My roommates and I enjoyed a homemade meal together this past Wednesday, prior to heading our separate ways for Christmas. Laura took care of the main course, which was macaroni with artichokes, mushrooms, and scallions, all tossed in a light cream sauce. I, of course, made the dessert. I tried this Stonewall Kitchen recipe for a chocolate-raspberry fudge cake. Once I got past the general unhealthiness of the ingredients (how many sticks of butter? cups of sugar? eggs?), I was able to enjoy the promise of chocolate - as derived from cocoa powder - and raspberry - as derived from seedless jam - flavors. The cake itself is very dense, but not as moist, smooth or rich as I would have liked. Its aroma is better than its taste. In the finished product, I noticed the dry, plain flavors of flour and butter more than the chocolate, sugar, or jam. I would replace some of the butter with oil in future bakings, and see if that moistens the batter and causes it to bake more smoothly. Also, the oil might draw out the flavors more than the solid butter. Aesthetically, it looks rather plain coming out of the 9" round cake pan. In order to enhance both the presentation and the flavors of the dessert, I served it with fresh raspberries and warm bittersweet chocolate sauce. Both additions were delicious!
This was probably the least successful baking experience / dessert yet recorded in these pages, but hey, the recipe was worth a try. I now have the goal of making an appropriately smooth, rich, and flavorful fudge cake!
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