Olivia's Fancy, a Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Ladies and gentlemen, our own Celia Wakefield, with an absolutely irresistible spring dessert.

 

 

 

Wishing everyone a very happy May, filled with growing things and the expectation of summer ahead. Of course many thanks to Julia and everyone who continues to make me so welcome on JRW. I do appreciate you all.

 

What has been happening in my world and in Maine? Right now, I am in Sudbury staying with my daughter and son-in-law and ‘helping’ as they combine their full time work responsibilities with selling their house and moving to a new build. This is fascinating to watch and these are the differences I see between selling our New York home in 1999, yes that is a long time ago, and house sales today. 

 

I have just watched through the window… a young man spend an hour putting up the realtor front yard sign. There was hole digging, centering the post, steadying the post, that took quite a time, painting the post, attaching hangers to the post and finally - the sign was hung. Now we await the photographer. (Oh dear the photographer just touched the post and he is not pleased to have wet white paint on his hands). If the photos are uploaded before today I will add them with the link.

 

 

Yesterday the Stager arrived, let’s call her Nicole. She was a real whirlwind, dragging in bags and bags of soft furnishings including more pillows than I could count and fake greenery in pottery bowls. What is it with pillows? I spoke with her while she “Martha’d” my bedroom.

 

I may have coined “Martha’d” back in 1999 as I tried to create the look of spaciousness, cleanliness and warmth in our tiny Cape. There were no stagers in Chappaqua NY in the summer of 1999, but with famous folk moving in later that year perhaps that’s how stagers got into our little town. A friend told me she had stagers set up her house about six years after we left, and she sold within the month. Oh dear, what does that say about my staging skills? Well I still have my old copy of Martha Stewart Entertaining, so I’m sure that helped.

 

To return to Nicole, I watched her work over my room leaving it bare boned down to a bed, two side tables with lamps and one corner table also with lamp. Are you wondering where were my clothes? In a baseboard cupboard together with everything else being hidden from view. Don’t we all have those spaces? Or rather, they become the spaces like Harry Potter’s Room of Requirement. The space that’s filled with all the stuff we can’t wait to throw away but might need some day. 

 

She added six pillows on the bed and a white comforter with lots of wrinkles couldn’t stop myself from trying to smooth out. This is all about controlled living. Nicole told me that the colour palette felt ‘coastal’ and the realtor told me that the new color for house staging is ‘gravage’ = gray / beige.

 

By now you’re asking where’s the food? Where’s the recipe? After Nicole had completed her makeover it was unanimously agreed that cooking would mess up the kitchen, so we went out to eat at a local place which focuses on Italian food and desserts in particular. My daughter was in the mood for dessert after the day and she was focused on the BIG gluten free chocolate brownie served with ice cream, fresh cream and chocolate syrup. It was large enough to serve three and Olivia remarked it was better than a margarita at a busy days end - but she still shared with us.

 

My recipe is not this identical brownie but is a flourless chocolate cake which is quite delicious as tasted and tested by Olivia, Ken and Julia. I think I will rename the recipe -

 

Olivia’s Fancy chocolate cake

• ¾cup/168 grams unsalted butter, cut up, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1cup/173 grams bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
• ½cup/50 grams unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar
• 4large eggs
• 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Whipped cream or ice cream, for serving

 

 

Prep:

This cake can be made in one bowl with a little planning. I make it using the microwave method of melting the chocolate in a glass bowl that is large enough to incorporate all the ingredients in the recipe as they are added.

 

Take butter and eggs from the fridge to bring them up to room temperature. This helps the baking ’magic’ work best.

 

Generously butter an 8 inch springform pan all over the bottom and sides. You may line the pan with foil if preferred but don’t forget to butter it. I found just buttering my pan worked well.

 

Measure out the ingredients and heat your oven to 350 degrees.

 

Melt the chocolate chips either by putting them in a glass container and melting in 30 second bursts in the microwave until the chips look soft or melt in a double boiler over hot water.

 

Add the butter to the melting chocolate and stir gently to mix well together.

 

Add the cocoa powder and stir till smooth.

 

Add the granulated sugar and mix till incorporated.

 

Add the eggs one at a time and beat well into the mix.

 

Stir in the vanilla and scrape the batter into the pan.

 

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the cake shows some cracks and looks dry on top.Then test doneness when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with some crumbs attached.

 

Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a rack, then remove the pan carefully. 

I haven’t tried to freeze the cake before cutting but it is mentioned as a way of getting clean slices which can then be warmed in the microwave before serving with ice cream and cream to make up Olivia’s Fancy.

Valentine's Day

LUCY BURDETTE: Sometimes I think Valentine’s Day is a hokey, trumped up way to sell limp roses infused with too many chemicals, and mediocre chocolate. And jacked up restaurant prices for prix fixe menus that make married people swallow hard and single people feel lousy. 

On the other hand, John proposed to me on Valentine’s Day 26 years ago so that’s a super special memory. He wrote a poem for the occasion and ordered a bottle of frog’s leap wine to celebrate taking the plunge. 

This year we doing something unusual – we’ve become small-scale sponsors of the new show going up at the Studios of Key West. Undying Love, written by local musician/writer Ben Harrison, tells the quirky Key West story of Count von Cosel, a radiologist at the Marine Hospital who x-rayed the chest of the lovely Elena Milagro Hoyos and fell madly in love. In 1933, almost two years after her death, the count removed Hoyos' body from its tomb, and lived with the corpse at his home for seven years until this was discovered by her relatives and reported to the authorities in 1940. 


Is that a Valentine’s Day story or what? We can’t wait to see what he’s done with it!

Reds, how do you feel about Valentine’s Day? Will you be doing something special?

INGRID THOFT: I hate to sound cynical, but I definitely think that Valentine’s Day is a holiday made up by greeting card companies.  My husband and I have never celebrated it, but this this reflects our approach to marriage, which is that you should make your spouse feel special every day in small ways.  What’s romantic in my book?  When I made passing mention of the pain of tending my hardboiled eggs (first world problem, I know), and the next day a Dash Egg Cooker showed up on our doorstep.  I love my egg cooker!  Romance to me is paying attention to my hubby every day and doing things to make his life easier and more joyful. We’re not perfect at it, but we’ve been together 26 years and married for 17 of those, so we’re doing something right!

HALLIE EPHRON: Oh, I love Valentine's Day. I used to send candy (red hots, candy hearts with sayings on them BE MINE and LOVE YOU... ) in the kids' lunch bags, a big deal because we almost never had candy in the house. I get a homemade card from my husband which I cherish more than any flowers or cards he could give me.

I'm awful at giving, much better at receiving. But a few years ago I bought him a pair of bright red fleece bedroom slippers and left them on the floor on his side of the bed on Valentine's Day morning. Here's the card I got the next Valentine's day.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, you all, I have no idea. We did a story once about how much the prices are pumped up for Valentines', and the results were so dramatically gouge-y that I was incredibly dismissive of the whole idea. But, little candy heart with sayings on them? Yeah, I like those.  Still, the holiday always reminds me of grade-school trauma, when it was all about who go the most cards from classmates, and I was so stressed about it. And yeah,  Ingrid, I agree. Every day should be Valentines Day.

You see how wishy-washy I am about this. Because, yes, it's manipulative and stressful. But if there's a day that reminds people to love each other, or that gives people (like Lucy's John) a platform to do something romantic, what's not to like? 

JENN McKINLAY: Well, I love chocolate so it goes without saying that I love me some Valentine's Day See's Candy - soft centers, if you're asking. The Hub and Hooligans usually make the trek to pick out the box (and get free samples) and then they splurge for a plant (I love plants) and they each give me a card. I have to say they are all very good at writing a heartfelt sentiment, so those are saved because I think they have a competition going to see who can make me cry (happy tears). In return, for the Hooligans, I give a card and candy and some cash and for the Hub, a card and a gift card to whatever his bookstore of the moment is. So, we keep it simple and maybe Hallmark is the generator of it, but I do love my box of See's and my plants (I haven't killed any yet except for one very uncooperative orchid), and my cards, which I cherish.

RHYS BOWEN: We've never really celebrated Valentine's Day in a big way. Certainly not eaten out as you don't get good service. I expect we'll cook a lovely meal at home: filet mignon and lobster tail sounds good at the moment. But as I posted last week we have this ongoing Valentine's joke in which John brings out the same balloon and roses from the dollar store every year. Amazingly the balloon still hasn't gone down after ten years.

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  So, my hubby being of the "hokey holiday" opinion, I decided years ago to buy myself flowers, which works out just fine--especially now that we have a Trader Joe's nearby and I buy myself flowers every week! He is, however, not averse to a little home-made celebration, so I usually cook something special but easy, and if I make to our local La Madeleine, I buy us a mini heart-shaped cheese cake. I couldn't imagine a nicer Valentine's Day--and I certainly can't imagine wanting to fight the restaurant crowds!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Fortunately, Ross and I were never big on Valentines Day, so it's not going to be one of the hard-to-bear holidays for me this year. I recall a few memorable ones - when my first college boyfriend brought me a big pot of white chrysanthemums instead of cut flowers, because I could enjoy them longer. What a sweetheart he was. With Ross - I hate to say this - the most memorable VDay was a decade or so back. I was trying to lose weight, and he gave me a big heart-shaped box of sugar-free chocolates. My friend Mary dropped in that day and we opened up the box and proceeded to gab and drink tea and stuff ourselves with the excellent chocolates - until one of us happened to turn the box over. "Consume in moderation," the underside warned. "Chocolates may have a laxative effect."

Boy, did they. Ross's romantic Valentines evening turned into me in the bathroom with a glass of water and a stack of magazines.



LOL Julia! And Reds, we want you to know that you are all our Valentines! No sugar-free chocolates, either. xoxo

Flora Church is the winner of Susan Meissner's book last week--please contact Rhys to make the exchange. And Margie Bunting is the winner of Tina Kashian's ebook--she will send this when the book releases on 2/27!

What's worth the splurge in our book

HALLIE EPHRON: Confession: I drink day-old coffee. Warmed up with a ton of milk I cannot tell the difference between it and fresh-brewed.

Confession: Most expensive wines are wasted on me. Foodie that I am, I cannot tell the difference between an $7 bottle of what Rumpole called Chateau Thames Embankment and a $50 bottle of limited production red zin. I do draw the line at Two Buck Chuck.

Vodka. The cheap stuff tastes fine, and besides, I usually drown it in fruit juice and load it with ice. 

There are exceptions to this. Chocolate for instance. Yes, I can tell the difference between Nestles and Hersheys and Ghiradelli, but the real way to my heart is through Burdicks, a chocolatier in Harvard Square. 

And sheets. Luxury matters when it comes to sheets. After all, you spend more than a third of your life in them. (And a third of your monthly income ON them.)

So what, in your book, are luxuries worth paying for? And what are you just as happy going with day-old and bargain brand?

LUCY BURDETTE: Food of course! though I'm talking about ingredients that I cook with rather than expensive dinners out. It sticks in my craw to pay too much for a fancy meal when I prefer something homey. 

Ever since I've had to watch my sodium intake, I've been on the lookout for products that add enough flavor to make up for the missing salt. Here are a few that I gladly splurge on: Kozlik's Amazing Maple mustard, The Backyard Food Company's Wholly Jalapeno (candied jalapenos,) maple syrup, Villa Manodori organic balsamic vinegar (no comparison to supermarket stuff--it's thick and sweet and delicious.) Oh, and I order my pasta from Eataly (again, no comparison.) 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I love that balsamic vinegar, Lucy! We have it, too. Ah, wine, yeah, I can tell, usually. And there's nothing like fabulous red wine. It's an entirely different experience.  I can't drink the truly cheap stuff--I get a headache instantly.  Cheap vodka, too, my body knows right away.  And rebels.

And yes, sheets. No scratchy sheets. 

And: shoes. Bad quality shoes really hurt, and that's a trade-off that's not worth it. So I have good shoes. 

But I have t-shirts from the Gap and JCrew, perfectly fine. I do think you can tell quality in clothing, and beautiful design and construction and fabric, but there's the point where it can't actually be any better and you're paying for just a label.  

Oh, a good hotel. Definitely. A bad hotel is terrifying.  

I have splurged on Jo Malone Grapefruit shower gel. And Wolford tights. Ridiculously expensive, but they truly are indestructible. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, we have a legendary family story about my mother booking a super cheap hotel outside of DC when she and one of my aunts were coming to visit the family. You have to picture two well dressed, very respectable ladies of a certain age, with luggage. Their taxi let them out at a ratty motel between a shabby strip mall and a liquor store (this was before you could look online and see dozens of pictures of the place prior to making reservations.) The receptionist looks like a drug seller. There are sketchy people hanging around the lounge. They get to their room - and it's awful. The sheets are dirty and the bed isn't made! There's lipstick on the water glass! They realize the room usually rents by the hour, not the day.

They called my brother and sat on their luggage, with the door locked and chained, until he came to rescue them.

So I agree - good hotels. 

I'm also a wine person. You really don't have to spend a fortune for a good bottle - there's a place I go to in Portland that has a fantastic selection and very well-informed staffers. I've walked out with a box of bottles all under $10 and loved every one. 

Not so much of a splurge as a necessity: I only buy name brand dishwasher detergent (actually pods), dishwashing liquid and trash bags. The cheap stuff simply costs more in the end because you have to use so much of it (or your garbage spills in the kitchen floor when you're taking the bag out!

The luxury I've spent the most on over the past seven years? Good colleges for my kids. Youngest is sending in her applications by the end of this month. Keep your fingers crossed!

LUCY BURDETTE: I forgot what might be the most important thing--buying books in real bookstores! I want them around forever, so it's totally worth a few extra dollars to me.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, I agree about the food and wine. And like Lucy, I don't mean eating out food (although a very occasional splurge on a REALLY good restaurant I consider one of life's big treats.) But I will spend the money on good quality ingredients, and I can tell the difference between cheap and more expensive wine. 

Good quality tea is on my list--I buy loose leaf from an online company. Sheets and towels, yes. I hate cheap towels even more than cheap sheets!

On the less glam side, I have to add good toilet paper and good paper towels!

INGRID THOFT: Travel is a big category for me in terms of choosing to pay a premium.  For example, I always pay more for a non-stop flight.  Ultimately, it saves time, aggravation, and even money if you end up stranded in Chicago in the dead of winter and have to spend the night in a hotel (a hotel for which the airline won’t reimburse you—“Act of God” and all that.)  

I’ll pay a lot to avoid taking red eye flights, which I absolutely hate because I never sleep and end up feeling cruddy for at least a day after arrival.  

When I’m not traveling, I spend money on meals in Seattle’s fabulous restaurants.  Given my general disinterest in cooking, I’m more than happy to pay someone else to work magic with their fancy ingredients!

HANK: Oh, you are so right, Ingrid. Non-stop, upgrades, extra leg room, priority boarding. Must have. And red eyes? Not any more! They seem like an efficient thing, but they are actually the opposite.

JENN McKINLAY: Ingrid, I'm with you on the non-stop flights. And I agree with everyone about soft sheets - a must! I'm not an informed wine drinker but I will pay extra for a really good beer. And coffee. I pay dearly for good coffee from Cartel Coffee Lab, because it's also about profit sharing with the farmers, which is pretty cool. 

Julia, I haven't hit the college costs yet, but I have paid a small fortune for the hooligans to try every sport, instrument, art, and robotics class under the sun, which is quite a luxury when you tally the cost. And lastly, theater tickets. I will pay a small fortune for the good seats to a show I really want to see. I've discovered that rows three to seven in the center are the sweet spot for me and I refuse to sit anywhere else. 

RHYS BOWEN:I love to travel. We take a trip to Europe every summer, but we hardly ever stay at luxurious hotels (although we did last year!) In fact I enjoy renting an apartment or cottage and sitting on my balcony with my morning croissant. 

My indispensable luxury these days is flying business or first. I can tolerate coach for two hours, but even then I like to be in economy plus at the front, but cross country or across the Atlantic and I think the ability to stretch out is worth every penny. 

I don't need very fancy hotels (and sometimes the publisher puts us in ridiculously boutique places with antiques or weird paintings on the walls) but I do need clean, safe, comfortable. I love Marriott beds! In fact I loved them so much that I bought one. 

Occasionally I enjoy a good meal out, but more often than not I am disappointed and we leave muttering that we could have cooked it better at home. 

John does the shopping and splurges on crab legs, lobster tails or rack of lamb, all of which are very nice.(but perplexing as he will drive miles to save fifty cents on some vegetable!  

I enjoy a good bottle of wine, but truthfully I can't tell the difference between $14 and $40! 

Luxury clothes? Not so much. I love snagging a favorite brand in a sale. And like Jenn, it is a huge treat for me to go to the theater or opera or ballet. 

HALLIE: So what about everyone else out there? What's splurges are worth taking? Santa might be listening...

Penny Pike Takes on Tough Research

RHYS BOWEN: If you love chocolate as much as I do, then you're going to want to read today's guest post!

 Penny Pike has done some interesting things in the name of research--visited graveyards, tried out par courses, but this assignment takes the cake... or rather the chocolate. 

Penny Pike bears a remarkable resemblance to my good friend, Agatha-winner Penny Warner, writer of the successful Code Busters Club children's series, as well as two former cozy mystery series. I'm delighted to host her today to tell you more about her fun new food-truck series, so take it away Penny!

Chocolate Research – Someone Has To Do It

By Penny Pike AKA Penny Warner

            I’ll do anything for chocolate—even write a book like DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER just so I can do the research. I’m highly addicted to the substance, but have found no support groups for my illness (other than a group that meets at Sees Candy, where we get free samples.)

I’ve done a lot of research on my problem and found that chocolate offers many health benefits. It’s a valuable energy source (one chocolate chip gives you enough energy to walk 150 feet, the length of your average Sees store.) Unfortunately, it takes me about seven billion chips just to get out of bed in the morning.

Other health benefits include alleviating depression, lowering your blood pressure, and relieving PMS (it cures crabbiness.) According to my go-to source, Wikipedia, chocolate “contains iron, helps prevent tooth decay, has antioxidants, minimizes aging,” and probably cures morning breath, soccer flop, and irritable bowel syndrome.

            Of course, none of this is written on a chocolate bar label. Doesn’t matter. Even if it came with a warning label that said, “This will kill you instantly,” I’d ignore it. Because everything tastes better with chocolate. Bacon? Potato Chips? Pizza? Carrots? All better if they’re dipped in chocolate.

            My chocolate counselor said I needed to channel this obsession or I might find myself eating chocolate more than seven times a day (a sign of a serious problem.) So I immediately signed up for the three-hour Chocolate Tour of San Francisco. Again, for research.

First we had to listen to a lecture on where chocolate comes from, which took the mystery out of it for me. Contrary to popular belief, chocolate was discovered by the Aztecs, not Mrs. Mary See.

            Back then they took the drug in drink form and believed it gave them super powers (which it sort of does, right?) Then “Hershey” Cortez got hold of it, took it to Spain, and added a bunch of fat and sugar so it would be more addicting. Finally, the Americans added even more fat and sugar, and voila—the Mars Bar was born!

            I won’t go into all the “bean to bar” details. That’s way too much information, sort of like knowing where babies come from. We learned words like conching (stirring) and lecithin (chemical), but not anything you’d use in daily conversation or see on a crossword puzzle hint.

            Next we learned how to eat chocolate. Apparently I’d been eating it all wrong. You’re supposed to use all the senses. Listen—it should snap when you break it. Look—it should be brown (unless it’s white chocolate which isn’t really chocolate). Smell—it should smell like, well, chocolate. Touch—if it melts in your fingers, you’ve been holding it too long. And finally taste—see if you can identify a “lingering banana with pound cake flavor” or “a rich green forest that’s been fertilized with sugar.” Or just eat it.

Finally we got to the good part—tasting gourmet chocolates by Recchiti Confections, Cocoa Bella, Chocolatier Blue, Neo Cocoa, and dozens more. We ate chocolates “infused” with ganache, cardamom, chili pepper, Nutella, quinoa, flax, and Dom Perignon (Oprah’s favorite!)

By the time I was done, I felt like Lucy Ricardo working on that conveyor belt and stuffing in as many chocolates as her mouth would hold. But all of this research went into my newest food truck mystery, DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER. And while writing the book, I found another chocolate bonus—chocolate cures writers block.

Penny Pike AKA Penny Warner is the author of the food truck mystery series, DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK and DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER, featuring Darcy Burnett and set in San Francisco. Her next book, DEATH OF A BAD APPLE, comes out in 2016. Contact Penny at www.pennywarner.com

Penny will be stopping by today to answer your comments and to give away a copy of Death of a Chocolate Cheater to one lucky winner.