Chocolate | Fifty-Two Cakes: Baking Recipes

August 6, 2011June 17, 2017

Cake 51: Chocolate Pomegranate Cake

Let me tell you a little something about cake 52. Have you heard of the Pumpple cake? Some have deemed it the “turducken of cake.” Well, I’m about to take that and make it 225% more awesome. For cake #52, I will be making cookie inside pie inside cake, times three layers. That’s nine different flavors of sugary goodness. That’s probably 3,000 calories in a complete slice if I were to slice it top-to-bottom. My husband just finished drawing the schematics, I’ve chosen the flavors I’m going to do, and it may take me a few weeks to finish it, so bear with me, but I intend to make it. I will post all the prep materials, photos and videos of the process, and people’s reaction when I unveil this cake at an event in a few weeks. No practice round, no margin for error, I have to get it right the first time. Tell your friends – this is something you’re not going to want to miss.

And without further ado, Cake 51. We’re near the end. Pomegranate was my brother’s idea. It was a good one.

Chocolate Pomegranate Cake Recipe Ingredients

2 cups pomegranate juice (We used POM Wonderful)
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups butter, softened
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
A handful of chocolate covered pomegranate seeds or chocolate covered dried cranberries for garnish

Chocolate Pomegranate Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a round bundt pan. Heat the pomegranate juice and sugar on high until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about a half hour, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Mix a half-cup of cold water and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch if your mixture doesn’t seem to be thickening. You want to end up with a thick pomegranate syrup. Mix 1 cup of pomegranate syrup, the egg whites and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk briefly. Set aside. In your kitchen mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the softened batter, and mix on a low speed until it’s completely incorporated. Add the liquid mixture about a half cup at a time and beat until completely blended. Do not overbeat. Pour into your prepared bundt pan. We had extra batter so we also made 6 cupcakes out of the rest. Cupcakes should be baked about 20 to 23 minutes. The cake baked for about 40 minutes. If you did two 9-inch round pans instead, try 25 to 30 minutes to start. To garnish the cake, we melted the 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a double boiler and basically “painted” the chocolate onto the cake. We drizzled the remaining pomegranate syrup over that. Then, we topped it with chocolate-covered dried cranberries (because Whole Foods didn’t have chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds or just plain pomegranate seeds in season right now).

June 10, 2011June 17, 2017

Cake 43: Chocolate Pistachio Cake

Looking back, I think it would have been better to somehow use pistachio pudding mix or the pudding itself, in addition to the whole shelled pistachios. It would’ve really brought out the pistachio flavor instead of just being a standard buttercream with pistachios in it on a plain chocolate cake. I may also consider adding pistachios into the batter. Worth trying! The cake was still tasty nonetheless.

Chocolate Cake Recipe Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
3 eggs, room temperature
2 cups flour, sifted
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups milk

Chocolate Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9″ round cake pans – I used butter and cocoa powder instead of flour to prepare my pans. Allow the eggs and butter to come to room temperature. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Give them a good stir with a whisk and then set aside. In your kitchen mixer, beat the butter until fluffy, then gradually add the sugar a bit at a time and beat until completely combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then beat for another 2 minutes or so until you get the light and fluffy butter-sugar mixture. Add the eggs one at a time and beat just until blended, then add the vanilla. Alternate adding the dry ingredients mixture and the milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour the chocolate cake batter into a prepared bundt pan until no more than 2/3 full, and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. Let the cake cool 15 to 20 minutes or so, and run a knife around the edges before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. I was not able to ice my cakes for two days after I made mine, so I wrapped them in plastic wrap and stored them in the refrigerator. They did great.

Pistachio Buttercream Recipe Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
1/2 to 1 cup de-shelled pistachios

Pistachio Buttercream Recipe Directions

If any of you try it, please take pics and send your recipe over and I’ll amend this post! Whip the butter in your mixer for a minute or so, then begin adding the powdered sugar about a half-cup at a time mixing on a medium-high speed. Add the vanilla extract, and if you want a more spreadable consistency, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the texture you want. Add 1/2 to a full cup of crushed, de-shelled pistachios as you see fit.

April 15, 2011June 17, 2017

Homemade Thin Mint Cookies Recipe

They’re delicious, and they’re in the right ballpark, but I’ll be the first to admit, “Close, but no cigar.” You’ll still have to buy piles and piles of delicious, calorie-ridden Thin Mint cookies from your favorite local Girl Scout to get a taste of the real thing. This homemade thin mint cookie recipe is still delicious, though!

Homemade Thin Mint Cookie Recipe Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup butter, separate from the other
Fresh mint leaves

Homemade Thin Mint Cookie Recipe Directions

Beat the softened butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg, mint extract and chopped mint leaves. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt together in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients mixture in parts, about 1/3 at a time and beating well after each addition. Divide the cookie dough in half. Lightly flour your work surface. Roll the thin mint cookie dough up from the long end into a long, tight roll about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. Wrap them in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight (or at least 5-6 hours). When you’re preparing to bake, put your rolls of thin mint cookie dough in the freezer. Get out your cookie sheets and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. After a half hour or so, pull out your cookie dough rolls and slice them 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick with a sharp knife. If you had trouble rolling your dough into a long roll and your cookies are a little thin, feel free to squish your disc down a bit if you like. Bake about 10 minutes minutes. While the cookies are cooling, melt your butter and chopped chocolate in a double boiler, stirring semi-constantly to avoid it scalding or burning. While the cookies are warm but nearing room temperature, plop them in the chocolate mixture and turn over once or twice to coat completely, then cool on a wire rack with waxed paper below it to catch the drippings, or directly on wax or parchment paper if you want. While the chocolate on the thin mint cookies is cooling, press a fresh mint leaf into the chocolate on the cookies that will be presented and eaten in the next day or so! Cute.

March 4, 2011June 17, 2017

Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe

This fabulous, incredible, amazing recipe was modified from the recipe at Post Punk Kitchen. Her recipe absolutely blew my mind, and I ate 5 cookies in one sitting. I was out of control. I had one more for breakfast this morning. I put what was left of the batch of cookies into containers to send my husband in Afghanistan – those guys and gals on the base are going to love them. These things are incredible. I can’t say enough good things about the recipe. So here it is, the Mexican hot chocolate snickerdoodle cookie recipe, slightly modified from the original recipe.

Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe Ingredients

1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons milk (or almond milk if vegan)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (or chocolate extract, per the original recipe)
1 2/3 cups flour, sifted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/3 cup sugar (for topping)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (for topping)

Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside until later. In a mixing bowl, blend the canola oil, sugar, maple syrup and milk, then add the extracts. Sift in the dry ingredients a bit at a time, stirring in each addition. It’ll be a thick cookie dough. Roll into a disc of your desired cookie size, roll in the cinnamon-sugar topping, then line on the cookie sheet an inch or two apart. Bake for about 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Gratitude and apologies to Isa Chandra Moskowitz and the Post Punk Kitchen blog for this amazing, incredible cookie recipe for Mexican hot chocolate snickerdoodle cookies. Really – WOW!

February 23, 2011June 17, 2017

Cake 28: Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cake

What are some good uses for leftover red wine? Trick question. There’s no such thing as leftover red wine. Well, I just so happen to have 3/4 of a bottle of cabernet sauvignon that I have no intention of polishing off by myself, so what better use for it than putting it into a cake? This should be a delightful one for all you chocolate and wine lovers out there. (Giving credit where credit is due, this recipe is modified from this recipe on Delish.) The batter reminds me of my favorite ice cream from Columbia, Missouri local ice cream shop Sparky’s — their red wine Ghirardelli ice cream. It’s incredible.

Chocolate Red Wine Cake Recipe Ingredients

1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup cabernet sauvignon or other red wine, room temperatur
1/4 cup grated bittersweet chocolate or dark chocolate

Chocolate Red Wine Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a bundt or tube pan. In one bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In your kitchen mixer, combine the softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Then alternate adding the dry ingredient mixture and red wine a bit at a time, starting and ending with dry ingredients. Fold in the grated dark chocolate with a spatula. Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until your tester comes out clean and the cake springs back when gently pressed. Cool for about 15 minutes, then turn out of the pan to cool on a wire rack or your serving dish.