Jul
8
Double-Layer Chocolate Cake with Raspberries
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Ingredients
Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
2 eggs
2 cups sour milk (curdled w/ 1 teaspoon vinegar)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 squares baking chocolate
pinch of salt
Frosting
1 bag chocolate chips
1 pint sour half-and-half
Directions
Cake
Preheat oven to 350. Put 1 teaspoon of vinegar in the milk and let it sit for 30 minutes. Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Melt the baking chocolate squares and let them cool slightly while doing the next steps. Cream room-temperature butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs with the creamed mixture. Mix in vanilla and chocolate. Combine the other dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to the wet ingredients, starting with milk. Mix together, being careful not to over-mix. Pour mixture into a greased baking pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out dry. Check after about 15 minutes.
Frosting
Melt chocolate chips. Stir in 8-12 ounces of sour half-and-half until it has a smooth, spreadable consistency. Spread on cooled cake.
Recommended: Double-Layer Chocolate Cake with Raspberries
This is my favorite way of preparing the cake. Divide the batter evenly between two round pans, so you have two layers. After they have cooled, turn one layer over so the smooth side is facing up. Spread a thin layer of raspberry preserves (I like unsweetened raspberry preserves) on that layer, and stack the other layer on top. Then frost as normal. Garnish with fresh raspberries!
Why this recipe?
One word: chocolate. This is the most chocolate-y cake I have ever eaten, and is my absolute favorite. It is not for the faint of heart; most people I have met find this cake too rich and chocolate-y, but I love it. I recommend you use a round springform pan; it makes getting the cake out of the pan so simple and neat!
It is easy to overbake this recipe, and your cake will come out dry. I personally don’t mind the dry cake (it’s good with milk!), but if you haven’t been able to get the cake out in time (you only have a small window between done and overdone), try the raspberry double-layer cake! The preserves add some moisture.
Jul
8
Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Ingredients
1 bag Semi-sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips (I like Ghirardelli)
2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup sugar (I usually use slightly less)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I usually use slightly less)
2 eggs
2 teaspoon(s) vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional, but I like walnuts!)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. In large mixer bowl, cream butter with sugar and brown sugar. Note that the mixture will not appear as creamy as you might be used to, because of the decreased amount of butter used. Blend eggs and vanilla with creamed mixture. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 375ºF for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Alternatively, gently press a cookie with your finger; if it springs back up when you remove it, they are fine to take out. The less you cook them, the chewier they will be once cooled. Removing them to a cooling rack ensures optimal cooling for the best cookies!
Why this recipe?
The only thing that really makes this recipe stand out is its use of only one stick of butter. Because of this, they have some different physical properties. They don’t spread as much when baked, so you can place the drops of cookie dough closer together on the cookie sheets. Using less butter and less sugar helps the flavor of the chocolate chips and the nuts stand out, which is how I like my cookies. Let me know if you give this recipe a try! It has replaced all other chocolate chip cookie recipes for me.