Day 62, Chocolate Souffle with Rum Sauce

We all have our druthers, no?  Myself, I've recently proven to be more of a mousse person than a souffle person; however, this rum sauce is to die for.

Again, heartfelt gratitude to Lynne Rosetta Casper and her Splendid Table!  You can find the recipe on her website.

Day 61 Southern Comfort Chocolate Pecan Again - A Friend Graduates from College at 41

   A warm spring evening replete with apricot sky and an outdoor graduation party.  We assembled a decadent potluck dinner, played horseshoes, visited with friends and strangers, and ate hedonistically (like the epicureans we all are, deep down).  A blue heron flew over us, and we launched Adam and several of his buddies  into post college life. 
   Adam is a man of real southern charm and manners, a warm and sweet friend, the only guy I personally know to moonlight as an exotic dancer.  He can have Southern Comfort Chocolate Pecan Cake from me any time he asks, as he did  on this particular occasion.

Little French Fudge Cakes from The Splendid Table, Day 60

   I love these, and they are truly fast to make - start to finish in 35 minutes, even with cleanup.   A friend wonders what they'd be like with a marshmallow filling, but I know they're divine just as the recipe is written. 

Friend looks in on production of Little French Fudge Cakes

 with great approval.

   This recipe, along with plenty more, is on The Splendid Table website.  Thank you, Lynn Rossetta Casper!

Day 59, Another Deep Dish Chocolate Cake and Buttercream Frosting

   Nothing comforts quite like chocolate cake.  This recipe made two little cakes, one for a stressed-out friend and another for someone with a deep sadness, which we hope heals soon.

Paleo-Girl Turns 30, Day 58

   When 21st century people decide to eat like like cavemen, what's the right birthday cake?  I think it must be Michelle Urvater's Rehrucken - that's right, "Chocolate Saddle of Venison" on p. 243 in Chocolate Cake - 150 Recipes from Simple to Sublime.  The only alteration required to bring this recipe in line with prehistoric standards was to substitute honey for the sugar.  A remarkable recipe this, free of butter and flour, light yet happy-tasting with clove, cinnamon, and lemon zest.  Nigella Lawson's Sticky Honey Chocolate Glaze from Feast, page 276,  seemed the perfect frosting.  I will definitely do this one again, even for people who don't want to eat prehistoric.
    If you too want to be leaner, stronger, more energetic just like my 30-year-old friend, google paleo diet  and see how she does it.

Chocolate Decadence Cake Once More, Day 57

Restaurant tile - once I just had to have this floor in my kitchen.  It makes you feel like a real chef, and it cleans up infinitely better than that icky gold carpet that came with the house. ( Only a fast-food knoshing pilot throwing together a summer weekend cabin would even consider kitchen carpet.)  Ceramic tile is as loud and scary to cut as it is heavy and tedious to lay, but it's worth it, and my chef floor pleases me every time I look at it.  Years ago when this back-breaking, harder-than-it looks, time-eating project took shape, my skillful friend agreed to cut tiles in exchange for chocolate cake.  He recently mentioned how that particular cake is just about his favorite.  Which cake  launched a new kitchen floor? Decadence Chocolate Cake.  Just because he brought it up, I baked my handy friend another, and if you'd like to make one, too, the recipe is posted on day 36 of this blog.

Day 56: How to make your own Southern Comfort Pecan Chocolate Cake

5 cups High Altitude Hungarian Flour
1 cup Ghirardelli Dutch-processed cocoa
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 pounds light brown sugar
6 large cage free eggs also at room temperature
1 cup Southern Comfort (Accept no substitutes.)
1 cup Petron Orange Liqueur (Grand Marnier, Harlequin, Triple Sec, or any good orange liqueur will do.)
8 oz. pecans, chopped and lightly toasted
8 oz. Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Put on some Janis Joplin.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Heavily butter and lightly flour your pans.  It takes one 10 inch tube pan and a couple of little foil snack pans.

Sift the first 5 ingredients three times.  Yes, really.  Set these dry ingredients aside for now.

Cream the butter with an electric mixer until the color lightens, and then add the sugar just a little at a time.  When butter and sugar are thoroughly combined, continue to beat for another 5 minutes or so.

Break the eggs into a bowl, and inspect closely for shell bits.  If you find any, of course, remove those.  Add the eggs a little at a time, and beat thoroughly.

Add the dry sifted ingredients to  the butter-sugar-egg mixture gradually, alternating with the liqueurs, continually beating with your electric mixer.

Stir in the pecans and chopped chocolate.  Pour into the pans, and bang them on the counter.

Here's where things get tricky.  It's easy to bake this cake too long and dry it out, so focus and be ready to check frequently!  Use your cake tester or a toothpick.  If it comes out with just a little chocolate stuck, like the perfect brownie - all moist and gooey- then it's ready.  With my ancient oven, I start checking the snack cakes at 10 minutes; usually they are ready after 20 minutes of baking.  When I pull the snack cakes, I throw a flat sheet of aluminum foil over top of the tube cake so the top doesn't burn while the interior bakes.  Check, check, check!  Tube cake usually takes from 35 to even 55 minutes.

Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.  Wrap the snack cakes right in their little pans, but de-pan the larger cake.  Wrap it carefully in plastic wrap to keep it moist.  Probably because of the preservative power of alcohol, this cake keeps well at room temperature for several days.

We like to eat thick slices with whipped cream.

Remember, this is the version for baking at 8,000 feet.  If making this cake at lower altitude, consider a tad more baking soda and baking powder, 2 or 3 more ounces of brown sugar, one less egg, and an oven temp of 350.  I would use cake flour or all purpose flour to bake this closer to sea level.