Tag: chocolate

Chocolate Fudge – variations on a theme

Post author By whiskybaker
Post date 2021-07-17
No Comments on Chocolate Fudge – variations on a theme

So early July I decided to try the Joy of Cooking chocolate fudge to bring to friends as a treat. But also as an experiment. Why an experiment? Because I used milk chocolate. The recipe calls for bitter-sweet or semi-sweet chocolate.

and now a lesson…

Types of chocolate: There are actually all sorts of different types of chocolate depending on the amount of cocoa in there. In Canada (where I am) we basically have four different types:

Milk: (all are at least) 15% cocoa butter, 12% milk solids, 3.39% milk fat, 2.5% fat-free cocoa solids, 25% cocoa solids

Sweet: 18% cocoa butter, 12% milk solids, no required milk fat, 12% fat-free cocoa solids, 31% cocoa solids

Bittersweet/Semisweet/Dark – we lump all these together: 18% cocoa butter, 5% milk solids, no required milk fat, 14% fat-free cocoa solids, 35% cocoa solids

White: 20% cocoa butter, 13% milk solids, 3.5% milk fat, (no cocoa solids)

Canada has some laws about this – of course we do – including the fact that in Canada you cannot use cocoa butter substitutes. In other words, you cannot have vegetable fats or oils in our “chocolate” (which is allowed in the US). Also – and this I didn’t know – “chocolate” in Canada cannot have artificial sweeteners at all! If it does – that’s why in Canada it would be called “candy” instead of “chocolate”.

back to the fudge…

So milk chocolate has more milk fat and milk solids than bittersweet/semisweet chocolate. And the Joy of Cooking recipe calls for bittersweet/semisweet. So what’s the worst that could happen?

There are a bunch of steps missing but basically next I added the milk chocolate, brought it to a boil and waited until it hit about 240* F. Then I cooled it down to 110* F. Then you are supposed to stir until it loses its shine and becomes stiffer.

This is after 10 minutes of stirring – still shiny. Still pretty liquidy:

This is after 15 minutes. Still pretty shiny but definitely seeing trails in the chocolate:

After 20 minutes of stirring I gave up and put it in the pan.

Using a hot knife, I was able to at least cut it.

But obviously very hard to keep its shape:

The kids all enjoyed it – and the adults too to be fair – but it’s chocolate and edible so I didn’t really think anyone was gonna refuse it. But still.

This week I figured I’d try again, with the nice dark chocolate my mother picked up for me.

Remember: dark, bittersweet, semi-sweet, all have the same basic requirements.

So here are the ingredients this time:

Picture of the ingredients in their containers.

The creamy sugar step was the same but this time I remembered to take more photos so here is the chocolate added.

And then the chocolate heating while I (not so patiently) took its temperature every so often:

melted chocolate in a pot with a hand on the right side of the image holding a thin metal rod into the centre of the bubbling chocolate. — Me using Toby’s instant read thermometer 🙂 Not why I bought it for him but it works really well!

Then it cooled in the sink (by putting the entire pot in the sink with cold water) and once it was cool enough I started stirring again:

Oh look – just five minutes later and it already looks very different:

And only 2 more minutes till it was getting less shiny and definitely stiffer:

Dark chocolate fudge in a light coloured metal pan with parchment paper having out the top.

Five minutes in the damn pan and it was already more set than the milk chocolate fudge ever was in its entire existence!

Dark chocolate fudge, cut into three square pieces with more fudge in the fore- and background.

Fudge that holds it’s shape!

Smiling grey haired female presenting person holding a chocolate covered wooden spoon — yum!

Tags baking, Canada vs USA, chocolate

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Easter baking – chocolate mousse

Post author By whiskybaker
Post date 2016-03-28
No Comments on Easter baking – chocolate mousse

My parents host a big Easter lunch every year. It used to involve a big chocolate/candy hunt when they lived in a house with a large backyard and an even larger front yard. Now they’re in a condo it’s lunch with family and close friends. There’s usually quite a feast and Toby and I contribute a bit towards the desserts. This year I made chocolate mousse, so here’s a post about that.

I use a recipe from Cooks Illustrated. It’s a bit of a pain in the a$$ – I’m not sure if it really matters that you add each tablespoon of butter in one at a time or heat the egg whites for a minute or two before whipping them – but it seems to work out exactly the same each time.

First you melt the chocolate – I made a double batch (my co-workers will be happy) so 12 ounces or so of chocolate in a pot over a pot with simmering water.

Next I added in a stick of butter, a bit at a time. Then the pinches of salt, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 4 teaspoons of rum. I think next time I’ll swap out the rum and instead use strong coffee, which is the other option for making this. After all of that, eight egg yolks are whisked in, again, one at a time.

I heated the egg whites for a bit and then whipped them up. Apparently also around here I stopped taking step-by-step pictures! After the egg whites were whipped, they were incorporated into the chocolate mixture a 1/3 to a 1/4 at a time.

Finally, I whipped two cups of cream with four tablespoons of sugar to soft peaks. Then that got folded all in with the chocolate and divided between two lovely glass bowls:

Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight. The recipe recommends at least 2 hours for the flavours to develop but no more than 24 or so before you eat it. We’ve pushed it to 2 days before but I really wouldn’t recommend any longer than that.

Tags baking, chocolate

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Sweet Saturday – Chocolate stout cake with bourbon icing

Post author By whiskybaker
Post date 2014-08-03
No Comments on Sweet Saturday – Chocolate stout cake with bourbon icing

remembered to take a picture after half was eaten

I occasionally bake for my co-workers and those lucky enough to have offices near ours. It keeps me in practice and I get to make stuff that sounds especially yummy. When I’m not eating keto I love beer, well, even when I am eating keto I love beer I just try really really hard to drown my sorrows in whisky in its various forms, but I digress…

I like beer. So I loved when I stumbled across the beeroness. I can’t remember if someone pointed the blog out to me but I’m glad however it happened. Anyway, when I saw her recipe for Epic Chocolate Stout Cake with Chocolate Bourbon Sour Cream Frosting, well, I gasped. And made it for my co-workers.

Although I usually follow recipes to a T the first time I make it, here I made two layers instead of three. I ended up with some cupcakes instead.

The icing was quite lovely.

this will become the icing... — this will become the icing…

And seriously, I _LOVE_ my mixer

And here’s the final result:

The icing is a bit stiff so it needs to come out of the fridge well before you want to ice it.

Tags cake, chocolate

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Chocolate sheet cake – definitely NOT keto friendly!

Post author By whiskybaker
Post date 2013-06-11
2 Comments on Chocolate sheet cake – definitely NOT keto friendly!

I have, on occasion, made treats for my office mates. I came up with some sort of order for everyone to pick a treat. Most recently the choice was “plain chocolate cake; you know, the kind that’s dense inside and has a bit of a crisp outside.” So that was my task. And what I found was Cook’s Illustrated Simple Chocolate Sheet Cake.

List of ingredients:

3/4 cup cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), plus extra for baking pan
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Okay – as an aside – I really wish magazines and cookbooks would use both cups AND weight measures. Weight measures are so much more accurate than cups and spoons. Sigh.

This will be chocolate cake... — This will be chocolate cake…

Set the oven to 325f; grease a 9×13 baking pan with butter and set aside.

Sift the cocoa, flour and salt together and set aside. The recipe says to melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave. We don’t have a microwave so I used a pot over another pot on the stove.

You can see the pot of chocolate and butter in the pot of water getting ready to melt. The blue bowl in the back has the cocoa, flour and salt. The other bowl has the eggs, sugar and vanilla that had been whisked together.

Once the chocolate and butter was melted, I whisked them into the egg mixture. Then the buttermilk and baking soda were added:

Then the dry ingredients were added and it was all dumped into the baking pan:

Okay, here it is ready to go in the oven:

35 minutes later and:

I’ll let you know what my co-workers thought of it. No one ate it here on the day it was made because we had this huge burger and poutine dinner 😉 Toby snuck in a small piece – he thought it was an absolutely fine chocolate cake, not wonderful, it was just chocolate cake. Which is what I was going for I guess so there you go.

Tags cake, chocolate

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Chocolate Almond Cake – low carb!

Post author By whiskybaker
Post date 2013-06-06
3 Comments on Chocolate Almond Cake – low carb!

Well, it finally happened – Toby found a recipe he wanted me to try over at The Frugal LowCarber: Chocolate Almond Meal Cake.

The yellow-y stuff is ground almonds. I mentioned to some of the people at work who tried the cake that maybe next time I’ll grind the almonds a little finer. The ones I used are just the regular ground almonds from the bulk food store (I <3 Bulk Barn). They all said no – they liked the texture of them. Hmmm have to think about that.

One of the things you do not eat when eating keto is sugar. Like at all. So I’ve had to wrap my head around eating splenda and swerve (erythritol). I spent a lot of time avoiding “processed” stuff – and splenda to me = processed. But if I want to bake more often then that’s what I’m gonna do. Good thing Costco sells these huge bags of splenda (which weigh next to nothing)

It’s a great recipe, easy to follow and clear. I didn’t change anything so I highly recommend you go over to the Frugal LowCarber. This is my first recipe of her’s that I’ve tried. I’ll definitely go back for more.

Have I mentioned how much I love my oven? I really need to get on the house-hunting, moving in, reno posts!

All done and waiting to cool (at least a little) much to Toby’s chagrin.

Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the logo on the plate 😉

So Q had just gotten up from his nap when this was cool enough to eat so he and Toby were my taste-testers. Toby had a bite and I could tell he wasn’t sure. It definitely doesn’t taste like “chocolate cake” but it definitely tastes like “chocolate almond cake.”
Q watched Toby have some and he opened his mouth all sleepy and dopey like. He took a bite of the piece I held up and ate it. I asked him how it was. Q, is it yummy? Do you like it? Q’s response? He opened his mouth for more. I’ll count that as a win.

Tags chocolate, keto