In the Kitchen: Chocolate Decadence with Raspberry Sauce and Whipped Cream

I put up a tantalizing picture of this delicious dessert in my post about Valentine's Day and then promised to share the recipe. I plan on keeping that promise, so now you can go and make this yummy dessert yourself.

{side note}Have I ever mentioned how much I love cooking and baking? I suppose you might have guessed considering how many recipes I have posted. I love making food from scratch and enjoying the fact that it tastes so good. I do like to go out to eat and to order dessert, etc., but there is something nice about making it yourself. Of course, there is something nice about not having to make it yourself as well. 

 This dessert is chocolatey. Really. It is even chocolatey enough to be completely satisfied while watching the movie Chocolat.

Oh, and this is another one of my mom's recipes. She would make this every Valentine's Day. I and my siblings were lucky children. Recipe? Here you go:

For the cake you need:

16 oz. quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped

10 tablespoons butter

4 eggs

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon flour

How to:

Preheat oven to 425 degree F. Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan. If you have parchment paper and feel like cutting out a circle, you can and then line it to the bottom of the pan (it does make it easier to get it out).

Place chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or metal/glass bowl) and set in a pot over simmering water. Stir until smooth. Set aside and cool.

In another double boiler or bowl (or the same one cleaned out) over hot water, combine the eggs and sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved (put a dab of the egg mixture on your finger and rub a bit of it between your fingers, if still grainy keep whisking, if smooth, remove from heat). Remove from heat and beat 5-10 minutes with an electric mixer until thick and light. Fold flour into egg mixture. Fold a third  of the egg mixture into the chocolate. Add remaining egg mixture to chocolate and fold in. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool and then freeze overnight. If you do not have that sort of time freeze for a least 3 or 4 hours. It tastes better if frozen overnight however. Remove from pan by dipping the bottom of the pan in hot water and then tipping upside down.

Raspberry Sauce:

1 10 oz bag of frozen raspberries

2-3 tablespoons sugar

Heat raspberries an sugar on the stove in a small sauce pan or in the microwave. Mix until the sauce is to the desired consistency.

Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Whip the cream using an electric mixer. When almost done add the vanilla and sugar, then whip some more until done (make sure to not over do it and turn your cream to butter from too much mixing).

To assemble:

Cut a small slice of the cake (it is very rich), top with the warm raspberry sauce and then the whipped cream. Enjoy!

This is a very tasty dessert and not all that difficult to make and very delicious to consume. So try and make it and let me know what you think!

In the Kitchen: Chocolate Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce and Chopped Almonds

Yum. I can't stop looking at this picture. 

Tyler and I got an old-fashioned crank ice cream maker for Christmas from Tyler's mom and step-dad. We love it! We love how the old ones look, which is why they thought to get us one and fix it up. Here are a few awesome things about this maker:

1. It can't really break. There is no motor, no electric anything, just you cranking the thing. If a piece breaks (unlikely), you can easily fix it. 

2. It can make a ton of ice cream. Most electric mixers make fairly small amounts of ice cream. We have made double batches (1/2 gallon) and there is still plenty of room. Most new ice cream makers make a quart of ice cream, so it is nice to have more, especially if we are having people over.

3. It is aesthetically pleasing.

4. Man power. So far, Tyler has been the one to churn it, but I like that you can control the speed and check and see how it is doing. 

5. It makes good ice cream that has a great texture. 

We have made a few different ice cream flavors so far and we really like the chocolate ice cream recipe from Annie's Eats, which is the one pictured above. Ice cream is really quite simple to make but it takes quite a bit of time. It is essentially like making a custard (if the recipe does not have eggs or cream in it do not bother making it--unless it is gelato or sorbet or something and that is completely different). You cook the mixture on the stove, doing the whole tempering eggs thing, and then that mixture has to chill in the fridge....for a long time. It has to be really cold before you can churn it and so does the bowl/ice cream holder thing that is inside your maker. After it is chilled, you start churning using ice (or snow in our case) and lots of rock salt to keep the whole thing cold, or you just put it in your machine. Once it is done, the texture is like soft serve so you freeze it (in a tupperware) for a few hours or overnight for the best texture. There is a lot of waiting involved, but it is so worth it. Homemade ice cream is the best, plus you know exactly what is in it and are not eating a ton of that high fructose corn syrup garbage that is sadly in most store bought ice creams now.

I also made a chocolate sauce to go with this ice cream because I sort of really like chocolate. Quality chocolate. Please, please use quality chocolate to make this ice cream and sauce! I am not saying you have to buy a $7 bar of chocolate, but at least use the Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips. 

 This is chocolate sauce, not chocolate syrup or hot fudge. I made this recipe simply because I had all of the ingredients. It is thicker than syrup, but not at thick as fudge and very chocolatey.

Chocolate Sauce

6 oz. quality chocolate

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

6 tbsp. water

pinch of salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a double boiler over simmering water (or if you don't have a double boiler, like me, put a glass or metal bowl inside of pot with simmering water in it). Whisk until smooth. Serve warm over ice cream or anything in need of a chocolate sauce. Keep in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Warm up in the microwave or on the stovetop (put glass jar in a pot of hot water) and stir before serving.

To make what I did in the picture, put your chocolate ice cream in a bowl or glass, spoon the hot chocolate sauce on top and sprinkle with chopped almonds.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sauce recipe from Luscious Chocolate Desserts by Lori Longbotham.