Chocolate Cake Decadence

Chocolate cake is probably one of the most loved desserts of all time. How can you go wrong? I have found a way to make it even better by adding two simple ingredients to the batter to enhance the chocolate flavor. Trust me, you will never go back after this.



My chocolate cake recipe calls for 1/2 cup of cocoa powder. I substituted 1/8 of that with my mayan cocoa. It makes such a difference! Mayan cocoa has a spicier and deeper flavor than regular cocoa. I get it at my local spice market here in Seattle. The second ingredient I use is instant coffee. I put about a teaspoon into my batter and though you can't taste the coffee, it makes the chocolate taste better.

I topped my cake with a raspberry chocolate ganache, but there are plently of options you can make such as peanut butter or chocolate frosting (those are my favorite options). Play around with it, chocolate can stand up to many flavors!

Garlic Confit

Garlic is one of my favorite ingredients of all time. In certain instances it can be very strong. Confit is the perfect way to tone down the strongness and keep the garlic goodness we all love. Confit means cooked in its own fat. Since garlic doesn't have its own fat, cook it in vegetable oil.

Take twenty cloves of garlic, peeling them and cutting the nubs off the ends. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with vegetable oil. Bring to barely a simmer and keep it that way for about 40 minutes. You do not want this to boil or get to a strong simmer, the key is low and slow. The garlic will be very soft and the flavor will be incredible! Use in anything you would use garlic in for a sweeter garlic flavor.

Compound Butters

 Learning how to put together compound butter is one of the best and easiest things you can do for your recipes. It adds flavor to many things such as steak, corn on the cob, etc.

Shallot, garlic and thyme (courtesy of Richard Gray)

To start, let your unsalted butter come to room temperature so it is easy to work with. Add your ingredients of choice (there are hundreds of possibilities) and salt/pepper to taste. Place on parchment paper and form into a log (see top left photo) and chill in the fridge until hard. For steak, I like to cut a pat and put it on top. For corn on the cob, I spread some on the corn before cooking it and then chill the rest of the butter for after the cooking process. Use your creativity to come up with your own combos!



Garlic confit (recipe posted), lemon zest and paprika