Posts Tagged ‘chocolate’

Several years ago I saw a Cake Mix Doctor book at a local bookstore and perused it. I later checked it out of the library for some in-depth study. After this I decided to purchase a copy of my own. I have since also bought the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor and another book by this author called the What Can I Bring Cookbook.

The author, Anne Byrn had a cooking column in a newspaper in Tennessee and in one column she asked readers to submit their best recipes for things made from cake mixes. Thus began the idea for the cake books.

My daughter Megan's friend, Kristen, bakes cakes for birthdays at her husband's office and she often uses recipes from the Cake Doctor books. She tried a number of the cakes and both she and Megan really like one called the Lethal Peppermint Cake. Here's a picture of the cake:

This cake is oft requested in our family for birthdays and I also made large two layer sheet cake versions of it for the groom's cake at both DD, Meg and DS-in-law Jim's wedding and at DS, Mark and DD-in-law Katie's weddings. Here's a picture of one of the groom's cakes:

The cake itself is a deep, moist chocolate cake filled with a peppermint buttercream and then frosted with a chocolate ganache icing. This picture shows the peppermint filling:

If you like chocolate and mint you will probably like this cake.

I have tried a number of other recipes from these books and there are several that we really like. The author also has a web-site set up like a newsletter with recipes that are not in the books. One recipe that I found on the web-site that is one of my favorites is the Orange Marmalade Cake. If you have read any of the Jan Karon books you are probably familiar with Esther Bolick's famous Orange Marmalade Cakes (scroll down to the recipe--it's in the newsletter titled 4th slice, from 2006 under the heading Recipe Swap ). I tried several recipes for Orange Marmalade Cakes that I found in magazines that I did not care for, but this one is very, very good.

The first Cake Doctor book has a wide variety of recipes for white, yellow, and spice cakes, fruit flavored cakes, chocolate cakes, bars, cookies, etc. The second book has some of the recipes from the first book but nearly all the recipes contain chocolate or white chocolate. In the second book she has revised some of her recipes just a bit. At the front of both books there are small color plates which picture every recipe in the book. I find this to be very helpful.

So, if you like to bake or need ideas for an upcoming birthday or other celebration cake I would definitely recommend that you check out these books.

Becka

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A while back Deb wrote a post about pies to which I wrote a comment. She suggested that I do a post on pie crust since many people have problems making tender pastry.

I'll begin by telling you a family story. My grandmother, my mother's mother, died when mom was thirteen. She dropped out of school that year (after her eighth grade graduation) to take care of her "kid" brother, Ed, who I believe was about seven or eight years old. Some of the neighbor ladies gave her advice and taught her to cook a few things. She was a very good cook, but she did not really enjoy cooking very much. One thing that she never mastered was pie crust. All during my childhood the only pies that she made had graham cracker crusts. She made all kinds of cream pies with graham cracker crusts.

Sometime while I was away at college my grandmother, my dad's mother, gave her two recipes for pie crust which grandma said were "never fail." One of the recipes contained lard and the other contained an egg and some vinegar. Mom tried these recipes and with a little practice soon began baking absolutely beautiful pies. Her pies could have graced the pages of a cookbook. As the years went on she also used pie crust mix. I think by then her confidence and skill had increased to the point where she could work the pastry without overworking and toughening it.

Here is the version of pie dough that I use the most. It contains an egg and some vinegar, both of which promote tenderness. You can smell the vinegar as the crust bakes, but you cannot taste it. If you haven't found a pie crust recipe that you are satisfied with I hope you will give it a try.

Extra Tender Pastry

2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg beaten
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons water

Stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening until pieces are the size of small peas. In a small bowl blend together the egg, vinegar, and water. Add a few spoonfuls of the flour mixture to the egg mixture to form a paste. Add the paste to the rest of the flour mixture. Press into a ball shape. Divide in half and form into two disk shapes. Wrap each individually with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least twenty minutes. (This step is important and really helps to make the dough easier to work with by fully hydrating the flour.)

You can refrigerate this for a couple of days or place in a ziplock bag and freeze for a few weeks. (Thaw in refrigerator before using.) When ready to use roll the dough as desired and bake according to the recipe you are using.

Here is a really good recipe for a chocolate pie from Hershey's:

Gone to Heaven Chocolate Pie

2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
4 egg yolks
3 cups milk
2 Tbsps. butter or margarine
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups chocolate chips (they recommend the special dark but I usually use semi-sweet)
whipped topping or sweetened whipped cream
1 baked pie shell

Bake pie shell. (Prick with a fork and bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 mins.) Cool. Stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a two quart saucepan. Combine the egg yolks and milk in a container with a pouring spout. Gradually blend the milk mixture with the sugar mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil and stir one minute (this is important). Remove from heat. Stir in butter, vanilla, and chocolate chips. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is well blended. Pour into prepared pie shell.

Press plastic wrap onto filling. Cool and refrigerate several hours or overnight until well chilled and firm. Garnish with whipped topping or cream and additional chocolate chips if desired. Makes eight delicious servings!

Becka

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