cream-Mascarpone Icing Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1- 8oz. container mascarpone cheese

Heavy Cream-Mascarpone Icing Directions:

In a mixer, whip all ingredients until stiff peaks form. If you realize you’ve whipped too much, add a bit more heavy cream and whip until desired consistency. (For this icing, the mascarpone holds the heavy cream longer than it would hold on its own.) 

Coconut Cake

Day 109

Happy birthday to my precious little girl, Tate! She’s not so little anymore, at 19 years old, but she’ll always be my baby.

Her favorite dessert is from the bakery, La Madeleine, so I made her birthday cake inspired by their signature coconut cake. It was a hit, I’m happy to report.

I think you’ll love this one if you’re a coconut fan, so give it a try for your next dessert adventure!

Coconut Cake

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix (I used Pillsbury Moist Supreme)

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp. almond extract

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1- 14 oz. bag sweetened, flaked coconut

1- 3 oz. box Jello Cook and Serve coconut custard mix

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 – 8 oz. container mascarpone cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and buttermilk. Mix until well combined and smooth. Add almond extract and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract, and mix just until combined. Pour evenly into three floured and greased 9-inch round cake pans. Bake until center springs back and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Prepare coconut custard according to package directions, then place in refrigerator to set.

Whip heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and mascarpone cheese until peaks form.

On a serving plate, place one layer of the cake, flat side up, and spread generously with coconut custard. Sprinkle with coconut. Place second cake layer on top of first and repeat custard and coconut (Note: You might have to take a knife to cut off rounded top of this layer. If so, make sure to put the cut side down.). Place the final layer on top (cutting to flatten if necessary) and cover with heavy cream/mascarpone icing. Also ice the sides of the cake. Coat entire cake with coconut, including sides. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Ploughman’s Platter

Day 108

This time of the year, we really enjoy cold meals. On a hot day, there is definitely something more refreshing about food straight from the garden and farm, with minimal cooking involved. Tonight, we opted for a modified ploughman’s platter. Usually, these platters are served for lunch, and they consist of smoked meats, cheeses, vegetables, and fruits. Instead, we

Photos by Taylor Fowler

enjoyed ours for dinner, and we included old-fashioned egg salad, roasted broccoli, mozzarella with basil, and deconstructed tomato bruschetta. Every ingredient was fresh, either grown by us or by sustainable, local sellers.

Since this platter included no new recipes (the mozzarella and broccoli certainly can’t count), you can find the egg salad on Day 48 of this blog (http://yearofinspirations.blogspot.com/search?q=egg+salad). I left out the bacon this time.  The marinated tomato recipe for the bruschetta can be found on Day 6 http://yearofinspirations.blogspot.com/search?q=bruschetta. For this, I baked whole baguettes and each person sliced the bread for himself.

After slicing the mozzarella and gathering fresh basil from my deck herb garden, I drizzled it with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then sprinkled with salt and pepper. The same went for the roasted broccoli, which I drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasted at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. I sprinkled lemon juice over the broccoli to finish.

Because this blog entry includes nothing particularly new, I want to give a shout out to really good, high quality olive oil. It’s important. Sure, you should buy the first cold press extra virgin variety, but you also need to be careful which brand you buy. Choose one that has a good reputation for being traceable from the tree to your table. After some research

and reading, I chose to order Olea brand olive oil for the first time this week. I ordered a bottle of their Olea Gold, and it is sublime. It is perfect for dipping and drizzling, and its rich flavor and mildly biting finish are impressive. Check it out at this link, http://www.oleaestates.com/ or find another brand you trust and enjoy. Good olive oil makes more of a difference than you might think.

Happy summer!

Patriotic Tres Leches Cake

Day 107

This recipe is unbelievable. I added strawberries and blueberries to the top to celebrate July 4^th, but you can add whatever you like.

If you haven’t purchased ALL of Ree Drummond’s (The Pioneer Woman) books and tried every single recipe, you’ve got some catching up to do. She’s a hoot and a delight, and the best part is that her food is the cat’s meow. Please try this one. Let me know how it turns out. Here’s the link, from her book, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/tres-leches-cake/

Note: I tried this two ways, one exactly as The Pioneer Woman suggests and the second as a shortcut method. I did this just to see— for those of you who

Photo by Maggie Kapustin

aren’t interesting in from-scratch cakes and icings— if the flavor would be comparable. It’s not as good, I have to admit, but it’ll do if you’re in a pinch or if you are intimidated from a homemade cake prep. So, to really make this quick and still yummy, you can make a cake with a yellow cake mix, following the directions on the package for a 9x13 pan, but switch the water with buttermilk and add 2 tsp. of cinnamon and 1 tsp. of vanilla to the batter. You can, in a pinch, use whipped topping instead of making your own. That, though, is definitely not as good. Once the cake is baked according the package directions, follow Drummond’s recipe for making the Tres Leches.

Buen provecho!

(Patriotic) Tres Leches Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1-1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
1⁄4 teaspoons salt
5 whole eggs
1 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
1⁄3 cup milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened, condensed milk 1⁄4 cups heavy cream
_____


FOR THE ICING:


1 pint heavy cream, for whipping 3 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries*. Cut into squares and serve.

Recipe from:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/tres-leches-cake/

*I switched out the cherry topping with chopped strawberries and whole blueberries. That part is up to you!

Green Tomato Gazpacho

Day 106

Happy July 4^th, Everyone! Here’s hoping that your Independence Day is filled with patriotism, appreciation, and delicious food and drinks. It’s easy to take for granted the people who sacrificed and all of the reasons we are able to enjoy the freedom of making our food on the grill and spending time together in the United States. Let’s not forget today. Let’s try to keep in our minds and hearts those brave people who have valiantly and selflessly protected our country for generations.

Thank you and God bless you to everyone who has served and to every family member who has supported our soldiers and defenders. 

This cold summer soup is just as much a tonic as a course, and I don’t know if it really fits into a July 4^th theme, but it sure is worth your time very soon. Filled with incredibly healthy and flavorful ingredients, Green Tomato Gazpacho will be a recipe you repeat every summer, I’m betting. 

You will need a good immersion blender, food processor, or blender to properly combine the ingredients. 

If you want a heartier course, add some crabmeat or fried pancetta on top of each bowl, just before serving. Otherwise, I garnish with a little spritz of lime juice, some sour cream and cilantro. I also serve blue corn tortilla chips on the side, for dipping. 

Green Tomato Gazpacho

Ingredients: 

1 poblano pepper

4 tbs. good extra virgin olive oil

2 sweet onions, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 ½ lbs. green tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper to taste 

3 cups arugula

14 large basil leaves

1 bunch cilantro, stems removed

3 tbs. lime juice

2 tsp. hot sauce 

Cut poblano pepper in half, length-wise, and broil until the skin is very black. Place in plastic bag for about 10 minutes to loosen skin. Peel and chop.

Saute onions in olive oil. Add jalapeno, poblano, and garlic, stirring often, about 5-7 minutes. Add tomatoes, broth, and bay leaves.  Season with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes or until tomatoes are tender.  Remove from heat. Discard bay leaves. Stir in arugula, basil, and cilantro. Let cool 30 minutes. 

Use immersion blender to create a smooth, fully incorporated soup. Stir in lime juice and hot sauce. Salt and pepper again to taste. 

Cover and chill for 8 to 24 hours. Serve cold in chilled bowls, topped with sour cream and cilantro or add sliced pickled jalapenos, crabmeat, or fried pancetta.  Tortilla chips on the side are a nice flavor touch too.