Flourless Chocolate Cakelettes

I must get a new recipe to experiment with in every Bon Appetit. This month the cover shows a flourless chocolate cake. I had to try it out and thought it would be a perfect addition to the teas I'll be cooking for. I wanted to make finger food so I cut each piece small and coated them with the ganache topping. They were intense dark chocolate. These were taste tested at the office and with friends and found to be perfect for chocoloholics but a little messy on the fingers. The recipe makes a whole cake. I can't imagine having an entire slice. My niece was in town and helped with the ganache coating. She's becoming quite a cook and has started her own blog.

For the tea I cut them into small rounds and put them in papers. I had melted white chocolate just begging to decorate some. I must say they looked quite snazzy on a tiered tea tray. The 1 inch circles were just the right size.

Here's how I did the cakelettes:

Cake

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon)

unsalted butter, diced

18 ounces bittersweet chocolate - chopped

6 large eggs

Ganache

1 cup heavy whipping cream

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Lightly sweetened whipped cream

For cake: Preheat oven to 350

Butter 8 x 8 square pan. Combine 1 cup water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring toboil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in microwave and add chocolate whisking until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly. Beat eggs and add a spoonful of the chocolate to the eggs to temper then add the egg mixture to the chocolate and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan.

Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken. Check at 40 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. Cool completely in pan. Remove cake. I used a silicone pan which made the unmolding very easy. Lining the pan with foil would also be helpful. Using 1" circle cutter cut rounds dipping the cutter in hot water between each cut. For squares cut the entire cake into 1" squares.

Ganache

Bring whipping cream to simmer in microwave. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth.

Cool slightly. Frost the tops of each cakelette with the ganache. Refrigerate until set. Decorate with nuts, coconut, nonpariels or white chocolate - or whatevery you like!

Chutney Crisis

They've taken my chutney away! During the past week I've been in full production mode for a tea I was cooking for. Experimenting and trying new things is one fun part of this but I stick to one or two tried and true things. Chicken salad made with Trader Joe's Mango Chutney in mini cream puff shells is always reliable. I used the last of the jar to have my girlfriend taste test it and she pronounced it delicious. Even my significant other liked it. Yay! The subtle spices and touch of sweetness it adds makes it taste different than everyday chicken salads and is just plain good. I was relieved not to have to experiment on this. The next night my friend called and informed me that Trader Joe's has discontinued the chutney. No! Now I had a quest on my hands. Harry and David's Mango Chutney was good but not the same and I used it with satisfactory results. It actually looks better in the jar. Smart & Final has one I'll have to try. The color is the same.

Rant begins here:

How could they do this to me and the chutney loving public? Am I going to have to make it myself? I don't even really know what chutney is exactly but I count on it. I just want to stroll into my neighborhood Trader Joe's and pick up a jar. There are lots of references on the web to this exact ingredient. Epicurious.com recommends it. Someone make them bring it back!

OK, I feel better now.

Peaches are wonderful right now and I had one big ripe one I wanted to use. Fresh peach pie only happens for a short time and I didn't want to miss the window. I again experimented and had a happy, if small, success with this version. I used a 4 1/2 inch springform. It's a nice size for a small dessert.

Fresh Peach Tart
1 cup flour
1 tsp orange peel
2 TB butter
2 TB brown sugar
Mix and pat into pan bake 10 minutes at 350 until golden


1 large peach - sliced
1 tsp brown sugar
Combine and let macerate

For the glaze combine and bring to boil in saucepan:
1/4 cup orange juice
1 TB Grand Marnier
1 TB brown sugar
1/2 TB cornstarch
Stir until thickened and cool completely. Mix with peaches and place mixture in crust. Decorate with whipped cream.

I love the almond-peach flavor combination. I wonder how some Amaretto would work in the glaze. . .

Overnight guests gave me an excuse to cook an interesting breakfast and my significant other requested the roulades I had made for a get together in San Diego. Sara Moulton made them with Serrano Ham and Manchego Cheese but the great thing about this recipe is that you can put anything inside.
This is the third time I made them and was not worried because they came out both times. My secret weapon was silicon parchment paper, but this time I used Easy Release foil, and adjusted the recipe for medium eggs. Perhaps the earlier successes made me a little cocky and I rushed a bit. When I tried to do the rolling a lovely split showed up. A little extra cheese hid most of the damage but the spiral really didn't show up very well when they were cut. Today, instead of the ham and cheese I put in sausage and cheese. I also made a small one for a non-cheese eater. That one at least looked good.

Roulades:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 1/4 cups whole milk, heated
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Filling:
2 cups coarsely grated cheddar cheese
3 ounces cooked breakfast sausage

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a buttered 15 by 10 (1-inch) jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper, dust with flour, and tap out the excess.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Increase the heat to high, whisk in the milk, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in the egg yolks 1 at a time. Season with the salt and pepper. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Stir 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in the rest. Pour the batter into the bottom of the prepared pan and smooth gently with a metal spatula. Transfer to the oven and cook until golden and firm to the touch, about 15 minutes.

Increase the oven heat to 375 degrees F. Cover the egg sponge with a buttered piece of parchment paper, buttered side down. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and invert onto a work surface. Peel off the paper from the top.

Sprinkle the cheese over the sponge, leaving a 1/2-inch border on all sides. Arrange the crumbled sausage and on top. Place a flat baking sheet next to the sponge. Starting with 1 of the longer sides, use the towel to help roll the sponge up jelly roll fashion. Carefully roll onto the baking sheet pan. Return the roulade to the upper third of the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, 8 to 10 minutes. Use a serrated knife to cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

I made biscuits too. The biscuit recipe I use is the result of a quest started by a challenge from my significant other. He remarked, after my first attempt at biscuits, that the best biscuits he ever ate were at the Homstead in Jacksonville Beach. I researched flour types and different recipes. I was about to order some White Lilly online when Alton Brown gave me some great clues in a biscuit episode. He suggested mixing cake flour with regular flour to get close to the kind of flour used in true southern biscuits. I tried about a dozen recipes before my S.O. proclaimed them satisfactory. Here's the winner, adapted from my good ol' Betty Crocker cookbook.

Baking Powder Biscuits

1/4 cup shortening (I used Crisco sticks)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 450. Cut shortening and butter into dry ingredients. I use a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the milk and pulse 2-3 times just until barely combined.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead very lightly turning about four times. Pat into a rectangle about 1 inch thick and cut into 8 large square biscuits. Brush with butter. Bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. (You may notice I forgot the butter today.)