Chocolate cake is tough to pull off. Too dry is never a good thing and is too easily achieved when delving into the homemade cocoa gateau realm. When it’s good though, it’s oh so good. So with my Libra husband’s birthday upon us, I figured no cake could be more man pleasing than one that is moist, chocolatey, and loaded with Guinness.

Sugar. Check. Chocolate. Check. Stout. Check. And did I mention the incredibly soft and frothy cream cheese frosting? This recipe for chocolate Guinness cake from the buxom and lovely Nigella Lawson is one that I have transferred to the “handwritten family recipe book”. This is serious business reserved for the best of the best. Nigella cleverly tops her dark and damp cake with soft white frosting to imitate the froth on top of a good pint. So pretty. So moist. So delicious.

The original recipe can be viewed here, but because I like you I have saved you the grief of converting each ingredient from British weight measurements to volume measurements. You’re welcome. Now just make sure to drink the left over half can of Guinness while it’s still frothy and gorgeous as you bake that pretty cake.

Chocolate Guinness Cake
(recipe from nigella.com)

Images courtesy of www.thekitchn.com

The internet is a great source for all things foodie, and we’re constantly bookmarking, starring, and emailing intriguing recipes, food porn, and inspiration. Here’s a selection of clippings we think are worth checking out.

Um. Braised french onion chicken with gruyere. Enough said.

It’s as good a time as any to start using up those berries you froze. To honour my love of Friday Night Lights, I suggest you make this Texas-style blueberry cobbler. Clear eyes, full hearts…

Did the whipped cream you brought for your pumpkin pie to the potluck deflate? Try this method next time.

Post-Thanksgiving is not a time for giving things up. That’s what January is for. Keep your engine revving with this out of control dark chocolate and salted caramel layer cake.

Dim sum at home—pork or veggie steamed buns.

I think I have excellent willpower. I can pass the candy dishes at work without a second look, turn my nose up at cupcake shops and let the fuss over macarons be just that, a fuss. I’m even fairly (read: a little) successful at rationing any baking I do to a daily treat by putting my freezer to good use. My Achilles’ heel? Ice cream. I always have room. So much so, that I can’t keep it in the house. A dish for dessert turns into a midnight spoonful turns into a 2 a.m. half pint frenzy. The remaining vanilla bought for a pie or a cake gets gobbled while I go through my mail when I get home from work—my hollow legs argument is increasingly proving false as I age.

My inner addict was gobsmacked when she came upon a recipe that promised the creaminess of ice cream without any of the guilt. My inner foodie felt the same when she saw that it was made with only one ingredient: bananas. This is another one of those recipes that’s been circulating because no one can believe that it’s possible. But it is. Frozen bananas turn into a creamy, sweet treat with the help of a blender or food processor. Add a few extra flavourings, and you’ll do a pretty good job of fooling your brain into thinking your doing some major indulging. Ice cream, it’s not… BUT the flavour did remind me of a banana milkshake, and that’s made with ice cream, right?

Please try to outdo me in the artistic peanut butter drizzle department.

Banana “Ice Cream”
Adapted from thekitchn.com

Makes one serving.

2 large bananas
2 teaspoons peanut butter
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel and slice bananas into coins. Place in freezer for 90 minutes to two hours, until frozen solid.
Put frozen coins in food processor or blender and process for a few minutes, scraping down sides often. Over the course of a few minutes, the coins will go from chopped to pasty to creamy. Add peanut butter, honey and cinnamon, and process until incorporated. The heat of the motor will make it a bit too soft now. Scrape into a bowl and freeze for about 15 minutes for a soft-serve/gelato-like texture or longer for a firmer “ice cream.” Top with more peanut butter, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, etc.

A good bar cookie can sometimes run circles around a regular old cookie, especially if you’re like me and enjoy thick, soft cookie middles. A pan of bar cookies can be looked upon as a pan of cookie middles for the most part. The edges, of course, get that crisp edge of a regular cookie, but the middle ones… oh, those middle ones. Dangerous.

These bars are gooey and crumbly and hard to stop eating. They’d stand up well to a strong cup of coffee. Cut large and cradling a large scoop of vanilla ice cream — you’d make your date putty in your hands. Crumbled small and thrown over big bowls of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge or caramel — your kids might just offer to rake the golden leaves. Fall is letting itself be known. Time to turn the oven on again.

Chocolate-Fig Oatmeal Bars
Adapted from Martha Stewart

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped dried figs*
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an eight-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, egg, salt, and orange zest until smooth. Add flour, oats, chocolate chips and figs; fold in just until combined.
Spread batter in prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into ~16 bars (or fewer for bigger bars). Can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for three days.

*If there is time, soak your figs first in hot water to soften. Drain well. I find that softened dried fruit has a much better texture in baked goods.

When I returned to Vancouver after a quick trip back to Edmonton recently, summer had finally arrived. The skies have been blue, the sun warm and the living easy. Clearly time to eat summer fruit every moment you can. And when you’re not eating it, you need to be freezing it, cooking with it, turning it into x, y and z. They are ice cream’s natural mate and a much better way to fulfill 3 o’clock sugar cravings.

As you know, I’m not really one for cake. But I am a big fan of Deb and know that this buttermilk cake recipe (originally from Gourmet) is esteemed by many. With some buttermilk in my fridge and the need to make a quick and pretty dessert, I put my preferences aside for the greater good of the dinner party. And as my buckle was essentially a cake, and I loved it, I knew that my anti-cake stance had relaxed a bit.

I don’t really know what makes a good cake good because I stay away so much. But for me, this was good. Moist, light and full of flavour, it didn’t take me long to decide on having a second piece. It went well with vanilla ice cream, of course, but I don’t see how whipped cream would hurt it, or just eating it as is. I should also say it’s dead easy, comes together in no time and is pretty enough for a picture.

Buttermilk Cake

I followed the recipe at Smitten Kitchen, substituting blueberries and chopped nectarine for the raspberries. For the sugar top, I remembered at the last minute and the closest thing within reach was a larger grain sugar. I don’t think it did any harm.

Image from www.lottieanddoof.com

The internet is a great source for all things foodie, and we’re constantly bookmarking, starring, and emailing intriguing recipes, food porn, and inspiration. Here’s a selection of clippings we think are worth checking out.

I had some fantastic raspberries with vanilla ice cream the other night (’tis the season). Going one step further in this ingenious mix of sour cream and a bruleed top seems like one in the right direction.

You could keep stepping and try this raspberry swamp pie, which would ask you to make pie crust.

Za’atar za’atar everywhere! Sugar and I both seem to be attracted to it right now.  Here’s a recipe that uses it on pizza.

I bookmarked this salted caramel cheesecake ages ago and still haven’t made it. I think it’s time for you now to consider it.

What to bring to the barbecue this weekend? Maybe this crushed new potato and pea salad?

Here out west, we had a late spring, which has translated into a late/non-existent summer, which has then translated into favourite summer berries being late out of the gate. They are starting to trickle in now, so it’s the perfect time to eat bowls and bowls of them as well as to make all manners of crisps, crumbles, betties and pandowdies.  And how about buckles? I’m not really sure what distinguishes a buckle, and I don’t really care to know.  All that matters is that a buckle is a delicious way to turn pristine summer berries into a sexy mess of a dessert.   With strawberry juice on your chin and cream in the corners of your mouth, cooked-down fruit, fluffy cake, a sugary crumb and something creamy on top turn you into a sexy mess at the table. It’s the best.

Strawberry Buckle
Adapted from Lottie & Doof

Lottie & Doof used rhubarb, but I couldn’t resist using some fresh local strawberries. I reduced the amount of sugar and lemon juice the strawberries macerate in. It’s still a bit of juicy (perfect for the cake to soak up), so I think it would be best to serve it once it’s cooled down quite a bit.

4 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tbsp water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp oats
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the filling: In a large bowl, toss the strawberries with the sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch slurry and vanilla. Let it macerate for about 30 minutes.

Make the crumb topping: In a medium bowl, work the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until combined. You’ll have small to medium crumbs. Refrigerate until needed.

Make the cake: In a medium bowl, whisk the flours with the baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Beat in the vanilla extract and honey. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the batter in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk.

Assemble the buckle: Pour the fruit filling into a 8-by-8-inch glass or ceramic square baking dish. Spoon the batter over the fruit filling, spreading it to the edge. Sprinkle with the crumb topping. Bake in the center of the oven for about one hour, until the filling is bubbling and the crumb topping is golden.  Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream or whipped cream.  Whipped cream flavoured with lemon zest was a hit at my house…

Serves 6 generously.

It should come as no surprise to some of you, that dessert was also a highlight of my day while in Turkey. I always have room. And of course, because it’s vacation, I had extra room.

Growing up with Big Turk as a chocolate bar reality, Turkish Delight, or lokum, never held much appeal, even with me being a jelly candy kind of girl. Along with apple tea and carpets, you’re never very far in Turkey from someone wanting to sell you lokum. When something is everywhere, there is usually lots of bad. But when you do find the good stuff, you’re hooked.  Kind of like with baklava. A lot of Turkish sweets are dripping in honey and simple syrup. And as I find with a lot of baklava here, more drippings are used to hide bad dough handling.  Good dough handling, where the layers almost move from soft and rich to airy and crisp, results in the kind of baklava that entices you to eat piece after piece after piece…

Dried fruit was my sweet snack of choice. The unsulfured apricots were my favourite, but I also made my way through bags of black plums, yellow plums, cherries and black mulberries.

Pudding. Cream chose wisely when she placed Turkey under her finger on a map. This culture of pudding lovers was a perfect match for this all-things-creamy loving fool. Firin sütlaç is Turkish rice pudding and it always comes cold with a burnt top.  Here, rice is a thickener rather than a star, so the grains are few and far between.

I would walk by the dessert shops and be mesmerized by all the puddings and their many colours. A banana pudding with tahini and grape molasses was particularly memorable given the unparticular setting of my hotel. When on the Cesme peninsula, I had the opportunity to fall head over with the flavour of mastic. Cookies, lokum, sugar-free gum. I loved it in all forms. Sakizli muhallebi with a topping of vanilla ice cream during my last night in Alacati made a particularly good impression.

The underdog: tavuk gögsü kazandibi. Burnt bottom chicken breast pudding. That’s right, chicken breast. A pudding made with finely shredded chicken breast to thicken it up. The first taste is a leap of faith, even when you’ve got some vanilla ice cream in there to mask any potential ick factor. No ick. All mmmmmmmmm…

You see the fibres. You know it’s chicken. But the only thing going through your mind is that it’s quite possible you’ll need another order because you’ve developed a strong affinity for it. It’s a thick thick thick vanilla pudding with an almost marshmallow-like texture that’s then accented with the extra sweetness that comes from being at the bottom of the pot.

Ciya Sofrasi has been written up by more than one author as being one of the best restaurants in Istanbul. I went twice. As much as I loved the starters and mains, I also went back because I wanted to try more of the desserts. The first go, I had kerebic, which is a semolina cookie/ball filled with pistachios. Not really crispy and not really soft, you use your fork to break into a wonderful green middle. It’s served alongside a sweet white foam that aids in digestion. The host described it in broken English as sort of being like marshmallow without the marsh. Whatever. It tasted delicious, especially when washed down with oregano tea.

The candied veg intrigued me to no end, and I had to try a little bit of both the candied eggplant and pumpkin… and the special pistachio baklava filled with cream. So sweet and chewy those veg were that I could only handle a few bites.  You can see kaymak makes an appearance, as it did above, atop the ekmek kadayif (Turkish bread pudding) on that mixed plate of baklava. Are you surprised that I couldn’t escape its rich, creamy grip?

Crack. I’m proud to say I’ve never tried the hard stuff. I’m also proud to say I’ve now tried the sweet stuff. As in, Momofuku’s Crack Pie. As in, one bite and the endorphin rush is so great that before you know it, you’ve finished off your entire slice and are wondering if it’s appropriate to go in for more. Sugar as crack.

The stars aligned in my favour one week when I was thinking about what to make for a small dinner party chez moi. Comfort food was at top of mind, especially Martha Stewart’s Perfect Macaroni and Cheese as I’ve wanted to try it for some time (and it was perfect). Low and behold, the Charlie Sheen saga started with his infamous interviews, and I had my theme: crack. Martha’s recipe has become affectionately known as “Crack’n’Cheese,” Charlie’s could-be-on-crack antics were on everyone’s lips, and last fall, Bon Appétit published the recipe for the well-known Momofuku pie. Perfect.

One of my favourite things about recipes on the internet is reviews. The more the better. For every five benign ones, you usually get a gem; telling you what went wrong and how to adjust. Well-known recipes are even better because you can usually find a blogger or two who’s posted the recipe with pictures so that you can get a sense of what it should look like. Or rather, what it looks like when it’s not shot by a professional photographer in a studio.

When researching the Crack Pie, I came upon some roadblocks. First, in addition to an official version in the magazine, there is also an official version from the Los Angeles Times. And as you can surmise, they’re slightly different. I would have to wing it a bit and go with what worked for most people. Not easy considering most people have tried only one version. I did my best at gathering all the evidence.

Preamble aside, my pie turned out perfectly and tasted amazing. But how can you go wrong with an oatmeal cookie crust and a filling that is little more than sugar and eggs? Yes, oatmeal cookie crust. Salty crispness mixed with rich, oozy sweetness results in a dessert high few confections can reach. To take it one step further, I added a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream. You don’t want any more sugar, but more fat? Indeed. Why? Because it’s ideal to have something to cut through the sweetness. And if there’s an opportunity for me to add cream, you know I’m going to do it.

Momofuku Crack Pie

Oat cookie crust:
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
5 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar, divided
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
8 teaspoons milk powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
6 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For oat cookie crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; coat with nonstick spray. Combine 6 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Turn oat mixture out onto prepared baking pan; press out evenly to edges of pan. Bake until light golden on top, 17 to 18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely.

Make cookie crumbs in food processor or by pounding by hand (put crumbs in heavy duty freezer bag, crush with rolling pin); add 3 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Rub in with fingertips until mixture is moist enough to stick together. Transfer cookie crust mixture to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish. Place pie dish with crust on rimmed baking sheet. I had leftover crumbs.

For filling:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Whisk both sugars, milk powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add melted butter and whisk until blended. Add cream, then egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Turn oven off and leave pie in oven for an additional 10 minutes. The pie will be brown in spots. It will be set around the edges and still a little jiggly in the centre. Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack. Chill uncovered overnight.

Serve cold, either with sifted icing sugar on top or with unsweetened whipped cream.

You know me.  I often like to bake at Christmas.  This year?  Not so much.  Last year was minimal, and this year, even more so.  Maybe it’s the baking hangover.  Maybe it’s being a little tired of tradition.  Maybe it’s wanting to sleep until 1 p.m. on a Sunday without worrying about a day of baking ahead of me… In any case, I did find a little bit of inspiration last week.  Some friends and I attended Follow Me Foodie‘s Christmas Gelato night at Bella Gelateria in downtown Vancouver.  All guests received a massive goodie bag full of Nature’s Path products on their way out.

When I got home and looked at the 1-kg bag of cornflakes I received,  I couldn’t help think, “What the f–k am I going to do with 1 kg of cornflakes?”  You see, cornflakes aren’t my cop out of choice on cereal-for-supper evenings.  A quick Google for cornflake recipes made Inspiration #1 appear:  rice krispie squares.  Swapping the rice krispies for cornflakes seems to be a pretty common trick.  It’s also an ingenious one.  With less surface area for the marshmallow to coat, you end up with chewier squares that have a stronger marshmallow presence.  Who doesn’t like that?  But how to make it Christmas-y?  Inspiration #2.  One of the special flavours at Bella was Cranberry Pistachio Pound Cake.  If green pistachios and red cranberries don’t spell December 25, I don’t know what does.

I know I technically didn’t bake.  But there was lots of love mixed in with every turn of the spatula.  And as you have to put lots of elbow grease into ensuring your flakes are coated evenly, Santa was surely looking down on me and giving me strength.  An almost full (the baker needs to test for quality) pan’s worth made it into work the next day and enabled Santa to see that I was being nice, not naughty.  My reward being a very easy clean up.  A giant pot of hard marshmallow and chipped flakes might bring on tears.  Might.  Sugar dissolves easily in water.  Score!

Here’s another little Christmas treat to accompany these cornflake bars…

Cranberry Pistachio Cornflake Bars

10 cups cornflakes
1 400-g bag of mini marshmallows
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup plain, unsalted pistachios
butter or cooking spray for pan

Grease a 13” x 9” pan with butter or cooking spray.  Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over low heat.  Add marshmallows and continue to stir over low heat until marshmallows are completely melted, about 10 minutes.  When melted, take off heat and add vanilla.  Then stir in cornflakes, cranberries and pistachios.  Continue to fold mixture until cornflakes and add-ins are evenly coated.
Pour (and scrape) entire mixture into prepared pan.  Lightly grease palms of hands with cooking spray or butter.  Pat mixture down with greased hands so that mixture is evenly sitting in pan.  Cool completely and cut into squares.  Store in airtight container for up to two days.  I found the squares easy to cut after the mixture had been cooled and then refrigerated for about half an hour.