When you want a cake that’s not fussy and sure to be a crowd pleaser with adults and kids (alright so some of you who are from another planet may not like chocolate), this is the cake to turn to. Made with mini chocolate chips, that are less likely to fall to the bottom the way regular-sized chips do, this cake has a nice crumb and a delicious flavor, even without the chocolate glaze. So if you’re inclined to serve it without the glaze, at least give it a dusting of powdered sugar to elevate its plain Jane looks.
BUT, I highly recommend the chocolate glaze. I mean, come on, don’t you just want to stick your fingers onto that plate and lick those drizzles cascading down the cake?
By the way, for baking, I almost always use Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate bars. You can buy them at the supermarket at a fraction of the cost of the more expensive brands, and years ago on a blind taste testing at America’s Test Kitchen tv show, Hershey’s Special Dark came out as the number one favorite. It’s delicious just for snacking straight from the wrapper too.
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Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Author: Ciao Chow Linda via “The Woodandspoon.com”
In the bowl of a stand mixer of a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed until well combined and fluffy, about two minutes.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla, and continue to beat.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
Add half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and beat on low until combined.
Add the Greek yogurt (or sour cream) and beat to combine.
Add the remaining half of dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Do not overmix.
Spray a small, 10 cup bundt pan with a baking spray with flour or use a light spray of baking spray and dust the inside of the pan with flour. (I smeared butter inside, then sprayed with a cooking spray, then dusted with flour.)
Spoon the batter evenly into the pan and smooth the top of the batter. It will be thick.
Bake in a preheated oven for about 55-60 minutes or until the top of the cake is set, with no jiggling.
Allow to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then invert the cake onto a cooling rack or serving platter until completely cool.
When ready to ice, add the chocolate to a small bowl and heat the cream until almost bubbling.
Add the warmed cream to the chocolate, cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap, and allow to sit undisturbed for five minutes.
Stir to combine and add in the corn syrup, if desired.
Happy Pasquetta! That’s the holiday after Easter when Italians all have off from work and school and take off to the country for picnics and another day of rest. Typically, they eat cold foods like leftover frittata or pizza rustic, but many people have leftover hard boiled eggs too and use them for egg salad mixed with mayonnaise.
Instead of the typical egg salad, try this different version (no mayo at all) from culinary legend Paula Wolfert, the most famous cook you’ve never heard of. Born in the U.S., she’s written nine cookbooks and has lived in Morocco before it was a travel destination on every Millenial’s to-do list. Sadly, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and the book “Unforgettable,” by Emily Kaiser Thelin, tells of her journey from a childhood in Brooklyn, to living around the world and bringing her recipes to American cooks through her cookbooks and magazine articles.
The book also addresses Wolfert’s disease and how she is dealing with it through a brain-healthy diet. If you’ve never heard of her before, you’ll learn a lot about this influential cookbook writer in this book, and find lots of intriguing recipes too, including this one for a mint-laced egg salad.
Oh, and if you want a fail-proof primer on making perfect hard-boiled eggs, click here.
Buona Pasquetta!
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Still undecided about what to make as your main course this Easter? For us, it’s typically lamb, or sometimes ham, but if you want to try something different, yet festive, easy and delicious, then give this recipe a go. Roast pork and fruit are a delicious pairing and perfect for any holiday or special occasion. It won’t keep you from your guests for long, since it can be prepared ahead of time and takes only a half hour to cook. You can roast the meat while you’re sitting down to pre-dinner drinks with friends and family. Stew the fruit the night before to save time, but even this takes only 15 minutes. I bought an assortment of dried fruits – peaches, apples, pears, prunes and apricots, plus some orange and lemon peel – and covered them with boiling water, a bit of sugar and a cinnamon stick and whole cloves.The fruit can sit in the fridge overnight, and you can reheat it at the last minute, while the meat is resting. After you slice the meat, arrange the fruit around the sides, and pour both the meat juices left in the roasting pan, and the fruit juices all over the meat.
Buon appetito e Buona Pasqua a tutti.
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about two cups of mixed dried fruits (apricots, prunes, apples, pears, peaches)
water, to cover
1/2 cup sugar
a few strips of orange peel
a few strips of lemon peel
1 cinnamon stick
a couple of whole cloves
Instructions
Bring the meat at room temperature and dry with paper towels.
Smear a little olive oil on the bottom of a roasting pan.
Place the meat on the pan and smear with a light coating of Dijon mustard.
Season with salt and pepper (or herbed salt) and a light sprinkling of herbs de Provence.
Place the meat in a 375 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reaches 140-145 degrees. (The temperature will continue to rise for a bit when you take it out of the oven.)
Remove from the oven and let the meat rest for 10 minute, then slice.
FOR THE STEWED DRIED FRUIT:
Place the fruit in a saucepan with water to cover.
Add the sugar, the citrus peels, the cinnamon and the cloves.
Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until fruit is softened.
Remove the citrus peels, the cinnamon stick and the cloves.
Remove from the heat, and serve along the sides of a serving platter with the sliced meat.
Pour the juice from the fruits and any juice from the meat (on the carving board) over the sliced meat.
If you’ve ever been to Sicily, you know that one of the classic desserts from that island is cassata Siciliana, a delicious sponge cake layered with a ricotta filling, traditionally edged with almond paste and topped with candied fruits.
I was fortunate enough to have Fabrizia Lanza show me how to make cassata when I stayed at her farm in Sicily last spring. Fabrizia, who lived and worked in Bologna in the field of art history, moved back to Sicily to take over the cooking school founded by her late mother, Anna Tasca Lanza. The school offers lots of different programs from food writing to sketching, and even a ten week intensive course called “Cook The Farm.” Click here for more information.
Cassata Siciliana may look complicated to make, but Fabrizia breezed through the various steps in short order without working up a sweat. With Easter just around the corner, this would make a mouth-watering, show-stopper dessert.
The first step is making the marzipan, using pistachios, almond flour, and a few other ingredients, including the traditional green food coloring. Make the marzipan without the food coloring if you prefer, or if you don’t want to use the marzipan at all, you can omit it, and just cover the entire cassata with the confectioner’s sugar icing.
Roll out the marzipan and place strips of it in a tin specially made for cassata. These pans are not easy to find, but a pie plate makes a good substitute. Line it in plastic wrap first to make it easier to flip.
The sponge cake (pan di Spagna) is sliced in this manner, contrary to how I presumed it would be sliced (through the middle in horizontal layers).
Place one layer of the slices on the bottom of the pan and sprinkle with limoncello, or Grand Marnier liqueur.Spread a layer of the ricotta/sugar mixture on top.Then repeat with another layer of the sponge cake and liqueur. Pat it down firmly.Then place a serving plate over it all and flip it over (fingers crossed).
Remove the pan and the plastic wrap.
Drizzle the confectioner’s sugar glaze on top.
Then decorate with candied fruits. They’re quite common in Sicily, and infinitely better in quality than what we get here in the states. If you can’t get good candied fruits, just keep it simple and use some homemade candied orange peel, (recipe here) rather than ruin your cassata with “industrial” candied fruit. Besides, the larger pieces, like the whole candied orange, are mostly decorative anyhow.
Just looking at the interior of this cassata Siciliana brings back some delicious memories and a strong desire to return to that fascinating island.
Part of the reason this cassata was outstanding was the quality of the ricotta that went into it. Fabrizia used sheep’s milk ricotta, but if you can’t find it, (admittedly not easy), use cow’s milk ricotta, well-drained. Our ricotta couldn’t have been any fresher, since we went to the farm that morning, where the cheesemaker made the cheese right before our eyes.
We could thank these sheep for the ricotta, who just a short while earlier had been milked.
Much of the pecorino cheese is drained in plastic molds, but here are some that were being drained in traditional reed baskets. Thank goodness for people still making food in the time-honored traditions of their ancestors, and for people like Fabrizia Lanza, who is helping disseminate these old world customs and recipes. If you really want to slow down and treat yourself to a unique experience, book at week at her farm, Case Vecchie and immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of authentic Sicily.
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By the way, for baking, I almost always use Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate bars. You can buy them at the supermarket at a fraction of the cost of the more expensive brands, and years ago on a blind taste testing at America’s Test Kitchen tv show, Hershey’s Special Dark came out as the number one favorite. It’s delicious just for snacking straight from the wrapper too.
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