Everyone Loves Black Forest Cake

 Black Forest Cakes conjures up images of the luscious creamy cake served in Bavarian coffeehouses or made in kitchens from German Alpine towns like Obernheim to big metropolises like Munich. Not surprisingly this famed chocolate cake is also big in other parts of the world. Let's face it , it is hard to resist.

Regular contributor Priya Kirishna wrote about this delicious treat in today's New York Wednesday Food section. Black Forest Cake had been a staple on German dessert tables for decades.It began in the 1500's thanks to young married couples who planted cherry trees and its'design is taken from the colorful outfits called Bollenhut that Bavarian women were.Now it's all over the world from Chile to Nepal.It's a favorite everywhere from Zimbabwe to Trinidad to Singapore where it's actually made with blueberries.How did the most German of cakes become an international favorite? it occurred when Germans moved around the world, as immigrants, missionaries and chefs or as Nazis fleeing the country after World War II according to Jose Lopez Gamen of the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute in Cambridge Ma. It's a cake that's easily adapted to the norms of any country. The liquor can be be omitted in Muslim countries while Caribbean ones sub in the kirschwasser or cherry liquor with strong rums.

Many , including Bavarians and Swabians find the dessert passe and bakeries in the two provinces don't; even make it. Christopher Tan, author of the Singaporean cookbook  "The Way of Kuah" tried to find a slice in Ulm.He was told it was  too passe and they didn't;t make it. Famed chef and Food Times contributor Dori Greenspan gives a theory about why Black Forest Cake is not popular with older dessert lovers. She claims today's desserts are more sophisticated. They;re sparer and not over the top. Yet a whole new generation is discovering it and posting pictures of it all over Instagram.At the bakery Thistle and Leek in Newton, MA serves it as a roulade. At Swadesi,a new Indian inspired bakery in Chicago it's served in a jar.Its wonder Sujan Sarkar once believed it came from the Christians in Kolkats.Lebanese chef Karin Bourgis makes his version with vanilla ganache and dark chocolate cremeux,a chocolate version of creme anglaise. it can be made at home with a chocolate sponge and a homemade cherry compote laced with Kirsch and homemade whipped cream.

Black Forest Cake should be revered. It;s a delicious  dessert full of flavor. Make it today to find out it's tastiness.

My Take On Moka Dupont

It was too good a recipe to pass up. Dorie Greenspan wrote up an interesting and what I thought was an easy take on a French icebox cake in last week's Sunday New York Times magazine. The ingredients were simple, Social Tea biscuits, sugar chocolate and sugar along with eggs and butter. I had to make it. What fun! Especially with the warm weather here.

I couldn't find Social Teas so I used  Leibniz butter cookies. I think they come close to the original ones used in 1950's France.They're also a little more buttery too than Social Teas.

These are soaked in espresso with a tablespoons of sugar which I omitted. I felt the French buttercream was too sweet already.

I used Aldi's brand Beaumont coffee. 

The icing was the hardest. I used Lindt's 90 per cent dark chocolate which is almost like Baker's chocolate.

This was broken and melted for one minute and a half in the microwave.

The recipe called for a stick of butter (it is French after all).Instead I used  a stick of Country Crock margarine.It's vegan and does taste like butter.

along with Vegg egg substitute

it calls for one egg with the yolk and the white separately whisked. However this is a vegan household so I used 1/8 th of  a teaspoon  and then fork whisked this with a tablespoon of water.

 It was added to the creamed butter and granulated sugar. The melted chocolate was then folded into all of this.

It's a very gritty , grainy butter cream.

These are the soaked biscuits ,in a casserole pan. Some fell apart.

Then it's layered with icing and cookies.

There was only one problem. The recipe calls for four layers of cookies which I had thanks to buying two packets. However I had to quickly made another batch of icing to accommodate the other two layers. Again I overbought the Lindt chocolate and quickly whipped up another batch.

This is it. A lot of work for a cake that's supposed to be easy to make. As for the taste.I like the fact the icing chilled to a buttery tasting fudge and I do like my choice of Leibniz biscuits just for their buttery taste. The espresso taste works well too. The only thing that does take getting used to is the grainy texture of the icing. 

This is my take on the famed Moka Dupont icebox cake. Would I make it again, knowing all the work involved? Maybe .It does taste yummy for a labor intensive treat.

Braving French Pastry

One of the most elegant treats any baker can make is French pastry. It's a complicated blend of crisp layers , airy creams and  artistic decorations. They're a challenge for the home baker yet  a feather in one's toque if done. The question is can an ordinary baker make an extraordinary sweet?

Many ask themselves that.It's a long leap between cake mix cakes and mille-feulle, better known as Napoleons. The best way to acclimate yourself  to it is start off with the relatively easy recipes (and there are some).One of the easiest is crepes,. It's basically sort of like a pancake batter that has to be chilled overnight.it's flour eggs milk and water mixed together and then set aside for twenty-four hours. You can buy a crepe pan for it. This is nothing more than a wider, thinner frying pan or use a frying pan or skillet. Drizzle creme Anglaise over it or serve it street style with granulated sugar and lemon juice. Another relatively easy treat is clafoutis. A plus is that it can be made with any kind of fruit, from apples to blueberries. It's basically an egg rich batter blended together - usually in a blender and poured over fruit. It's baked for only half an hour  - until it's golden and puffy.Once you've accomplished that, try Kouign Amann , the mouth watering buttery sweet bread from Brittany.It's made with the same dough as the croissant which is another pastry a home baker can master. Both require  a lot of butter because it's sealed in layers of rolled dough. It is  labor intensive , with mostly rolling out dough and butter along with shaping into the classic crescents.

Biscuit roses is another transitional level It was featured in yesterday's Sunday's New York Times Magazine. Famed baker , Dorie, Greenspan, wrote about this after baking them. They're sort of like a cross between a lady finger and biscotti.Like biscotti, it's twice baked.and like lady fingers, the yolks and whites are separated , beaten  and then joined into the dough. It''s a great way for beginners to learn about meringues  along with how to shape batter with a piping bag. After this it's an easy move to eclairs, those classic Gallic pastries. They do require a choux paste which is a delicate two step method. It's first putting water .milk butter and sugar into a two quart saucepan and bringing the mixture to a boil. Flour has to be added  slowly, stirred until everything is blended.It;s then adding five more eggs to give it that rich golden color. Just don;t make ti too hot or you'll have scrambled eggs on your hands. Choux paste can be used to make cream puffs along with the eclairs,One of the hardest pastries to make is the mille feuilles or thousand leaves. Also called Napoleon , after France's famed emperor it;'s taking a dough similar to croissant dough where it's rolled and folded several times.There' are intervals where it's put in the fridge. A simple vanilla  cream is sandwiched in the layers .The whole thing is topped off with a decorative chocolate or vanilla glaze.

Can the average home baker handle French pastry? Oui! Once conquered these complicated recipes will be as easy as a chocolate chip or scratch cake one.

Pumpkin Season With The Pumpkin Queen

Imagine if your whole life revolved around pumpkins.Imagine growing different types from all over the world and turning them into all sorts of dishes. This is the life of Sarah Frey, the pumpkin queen who is steadily changing the way we think about pumpkins. They're not just for Halloween anymore but for fall dining.

Kim Severson interviewed this interesting pumpkin mogul for today's New York Times Food section. The squash has been good to her as she plants such diverse varieties as the rough skinned peanut and slate green Jarrahdales from Australia as well as the blue green Marina di Chioggas from Italy. Her jacks, industry shorthand for Jack'o lantern, the tradtional bright orange ones are sold at Lowe's and Walmart. Now she's after other big box stores such as Target and Trader Joe's to sell her line Pumpkins of the World for home chefs. She researched and also knew from her experience that only the most dedicated cook would crack open a twelve pounder so she looked into growing smaller ones that would good on the front porch while being tasty and versatile in the kitchen,There's only one problem. Americans can't seem to get beyond pumpkin pies and pumpkin breads. All over the world the gourd is used in a variety of dishes.It shows up in Indian curries. Mexicans make a mole out of it.It graces stews across Africa.It can go beyond pies as any Piedmontese chef will tell you. We've been turning it into a creamy milk and butter laced soup for generations.

Another problem is that some fresh pumpkins don't translate well into pie. The flesh comes out stringy and cloying, perhaps a bit too "squashy" tasting for some. Home chefs should stick with the heirloom variety. These are deep bright orange in color and resemble the quintessential Halloween decoration.Mostly it's best for savory dishes,something Ms. Frey is trying to impress on American home chefs.Professional chefs have also urged this too. Chef Dorie Greenspan, author of  "Around My French Table" has given an interesting spin on stuffed pumpkin. Hers is Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good and features a baked whole pumpkin filled with bread, cheese and bacon.It became popular with food bloggers and also on food shows but then went nowhere. Since then there hasn't been a breakout recipe featuring the many varieties from the Japanese kabocha to the Italian ans Australian ones Yet pumpkin is wonderful in ravioli with a sage butter sauce and it can even be turned into gnocchi.Ms Severson includes Ms. Frey's stuffed pumpkin recipe.It's a mix of scallions and Gruyere cheese heated with red pepper flakes Kale and scallions are added for color and flavor.The article's second recipe is chicken and dumplings with pumpkin from the cookbook, My Two Souths by Asha Gomez.It's a marriage of chicken with not only raw pumpkin but with celery and ginger too, Dumplings are added at the last for more body.


Ms. Frey is turning America into her pumpkin kingdom. It's time we get past those pies and breads and discover just how tasty the gourd is. One day we'll realize what Ms. Frey already knows, that they're versatile and easy to cook with.