Cherries, Chocolate and Love.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner; a day celebrating romance, love, passionate embraces and kisses.  For some, it is just another day on the calendar; either they have no one to lavish their love upon, and vice versa, or the spark has gone out of a romance altogether.  Many couples celebrate their relationship on a daily basis; while others make it a grand event, and it better be a perfect one!  Personally, during our lifetimes, Roy and I have experienced all of the above; we have blissfully been in the “celebrate on a daily basis” stage for fourteen years now.

What exactly is the origin of Valentine’s Day?  We have to travel back in time to The Christians vs. The Romans; to the stories of three different martyrs who defied the emperors of Rome.  All were named Valentine (English) or Valentinus (Latin); their stories center on love; love between couples, love of freedom, compassionate love.  After the fall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of the Catholic Church, February 15^th was chosen for Valentine’s Day to replace the now outlawed Pagan fertility celebration of Lupercalia.  However, this was not a great way to convince the Pagans to convert to Christianity; here is where the French come to the rescue.  February 14^th was thought to be the day when bird mating season began; mating for people meant love and marriage.  Hence this was now a celebratory day of love, and that could not make anyone angry, right?

 

Well it seems to have worked out quite well, especially for greeting card and candy making companies.  One decadent treat very popular is chocolate covered strawberries; rich, sweet, lips colored ruby red, begging to be kissed.  However, that is more a late 20^th century indulgence; and what was old, once again becomes new.  1915, The Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald), a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany.  Pastry Chef, Josef Keller, prepares a dark chocolate, four layer torte (made with ground nuts, not flour) with whipped cream, sour cherries and Kirsch (brandy made from cherries).  He names it after the region which is known for, what else, dark chocolate, Morello cherries, and Kirsch; oh and cuckoo clocks, but you cannot eat those.

 

Black Forest Cake is a beautiful cake that is perfect for birthdays, special occasions, holiday season, as well as the holiday of love.  This past season, I did make Black Forest Cupcakes, but they did not turn out the way I had wanted them to.  Into between the two layers of cake batter, I placed several cherries; after baking, the cherries had sunk through the bottom layer.  Still yummy, but very, very messy.  My fix for this will be to add chopped, dried cherries to the cake batter itself next time, making a sort of dark chocolate, cherry chip cake; keeping the vanilla frosting and cherries with glaze on top. 

  
On a side note, since 1915, many versions of this cake have been created; in America, white flour replaced ground nuts.  While I have nut flours to use, I hesitate as I have no idea if someone trying the cake has an allergy to nuts (grown on trees, peanuts are legumes grown underground).  Since the 1990s, I’ve noticed an increase in people, mainly children, developing this allergy, and must wonder if it is due to pesticides, processing methods or any other type of use to get the nuts to stores.  Therefore, my recipe for this article will be one containing basic white flour; no one you know have an allergy, then try a nut flour instead!

Another side note, the frosting is only meant to go on top of both layers of cake; the sides are left open so the layers can be seen.  I recently found out this is a new fad (been doing this, on various types of cake, for years myself) in the baking industry; it is called “Naked Cake”.  Guess the cakes sell better if they are “sexier”, go figure.

 

Black Forest Cake

Ingredients:

Cake Batter:

1 ½ cups flour

3 Tbsp. baking cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 tsp chocolate syrup
¾ cup milk
¾ cup melted butter
2 eggs

Frosting:

12 Tbsp. butter, softened

3 cups confectioner’s sugar
½ cup baking vanilla powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbsp. room temperature milk

Note: This is a buttercream frosting which holds up better over time (if there are any leftovers that is)

Cherries:

1 (15 oz.) can tart cherries in water; drain all water.

1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling

Preparation:

Cake Layers:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cut out two circles of parchment paper that fit within two 9” cake pans; spray cake pans with nonstick baking spray; line bottom with paper circles.

In a large bowl, sift flour and mix in cocoa, baking powder and sugar.  In second bowl, beat together syrup, milk, butter and eggs; do not get mixture frothy by over beating.  Pour wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients; mix on medium speed till smooth.  Pour half of batter into each cake pan.

  

Bake for 35-40 minutes; until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out cleanly.  Let cakes cool before flipping out of pans; remove parchment paper before frosting cakes.

 

Frosting:

While cakes are baking, make the frosting; cream together the butter and sugar; add vanilla powder, vanilla extract and milk; mix until smooth, but do not over mix.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to firm up; frost cakes after they have cooled.  There will be enough frosting for the tops of both cakes.

Cherries:

After making sure to drain all water from tart cherries, mix in small bowl with pie filling; keep cool until time to construct cake.

Cake Construction:

Place one layer of cake on plate; use half the frosting to spread over the top only; make frosting a little thicker one each in from the edge of the cake.  Place 1/3 of the cherries with glaze in center, spread out, but not over the extra thick frosting on the one inch from the edge.  The cherries and frosting will be even, so the second layer of cake will lie flush with them.

 

 

Place second layer of cake on top; spread remaining frosting on top only. Spread remaining cherries and glaze over top (if glaze drips over side, don’t worry, just makes it a little prettier).

  

 

Place in refrigerator for half hour to let it all firm up before slicing and serving.

Makes 12 servings.

 

Mary Cokenour

Bacon - it's "what's for dessert?"

Bacon, whether it is flavored with maple or honey, seasoned with hickory or apple wood, bacon is yummy goodness and ups the anty on taste for anything it is included in, even dessert. That's right, I said bacon for dessert; even I had my doubts about trying out dessert recipes with bacon in it, but I had to try nonetheless. I'd seen bacon cupcakes on a few shows featured on Food Network, and one of the ladies at a local bank told me about a site that had a recipe for candied bacon. Well I couldn't remember the name she had given me, so decided to search the net for recipes, and I cannot believe how many hundreds of bacon dessert recipes I found. Which one to choose was a total mystery, so I printed out a few, compared notes, and came up with my own concoctions.

Now Roy was not happy about the whole experiment thing at all...bacon is bacon and shouldn't be made into candy or cake. He still doesn't like the idea of it all, but he did have to agree that my recipes came out pretty well, and he was impressed at my accomplishment. I likened the taste to French toast in syrup, but without the bread; and it was the perfect garnish for the cupcakes.

Candied Bacon

Ingredients:

1 lb regular bacon
½ cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Preparation:

In a large nonstick skillet, on high heat, cook the bacon until it is browned, but still flexible; drain on paper towels.

Drain grease from skillet, set heat on low; place bacon, in one layer, into skillet. First sprinkle sugar over the bacon, then the vanilla and finally the cinnamon. Let the bacon cook for 10 minutes before turning over and let cook an additional 5 minutes.

Remove the bacon to a wire rack (paper towels under the rack to catch drippings) and let it air cool for 30 minutes before snacking on, or using for garnish on baked goods.

Alternative: instead of ground cinnamon, use ½ Tbsp of ground chipotle powder

Then came the cupcakes, the fat from the bacon gives the cake a moister and richer consistency. The meat of the bacon does cook during the baking process, and it is like a little chewy surprise within the cake...think bacon gummy bear. There is not an overpowering taste of bacon, you know it's there, but it all comes together well.

Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
6 egg yolks
1 cup milk
½ lb regular uncooked bacon, chopped

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F; line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and powder, cocoa powder and salt; set aside.

In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Mix in half the dry ingredients with half the milk; when well incorporated, repeat with remaining dry ingredients and milk.

Add in the bacon and mix well with spoon, not mixer. Fill each paper liner 2/3 with the batter; bake for 20-25 minutes; check for doneness by inserting toothpick in center; cupcakes are done if it comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool before removing from tins and frosting.

Makes 16 cupcakes.

Alternative: divide batter in half between 2-8 inch cake pans which were sprayed with nonstick baking spray. Bake time will be the same as for the cupcakes.

Topping: Vanilla frosting works best with a garnish of candied bacon.

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp cold milk

Preparation:

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy; add in extract and milk, continue to beat until smooth and spreadable.

Makes enough for 12 - 16 cupcakes depending upon how much is spread on each cupcake. To make enough to cover the top, sides and in-between 2-8 inch cakes, double the recipe.

Mary Cokenour