Chocolate Chestnut Rum Bundt Cake & a Workshop

AN EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. 

Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” 

– Dr. Seuss 

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on” 

– Albert Einstein 

Most of my readers know that as much as I love writing, I love teaching writing as well. Inspiring others to write. I have helped create conferences and workshops, spoken and taught. I love the creative energy that sparks, flames and electrifies, that fills a room and overflows when a group of passionate writers and photographers gather, discuss and work. Most of my readers know that Ilva Beretta and I together created the Plated Stories blog as a purely creative endeavor, allowing us a space where we can explore, find new ways to express ourselves, break away from the expectations of what a food blog is.

And now we are excited to announce the creation of the first Plated Stories Workshop! Partnering with Tuscan Muse in Italy, the workshop is part of an extraordinary 10-day experience with Tuscan Muse and will be dedicated to food writing (I will be teaching) and food photography and styling (with the super talented Ilva teaching).

Discover the Plated Stories workshop by clicking over to the Tuscan Muse website. The five days will include intensive, hands-on exercises in both food writing and styling/photography, heady discussion and lively exchange. The workshop will include a cooking class with chef Enrico Casini, photowalks in stunning Tuscany and the city of Pienza, fabulous Italian food and all in a divine and inspiring setting.

Food Photography Indoors & Out!

Boost your writing creativity & hone your skills in a fabulous setting!

The Plated Stories workshop will be held at Le Casacce agriturismo among the olive trees in the heart of the Val d’Orcia. Once the workshop is over, you will take your camera and your imagination and continue on the voyage with Tuscan Muse, discovering the magic of Tuscany.

Plated Stories the blog is all about finding inspiration and tapping into our creativity, pushing ourselves beyond our own limits. This is exactly what we will help you do at Plated Stories the workshop: you will be inspired to take that step beyond and you will learn how to channel your creativity in new ways for your own purpose, be it for your blog, professional work or a hobby.

A great workshop in a convivial, joyous atmosphere!

Take a look at the workshop description and itinerary. Spaces are limited (allowing so much more personal guidance, critique and one-on-one time with both Ilva and I) so sign up/register quick quick! This will surely be a great adventure and we would love for you to join us!

All in Italy!

Take note: The Plated Stories workshop is organized and managed by Tuscan Muse so any questions about the workshop week and organization, travel, location, cost, meals, etc should be addressed to Tuscan Muse (find the link here). Ilva and I are teaching the workshop, so any question about the workshop program itself feel free to leave in a comment below or by emailing us privately at platedstories (at) gmail (dot) com. Also, please let us know if you would like to be put on the Plated Stories email list to receive further information as well as the Plated Stories newsletter by contacting us at platedstories (at) gmail (dot) com

And to celebrate our newest venture, I baked a cake ! I started with my Chocolate Spice Cake with Sour Black Cherries in Syrup and replaced the cherries with sweetened chestnut cream and the vanilla with rum. The result is much lighter and more tender than I expected, a beautiful balance of chocolate and chestnut with a lingering hint of rum. Perfect for breakfast, snack or dessert. 

CHOCOLATE RUM CHESTNUT BUNDT CAKE

Makes one 9-inch (23 cm) Bundt – can also be baked in layers or in a loaf pan but adjust baking time as needed.

7 Tbs (100 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup (200 g) sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 ¾ cup (230 g) flour
3 Tbs (25 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
7/8 cup (200 ml) milk
2 Tbs rum, cognac, Grand Marnier or Cointreau (or replace with 1 tsp vanilla)
4 Tbs (100 g) crème de marrons (sweetened chestnut cream)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter a 9-inch (23 cm) Bundt pan – (or two 9-inch layer cake pans or one loaf pan). Lightly flour the pan and knock out all the excess. 

Place the softened butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes until thick, smooth and doubled in volume. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition to increase the volume of the batter.

Stir or sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl. Add the rum to the milk.

Add the dry ingredients to the batter in three additions, alternating with the milk/rum in two, beginning and ending with dry, beating after each addition until well blended.

Beat in the Chestnut Cream. Carefully ladle the batter into the pan and gently smooth the top if needed and place in the preheated oven.

Bake for 45 – 50 minutes (Note: if using layer cake pans or a loaf pan and depending upon your oven, baking times may vary greatly, so begin checking the cake for doneness after 35 minutes.) The cake is done when a tester stuck into the center of the cake comes out clean - or cleanish, with no liquid batter.

Remove from the oven onto cooling racks and allow to cool for 10 – 15 minutes before gently shaking the cake lose and turning it out of the baking pan and onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Slide the cake onto a serving platter, dust with a bit of cocoa powder and serve. For an elegant dessert, serve the cake with very lightly sweetened whipped cream, rum-spiked whipped cream or ice cream (rum raisin!).

Read more »

CHOCOLATE CHESTNUT CLOUD CAKES

AND LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN!

There is probably a smell of roasted chestnuts and other good comfortable things all the time, 

for we are telling Winter Stories – Ghost Stories, or more shame for us – round the Christmas fire; and we have never stirred, except to draw a little nearer to it. 

– Charles Dickens 

Hanukkah has come upon us in a rush, almost unexpectedly. Surrounded by the remains of our renovations, pampering a sick dog, befuddled and amazed by the busy-bee energy of our normally slow-as-molasses son, time has slipped by at an almost unreal pace and we are astonished when we realize that it has only been a month since our move. Four, maybe five short weeks. It feels like we have been here forever emptying cartons, stepping over heaps of tools, tripping over coils of wire, making so many trips to the dump it has my head in a spin! And now Hanukkah has arrived and I am just not ready.

Son and I go hunting for Hanukkah gifts as the afternoon light wanes, just before rushing home to light the first candle. Late, as usual. We join the jungle of bodies, the swell of humanity clutching bags and boxes, children crying, parents hustling youngsters in and out of shops trying to retain some semblance of dignity and holiday cheer. Son hurries me, skirting the gawkers, reminding me of what we are there for and urging me onward only wanting to be home. But I am caught up in the festive air of the city, bedazzled by the neons, the garlands, the flurry of Santa hats bobbing up and down the streets. The brisk chill invigorates and the Hanukkah spirit is upon me and all I want to do is drift, weightless, carried along on the sights and sounds and smells of Christmas.

I’m just a little sentimental this time of year as the skies deepen to a dull slate gray, misty and mysterious. We venture out at night, brilliant bulbs in green, red, blue and white piercing the blackness, flickering, floating, fairy lights leading us towards the center of town. Noise and laughter rise and swirl around us like snow as we are swept along in the bustling crowd, pushed and pulled in between the brightly lit wooden stalls of the Christmas market. The smells of popcorn and churros mingle with the heady, spicy scent of mulled wine, the salty, smoky fragrance of sausages coming from the booth hawking some far-off regional delicacies, making us yearn to approach, lulled like fairytale children, spellbound, being pulled towards a candy-covered fantasy of sweets and the warmth of a blazing hearth. Images of my mom far away, thoughts of my brother rush in to fill up the spaces in my head between plans for our own festivities and the jollity and mirth, the lightness and wellbeing now mingled with emptiness, tainted by sadness. My son tugs on my sleeve, gives me a gentle nudge in the back and I turn my attention to the stands of books and the bins of dvds.

The holidays back home, the holidays of my childhood, weren’t swathed in snow or faded into a misty Winter Wonderland; no children bundled up in thick, puffs of coat, stuffing hands into mittens, tucking ever-dancing feet into boots, tugging knitted bonnets on heads. Bright bulbs flashed against crystal clear skies, luminaries flickered up and down neighborhood streets against a backdrop of deep, lush green grass. Mornings were indeed punctuated by entertaining stalagmites sprouting up from neighbors’ garden sprinklers; Santas galore were perched upon rooftops dressed in flowered cotton shirts, shorts and flip flops, ready for the balmy Florida season. By afternoon, the morning’s jackets were peeled off and we were down to warm weather outfits as we piled into the station wagon to go Hanukkah shopping with mom. We had the only house on the block, in the neighborhood, bare of decorations, the only wreathless front door. No strings of lights hung from the eaves, no garlands graced the front window. My parents were discreet, practical and sober when it came to holidays. A lone Menorah stood in the livingroom, one gift per night, a gift we had most likely chosen ourselves, was handed to each of us before we gathered around the table for a game of dreidl, peanuts or M & M’s our tokens of choice. And we were happy that way, happy being together, laughing, singing, playing with our toys. For eight nights, brightened by the candles’ flames.

Chestnuts are delicacies for princes and a lusty and masculine food for rusticks, 

and able to make women well-complexioned.

– John Evelyn, 1620 – 1706 

No chestnuts found their way into our kitchen, nor graced our holiday table. Foreign, they were, to us Floridians who spent the winter eating citrus morning, noon and night. Pies in pumpkin, apple and cherry were reserved for Thanksgiving as was bird and sticky sweet marshmallow sweet potato casserole. A plate of latkes was our Hanukkah treat along with a tiny bag of Hanukkah gelt, thick chocolate coins wrapped in glittering, shiny gold foil, counted out, made to last eight days. These simple traditions have found their way into my own home as we, husband, two sons and I, gather round the old family Menorah, the same from my childhood, lighting the candles for eight nights, exchanging gifts and enjoying our time together.

No, no special holidays meals for Hanukkah, yet this time of year I love to bake and cook with those special seasonal ingredients that, for me, are forever linked to a joyous, sprightly winter: pumpkins and apples, oranges and chestnuts. And when I can add chocolate to the mix, well, don’t I just do it. After my recent escapade into decadence the result of which, a Chocolate Chestnut Fondant, was received with merriment, gobbled down by one and all, I decided to try yet another chocolate chestnut delicacy with the rest of the can of Crème de Marrons. This Chocolate Chestnut Cloud Cake gets its airiness from thick, creamy meringue which is folded ever so gently into chocolate and butter, flavored by chestnut cream and a festive splash of Cointreau, my tipple of choice this season. I first baked one single fluted cake and then repeated the recipe baking individual portions, mini Bundts and tiny cakes. And the holidays call for something more, a bit special, so each cake was drizzled with Chocolate Orange Ganache.

These wonderfully festive treats are perfect for December’s Monthly Mingle, created by my Zesty Sister and fellow Plate to Page instructor Meeta. This month’s host, my talented friend Simone of Junglefrog Cooking, asked us to bake Christmas Cakes and that is just what this Chocolate Chestnut Cloud Cake is!

CHOCOLATE CHESTNUT CLOUD CAKE with Chocolate Orange Ganache
Adapted from Crème de Marrons les 30 recettes culte by Sandra Mahut

5.3 oz (150 g) dark chocolate 70% cacao, broken into pieces
9 Tbs (135 g) unsalted butter
3 rounded/heaping Tbs (150 g) chestnut cream (crème de marrons Clément Faugier)
3 Tbs (30 g) flour
3 Tbs (20 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
5 large eggs, separated
½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1 Tbs Cointreau, optional

Orange Chocolate Ganache (this recipe can easily be halved):
3.5 oz (100 g) Lindt Excellence Orange Intense or equivalent orange-scented dark chocolate
½ cup (125 ml) heavy cream

Or confectioner’s/powdered sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

Preheat the oven to 325-335°F (170°C). Butter and flour either a medium-sized Bundt or fluted tube pan or about 18 – 20 individual cupcake or mini-Bundt molds.

Place the butter and the broken chocolate into a medium-sized Pyrex or heatproof bowl. Melt gently either in a bain-marie, over a pot of gently simmering water or in the microwave; barely 1 minute on high heat in the microwave should melt the butter completely and more than partially, but not completely, melt the chocolate. Remove from the heat/microwave and stir or whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture well blended and smooth. Add the 3 heaping tablespoons of chestnut cream/crème de marrons and whisk to blend.

Measure the flour and the cocoa powder together into a small bowl and then sift the two onto the chocolate/butter/chestnut mixture. Whisk to blend until smooth. Whisk in the Cointreau, if using.

Separate the eggs, placing the 5 clean whites into a large, very clean bowl ideal for whipping meringue – I prefer plastic. If you like, add a drop of lemon juice and a few grains of salt to help stabilize the whites. Using an electric mixer, beat the whites for 30 seconds on low speed then increase speed to high; beat for about 2 minutes until the whites are no longer foamy, are white and opaque and soft peaks hold. Begin gradually beating in the sugar, about a teaspoon at a time while continuing to beat on high speed. This should take another couple of minutes. Continue to beat until all of the sugar is incorporated and the meringue is very thick. The entire process should take about 5 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks into the meringue one at a time, beating on medium or high speed, beating in each yolk just to combine.

Using a spatula, fold the yolky meringue into the chocolate batter, adding and folding in a quarter of the meringue at a time. Do not overmix.

Spoon into the molds and bake for not more than 30 minutes (if making one large cake, this could bake up to double the time depending on the pan and the oven). When done, the top should be set, dull (no longer shiny) and lightly crispy. The cake should spring back when gently pressed and a tester inserted in the cake should come out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan until completely cool before gently loosening and turning out.

Prepare the ganache while waiting for the cakes to cool by chopping the chocolate and placing in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream just to the boil and pour over the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the ganache well blended, smooth and creamy. Leave to thicken at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until drizzling consistency. If you like, allow to get very thick and then thin with a bit of Cointreau. Spoon onto individual cakes or slices as serving. Top with sugar pearls or other festive sugar decorations.

Read more »

HEAVENLY CHOCOLATE CINNAMON BUNDT CAKE

BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING… 

A renovation. A move. An election. I have been wrapped up in all of the nerve-wracking, nail-biting excitement, bogged down with so much frustrating, passionate activity. It has taken me away, dragged me body and soul from my work, my writing, even my cooking and baking. Lunches were more often than not sandwiches bought at the corner bakery washed down with cans of cola; dinners were more often than not pizza or kabobs. Evenings found us blottis, slumped on the sofa, cocooned deeply in layers of blankets and pillows, too exhausted both physically and mentally to do anything other than zone out in front of a movie. Nothing outside of those three activities got done in any way, shape or form. Now, I tell you one thing, I could always drag this on and on as we are still surrounded by cartons and suitcases, there are still walls to be finished and lighting fixtures to be hung. I could use this as an excuse, the excuse of the lazy, to procrastinate further, to put off until tomorrow what I should do today. But as much as I truly think that I needed that break, needed to step away for a few weeks from the expectations and deadlines, I am actually anxious to get back to work.

Focus is necessary. A clean kitchen and an orderly workspace are crucial. The head must be perfectly clear of worry, the body free from stress, the marriage in perfect working order, the children…well at their age nothing is guaranteed. A place for everything, as the old saying goes, and everything in its place. We need to create a Zen environment, Feng Shui for the soul. Bottles of wine lined up on the countertop, grumps kept at arm’s length and if all goes well I might just get a little writing done.

Although toolboxes still clutter the entryway and odds and ends litter the floors, our kitchen is in good working order, the oven a dream, the stovetop burning and spluttering away non-stop as our pleasure in cooking is renewed. Husband and I have taken turns preparing homey, warming, comforting meals while the other sits perched on a stool on the other side of the island, chattering, typing or just keeping company. Sausages with lentils, a traditional Potée Limousin, chicken and mushrooms even cheese fondue and the scents and warmth pervade our new apartment turning a house into a home. Marty slips and slides across the new parquet flooring, hoping, waiting for some tasty tidbit to flip up and plop onto the floor.

I have now also set up shop in the kitchen, my laptop no longer teetering atop a pile of cookbooks and magazines on the edge of a small stand in front of our dusty, crumb-spewing toaster nor sitting on the rickety, rocking table collecting flour and sugar in between the keys, getting butter smeared across the screen and losing internet if I close the door for privacy. I can now keep one eye on the cake in the oven, jump up and give a stir to whatever is simmering on the fire and keep typing, keep writing, keep chatting to my heart’s content. And, yes, I can now get back to my regularly scheduled program…

But just wait a minute there…. Not the regular regularly scheduled programming! You see, with the new home and the new workspace and the new outlook, I have decided to embrace my lovely city of Nantes and begin a journey of discovery… my own and yours. I recently attended a soirée dedicated to Le Guide Les Tables de Nantes and connected with Nantes Tourisme and Voyages à Nantes, organizations devoted to everything cultural and gastronomic about my city so I will be sharing more with you. I have also been schlepping around… oh no, sorry, strolling the streets of Nantes armed with an iphone and seeing the world through other eyes, noting the beautiful, the comic, the historic, excited at the multitude of layers and cultures surrounding me, in hidden view for all the world to see if only the world would stop and look. And these I will continue to share with you.

And Ilva, Jeanne, Meeta and I are now well ensconced in the organization of our next From Plate to Page workshop. How does Dublin, Ireland in the lovely month of May sound to you? We are tightening up the program, readying our famous post-it note challenges and have even dusted off our old website and shined it all up spiffy new…. And to kick it all off, we are offering all of our readers a very creative challenge with the chance to win one of our Somerset Plate to Page goodie bags…just read all about it here!

And in between, I have been baking. After my comforting Apple Almond Bundt Cake I craved something rich and chocolate. I returned to a favorite recipe, the Heavenly Chocolate Cupcakes, and turned it into a Bundt cake. Although, I will admit here, that the most-distinctive Bundt bumps stuck to the non-stick pan when turning it out, yet the cake came out perfect despite this gentle glitch! As I wrote in the Cupcake post:

I decided to delve into Abigail Serves, the community cookbook put together, under the watchful and formidable eye of my mother’s aunt, Great Aunt Mae in 1956. Abigail Serves is the collected recipes of The United Order of True Sisters of Albany, New York. Perusing the yellowed, faded pages of this self-published cookbook, I couldn’t help myself when I came across Heavenly Chocolate Cake; with such a name, who could resist? Before the days when adding a box of pudding mix to cake batter was all the rage, this recipe is based upon this very idea to create a dense, moist cake. A chocolate pudding-like cream or custard is prepared with sugar, milk, cocoa powder and an egg then added to the cake batter to create a luxuriously thick and creamy mixture. Once baked, the cake is a deep, dark chocolate, the sweetness perfectly balanced, the texture extra moist without being overly gooey and dense. Light, fluffy yet moist and tender, full-flavored, the chocolate kissed by the barest hint of espresso as I decided to replace some of the water in the batter with prepared coffee. Add to that chocolate’s best friend, cinnamon, and pour it all into a Bundt pan and you have the ideal cake. No frosting needed, although lightly sweetened whipped cream never hurt anyone.

I love Bundt cakes and want to share this with Lora and Anuradha for their #BundtAMonth challenge Spicy November! Go to either of their blogs on the posts that I have linked to and see all this months fabulous entries!

And looking for even more fantastic Bundt cake recipes? How about

Grand Marnier Bundt with Chocolate Ganache Glaze

 Chestnut Fondant Bundlets

Chocolate Chip Yeast Kuchen Bundt

Glazed Lemon Bundt

Apple Almond Bundt

Chocolate One-Bowl Emergency Bundlets







HEAVENLY CHOCOLATE CINNAMON BUNDT CAKE

For the chocolate cream:

¾ cup (150 g) sugar
¾ cup (75 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup (185 ml) milk
1 large egg

For the batter:

2/3 cup (150 g) unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups (250 g) sugar
3 large eggs
2 ¼ cup (260 g) sifted flour (sifted BEFORE measuring, not measured then sifted)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 cup (165 ml) cold water (replace half or all of the water with prepared coffee)
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¾ tsp baking soda
¼ cup (62 ml) warm water

Prepare the Chocolate Custard:

Whisk the sugar, cocoa powder, milk and egg together in a medium saucepan until thick, creamy and very smooth. Place the saucepan over low heat and very gently bring to a low boil. Whisking constantly, continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer until it becomes a thick sauce or custard. (Once the mixture is heated, the sauce thins and then re-thickens as it cooks.) Remove from the heat, set aside and allow to cool. As I use Le Creuset, which continue to heat even after the pan is removed from the flame, I immediately scraped the custard into a heatproof Pyrex bowl to cool.

Prepare the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Generously butter one classic Bundt pan or a smaller 8 ½- or 9-inch in diameter (22-cm) and about 3 ½-inch high (9-cm) fluted pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended and light. Beat in the eggs one at a time just until blended. Beat or stir in the chocolate custard in a few additions, blending thoroughly. Stir the sifted flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together; beat the flour mixture into the batter in three additions alternating with the cold water in two, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Add the vanilla.

Dissolve the baking soda in the warm water then stir quickly into the cake batter until very well blended. Pour into the prepared Bundt pan and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending upon both your oven and the size of the Bundt pan being used until risen, the cake is set and a tester inserted in the center comes out dry.

Allow to cool on a rack for at least 10 or 15 minutes before running a sharp knife around the cake or loosening and turning out onto the rack to cool completely.

Read more »