You've got one week until Valentines' Day. How about chocolate?

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. – Oscar Wilde

This post is originally from two years ago, but since it's one week until Valentine's Day, I though you might like to have it for reference.

Next Friday will be a day full of celebrations as diverse as the couples celebrating it. Some will be going out to dinner (make reservations now!!!), or to a movie, or both. Some of you will also be pulling out all the stops in creating a magnificent feast for the one you love. Most likely some stage of the day will involve chocolate.

A Mayan clay figurine (unknown attribution)

Chocolate through history

Chocolate, from the cacao tree, was unknown in the Old World until Europeans "discovered" Central America in the 1400s.

The cacao tree was worshipped by the Mayan who believed it to be of divine origin. In their language, cacao meant "god food." 

This adoration of cacao continued through to the Aztecs as well. 

Our word "cocoa" is a corruption of the Mayan name.

Chocolate as an aphrodisiac

Chocolate has been used as an aphrodisiac since the time of the Mayans. Emperors would drink cacao mixed with chilli during religious rituals and to increase their fertility and sex drive. Chocolate and chilli is an amazing combination. French courtesans used to feed chocolate to their lovers hoping for the same effect. The ritual of giving chocolate to loved ones continues to this day, in hopes of the same result... sort of.

Chocolate is good for you

Pure dark chocolate is full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.  Antioxidant-rich food effects include increased blood circulation, reduced cholesterol levels, and lowered risks of stroke and heart attack. The magnesium, iron, and vitamin B found in chocolate can also help in preventing other illnesses. 

So maybe the Mayans were onto something. You do have to be healthy to "carouse" properly. At the same time, all things in moderation...

If you're looking for a good dose of chocolate for Valentine's Day, your search is over. How about a rich chocolate cake, complete with pink clove glaze? If it sounds decadent it's because it is.  Yes, I hear you saying "it's only a cake", but it has hints of coffee in the batter and the clove glaze really sends it over the top.

This cake is a snap to make. It is in the oven in 20 minutes – maximum. The glaze takes all of 5 minutes to mix together. If you have the time just before Valentine's Day give it a try. You'' fall in love" with the result.

The batter in the sugar/cocoa dusted pan.

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Pink Clove Drizzle

Prep: 15 min  |  Cook: 45 min to 1 hour

1 tbsp cocoa mixed with 1 tbsp white sugar

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cup white flour

3/4 cups cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1 cup plain yogurt

1 tbsp instant coffee

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

This is what is meant by the cake pulling away from the
edge of the pan. It's a sign the cake is done, or nearly done.

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Grease a bundt or other tube pan with butter and dust the inside with the cocoa sugar mixture. Shake out any excess and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

Combine the milk, yogurt, instant coffee, melted butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix on low. Add the eggs one at a time and beat for 2 minutes. Then add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time and beat well after each addition.

Then slowly add in the remaining dry ingredients. Once combined, turn the mixer to medium and beat the batter for a further 5 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and a cake needle inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

Depending on the pan you use, your time will vary. Start testing for doneness at 45 minutes just to be safe. If using layer pans, start testing at 30 minutes. (The pan I used took 1 hour 5 minutes.)

Allow the cake to partially cool on a wire rack before glazing. While cooling, make the icing and drizzle it on top of the cake. If you glaze it hot the drizzle will just run off.

Pink Clove Drizzle

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tbsp white corn syrup

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

water and food colouring

Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl. Start with 1 tablespoon of water and continue adding a little at a time until you reach the consistency you want, then tint with red food colouring. Only add a drop or two of the food dye at a time and beat well to judge the final colour.

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Peanut Butter & Chocolate Brownies

Change doesn't always mean progress, but the status quo isn't always the best result either. It is merely the most convenient. – Harsha Bhogle

How long does it take you to go to the store and come back home? Is it really all that convenient?

When we lived in Halifax we were one block from the nearest grocery. Even then it would take five minutes each way, and 20 minutes when you were there – if you were lucky. Our grocery was in the heart of university territory, so you could always depend on healthy line-ups at the checkout.

Here, the store is 10 minutes away, and no line-ups. But that’s still 25 minutes if you walk. It’s a darned good convenience store/gas station. It has a lot of stuff, but no extensive bakery like a “proper” grocery store.

The sad thing about grocery baked goods is that they’re not very homemade tasting. There’s something about grocery bakeries that tastes, well, mass produced.

So if you factor in the lack of taste – and time out of your day – to run for an evening snack, why not just stay home and make something? Brownies are a really good choice. They only take 40 minutes from start to finish. That’s 10 minutes more than my trip to the city grocery, and no cash outlay.

Brownies are a great choice for an evening craving. Cakes are finicky and take over an hour. Pies require crust (which scares some people to death). You have to shape cookies and/or bake on multiple cookie sheets.

Brownies are an entirely different matter. One bowl, a whisk and an 8”x8” pan. Mix, pour, bake and scarf down.

These brownies have a chewy interior and that crisp, brittle crust we all love so much. They also have an unusual twist. They’re kind of like a peanut butter cup – the ones where PB is surrounded by chocolate. Except in these it’s all mixed together. Just like when you eat the cups.

I do have to admit, they’re pretty delish. I got the craving at 8pm last night. By 8:40 I had a plate of brownies in front of me, complete with a glass of milk. And I didn’t have to leave the house to get them.

If you like brownies, give this recipe a try. Peanut butter may not be that common an ingredient, but it certainly works. It also makes them a little bit denser – just the way we like them!

I honestly don't see how anyone could muck up this recipe. It's simplicity itself. Just don't over-bake and you're good.

Look at the right side of the pan. That's what
"barely pulling away" looks like.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies

Prep: 10 min  |  Bake: 30 min  |  16 brownies

1/3 cup butter

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8” square pan and set it aside.

Place the butter, peanut butter and oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Nuke on “high” for 1 minute 30 seconds.

After heating the PB, oil and butter, whisk briefly to make smooth. Then whisk in the sugar, flour and cocoa. Then add the eggs, vanilla, salt and baking powder. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. 

Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes, until the brownies just barely start to pull away from the edge of the pan. Do not over-bake, or the brownies will be dry.

Let cool slightly and frost if desired. (But they’re just as good “plain” with their crunchy crust!)

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Quick Nutella Cookies/Whoopie Pies

Writing is the supreme solace. – W. Somerset Maugham 

Sometimes you need chocolate, and quickly. It’s a comfort food. Comfort is what I’ve been searching for lately, and slowly finding. It will come, but I wish more quickly than it is. I guess there are just some things you have to work through in your own head.

It’s strange being here in the house alone. Henry always used to be just one head scratch away. I still see him out of the corner of my eye – on the sofa, in the hall, outside – sort of like he’s here still. I hope I do for a long time yet to come. He was a very, very good boy and constantly loyal friend.

A dog that size (he was a 115 lb Bouvier) is like having your own live, oversized teddy bear, but with tons of kisses. He got plenty of hugs and kisses returned, believe me. I miss him terribly.

But for now, cookies will have to do, albeit a very poor substitute. And far less hairy. I miss all that hair, even when found in my cookies.

A manageable amount of batter. Not 3 dozen cookies.

I made these a few nights ago. Once they were baked, I wished I had bought some Fluff (the whipped marshmallow stuff). They would have made exceptional whoopie pies.

This is my own take on Nutella cookies, slightly different than many I saw “out there.” This makes more of a cake-style cookie, much like original whoopie pies that most likely were first made from leftover cake batter. (Is there such a thing?)

Of course, Nutella isn’t the most healthy of confections. I believe modified palm oil is the second ingredient. But it does taste of hazelnut, which gives these an interesting twist.

People take their whoopie pies, and their provenance, seriously.

This is from Wikipedia:

Pennsylvania, Maine, and New Hampshire all claim to be the birthplace of the Whoopie pie. In 2011, the Maine State Legislature considered naming the whoopie pie the official state pie. The proposal received bipartisan support. L.D. 71, officially known as "An Act to Designate the Whoopie Pie as the State Dessert", read "The whoopie pie, a baked good made of two chocolate cakes with a creamy frosting between them, is the official state dessert".

The Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau and other observers in Lancaster County, PA, note that the whoopie pie comes from the area's Amish and Pennsylvania German culture – origins that are unlikely to leave an official paper trail – and has been handed down through generations. Most likely, Amish groups that migrated to Maine brought the treat to the people of Maine. Mainers assert that Labadie's in Lewiston, Maine has been making the confectionery since 1925. The now-defunct Berwick Cake Company of Roxbury, Massachusetts had been making the "Whoopee Pie" since 1931 and it is also claimed that the whoopie pie originated there in Massachusetts and spread both north and south. It appears though that German immigrants brought the predecessor of the Whoopie Pie to communities throughout the northeast.

The Maine Legislature eventually decided to declare the whoopie pie the official state treat, and chose blueberry pie (made with wild Maine blueberries) as the official state dessert.

So there you have it. These cookies went together in minutes, were easy to put on the cookie sheet (just one sheet), made a manageable amount, and baked without burning. What more can you ask.

A perfect metaphor for my mood: slightly out of focus.

Quick Nutella Cookies

Prep: 10 min  |  Bake: 15 min  |  Yield about 16 cookies

1 cup Nutella

1 cup white flour

1/2 cup milk

1 lg egg

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

If making Whoopie Pies:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup icing sugar

1 cup marshmallow fluff

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (for ease of clean-up).

Combine the cookie ingredients together with a mixer. You have to make sure the Nutella is well mixed in. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto the sheet to make 16 cookies.

Bake for 15 minutes. They will be puffed but not browned around the edges.

Let cool slightly. If making whoopie pies, mix together the filling, spread evenly on 8 of the cookies, top with a second cookie and serve.

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Mint Chocolate Avocado Pudding

A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open. – Francis Bacon 

It tastes as good as it looks.

I’m late to the party on this one I believe. How many of you have heard of chocolate pudding made with avocado?

Don’t be too surprised if you haven’t. But now that I have secret chocolate avocado aficionados are coming out of the woodwork.

I didn’t hear about it until the other evening when a friend mentioned having it at a staff/retirement party. She said it was the best chocolate pudding she had ever had. It’s those type of statements that pique one’s interest. It did mine.

The lurking stranger. Photo: Wiki CC

The next day I went looking to see how to make this rare delight, mostly because I had avocado sitting on my counter that desperately needed to be used. 

I found recipes for chocolate avocado pudding everywhere. The basics were the same, recipe to recipe to recipe. The devil was in the details.

One person used an overripe banana to sweeten; another person used agave nectar.

Most used almond milk but some used coconut; others used cacao instead of chocolate, or melted chocolate. None used mint. I thought that was a severe oversight.

Just put everything in the blender...

Besides the avocado I happened to have just made almond milk. So it seemed writ large for me to make this. Unexpected question needing an answer, one might say.

So how does it taste? Like very rich, chocolatey, minty pudding. How does it look? The same way. Really, it does. You would be hard pressed to tell there was avocado in it.

We were gifted some garden mint by a good friend so that was the inspiration for my variation. If you’ve ever had fresh garden mint you’ll know it has a strong minty taste. It’s certainly not peppermint (which I think would also be good).

Hopefully this pudding will freshen my breath while I eat! It is vegan, but this ain’t no diet food.

First, it’s chocolate. Second, it’s avocado – a very fatty fruit. Third, it has a lot of honey. If you can get past that you’ve got it licked. I did some licking myself with this recipe: the spoon, the blender blades, my fingers, the bowl...

This is good stuff. I now have another reason to buy avocados when I see them on sale!

and purée. Scrape down the sides a couple times.

Mint Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Time: 15 minutes  |  Yield: 4 servings

2 ripe avocado, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup almond milk

1-1/2 tbsp fresh chopped mint
1 tsp extract of vanilla

pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a blender. Pulse until the avocado is broken up, then purée until smooth.

Divide between 4 ramekins, decorate with mint sprigs and refrigerate until ready to serve.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Go get a spoon.

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The Pie that’s a Cake: Boston Cream Pie

The essence of life is finding something you really love and then making the daily experience worthwhile. – Denis Waitley

Way better than store-bought.

You’ve seen them at the grocery store in the desserts cabinet of the baking section. Glossy chocolate atop yellow cake that’s been spit and filled with cream… with one glistening maraschino cherry (with a stem) on top…

It looks delicious. Don’t be fooled. 

If I had a dollar for every time I was sucked in by the allure of those Boston Cream Pies I would be a rich man. Well maybe not rich, but I would have all those dollars, plus what it cost me to buy the cakes!

The ones we purchase at both our grocery chains leave something to be desired. Have you ever bought a black forest cake or birthday cake at one of those counters? If you have, you know what I mean. I know they're doing their best, but they taste…"fake”. 

Fake cake. How is that even possible?

A Boston Cream Pie isn’t an insignificant undertaking. There’s three recipes involved: the cake, pastry cream, and glaze. Luckily each recipe is very easy.

I made mine on New Years Day (part of my "try things I don’t like" resolution) and needed the better part of a day for the baking, cooling and assembling.

But it was worth it. Oh my, was it worth it. Four pieces worth it. Never, ever, ever, ever again will I allow one of those cakes to fall into my shopping basket at the grocery. The difference is dramatic to say the least.

But why is this cake called a pie? For that we have to look at some history.

History of the Boston Cream “Pie”

In times past the dividing line between cake and pie was far less defined than today. Home cooks were well versed in making baked goods and would have had all the necessary bakeware for them at hand.

Cook's tip: To cut one cake into layers make a small slit in
the side and then pull thread through. Works like a charm.

In the New England of the 1800s pie dishes were far more common than cake tins. The first version of this cake may very well have been baked in pie tins, hence the name. Boston Cream Pie is quite similar to an earlier baked standard called “pudding cake pie.”

In 1856 the Parker House Hotel opened in Boston. It was the first Boston hotel to have both hot and cold running water. Fancy. They also had an Armenian-French chef, M. Sanzian. It is he who is credited with popularizing the “pie” in its present form.

His dessert was called Parker House Chocolate Cream Pie. As it moved beyond Boston, it retained the Massachusetts tie in its name – Boston Cream Pie. I don’t know if the chocolate refers to the topping, as today, or if the cake was actually chocolate. If anyone knows let me know in the comments.

Regardless, it gained wide popularity. No wonder. It's a fantastic dessert.

In 1996, Boston Cream Pie was declared the official state dessert of Massachusetts. It beat out Toll House cookies and Indian pudding, two other stellar desserts.

Boston Cream Pie

Prep: 15 min  |  Bake:  50-60 min

1-1/4 cups sugar 

3/4 cup butter, softened 

2 large eggs 

1-1/2 cups cake flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1 tbsp vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place a piece of waxed paper on the bottom of a 9” spring form pan. Close the paper up into the ring to make a seal. Butter and flour the inside. Set aside.

Combine the butter and sugar in a bowl. Cream together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating each in well.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then half the milk, 1/3 more dry, the remainder of the milk, and the remaining dry. Beat well and then stir in the vinegar and vanilla.

Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pan and place it in the oven. Bake on the middle rack for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the centre. 

(Timing note: while the cake is baking, make the pastry cream and chill it.)

Remove from oven and let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack. Once cool, cut the cake into two equal layers.

Invert the top layer onto a cake plate or other tray (so the cooked top is facing down). Spoon the pastry over the cut side and smooth it out. Place the second layer of cake on top.

Make the glaze and immediately pour it over the cake. Smooth it out with a knife so it reaches the edge. The glaze will will set up in about 15 minutes.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

Prep: 5 minutes  |  Cook: 10 minutes  |  Chill : 1 hour

1-1/4 cups whole milk

3 egg yolks

¼ cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp flour

1 tbsp butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, warm 1 cup of the milk over low heat until it is just scalding (scalding is when small bubbles form at the edge of the pan but the milk is not boiling). 

While the milk is warming, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup of milk and the egg yolks in a bowl. Then add the sugar and flour and mix until completely smooth.

Once the milk is steaming, add 1/4 cup of it to the eggs and whisk well. Then add another 1/4 cup and whisk again.

Transfer the egg mixture to the rest of the hot milk and continue whisking. Cook on medium heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. The custard will fall in ribbons from the whisk. 

Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and butter, and chill. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream before refrigerating to prevent a skin from forming.

This pastry cream recipe can be used to fill many other pastries as well – not just this cake.

Soft Chocolate Glaze

Time: 5 min

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tbsp milk (or more)

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder. Using a fork or whisk, stir in the milk until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Stir in the vanilla extract.  

If not using immediately, put plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin, but you should use it right away as it has a tendency to set up and will be harder to get smooth later.

Even set up the glaze will be easy to cut. It will just be harder to get on the cake than if it's used right away.

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Holiday Recipe: Almond Apricot Ginger Bark

Whoever thought a tiny candy bar should be called fun size was a moron. – Glenn Beck

Toasted almonds, apricots and canided ginger. Yum...

That’s probably the only time I have ever agreed with Glenn Beck. There’s a first time for everything, so they say.

It’s December the 26th. If you’ve yet been able to move yourself from your favourite chair you may have made your way over to the chocolates that were given to you as a gift.

But – horror of horrors – what if you didn’t get any? Although hard to believe, I do have the answer for you in case you’re in that predicament. Homemade almond bark.

This is the first time I’ve made a bark. There’s all kinds of recipes out there. Some take almonds or any other nut. Some have no nuts at all, like candy cane bark. Some combine white and dark chocolate in a decorative swirl.

Since it seems to be open season on what goes into bark, I decided to put my own particular twist in mine, as you would expect.

This all started because I found myself in possession of a cup of candied ginger. It was a by-product of making ginger syrup. I couldn’t just let it go to waste. 

If you don’t have any candied ginger just hanging around other candied peels can be substituted. I believe you can purchase them pre-candied at the grocery – possibly ginger as well.

I saw a recipe that contained apricots and almonds and I though a great accompaniment would be my ginger.

Almond bark is unbelievably easy to make. Some recipes call for melting the chocolate over a double boiler and other complicated procedures. I did a work around by adding cream (just a little) to my chocolate.

No need for a double boiler and the end result is a bark that is a little softer than the just chocolate variety that shatters when you bite it.

This isn’t an instant gratification type of recipe. You have to wait for the chocolate to re-harden. But it’s worth it.

Just in case you don’t have enough cookies and candies hanging around, give this a try. The bits of hot sweet ginger are an unexpected pleasant surprise.

Almond Apricot Ginger Bark

Prep: 15 min  | Cook: 8 min  |  Yield about 36 pieces

1-1/2 cup toasted almonds

1 cup dried apricots

1 cup candied ginger slices

16 ounces (squares) semi-sweet chocolate

1/2 cup cream

1 tsp almond or vanilla extract

If using non-roasted almonds, toast them slightly in the oven until the skins begin to brown slightly, about 5-6 minutes. Crush slightly.

Chop the apricots into thin slivers. Chop the candied ginger into fine pieces.

Melt the chocolate by placing the cream in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the chocolate and stir constantly until completely smooth. Do this slowly. the mixture will just barely be steaming.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Then add the almond, apricot and ginger.

Mix well and spread out to about 1/4” thickness on a foil lined baking sheet.

Let cool on the counter until set. Then cut into approximately 1-1/2” squares. 

If you wish, hurry the process along by refrigerating the bark. Make sure you gut it before it's too cold!

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Recipe: Best Whisky Brownies

It only takes a small oven to produce a half-baked idea. – Brandy Brandon

Chewy and moist. The whisky doesn't add so much flavour as it does "depth."

We all have them – "sweets" cravings that strike around 8pm after the fullness of dinner has settled down a bit. But what do you do about it?

If you live in the city or town, it's as easy as stepping out the door and walking to the store – or taking a short drive. If you live in the country you probably have to make your own fun.

Actually, I take some of the first statement above back. It should be as simple as walking out your front door and going to the store. That's not always the case.

Whisky. A person could use one of these after a Tuesday
trip to our local grocery... Photo: RodBegbie, Flickr ccl

I’ve taken to making my own evening snacks as of late. The reason for this is three-fold.

First, it’s cheaper to make my own baked goods at home, and secondly they're better for me – even if they're brownies. At least they don’t have any preservatives or "artificial this" or "stabilizer that" often contained in factory-baked goods.

The third (more to the point) reason for making my own treats comes back to about it not always being simple to go to the store. 

I only live about one block from the nearest grocery store. My craving was on a Tuesday night, and Tuesday is no-tax day for university students. The line-ups at the checkouts are frightening. A simple trip 20 minute trip to the grocery can take over 3/4 of an hour.

From start to out-of-the-oven this brownie recipe only takes 1/2 hour.

It’s actually faster to make brownies at home than go buy them on a Tuesday. And they taste better. What do you think of that?

So why settle for those store-bought fluffy things when you can make your own chewy delights, complete with hints of whisky and of cardamom spice? Especially when at the store a tray will cost you upwards of $5. The ingredients for homemade are probably less than $1.

Kind of a no-brainer, right?

I have a 375ml bottle of whisky kicking around so it's finding its way into all kinds of things lately. You can substitute your favourite liqueur if you wish, with equally good results.

Try orange liqueur, coffee liqueur, amaretto, etc. You can also play with the spice: cloves, cinnamon, mace or even cayenne...

How to tell when brownies are "done." They start to pull
away from the edge of the pan. When I took them out of
the oven it was half this much, but quickly contracted
on the counter.

Whisky Cardamom Brownies

Prep: 5 minutes  |  Bake: 20-25 minutes | Makes 16

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tbsp whisky

1/2 tsp extract of cardamom

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x9 oven-proof dish.

Whisk the vegetable oil and both sugars in a mixing bowl until blended. Then beat in the eggs, whisky, cinnamon and cardamom extract.

Add the cocoa powder and baking powder and mix well. Then add the salt and flour. Beat until all incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the  brownies have started to slightly pull away from the edges of the pan.

Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting into squares.

Grab a glass of milk and enjoy!

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Recipe: Mocha Cayenne Cake with Cardamom Glaze

One should not confuse the craving for life with endorsement of it. – Elias Canetti 

All in all, a very quick cake to pull off.

I had a craving last night for chocolate and peppermint but instead of going to the store I went to the cupboard. It’s all part of my redoubled drive to “make” rather than “buy.”

I was prepared to bake to save some dough, pardon the pun. I thought I must have peppermint extract in my pantry “somewhere”. 

Homemade cardamom extract. Recipe link
is above at right.

I looked high and low. No peppermint extract. That’s why this cake isn’t a peppermint cake. So what to do…what to do…

I had some homemade vanilla extract (boring…) and some clove (already did that…) and some cardamom extract. I made all these extracts in the start of the Spring. They are at full strength now. For my vanilla, cardamom and clove extracts click the word links.

So cardamom it was. Close enough for government work, as the saying goes. But the cake. What about the cake?

I was torn between cookies, cake and brownies. Cookies can be quick to mix and bake but are a lot of work sometimes when you’re craving at 8pm. So I wanted something dense.

Besides me, what would that be? There are cake recipes that use melted butter rather than creaming butter and sugar. This reduces the prep time, but also the rise of the cake and makes a denser, almost fudgey, end result.

That sounded about right. That way I would get all the qualities I wanted: fast, chewy and delicious.

Of course the odd-ball ingredient in all of this is cayenne pepper. Have you ever had a Mexican Coffee? If not, the recipe is here. They’re great! Cayenne, in coffee, cookies or cake, adds an interesting spiciness that you can’t get any other way.

This cake  – a dense little wonder – is a cross between cake and brownie. You could bake it in a regular cake pan if you wished. I baked mine in a bundt pan just for the fun shape.

There’s a reason people say “that’s the icing on the cake.” The glaze helps boost the cardamom taste three-fold.

So was my craving to save satisfied too? I would say this cake probably cost about half the purchase price of a store-bought pound cake, or less. Is it better? Oh, please...

I guess I’ll have to figure out how to make my own peppermint extract soon. I don't want that kind of disappointment again if I can avoid it.

Mocha Cayenne Cake with Cardamom Glaze

Prep: 10 min  |  Bake: 30 min  |  Yield: 1 small cake

1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 tsp cardamom extract

1/2 cup strong coffee (made double strength)

1/2 cup milk

glaze

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp cardamom extract

As you can see, this is not a fluffy cake. If you like dense and delicious,
this one's for you.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl and whisk until there are no lumps, and the dry ingredients are all combined.

Add the butter, eggs, cardamom extract, coffee and milk and whisk until smooth. Make sure the butter and coffee aren't too hot or they'll cook the eggs. Warm is best, not hot. That's all there is to it.

Prepare the bundt pan by buttering and coating with confectioner sugar. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Another clue to a “done” cake is that it will start to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a finger pressed lightly on top will not leave an indentation.

Mix together the icing sugar, milk and cardamom extract. Let the cake cool slightly and then drizzle with the glaze.

Best served warm but is more than adequate the next day. I had some for breakfast...

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