What should I make?

[amccomb]

So, a friend is having a birthday this weekend and he has asked me to make a dessert. He's kind of vague about what he wants, but here's what he has said:

-It has to be chocolatey.

-He would love for it to contain brandied cherries (I made him some brownies with brandied cherries and cream cheese frosting that I think he was hoping I would make. Unfortunately, I ran out of brandied cherries and don't have time to make or order more before the party.)

-He doesn't want just a plain chocolate cake, but it can be cake-like. He doesn't want anything too fancy, he wants somethi ng he can slice (or scoop) and serve.

-He wants it to really WOW him.

I mentioned my chocolate mousse cake, which is very good, very rich (and so expensive because it uses so much chocolate), and he thought it sounded good, but a little blah because it's JUST chocolate and has nothing else going on.

Any ideas? Maybe I should go ahead and try to order some brandied cherries and have them rush delivered...

Editted to add: I asked him about raspberries with chocolate, because I have a white chocolate raspberry mousse I could use as filling between two flourless chocolate cakes, and he suggested strawberries instead of raspberries. Any ideas for strawberries? There aren't any good fresh strawberries out around here yet, so it would have to be something I could do with frozen ones!

Edited April 18, 2005 by amccomb (log)

[Genny]

Have you had Molten Chocolate Cake? This can be made individually or one big. It is all chocolate but I'm sure you can add other elements to the basic recipe and the hot gooey center has a big TA-DA factor for many. As individuals I've made them in advance (4 hours or so) and baked them off 30 minutes before serve time. Actually pretty easy. The recipe I use is from "The Best Recipe" by Cooks Illustrated.

Good Luck!

[SethG]

Don't know about brandied cherries, but if you want chocolate desserts that impress, you might look here. Some, like the Pave mentioned therein, involve chocolate cakes with syrups that might be along the lines of what you're looking for.

[carswell]

The most celebrated dessert at the long-gone Pam Pam, a Hungarian restaurant on Montreal's Mountain Street, was ludlab, a crustless dense dark chocolate mousse tart studded with brandied cherries and garnished with a dollop of kirsch-spiked whipped cream. The last time I ate a piece was probably 20-25 years ago, yet I can taste it to this day. Don't have a recipe and won't have time to look for one until this evening; maybe someone else can chime in. Also, I'm not sure about the spelling; I seem to recall a j being in there somewhere.

[sherribabee]

How about a Texas Sheet Cake? It usually contains cinnamon, which ads an interesting flavor. It's very chocolately and very simple to make. You could try making it spicy with various ground peppers. Or you could add mint. Or you could add just about any type of flavor or liquor to the frosting. Although it might look like "just chocolate" he'd be in for a pleasant surprise after the first bite.

I have a fabulous recipe for the cake at home, if you'd like it.

[sherribabee]

OR

I have a great recipe for a Warm Chocolate Turtle Bread Pudding that is heavenly. Chocolate bread pudding with a caramel and nut concoction drizzled over the top. Also very easy.

[amccomb]

How about a Texas Sheet Cake?  It usually contains cinnamon, which ads an interesting flavor.  It's very chocolately and very simple to make.  You could try making it spicy with various ground peppers.  Or you could add mint.  Or you could add just about any type of flavor or liquor to the frosting.  Although it might look like "just chocolate" he'd be in for a pleasant surprise after the first bite.

I have a fabulous recipe for the cake at home, if you'd like it.

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I think this is a wonderful idea, and I love the versatility, but I have a feeling this would fit his definition of "cake" too much. I think his wife is buying him a 1/2 sheet chocolate cake from a local bakery as a birthday cake, so he wants something a little less cake-like.

The Turtle Bread Pudding may fit the bill, though! It's still cakey, but not a cake.

I was thinking of maybe a strawberry chocolate charlotte, using slices of chocolate cake brushed with a liquor or maybe strawberry jam and filled with a strawberry (and maybe white chocolate, if I can get it to come out smooth and not grainy) mousse. I could top it with a strawberry jelly and few chocolate dipped strawberries. It would still contain cake, though.

I had also thought of a terrine of strawberry and white chocolate or lemon mousses, layered. He isn't a big pie fan, and not a pastry fan, so making a pie or using phyllo or puff pastry or anything like that is probably out.

I thought about cookies or brownies, but he wanted something more "fancy".

[M. Lucia]

I can't believe no one said Black Forest Cake!

The traditional German cake with layers of chocolate cake filled with whipped cream and cherries, and frosted with kirsch flavored whipped cream. It is certainly fancy, with great presentation, and not hugely labor intensive.

There's a recipe in Chocolate Desserts from Pierre Herme (click here to see a picture of it, scroll to post 132) but I am sure there are many recipes online, like this one.

[Wendy DeBord]

I have a fabulous recipe for the cake at home, if you'd like it.

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When I see the words 'fabulous' and 'recipe' in the same sentence,.......... of course I'd love to try your recipe, please.

[sherribabee]

I have a fabulous recipe for the cake at home, if you'd like it.

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When I see the words 'fabulous' and 'recipe' in the same sentence,.......... of course I'd love to try your recipe, please.

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OK. I've recently replaced the old family favorite recipe with the somewhat healthier Cooking Light recipe (it's actually richer - yay!), can I post that here?

Edited April 19, 2005 by Wendy DeBord (log)

[the Bill]

Sherri, why not post to Recipegullet?

amccomb, I like your choc/strawberry idea. And/or have you already ruled out a trifle, as that has cake, but is not cake like and you could make it with chocolate, e.g. chocolate sponge and even choc. whipped cream. The other things that came to my mind are a choc. raspberry cake from (I believe) Silver Palate Good Times cookbook, it is a very good recipe. OR ... a charlotte, I think that is what you call those baked merrengue cakes - chocolate with a berry mouse as a filling/frosting - I have this picture in my mind but I'm not conveying it that well. Add choc. shavings and maybe some fresh fruit. Or you could do this with some cherries if you find them. Not sure where you are, but if $$ no object and you are near a city you should be able to get something decent.

Good luck and fill us in on the decision/results.

[Richard Kilgore]

I also suggest taking a stroll through the bake-along thread on Pierre Herme's Chocolate Desert book(written with Dorie Greenspan). Lots of great chocolate desserts with Dorrie Greenspan posting frequently.

[Wendy DeBord]

Sherribabee we prefer members to share recipes with everyone by posting in public, please. You definately can post the recipe here in this thread. BUT you do have to follow our rules and not infringe on others copyrights.

Briefly: you can post the ingredients exactly as published. They can't copyright a list of ingredients or measurements. But when it comes to the instructions, they own those words, so you need to describe how you make/mix that cake in your own words. It's really not hard or time consuming at all.

[Marlene]

Wendy is correct in how recipes can be posted. However, now that we have RecipeGullet back, we prefer that recipes are posted to RG and linked back to the thread for discussion. Having recipes scattered all over the forums decreases the ease of searchability that RG provides and kind of makes having RG pointless, no?

In addition, While simply re writing the method to a recipes is a technically correct way to post a recipe that isn't yours, it isn't something we encourage on a regular basis. We prefer that you take that recipe and make it your own, adding your own tweaks etc. In all cases, you should note that the recipe has "been adapted from" to acknowledge the orginal author. That goes for whether you post the recipe on the thread or in RG.

A link to the RecipeGullet copyright policy

A paragraph from the policy states:

Suppose, however, that you make a recipe with exactly the ingredients that appear in a copyrighted recipe belonging to someone else. If you post this ingredient list, along with your own description of how you made the final dish from the ingredients, then you technically have not violated copyright law. However, we prefer that you not make a habit of entering recipes in this way

an example of how you can make it your own:

Whenever a recipe you enter is based on or inspired by someone else's recipe, whether copyrighted or not, we hope that you will acknowledge the source or your inspiration in the recipe's introduction. Something simple like, "This is based on Mark Bittman's recipe, but I use more peanut butter than he does, and I also add jalapenos, which I think makes all the difference in the world."

[sherribabee]

Wendy is correct in how recipes can be posted.  However, now that we have RecipeGullet back, we prefer that recipes are posted to RG and linked back to the thread for discussion.  Having recipes scattered all over the forums decreases the ease of searchability that RG provides and kind of makes having RG pointless, no?

In addition, While simply re writing the method to a recipes is a technically correct way to post a recipe that isn't yours, it isn't something we encourage on a regular basis.  We prefer that you take that recipe and make it your own, adding your own tweaks etc.  In all cases, you should note that the recipe has "been adapted from" to acknowledge the orginal author.  That goes for whether you post the recipe on the thread or in RG.

A link to the RecipeGullet copyright policy

A paragraph from the policy states:

Suppose, however, that you make a recipe with exactly the ingredients that appear in a copyrighted recipe belonging to someone else. If you post this ingredient list, along with your own description of how you made the final dish from the ingredients, then you technically have not violated copyright law. However, we prefer that you not make a habit of entering recipes in this way

an example of how you can make it your own:

Whenever a recipe you enter is based on or inspired by someone else's recipe, whether copyrighted or not, we hope that you will acknowledge the source or your inspiration in the recipe's introduction. Something simple like, "This is based on Mark Bittman's recipe, but I use more peanut butter than he does, and I also add jalapenos, which I think makes all the difference in the world."

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OK, I'll head on over to RG and enter it there and then post the link here. (And I was hoping just to scan it in from the cookbook and send the pdf to anyone who wanted it -- I'm such a lazy typist ). I'll include my "twists" as well.

[ludja]

The most celebrated dessert at the long-gone Pam Pam, a Hungarian restaurant on Montreal's Mountain Street, was ludlab, a crustless dense dark chocolate mousse tart studded with brandied cherries and garnished with a dollop of kirsch-spiked whipped cream. The last time I ate a piece was probably 20-25 years ago, yet I can taste it to this day. Don't have a recipe and won't have time to look for one until this evening; maybe someone else can chime in. Also, I'm not sure about the spelling; I seem to recall a j being in there somewhere.

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Thanks for this description carswell! There looks to be a nice version of this very torte in Rick Rodger's Kaffeehaus. The hungarian name given is "Ludlabtorte" as you mentioned; the english name, "Chocolate-Cherry Mousse Cake". I haven't made it yet but surely will based on your fond memories and in looking over the recipe description more closely.

Same flavors as a Schwartzwalder Kirsch Torte (Black Forest Cake) but the assembly sounds even more luscious to me. A chocolate cake with warm cherry preserves spread on top, then a layer of chocolate kirsch mousse, a layer of fresh cherries, then another layer of the mousse. Over all of this goes a thin bittersweet chocolate glaze...!!

Here's a quoted description:

A specialty of the finest cafes in Budapest, Ludlabtorta is the true test of the pastry maker's art.  It's like eating a chocolate-cherry truffle, as the glaze comes in direct contact with the mousse filling."

The cake uses 12 oz sweet cherries, pitted ( ~ 2 cups) or thawed frozen cherries, cherry preserves and kirsch.

Another terrific and interesting chocolate cake is another Austro-Hungarian torte, the Dobos Torte discussed in this thread . It consists of multiple thin cake layers that are frosted and filled with an incredibily rich chocolatl-coffee buttercream, the top has a burnt-sugar caramel layer and the sides have roasted hazelnuts. The thread has discussion on different recipe sources, results, etc.

Edited April 19, 2005 by ludja (log)

[sherribabee]

OK, here's the RecipeGullet link for TEXAS SHEET CAKE for those who would like to try it. Don't make it when you're home alone -- it's quite dangerous!

[carswell]

Ludja, now you've got me wondering whether the cherries in Pam Pam's ludlab were in fact brandied. Too bad I can't toddle downtown and check it out.

Thanks for the full name. As promised, I googled ludlab but didn't turn up much besides a few Hungarian sites. No recipes. Unfortunately, ludlabtorte gives zero Google hits and ludlab torte/torta only a few.

The Kaffehaus version sounds delicious. Oddly, I don't remember Pam Pam's as being layered. As I recall, it was simply a dense, almost fudge-like chocolate mousse studded with cherries. Another Montreal eGulleter was waxing poetic about it a while back; will see if I can find who that was and pump him/her for details.

Am not sure I've yet gotten over my one encounter with a dobos torte, despite its having occured a good decade ago. Talk about rich! Thanks for the link.