100th Recipe: Chocolate Stout Cake

Isn’t it funny how things happen sometimes? A couple of weeks ago I simultaneously noticed that I was approaching my 100th recipe on the blog and that I was preparing to yet again make this cake for my roommate’s birthday. This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe, and once you have it in your repertoire, you will never need another chocolate cake recipe ever again. I promise. Anyway, I was flipping through my cookbook and came across the “real” recipe that I had originally torn out of an Elle Canada magazine, and it was like a classic glass-shattering moment in How I Met Your Mother: something clicked. The credit for the recipe was from Smitten Kitchen, one of my all-time favourite food blogs, and certainly one of the most well-known ones, too. But previous to Smitten Kitchen, I don’t think I knew of or cared about any food blogs, and definitely hadn’t ever thought of writing for my own! So somehow, this little recipe and my curiosity as to who could create such a masterpiece of a cake were the beginning of and the inspiration for all of the food blogging I’ve done to date. Um, and yeah, that’s just how freaking good this cake is.

It’s so good that, if you are a devout Three Cheeses reader, you may already be aware of the fact that I’ve blogged about this cake here. I’ve been meaning to make this cake and take “proper” photos of it to give it the justice it deserves. So, thanks to my roommate’s patience for allowing me to spend an extra half hour fussing over photos and lighting and details before letting him dig into his own birthday cake (welcome to the food blogger’s curse), I give you: chocolate stout cake, recipe 100!

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Edited: May 12th, 2011

Nanaimo Bars Extraordinaire

Nanaimo bars are a true Canadian delicacy. Smooth chocolate, simple vanilla, and a coconut walnut base make for a dessert that is completely sinful—but too good to turn down! Nanaimo bars originated in Western Canada, and can now be found across the country in cold winter months when that little bit of chocolate is simply necessary to keep warm. (Or at least that’s what we Canadians keep telling ourselves!) They’re also now making a debut in Australia, via my kitchen.

This final Nanaimo bar recipe and method has been a labour of love—I believe it took about three batches of bars, plus some failed elements within those batches, for me to assemble this final version which I can stamp with the “tried, tested, and true” label. It was a journey and a half—the first batch I decided not to use the vanilla custard powder (my thoughts being, “Who needs all those damn expensive and one-purpose ingredients in their cupboard, mumble mumble”), and it flopped, completely. Lesson 1: use the vanilla custard powder. Lesson 2 had to do with proportions and not just taking online recipes for their word at needing roughly 6 cups of ingredients for the base and only 2 cups of icing sugar for the filling, which resulted in a last-minute trans-Pacific phone call to mum and dad for the real recipe & proper proportions. Lesson 3 had to do with finesse—aka, Nanaimo bars are picky little bastards. The various steps require the correct temperatures otherwise they’ll backfire completely—this lesson could be subtitled, “How not to screw up your chocolate topping.”

So, my thanks go to the future in-laws and the folks at Downstream Marketing for eating my somewhat suspect batches of Nanaimo bars before the recipe was perfected. I’m sure it was quite the effort!

Wondering where the Three Cheeses has been recently? You’ve probably noticed I’ve been a bit slow on posting—this is due to a visit from the parents, an engagement (yes, mine!), quickly followed by an unexpected trip back to Canada for a funeral. But I’m back baby, and with new kitchen gear to boot. (Thanks mum and dad!)

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Edited: November 22nd, 2010

Raspberry Studded Brownies

Ack! So it goes to show that moving and not having reliable internet (which will be remedied very soon, cross fingers) means that posting gets a little slowed down. My apologies. In the meantime I’ve been doing some relaxed cooking and have even caught up on my reading—I just finished Julie & Julia, which was fantastic, though I do wonder how she managed to survive all that butter. Whew.

This recipe is very similar to my all-time favourite brownie recipe (and I don’t say that lightly). There is one crucial and amazing difference: raspberries. Now, while I’m picky about desserts, there are a few things you can always do to hook me. Mix chocolate with raspberries, or mix chocolate with cherries. I started drinking coffee because I once ordered a white chocolate raspberry mocha from Serious Coffee in Victoria BC. My favourite Ben & Jerry’s flavour is Cherry Garcia, even though I tried their double fudge first. I’ll also always try to steal the cherry chocolate from the box before anyone else can even think about “accidentally” getting it.

Suffice it to say? Raspberry + chocolate = amazing. Just like these gorgeous brownies that are rich and tart, soft and moist but with body and gusto. Yes, brownies with gusto. Read on, my friends!

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Edited: October 6th, 2010

Spiced Aztec Cookies

These are not chocolate chip cookies! Cinnamon, chocolate, and a bit of cayenne pepper make these unique cookies exotic and delicious. They’re minimal effort, and as the dough needs to be refrigerated, you can keep it on hand for when you need a quick batch. My mum would make these cookies around Christmas, for dinner parties or for hampers for family.

I made these for our recent Christmas in July dinner party, and they were devoured! So as requested, here’s the recipe. More Christmas-themed food is on the way too, never fear!

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Edited: July 27th, 2010