So Much Goes to New York

Your blogger spent a recent weekend in New York City, and must share two noteworthy dessert instances with you!

To start, imagine my glee while wandering near Union Square on a Thursday evening, and stumbling upon a truck dispensing a variety of free desserts! Yes, that's right - the Dessert Truck had just finished taping an episode for the Food Network, and they had a truck's worth (ha) of desserts left over that staff were giving to passersby. It didn't matter that we were on our way to dinner - we nabbed brownies, a chocolate cupcake, cheesecake, and a waffle with vanilla creme fraiche. The waffle, creme, and cupcake were tasty, but average; the other two desserts were definitely superior and memorable. The brownie was fudgy and melted in my mouth, and packed a lot of chocolate flavor in a small square; the cheesecake was smooth, light, creamy, and moist. We had so much dessert...for so little! New Yorkers and visitors to the city, check the Dessert Truck's website for upcoming locations. Enjoy the desserterie-on-wheels concept as long as you can! (Boston, please start something similar?)

The other dessert experience was much more conventional. Magnolia Bakery, on Bleecker Street in the West Village, earned some level of popular awareness thanks to SNL's Lazy Sunday skit and a Sex and the City episode. The merits of snacks for the Chronicles of Narnia aside, the bakery's biggest draw, in my opinion, is their exceptional frosting. This sweet buttercream icing comes in a range of pastel colors (standard buttercream flavor) and a rich chocolatey brown (chocolate).

Ever loyal to my favorite color, my preferred Magnolia cupcake is a chocolate cake with purple buttercream frosting - but, I had to settle on pink frosting during this most recent visit when they ran out of purple. Much like the Dessert Truck cupcake, the cake itself is average if not slightly disappointing; however, the quality of the frosting more than makes up for any batter shortcomings. The best way to eat such a cupcake is to eat away at the base of the cake, leaving a thin layer for consumption with a mouthful of frosting.

The vanilla cupcake with yellow frosting was similarly average, but a hint of lemon in the batter proved to be a pleasant surprise.

I would go to Magnolia again to enjoy the frosting, but several native New Yorkers have recommended both the cake and frosting available at Sugar Sweet Bakery. Next time...

What Sweet Cupcakes!

There is a new cupcake shop in Cambridge! Sweet Cupcakes, whose first location is on Mass Ave by the Comm Ave intersection, now has a second location across the street from Cardullo's in the heart of Harvard Square. The attention of passersby will be grabbed by the gleaming, brightly-lit storefront - you can see a sparkling, spare space decorated in white, pink, and brown, with a refrigerated case containing brightly-colored cupcakes, from the street. I will admit that I was grabbed in such a fashion, though buzz about the Mass Ave location would have been enough to get me in there as well. Once you are inside and drooling over the case's contents, you may have two initial worries - I thought that (a) the cupcakes were rather small, and (b) there would be no seating available [two small tables are all they provide]. However, both concerns were readily allayed. Customers do not take a long time to eat a cupcake, so the seats rotate quickly - plus, you can always take your dessert to any bench or grassy expanse in Harvard Square if desired. And, oh my, the cupcakes! I would not have wanted a bigger cupcake considering their richness and intense flavor. Three varieties got the honor of being part of the initial taste test.

• DARK CHOCOLATE (Rich chocolate cake baked with Dutch cocoa, topped with buttercream frosting in vanilla or chocolate) - this cupcake was the perfect chocolate cupcake. The homemade buttercream frosting was also excellent, with a prominent creamy flavor. A fun added bonus of this cupcake selection was the choice of sprinkle color; yours truly (predictably) chose purple.
• CHOCOLATE CARAMEL (Chocolate oozes from inside moist chocolate cake topped with Sweet's delicious chocolate buttercream frosting and drizzled with melted caramel) - this cupcake had so many textures and flavors! Dense chocolate cake, fudgy chocolate cream, smooth chocolate frosting, and light, flavorful caramel all combined for a win of a cupcake.
• CAPPUCCINO (Delectable espresso flavored cake baked with Callebaut chocolate crowned with signature Sweet frosting and a dusting of cinnamon) - the cake could have had a stronger coffee flavor, and the chocolate was not readily apparent, but the cappuccino frosting was easily the best frosting in this taste test. The dusting of cinnamon was an extra bonus!

And, yes, Sweet gets extra points for stocking organic milk to help wash down the desserts! I had been hoping to find cupcakes on this side of the river that actually were kickass (Davis Square residents will accurately interpret that comment as derision toward an inaccurately-named cupcakery); thanks to Sweet, I no longer need to hope. Next time I stop by, I think I'll try the Big Poppy.

Beacon Hill Chocolates

Beacon Hill Chocolates is a quaint shop on the corner of Pinckney and Charles Streets (equidistant from the Common and the Charles T stop), in the heart of Beacon Hill. I first heard of this establishment while on a Boston Chocolate Trolley Tour – yours truly won a box of (4) chocolates from them, all of which were delicious. Over a year later I decided that four pieces were not enough, so I had to go back. What makes this chocolate shop unique?

• Beacon Hill. How could you lose with all those connotations implicit in the location?
• The shop stocks artisan truffles and various other chocolates from around the world. The candies – most in unique, tempting shapes and colors – are well-displayed in a lit refrigerated case at the front of the store.
• The rest of the store showcases the gift boxes for which they have become well-known: nostalgic seasonal and holiday prints, or classic Boston images, superimposed on light papier-mache boxes. I saved my tiny gift box, with a period image of the State House and Common, from the Chocolate Tour.

What was initially a casual check-it-out trip became a let’s-buy-chocolates trip after I saw the decadence within the truffle case. I purchased the following delights:

• Caramel Sushi (Chewy butter caramel and vanilla marshmallow rolled ever so slo-o-o-wly and dipped in dark chocolate) – the caramel and marshmallow were of a perfect texture, so that they were stiff enough to retain their shape but soft enough to melt happily in your mouth. The dark-chocolate dipping at the base of the spiral was the perfect touch. Mmm, mmm.
  
• Cookies and Cream Cone (Chocolate cookie & vanilla cream in a cone of dark & ivory chocolates) – I really enjoyed the vanilla cream, with flecks of chocolate cookie crumbs, alongside the different chocolate shells. This is probably the fanciest way I have tasted cookies and cream…and I would taste it again.
• Champagne Truffle (Dark chocolate blended with champagne and coated in cocoa powder) – the champagne flavor was very subtle, especially in the context of the strongly-flavored dark chocolate and cocoa coating. However, the subtlety worked in this case.
  
• Blood Orange Fleur de Lis (Dark chocolate ganache in a dark chocolate Fleur de lis shell) – the dark chocolate shell was enjoyable, and the shimmery orange-red coating on the fleur-de-lis was visually stunning, but the orange-flavored ganache seemed a bit artificial, and strong.
• Ginger & Lime Dragonfly (Dark chocolate blended with ginger & lime flavours) – the texture of crystallized ginger was noticeable in the candy, but both ginger and lime flavors were lost in the chocolate, and needed to be stronger.

These were a bit pricey, but I guess that is explained by the import process and neighborhood. The chocolate was interesting enough that I’m sure I will make several return trips!

A (Partial) Vegan Victory

I tasted the best vegan chocolate cake I had ever had a few weeks ago, when a coworker brought in said cake plus shamrock cookies for St. Patrick's Day. (Random, don't you think?) Fortunately, my coworker shared the recipe...which means I can share it with you! It's amazing how flavorful and moist a butter- and egg-free cake can be.

• 2 1/2 C flour
• 2 C sugar
• 2/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 2 C warm water
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 350, and grease your pan(s).
2. Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add water, vanilla extract, oil, and vinegar. Whisk until all is smooth.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
   

Greg and I whipped up this tasty treat in no time, and had a hard time restraining ourselves from licking up all the batter. Here, you can see the smooth, fluid batter (with occasional bubble) pre-oven.

30 minutes and 350 degrees later, voila - a cake (represent)!

A good cake demands good frosting - so, I was hesitant to top this dessert with vegan frosting, which can be salty with an odd consistency. Enter the following (resolutely dairy-based) frosting recipe. I would suggest adding the heavy cream to the butter along with the dry ingredients, as I had a dusty mess on my hands prior to the cream's incorporation.

• 1/2 C butter
• 3 C powdered sugar
• 3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 T heavy cream
• 1 t vanilla extract

1. Cream the butter.
2. Mix the cocoa and sugar; gradually add to the creamed butter.
3. Add the cream and vanilla, and beat until frosting is well-blended and fluffy.

The finished product was delicious! The cake is light, moist, and chocolatey, and the frosting is cool, creamy, and sweet. This is the best chocolate cake - counting both conventional and vegan recipes - and chocolate frosting I have ever made from scratch! We washed this rich delight down with a dessert-like beverage which, like the baked good, had vegan and non-vegan components. The blend of dairy milk, soy milk, and Godiva white chocolate liqueur is a winner.

Don't you wish you could have a piece?!

My Latest Bakery Obsession Is...

...Flour Bakery and Cafe, in the western part of the South End.

After hearing multiple impassioned recommendations of this establishment, I realized that I had to go - and, it has since become a weekend fixture, with a Flour baked item and/or meal characterizing three of the past four weekends. So, what makes Flour so incredible?

The baked goods, both breakfast items and desserts, have exceptional, unique flavors, and you can simply taste the quality:

• Orange chocolate muffin (in image, upper center) - this muffin has orange-flavored dough with bits of orange zest, candied orange, and possibly marmalade mixed in. It is covered in a thin, sweet, faintly-orange glaze. The chocolate used in the muffin is so rich and dense flavor-wise, and is so soft and pliable to the touch, that I think it might be either trufffle chocolate or extra-thick ganache. The orange flavor is neither too tart nor too sweet, and the chocolate-to-batter ratio is perfect! [A side note - stay tuned for a blog entry on my attempts at recreating this muffin!]
• Ginger pear muffin (lower center) - this muffin has a pleasant, faint ginger flavor, and moist chunks of pear are mixed throughout the batter. The pear chunks are the perfect texture for a muffin, meaning they are neither too mushy nor too raw. The top of the muffin is sprinkled with sugar crystals to counteract the faint gingery tartness.
• Vegan chocolate cupcake (to the right of the ginger pear muffins, dusted with powdered sugar) - this is the only "average" item I have yet encountered at Flour. The same chocolate bits found in the orange chocolate muffin are in this cupcake, which are delicious, but the cake itself has too many air pockets and not enough chocolate flavor. It is also extremely dry for a vegan baked item, considering the general vegan recipe convention of substituting oil for eggs.
• Chocolate cupcake - this is a cupcake to remember! It is extremely dense (one cupcake has considerable heft, more than a muffin 1.5 times its size!), and I'm guessing that the recipe started as a devil's-food recipe but was customized to allow for a more flavorful - and darker - chocolate. The replacement chocolate is rich, and the cupcake is almost creamy as it melts in your mouth. The finishing touch is an ample helping of white vanilla buttercream frosting, concentrically swirled across the top of the cake.
• Boston cream pie - I am usually ambivalent / leaning towards "meh" regarding Boston cream pies, but Flour's take on this traditional Omni Parker House dessert is worth eating! They get several things right that most BCP bakers don't: (1) instead of skimping on the most important ingredient, they use plentiful delicious chocolate on the top and sides of the dessert; (2) the cream filling is light, rather than globular and custard-like; (3) the cake layers in between the cream filling are actual vanilla cake, rather than the spongy, eggy excuse for cake frequently employed elsewhere.

I can't wait to expand upon this list! It has been hard to set a limit thus far. On top of the baked goods, they have delicious cafe fare AND cafe beverages:

• Turkey sandwich with cheddar cheese, mixed greens, and cranberry chutney (oho, chutney!) on homemade bread
• Lamb sandwich with goat cheese, mixed greens, and tomato chutney (another chutney? wow!) on homemade bread
• Tomato-fennel soup containing assorted mashed vegetables
• Made-to-order pizza with fontina cheese and slightly-sweet dough
• Spicy hot chocolate - in the increasingly-popular tradition of Mexican chocolate, Flour adds cinnamon and cayenne/chili powder to their standard cocoa to create an invigorating, mouth- and eye-watering beverage. You can customize the milk; I notice no weakness in ordering skim. The spicy-sweet combination is a winner, and while I may have become more used to that pepper punch after several helpings, it still poduces the same reaction!

So, who wants to go to Flour this very minute?! I am all for making two trips in two days. :) If not today, how about next weekend? Also, they have a second location along the Fort Point channel, so any Southie residents in search of exceptional cafe items can satisfy their needs. Happy Flouring!

Restaurant Week's Wins

The Winter 2009 Restaurant Week period has come and gone, and during its two weeks I was fortunate enough to experience several noteworthy restaurants. The desserts, for the most part, were also noteworthy!

I had wanted to dine at Sibling Rivalry in the South End, affectionately referred to as "Sib Riv," since summer 2008's Restaurant Week. This restaurant experience was well worth the wait, and will be worth a repeat visit! While most restaurants offer a limited menu for RW, Sib Riv let its guests choose from the full menu. The variety of Chef David and Chef Bob (yes, sibling)'s creations was impressive, though both my appetizer and main course were from David's side of the menu. My appetizer was handmade pappardelle pasta served in a mushroom sauce replete with rabbit meat (surprisingly tasty, although stringy), chanterelle mushrooms (flavor burst!), and dried tomatoes. This dish would have been a standout as a main course, and it was surely the best appetizer I ate in these two weeks. [An aside - you may notice a mushroom theme as a counterpoint to the dessert theme in this entry.] My main course was salmon, baked in a crisp pastry shell with spinach and mushroom duxelle, with a creamy lemon sauce and tomato fondue on the side. I really enjoyed this unexpected assortment of ingredients - I had never had salmon with mushrooms or spinach (two of my favorite foods) prior! The dessert was a rich little bit of caramel chocolate mousse. The mousse, which had hints of both milk and white chocolate, was complemented by a dollop of caramel creme anglaise as well as swirls of two different caramels across the plate. I enjoyed mixing the mousse, creme, and sweeter caramel (one was too bitter) into a bite of dense chocolate, airy sweetness, and sticky sauce. While the portion looked small, the mousse was dense enough to make you full when you were halfway through. Other Sib Riv items of note: (1) their bar uses Sailor Jerry rum in their house drinks - a rarity! (2) A delicious bottle of lighter-than-usual syrah was enjoyed. This restaurant has quite the wine list! (3) The dining room is not partitioned, and our booth along the leftmost wall had a full view of the restaurant, but it seemed acoustically separated from the general hubbub and gave a nice feeling of intimacy. I highly recommend Sib Riv for any special dining experience!

I cannot give the same ringing endorsement of Tangierino, a Moroccan restaurant on Charlestown's quaint cobblestone-and-gas-lamp Main Street. The decor and atmosphere are phenomenal - the booths and hallways are draped in sumptuous fabric; assortments of geometric lanterns with brilliant stained glass are suspended from every ceiling; framed "portraits" of veiled faces with strong, haunting eyes hang on vibrant red walls; seating is low, plush, and comfortable; strains of Mediterranean music (and the occasional elaborately-garbed belly dancer) make their way through the dining space. The food, however, does not merit enthusiasm. I considered my chicken b'stila appetizer to be a meat-sweet violation - and I am normally tolerant of bizarre flavor mixes. Imagine baklava...with chicken...and mint yogurt. Each ingredient alone would have been tasty, but the combination left me raising my eyebrows and pushing half of it to the side of my plate. I really enjoyed my main dish - seven-vegetable couscous - but a vegetarian friend who ordered the same dish found scraps of meat in hers. Those with dietary restrictions, beware! The last course was a flourless chocolate torte that would have been more accurately described as grainy chocolate gelatin. The "torte" was garnished with whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate sauce; at least those tasted as they should have, though the chocolate sauce was somewhat weakly-flavored and thin. This dessert disappointment closed out a questionable meal. I had never tried Moroccan cuisine before, and I won't write it off entirely because I did enjoy my couscous, but Tangierino has definitely given me pause.

In the second week of RW, I found myself returning to an old favorite. Harvest, in Harvard Square, delivered a delicious meal yet again! The outdoor seating was understandably closed for the season, but our table was against a glass wall overlooking the courtyard - which, although empty, was still charming due to a fire blazing in a stone fireplace. Regardless of the time of year, this restaurant manages to be charming, inviting, and natural. My appetizer was a panzanella (bread salad) with crispy artichokes, parsley crostini, and burrata drizzled in balsamic vinaigrette. The burrata, or creamy mozzarella, was so smooth, and it provided a good textural counterpoint to the crunchy, bitter croutons. For the main course, I enjoyed a tart of forbidden black rice that was cooked with carrots, turnips, bok choy, and hen of the woods mushrooms. The explosive flavors of the rice and mushrooms were made even better by the faintly-spicy chile oil drizzled across the plate. I would love to recreate this in my kitchen sometime - while the spices may be difficult to replicate, the rice and mushrooms wouldn't. Dessert was a chocolate peanut crunch. This mousse-cake-like confection had a creamy white chocolate layer, a slightly denser milk chocolate layer, and a dry dark chocolate layer with peanuts and crisped rice interspersed. I was reminded of the Cheesecake Factory's chocolate tuxedo cream cheesecake, though this was fortunately lighter. A spoonful of vanilla creme fraiche and chocolate ganache completed the dessert. I enjoyed it, but I would have liked less white chocolate and cream / more crispy crunch!

My last Winter 2009 RW night was spent at Aquitaine, also in the South End. I had wanted to have dinner at this restaurant since going there for brunch once in 2008; dinner did not disappoint! To start, this restaurant has the perfect evening-dining atmosphere. There are high ceilings with exposed pipes and ducts, nearly-as-high (and wide!) windows, brick walls, mirrors, and soft incandescent lighting in the form of large globes pendant from the ceiling. The occasional Toulouse-Lautrec-esque poster completes this modern take on a traditional French bistro. The food was equally perfect! The tomato bisque appetizer had a robust tomato flavor, and was not overly creamy. Noteworthy details on this comfort classic were a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, and a large crouton thickly spread with goat cheese. I ordered tagliatelle with mushrooms as my main course; the hearty pasta was cooked in madeira cream and tossed with an assortment of mushrooms as well as spinach. Aquitaine's dessert was THE best of this four-restaurant tour - a dark chocolate torte with espresso-chocolate ganache and vanilla chantilly cream. The torte was warm, rich, and textured (hints of espresso powder added a pleasant graininess); it melted in my mouth! The ganache, warm enough that it was thin and spreadable / plentiful enough that it covered the entire plate, soaked perfectly into the torte and filled plenty a spoonful, and the vanilla creme acted as a breath of fresh air against the intense, dark flavors of the other ingredients. I could have eaten this dessert all night. Sigh, if only it were included on Aquitaine's regular menu...the thought of never eating it again is somewhat distressing! Perhaps this can be an inspiration for me to expand my baking into the world of fine desserts - a torte from my kitchen seems rather ambitious, but hey, I'll do what I have to to get a good dessert.

If you have not already, I hope you have the opportunity to try (most of) these restaurants! I, in turn, need to reevaluate my restaurant list, now that several of my top picks have been sampled. At this point, Bonfire and Sel de la Terre - oh, and Olives! - are pending...

Valentine's Day with Dancing Deer

Valentine's Day is personally synonymous with good chocolate, for two reasons - (1) tradition demands it, and (2) with the holiday being a celebration of love, I must pay tribute to, yes, my ardent love and appreciation of all things dessert. In addition to the standard chocolate hearts (milk, white, and dark chocolates this year), I more-than-dipped in to a Dancing Deer Baking Company Chocolate Lover's Medley. This desssert quartet was much more satisfying than the bakery's Christmas offerings, though as with most commercial bakeries I can think of several areas of improvement:

• Chocolate Espresso Cake - this is a moist, dense dark chocolate cake, with coarse ground espresso bean mixed throughout. The rough texture and bright taste of the beans are a pleasant surprise, though the coffe flavor in the batter is a bit sharp. The cake is drizzled in a rich white chocolate glaze. It comes in standard Bundt sizes - so, perfect for slicing and enjoying with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and a mocha. Wait, did I say that...?
• Chocolate Chunk Brownies - these brownies' claim to fame is their wonderfully high chocolate-chunk-to-batter ratio! Large pieces of semi-sweet chocolate are found throughout these fudgy brownies. Quality of chunks aside, the brownies themselves are average. I am sure that these are delicious right out of the oven; however, you can't expect that fresh taste to last in the weeks post-baking, and it doesn't. After being raised on from-scratch brownies, and perpetuating the same in my own kitchen, it is difficult for me to advocate for the processed variety.
• Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies - these cookies, conceptually, are the Best. Cookies. Ever. The rich chocolate batter has dark, milk, and white chocolate chips contained within. However, the cookies are rather dry, and the chocolate chips are small. How would I do this cookie differently? Use a heartier base (I'm guessing this one was on the runny side, as the cookies were rather large, flat, and thin), and larger chips or chunks. My goal would be a dense, chewy batter, with melt-in-your-mouth chips of every flavor. I look forward to trying my own variation sometime, and appreciate the inspiration!
• Triple Chocolate Heart Cookies - these cookies are the cutest, and most Valentine's-y, of the set. Small, thick heart-shaped chocolate cookies are drizzled in pink frosting and lightly dusted with pink crystallized sugar. That sweet frosting complements the slightly bitter cookies well; chunks of semi-sweet and dark chocolate, plus a dark chocolate base, constitute the cookie proper. I would like to see a softer, moister version of these cookies, but I understand that baked-good age and general need for preservation make those states difficult to achieve.

So, I felt the dessert love this Valentine's Day, yet I have several ideas of what Chocolate and I can work on to improve our relationship. I wonder where we'll be a year from now...