December 11 Meal: The Cake Marathon

I have never run a marathon, don't plan to, and certainly don't want to.  Besides the fact that my joints just couldn't take it, I have no desire to exert myself for that long just to say I ran 26 miles.  Don't get me wrong, I admire people who have the drive to do it, but it's just not for me.  No, my marathon is in cake form.  Rather than running the Boston Marathon, I baked the Spiced Chocolate Torte Wrapped in Chocolate Ribbons.  A bit dramatic, yes, but that's how it felt the day I made it, which happened to be the day we needed to go shopping for Christmas presents.  Bad idea.  Since it was a cold and wet day out we were craving some comfort food, so I made Green Chile Macaroni and Cheese and Beet and Tangerine Salad with Cranberry Dressing for dinner.  Oh, and in the morning I also made Dark Chocolate-Mint Rocky Road Squares.

Spiced Chocolate Torte Wrapped in Chocolate Ribbons

The problem with this cake is not just that it has 7.5 sticks of butter, but that it is so beautiful on the cover of the magazine that you know it will take a miracle to replicate it.  I started in the morning by making the 3 torte layers.  The tortes feature lots of butter, sugar, eggs, bittersweet chocolate, flour, and pecans and is spiced with vanilla, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.  With the torte layers made we left them to cool and went Christmas shopping for a few hours. 

After dinner was made I got back to work on the buttercream frosting that goes between the torte layers.  Again, it features plenty of butter and chocolate with some corny syrup, sugar, and egg yolk.  The buttercream is also supposed to have rum in it, but since A) I dislike rum, B) I was taking this to church the next day where there would be little ones, and C) I didn't think the church would appreciate a liquored-up dessert at our Christmas party, I left it out.  Set in the fridge to chill.  Next, make the glaze with more chocolate, butter, honey, and espresso powder (OK, so I might have caffeinated the little ones at church...) and pour over the whole cake.  Chill in the fridge again. 

Finally,it was time to make the ribbons.  By this time it was 11:00 PM, not a great time to start this part of the project.  The only ingredients in the ribbons is chocolate (bittersweet for the dark parts and white for the white parts) and corn syrup.  Through a process of heating, cooling, and kneading, the mixture transforms into a pliable dough.  I was supposed to use a pasta maker to press it out into flat strips, which would have made things easier, but I don't own a pasta maker.  I had to roll out the strips so they didn't end up completely even.  Overall, I don't think I did a bad job, but of course it's slightly disappointing to put in so much work and not have it looking perfect.  It was delicious, though.  Shaun and I SPLIT a piece that was less than an inch wide and that was plenty!

Yuminess: 10 out of 10

Green Chile Macaroni and Cheese

 How do you make macaroni and cheese better than it already is?  Add some spice!  This easy recipe uses Monterey Jack cheese and poblano chiles to add flavor to the comfort food mainstay.  Just char some poblanos and bell peppers, cook up some elbow pasta, and mix with cream, corn, and Monterey Jack cheese.  We ate by the fire, keeping warm on that dreary, rainy night.

Yuminess: 10 out of 10




Beet and Tangerine Salad with Cranberry Dressing

To add a little green to our comfort food, I made this salad. The dressing called for frozen cranberry juice concentrate, which is impossible to find.  Instead, I used Ocean Spray cranberry juice and boiled it down to a more concentrated form.  It is mixed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and tangerine peel.  Add in onions to marinate for a bit.  Top watercress with cooked beets, tangerines, and the marinated onions.

Yuminess: 10 out of 10


Dark Chocolate-Mint Rocky Road Squares

This is an easy dessert and very quick.  Once we made it we came up with other mix-ins that would be good.  Melt the chocolate and add peppermint extract.  Pour into a loaf pan prepped with foil and push in halves of marshmallow and chocolate wafer cookies.  I used chocolate animal cookies for this.  Pour the rest of the chocolate in and top with the rest of the marshmallow pieces and cookies.  Freeze to firm it up.  One thing to remember, make sure there is a flat space in your freezer.  I must have put it in on an angle because it came out much thinner on one side than the other.  Still tasted great!

Yuminess: 10 out of 10