Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Mocha Cupcakes

I admit to being a fan of cake mixes. They are so easy to use, I always have the ingredients on hand and I get consistent results. But oh my. A homemade cake done right? There is nothing comparable. Something that I was reminded of when I baked these cupcakes.

Now I've bought cupcakes from bakeries before, Kara's is my favorite, but I've also had Sprinkles and many other "fancy store bought" cupcakes. And when I made my own Vanilla Cupcakes they were pretty good. But these cupcakes? These cupcakes made me want to be a baker. These cupcakes reminded me that being home on a Friday night, making cupcakes from scratch with a friend, having my husband come down to check on us every once in a while, trying to mix batter with the cat underfoot, sharing a bottle of champagne with Mr. L and my friend (made into a nice vodka cocktail)...buying a cupcake, no matter how fancy, from a store just can't compete.

I have to thank my good friend  Chef Barbie for helping me out with this recipe. She saved my butt by either going out and buying ingredients I needed before I got home or having said ingredients at her house for me to use. Nothing like a 10 PM run to a friends to get some Espresso Powder.

Had to laugh when I made a trip to Starbucks on my way home to get the espresso. Being that it was about a hundred degrees outside, I ordered a coffee light frapp for me, a caramel frapp for Mr. L and six shots of espresso. The guy behind the counter looked at me like I was nuts. His expression didn't change when I mentioned the hot coffee was for cupcakes.

Except for ingredients that might be a bit difficult to find (though I bet most bakers have cake flower, espresso powder and unsweetened dutch cocoa powder in their pantry) this was super quick and easy to make. And good. Seriously good. and LIGHT. When I took the cupcakes out of the muffin tin I was amazed at how light and delicate they felt. I'm used to picking up cupcakes and having some heft. These were also really moist.

I didn't frost these right way.  Since it was really (really) warm that weekend and I knew these would be traveling in the car for a couple of days, I figured it was better to make the frosting when I went to the event. Though Martha frosted these with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, I made her Fluffy Vanilla Frosting and spiked it with a bit of coffee. Not the best frosting job but with the temp 108 degrees, it was the best this melting baker could do. The chocolate covered coffee bean really did add a nice touch.

I would make these again in a heartbeat. It also made my Mr. L decide I needed to bake every single cupcake recipe in The Martha Stewart's Cupcakes which is where these came from. Yeah, they were that good.

MOCHA CUPCAKES

2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 cup freshly brewed espresso
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (not instant coffee)
Frosting
Coffee beans, for garnish

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour and cocoa. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter until smooth and light. Add the brown sugar and eggs; beat until fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add the vanilla, baking soda, and salt; beat to combine thoroughly.

Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream, and beating until just combined after each. Mix together brewed espresso and espresso powder; add to batter, and beat until smooth.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 22 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

I added the Fluffy Vanilla Frosting and put a chocolate covered coffee bean on top. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Baked Peaches with Cointreau

Since this is National Farmers Market Week it's only appropriate that I post something that incorporated some juicy peaches from my local farmers market. This was a quick and simple way to use peaches in a dessert.

I didn't have any Cointreau so I used Grand Marnier instead. I also used some of the Haagen-Dazs Five Vanilla Bean ice cream which went really well with the peaches.

As far as where the recipe came from, all I can tell you is that I think it came from the September 1992 issue of Bon Appetit. I've had the little clipping in my folder to try to make forever. It was yummy and worth cutting out and keeping for 17 years!

BAKED PEACHES WITH COINTREAU

1/3 cup peach nectar
6 peaches, peeled, halved, pitted
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur
3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
Additional Cointreau or other orange liqueur (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter 9-inch square baking dish. Pour nectar into prepared dish. Arrange peaches cut side up in dish. Sprinkle with sugar. Drizzle Cointreau over. Top with butter. Bake until peaches are tender, about 30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes.

Scoop ice cream into bowls. Top with peaches; spoon juices from dish over. Serve, passing additional Cointreau separately if desired. Serves 6.

Note: I used Kerns Peach Nectar. I used Grand Marnier instead of Cointreau. I used Haagen Dazs Five Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

Note: About peeling peaches. There were lots of suggestions online to put the peaches in boiling water and then dunk them in an ice bath to make them easier to peel. I was lazy so I just took a good veggie peeler and went to work. Didn't seem to bruise the peaches too much or waste a ton of juice.

Note: I left out the additional liqueur at the end as I had plenty of juice.

Note: The leftover peach nectar from the can goes very well with some vodka.

Berries With Sorbet Eggs

This is another one of those really really simple recipes that takes little work but has good results. It was perfect for a summer night after temps had been in the 100's for a few days.

We used Mango Sorbet instead of the lemon sorbet requested as that's what we had on hand. I figure you can pretty much use any sorbet, and hey, change up the fruit and sorbet flavors according to what you have available. I was thinking with some blueberries, raspberries and some Pina Colada sorbet, you'd have a perfect red, white and blue dessert for today.

With a little extra effort (adding the mint, getting that sorbet into an egg shape, plating in a martini glass) this would make a quick but nicely presented dessert after any summer meal.

I admit I was a bit challenged on making my sorbet into an egg shape.  I don't think Mr. L even noticed.

This recipe came out of the April 14, 2009 issue of Woman's Day magazine.

BERRIES WITH SORBET EGGS

1 pint strawberries, diced
1/2 pint raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 pints lemon sorbet
Fresh mint springs for garnish (optional)

Toss strawberries, raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl until evenly coated. Let stand 20 minutes until juicy.

Spoon berry mixture onto serving plates; top with a scoop of lemon sorbet. If using mint, lightly coat small sprigs with water, sprinkle with a little additional sugar and garnish plate. Serves 8. 124 calories each.

Note: This served four for us.

Note: Used Mango Sorbet. Left out mint.

Note: There was quite a bit of "juice" in the berry mixture. I didn't use it for the photo but it was tasty juice and went into the remaining desserts.

Note: I remember that to make sorbet into an "egg" shape you take two spoons and sort of mold the sorbet between the two to get your shape. I tried. I failed. Didn't change the taste of the dish at all.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

Make this cake. Seriously. Just make this cake. You will not be sorry.

When I came across this recipe in the June 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine, I bookmarked it. It was under their Quick Every Day section. So I figured it would be a quick and easy dessert to make at some point.

Then I saw the cake posted on Smitten Kitchen's blog. Her photographs looked so tempting, showing much more of the raspberries than the cake in the magazine. Since I had just picked up half a flat of fresh raspberries from the Farmers Market (it was towards the end of the day and they were going for a buck a pint), I decided to make this cake that night.

It's a very light cake, perfect for a summer dessert. Simple. Quick. It looks good. It tastes good. It tastes really good. Trust me, you need to make this cake. And don't be afraid of the buttermilk. I'm not normally a fan of the stuff but in baked goods like this it works really well and you don't taste it.

RASPBERRY BUTTERMILK CAKE

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5-oz)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate. Serves 6

Note: Recipe says you can substitute any sweet, juicy berries for the raspberries.

Note: Do check out Smitten Kitchens modified recipe here. She added some grated lemon zest (which I also added), gives some clearer directions on what to do, and shortens the cooking time (I guess some of her readers found the 25-30 minute baking time too long. I cooked mine 25 minutes). She also gives directions on how to make your own buttermilk if you don't want to buy some. She gives a hint of how to "scatter" the raspberries which made sense and is what I followed.

Note: I used more than a cup of raspberries.

Frozen Chocolate-Banana Bites

I almost didn't post this because they're just so simple and easy to make. I didn't worry about aesthetics either so they aren't exactly food porn worthy. But after polishing off a batch for dessert last night, I realized that this is something that I will probably make and keep in the freezer at all times this summer. Besides being simple to do, they are somewhat healthy, easy to eat and will be fun to make with the kids should they come over to visit. I can definitely see me snacking on these during a hot summer day too.

I found this recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens Heart Healthy magazine though I'm not sure which issue.

FROZEN CHOCOLATE-BANANA BITES

2 medium bananas
1 1/2 ounces special dark chocolate pieces (about 1/3 cup)

Peel bananas. Slice into 1/2-inch-thick pieces. Line baking sheet with waxed paper. Arrange banana slices in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.

In a heavy small saucepan, melt chocolate over low heat. Place melted chocolate in a small resealable plastic bag. Seal bag and snip off a tiny corner. Drizzle chocolate over banana slices. Cover and freeze for 1 to 2 hours or until frozen.

Divide banana slices among four resealable freezer bags. Freeze for up to 3 days.  Makes 4 servings at 109 calories each.

Note: We used a 2.25 oz bar of Newman's Own Organic Espresso Dark Chocolate Bar. YUM. It covered four bananas.

Note: It took me a bit to figure out the best way to get the melted chocolate into the bag. Then I remembered a tip to put the open plastic bag in a glass one cup measure and then I had the two hands to pour the melted chocolate into the bag making sure I was able to scrape all that chocolate goodness resulting in less temptation to leave chocolate in the pan to scoop out with my fingers. I also gave the chocolate covered spatula to my husband to lick clean. Go me.

Note: I didn't really worry about cutting the bananas into even shapes. Nor did I worry about getting the chocolate to form a cute plaid covering. In fact, on some of the bananas, I just made big dollops of chocolate. Might not look pretty but it still tasted the same.

I think this would be a great dish to have your kids do to make snacks or dessert for the family. They might need a bit of help cutting up the bananas or melting the chocolate but I think they would get a kick out of "decorating" the bananas. (And if you want to be really evil put a dollop of chocolate on top of the banana and then stick an M&M on top!)

Grannie's Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Bars

These are not my Grannie's butterscotch bars. The recipe came from the April 17, 2009 Family Circle Magazine. I have no idea who the Grannie is!

I was looking for a quick dessert, something along the lines of a brownie and came across this in my "recipes I've pulled from magazines and will hopefully make some day" pile.  These turned out pretty good. I liked the flavor as it wasn't "in your face" butterscotch. Of course I did mess up and add more rum extract than called for (about a teaspoon more). I won't bore you with the details but the extra rum extract didn't seem to ruin these.

I couldn't find "butter rum" extract so I just used rum extract. I didn't dust with confectioners' sugar as I wanted these to be eaten out of hand with ease.

The directions also say "pour" into baking dish. This isn't a pourable batter like a cake. This is more like a big glob that you plop in the dish and spread around to fill. Oh and yeah, just see you try and wait until these are cool to eat one. Really, just try, cuz it ain't gonna happen. Try these warm, trust me.

Definitely something I'd make again. You can check out the page from Family Circle here. What's very cool is the magazine actually has a scanned page of the article so you can see how the bars are supposed to turn out.

GRANNIE'S OLD-FASHIONED BUTTERSCOTCH BARS

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon butter rum extract
1 cup chopped pecans
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

Melt butter in a medium-size saucepan. Add sugar, eggs and flour to saucepan and mix until well blended. Stir in butter rum extract and pecans.

Pour into prepared baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack and dust with confectioners' sugar. Cut into 24 squares and serve. Makes 24 bars.

Note: I used rum extract instead of butter rum. I coated baking dish with Pam Baking Spray.

Chocolate Banana S'mores

Seriously. Good. And fun. Can be made on the grill or in the oven. And even a seven year old can make these (with a little help from an adult).

I had planned on making my Wine Cake for dessert this past weekend. We were out in the country with a group of friends, swimming, horseback riding, watching the Indy 500, reading, shopping, and of course cooking and eating. Mr. L and I planned to cook everyone a meal of barbecued ribs, (sorta) Baked Beans, Orzo Pasta Salad, cornbread and of course the wine cake for dessert. That was, until I saw this recipe on the Food Networks Food2 blog.

I think the reason I enjoyed making this dessert so much was the fact that I got to do it with the Godson's sister. She's 7 and she really wanted to help me make dessert. All I did was slice the bananas...she put in the chocolate chips and the marshmallows. I then put it in the oven and we watched it bake. Though I took the bananas out, she served them to all us vacationers. If you have kids that want to help make a quick dessert, let them try their hand at this.

I would suggest using ripe bananas, though not the "squishy, totally brown" ripe. Some of the bananas we used were still a bit hard. We were also a bit stingy with the chocolate and marshmallows, so have your kids (or you) toss in more chocolate and marshmallows than you think you need. You can grill these (like the original recipe) or just stick them in the oven like we did. Make sure the kids understand that the bananas when they come out, are pretty hot and need to cool a bit.  Just give folks a spoon and let them scoop out the banana, chocolate, marshmallow mixture.

Loved the taste of the bananas, chocolate and marshmallow. Loved that it was something interesting for the kids to make and eat. Loved the fact that I can make this very quickly when I need a dessert since I usually have all three ingredients on hand. Love that it will be a great thing to take camping or to a barbecue.

Variations of this can be different types of chocolate or sprinkling crushed graham crackers on top.

CHOCOLATE BANANA S'MORES

One (1) Banana for each person
chocolate chips
mini-marshmallows

Take a knife and make a slit lengthwise from top to bottom of the banana. Make sure you don't cut all the way through the banana and leave the ends intact. Place the bananas on a tin-foil lined pan. Pull open the banana to make a "boat" to put the goodies in. Add chocolate chips and then top with mini-marshmallows. I cooked these in a 300 degree oven for maybe 4-5 minutes, but I'd watch them as they could be done earlier.  Let cool slightly. Eat with a spoon.

Note: Next time I'd probably cook them a bit more so that the marshmallows get darker and have more of a crust.

Note: The Food2 recipe states to use pieces of broken-up chocolate bars or Hershey's Kisses instead of the chocolate chips. Using mint chips or different flavored chocolate bars would be fun. They also grilled theirs on tin-foil for 3-5 minutes.

Quick and Easy Wine Cake

My Grandma W used to make what she called a "sherry cake". I have fond memories of sitting around her little kitchen table in the summertime waiting for her bundt cake to come out of the oven. I can picture the summer light filtering through her kitchen curtains, the little table covered with a bright tablecloth. Though I am not a fan of sherry, the smell of the cake while being made was wonderful and the finished product delectable. Not too sweet, the cake was moist and had a great flavor that wasn't very "alcoholic".

Though I have thought of that cake off and on for years it wasn't until I was cleaning out the liquor cabinet the other day that I decided I needed to make Grams cake. Years ago I had bought a cookbook, The California Wine Country Cookbook, which I knew had a cake similar to the one my grandma made.

I realize this is a "semi-homemade" kinda cake since it uses a packaged cake mix. Don't dismiss it because of that. I searched online and found many different "sherry cake" recipes, all basically like the one in the book. Prepackaged cake mix, box of pudding, oil and sherry. Some used corn oil, some had an icing (I think my Grandmas had an icing, I'll have to ask her for the next time). I found several recipes that were the exact same recipe as this except for a different liquor was used, such as rum.

The final product has a wonderful flavor. It's also very easy to transport which makes it a great cake to serve without utensils, to take to potlucks, or to wrap pieces of to sell at bake sales. Moist without being sticky which I like. I did add powdered sugar to the top but it would have been fine without. Simple. Basic. Quick and Easy. Would work well for a nice brunch, tea party or just a nice cake to have after a summer meal.

The recipe asked for "cocktail sherry" which I'm not sure is the best stuff. The only sherry I had in the cabinet was a bottle of Fairbanks Medium Dry Sherry which turns out to be cocktail sherry. Worked for me. I believe my Gram used to use Cream Sherry. The recipe also asks for a 4 1/2 oz box of pudding...the small boxes these days are 3.5 oz., the large 5.1 oz, so I just threw in the entire contents of the large box.

This is my entry into the "Family Recipes: Memories of Family Food and Fun" event hosted by The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch. It's an event where you post family recipes from your mother, your grandmother, your daughter, your aunt...pretty much from anyone that brings back a memory of family, food or fun. Check out the Grumpy Honeybunch's blog for wonderful recipes too. I have many recipes from my Mom that I hope to contribute to future events.

QUICK AND EASY WINE CAKE

1 package yellow cake mix
1 4 1/2 ounce package instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup Grey Riesling or Cocktail Sherry
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine all ingredients, mix with electric beater about 5 minutes, at medium speed. Pour batter into greased bundt cake pan and bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until done.

This recipe came from Jeani Martini from Martini & Prati Wines. Jeani pairs this cake with their Fountain Grove Grey Riesling. I don't think the winery or the wine is around anymore.

Note: I used Fairbanks Medium Dry Sherry. I used Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden Moist Deluxe cake mix. I used Pam Baking Spray. I used a full 5.1 ounce box of Jell-O Vanilla Pudding.

Note: I baked this in the "Anniversary Bundt Pan" from Williams Sonoma. It gives a great look to the final cake. You could dress up this simple cake by putting flowers in the center or maybe fresh raspberriess, strawberries, blueberries...and then maybe serve with a raspberry puree...yep, endless possibilities.

Note: I questioned the "five minutes beating" but I checked other recipes which also said the same thing and it worked out fine.

Note: The cake "settled" after sitting for five minutes in the pan so don't be surprised that it deflates quite a bit on you.

Note: A lot of recipes call for a simple glaze made with powdered sugar, water etc. I just dusted some powdered sugar on once the cake cooled (be sure to let the cake cool before dusting with powdered sugar or you'll have a mess).

Sweet Avocado Pie

Okay, do not freak out. Do not run away. This is really really good. And like that other strange dish I made once (you know, the fudge with the secret ingredient), it will be fun to serve your friends without telling them what it is first.

When I decided that I had to make my mom an avocado pie, I tried looking in the cookbooks I had on hand and couldn't find anything (which didn't shock me at all). Searching the Internet I found three basic versions of avocado pie. One which was just avocado, sweetened condensed milk and some lemon juice, a second which added cream cheese and a third version which incorporated gelatin and sour cream. There was a version which added chocolate and many other variations, but these three seemed to be the basic versions folks started with. Though the pie from Pinch My Salt sounded great (I love most of her recipes) I thought maybe one that included cream cheese might be more palatable to my palate. Yeah, I was making it for my mom, but I knew I would have to taste it at some point.

When I told Mr. L that I was going to make an avocado pie, he looked at me like I was completely insane. And until I actually tried the pie, I too, thought I might have been a bit off my rocker, but we were both completely wrong. This pie is damn good. Seriously delicious. Everyone that tried it, did so skeptically and then proceeded to finish off the entire piece they were given and ask for more.

The pie is super easy to make. Though I used a pre-made pie shell, I'd love to try this making a graham cracker crust from scratch. Some recipes call for lime juice, some lemon and since I had both I used both. I'd also love to try to make Pinch My Salts version next which doesn't have the cream cheese.

I know it's strange but this pie is very sweet and very rich and very good. Be brave. Give it a try!

SWEET AVOCADO PIE

2 medium avocados, peeled and pitted
1 8 oz package of cream cheese softened
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/8 cup lime juice
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 9" graham cracker pie crust
Whipped Cream

Combine avocado and cream cheese until smooth (I used a hand mixer). Add condensed milk along with lime and lemon juice and mix until incorporated. Pour into pie crust. Refrigerate overnight.

Note: I used full fat cream cheese. I assume you could use low fat to cut some calories. I used a pre-made Keebler graham cracker pie crust.

Note: Some recipes mentioned that the pie only needed to be refrigerated one hour before serving. Since I had read that some folks had problems with the pies not setting, I kept if refrigerated overnight.

Note: Pinch My Salt mentioned that her pie was really sweet so she used unsweetened whipping cream. Depending on your tastes you might want to use something sweetened.

Note: One of the things that I didn't do which sounded like something that would work was to sprinkle some chopped pistachios or other nuts over the pie.

Note: The avocados I used were barely ripe. Some pieces didn't quite want to mix so I was able to fish them out before I poured the mixture into the pie shell. When cutting up the avocado to put in the mixture I also tried to make sure any strings or brown spots were not used.

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Oh Good Lord where do I begin. The frosting that never set which made a trip to the grocery store for some store bought frosting a necessity? The "crumb layer" that was so moist there was no way I was getting anything crumbly and even time in the oven didn't dry it out enough? The panic shopping for 8 inch cake pans since the expensive beautiful new ones I got for Christmas from my Dad were 10"? The trying to put together and bake the cake late in the evening because I had to get up early in the morning and drive said cake a hundred or so miles? My error in calculations that I had to let the frosting set for 4 hours and the cake cool for at least two that made it 1AM before I said I quit, I'll do this in the morning? The tears as I poured the frosting which contained six ounces of expensive Sharffenburger chocolate down the drain because no amount of love and tender care would make it edible? Sigh.

That being said....the cake part was wonderful. REALLY moist. If you didn't know better you would say that the cake wasn't cooked enough. Fudgy cake. Really liked the flavor. And actually the store bought frosting wasn't bad with it. But I can do better....

Remember here where I said I was going to bake a cake for everyone's birthday this year? This was the start. I came across this recipe in the America's Best Lost Recipes cookbook from America's Test Kitchen. It sounded perfect to make for a birthday present. The description of the cake "fudgy, dark chocolate layers with a rich, creamy chocolate pudding that acts as both filling and frosting" sounded decadent.

The cake itself was easy to make. My main problem was the pudding frosting. It never set. I woke up after leaving it in the fridge overnight to find a runny mess. After a quick check on-line to see if anyone had any suggestions I poured the mess into a pan and tried to reheat. I then poured the frosting into a bowl, surrounded it with ice and trucked it to Dads. Where it still never set. Hoping that maybe I had frosting soup didn't work either as my second cooking of the stuff now gave the frosting a burnt flavor. Sigh. I know now, after further research, that I never got the original pudding hot enough to set. I'll have to try again.

The second problem I had was with the cake crumbs that were to go on the frosting. The cake was so moist that the layer that was supposed to be crumbled and spread over the cake just didn't "crumb". All I got were a handful of moist cake blobs (and some great fingers to lick cuz it kept sticking to them). Another quick check on-line suggested putting the layer in the oven to dry out before crumbling. So I did. Still no luck. As you can see by the photo I was able to use the extra layer to decorate but it wasn't the "blackout" look the photo in the book showed. Though that 'dried in the oven' crumb layer was okay on the original cake, a day in the fridge made it very gummy and not very tasty.

I'd still make this cake again. One of the reasons I'm not much of a cake fan is I hate dry cake...this was just wonderfully moist.  But being so dense and rich it wasn't easy to eat more than a small slice (which made my thighs terribly happy). It also made a nice presentation with the "crumb" mixture. Not a quick cake to make as there are quite a few steps. I'm sure, until I get pudding making down, that other frosting recipes would work well with this cake too.

Now I'm just waiting for my baking friends to try this cake!

CHOCOLATE BLACKOUT CAKE

PUDDING:
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup milk
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

CAKE:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 cup brewed coffee, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR THE PUDDING: Whisk the granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, half and half, and milk in a large saucepan. Set the pan over medium heat. Add the chocolate and whisk constantly until the chocolate melts and the mixture begins to bubble, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the vanilla and transfer the pudding to a large bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding and refrigerate until cold, at least four hours or up to 1 day.

FOR THE CAKE: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the cocoa powder and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Off the heat, whisk in the coffee, buttermilk, and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in the flour mixture.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely, at least 1 hour.

TO ASSEMBLE CAKE: Cut each cake in half horizontally. Crumble one cake layer into medium crumbs and set aside. Place one cake layer on a serving platter or cardboard round. Spread 1 cup pudding over the cake layer and top with another layer. Repeat with 1 cup pudding and the last cake layer. Spread the remaining pudding evenly over the top and side of the cake. Sprinkle the cake crumbs evenly over the top and sides of the cake, pressing lightly to adhere the crumbs. Serve (The cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days). Serves 10 to 12

Note: I used Sharffenburger chocolate for the pudding. I used Nestle's Dutch-processed cocoa powder.