The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever

 Everyone needs that go to sessert recipe for te  holidays.It's usally cookies or pie however don;t discount a good cake one. Nothing says dream dessert than a chocolate cake, layered with a richy creamy frosting,Luckily there;s a recipe out there that fills the bill.

Master cake and pastry baker and regular contributor Claire Saffitz gave the recipe along with useful advice in yestrday's New York Times Food section,. Her cake is moist, dense and dark. Unlike other chocolate sctach cakes she uses cocoa powder instead of melting chocolate bits . Melted chocolate tends to dry out cake batter.Also bar cocolate or chocolate chips tends to add more sweetness (unless you're using baker's chocolate) She recommends Dutch process which means that the cocoa has been alkalized, neutralizing some of the chocolate's natural acidity.It also gives the cocoa a much more rounded  roasted flavor and a deeper, richer color. Also nix the butter. Add a neutral oil like avocado or vegetable. Oil is liquid at room temperature so an ol based cake has less of a tendency to dry out, Cakes do need a butter fat flavro but se uses creme fraiche or sour cream. This reacts with the baking powder, giving the texture or crumb s light bounciness,

Of course you can use chocolate bars, but in the frosting. This gives the icing a high gloss and shiny , finished look. ms Saffitz opts for a German buttercream which is whipping butter in a pastry cream base for a denser texture. The pudding base calls for cooking four large flour , sugar and milk on a stove top before adding a mix of chopped semisweet chocolate and cocoa powderTwo and aquarter cups of melted butter are added into the cooling mix, Use a mixer for this so you can get a smooth, spreadable glossy icing.Add two tablespoons of vanilla extract last, beat again and then spread on the cake.As for frosting, a good one cupof buttercream should work bwtween the layers. The to[p and sides should onyl have a very thin layer of the frosting on them. You could decorate with shaved chocolate if you want, Anything else would ruin this beautiful cake.

This chocolate cake is the perfect holiday dessert. Its a richer more legant spin on just your average cake. Try it for a show stopping end,

Recipe Queen Or Trouble Maker

 Tiegan Gerard is a dichotomy. Some see her as the queen of cozy recipes. other see her as a racist trouble maker of sorts . One thign is for certain. She is one of the growing culinary stars of Instagram. Celebrity and ordinary home chefs value her word and how she puts together dishes.

Regular contributor Julia Moskin wrote about this latest social media phenom in today's New York Times Wednesday  Food section. Her Half Baked harvest site draws in scores of recipe hungry admirers and followers , all looking for an easy recipe. Thanks to  star fans such as Emma Roberts,Gigi and Bella Hadid and Blake Lively who all extolled her recipes. Ms Gerard has becoming something of a celebrity herself.Her recipes are both approachable and aspirational. It started as a chronicle of the big family dinners Ms. Gerard cooked for her large slew of brothers and sisters. Her lifelong anxieties have kept her near to them in the Colorado Rockies, with her rarely leaving the area. (save for when her brother Red Gerard won gold at the Pywoingchang South Korea Olympics) To be honst think of her as a culinary Emily Dickinson where both, small almost fragile women who  became famous because of their work along with  never leaving home. Like Dickinson she has a loyal cadre of followers , mostly women betweeh the ages of twenty-five and forty-four.

However Ms. Gerard is not without controversies and pretty serious ones too.Her recipes can be racially and ethnically insensitive. Her blunders were calling tacos with pineapple Hawaiian and noodles with honey and peanut butter Chinese. Her biggest error to date regards pho, the classic Vietnamese soup. Her recipe was wildly unrelated to the original and received flack. it happened again with a banh mi rice bowl,last March so much that NBC News covered it. Another mistake was creating a Thai beef stew and adding pomegranate juice, a typically MIddle Eastern ingredient.Many have called her out on this, such as Hannah Selinger who writes a bout food and restaurants. Bloggers  like Gaby Salkin of What's Gaby Cooking and Adrianna Guevara Adarme , creator ot A Cozy Kitchen have accused her of stealing their recipes. At the very least give credit to where the recipes originated - a standard practice amongst food bloggers. Other critics say her unearned privledge comes from her whiteness and wealth. She now has a small team to deal with all the negative criticism. How are her recipes anyway?Ms. Moskin includes her coq au vin meatballs and a pumpkin spice cake with coffee frosting. They look tasty enough and good for any fall dinner party.

Is Tieghan Gerard the new face of Americna cooking. Surprpsingly yes. It's the followers that m,ake the chef  - which is her story.Only time can tell whether she will be a long lasting influence.

Candy Corn And Other Hallloween Sweets

 One of tne most obvious treats of the day is candy corn, This Halloween sweet has a it's share of followers and haters. Why such a dichotomy? Why is there such a split over this classic Americna candy?

Essence and New York Post contributor Derrick Bryson Taylor tackled the question in today's New York Times Business section. The candy has long been a favorite aminsts American kids first being made in the 1880's by the Wonderle Candy Company. The Philadelphia based candy company marketed it as did the Goelitz Candy Company a Boston concern that labelled it chicken scratch. It was really an equallizer for working class kids who now could afford candy like their rich counterparts.  The candy was available year round. Candy corn  really took off in the 1940's when trick or treating became popular. It, like other candies could be made in smaller sizes , perfect for easy giving out. Eighty years later it's still going strong despite the haters out there. It is as iconic as those Mellocreme pumpkins  which are just as sugary. Kids dress up as the triangles for Halloween, There are jewelry , hair ornaments and clothing all centered around them. Fans like Etsy shop owner Melissa Cady loves these.

The problem with candy corn is that it is too sweet. My favorite kind is the chocolate bottomed ones that kind of have a Tootsie Roll flavor to them. Some people don;t like the cloying sweetness (comedian Lewis Black compares the taste to "poop* although I fail to see how it could taste like it) Others like Key Lee, a New York City content creaotr compares it to maple syrup and finds it too sweet. Keep in mind that's it's now manufactured in such diverse flavors as breakfast where the corn tastes like pancakes, french toast and waffles to Brach's bizarre salute to a fall festival. The candy corn has a trio of strange colors from aquamarine to cotton candy pink. The flavors are kettle corn, maybe good, strawberry lemonade, OK, if it;s tart , cotton candy - too sweet and strawberry funnel cake - interesting. There's also a lemonade shakeup which hopefully is not cloyingly sweet but citrussy tart.There is also Christmas and Easter corn.They taste the same as the fall version but are in the traditional red and green or pastel colors.

Where do you stand on this holiday classic? Will you be munching on it tonight and into tomorrow? Or will there be another Halloween treat to tempt you?

Questionable Meat Lunch Meat Leftovers.

 There's always a bargain at Acme. There was one that was eye catching - and questioinable. Was it worth buying.

I saw this in my local Acme.It looked intriguing and approrpriately scary given the season.

it was lunch meat ends with fifty per cent off. I wasn;t going to buy ti at first yet I was too intrigued  ,I also couldnt resist a bargan either (this was around $1.50). It;s just chunks fo turkey meat 

There are several different recipes you can make with this. I instantly thought of a turkey Caesar salad but also placing the chunks iin already made jarred gravy. This can be served over toast for a tasty hot meal.

I just sprinkled tarragon on the chunks and  the leftover potatoes from Sunday's dinner for a hot quick dinner. This is good too.  Using tarragon gave me another recipe idea.Again I can also shred the turkey , add mayo and tarragon  to make a yummy salad. This is perfect on a sliced croissant or brioche.

This container of tuekey chunks mick look a trick  but it's really a treat.They can be used for a number of different recipes hot and cold. Get this for making great dishes.Acme , lunch meat, turkey, 

Sales Gathering

 Should you start buiying now for the holidays? If it's presents , the answer is yes. Take advantage of sales. Yet what about food? Should you buy ahead if the prices are good?

This is the question home chefs are facing nowadays.Many local groceries like Stop & Shop, Shop Rite, Acme and Wal-mart are all having good sales right now. If you want to save then look at what'be ing offered at lower prices. Canned goods are a must. They will keep for years practically. If you're planning on making a green bean casserole, then take advantage  of the sales. The same is true with yams and pumpkin pie filling. Buy now while the prices have been dropped.You could also apply this to baking too. Sugar and flour also will keep . These are definite must buys along with corn syrup for making pecan pie. As for chocolate and nuts - don't buy weeks before the holidays  - no matter what the price.  Chocolate can get stale and even change color. Nuts can go rancid which can destory an entire recipe. 

For every day items  buy. I couldn;t resist two big boxes of Cheerios from my local Shop-Rite.

These will last for weeks and were only eight dollars for two. Another good buy was Bachmans' Halloween bag of Jax cheese curls

This was another food Shop-Rite buy with eightteen bags going for eight dollara a bag. They're around $2.25 a bag . Think of what a large bag of Halloween candy costs at anywhere from twelve dollars to almost fifty bucks for a super sized bag. Another plus about this si that this becomes my snack if there are very few trick or treaters coming around. Shop Rite also has other holiday bargains which I'll take advatnage of as the season advances.

As any thrifty home chef will tell you , take advantage of any sales. Food is expensive. Grab any chance you can for a discount.

Your Restaurant Faves

 The New York Times Wednesday Food section recently listed it's favorite Philly eateries.

Here's the question of the week - what's yours? Was it a place from childhood? A great place you ate in on a vacation?Or the restaurant around the corner? Let us know. 

New York's Hottest Trend Fuchka

 New York and it's boroughs have always been food trend setters. Whatever comes from the city spreads first to the suburbs and then the rest of the world. This is true with fuchka - a Bengal street food that everyone can't get enough of to snack on.

 International contributor and sports writer (!) Andrew Keh wrote about this in the main section of today's New York Times. Fuchka  pronounced fooch ka, (sort of like the plant and the color) is a tasty Bengali street food. It's closest cousin could be pani pura and gol gappa.. Both are filled with potatoes , yellow peas, onion and cilantro. Chili flavoring gives them their kick. The mix is stuffed into semi opeend semolina shells and then deepf fired. A splash of tamerind sauce gives them their tangy sweetness. Shaved hard boiled egg slivers decorate it. There are recipes on the web if you want to try making them at home.

The idea of brining this to America is Naeem Khandaker who brought the idea from his native Khulna in southern Bangladesh. He saw that bengalis were not selling thier recipes but Indian recipes or Bengali foods under different names. This would not do for him. H eopened Tong in 2018 and within a few weeks had a steady stream of customers. Soon there were more food carts selling the delicious treat, ripping off his recipe.      Althought Mr. Khandakar  has opned up more food carts in the boroughs and even a restaurant in Jamaica Queens. There are fierce rivalries  which even result in calling in the cops. Yet the food unifies the growning Bengali population here in New York        

Hopefully there will be fuchka trucks and restaurants throught the metro area. This treat is too tasty to be kept to one neighborhood. The world should know about these.