Tag Archives: best chocolate cake recipe

Chocolate Stout Rosemary Cake Will Win You Over

A chocolate cake worth celebrating.
A chocolate cake worth celebrating.

When it comes to Father’s Day, most folks will no doubt fete their dad with prime rib, a massive T-bone or a double-decker cheeseburger.

Not me.

When I think of my late dad, it’s chocolate that comes to mind first and foremost.

I don’t know if my dad thought that life was a box of chocolates a la Forrest Gump. But he surely thought that life was immeasurably better with any kind of chocolate in it.

So, when I spied this recipe for “Chocolate Stout Rosemary Cake,” I thought of him immediately.

No doubt like my husband, he might have turned quizzical over the addition of rosemary in a cake.

But like my husband after one taste, he would have been won over by the addition of this woodsy herb that stars in the thick, cream cheese frosting that lavishly frosts the top of this sour cream- and Guinness-infused chocolate cake.

Trust me, you’ll fall for this cake in a heartbeat, too.

This fabulous recipe is from “Cake From Lucie” (Clarkson Potter).

It was written by Lucie Franc De Ferriere, a French-born, self-taught baker who owns the popular From Lucie in New York City’s East Village. She grew up baking with her mother at the family’s farm and bed-and-breakfast in Southern France.

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The Chocolate Cake For When Times Are Uncertain and All-Purpose Flour Is MIA

This chocolate cake may look plain, but it is a showstopper in taste and satisfaction.
This chocolate cake may look plain, but it is a showstopper in taste and satisfaction.

No doubt you’ve heard that Americans are drinking far more during this pandemic.

Me? I’m gorging on a whole lot more chocolate.

And that’s saying something since I consider the consumption of chocolate to be practically a daily requirement.

After all when the going gets tough, the tough get dark chocolate.

Thankfully, “Chocolate Cake” by renowned Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten satisfies on every level. It’s from his cookbook, “Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes” (Clarkson Potter, 2011), in which the Michelin-starred chef shares favorite casual recipes he makes for his family

First, this cake uses hardly any all-purpose flour, for those who are running low on it like me. In fact, it calls for just over 1 tablespoon of the stuff. It’s such a small amount, though, that you could probably get away with substituting any other kind of flour for it.

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Yossy Arefi’s Soft Chocolate and Fig Cake

You'll fall hard for this chocolate fig cake. I sure did.

You’ll fall hard for this chocolate fig cake. I sure did.

 

Imagine a deliriously, deep, rich chocolate-y cake that’s like the love child of a brownie and a molten lava cake.

It’s the stuff of dreams, isn’t it?

It surely is my fantasy come true, especially with its scattering of plump fresh figs on top. So much so that I can’t stop myself from digging a fork into it again and again in utter bliss.

That’s what “Soft Chocolate and Fig Cake” will do to you.

This incredible — and incredibly easy — cake is from the new cookbook, “Sweeter Off The Vine” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy.

SweeterOffTheVine

It’s from the super talented Yossy Arefi, a Brooklyn-based food photographer, food stylist and baker, who created the charmingly named blog, Apt. 2B Baking Co., where she chronicles her baking endeavors.

This is one of those must-have cookbooks. And I don’t say that lightly, not when my shelves are already groaning under the strain of too many cookbooks. But if you’re like me and love to bake, you will find yourself bookmarking practically every page because these are down-home treats with a personality all their own that are in no way an ordeal to make.

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