Ed - Canadian Citizenship Party

1 cake bought from SaveOn

***



Our co-worker Ed became a Canadian citizen a couple of weeks ago. He was kind enough to take some time off of studying for the CFA exam and spend his Friday night with us.


His grade: 10.0 out of 10.0. Any guesses where he's from?

HINT: look at the cake...

PS: Notice the high-quality photo? It's from CJ's new camera...

Mexican Chocolate Cake with Dried Cranberries

   Cake:
1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk, sour cream or plain yogurt (The Chef used sour cream)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup dried cranberries
  Glaze:
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

***

Well, does anything reduce the stress of a Thursday night like baking a cake? I'm sure something does... Regardless, I tried this recipe I had for over 3 years. Not once did I make it until now. We can thank the Edmonton Journal for this beauty - I still think they have their "Bistro" section on Wednesdays or Thursdays. It's not all bad. Oh no, it's no rag, it has some good stuff.

I'm a big fan of chocolate and cranberries. I don't know if they have chocolate-covered cranberries, but you'd think that Glossette/Hershey's would get that out soon and somehow - because it's a fantastic combination. And this cake is the perfect vessel for delivering "C&C" to your quivering palate.

It's a surprisingly easy cake to make too. Everything went swimmingly. No issues at all.

After having mixed the batter, I began pouring it into the bundt pan. It was as smooth as Barry fuckin' White. No kidding. Well, at least his voice, when he was alive. It tasted perfect - in the raw. I licked the spatula clean.

After it was cooked and cooled, and the chocolate glaze settled for a few minutes, I had a piece. This is a great cake. Not too sweet at all, chocolatey with a hint of coffee, and of course the cranberries. I think those little guys keep it pretty moist. Warm chocolate cake it pretty good, but I held my judgement in check until today, when I had a day-after piece. The glaze had hardened a bit (similar to the chocolate on chocolate-covered strawberries) but the rest of the cake was still moist and delicious.

And of course, the photographic evidence:

Before baking:

...and après baking and still-warm glazing:

Final judgment: Day-um! Downright delectable. Success! I'd give it a grade of 9.2 out of 10. Yesssss. It's that good.

Chocolate Banana Coconut Cake with Mango Lime Sauce

2 ripe mangos, peeled and seeded
2 tablesoons lime juice
1 cup mango juice

See previous post for cake recipe.

***

At my new place of employment, we don't take coffee breaks all week. Until Friday afternoon. On that day we take 1 hour of the afternoon off to chit chat, and someone has to bring in a cake or dessert to nipple, er, I mean nibble on. (Speaking of which, one of my friends <cough>Dylan<cough> complained that I didn't have nearly enough boobies on my blog. So this is for him). So I signed up for this Friday and I brought a double whammy of the Maple Apple Blueberry Crisp and Chocolate Banana Coconut Cake with Mango Sauce.

Well, it was okay with the sauce. It wasn't as yummy as I was anticipating, but it still played of the rich moist chocolate cake pretty well. It was basically like thick mango juice. Oh well, better I make it than have Booster Juice charge me $5 (CAD) for it. Regardless, a respectable 7 out of 10.

Good news, everyone! It looks like we'll be heading out for NFL picks and brunch tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have a restaurant review for all my little sous-chefs to read.

Chocolate Banana Coconut Cake

1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
2 bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup dried, unsweetened shredded coconut
Chef's decision: 1/2 cup chocolate chips

***

I tell you, nothing is better than warm chocolate cake. Except maybe warm pie. Hmmm...

This was from my farang-Thai cookbook I had mentioned previously. It's basically a yummy chocolate cake:

Not much to it. I didn't make any icing for it or anything. The author recommends that you serve it with a mango-lime sauce, so I think I'll bake the cake again later this week when I have to bring in some dessert into my workplace on Friday. I'll provide a new blog update with comments on the sauce. I think a chocolate icing would have worked just as well.

Regardless of the no-icing, no-sauce status of the cake, it was warm and moist and delicious. You can't smell the nutmeg at all, so it doesn't remind you of Christmas, or your best friend getting sick from rum and eggnog. All-in-all, a very good 8.3 out of 10.

Here's an individual piece for you to feast your eyes upon...