Eat Drink and Blog » mcqueenie23

Chocolate Cake

mcqueenie23 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:00:19 +0000

I’m not a huge cake person but I LOVE this chocolate cake!!

Chocolate Cake

8 oz dark chocolate pieces
2/3 cup butter
1 cup of sugar
4 eggs
4 heaping tablespoons of flour
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 teaspons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons of sour cream
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
9 oz semi sweet chocolate pieces

Line cake tin with grease paper and grease, melt dark chocolate pieces over
water, beat together eggs and sugar, mix in flour, cocoa powder,
baking powder and vanilla extract. Slowly fold in the melted butter
and chocolate mix with the sour cream. Bake suggested temp at 350
until toothpick is clean 40 minutes… Cut cake in half horizontally (I put half the batter into two 9 inch round cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes so I don’t have to deal with that cutting horizontally nonsense!)

Frosting:

Heat heavy cream in sauce pan so that it doesn’t burn and do not boil,
remove from heat, stir in semi sweet pieces, cool until thick. Then frost in between the two layers, and then all over the cake.

Tomato Bisque Soup

mcqueenie23 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:00:28 +0000

I have an over abundance of tomatoes at the moment from my garden so even though it’s still warm out, I just made this soup. I’ve made this soup a few times and it’s the best tomato soup I’ve ever had. It goes perfectly with grilled cheese!

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium red onion

8 large ripe red tomatoes
peeled, seeded, and chopped

4 cups Chicken stock

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup heavy cream

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped basil

DIRECTIONS

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the
onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 7 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, basil and sugar and bring to a boil over
high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the liquid
is reduced by one quarter, about 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.

In a blender, puree the soup in several batches until smooth, 2 to 3
minutes per batch. Strain into a clean pot and bring to a simmer over
medium heat. Turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Season to
taste with salt and pepper. Reheat gently over low heat. (This can be
made up to 2 days in advance; cover and refrigerate.)

Tahitian Vanilla Bean, White Chocolate, Key Lime Creme Brulee

mcqueenie23 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:04:11 +0000

3 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup plus 6 teaspoons sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

7 ounces imported white chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

7 large egg yolks

4 teaspoons minced grated lime peel

Garnish: lime peel or fresh mint sprigs

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Place cream and 1/4 cup sugar in medium saucepan over medium heat. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to simmer stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Stir in lime juice. Remove bean.

Beat egg yolks and lime peel in medium bowl until smooth. Gradually whisk in hot cream mixture. Divide among six 6-ounce ramekins or souffle cups. Place cups in large baking pan. Pour in enough hot water to come half way up sides of cups.

Bake until just edges are set and 90% of custard jiggles but is not too fluid, about 35 minutes. Remove from water bath and let cool at room temperature. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar evenly over each custard. Use torch to melt and caramelize sugar, or broil about 2 minutes, watching carefully and rotating cups. Let stand until sugar hardens or chill 15 minutes to 2 hours.