chocolate ganache cake

I would consider this my go to chocolate cake- the recipe never fails (thank you, Ina), it can be made in advance, and the ganache is to die for. I regularly make this cake for birthday's, including for 75 plus guests at my father's 60th birthday. Probably the height of my commitment to this cake was for my sisters bridal shower. I should preface this by saying that when I got married, my older sister hosted the loveliest most thoughtful bridal shower for me. Additionally, she is ridiculously smart, hardworking and continues to be my biggest cheerleader and most thoughtful friend. So, when she was engaged, I was determined to have a charming party for her. One small obstacle is that I live about a 3 hour plane ride away. I was scheduled to arrive 4 hours before the party and was fully resolved on not having some grocery/warehouse store crisco sugar frosted pink roses cake nightmare (I am just going to say it: I hate those things. I realize that someday when I have kids and they request a batman/spiderman/strawberry shortcake themed cake, I may feel differently, but I will revisit my prejudice then). I made two of these chocolate cakes the day before, wrapped them tightly in plastic wrap, and purchased a cake box from a local bakery to set on my lap during the flight. (It was an early morning flight, and several of my fellow passengers, while sipping cups of coffee, asked me if they could have some of whatever was in the bakery box. They were politely denied). I also made the ganache the day before and poured it into small tupperware containers and stowed them in my carry on suitcase. When I arrived for the party, I simply microwaved the ganache and poured it over the cakes. Totally worth it.
The recipe is from The Barefoot Contessa.

 Chocolate Ganache Cake

1/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 16 oz. can Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour

1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 8-inch round cake pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper. (Yes, I know this is a bit tedious, but really fully worth the time investment to avoid that terrible moment when the cake does not come out of the pan.)

2) Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time.

3) Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Don't overbeat, or the cake will be tough.

4) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don't overbake! Let cool thoroughly in the pan.

Ganache
(This really is the best stuff ever. A spoonful of it straight from the fridge has been known to change the outlook of entire days.)

1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz good semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

1) Cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.

2) Place the cake upside down on a wire rack and pour the glaze evenly over the top, making sure to cover the entire cake and sides. You can tilt the rack to smooth the glaze.

3) I generally leave the cake undecorated. However, as you can see from the picture below, a small jumble of blackberries is rather pleasing against the sheen of the ganache. Ina Garten also recommends candied violets or gold leaf.

3) The frosted cake should not be refrigerated. However, unfrosted, the cake will keep well for up to a week when wrapped tightly in plastic and stowed in the fridge. I would not recommend making the ganache too far in advance, as small spooned out scoops tend to stealthily dwindle the amount of ganache in direct proportion to the length of time it is left in the fridge.

cream cheese poundcake

This is the cake that I make most often and is probably my favorite recipe. Whenever I make this cake, I think of my mother and sisters. I almost always make it when they visit, as it keeps well over a few days and is just perfect for breakfast or a mid-day snack.
It is charming in an Anne Shirley-y sort of way. To me it is the perfect pound cake as the cream cheese helps keep it dense without being dry (a crime too many pound cakes commit). It is vanilla scented heaven and brilliant with any variety of berry sauce (raspberry coulis, fresh sliced strawberries, stewed blueberries etc...). If the need to dress it up arises, one can certainly add a glaze but mostly I think it is swell the way it is.
The recipe is from a friend who taught me all kinds of things about entertaining, hosting, and being gracious. She served this cake at afternoon tea parties. I believe it is originally from a cookbook that was a collection of bed and breakfast recipes.

Cream Cheese Poundcake

1 8 ounce package cream cheese (room temperature)
3 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Note: do not preheat the oven. This recipe calls for placing the cake in a cold oven.

1) Butter and flour a standard size bundt cake pan.

2) Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Beat in sugar.

3) Alternately add 2 eggs, 1 cup flour until all are added. Blend in the vanilla. The batter will be a lovely pale yellow and rather thick. Pour and spoon the batter into the pre-greased bundt pan. Take care to level the batter out.

4) Place in a cold oven. Bake at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.

5) When it is finished baking it may still look a little stick on top. It's fine. The bottom (or top in this case) will always be a little sticky and my husband swears it's the best part of the cake.

6) Let the cake cool in the pan on a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. Then run a butter knife around the edges and pay special attention to the center as the cake seems to rise and get a bit stuck around it. After 30 minutes, flip out on to a wire rack to cool.

This cake will keep for several days if wrapped well and left at room temperature.

banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

I had a long discussion the other day with a friend about how cupcakes and adorable cupcake shops have become really popular. We wondered if cupcake shops were the new frozen yogurt. (Which before that frozen yogurt was the new marble slab ice cream shop which was the new krispy kreme donut which was the new coffee shop which I think was actually the new frozen yogurt shop from the first time around, etc). This made us worry that our cupcake trend would shortly be going away. (It is good to know that with mounting national debt, health care debate worries, and double digit nationwide unemployment, we can still find time to talk about really important things.)
But I do not think cupcakes are going any where. One of the things I think is great about a cupcake is that it allows experimentation with flavors that would really not work on a whole cake. As exhibit A, I submit this banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting. It is just enough without being cloying or overwhelming. As with cupcakes in general, it hits that great nostalgic note.
The cupcake recipe is from Martha Stewart. The frosting is from Ina Garten. Ina's original recipe was to put the peanut butter frosting on chocolate cupcakes. A grand idea. I think it found it's true match with the banana cupcakes. When I proposed the combination to my husband he shrugged his shoulders in disinterest. However, the next day, he ate four of them. Long live the cupcake !

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Banana Cupcakes
makes 28 cupcakes

3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
3 large eggs
4 very ripe large bananas, mashed (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 350 degress. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.

2) Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl: cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix the following wet ingredients together: mashed bananas, buttermilk and vanilla.

3) Cream butter and brown sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

4) Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

5) Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. Cupcakes with keep, covered, for up to 3 days.

Kathleen's Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

1) Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

2) Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work.

3) Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

4) Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

scones

When we were children, my sisters and I loved to play tea party. (That is not a completely true statement since we still love to play tea party. ) We had lovely little tea sets hand painted with forget-me-not flowers and with our friends we would dress up and pretend to be proper (or our version of what we thought proper was.)
Scones never made an appearance at those early parties (I actually cannot recall what our menus consisted of) but for me a fresh baked scone with tea is pretty close to perfection. When my sisters and I go out to tea now, one of the things I look forward to are the scones. Yes, there are some sugary sweet delights to be had at all kinds of coffee houses, but they are nothing in comparison to the buttery, light, flaky heaven that these are. These scones are in the "British style" because they do not have a glaze. I promise, you won't miss it.
The recipe below is from the magazine Everyday Food. I believe it originally appeared around Thanksgiving which is why the recipe calls for fresh cranberries. They are quite good in a scone, but please feel free to substitute other dried or fresh berries depending on your mood and the season. My recent favorite is dried wild blueberries with a little lemon zest. The scones pictured were made with dried cherries.
As with so many recipes I love, these scones can be completely made the night before up to the baking stage. This makes it easy for oven warm scones for tea time (or breakfast or a nice morning treat for deserving co-workers).

Cranberry Scones

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for work surface
5 tablespoons sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for topping
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup half-and-half, plus 1 tablespoon for topping
1/2 cup halved cranberries, drained on paper towels

1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together flour, 5 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt.

2) Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3) Stir in 2/3 cup half-and-half until just moistened. Gently fold in cranberries.

4) On a lightly floured surface , knead dough gently, 5 to 10 times. Pat into a 1 inch thick round. Cut into 8 wedges. Place on a baking sheet, 2 inches apart. (If making in advance, this is where I pause: place the scones on a baking sheet, wrap with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until ready for baking.)
5) Brush tops with remaining tablespoon half-and-half; sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. (I like to use sugar in the raw instead of regular granulated sugar to give the top a nice shimmery crunch. Also, if the scones have been in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, I usually add a couple of minutes to the bake time).

scalloped potatoes

These potatoes are the comfort food for my husband. For those of us who have only ever had the box dehydrated scalloped potatoes, they are a kind of revelation. Layers of thinly sliced potatoes surrounded in a faintly onion scented sauce-so lovely and really pretty simple. It is this recipe that taught me how to make simple white sauce and I have found it useful as a base in all kinds of casseroles, pasta and au gratin dishes.

It is great alongside holiday ham but also a helpful way to stretch leftovers. Just layer in diced ham along with the potatoes. The recipe is from Betty Crocker's Best Loved Recipe Cookbook.

Scalloped Potatoes

6 medium boiling or baking potatoes (2 lbs)
3 tablespoons butter (I actually think 4 tablespoons is perfect)
1 small onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and side of 2 quart casserole with shortening.

2) Scrub potatoes; peel if desired. Cut into enough thin slices to measure about 4 cups.

3) Melt 3 tablespoons butter in 2 quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion in butter about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.

4) Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly; remove from heat.

5) Stir in milk. (Stir in slowly to incorporate and make a smooth mixture. If the milk is poured in all at once, the sauce can become lumpy.) Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.

6) Spread potatoes in casserole. Pour sauce over potatoes. Dot with 1 tablespoon butter. (I layer the potatoes and sauce kind of like I'm making lasagna. If I'm adding diced ham, it is another layer in this process).

7) Cover and bake 50 minutes. Uncover and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Because of demand, I can safely say I have always doubled (or tripled or quadrupled) this recipe. If doubling the recipe, I do recommend keeping it split into two baking dishes. If one baking dish is used for a double recipe, it has to bake for about 25 minutes longer and the bottom gets a tad more cooked than is generally cared for.

chocolate birds nests

Frankly, these are just adorable. They are easy peasy, chocolaty adorableness. They are obviously an excellent choice for Easter celebrations and can do double duty as both table decoration and dessert. However, I think that they could be equally charming at an appropriately themed baby shower.
The colored chocolate shell egg candies are made by Cadbury and are my all time favorite Easter candy. I love the way the robins egg blue looks with chocolate, but feel free to not be limited by my own color obsessions.
I have to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that the gift bag presentation below was my husbands idea for how I could use up the extra non-blue candy eggs. I put a layer of the chocolate eggs at the bottom of a cellophane bag and then placed the chocolate bird nest on top. They turned out pretty stinkin' cute.

Chocolate Bird Nests

1 12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 1/2 cups chow mein noodles

1) Place the chocolate chips in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Add the peanut butter and stir again. Microwave for another 1 to 2 minutes until the chocolate and peanut butter are melted and smooth.

2) Add the chow mein noodles to the chocolate/peanut butter mixture. Stir to coat noodles.

3) Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper. Drop large spoonfulls of the chocolate noodle mixture onto the waxed paper. Shape each mound lightly with the spoon (or fingers) into a nest shape.
Place the chocolate eggs into the nests.

4) Let set, uncovered, for several hours (over night is best) until the chocolate hardens. If storing, be sure to place wax paper between layers.


Note: I am aware that these days quite a number of people have peanut allergies. The peanut butter can easily be left out.

weeknight chicken noodle soup

During the work week, my husband and I kind of have an unspoken check in around 4:30pm every day. It's that chance for us to say hello and talk about the evening- confirm late meetings, dinner plans, etc. Sometimes that phone call or email is also the first notification that one of us is not feeling well and that what started out as a sore throat in the morning, has now hideously morphed into a sore throat- smashed sinus- throbbing head cold.
Sickness rarely schedules itself at a good time and getting sick in the midst of the midweek whirl of work, activities, and commitments is always lame. When I am sick (or taking care of someone sick), I want to provide comforting soothing things, like soup.  But the time crunch between the end of the work day and the beginning of the dinner hour does not allow a lot of time for homemade soup making. Enter weeknight chicken noodle soup. I make this for those nights (and really anytime) that I crave homemade soup but do not have the time to poach my own chicken or make my own stock. This is not a magic recipe (it still takes some time, I'd say about 45 minutes) but it is made far less laborious by relying on a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken and pre-made stock.
Is stock made from scratch the best? Absolutely, no dispute there. However, it is also time consuming. For years, I had read in so many cookbooks that the only real way to make soup was to make one's own stock and I must admit I was so completely intimidated that I did not make soup for a long time. Then I realized that we have to keep living and more often than not this means I use store bought chicken stock in my cooking. I take enormous comfort in knowing that Nigella Lawson uses bouillon cubes or concentrated stock pretty regularly in her recipes.
I hope this soup will nourish you and those you love on busy nights. 

weeknight chicken noodle soup

1 lg. yellow onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped (I like to cut them on the bias to make them look pretty)
3 carrots, chopped
1 rotisserie chicken
(3) 32 oz. containers of chicken stock
1 16oz. package of egg noodles (I use about 3/4 of the package)
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch Italian parsley

1) Chop the veggies and cook on medium heat in a large pot with a good glug of olive oil (about 1 tablespoon.) Cook until the onions are translucent. (A fun fact: onions, carrots, and celery all cut up together are referred to in French as a mirepoix and are the starting base for many soups and sauces. I've noticed some grocery stores now carry little tubs of pre-cut mirepoix in the produce department.)

2) Pour in the chicken stock and raise the heat to medium high. While the veggies soften up, shred the rotisserie chicken (discard any skin and bones) and add to the pot.

3) Once the stock is simmering, add the noodles and cook until tender (about 11 minutes). This is a good point to taste the broth for flavor. I prefer a good bit of black pepper in my chicken soup (like grandma makes it) and if the broth feels a bit thin, a couple of teaspoons of chicken bouillon can help.

4) Once the noodles are cooked through I like to stir in a large handful of rough-chopped Italian parsley leaves.

5) Serve a large steaming bowl to someone in need of comfort or cheering up.