Red Hot Chocolate Torte

My lopsided cake!

Welcome back everyone!  Its good to be cooking again.  Not that I ever stopped, I'm just back to doing what I love...dutch oven cooking.  Today I thought I'd share a Valentine's day recipe.  Something sweet for your sweetie!

Now, I have to tell you, me and layer cakes don't have a good history together.  I've made exactly 2 layer cakes in the last 10 years, and both times I had to fight them every step of the way.  Today's cake had many problems, not the least of which was that it sunk in the middle.  I'm not much of a baker, so I couldn't tell you what causes it, just that it happened.  So what was supposed to be a triple layer cake became a double layer cake. 

My next disaster happened while I was putting the layers together.  Since the cake was concave it was really hard to cut in half.  The center of the top layer was really thin and that didn't bode well.  When I went to put the top layer on the cake it fell apart.  So I pieced it together the best I could and hoped the ganache would hide it.  And it did to a point.

Once I had the top pieced together I noticed two things.  First that there was a ton of filling left (since my triple layer cake had been unexpectedly downsized), and second, that I had a big sunken well in the top of the cake.  So, not wanting to be wasteful, I took most of the leftover filling and filled the well to even off the top of the cake.

Next came the ganache.  Like I said, I'm not much of a baker and I've never worked with ganache before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Since I've never worked with it before the cake looked a little bit like my 5 year old had frosted it.  I had to come up with a way to hide it from all of you, so I quickly crushed up some red hots and pressed them onto sides and top of the cake.  Problem solved! 

Now I realized it isn't the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, but let me tell you, is is delicious!  It has just a hint of cinnamon flavor from the red hots, but its not hot at all.  You could even all a touch of cinnamon oil to the ganache if you wanted.  It was also nice that the filling isn't uber sweet.  Its a nice contrast to the sweet ganache.

If red hots aren't your thing, there are a lot of variations to this cake.  You could use crushed candy canes or starlight mints in the fillins and a 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract in the ganache, or use orange zest in the filling and orange extract in the ganache.  Both would be delicious. 

After hearing my horror story, what can you do to make it easier for you?  Try baking the cake in 2 12" dutch ovens or even in 3 10" ovens.  That way you wouldn't need to try to slice the cake into layers.   You could bake, fill and frost without the headache.  So give this a try is is really delicious! 

Red Hot Chocolate Torte
2-12" ovens or 3-10" ovens

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Filling

1 1/2 cup cold whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup finely chopped red hot candies
3/4 tsp. vanilla
red food coloring (optional)

In a small bowl, beat the whipping cream and powdered sugar until stiff.  Fold in the red hots, vanilla and food coloring until well blended.

Ganache

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup water
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

In a small dutch oven, over about 8 coals, melt the butter and add the cocoa and water.  Stir constantly until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla.  Beat with a wire whisk until smooth and spreadable.  Add more water, 1/2 tsp. at a time, if needed. 

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients.  Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, and mix well.  Stir in boiling water.  The batter will be thin.  Prepare your dutch ovens by greasing them, then dusting them with flour.  Put a parchment circle in teh bottom of each pot and spray with cooking spray.  Pour the batter into the ovens and bake at 350° for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Use 1 1/2 rings on top and 1 ring on the bottom.  Cool with the lid ajar for 10 minutes.  Remove the cake from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

When cool, spread the filling between the layers and top with ganache.  Garnish with filling squeezed from a pastry bag.  Keep in the refrigerator.

Guess What?!

I've started dutch oven cooking again!  I knew I'd never make it 31 days without dutch oven cooking, but I am going to go 31 days without posting.  So expect new posts next week!!  Woot Woot!!  Have a great day!

My Pots...One Year Later

I've had several requests to do a post on how well my pots held up under heavy usage.  I'd wager that most dutch ovens are used only during the summer months and even then only occasionally.  Its been really fun for me to see just how well they really do hold up. 

First, let me tell you about my pots.  I have a 14" Lodge that is 20+ years old, a 12" Avid Outdoors that is 20+ years old, 2 Camp Chef 10" ovens that I bought in December of 2009 and a 12" Camp Chef that I bought back in July 2010.  I also have a Camp Chef dutch oven table that I bought back in March.

Next, let me recap how I clean and care for my ovens.  I've tried several different ways to clean them.  The one I liked best and stuck with was spraying the pot with a mixture of 1 part apple cider vinegar and 4 parts water, let it sit for a minute or two, then scrape it with a plastic scraper and wipe clean with paper towels.  I'd repeat that as many times as necessary to get the pot clean.  I'd brush the ash off the lids with a stiff paint brush and very lightly oil the entire pot inside and out.  I did re-season them before a cook off, so the last time was last August.

Time for the big reveal!  Here is what my pots look like today:

These are my two 20 year old pots and they did the majority of the work last year. 



These pots are about a year old.  The one in back looks like it needs to be reseasoned before I start cooking again!

 My Camp Chef dutch oven table took a lot of abuse.  My kids loved to start charcoal on it instead of on the gravel where they were supposed to.  And it was used every day, and a lot of times more than once a day.  The top is gray and there are some browninsh/black spots from where my kids set the chimney when they started coals, but other than that, it is in really good shape.  And truth be told, if I went out and used a plastic scrubber on it, it would look almost as good as new.  And I'm going to do that as soon as the weather warms up.  It has held up under heavy torture and is ready for more.  The paint is still in good shape, as are all the parts.  Even the plastic thumb screws haven't needed to be replaced yet.  I would definately recommend this table to anyone who asked.  It was worth every penny and I'll probably get another one this spring.

As far as ovens go, my favorites are the ones made by Camp Chef.  Don't get me wrong, I love my Lodge oven.  But when I compare price and quality, Camp Chef will win everytime.  At around $35 for a 12" they are very affordable and the quality is as good as anything on the market.  (Just a note:  that is my opinion and I'm not being paid to endorse Camp Chef.)

So there you have it!  After a year of heavy use and sometimes abuse, my pots and all my equipment is still in great shape.  I wish the rest of my kitchen equipment held up as well!  I LOVE MY DUTCH OVENS!!

Cookbook Orders

Due to the small number of cookbook orders, I can't afford to have them printed.  I'm working on some other options that won't have as much overhead as a printed book.  I'll update you on those as soon as I can.  I'm thinking about an ebook that can be downloaded or putting all the recipes on CD.  Let me know which option, if any, you'd be interested in. 

Since the book didn't fly, I'm going to start updating all my old posts on care and cleaning, tools and temperature control to reflect what I know after a year of dutch oven cooking instead of what I knew before I knew anything.

As for those who have ordered a cookbook, you have my thanks for your support and my apologies.  I'll figure how to issue refunds through paypal and have that done by the end of the month.

Just For The Record...

I really hate my oven!  It doesn't cook at the right temps and it bakes so uneven.  The breadsticks I made with dinner last night ranged from dark brown to white depending on which end of the pan they came off of.  I miss my dutch ovens!