Chocolate Cake

Aaaaaand we’re back!  Julie is home from Denmark and I (Mary) am on summer break, which means we have time to reignite the foodie flame! 

It’s been way too long, but we’re going to come in strong with a bunch of new posts.  I have a bunch of books to read for my MFA program this summer, and that means a bunch of food to cook from them!

I’m going to start out with a classic dessert: Chocolate Cake.  But don’t turn away just yet!  Everyone who tried this recipe told me it was the best chocolate cake they’ve ever had.  It’s moist, but light, and chocolatey, but not cloying. 

I found chocolate cake in a New York Times bestselling Young Adult novel, Divergent, by Veronica Roth.

  

Riding the Hunger Games wave (more like tsunami), Roth's book takes place in a dystopian society with the people segregated by a controlling government.  But this is not a Hunger Games rip off – it’s actually a great book in its own right, and if you aren't a fan of the gore of Hunger Games, this is a good way to get a thrilling YA without so much blood and guts.  The 3rd book in the trilogy, Allegiant, comes out this October, and the Divergent movie comes out in 2014.

16-year-old Tris Prior lives in a post-apocalyptic Chicago, where the city is divided into 5 factions to prevent government corruption: Abnegation (for the those who believe that selflessness is the solution to corruption), Candor (for those who believe telling the truth would solve everything, Amity (for those who find kindness to be the panacea for the world), Erudite (for those who value learning and knowledge), and Dauntless (for those who value bravery as the fix).

Tris switches from Abnegation, where everyone eats really plain food because eating food that tastes good is considered self-indulgent and therefore non-abnegation, to Dauntless.  At Dauntless headquarters, Tris marvels at all the flavorful food she has never tried before.  The food she repeatedly dwells on is chocolate cake.  This is probably due to her mother’s recommendation, who tells Tris: “‘Have a piece of chocolate cake for me, all right?  The chocolate.  It’s delicious’” (Roth 187)

As I was reading the book, I was wondering what chocolate cake might taste like to someone who has never had it before.  I decided to make it to help me ponder over it. Because, you know, chocolate helps you ponder.

Confession: I normally make chocolate cake from a box.  Gasp!  I know, scandalous.  But it’s the only thing I bake from a box – I’m a total food snob** about everything else.  And lately I’ve been cooking a lot of made-from-scratch cakes, so I am going to be kicking that boxed cake mix habit to the curb.  This was a decision I made after eating this 100% homemade chocolate cake.

Chocolate Cake

Recipe from RealSimple.com

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into pieces, plus more for the pans

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

Heat oven to 350º F. Butter two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each with a round of parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.

In a small saucepan, combine the butter and 1 cup water and bring to a boil (the butter will melt). Add to the flour mixture and, using an electric mixer, mix until combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the sour cream and vanilla.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Transfer one of the cakes to a platter and spread with ¾ cup of the frosting. Top with the remaining cake and spread with the remaining frosting.

Flour/cocoa mixture.  You could sift it, but I didn't and it was lump-free.

boiling water and butter

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

1 1/2 pounds (24 ounces) semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks), at room temperature

Melt the chocolate in a medium bowl set over (but not in) a saucepan of simmering water, stirring often, until melted. Let cool to room temperature (do not let it solidify).  [Note: I just heated the chocolate chips in a glass bowl for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each heating, until they were melted.  Whenever I do the double boiler method explained above, I end up getting a tiny splash of water in the chocolate to seize and become useless.  It's infuriating!  The microwave is foolproof for me]

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. With the mixer running, slowly add the chocolate and beat until combined and smooth

Chocolate almost completely melted, before letting it cool and adding it to the butter

There you have it!  It was so completely delicious.  I will be making chocolate cake using this recipe from now on.  I love how simple yet delicious it is!

**Side note: While some people may think it’s bad to be a food snob, they never complain when I make stuff from scratch with real ingredients.  Basically, being a food snob is a good thing.  And because I’m a food snob, you should know that when I say a recipe is good, it’s truly good.

Coconut Macaroons

Hello, blogosphere! This is Julie writing for a wonderful experiment I just concocted; coconut macaroons. I absolutely LOVE coconut (which I've found is a rare trait). Coconut macaroons are simply heaps of coconut. They are delicious.

So you may be wondering "Why coconut macaroons?"

Well, if you happened to read about me on this blog, I am currently a few weeks from graduation at Brigham Young University-Idaho with a degree in Theatre and Speech Education and a minor in French Education. My major requires that I read a lot (not novels, like Mary did) but a lot of plays. One of the plays I have read almost every semester for one reason or another has been Henrik Ibsen's A Dolls House (1879). This is an amazing play. I know that many theatre people strongly dislike Henrik Ibsen's writing, but as far as A Dolls House goes, I love it! ( I despise The Wild Duck however). For those who don't know the story, I will give a brief description.

This play was controversial for it's feminist demands and integrated women rights messages. In fact, there was another ending written...we'll get to that in a moment. This play centers around Nora and her husband Torvald Helmer. Nora appears to be extremely naive and almost stupid (Torvald calls her "scatterbrains" and "silly" often). However, unbeknownst to Torvald, Nora has earned plenty of money herself, money that she used to save Torvald's life. She uses her father's name (who recently died) but takes great joy in the fact that she herself was the one to pay for something so important. Toward the end, Nora realizes she needs to tell Torvald. She slowly changes from naive (sometimes annoyingly so) to a level headed woman who knows what she has done. Torvald reacts in a surprising way (first enraged and then as if nothing happened). Nora decides to leave Torvald; in the last few pages this exchange is made:

Helmer: Oh, you blind, incompetent child!
Nora: I must learn to be competent, Torvald
Helmer: Abandon your home, your husband, your children! And you're not even thinking what people will say!
Nora: I can't be concerned about that. I only know how essential this is.
Helmer: Oh it's outrageous. So you'll run out like this on your most sacred vows.
Nora: What do you think are my most sacred vows?
Helmer: And I have to tell you that! Aren't they your duties to your husband and children?
Nora: I have other duties equally sacred
Helmer: That isn't true. What duties are they?
Nora: Duties to myself.
(emphasis added)

Yeah! Makes you want to burn a bra or something, doesn't it? If you read the rest of the play, you will know why this moment is one that makes you scream "YES!" out loud. Basically I do that everytime I read this play. However, in the alternate ending (Ibsen wrote one due to the uproar from audiences about a woman leaving her post as a wife and mother), Nora comes back, sees her children and falls at the feet of them and her husband. This was even less popular and was called a 'barbaric outrage'. I personally like the original ending.

So...again...what does this have to do with Coconut Macaroons? Well, in the beginning of the play, Nora has just returned from shopping and is eating macaroons secretly. When Torvald comes in to greet her, she hides them and wipes her mouth. She lies when asked if she has visited the sweet shop (Torvald does not approve of her having sweets). As a theatre major who must analyze things to death, I see the macaroons as a symbol of foreshadowing. The macaroons represent her intelligence, her freedom and her inner desires that aren't yet outwardly presented. She has plenty of secrets by this time and doesn't think that another secret from Torvald will be very hard (and it's not!).
Macaroons themselves are light in color and very sweet looking but when you bite into them, it's a little unexpected. A little bitter, a little sweet, flaky, chewy and crunchy all at the same time. The macaroons in A Dolls House are evidence of just how complex and deceiving Nora is. Macaroons are very easy to make but deceivingly complex in taste!
All in all...Macaroons equal women's liberation! WOOO!

So now for the good part: The recipe. I found this online, I don't quite remember where.

Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients
3 cups shredded coconut
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, combine coconut, almond extract, and salt. Mix in condensed milk to form a thick paste. Fold in egg whites with cream of tarter. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Easy enough, right?! The most expensive thing was the Almond Extract and then the Cream of Tartar. Sheesh! They're so little! Oh well.


Here's your ingredients!



After that's a lotta coconut! Salt and extract are in there too.



Sweetened condensed milk is joining the party!





I must have been nervous about this blog: I never break the yolk when separating egg whites!!



Beaten egg whites ready to join the party!



Ooey Gooey mess! It looks like a lot less coconut now!



Spooned out and ready to bake! The Recipe says about 8 minutes.. I think mine took around 5. Don't leave them unattended!




Aren't they pretty?



They're even prettier on a green plate =)



Are they good? I better test it out...


They were really good! Super moist, chewy and a little crunchy on the edges. I brought them to rehearsal tonight and people seemed to like them =). They're all gone now.

I would highly recommend reading A Dolls House. It is an excellent piece of work and now you can eat macaroons just like Nora! But don't hide them...be proud of your macaroons and your right to vote (if you're a woman). =)