December Project: Guilty Pleasure

Vanilla Pudding Cake with Chocolate Buttermilk Buttercream

Taking a short break from me recounting my travel tales, let me share with you the very first thing that I made on the very first weekend that I was back in town- Vanilla Pudding Cake with chocolate Buttermilk Buttercream. Yup, even before the clothes were laundered (and the pile sure was big), or the family was seen, or the house was cleaned, I made cake. 

Can you blame me? After 2 months on the road, my poor kitchen needed some action. And what better way to welcome myself home than with some cake!

The secret ingredient, aka pudding in the batter makes this cake simply moist and scrumptious, while the chocolate buttermilk buttercream just sends it over the top.  It doesn't really need to be pointed out that the cake did wonders for my travel weary soul and made my little apartment smell delightful.

This recipe is a great basic yellow cake recipe to have in anyone's arsenal for birthdays or welcome homes :)

Ingredients:

Vanilla Pudding Cake
2 eggs
5 egg yolks
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 (3.3 oz.) vanilla instant pudding
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cup milk

Chocolate Buttermilk Buttercream

2 sticks butter
2 pounds powdered sugar
1/4 cup high quality cocoa powder
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, butter, and sugar until extremely light and fluffy.

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix together until all ingredients are incorporated. Be careful to not over mix.You don't want a tough cookie on your hands.

3. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. Spoon the batter into the pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or just until the center of the cake is set, and springs back to the touch. Allow the cakes to cool slightly before turning them out on a cooling rack.

4. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, beat together the ingredients for the frosting, adding the buttermilk in a little at a time, until light and fluffy.

5. When cakes are cooled, frost with the buttercream and enjoy!

Recipe from Cheeky Kitchen.

Chocolate Delights in New York

My original plan for my birthday in New York was to do a dessert crawl of some sort. However, things changed and I never got round to doing it. But, I did make up for the non-existent dessert crawl by making a couple of stops at 2 Chocolatier shops while in New York.

First up, Chocolate Pizza from Max Brenner. The first time I'd ever heard about this chocolate pizza was when Aaron Sanchez mentioned it in a pizza-themed The Best Thing I Ever Ate. There is something about watching a foodie/chef talk about their favorite food that mesmorizes me and get those salivary glands going. Yeah, I desperately wanted to try this pizza.

Made with white chocolate, milk chocolate and lightly-toasted marshmallows in place of cheese, this pizza is a real sugar rush. The chewy, fresh marshmallows were sprinkled generously over the sweet chocolate base, with chunks of slightly-melted chocolate dispersed throughout. While the toppings of this pizza sang sweetly to me, the pie itself was a sore spot. Although the pie was made with real pizza dough, I was not impressed with the hard piece of cardboard that supported the above sugar overload. It tasted like it had been made hours before and had a dense quality to it. Perhaps had this chocolate pizza been made fresh, I would not have to accuse Aaron Sanchez of tricking me! This was not the best pizza I ever had.

Up next, was a visit to Jacques Torres for some hot chocolate. Wicked Hot Chocolate to be more exact- hot chocolate with a hint of Ancho and Chipotle peppers. After a stressful day of touring NYC with French winemakers and producers, nothing sounded quite as lovely as a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

The combination of the Ancho and Chipotle peppers in the hot chocolate made for a feisty drink. The chocolate had a deep bitter quality to it and I adored the heat of the peppers hitting the back of my throat. I swoon. But as good as the Wicked Hot Chocolate was, I will say that I did get a chocolate overdose by the last drop of my small cup.

Oh! And did I mentioned that Mr. Torres, Mr. Chocolate himself was in his store while I was there? Cool beans huh? (Sorry, I apparently get star struck with chefs!?)


Details:
Max Brenner
841 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
212-388-0030

Jacques Torres Chocolates
350 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
212-414-2462

Cakes of Birthdays Past

Growing up, my family had a go-to cake for every birthday celebration...Sweet Secret's fruit charlotte cake. It wasn't that it was the most fabulous cake but it was just tradition, we always got it (Had I had my way, we would have gotten a chocolate cake of some sort, but poor papa T is allergic to caffeine so we had to compromise). Till today, I can still recall the light sponge cake and sweet sweet fruits that topped the cake. The fruit charlotte cake was the cake of my childhood.

When I moved to America in my teens, my mother and I were dismayed at the horrible artificially sweetened cakes one found at the grocery store. Every year, we tried to find a decent cake to replace the fruit charlotte cake but alas, it was a fruitless pursuit (pun intended). So for a few years in high school, I never got a decent cake for my birthday.

Ice Cream Cake courtesy of awesome college friends

The birthday cake situation started to improve in my college years. Some highlights included an ice cream cake for my 21st and in recent years, my lovely and very talented sister-in-law Sarah has always made me a homemade birthday cake for my birthday. We've had Black Forest cake one year, a cheese cake for another and German chocolate cake another.

Black Forest Cake being cut by the beautiful Sarah

This year, Sarah outdid herself again with the most decadent and rich chocolate tort cake. Made without flour, this tort was dense, moist, bitter (in a good way) and very chocolaty. Even my brother, who is not a chocolate guy, gave it two thumbs up. Served with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries, we all had second helpings that day. Mmmmmm...

Drool.

To read more about my belated birthday weekend with my family, and to see my new hair cut (which mama T dislikes! *sob*) click on over to Sarah's blog.