Monday, December 21, 2009

Red Velvet Christmas Cake

If you're looking for a showstopper dessert for Christmas that tastes as good as it looks, have I got a cake for you! Seriously, nothing says "Christmas" like a red velvet cake, baked in square pans and decorated to look like the most delectable gift package ever to grace the holiday dessert table.

There must be hundreds of variations on red velvet cake, a different recipe in every southern cookbook, but I've never found one that could beat Miss Vickie's. Miss Vickie is a friend from Gordon, GA, and those ladies know when it comes to red velvet cake. Her recipe is so quick and easy -- dump all the ingredients in one bowl and mix it up -- that you won't mind the extra time it takes to decorate and, if you're the lazy type, (or it isn't Christmas), it makes a fine presentation just cooked in round pans and covered with the cream cheese butter cream frosting.

As a bonus, it's also the best tasting red velvet cake around, moist, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth yummy.

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

MISS VICKIE'S RED VELVET CAKE

2 1/2 cups cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 1-ounce bottle red food coloring

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredient in a large bowl. Pour into four prepared, (I use Baker's Secret), 8-inch square (or round) cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool in pans for 15 minutes then on cake racks until completely cool.

Frosting
(You'll need two batches for the "present" cake)

6 cups powdered confectioner's sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Spread frosting with chopped pecans between layers of cake.

Make a second batch of the frosting, omitting the chopped nuts, to ice top and sides.

Make "ribbon" from foot-long fruit roll-ups, slightly moistened and coated with sparkling sugar. Unroll roll-up, leaving the paper backing on. Lightly spray with water and sprinkle with sugar. Let sit for a few minutes until sugar sets. Peel off backing, lay long strips across cake and fashion bow from shorter pieces folded over and pressed into icing on top of cake.

If you want to put gingerbread men on the side, purchased ones will do nicely. However, if you'd like to make your own, see my Gitmo Gingerbread Men recipe, previously posted, and maybe make them without the amputations, just this once.

Prepare for ohhhs and ahhhs (never fails), and make sure you ask somebody else to cut the cake. you won't be able to bear doing it yourself!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Gitmo Gingerbread Men

I was never much on gingerbread cookies, certainly not gingerbread men, (or women either, for that matter), but that all changed a couple of years ago when these nifty little gingerbread people cutters with missing limbs turned me into a gingerbread cookie aficionado. A momentary craze, and having been featured in Bon Appetit no less, the little suckers proved almost impossible to find, but a dogged search turned them up on ebay at six times the price. They have, however, over the years, proven simply priceless.

With gingerbread men that look like these, who really cares what they taste like? Well, since I do, I've found a wonderful, crisp, not-too-sweet, but just right, gingerbread cookie recipe to complement them. They're easy to make, keep for weeks in an air-tight tin, and make perfect "a little something to let you know we're thinking of you" presents for the terrorist or political prisoner on your holiday gift list.

These cookies have been tortured, bitten, mauled and mutilated. I call them my Gitmo Gingerbread Men. You can call them anything you like. In fact, you could even make them with ordinary gingerbread men cookie cutters, but what's the fun in that?


Enjoy!

CRISP GINGERBREAD COOKIES

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup unsulphured molasses
2 tablespoons milk

In food processor fitted with steel blade, process flour, sugar, ciinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking soda until combined.

Cut butter into small pieces and scatter over flour mixture. Process until mixture resembles the texture of meal.

With processor running, gradually add molasses and milk. Process until dough is evenly moistened and forms soft lump. (Note, you may need to "pulse" and scrape down the bowl a couple of times as this mixture is thick and doughy.)

Scrape dough onto work surface, divide into quarters. Roll each quarter between two sheets of parchment paper until about 1/8 inch thick. Leaving dough sandwiched between parchment, stack on cookie and place in freezer. Freeze until firm, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment.

Remove dough from freezer. Peel off parchment. Cut into gingerbread men or desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets and bake 15 to 20 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through baking.

Cook to room temperature. Decorate if desired.

Gather scarps. Repeat rolling, freezing, cutting and baking until all dough is used.

Makes a whole bunch of cookies which, if sealed in a air-tight container, will remain crisp and good for several weeks, in the unlikely event that they last that long.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Very Best Turkey Chili

There's nothing better on a cold, rainy day than a nice hot bowl of chili. Unfortunately (or not) we have few such days in Los Angeles, and whenever we do, like this past week, I rush to the kitchen to whip up a batch before the weather changes.

I'm partial to turkey chili. It's supposed to be ever-so-slightly better for you, having considerably less fat than beef. However, let's face it, it can also be considerably bland, and just adding a spoonful of extra chili powder isn't going to fix it.

With this recipe I discovered the formula for a thoroughly satisfying turkey chili with big chili flavor and the richness of beef chili without the fat. The secret ingredient? Chocolate. Surprised? I was too, but just a touch of chocolate seems to give the turkey chili a bit of the body it is often missing, without altering the flavor. Makes sense if you think about it, sort of like the Mexican mole sauces which contain a bit of cocoa.

So, here it is, a recipe for really good turkey chili. I'm hoping for at least one more rainstorm before the New Year so I can make it again before the Christmas eating orgy begins.

THE BEST TURKEY CHILI

Olive oil spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium red bell peppers, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
2 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey
3 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, drained (3 cans if you like lots of beans)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
4 1/2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 ounces (1 1/2 squares) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
Shredded cheddar cheese and/or sour cream - Optional

Spray bottom of a large heavy pot or dutch oveen with nonstick spray. Add olive oil and heat.

Add onion, bell peppers and garlic and saute over medium high heat until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes.

Add turkey and saute until no longer pink, breaking up large pieces with spatula or fork.

Mix in chili powder, cumin, oregano and tomato paste and stir together, about 1 minute.

Add beans, tomatoes with juices, chicken broth and chopped chocolate. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until chili thickens, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and/or sour cream for toppings. Add a salad and cornbread and it's a meal.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A Doberge By Any Other Name

Some call it a cake, some call it a torte. I call it the best chocolate dessert ever, hands down.

I first heard of Doberge cake when my husband mentioned it was the kind of cake he always had for his birthdays, growing up in New Orleans, and, hint, hint, would like to have again. "It's a chocolate cake, lots of layers, I don't know where they got it." Big help.

I floundered around a few years, trying to find an approximation in Los Angeles before the internet bailed me out yet again and a search turned up Gambino's Bakery in Metairie, the very same neighborhood where Tommy was born and raised. I ordered one -- $70.00, delivered overnight by FedEx, worth twice as much as it turned out -- and it became a tradition. And while its' dark, moist, fudgey chocolate goodness seemed unlikely to be improved upon, I never-the-less harbored ambitions of one day doing it myself.

I practiced throughout this past year on a couple of "amateur" Doberge cakes, four layer chocolate concoctions that were worth it alone just for the silky pudding between the layers. They were satisfying, but the real deal remained elusive.

That would be Beulah Ledner's original Doberge cake; eight thin layers of creamy white cake, stacked with rich chocolate ganauche pudding in between, and covered in not one, but two unbelievably rich chocolate frostings -- eight cups of sugar, eight eggs, nearly a pound of butter. Oh the glory of it all.

Mrs. Ledner opened a bakery in New Orleans in the 30's and adapted the recipe from the famous Dobos Torte, created by Austrian confectioner Jozsel Dobos way back when. Wanting to give it a bit of Creole panache, she named her creation "Doberge" cake, and sold it under her own banner until 1946 when Gambino's bought the name, recipe and retail shop from the family. The recipe was published in the long out of print cookbook, "Let's Bake With Beulah Ledner" by Maxine Wolchansky, Beulah's daughter. Search as I might (and I am VERY resourseful), I haven't been able to locate a copy, (Big door prize to anybody who finds it for me!), but fortunately I did find the recipe on the internet.

This year, the husband got his homemade Doberge cake! Yes it cost me an entire day in the kitchen. Yes, it has something like 1700 calories per slice. Yes, it was absolutely worth it.


DOBERGE CAKE

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
Scant teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare 9-inch cake pans with baking spray. Since this is an 8 layer cake, and few of us have 8 cake pans, and even fewer an oven that will hold them all at once, I use 4 cake pans and bake 4 layers at a time.

Cream butter, sugar and salt in bowl of electric mixer until smooth. Add egg yolks and blend until smooth. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk. Beat until blended. Add vanilla and lemon juice.

Beat egg whites with hand mixer until they hold a stiff peak. Gently fold beaten whites into batter.

Measure 3/4 cup batter into each pan and spread evenly over the bottom. (It will be very thin.) Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Repeat baking process until batter is completely used.

Cool completely. Stack layers with CHOCOLATE CUSTARD FILLING. Spread CHOCOLATE BUTTER CREAM FROSTING over top and sides. Chill for several hours until firm.

Frost chilled cake with ALWAYS DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE ICING.


CHOCOLATE CUSTARD FILLING

2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
4 whole eggs
1 tablespoon butter, melted
4 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups (1 quart) milk

Mix all dry ingredients together in a saucepan. Add eggs, butter, melted chocolate, vanilla and milk. Mix and cook over medium low heat until thick, stirring constantly. Cool before spreading between layers of cake.


CHOCOLATE BUTTER CREAM FROSTING

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1-ounce square unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons (more or less) hot water

Cream sugar and margarine (or butter). Add cocoa, then melted chocolate and vanilla, blending thoroughly. Add hot water by tablespoons until mixture is spreading consistency. (Since I don't like to run out of frosting before I run out of cake, or skimp on the good stuff, I usually make a recipe and a half of this stuff. If you have any left over, it freezes well and I'm sure you can find some reason to use it sooner rather than later.)


ALWAYS DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE ICING

1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
4 1-ounce squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1/2 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan, slowly bring to a boil over medium low heat. Boil for about 10 minutes until icing begins to thicken. Then beat with hand electric mixer until thick enough to spread. Again, this is not a fluffy icing, but a thick, pasty concoction, and your fingers may useful in "patting" in onto the sides of the cake.)

A lot of trouble? You bet, but this cake is so good, (not to mention quite the showpiece), that I'm looking for an excuse to make one again soon! Anybody got a birthday coming up?

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Fruitcake for People Who Hate Fruitcake

Of all the totemic foods we eat during the holidays, none evokes more professed negative feelings than fruitcake. It's heavy, it's cloying, and, if done right, it'll lay there in the pit of your stomach for days, churning, like the memory of that really creepy relative you only have to see once a year, maybe at Christmas. What's more, hardly anybody likes it. Well, that's the rap, but somebody, lots of somebodies actually, somewhere, must like it because, just like Santa, during the holidays fruitcake is everywhere.

My history with fruitcake is both troubled and storied. The women in my family starting making them before Thanksgiving. They shopped and chopped and baked, and then wrapped them in cheesecloth soaked in spirits, and stuffed them in big round tins to ripen. I can actually recall God-fearing church ladies of my Grandmother's generation asking a trusted source to procure them a pint for the purpose of baptizing the fruitcake. We're talking moonshine whiskey here, people, none of that store bought stuff. It was as if it was somehow less sinful to support the local backwoods distillery, (like the one rumored to be operated by my paternal grandfather), than to purchase a bottle of Wild Turkey, (which would have necessitated a trip to a liquor store in another county -- ours was dry--at the risk of being spotted), thereby validating the great, demonic, alcoholic empire certain to be the end of us all.

The fruitcake itself was truly nasty stuff, but I did like to be around for a whiff when my mother raised the lid of the tin periodically to douse the noxious mix with more firewater. She used scuppernong wine, homemade in the kitchen of Sallie Mae Montgomery, a dear friend of my late maternal grandmother. It wasn't bootlegging, but it was close.

Years later, recently orphaned and largely estranged from any extended family, I received an unexpected Christmas gift from an aunt -- a fruitcake, not homemade, but rather a Claxton Fruitcake, the epitome of everything that gives fruitcake a bad name. Rectangular logs of something that passes for candied fruit and nuts pressed into a dry, almost tasteless, batter the color of moldy cardboard, Claxton Fruitcake was and is the perfect example of a gift best expressed as "it's the thought that counts," (a sentiment that can be taken several ways). As it was, I was so touched to be remembered at all, and gushed so effusively, that every single year thereafter, until her death at 92, Aunt Ina sent me a Claxton Fruitcake. I never had the heart to tell her I threw them up on top of the refrigerator to stay, or that my housekeeper once counted five of them there in various stages of mummification.

To be fair, over the years I have encountered a few quite tolerable fruitcakes. Notably, Collin Street Bakery in Texas makes an entirely edible version that comes in a very spiffy tin. And then there's icebox fruitcake, an absolutely divine concoction, which, strictly speaking, shouldn't be called fruitcake at all. You don't have to bake it, it tastes almost like candy, and it will keep virtually forever. What more could you want?

A confection really, rather than a cake, my recipe for icebox fruitcake is adapted from "The Lady & Sons Just Desserts" by Paula Deen. (Who I hate almost as much as I hate fruitcake, but not as much as I hate Rachael Ray, but that's another post.) Even so, it's very good and very easy to make, albeit a bit messy. (Now's the time to use that plastic apron, if you have one. And careful if you have long hair. Seriously, that marshmallow/milk mixture is hell in the tresses.) I make them in little loaf pans and give them as gifts, (one recipe will make about 4 small loaves), and, gosh darn it, people like them. Or maybe they're throwing them up on top of the refrigerator. No way to really know for sure.


ICEBOX FRUITCAKE

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 16-ounce bag miniature marshmallows
1 pound box graham crackers, crushed
4 cups pecan pieces
1/2 of a 14-ounce bag (7 ounces) of flaked, sweetened coconut
1 pound chopped dates
1 16-ounce jar maraschino cherries, drained and cut in half
1/2 cup bourbon or whiskey

Line bottom and side of pan (or pans) with parchment paper. (It helps to cut the paper large so that it overlaps on top of the prepared cake. That way you can lift the cake out of the pan after refrigeration by pulling up on the paper)

Combine graham cracker crumbs, pecans, coconut, dates and cherries in a large bowl, reserving a few cherries and whole pecan halves for use on the top. (I use a food processor to crush the crackers.)

Heat milk and marshmallows together over low heat until marshmallows are melted, stirring constantly as condensed milk scorches easily. Remove from heat. Stir in booze. (I use Jack Daniels, but any good bourbon or whiskey will do. This isn't the time, however, to be using that bottle of Old Yard Dog that Uncle Vernon left when he went off to prison, because you can taste the booze, however faintly, in the fruitcake.)

Pour milk/marshmallow/bourbon mixture over dry mixture and blend well. (I use my hands. It's sticky and awesome messy, but I can't imagine any other way to do it.)

Scoop mixture into prepared pan or pans and mold it to fit, packing tightly so there are no air pockets. Refrigerate for at least two days before serving. And, this stuff will keep awhile. I often make mine two or three weeks ahead of time. They'll probably last forever, as long as you keep them in the fridge. (Not on top of it.)

This recipe makes one large fruitcake, or several smaller ones.