Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

For MDS's Birthday (still 39!), I made this cake. It was delicious. Although the recipe call for sprinkling it with confectioner's sugar, I decided to frost it with cream cheese frosting. Why should carrot cake get the best frosting? Chocolate cake deserves the cream cheese frosting, too. But, I am sure that this cake would be delicious with any frosting or confectioner's sugar.

I am sure Mom made this cake when I was young. True to its name, it is a deep dark chocolate taste. When I made this cake, I halved the recipe and used a 9X9 square pan with a shortened baking time. The recipe below makes a 13X9 inch pan cake or a layer cake. Because the cake was so good, I wish I had made the larger size so we would have more leftover cake.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake 

• 4 squares bakers chocolate
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• confectioner's sugar

Melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add sugar and mix well. blend in the egg yolks and 1 cup of milk. Sift flour with salt; add to chocolate mixture. Mix until dry ingredients are just dampened. Beat for one minute at low speed with an electric mixer or 150 strokes by hand. Add vanilla and 1/2 cup more milk; mix until smooth. Dissolve soda in remaining 1/4 cup milk and quickly stir into batter. Pour into a paper lined 13X9 inch pan. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until cake springs back. Cool. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar or frost. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Nut Ring

Mom is a fan of coffee cakes, so I am not surprised to find recipes for various types of coffee cakes in her recipe box. I remember Mom making coffee cakes like this one, but I do not specifically recall this cake. A coffee cake is intended to be served with coffee or tea and is usually served with breakfast or brunch. But this tasty coffee cake is delicious any time of day. I made this ring to bring to a friend's house for brunch. But the resulting ring was much larger than I anticipated, I had to cut it into pieces to transport it. So of course MDS and I had to taste test it before to make sure it was safe to eat. It was, and, we had to force ourselves to stop eating it, otherwise there would have been none left for our friends.

The recipe uses yeast giving it more of a bread texture and flavor. The dough has eggs and more butter and sugar than most breads so the coffee cake is richer and sweeter than regular bread. I used a little more chopped pecans than the recipe called for and I wish I had used more, so I increased the amount in the recipe listing below.

Brown Sugar Nut Ring 

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 package yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (about 120 degrees)
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• melted butter
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• About 2 cups cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• water

Scald milk. Add butter, sugar, and salt. Stir until sugar dissolves; cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in water; combine with milk mixture. Stir in half the flour; add eggs and beat well. Add enough of the remaining flour to make soft dough. Turn out on lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic. Put in a greased bowl and turn over to coat. Cover and let rise until double in size, about one to two hours.

Turn out dough on a floured surface. Roll dough into a 8X12 rectangle. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts. Roll up like a jelly roll. Shape the roll into a ring on a greased baking sheet. From the outside, make cuts into the ring toward the center, about one inch apart. Turn each cut piece slightly to one side. Brush with butter. Let rise for about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. While still warm, spread with thin confectioner's sugar frosting made from confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and water. Enjoy!

Carrot Hummus

Every year, Mom and I go to St. Louis for opera weekend. The picture here is in front of the set of Madame Butterfly this year. While there, we see four operas in three days and eat lots of good food. One place that we always visit is Big Sky in Webster Groves because it has amazing food and is just down the street from the opera. Big Sky features creative and delicious food. Instead of bread and butter, Big Sky serves up carrot hummus and crackers. I have not made hummus before, but I figured I should give this a try. The recipe made a lot, and I thought I would be eating it for a week. But, it was gone within a day.

The nice thing about hummus is that you could easily change it up to suit your tastes. But try this version. The use of carrots gives this hummus just a slightly sweet taste. Otherwise, the recipe is relatively standard. When I made this, I used three cloves of garlic, but I will use a bit more next time. If the chick peas are dry, you may need to use a bit of water. I ended up having to prepare the hummus in batches using my Magic Bullet blender.

Carrot Hummus 

• 4 carrots, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 3-5 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 15 ounce can chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. tahini
• 1/2 tsp. ground red pepper

Place a tablespoon of the olive oil in a frying pan and saute the carrots and garlic until tender, about fifteen minutes. Allow the carrots to cool. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and puree until smooth. Use more or less liquid (lemon juice or olive oil), if needed. Serve with veggies or crackers. Enjoy!