There is something about chocolate baked goods that makes them very difficult to photograph. I have never been able to crack the secret to being able to do this successfully, but then again I am not the best at photographing anything anyways!
I think I am far too impatient. I could probably spend hours setting up shots and things, planning them, etc. But me . . . impatient. I just want to photograph them so that we can eat them.
I have a very narrow window of opportunity when the daylight is in my favour and it differs all year round, changing with the seasons. I am usually just getting it sorted and then it changes and I have to fiddle with it all over again.
I have never really promised my readers the best food photographs anyways, I don't know why I stress over them as much as I do. I have only ever promised you great recipes that work and that are delicious.
I think I deliver on that most of the time. Anything else is down purely to individual tastes and preferences. One man's meat being another man's poison and all that.
For instance Todd loves chocolate candy but hates chocolate bakes. I very rarely bake anything chocolate because I know only I am going to be eating it and I don't need to be . . . this cake is the perfect size for such an occasion. Because it only feeds two.
I adapted the recipe from America's Test Kitchen, Complete Cooking for Two. So you know this recipe is good. Its been triple tested, and tested again.
The cake layers are rich and very chocolatey. I did cut the icing in half. I decided it was enough to just frost the top and the middle, and I added a layer of cherry jam in the middle . . .
An homage to my mother who always filled her cakes with jam . . . a cake is not a proper cake to me without jam in the middle . . . even chocolate cake.
Cherry jam because . . . chocolate and cherries are the quintessential combination. A marriage of moreishly good flavours . . .
This cake is moist and delicious . . . soft light brown sugar and sour cream make sure of that . . .
Two kinds of chocolate, a dark baking chocolate with a high cocoa content and unsweetened cocoa powder . . . and just a hint of coffee powder, which we all know intensifies the flavour of chocolate!
It may not be the prettiest crayon in the box, but from where I am sitting, this cake gets Five stars all round. If you like chocolate cake. You are going to love this.
Dark Chocolate Layer Cake
Yield: 2
A frosted dark chocolate layer cake built just for two, filled with cherry jam and adorned with with a rich vanilla buttercream.
Ingredients:
- 45g dark chocolate with a high cocoa count (1 1/2 ounces)
- 3 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder (not chocolate drink mix)
- 1/4 tsp instant coffee granules
- 120ml boiling water (1/2 cup)
- 60g sour cream (1/4 cup)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 70g plain flour (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 TBS unsalted butter, softened
- 100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
- 1 large free range egg at room temperature
For the frosting and filling:
- dark cherry jam
- 1 TBS heavy cream
- 3/4 tsp vanilla
- pinch salt
- 8 TBS butter softened
- 130g confectioners sugar (1 cup) sifted
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter two six inch layer cake tins. Line the bottoms with baking paper. Dust lightly with flour, tapping out any excess.
- Chop the chocolate and put into a small bowl along with the cocoa powder and coffee powder. Add the boiling water. Set aside to melt the chocolate and then whisk together until smooth.
- Sift together the flour, soda and baking powder.
- Cream the butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy with an electric whisk. Beat in the egg.
- Whisk the vanilla and sour cream into the chocolate mixture. Add the chocolate mixture to the creamed mixture alternating with the flour mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
- Divide the batter between the two layer cake tins. Smooth the tops. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Leave the tins to rest on a wire rack for 10 minutes before tipping out to cool completely and peeling off the paper.
- Put all ingredients for the icing into a bowl and beat with an elecric whisk until light and fluffy.
- Place one cake layer on a cake plate. Cover with half of the icing. Spoon over some cherry jam to cover. Place the top cake layer on top of the jam. Spread the remaining frosting on the top of the cake.
- Cut into wedges to serve.
Todd makes me laugh. He sits there eating a huge piece of this cake, saying "You know I don't like chocolate." But he still eats it and seems to enjoy it. Men! If I didn't like something there is no way I would be eating it! Nobody forced him. 😕 Happy Saturday.
I used up some of those delicious tomatoes that I bought last week in a tasty salad built just for two (or three if you are not a big salad eater.)
I was pretty shaken up yesterday after my fall. I am always so careful and I really came down with a thud. I injured my left shoulder, which is the one which was injured in my car accident 20 plus years ago now.
I also hurt my left knee I can really feel it today! Anyways, my husband decided to treat me to a takeaway for supper. Five guys just opened up again for delivery so we had a Baby Cheeseburger and Fries delivered for each of us. It was a real treat!
(with just the cheese and caramelise onion)
Their servings of fries are HUGE. Ginormous even. Needless to say, we barely ate half of them, and I only managed 2/3 of my burger.
I hate waste however . . . especially when you are paying a premium price for things.
So I popped the leftover fries into a plastic bag and then into the refrigerator. I had a think about what to do with them.
I am quite fond of eating cold fries for breakfast and pizza too (try not to judge me.) I didn't want to hog these beauties all to myself however. That seemed kind of selfish and once again it was far more than one person should or could eat.
And so I did the next best thing. I recreated them, largely inspired by a recipe I found on Family Fresh Meals for Copycat In N Out Animal Fries.
Now I have nver been to In N Out. I am assuming it is a hamburger joint. I cannot compare these to the originals, but I can tell you this version I made was MIGHTY delicious!
And the absolutely best repurposing of leftover french fries. I love the Five Guys chips. They have the skin still on them and I love fries with skin still on them!
I don't do fake cheese. I used sliced strong cheddar cheese. All the cheddar over here is white unless you buy specifically dyed cheddar.
I try not to do dyed cheese either if I can help it. So strong cheddar, and a good one at that, was melted on top of the hot, reheated fries.
My caramelised onions turned out perfect. Know what my secret was? I forgot about them and they had just started to catch in a few places.
I swooped in with a bit of water and save the day and they ended up being the best caramelised onions I ever made!
So maybe that is the secret to great caramelised onions. Let them start to catch and then just before they burn, douse them with a bit of water.
It will evaporate right away and you will have beautifully coloured, beautifully flavoured, perfectly caramelised onions!
These were sprinkled over the melted cheese . . . yum . . . yum . . . yum!
The final touch was the fry sauce. I thought it was very much like the copycat sauce that you put on make at home Big Macs. Mayo, relish and ketchup, or . . . actually rather like a Thousand Island dressing.
In any case it was really good drizzled on top. The perfect combination of sweet and tart and spicy!
I can promise you I absolutely DID share them with mu husband! Would I lie to you?
Copycat Animal Fries
Yield: 2
I found myself with a rather lot of leftover french fries after having treated ourselves to takeaway from Five Guys. Not being one to waste anything. I created this with them the day afterwards. Talk about delicious!
Ingredients:
For the fries and caramelised onions:
- 1/2 pound of leftover cooked french fries
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp butter
- pinch brown sugar
- pinch fine sea salt
- 1 TBS water, if needed
- 2 slices of sharp cheddar cheese
For the fry sauce:
- 1 TBS full fat mayonnaise
- 1/2 TBS tomato ketchup
- 1 tsp sweet pickle relish
- 1/8 tsp white vinegar
- 1/8 tsp sugar
Instructions:
- First make the caramelised onions. Melt the butter in the skillet over low heat. Once it has melted and has begun to foam slightly add the chopped onions. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and salt. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until they are lightly caramelised. If they start to stick add the water. It will take between 10 and 15 minutes to achieve perfection. Keep warm.
- Heat your oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Put your leftover chips into a baking dish and bang them into the oven. Let them heat for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with the two slices of cheddar cheese. Return them to the oven to melt the cheese.
- While the cheese is melting whisk together all of the sauce ingredients until smooth.
- Remove the fries from the oven and scatter the caramelised onions over top. Drizzle with the fry sauce and serve immediaely. Delicious!
If you don't have any leftover french fries to use, just cook half a 4 serving sized bag of frozen french fries according to the package directions and then add the cheese, onions and sauce. You are sure to love these!
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
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