Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Black Forest Cake
So, it was my friend Rich’s birthday (yes, he is 39 again), and that means cake time. Last year for his birthday I made him a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Though he was very happy and grateful, he told me his favorite cake is Black Forest. This year, after having my memory refreshed by his girlfriend and my very good friend Janet, I made him a Black Forest cake. After eating it, Rich told Janet the cake was awesome, but his favorite cake is Black Forest. I’m not sure how our food memory works; I think it has to do more with feelings than with taste buds. That cake on your 6th birthday, whether store bought, out of a box or made from scratch will always be your favorite. For example, my mom’s favorite part of just about any dish is the burnt stuff at the edges. I’m not sure what Rich’s favorite cake is, but here is his Black Forest birthday cake from 2009.
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Easy, always turns out perfect, chocolate cake
3oz bittersweet chocolate
1½ cup hot coffee
2½ cup AP flour
1½ cup cacao powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
3 cups sugar
1½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup canola oil (or other vegetable oil)
1½ cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350. Line two 9” round pans with parchment, oil and flour the sides. Though you only need one of these cakes it’s really hard to cut the recipe in half. They do freeze well…
Melt the chocolate with the hot coffee and set to cool at room temp. Sift together flour, cacao, baking powder and baking soda. With electric mixer whip eggs, sugar salt and vanilla. When light and fluffy add the oil gradually. Add the buttermilk to the melted chocolate and coffee. Add the flour mix to the whipped eggs, alternating with the liquids. When alternating the addition of dry and wet ingredients always start and end with the dry ingredients. Mix the batter well to make sure there are no lumps.
Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for about 45 minutes. Rotate in the middle of baking for an even bake. Cake will be ready when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry. Bake the cake at least a day before you assemble.
Before assembling the cake, if your cake has a dome cut it off so the top layer is even, then cut it into three layers. To do so, you need to use a long serrated knife. Cut the cake about ¾” from the top as even as you can. Remove the top slice and repeat. It’s best if you can put each slice on a round cardboard but a plate would do.
Cherry filling
1 quart jar pitted sour cherries in syrup
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
¼ cup cold water
In a sauce pan bring the cherries with the syrup to a boil. You might want to add some sugar or lemon juice to the cherry filling, depending on your taste. When cherries come to a boil, combine the cold water and starch in a small bowl; make sure there are no lumps. Add to the boiling cherries and stir well. Bring back to a boil, remove from flame. Chill. The filling has to be refrigerator cold before you assemble.
Syrup
1 cup water
8oz sugar
2 Tablespoon Kirsch
Juice of ½ lemon
Combine water and sugar in a small sauce pan, bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute take off the flame and chill. When cold, add Kirsch and lemon.
Whipped cream
4 cups cold manufacturing cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Whip together to medium firm (not sloppy soft, but not butter).
Whip the cream just before you are ready to assemble the cake.
Chocolate shavings
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
Melt the chocolate over steam or in microwave. Spread a very thin layer onto a stainless steel or marble surface. When the chocolate is set, scrape it off the surface with a bench scraper or the edge of a metal spatula to create shavings. Collect the shavings in a wide pan.
Assembly
Put the first slice of cake down on a board or plate. Brush it heavily with the syrup. Fill a piping bag fitted with a plain #6 tip with part of the whipped cream. Pipe a circle of cream on the outer perimeter of the cake, pipe a second and a third going closer and closer to the center on the cake about ½” apart. Pipe a round of cream in the center. Using a spoon fill the gaps between the circles of cream with the cherry filling. Top the cream and cherry layer with a layer of cake. Repeat the whole process. Top with the third layer and brush with syrup.
Use the rest of the cream to ice the sides and top of the cake leaving a little aside for decorating.
Working above the wide pan with the shavings, hold the cake with one hand and attach the chocolate shavings to the outside of the cake with the other. Keep turning the cake and pressing the shavings into it until the sides are all covered, keep reusing the shavings as they fall back into the pan.
Use the left over cherries and cream to decorate as you please.
The cake is best made at least 4 hours before serving and must be stored in the refrigerator. Good Luck!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Apple Cranberry Crisp
The original recipe was handed down to me by Angela at EOS. I used to make variation of it on a weekly basis. I would change the fruit, the spice and the ice cream depending on seasonal market finds, and we would always run out. You can make this dessert in any oven-safe deep dish.
For the topping:
This will probably make more than 6 portions but it’s as small of a batch as I can make with my equipmen.
Dough #1: in a mixer combine 1 cup flour, ¼ cup + 1Tbs sugar and 1/8tsp salt. Mix with a paddle.
Cut 4oz (1stick/8Tbs) cold sweet butter into small chunks. Add to flour mix and mix until it forms into small crumbs.
Whisk together 1 egg yolk (large egg), 1tsp ice water, 1/8 tsp almond extract and ¼ tsp vanilla extract. Add to flour/butter mixture, mix shortly.
Crumble the dough on a pan and freeze.
Dough #2: In mixer combine ½ cup brown sugar, ¾ stick butter (3oz/6Tbs) and 1/8 tsp salt and cream with a paddle until fluffy.
Combine ¼ cup+1Tbs+1tsp flour and ½ cup+1Tbs rolled oats. Add to creamed mixture and mix until small chunks form. Do not over mix.
Crumble the dough on a pan and freeze.
Once frozen, mix the two together. You can keep in the freezer for up to a month
For the filling: (makes six ramekins)
Ingredients: 4 medium apples (I like pink ladies or Jazz apples) peeled, diced and tossed with 3Tbs of lemon juice; 1tsp fresh ginger finely chopped, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp clove, 1/8 tsp cardamom; 2Tbs butter, 2 Tbs orange juice, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup cranberries.
Melt the butter in sauce pan, add the apples, ginger and spices. Cook everything for 2 minutes then add the orange juice and sugar. When the apples are tender (about 5 minutes) add 1cup cranberries.
Cook for a couple more minutes, add 2Tbs flour and mix well.
Remove from the flame and divide into the ramekins (these ramekins are from IKEA).
Top the fruit with the dough mixture, making sure to have some of each dough. Be generous with the topping, after all if you put too much the dough will fall off the top when baking, and as the chef you will have to eat the tasty crumbiness. Place the ramekins on a parchment lined cookie sheet for easy clean up.
Bake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for about ½ hour. Not all ovens are created equal, so check the crisp every 10 minutes and rotate the pan for an even bake. The crisp is done when the dough is nice and golden and you can see the filling bubbling underneath.
Make sure to wait a little before you serve the crisp to avoid burned tongues.
I make my own ice cream but a good store bought will do just as well. Enjoy!
Mica
Israel Out in the Bay
We got asked to make a cake for the "Israel in the Park" festival that was held in Golden Gate Park in SF earlier this year. After racking our brains for ideas that would represent both Israel and the community of San Francisco, we ended up with Star of David cake on a white background (Israeli flag colors) and a rainbow, representing gay pride. The entire structure is made of chocolate cake with cherry filling, covered with fondant, and colored with food coloring. The title of the cake was "Israel Out in the Bay".
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
One great fundraiser
Every year we take part in a fundraiser for Girl's Inc of Alameda County called "Women of Taste." It is an event that features women chef's, restaurateurs, winemakers, musicians, artists and more, and supports the organization Girl's Inc, a nonprofit with the mission to inspire girls in low-income families to be strong, smart and bold.
Every year we try to come up with a different design theme for our booth. This year we decided to use goldfish as a backdrop. We filled glass cylinders of various shapes and sizes with goldfish of various shapes and sizes, added lights, bubblers, and some great food (for the guests).
At the end of the night we bagged up the fish for the kids, but ended up giving nearly all of them to the adults in the crowd. What better way to recycle the decor?
For information on donating to Girl's Inc, go to
http://www.girlsinc.org/index.html
Oh, here's the menu...
Girls Inc 2008
Cream of corn soup
With coconut milk and cilantro; made with corn stock
With shelling peas and lemon aioli
Peanut Butter and jelly bars
With raspberry jelly
Friday, November 14, 2008
trout smoking
We love to smoke us some trouts. As Mark (the bartender) says, "they're hard to keep lit, but boy are they worth it". So, the first photo is Mark with some of the magic flavor juice, the second photo is an appetizer composed of an endive spear with avocado salad, ruby red grapefruit and smoked trout, served on redwood cross-cut slabs on a grass covered buffet, and the last photo are the little fishes pre-curing and smoking.
For the trout, we give them a short cure using salt, sugar, a bit of spice depending on the final use and a splash of liquor, the variety of which also changes depending on the final use. After the cure, we wash off the curing mixture, dry the fish, and smoke until fully cured.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Alirio and the Iris cake
We always knew that Alirio was a talented dishwasher and great in the warehouse, but were we ever surprised when we found out he could paint. We were struggling with a wedding cake that needed irises painted on the sides, and Alirio stepped in and took over. At the time his wife and kids had just moved back to Mexico, so we printed copies of the photos of his work for him to send to them. I don't know if either he or we were more proud of his work. Thank you Alirio.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Neon Bar
We just had a chance to use this again as a bar. We have used it for both food and beverage, and I can't get over how cool it is. The food that we were serving was as follows:
Mussel shooters
Refreshing slightly spice Gazpacho with plump mussels
Served in shot glasses
Vegetarian Gazpacho shooters
House made Taro chips
Dusted with smoked paprika and salt;
Served in paper cones
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Did they really eat that much?
They told us they would eat a lot for 96 people, and we took it to heart, but I am still surprised by this one. First, here's the menu...
Wedding Rehearsal dinner
Served in seaweed covered wide big metal buckets
Lobster tails and claws
Hearts of romaine, garlic crouton, shaved parmesan and Caesar dip
Self served in clear coffee mugs
In a light lemongrass fish broth with Baha and scallions
Head on pig roasted in the La Caha
Glazed with Apricot Jam
Topped with Huckleberry Compote
Now, to the volume of food:
40# clams
15# mussels
15# cod
20# crayfish
40# lobster
5# shrimp
67# whole pig
2 cases hearts of Romaine
75# vegetables for boil
8 loaves of bread + 144 sweet rolls
4 gallons soup
500 servings of dessert
We didn't run out of food, but it got close. I am still in amazement. What is that, maybe 3# of food per person? Great job eaters.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
I can't even cut my finger off correctly
So, for the first post of Savoy Events Tidbits, I want to share a bit about my middle finger. Don't worry, this is a family friendly bird finger posting.
In Mica and my attempt to be environmentally friendly, we run a full compost and recycling kitchen. Normally this all goes well, even with the stinky food fun in the summer (maggots in the dumpster, check), sorting garbage when it comes back from jobs all mixed together with recycling and food waste, a bit higher monthly bill with Waste Management, and three waste cans instead of one. All in all, it gives a warm fuzzy feeling.
Now, rewind to yesterday. In my garbage diligence, I saw a piece of plastic in the compost can. I, with no hesitation, reach in to remove the non-biodegradable offense, and on the way out of the can, find a piece of broken glass...with my middle finger. At first I think, no problem, a band-aid will fix this just fine. Then I see the spurting blood of a cut artery. Then I see severed tendon. Then I think, Hooray Garbage!
Mica was nice enough to show up a few minutes after I butchered the hand, and agreed that a hospital visit was in order. Before we could go, we had to butterfly a pig (yes Tien and David, we we're thinking of you with my left hand wrapped, holding a piggy with my right while Mica worked the hammer and chisel).
A few hours later with a tied off artery, a stitched tendon, a sewn finger, and as a parting gift a pair of unisex one size fits all disposable underwear, I am back at it.
Hooray Garbage.
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