Fourth Post

I'm Back!  Pardon me for not posting a blog in a while, I have been in California and found the hotel internet service less than agreeable. My trip was extended to two weeks, getting home at one in the morning last sunday. Up until now, I have had no decent internet access. Hence the bombardment of half remembered tales of baking you will receive if you continue to read. 

First, I will talk about the things I made for the fourth of july. I attempted to make a Flourless Chocolate Torte with Dark Chocolate Glaze. I was supposed to melt butter and chocolate together, then fold it into a fluffy egg mixture. It was after I got a batter with thick bits of molten chocolate floating in it that I realized that I still had the stick of butter, whole and unmelted, on the counter in front of me. Nonetheless, I sent it in the oven. Thirty to thirty-five minuets later, I pulled the spring-form pan out of the oven, and undid the latch. I should have known better. For those of you who are unfamiliar with spring-form pans, it is a pan with removable sides, often used for cheesecakes because you don't have to flip it over to release the contents. Attempting to remove the sides of the pan before the torte had cooled, my cake developed a large crumbling crack, something that a glaze couldn't home to conceal. Darn. Lucky for me, I still had a Chocolate Pecan Pie to bake. The pie uses a recipe for Classic Pie Crust, on a different page, so I will treat it as a separate confection. It was a wonderful crust, light and fluffy, nether hard nor soggy. My only regret: I could have used more. I barely made enough to cover the pan, and should I use this crust again I shall add another half of the recipe to it. The pecan pie was good, but I wish that I hadn't used the whip attachment. I read "In a Large Bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed or with a whisk..." and didn't think that maybe it meant using a normal blender attachment Or by hand with a whisk. The mixture was very fluffy and overabundant, but looked and tasted fine once baked. Also, I made fudge. It was... fudge. Very good, if you like fudge, don't get me wrong. I am of the opinion that there is too much sugar in fudge and not enough chocolate. This fudge was no different, yet by the end of the night, the fudge had disappeared down the throats our fourth of july guests who do like fudge.

A hotel room is not an ideal place for baking. There is an old microwave. There is a mini refrigerator. There is your mother's and grandparents things scattered about the room for you to trip on. Still, I didn't want to spend two weeks without trying to make something. So, I found a cheep blender, measuring cups and spoons, and a glass bowl. I admit to being pretty wasteful, needing only a tablespoon of sugar, but having to buy a whole box. I still brought home the glass bowl, though. I am still uncertain wether to call this a failure or a success. My Mom and Grandparents liked it, so assuming that they were not lying to keep me happy, I think it would be a success. I still haven't told you what I made though! It was a Dark Chocolate Raspberry Shake, made with plenty of substitutions. The raspberry syrup was replaced with triple berry syrup, still containing raspberries but including black berries and strawberries. The vanilla ice cream was replaced by Hagandaas white chocolate raspberry truffle. The saucepan over medium heat was compromised by a small back box emitting cancerous electromagnetic waves. I felt pretty homesick for my kitchen with all of this. The Ganache Mixture turned out to be a Ganache flavored fluid, good thing this was a shake and nobody cared anyway. Still, I would have liked to know what it would have been like if it had turned out perfect, in champaign glasses instead of hilton Styrofoam cups.

There is one more recipe I have to tell you about, the Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake. I love this recipe. It was originally made by Gigi Burton, and she won Ghirardelli's "Is Your Dessert Intense Enough" contest with it. My mom describes it best; it is like a cheesecake or fudge in texture, but not so sugary, it is soft and chocolaty. Intense. I could not find the nine-by-two round pan, so I used a heart shaped pan. It almost came out perfect, except for a small amount of cake at the bottom of the heart that felt like staying in the pan after the rest came out. Kroger was out of the white chocolate bars that I would need to grate over the cake, so I used a handful of white chocolate chips. This brings my ratio to 12:2 in my favor!