A few years ago a friend made a cake for her sister and we all agreed it was the best damn chocolate cake we’d ever had. I asked how the hell to make it and this is what she gave me:

Cake

· Unsalted butter and flour for pans
· 2 cups granulated sugar
· 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
· ¾ cupScharffen Berger unsweetened natural cocoa powder
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
· 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
· ½ cup canola oil
· 1 cup whole milk
· 1 cup boiling water

Frosting

· 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
· 1 cup heavy cream
· 5 ounces Scharffen Berger 99% Cacao Unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
· 8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
· 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

For the Cake:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the parchment and the sides of the pans.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, mixing on low speed. Mix in the eggs, oil, and milk.

Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the water. The batter will be soupy.

Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then turn the layers out onto the rack and cool completely.

When the cakes have cooled, check the frosting. It should have the consistency of mayonnaise. If it is still too thin, allow it to cool longer.

For the Frosting:

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and cream and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 6 minutes. Add the chocolate and butter and stir until melted. Pour into a bowl and stir in the vanilla.

To Frost the Cake:

Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread the frosting with a hot palette knife or icing spatula to give the frosting a beautiful shine. Run the knife under hot tap water and dry with a towel. Spread about ¾ cup of the frosting over the top of the first layer. Top with the second layer. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake, heating the knife again as necessary.

Serves 8 to 10

… I’ve never followed the instructions for the parchment paper or used Scharffen Berger chocolate, but I’ve made this now for myself and others and every time it’s amazing.

Came across this today. I realize I could have one within a day’s drive. Cleveland here I come?
(via seriouseats.com)

To start with, the chili shown at the left is not from this recipe. That is what real chili looks like. If this is what you want, sorry. I just thought I’d show it for contrast.

So I was sitting around last night thinking to myself what to make for some food. Chili sounded good but I had so few typically chili-type ingredients (ie. onions, green peppers, meat or the like).  I browsed around for a bit. . considered all my unconventional ingredients..  until I came across the parts of what could only be described as a kind of jerk sauce meets Cincinnati style (Skyline if you will — and I do).  I dubbed it Apple Butter Black Chili. Here’s how it goes.

Note: This would be the first recipe I’ve tried to transcribe from my usually overly hectic cooking methods.  My apologies for the lack of proper abbreviation, regard for spelling, profanity, lack of precision while measuring and the second guessing what might have made it better . Oh well.

1 large can of whole tomatoes, pureed. Or tomato puree. Or about 5 fresh tomatoes peeled, cooked, pureed.
1 medium sauce pan of tomato puree — however you can get it
1 small can of tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt or however much you like
2 tablespoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 shot of pickapeppa sauce (I think the bottle said something about “Goes well with chili”. A shot = however much you think will work)
2 teaspoons chipotle pepper powder — perhaps whole chipotles would work?
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper powder
1 can of black beans, undrained
1/2 to 1 cup of apple butter

To begin with, combine the tomato paste, puree, salt and sugar. Cook it so it boils off the bubbly froth. Add the spices including the cocoa powder and stir until homogenized into a bubbling slurry. At this point add the beans. It is important to not drain the beans in my opinion because the thick soupy liquid really adds to the mess. Once you’ve added them you may be thinking to yourself, “Goddamn this is kind of gross looking”. At this point, ignore this notion and keep going — I often have to suppress the urge to abandon my efforts while blazing new culinary territory.

Ok, back to the pot. You may have had to switch to a larger pot at this point. That was a mistake I had made originally. Sorry for not telling you earlier but I feel like I’ve accomplished more if I have more dishes to clean at the end. Now the final coup-de-grace for this recipe is the apple butter. In my situation, we had this left over deer sausage that my girlfriend’s dad had made. Not sure if people are down with the deer meat, if not, substitute onions maybe? Point is: Time to add some grilled grease. Why not eh? A little oil, some sauteed whatever you have… then slop on the apple butter. It will sizzle like mad. Be sure to toss it often and perhaps stir up a little flame because it will make it look like you know what you are doing. Once this separate concoction is nicely browned, throw it in the chili and let it all simmer for a while. Whenever you’re tired of waiting, go ahead and scoop a bowl.

I had mine poured over some rice. Oddly good — sweet and smokey. Any suggestions for improvement? I promise the next recipe I try to record will be for something a little less disgusting in appearance: