Chocolate Biscuit Cake

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Confession: I know almost nothing about Irish baking. I can make an Irish Chocolate Potato Cake, but beyond that, I’m lost.

Today though, that’s okay. I don’t need to know a single thing about Irish baking to make this Chocolate Biscuit Cake…because it’s no-bake!

This cake is not a cake at all, really. It amounts to wheat-based tea cookies (aka biscuits) enrobed in a block of chocolate ganache, basically making it one big truffle. It’s very rich and is just…wow. I don’t know why this isn’t more popular in America. It’s the ultimate icebox cake, and heaven knows we Americans love an icebox cake.

The classic cake is just the chocolate and biscuits, but I’ve taken the liberty of making it a little more cake-like (well cheesecake-like) by adding a buttery crust. What can I say? I love a classic, but I also can’t leave well enough alone. This extra step just takes a minute–literally, it happens in the food processor–but I love the textural difference between the big chunks of cookie in the cake and the fine, buttery crumb of the crust.

Press the crust into the pan and freeze it while you make the filling. Chop up a pound of dark chocolate. Yes, a pound. Bring heavy cream, a stick of butter, and a bit of honey to a simmer and then pour it over the top of the chocolate. Leave it to melt for a few minutes before stirring it together to make a sort of souped-up ganache. Fold in a pound of biscuits that have been broken into shards, and then spread it all over the crust. Refrigerate the cake for a few hours before dusting with confectioners sugar and serving in small slices.

Now you may be wondering, is this big truffle of a cake actually Irish? It was popular a few years ago when Prince William had it for his groom’s cake at the Royal Wedding, so it may be considered more of an English thing. I, however, am deciding it’s appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day because my first-ever Chocolate Biscuit Cake recipe came from the Irish mother of a friend. This is not her recipe, but I now associate this dessert with our emails back and forth about metric vs. empirical measurements. I’ve done a little research to back this up, and it appears Chocolate Biscuit Cake is just as popular in Ireland as it is in England.

Thank goodness for that. It means you can have Chocolate Biscuit Cake tomorrow. Chocolate Biscuit Cake
makes one 9- or 10-inch cake

Crust:
6 ounces digestive biscuits* (about 12 biscuits)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
16 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons mild honey (or Lyle’s Golden Syrup)
16 ounces digestive biscuits (about 32 biscuits), broken into pieces
1-2 tablespoons confectioners sugar, for topping (optional)

Butter the inside of a 9- or 10-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Make the crust. In a food processor, pulverize digestive biscuits until they are fine crumbs. Pulse in sugar and salt. Add melted butter and process until combined. Transfer mixture to prepared pan and press into an even layer on the bottom and slightly up the sides of the pan. Freeze for 30 minutes to set.

Make the filling. Place chocolate in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

In a saucepan, combine heavy cream, butter, and honey. Heat over medium-low, stirring frequently until it comes to a simmer. Remove from heat. Be careful–cream expands rapidly when it reaches a boil.

Pour cream mixture over chocolate and allow it to sit until chocolate melts, about 8-10 minutes. Whisk together until smooth. Fold in broken digestive biscuits. Pour mixture over the top of the crust. Smooth the top as well as you can. Tap pan on the counter ten times to distribute everything evenly. Smooth again. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 3 hours, or until set.

Remove cake from refrigerator and discard plastic wrap. Run a small, flexible knife around the edge of the pan. Release the springform. Sift confectioners sugar over the top, if desired. Slice into small pieces and serve.

Cake will keep covered in the refrigerator for several days.

Note:
If you cannot find digestive biscuits in the cookie or international aisles of your grocery store, crisp butter cookies or graham crackers will work here.

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Coconut Cream Pie

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Happy Pi(e) Day! Oh yes, it’s that one glorious day where we celebrate math (Pi = 3.14) and everyone’s favorite dessert.

When I started thinking about what pie I would celebrate with, it was 65 degrees and sunny outside. Coconut Cream Pie sounded ideal for those conditions. Today, it’s snowing. Coconut Cream Pie still sounds ideal.

There are many coconut cream pie recipes on the internet, and while I’m sure they are delicious, I am not necessarily interested in making a pie out of boxed pudding mix and cream cheese. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for anything that gets you in the kitchen to make a pie, but when I want Coconut Cream Pie, I skip the pudding mix and reach straight for my second-edition copy of Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book. The book may be held together with tape and prayer, but it is a treasure. Not only does it give the reader a look into how Americans used to eat (so. much. gelatin.), it also contains tons of fantastic old-fashioned desserts that are rarely made from scratch these days.

This Coconut Cream Pie tastes every bit as good as the pies my grandma used to make. It starts by blitzing a graham cracker crust together in a food processor. Press that into a pie plate and bake it for ten minutes, just to set. Then turn off your oven–that’s all the baking this pie requires.

The filling comes together on the stovetop. Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and milk over medium-high until the mixture thickens and boils for one minute. Slowly whisk 1/3 of the mixture into a few egg yolks (so you don’t have scrambled eggs in your pie–gross). Add the mixture back to the pot and let boil for two more minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in vanilla and coconut extracts, followed by two tablespoons of butter. Fold in some sweetened shredded coconut and scrape the filling into the crust. Cover it with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours. This will be agony.

Once the filling is set, top it with some whipped cream and toasted coconut. Slice up your pie and prepare to fall in love with it. The crumbly, crunchy graham cracker crust. The creamy, coconut-studded filling. The light, sweet layer of whipped cream. What’s not to love?!

Looking for more old-fashioned pies? Check out this Chocolate Cream Pie and this Lemon Meringue Pie!

Coconut Cream Pie
adapted from Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book
makes one 9-inch standard pie

Crust:
9 sheets graham crackers
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
3 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon coconut extract (optional, but recommended)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Topping:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2-3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
toasted coconut, for topping (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Make the crust. Place graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and process until no large pieces remain. Add light brown sugar, melted butter, and salt. Process until the mixture resembles wet sand, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch standard pie plate and use clean hands to press the mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes. Cool it on a rack while you prepare the filling.

In a medium-large saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Place the pan over medium-high heat. Whisking constantly, pour the milk into the dry ingredients. Continue to whisk until the mixture boils for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to low.

Whisk egg yolks with a fork. Remove 1/3 of the warm pudding mixture from the pot. Whisking constantly, slowly pour milk mixture into the egg yolks until completely combined. Add egg yolk mixture to the pot and turn heat back up to medium-high. Continue to whisk until mixture boils for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in vanilla and coconut extracts and butter. Fold in coconut. Pour filling into prepared crust. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and chill for at least four hours or overnight.

Make the whipped cream. In a medium-large mixing bowl, combine heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla. Use an electric mixer to whip cream until stiff peaks form. Top pie with whipped cream. Top with toasted coconut, if desired.

Pie will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Coffee Glazed Chocolate Cake Doughnuts

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They say that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in something. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent baking over the last four years, but I can tell you that it’s a lot. I’m definitely not an expert yet, but at this point, I can look at cookie dough or cake batter and know if it’s going to bake properly or not. If I am out of an ingredient, I can almost always make substitutions with stuff I have on hand and get a good result. I’m not trying to brag–I’m just saying that experience has taught me a few things.

Want to know one field in which I am decidedly not an expert? Doughnut-making. Oh my goodness. Last year, I posted some Glazed Cream Cheese Cake Doughnuts. They were my first foray into fried dough (except for a time in college where I tried to make doughnuts from prepackaged red velvet cake mix–don’t do that). It took me two batches to get them right. I thought I had this doughnut business nailed.

Oh, how wrong I was.

While my oven was down a couple of weeks ago, I started thinking of recipes I could make without it. My stove still worked, so doughnuts seemed like a good option. I looked at my previous doughnuts, researched chocolate cake doughnuts on the internet, wrote a recipe, and got to work.

The first batch, made with Dutch process cocoa powder, had a good chocolate flavor, but was very dry. For the second batch, I replaced some of the flour with cornstarch and added nutmeg for that “doughnut shop” flavor. Also, I had run out of Dutch process cocoa, so used natural unsweetened. The batch was less dry, but tasted mostly like nutmeg and not at all like chocolate. I knew I had to use Dutch process cocoa in all future attempts, but couldn’t figure out why it was all so dry, so I hung up my frying spider for a few days.

Wednesday afternoon, it hit me: I had been using butter as the fat in my doughnuts. Butter is 84% fat and 15% water. Water evaporates. Cocoa powder dries things out by nature. If I wanted an edible doughnut, I’d have to use oil in the dough, just like I use oil in my chocolate cake recipe. I came home from work, put together a soft dough with oil and buttermilk and refrigerated it overnight. Thursday morning, I rolled and cut the dough into doughnuts, heated some shortening (it leaves less of an aftertaste than canola oil), and got to frying. I finished them off with a dip in a coffee glaze.

I may not ever become an expert at making doughnuts, but with this recipe in my back pocket I’m okay with that. The doughnuts themselves have a moderate chocolate flavor that might not be anything special with a plain glaze, but paired with this coffee glaze, they’re really delicious. Chocolate and coffee are a dream team, bringing out the best in each other. Plus, nothing goes with a doughnut quite like coffee.

Making homemade doughnuts may seem like a daunting task (and to some degree, it is), but they’re a fun treat to make every once in a while. It’s like having a breakfast time party trick. Sure, you could make French toast or pancakes or scones this weekend, but maybe you should change it up and make Coffee Glazed Chocolate Cake Doughnuts instead. And then invite me over. I’ll bring the coffee.

Coffee Glazed Chocolate Cake Doughnuts
Glaze adapted from Handle the Heat
makes about 2 dozen small doughnuts and doughnut holes

Chocolate Cake Doughnuts:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder (not natural unsweetened)
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
3 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 quart (4 cups) vegetable shortening (or neutral-flavored oil), for frying

Coffee Glaze:
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons light corn syrup (or brown rice syrup)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 fl oz strong hot coffee (I used decaf)

Whisk together flour, cornstarch, nutmeg, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together oil and sugar until sandy. Add eggs and egg yolk one by one, whisking after each addition. Stir in vanilla and buttermilk. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold in the dry ingredients until a sticky dough forms. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill at least an hour (or overnight).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set two cooling racks over wax paper.

On a heavily floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Use a doughnut cutter or graduated cookie cutters to cut doughnuts. Re-roll as necessary. Lay cut doughnuts and doughnut holes on prepared baking sheet.

Place vegetable shortening in a large heavy pot. Heat shortening until it reaches 350F. Add cut doughnuts in batches of three or four. Let fry about 1.5-2 minutes per side. Remove cooked doughnuts to prepared racks. Continue frying until all doughnuts and doughnut holes have been cooked.

Make the glaze. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together confectioner’s sugar and salt. Add corn syrup, vanilla, and coffee, and continue whisking until smooth. Dip doughnuts and doughnut holes one at a time before placing back on the cooling racks. Let glaze set for twenty minutes before enjoying. Doughnuts are best eaten the day they are made.

One-Banana Banana Bread {Vegan}

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I love banana bread. It’s a classic, easy crowd-pleaser, and while I’ve had a few that were subpar, I don’t think I’ve ever turned a slice away.

I already have two banana bread recipes on this site (see here and here). They are both pretty standard, containing the usual three overripe bananas. They’re great for those times when I have a bunch of near-rotten bananas lying around, but if I’m being honest, I rarely do. I buy a bunch nearly every week with the vague intention of making banana bread, but it almost never happens. Between breakfasts, snacks, and an obsession I have with creating a perfect banana milkshake, they’re gone long before they’re brown enough to be folded into brown sugar batter and slid into the oven.

Last night my boss offered me a banana that was far past its prime, casually suggesting that I make something with it. This is not an uncommon occurrence; people offer me their leftovers all the time in hopes that I’ll use them for some higher purpose. My biggest successes so far have been this Overnight Raspberry Cheesecake-Stuffed French Toast Bake and this Peanut Butter Granola.

I didn’t even have to think about what that banana would be thrown into–I came straight home to make an old favorite, Faux Martha’s One-Banana Banana Bread. I made this recipe over and over in the spring of 2015, using up overripe bodega bananas and messing with its chemistry in an effort to make it mine. I soon realized that her recipe was perfect already. As such, last night I had every intention of following her recipe to the letter, but upon discovering that I was out of eggs, I made a lot of adjustments at once.

The version I’m sharing today is vegan, made with a few easy changes. The “egg” is made from ground flaxseed and water. The buttermilk is a mixture of almond milk and apple cider vinegar. The butter is swapped for coconut oil. All the rest of the ingredients are standard fare: flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and so on. Fold them all together (but don’t stir too much–banana bread can easily be made tough), scrape the batter into a loaf pan, and bake for 40 minutes.

Now, this recipe does not make a ton of banana bread–there is just one banana in there after all–but the half-size loaf that it produces is seriously good. It’s dense, moist, and full of banana flavor. This loaf was made last night before bed, and when I woke up this morning to have a slice, the flavors had married perfectly.

For those of you wondering if this bread, being made without eggs and milk and butter, is as delicious as traditional banana bread, the answer is a resounding yes. I have toyed around with vegan baking here and there, but had never attempted a vegan banana bread until last night. I wondered if I’d be able to taste the flax or if the coconut oil would change the flavor, but I shouldn’t have worried. This One-Banana Banana Bread {Vegan} is just as delicious as the recipe that inspired it.

One-Banana Banana Bread {Vegan}
adapted from Faux Martha
makes 1 small 9×5″ loaf

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
3 tablespoons warm tap water
1/3 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 large ripe banana

Preheat oven to 300F. Grease and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Make a flax egg. In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together flaxseed and warm water. Let sit five minutes, or until thickened. Set aside.

In a measuring cup, whisk together non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together melted coconut oil and light brown sugar. Whisk in flax egg and non-dairy milk mixture followed by vanilla and mashed banana. Add dry ingredients. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold ingredients together (20 strokes maximum). Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let banana bread cool completely in the pan on a rack. Run a small, thin knife around the edge and invert. Slice and serve.

Banana bread is best the next day. One Banana Banana Bread {Vegan}