Flourless Chocolate Cake With Chambord Glaze

My beautiful and wonderful Mommy asked me to bake her a flourless chocolate cake for her birthday.  I had never made a flourless chocolate cake and for the first time I chose a recipe based only on the appearance of the finished product.  Once I started baking, I became immediately intimidated and worried I had made a huge mistake.  I am happy to report that the cake turned out beautifully, it was edible and my mom was impressed! 

Cake Ingredients: 
8 eggs chilled
16 ounces of semisweet chocolate
1 cup of unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup brewed coffee at room temp

Glaze Ingredients:
 4 TBS of Chambord
 2 ounces of semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 TBS of unsalted butter
 1 1/2 tsp of milk

Finishing Touches:
Powdered sugar
raspberries

First things first: preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Next, line the outside of a cake pan with a double layer of aluminum foil.
 Line the inside of the cake pan with parchment paper.
Grease the parchment paper. 

Place your prepped cake pan a nine x thirteen inch pan.
 Put a small pot of water on the stove and bring to a  boil.

Using two pans to create a double boiler, add your butter, coffee and chocolate....

....heat on low until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Remove from heat. 

Mix your eggs in a stand mixer using the whisk attachment on medium speed until your eggs have doubled in volume.  About 5 minutes.   

Slowly pour 1/3 of the eggs into your pan of chocolate, butter and coffee mixture.
 Fold in the eggs until they are almost mixed.
Repeat this two more times until the eggs and chocolate mixture are just combined.  

Finally, pour your cake batter into your prepped cake pan.
 Pour the boiling water that has been on the stove in the baking dish creating a water bath around your cake pan.
Pour enough so that it is about halfway up the cake pan.
Place the baking pan into the oven and cook on 325 for 25 minutes.  

When your cake is firm and a toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the center,  remove the cake pan from the water bath and place it on a wire rack to cool.
While you are waiting for the cake to cool, prepare your glaze.

In a small saucepan combine:
 4 TBS of Chambord
2 ounces of semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 TBS of unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp of milk

Heat on low until the chocolate has melted and all ingredients are combined and smooth.  Remove from heat and allow to cool, but not enough to harden, 

When your cake has cooled, remove it from the cake pan and place it on a plate or cake stand. 

Pour the Chambord glaze in the center of the cake and spread evenly with a spatula.  

Lightly dust the top of your cake with powdered sugar and top with fresh raspberries. 

Enjoy!! 

Happy Birthday Mammy!! 

DIY JELL-O Playdough

My kids adore playdough, and although most of it ends up ground into the fibers of my area rugs, I still continue to buy it. Today I took the insanity a step further and by made our very own homemade playdough.  I found a lot of recipes online and after I had settled on my favorite, I starting reading the (mixed) reviews.  Comments that the dough was too sticky and others that said the dough ended up covered in mold after a few days (although apparently refrigeration will keep the dough mold-free for two weeks) were enough to turn me away.  I began to question if the reason for the sticky and moldy results could possibly be due to the high content of sugar in the Jell-O mix. So, I decided to carry on with my playdough journey using sugar free Jell-O and crossing my fingers that I don't open a jar full of sticky moldy playdough.  I have not confirmed this theory by the way, but will update when I have.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup of white flour
• 1 cup of water 
• 1/4 cup of salt 
• 2 TBS of cooking oil 
• 1 pack of sugar free JELL-O

NOTE: Many recipes called for 1-2 TBS of Cream of Tartar.  I made the play-dough with and without and noticed no difference. Do yourself a favor and save the money.  I wish I had! 

NOTE: What I found to make the biggest difference in consistency was the cook time.  Overcooking the play-dough definitely made it dry and not as pliable.  

DIRECTIONS:
Mix all of your ingredients in a pan and heat on low for about 5 minutes. Don't overcook or it will by dry and yucky.  

Here you can see that the play-dough is starting to cook.  Once it is almost entirely cooked, remove it from the pan. 

Knead your play-dough until it is smooth.  If it seems to still be a little sticky,  add a little flour coating and continue to knead. 

The finished product.  It smells good, and yes....YES I DID LICK IT!! and NO NO NO it does NOT taste good! Just think salt block.  HAHA!! 

These are 8oz Ball canning jars.  The amount of dough you see in these is about 1/3 of how much the batch made.  

As you can see, my sweet boy kept himself busy while mommy and sissy were cooking.  

So far it's a big hit....2 hours later :)

UPDATE!

Three days later and the playdough is still in great shape, soft, and not moldy.  It is currently being pushed to the limits by eight little hands and after a LONG and crazy day, it seems to be taking a very therapeutic effect on the subjects!

UPDATE:
10/01/2013
The final bit of playdough has been thrown out and I am happy to report that it was not because of mold like many users of the other recipes were reporting.  Colors had gotten jumbled together beyond recognition and it was just time to go.