The 13th Episode: The Dark Side

Started by Jennifer a.k.a Domestic Goddess, Sugar High Friday has grown and flourished into a mainstay and now, into its 13th episode. This time, Kelli from the lovely blog, Lovescool, is kindly hosting the round-up with her theme, aptly chosen (by chance or not!), chocolate as dark as the image that the number 13 conjures, in honor of the inaugural theme of white chocolate. How lovely! I have a personal preference over dark chocolates. Eating them makes me feel good about all the antioxidants I am consuming! Kelli's challenge to us, is to find something new and interesting to make. I decided to make good use of all the chocolate-themed recipe books I acquired recently as a source of inspiration.

Tribute Cake

This recipe came from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet, the book I am currently in love with because reading it makes me feel as though Alice is talking to me personally and I really appreciate that sort of connection! Yes, that's the tribute cake on the cover of the book.

I made this in honor of J's mom, for her 57th birthday. My intention was to go all fancy with chocolate fans decor and all. But alas, my first attempt at making chocolate fans did not turn out too well, so I conveniently skipped it. I also halved the recipe for the sponge because having made American chocolate-layered cake before, I knew a entire recipe would probably make too much. Lastly, I also prepared brandied cherries to add an additional element to the middle layer. I am happy to report that despite all the little changes and adaptations, there was absolutely no compromise on the taste! Each slice revealed the true glory of the cake and tasted exactly as Alice described. There was the sponge akin to a devil's cake, so very springy and moist. In the middle was the thick, creamy layer of bittersweet ganache, which one would first assume to be too rich if looking at its individual components. But actually it was just the opposite; it looked rich, yes, but each forkful remained so light, not at all sickening but surprisingly addictive.

Bittersweet Decadent Cookies

This recipe also came from the same book. I immediately thought of Rainey's cookies when I read about the promise of "slightly crunchy outside with a ultrachocolatey and soft center". These bittersweet cookies were truely good. This may sound unbelievable but these cookies truely are my absolute favourite now. There was hardly any flour used and each cookie was binded together primarily with melted bittersweet chocolate. Hence I would advise against using compound chocolate. I used a rather good quality bittersweet chocolate which led to a bittersweet jolt from the first bite. The cookies were exactly as I had imagined them to be, mounds of dark temptation, shiny and decorated with random yet artisic cracks. Subsequent bites would reveal a perfect marriage between all the remaining individual components - walnuts and more chocolate chunks. The amount of walnuts called for did seem overwhelming initially but really, it turned out just perfect. I could not help but eat a couple of them soon after they came out of the oven. How can I forget their perfect accompaniment? Yes, a glass of cold milk joined them cookies in my tummy too.