a cake for Sarah

Sarah is one of my oldest and dearest friends. We've known each other since we were 13 and have been through a lot over the years. One thing I love about Sarah is that she really gets me. She is one of the few who knows me through and through, and I think I can say the same about her. We know each other's good and bad and accept both sides equally and still love each other for it (or despite it!).

Recently Sarah and I got together and I had asked her if there was anything she would like me to bake for her that I could bring to our rendezvous. Being 5 months pregnant, she didn't have much problem choosing something she craved! Her request was simple - chocolate and lots of it, just no dark or white chocolate. Easy!


I knew just the cake I wanted to make. The first time I made this cake was well over a year and a half ago. I don't recall why I first made this cake, but I really lucked out on finding this incredible recipe. I found it on Epicurious and at the time chose it because it had many positive reviews. I've since learned it's the most clicked on chocolate cake recipe on Epicurious! Not surprising if you ask me, this cake is amazing! The cake itself is very moist and has a deep, rich chocolate flavor.


I wanted to add a bit more flavor than just chocolate, so I decided to use a browned butter caramel frosting as the filling and top the cake with a simple chocolate ganache. I've also made the caramel frosting before as well, and it's one of the best I've ever made. I thought it would fit really well with this cake and it was worth the effort to make.

The final product was met with rave reviews and was proclaimed "almost gone!" by the next day, which is always a good sign :)


Double Chocolate Layer Cake
adapted from Epicurious.com

*note: this recipe makes a lot of batter. It calls for two 10-inch round pans to be used. I don't have this size, so I usually make it in two 9-inch round pans and use the remaining batter to make cupcakes. I've also used it in a 10 cup bundt pan and still have enough batter left over for some cupcakes. Be careful to not overfill your bundt pan if using one - I've made this mistake before and it's not pretty!

3 ounces of good quality semisweet chocolate, chopped fine
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee (this does not impart a coffee flavor to the cake, it enhances the chocolate flavor)
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch proccessed)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Spray 2 10-inch round baking pans with non-stick spray.

2. Combine finely chopped chocolate with the hot coffee and let mixture stand, stirring occasionally.

3. Into a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

4. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

5. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for approximately 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Browned Butter Caramel Frosting
adapted from Shuna Fish Lydon

To start, you need to make the caramel syrup. The process might seem intimidating at first, but is fairly easy to execute. Just be careful not to burn yourself!


Caramel Syrup

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water for 'stopping'

1. In a saucepan with tall sides, mix sugar and 1/2 cup water until it feels like wet sand. (brush down any stray sugar on sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush)

2. Cook over high heat until the color of the mixture turns deep amber. Do not stir the mixture as it cooks - a simple swirlling of the pan will suffice.

3. When color is achieved, remove pan from heat and pour in the remaining 1 cup of water. The mixture will bubble up and sputter and practically jump out of the pan at you, so be careful! I use a piece of foil with a hole in the center to cover the pan and still be able to pour the water in with less incidence of the syrup splattering out.

4. Return the pan to medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture is slightly sticky between two fingers (let mixture cool before testing this! It's extremely hot!)

To make the frosting:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) of unsalted butter
1 pound of powdered sugar, sifted (you might not need all of it, depending on your taste)
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
pinch of salt (or to taste)

1. Cook the butter until brown and has a slightly nutty smell.

2. Strain browned butter through a fine mesh sieve and set aside to cool.

3. Pour cooled butter into a mixer bowl.

4. Using either a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter while adding the powdered sugar a little bit at a time. Once mixture gets too thick, add some of the cream and/or the caramel syrup a little at a time. Repeat until the mixture is smooth and add the vanilla extract and salt.


Chocolate ganache

1 pound good quality chocolate, chopped fine
1 cup heavy cream

1. Place chopped chocolate into a heat proof bowl.

2. Heat the cream over medium-high heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit for about 2 minutes.

3. Whisk the cream/chocolate mixture until smooth. Let cool to desired consistancy before frosting your cake.

Madeleines

Long before I ever discovered the French macaron, I had a little love affair with another French cookie-esque treat: the madeleine.

I bought my first madeleine pan a few years ago. I had wanted one for a very long time, but never actually bought one. One day at Williams Sonoma, I could no longer resist.

While searching for a recipe for my new pan, I then discovered that, what do you know, these things can be tricky to make. At the time I found a bit of a debate on whether or not baking powder should be used as leavening, and apparently a lot about a characteristic "bump" that a true madeleine should posses. All the fuss made me feel a bit intimidated, but I was excited to break in the new pan and chose a recipe and dove right in.

I remember being disappointed at the result; they were very cake like and had no crust whatsoever. Nothing like I was hoping for. I was discouraged and put my new madeleine pan away for future use, when I had more time to find the right recipe.

I recall attempting to make them maybe two or three times after that, but I never found the right recipe. A few months ago I dug out my special pan and tried out a new recipe: meyer lemon madeleines - the first time I had ever used meyer lemons in anything - I'd only just discovered them while browsing the food blogosphere. Once again I was disappointed with the result - I don't know if I had a bad batch of lemons or what, but they left this awful almost burnt lemony flavor taste in your mouth that made you want to immediately go brush your teeth! Away again went the madeleline pan. I was onto macarons at that point anyway.



Recently, for some reason or another I ended up buying a new pan. The scallop-shell shaped pan seen above. I found it for only $8, and being of a less frequently seen shape, I decided to get it. It had been rather cumbersome to have only one pan to use, so I couldn't pass it up. Never mind the fact that I still had yet to find a decent recipe.

As fate would have it, the day I got my new pan, one of my favorite bloggers posted a madeleine recipe, and this one sounded like a doozy! I knew right away that Aran's recipe for orange and brown butter madeleines would inaugurate my new purchase. They sounded incredible: browned butter, orange and almond flour. I had everything I needed on hand. The only catch - in the recipe it calls for the batter to be refrigerated for 4 hours. Definitely not a weeknight endeavor!

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, after completing my first Daring Baker's challenge, I decided to whip up a batch of these madeleines. I might have put it off for another weekend, what with having already made a cheesecake, two batches of macarons and a loaf of pain d'épices (hopefully more on that to come later) I had already worked myself and my oven pretty hard for one weekend. But, knowing it was make them then, or wait until another weekend, I chose to go for it.



Once I was finished browning the butter, I knew this recipe would be great . Oh the wonderful, amazing smell of browned butter. Yes, these were going to be GOOD. I was a bit surprised at how much batter the recipe made (I ended up getting 4 pans worth) - I definitely wasn't going to have time to make it all that evening, so I hoped it would keep in the fridge so I could finish the rest the next day (it did).

Since the recipe calls for you to turn the oven temp down after several minutes, when I checked on the cookies (or petit cakes, if you will) had sizable 'bumps' growing and that sight really excited me. Almost as exciting as seeing feet appear on your macarons, though less difficult to achieve, I'm sure. I turned away for a moment and checked on them again, to admire the bumps and they had quickly grown even higher! These bumps were reaching for the sky I tell you. They were huge! And the smell of them baking, my god how incredible they smelled. I couldn't wait to try one.



I should've kept watching because the edges turned out a tad too brown with that first batch, but I watched them much closer the next day when I made the remaining batter and they came out perfectly.

The taste and texture of these madeleines are incredible! The outside has a bit of a crust to it and when you bite into it, you get this amazing orange and nutty flavor that makes you close your eyes and unknowingly let out a moan of approval. The best bite is the second one, when you get the whole bump in your mouth (I guess that is, assuming you don't have a big enough bite to get it in the first!) the way the spongy cake crumbles in your mouth along with the flavors - oohhh it's good. So, so good. Totally worth buying the pan just for this recipe alone.

If you really want to take these to the next level, you can drizzle them with a simple orange glaze - just mix some orange juice with powdered sugar until you get the consistency you want and drizzle away (or be bold and dip!). They certainly don't need it, though.



One more side note - these are best eaten the day they're made. You can keep them in an airtight container but they will lose any crispiness by the next day. They're still delicious, just not the same as when they're fresh.

You can find this awesome recipe here.

Enjoy!