Dark Chocolate Ricotta Cake, yummmmm

I've been updating and improving my chocolate ricotta cake since I first made it and posted it a little over 4 years ago and realized I never kept up with the changes. So happy new year all, it's time to make this yummy, simple cake and celebrate 2014. I made this Saturday night and as I normally do, I've cut some calories and have a decadent little dessert that I'm excited to share with you. If you've never tried a ricotta cake, all I can say is it's creamy on the inside and just a tad crunchy on the top. It's my kind of dessert, hope you like it too. 

Dark Chocolate Ricotta Cake
use a large loaf pan

2/3 cup AP flour
2/3 cup old fashioned oats ground in spice grinder or food processor
1/3 cup dark baking cocoa (I've been very pleased with Hershey's)
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter softened
1-1/2 cups Splenda no calorie sweetener (regular sugar will work as well)
15 oz part skim ricotta cheese at room temp
3 large eggs at room temp
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tsp instant coffee diluted in 1/4 cup boiling water, then cooled
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Prep your loaf pan with cooking spray and pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Set loaf pan aside and get your dry ingredients together. In a medium size bowl sift flour, ground oats, dark cocoa, baking powder and salt. When you're sifting the oats, you'll end up with some of the hull from the grain. Discard it, it's just a tablespoon or two. Set aside your dry ingredients and let's get to the moist.

In large bowl mix butter and sugar for about 2 minutes until combined. Add the ricotta, coffee and vanilla. Now add the eggs.

Mix until your batter is a little curdled looking. Not pretty at this point, but we're getting there.

Time to add the dry ingredients. I do this in two batches and then add the chips and by mix them by hand.

Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees and then lower temp to 325 and bake another 45 minutes. Let cool before removing from pan. This is a very rich cake, so I didn't glaze it or even dust it with powderd sugar, but you could certainly do that. Or a dollop of whipped cream would be nice. If you've never tried a ricotta cake before, this is a great introduction to baking with cheese.  Simple and simply delicious.

World Food Championships 2013, Part 3

 

The night before I was leaving for the WFC, packing clothes, emptying out my kitchen, getting my ingredients in order, and stressing to the max, I got an email from Lori- my sous chef extraordinaire and fabulous daughter (living 3,000 miles away from me) who reminded me she had some suprises in store. I usually don't worry about Lori because she is very down to earth. But her email included this picture.One is me and of one is her. And this was going to be part of our banner for the competitor's parade and the competition booth. I love the way she thinks. Just seeing her email made me giddy and I couldn't wait to see what she was planning, I was game for anything. Just to fill you in, this is a picture of each of us, one taken in 1959 and one in 1986. Yes, we were about the same age posing as Miss America. Well, when you're in a cooking competition as stressfull as the WFC, it sure is like a beauty contest except the best food wins. And when your favorite Miss America is cooking with you, it's home cooking at its' best!

 

On to the event: The two former pretend beauty queens got down to cooking Thursday afternoon and made Raspberry Cloud Cakes, our signature dish. To me it's everything that a dessert should be- creamy, rich, white chocolatey and fruity. This is one of my favorite recipes that I created over a year ago and just prior to the competition, I made them once a week for about 4-6 weeks. I made them in my sleep too. Here's the recipe, I think you'll enjoy.

 

White Chocolate Raspberry Cloud Cakes

makes about 36 filled cakes

 

Filling

8 oz neufchatel cheese softened to room temp

1/2 cup butter softened

3 T confectioner's sugar

1 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend for Baking

1/3 cup Polaner All Fruit Raspberry Preserves

 

Dough

3/4 cup butter softened

3/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend

2 large eggs room temp

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup white chocolate chips finely chopped

Confectioners sugar for dusting

 

Garnish

Fresh raspberries

mint leaves

 

Let's put this beautiful dessert together.

 

To make the filling: In medium size bowl combine all ingredients with hand mixer. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare and make the dough.

 

To make the (dough): Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In medium size bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir with a whisk to combine and set aside.

 

In large bowl, with hand or stand mixer combine butter and brown sugar and mix until smooth and airy (2-3 minutes). We used a hand mixer at the show. Add eggs and vanilla and continue to mix. Add half the dry ingredients into the wet and mix on low. Add the rest of the dry ingredients until dough is smooth. Now add the crushed white chocolate and stir to combine. Use your clean hands if it's easier. The white chocolate is a fabulous addition to these little darlings. Who doesn't like a little white chocolate crunch with a cakey cookie?

  

Your dough will be very sticky so you'll want to refrigerate it for about 15-20 minutes. Up tp 30-40 minutes if you have the time. Form dough into small balls about 3/4 inch in diameter. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes and place on cooling rack to cool. After a few minutes you can place them on paper or kitchen towels to cool completely.

When mini cakes are cooled, the fun begins. Take a tablespoon of prepared raspberry cream and place on top of flat side of cake.

We're getting there. Now cover the filling with a second cookie cake to make a sandwich.

Keep going, you've got a lot more to make. When you cake sammies are assembled, sprinkle both sides of the cake with confectioner's sugar through a sieve. Add a dollop of the leftover raspberry cream to the top of these and garnish with a raspberry. Here is a picture that I took in my house before the contest. I was thrilled to be able to make these for the judges, with red wrappers, white plates and a sprinkling here and there of fresh mint (sorry no picture at the competition).

 

For those of you that want to give these a try, I have to warn you, they are growing raspberries bigger than you can imagine. Each garnish ended up being 1/3 of a raspberry. I cut the tops off, blotted them with paper towels to prevent bleeding and added them to the top raspberry swirl. Wish I had a picture of my final-hand in dish, but time was wasting and we were lucky to get these little cuties in on time.

 

 

And in case you were wondering, here is one of the two surprise signs Lori made. From what I could tell, we had the best "home cook" signs in the competition.

 

So the cook off is over and it's been over a week since I've been home. Will we do it next year? I'd like to think so and just hope we're invited back. To be able to do this for 2 years in a row and compete in a fierce competition like the WFC, I think our third time might be the charm. Fingers crossed!  

World Food Championships 2013, Part 1

This is a view of the Freemont Experience where the World Food Championships took place last week. It looks pretty tame in this picture but when the home cooks and bonafied chefs were competing, it was a hot-bed of excitement. And the aromas were heavenly. Each night when the awards were presented, I could barely get close enough to the stage to snap a picture. But I did get a good one, the Pasta Recipe top ten finals. Six of my buddies are up on the stage. You rock ladies! And you're all home cooks, how great is that?

Unfortunately I didn't make the top ten, but since I ranked 16 in desserts I'm feeling like "I almost made it". One of the most disappointing things about not making the top ten is that I didn't get to make my yummy Calypso Cakes with Pineapple Coconut Coulis. We had about two weeks to plan and think about our final build, and I must admit I spent a lot of time and energy coming up with this concoction. I decided to make individual cakes to cut down on cooking time (they really put us to the test when it came to delivering our dishes on time). Seventeen minutes in the oven, and a few extra steps to make them competition worthy. Here's the recipe. It has a lot of steps, but is really pretty simple. If you know me, you know I don't make anything that is difficult.

Calypso Cake with Coconut Pineapple Coulis
makes 12 2 inch servings in square, flat muffin tins

For the cake
1 cup Splenda no sugar sweetener
2 cups AP flour
2 large eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 20 oz can Dole Crushed pineapple drained (save liquid for coulis)
1/2 cup ground sweetened coconut
1-1/4 cup Thai coconut milk from 13.5 oz can (reserve the rest for coulis)

For the frosting
8 oz neufchatel cheese room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
1/4 cup ground sweetened coconut
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tsp coconut extract

For the coulis
Reserved sauce from can of crushed pineapple
Reserverd coconut milk
1 T cornstarch
3 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
1/4 tsp salt

Garnish
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 can Dole Pineapple Slices drained and patted dry

To make the cake: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking pan with cooking spray and set aside. In large bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and mix by hand until combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake 17-19 minutes. Set aside to cool. Remove from baking pan to further cool.

To make the frosting: Mix cheese and butter until airy. Now add the ground coconut (I grind my coconut in my small spice grinder) and the coconut extract and combine until smooth. Now add your confectioner's sugar. Set aside in a cool place.

To make the sauce: In small pan combine Splenda Brown Sugar Blend and salt and heat on low. In a small mixing bowl whisk reserved pineapple juice, reserved coconut milk and cornstarch. Pour into warmed sugar mixture, increase heat, then simmer uncovered until it reduces by half. Set aside to cool.

Garnish: Place coconut on parchment lined cookie sheet and toast in 350 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes, checking and tossing every few minutes, you don't want burnt coconut.

Fire up your indoor grill and sear pineapple slices until they are browned on both sides. Remove from grill and when they are cooled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

Assembly: Top cakes with the creamy frosting. Pour a little sauce over frosted cake and make a little puddle of sauce on your plates. Place cake on top of sauce puddle, sprinkle top with toasted coconut and add a few slices of grilled pineapple. Doesn't this look yummy?

At the WFC we have to present tasting portions for the judges, and while I was thinking of how to plate this entry, Pier One Imports was having a promotion on their "tasting" wares. I opted for the Asian soup spoons (75 cents each-good deal right?). Love the way this looks.

As you can see, a lot of work went into this dessert that never got to be made at the WFC. But I will be making these little Calypso Cakes often and I hope you'll give them a try too. I know, a lot of steps- but sooo worth it. Congrats to all the competitors, we are surely a talented group of crazies.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

We've been told for years bananas are good for us, and now we're seeing articles and ads on diet/food sites that say they promote belly fat and aren't as healthy as they're cracked up to be. Who are you gonna believe? I can see both sides of this debate, but I'm going with the belief that bananas are good! Did you know they protect your heart, quiet a cough, strengthen your bones, and control your blood pressure? And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their good qualities. This is a recipe blog so I won't preach nutrition or diet since I'm neither a nutritionist or dietician. But I'm thrilled to share a super rich banana chocolate chip cake I made this weekend, topped with the most decadent chocolate frosting you've ever tasted. I lightened the cake up the best I could, eliminating much of the fat and sugar, and both the cake and the frosting are quick fixes, and so worth making.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
makes 16 small servings in an 8 x 8 inch pan

cooking spray
2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter, room temp
2 T canola oil
3/4 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener
2 large eggs, room temp
1 egg white, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Dark Chocolate Frosting
this is Diane Smith's soon to be famous (although I think it's famous already) recipe using dark cocoa

1/4 cup butter, room temp
1/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
1/4 cup low fat evaporated milk
dash of salt
1-1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar

The first thing I do is spritz my baking pan with cooking spray and pre heat my oven to 375 degrees. Then I combine my bananas with the sour cream and set it aside. I think the secret to some of the richness in this cake is due to the extra ripe bananas mixed with the sour cream.

In medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients with a whisk (flour, baking powder and salt). Set this bowl aside and get ready to cream your butter, canola oil and splenda. I use a large bowl for this because eventually all the ingredients end up in here. Cream the latter with a hand mixer for about 3 minutes, making sure to wipe down the edges of your bowl to incorporate all ingredients. Add the eggs, egg white and vanilla to the butter mixture.

Combine with hand mixer and add half the flour mixture. At this point I bring out my rubber spatula and fold in the flour. Once you're adding the dry ingredients, you don't want to mix too vigorously. Now fold in all of the creamy banana combo. When that seems to be combined, add the rest of the flour and gently stir, removing as many lumps as possible. Now fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. The cake puffs up quite a bit and then settles down as it cools.

While the cake is cooling, make the frosting. In medium size bowl combine butter, cocoa, evaporated milk and salt. I use my hand mixer for this. When all looks incorporated, add the powdered sugar and contiunue mixing until smooth. Take a taste or two and see if you need more powdered sugar. I've been happy with 1-1/2 cups, but you can adjust to your liking. When cake is completely cooled, pour on the frosting and frost away.

Dig in and enjoy. If you want to get a bit more decadent, sprinkle some additional chocolate chips on top of the frosting!

Sinfully Good

I recently came across a recipe for a super yummy cake on my go-to-recipe site- Just a Pinch. I love that it's made with no oil or butter, plus you don't have to take out your electric mixer. You just mix it with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula and 35 minutes later you've got a sinfully delicious cake. The recipe goes by the name of Preacher's Cake, but some know it as Mexican Wedding Cake. I decided to give it a shot, and agree that it's so sinfully good, you might want to call the preacher right away. I've altered the recipe a bit by using Splenda and cutting back on the actual amount of sugar, but it's still super sweet and very quick and easy.

Preacher's Cake
made in a 9" x 13" pan

1 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener (1 cup of sugar will work fine)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups AP flour
2 large eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (I omitted these since there were none in my freezer)
1 can  20 oz crushed pineapple (and the liquid)
Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare baking pan with cooking spray and set aside
In large bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk with a fork
Add remaining ingredients and mix by hand
Pour into paking pan and bake 35 minutes
Let cool and dust with confectioner's sugar

Creamy, Dreamy Banana Cake

This is indeed a creamy, dreamy recipe. I wanted  to make an easy fruit cake so I perused many of my banana bread recipes, as well as fruit cake favorites and came up with this simple, one-layer cake, topped with an out-of-this-world, decadent cream cheese frosting. It took me a few tries to get it right, and I believe the secret to this cake's yumminess is the 4 very ripe bananas I used and that creamy half  cup of sour cream.

One Layer Banana Cake

2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter softened to room temperature
2 T canola oil
3/4 cups Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated sugar works fine too)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 egg white, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 very ripe bananas- the browner the better
1/2 cup light sour cream

Frosting
4 oz Neufchatel cheese (low fat cream cheese) softened to room temperature
4 T unsalted butter softened to room temperature
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees and spray an 8" x 8" pan with cooking spray. I like to buy the disposable aluminum pans that come in packages of three and go on sale quite often. They're easy to transport and you never have to ask friends for your cake pan back.

In medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In small bowl, mash bananas and combine with sour cream. Set aside.

Using an electric hand mixer, beat butter, oil and Splenda until incorporated (2 or 3 minutes). Add eggs, egg white and vanilla. Add half the dry ingredients into the butter/egg mixture and combine. Now add the banana/sour cream mash into the batter and mix until incorporated. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Try not to overmix.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack and prepare the frosting.

In separate bowl, with hand mixer or a sturdy spoon, combine Neufchatel, butter and vanilla extract. When incorporated, add the confectioners' sugar and mix until frosting is smooth. When cake is cooled, frost that little darling and slice yourself a little goodness. I like to cut 9 slices per cake. Twelve seems a bit chincy, and six is a bit over the top.

The re-mix: #1-Sprinkle crushed nuts to the frosting. #2-I can't wait to try this recipe with strawberries and bananas. I think it might work. Plus strawberries have been on sale lately and that is always a plus. #3-And then I had the carrot cake thought. Might experiment a little with that. I'll keep you posted. 

Berrylicious

Courtney, this recipe is for you! It's a re-mix of the blueberry cake you enjoyed two years ago which I'm finally getting around to posting. It has the right amount of sour cream and non-fat half and half which makes it tender and moist. And it's pretty easy to make. Here's the recipe.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Topping (Crumble)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup AP flour
2 T unsalted butter
2T canola oil
1/4 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener (granulated sugar works fine too)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Dry Ingredients
1-1/2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
6 T unsalted butter softened
2 T canola oil
1 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener (or sugar)
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint blueberries, washed and patted dry

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8" x 8" pan with cooking spray and dust lightly with flour. I like the disposable aluminum pans from the grocery store. Place blueberries in a strainer and sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour. Shake out excess flour. This coating will prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake. Set the berries aside.


I like to prepare the topping first. In small bowl combine all crumble ingredients and set aside.

Now on to the cake. In mid size bowl combine the dry ingredients and whip with a whisk to incorporate.

In large bowl, with hand mixer combine butter, canola oil and Splenda and mix until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and mix, then vanilla, sour cream and half and half. Combine well. Add the dry ingredients in two batches, scraping down the sides of your bowl as you go and mix until smooth. Fold in blueberries and pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping on the cake and press down lightly with your clean hands to make it stick to the batter. Bake 35 to 45 minutes and remove to cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before you dig in.

Slice into 9 portions and enjoy. I can't think of a better way to kick off the summer fruit season!

Re-mix: If you're feeling nutty, add some chopped walnuts to the batter (1/2 cup). And if that isn't enough nuts for you, add 2 tablespoons to the topping. Also, I have made this recipe with fresh peaches as the star and some haphazard blueberries thrown into the mix and it's also quite good. Tip- If you want to make this with frozen blueberries, don't defrost them or your batter has the chance of turning blue.

PB & C

Like peanut butter? Like chocolate? Like cake and fudge? Then you have to try my Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cake. A few years ago I read about a recipe contest for chocolate/peanut butter desserts and I started experimenting. At the time I had never used peanut butter as a base in any dessert but cookies, and was determined to come up with a cake from scratch. It was tricky because I have no formal culinary education and know very little about the actual science of cooking and baking. And peanut butter is a tricky ingredient because of its natural oils. But I persevered... and through trial and error (many errors) came up with a cake that's moist and tender, a little bit like old timey fudge, and has a peanut butter cream cheese frosting that melts in your mouth. I eventually cut back on some of the calories because it's sooo good you'll definately eat more than you should.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cake

Cooking spray
1 T baking cocoa

Dry Ingredients
1-1/2 cups AP flour- I use my trinity blend for more fiber
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
4 T unsalted butter softened to room temp
3 T canola oil
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3 T Splenda Blend
2 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup lite sour cream
1/2 cup 1% milk- or fat free half & half
1/3 cup Hershey's lite chocolate syrup
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Frosting
4 oz Neufchatel cheese softened to room temp
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 T dry roasted peanuts crushed or finely chopped
1 T mini chocolate chips

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray and dust bottom and sides with cocoa. In medium bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk with a fork. Set aside.

In large bowl combine butter, canola oil, peanut butter and both Splend Blends. Add eggs and vanilla extract, then sour cream and milk until mixture is smooth and silky (at this point you'll want to eat it and not bake it, so just take a small taste- it's yummy). To this mixture add 1/2 of the dry ingredients and mix on low, scraping sides of bowl. Add the rest of the dry ingredients until mixture is incorporated. With measuring cup, remove 1/2 cup of batter and place it in a separate bowl. To this batter add chocolate syrup and mini chips and blend with a fork or spoon. Set aside. This will become your chocolate swirl.

Place half of peanut butter batter in prepared baking dish. Pour chocolate batter on top. Spread with knife if necessary. Pour remaining peanut butter batter on top of chocolate layer. With blunt knife make irregular swirls through the dough to create a marble effect. Smooth top of cake and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool on wire rack. When cake has cooled, remove from baking pan and prepare frosting.


Frosting: With hand blender, combine first four ingredients until icing is smooth and creamy. Frost top of cake and sprinkle with chopped peanuts and chips.

Since this is such a rich cake I cut it into four 2 inch strips. And then I cut those strips into 1/2 inch pieces, so they're little bites, slightly larger than a piece of fudge. My friend Carol was visiting last weekend and we polished off half a cake in one sitting. It really is that good.

Double Chocolate Triple Sec Cake

I picked up my mail today and along with the usual magazines, bills, and junk, there was a box shaped like a book with a return address from Reiman Publications. Uh oh. My thoughts immediately went back to 11th grade when I ordered what I thought was a book on Impressionism from the Time Life Company. It soon became clear that every month an additional art book would show up in the mailbox as part of the "series" I ordered. I could keep the new books or bring them back to the post office to be returned to Time Life. As I can be lazy now, I was even lazier back then and ended up with a collection of books I had no interest in. After this little life lesson I swore I would never order a series of anything again. And I haven't. It was my good fortune today to have received the Healthy Cooking 2010 Annual Recipes book for free. It's very similar in style to the Southern Living Annual I picked up a few weeks ago at Marshall's.



Last year Healthy Cooking published a recipe of mine in their April/May issue, and this annual is their gift to me. The recipe is called Chocolate Orange Cake and was the lead recipe in their "Eat to Beat Diabetes" section. Since it's geared towards those with some serious health issues, I'm especially proud to have succeeded in creating something that's really tasty and works for people that have dietary limitations.

Anyway, I originally called the cake "Double Chocolate, Triple Sec" but leading off with liquor in the title wasn't too conducive for the diabetic crowd, so the name was changed to something more generic. I do love that little play on words, so I had to mention it at least once in print. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Orange Cake aka Double Chocolate Triple Sec Cake

2 tsp plus 1/3 cup baking cocoa, divided
1/3 cup quick cooking oats
2/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/3 cup Splenda sugar blend
2 eggs
3 T Triple Sec or orange juice
2 T butter melted
5 tsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 tsp grated orange peel

FROSTING:
4 oz reduced fat cream cheese
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tsp grated orange peel
2 tsp orange juice

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8 inch square baking dish with cooking spray and sprinkle with 2 tsp cocoa; set aside. Place oats in a small food processor, cover and process until ground. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the sour cream, sugar blend, eggs, Triple Sec, butter, oil and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and remaining cocoa; gradually beat into sour cream mixture until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and orange peel.
3. Transfet to reserved dish. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
4. For frosting, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar, orange peel and juice; beat until smooth. Frost top of cake. Refrigerate leftovers.

I think you'll really enjoy this cake. I haven't made it in a while, probably because when I was testing it I made it over and over and over again, and didn't want to see it for some time. I'm ready now!

One more thing- I quickly looked at the recipes in this annual and they look pretty interesting-especially their desserts. Plus every recipe has nutrition facts such as calories/fat/carbs/sodium/fiber. You get the idea. And if you don't pick up the book this year, you'll probably see it at Marshall's next year for a song.

Decadent

A few weeks ago I watched Nigella Lawson prepare a quadruple chocolate loaf cake on TV. Yes. Quadruple. She's always a hoot to watch and that luscious chocolate scenario sucked me right in. I've never made a recipe of hers before but this one had my name on it. I went immediately to the web site, copied down the recipe and read the reviews, something I'm learning to do more often these days. The extra time spent reading about other baker's pratfalls can be quite time consuming, but it does give you tips and general guidelines that eventually save you time and heartache when it comes to preparing the dish on your own. I often don't listen to my own advice and jump right into a recipe without reading it properly, not even knowing if I have all the ingredients on hand. Well this time I read what others had to say and ended up with a splendid chocolate loaf cake. But I did not make a quadruple chocolate cake per se. I made a double chocolate cake with a double chocolate garnish. Yes, I am lazy. My other excuse is, it seemed like over-kill and just too messy. And with the fabulous results I got, I'll probably never do it Nigella's way. So the original recipe is here.

The feedback: Some of the commenters had trouble with the size of their loaf pans and found their cakes oozing over the rims. I got nervous about that so the first time I made the recipe I did what some suggested- I used two small loaf pans. There was no bubbling over, but also not enough rise in the cakes. The recipe calls for a 9 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 inch pan. I'm thinking some people didn't measure their pans (that would be me, because I don't know where to measure). Top or bottom? Anybody know? Fannie Farmer doesn't say. Anyway, I dug around my supply of pots and pans and found a very large loaf pan, the kind you'd use for meatloaf if you wanted to feed your neighbor's teenage sons. It's 9 x 5 1/4 x 2 1/2 measured on top. And this worked. Nigella also made her cake in a food processor. I used a hand mixer. She didn't use salt. I added some. And she baked in a 325 degree oven. Many reviewers couldn't buy that concept so they did the regular 350. I stuck with the 325. I also used brown sugar and granulated sugar. And instead of boiling water, I added hot/warm coffee. Ina Garten does it all the time so I figured I'd take a tip from her as well. Oh, and the baking time was an issue for some- they thought not long enough. And the large chocolate chips became a sinking issue for others. Anyway, I think I've ironed out most of the problems presented and came up with a cake you'll be happy to make and share with others.

Double Chocolate Loaf Cake
adapted from Nigella Lawson

Cooking spray
1 T cocoa powder (for dusting loaf pan)

1 cup old fashioned oats ground in food processor or spice mill
2/3 cup AP flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (for cooking and baking) softened- first time I ever tried this product
1/2 stick unsalted butter softened
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup Splenda Sugar Blend)
1/3 cup brown sugar (or 3 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend)
2 large eggs
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 cup lite sour cream
1/2 cup warm coffee
1 cup semi sweet chocolate mini chips

1 cup Hershey's Lite Syrup
2 oz dark chocolate bar shaved

Pre heat oven to 325 degrees. Nigella suggests you put a baking sheet in the oven at this time. I haven't figured out why, but I did it anyway.
Take everything you need out of the refrigerator so all ingredients can come to room temp. Prepare loaf pan with cooking spray and dust with 1 T of cocoa powder. Shake out excess.
In medium size bowl sift flour, ground oats, cocoa, salt and baking soda. You will probably have some small pieces of oat bran left over that didn't blend, just discard them. Set bowl aside.
In large mixing bowl combine butter, butter substitute and sugars. I like to mix this for about 3 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla extract and sour cream and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to insure ingredients are blended. Add dry ingredients and combine. Now add the warm coffee and mix, then fold in the semi sweet chips. Pour into prepared pan and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Test with toothpick for doneness. Remember there are chocolate chips in the cake, so don't mistake dark, runny chocolate for an underdone cake. If the crumbs are damp, the cake is not done and needs a few more minutes. My cake was fine at 1 hour exactly. Cool cake in pan for 20-30 minutes and remove to serving platter.

The double garnish: If you think your chocolate meter can handle this, drizzle chocolate syrup over your slice of cake and top with chocolate shavings. And without sounding too decadent, I believe a dollop of whipped cream on top would be divine.