Chocolate Stout Cake

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 4 4-7

Although it’s been a while since I last posted, I still try and come back to this every now and then. I don’t really have anything special to say or words of wisdom, I do have a recipe. A friend asked for this, so I figured I would share it with all. Enjoy!

Chocolate Stout Cake:

Ingredients:	Amounts:
Sugar	15.36 oz
Cake Flour, sifted	10.24 oz
Cocoa powder	3.4 oz
Baking Powder	0.21 oz
Baking Soda	0.21 oz
Salt	0.11 oz
Corn Syrup	2.13 oz
Chocolate Stout	7.68 oz
Eggs, room temperature	10.24 oz
Vanilla	0.43 oz
Butter, softened	10.24 oz
Total:	3# 12 oz

 

1. Preheat oven to 325⁰F. Prepare pans by coating with Pam and then flour. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper circles.
2. Combine butter and sugar in a Kitchen Aid Bowl and cream together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
3. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
4. Combine corn syrup and chocolate stout. Set aside.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, to butter and sugar mixture. Mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla.
6. Add flour mixture to batter, alternating with corn syrup and chocolate stout mixture. Mix until just combined.
7. Weigh 1# 4 oz into each cake pan. This will use up all of your batter.
8. Bake cake until just springs to touch, about 25 minutes. Cake will begin to pull away from the edges of the pan.
9. Remove from oven and flip onto cooling racks immediately, taking off pan, but leaving on the parchment circles. Allow to cool completely.

Salted Chocolate Buttercream:

Ingredients:	Amounts:
Sugar	1#
Water	5 oz
Egg Whites	0.5#
Butter, salted	1.5 # (6 sticks)
Vanilla	1/8 oz
Total:	3 # 3 oz

 

1. Cut butter into small cubes and then soften. Should not be so soft that you cannot handle it, but enough to melt easily.
2. Combine sugar and water in pan and bring to a boil. Cook to 245⁰F (soft ball stage) Use a candy thermometer or digital thermometer, and wash down sides of pot as necessary.
3. Put egg whites into Kitchen Aid mixing bowl. When sugar mixture has reached 338⁰F, beat whites on high until frothy.
4. Once sugar mixture is at 245⁰F, pour it slowly down the side of the bowl, while the egg whites are whipping on medium.
5. Once you have added all the sugar, turn egg whites and sugar on high. This will beat the egg whites up to proper consistency and cool down.
6. Once mixture has cooled to about 120⁰F (bowl will feel warm to the touch, but bearable), add butter cubes a little at a time on medium speed. Butter will melt as you add it. Make sure butter has melted before you add more butter.
7. You will add all the butter into the mixture. Keep in mind that it will look worse before it looks better. Once you have added all the butter, turn up on high, whipping to a stiff consistency and then add vanilla.
8. You will use the buttercream immediately, but you can store it in the fridge. If you are going to store and use later, you will need to rewhip it.

Chocolate Stout Ganache:

Ingredient:	Amount:
Chocolate Stout	4 oz
Chocolate, semisweet chips	10 oz
Heavy Cream	1 oz
Total:	15 oz

 

1. Heat chocolate stout in saucepan, bring just to a simmer. Stout might start to foam up.
2. Pour over chocolate and let sit for a minute. Mix together until smooth.
3. Add heavy cream to chocolate and mix well.
4. Cool ganache to pouring consistency. If becomes too thick, heat over a water bath. Nor do you want the ganache too hot because it will melt the butter cream if it is too hot.

To Assemble Cake:

1. You can put cake onto cake board or unto cake stand.
2. Put a little buttercream onto the board or stand and place first layer onto stand. Soak layer with chocolate stout; this will help to keep cake moist. Top with chocolate butter cream and smooth to edges of cake.
3. Continue same method. Cake, soak with stout, top with buttercream.
4. Smooth a thin layer of buttercream around outside of cake and top. Refrigerate until buttercream is hard (this is called a crumb coat)
5. Once buttercream is hard, spread a second, thicker layer of buttercream on top of the crumb coat. You can make this as thick or thin as you would like. Refrigerate until buttercream is hard again.
6. Once buttercream is hard, top with ganache, pouring from the center of the cake and slowly spreading to the outside until it just drips down the side of the cake.
7. You can allow this cake to sit out at room temperature. 

Happy Earth Day!

“LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made thema little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Psalm 8

It’s my first Sunday back in Hyde Park after extern, and so far, I must say it’s been a wonderful weekend and a wonderful Sunday! Granted Sunday is generally my favorite day of the week, but it’s still been a good day. Being back at school means that I’m attending Rhinebeck Reformed again, a small reformed Presbyterian church in Rhinebeck, about a 15 minute drive north of campus.

I discovered this church last year, probably halfway through my first year, and started attending whenever I could get a ride. I enjoy Pastor Luiz’s sermons, although he was not here this week. And it’s always fun to walk up to the farmer’s market afterwards or just take a stroll around Rhinebeck; it’s such a pretty town.

This morning’s sermon was actually about Earth Day; kind of ironic, not because it actually is Earth Day, but because it’s cloudy and 50s and COLD! It’s midway through April. It’s supposed to be warm. Why isn’t the earth cooperating? *le sigh* Well…….it was still a wonderful sermon.

It did cause me to think about Earth Day though (go figure), and all the associations that go with it. A generally accepted secular “holiday”, Earth Day was started in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. Most people associate it with hippies and the beginning of the environmental movement. And as a friend once told me, “Vivian, I could totally see you being a hippie…….” You can imagine the blank stare that followed this. I shop at BananaRepublic, for goodness sake, I don’t think I would make a very good hippie.

Although I wouldn’t make a good hippie, being in culinary school, and participating in sustainable events on campus, I try to pay attention to environmental issues, and I enjoy the science behind it all. However, I am constantly frustrated by some of the stereotypes and associations. I dislike the fact that most people association very left ideas with those who care about the environment, and if you, in any way shape or form associate with the right, you must be anti-earth. I find that association silly. As a conservative and a Christian, I think it’s very important to be knowledgeable on environmental, ecological, and agricultural issues. While I might not agree with many of the policies in place, I generally don’t like the way many of the issues are handled, God does command us to care for the earth.

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” Genesis 1:28

God himself glorified in the earth that He created, He called it good:

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”  Genesis 1:31- 2:3

I suppose then I wonder why it is that more Christians choose not to involve themselves in environmental issues? Is it fear of the association? Overall, I’m not really sure why it is, I simply wish it were something I knew more about. In truth, most issues that are agricultural or environmental, I wish I knew more about. There are definitely a few books on my Amazon wish list which deal with Christianity, agriculture, and ecology. Hoping to one day get to a few of them (along with 5 gazillion other books on my list).

Until then, I do hope you enjoy your Sunday and Earth Day! But I want to leave you with a hymn we sang at the end of church; one of my favorites, and I think suits today very well.

“How Great Though Art”

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: “My God, how great Thou art!”

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Reverend Carl Boberg of Monsteras

Happy Thursday!

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4

I must admit, as I was reading this verse this morning, it made me think of my favorite quote from The Iron Lady. At this point in the movie, her doctor asked her how she was doing. She has dementia, and her daughter had, of course, expressed concern. She very pointedly responds:

” Watch your thoughts, for they become words.Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become. My father always said that. And I think I am fine.”

If you haven’t seen the movie, you should. Margaret Thatcher is truly an inspiring woman.

On another note, first day of classes was yesterday. Although I haven’t started all of my classes, so far, I’ve gone to Nutrition, Management, and Law. All perfectly fine, I’m not really worried at the moment, minus the fact that the Law teacher speaks a mile a minute. Slight law overload.

However, I did start attending the “Food Jobs” class. It’s totally free and really the main reason I’m attending is the teacher. The class is being taught by Irena Chalmers, the author ofFood Jobs.

Really, I think what caught me was her personality; she’s British and hilarious! She came and talked to us during orientation, and although the day itself was rather forgettable, she was not. She chose to tell us a story to convince us that we should at least come to the class, and it was about a woman who wanted to interview her. Chalmers had forgotten about the interview and had a friend over. Unfortunately, this friend ended up have a horrible nosebleed, which they were treating when the interviewer appeared at the door. I believe Chalmer’s friend was introduced like this:

“This is Peter. I just shot him. Would you help me throw him out the window?”

She seems like a very interesting woman, with a wicked sense of humor. I think I’m going to enjoy taking a class with her.

Otherwise, things are chugging along. I start giving tours again next week, which I’m looking forward to, even with some of the changes. And just enjoying the first week back. The weather though is a bit strange. I moved in, it was mid 80s. Yesterday and today it went down to like 50s….60s…….I’m freezing. A silly ol’ me left my lovely Northface in Georgia. Boo to being cold. The nice thing is that I feel like I get to experience spring all over again! The trees are still blooming here, and there are still daffodils coming up, so while I was able to see all the flowers, azaleas, trees and everything bloom in Georgia, now I get to see it here! Just a reminder of how beautiful New York can be.

Happy Thursday!

Back to School, Back to School….

“But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.” Psalm 37:39-40

No matter what, whenever I start back to classes, I think of Billy Madison’s lovely tune. Thankfully, I’m not back in kindergarten, although you really do learn all you need to know in kindergarten

I’ve arrived back in Hyde Park, and settling back in after almost six months at home. A full day of travel (flight, bus, train, and a ride from a friend back to campus) was quickly followed by shrieking shouts of joy as I saw my roommate for the first time since November. Honestly, I felt kind of bad for the RA checking me in; I think we made him a little uncomfortable, but it was for good reason.

I’m still unpacking as I have to get all of my things out of storage, but “orientation” was this morning/afternoon. You know, these are the changes on campus and going through all the details. The major changes being, more students on the new ADS program on campus. This mostly means trying to figure out what kitchens are open during meals (aka referring to Heidi, as we all do, for that info). Also, uniform changes. Now, no matter what, you’re basically in whites while in any classes. Unless you’re in Bachelor’s or only in Roth for a meal, you’re in whites.

I think this is both a good and a bad thing. Good because it’s easy. Easy to pick out what you wear in the morning, easy to enforce. There’s also uniformity. We all look the same, and therefore a degree of professionalism. Bad because there’s no more business casual! I love dressing in business casual! So sue me, I like dressing up, although I didn’t always used to. Granted, there was some stretching of “business casual” around campus, but I’m still going to miss it

Otherwise, starting “L” block tomorrow. This includes classes like Restaurant Law, Business Management, Menu Development, and Nutrition. From what I hear, this block is…..slower….which is fine. Just means, I’ll hopefully be working instead.

I must admit, it’s a little strange coming back after being gone almost six months. Of course, there are familiar faces; those in your classes who you’re always happy to see, those who are a couple of blocks ahead you might recognize, but there are also tons of new faces. Students who started after you left, or those you might not remember; it’s both comforting and slightly alarming, this combination of the familiar and the new. I suppose it’s also increased a little for me since I chose to go home for extern. Yes, I met new people at my restaurant, but also quite a few familiar things: home, family, my hometown, my church. Here, it’s a movement back into the temporary: a room with cold floors and cement walls, a different state, different people, a short time in a slightly familiar place before moving on again.

Thankfully, I’m living with my old roommate; I love her to death. And thankfully, still a pretty view from my room, although a different dorm. Not looking on the river this time, but trees still fill my view. And it’s times like this that I’m happy I’m not in the city. I love to visit, but there are so many people, I feel claustrophobic at times, although I did meet a lovely English woman on my way here. She was hopelessly lost, and I got her to where she was going, plus a wonderful chat while making it to the train.

In the grand scheme of things, I am happy to be back, anxious to finish up. The plan after school is still in the works, but until I graduate, I’m going to enjoy being here; the weather is already wonderful!

Until next time

With these hands, I bring Thee glory

Occasionally, my job allows me to think probably a little too much for my own good. I suppose its the nature of working pastry in a restaurant, you wait and wait and wait, then all your orders come in at once. C’est la vie.

This week was filled with shelling peanuts and pecans, both of which are beloved in Georgia, and I now have a deeper appreciation for, especially full halves. Although this task fully occupies your hands, you’re left staring at them, and your mind wanders or races in thousands of directions. As I stared at my hands, I began to notice how easily they moved, using a pick to get all the meat from the nuts, and then it got me to thinking about Anthony Bourdain.

A bit of a jump? No, not really. I finally got to reading Kitchen Confidential (it was published in 2000, that’s right, almost twelve years afterwards) and there are two times he discusses how his hands look. First, when he has a revelation in a professional kitchen, still fairly green out of school and trying to show off. He’s quickly put in his place, and then, the lightbulb. Another cook shows him his hands, and it becomes his goal to have hands like that. The second time, Bourdain is looking back on his career and notices his hands, happy that he’s accomplished his goal to have the hands he wanted. I’ve had a few people mention this to me, also seeking to have hands like that.

My hands are not like that. I don’t have the tell tale callus of a cook at the junction of the index finger and palm. I don’t have the scars on fingers and knuckles from cuts and knives that got a little too close. My hands are different. I have the callus of a pastry cook, at the pinky and palm from whisks, spatulas, and wooden spoons. I have the stripes from the oven getting too friendly. But I’m still young, and I haven’t been in the kitchen long.

As I stared at my hands, noticing the burns from cooking sugar, I got to thinking about other chef’s hands. How do they look? And wouldn’t that be an interesting study? What of the hands of Thomas Keller, Daniel Buolud, Paul Bocuse, Grant Achatz, Alex Stupak, Michael Laiskonis, Ferran Adira, and all the rest? Hands are one of the most difficult things to accomplish in art. How much more difficult the hands of a chef? Of a construction or factory worker? Of a woodworker?

It reminds me of a line I heard once, shortly after Kitchen Confidential was published, of a woodworker who had passed away. He was a man who loved spending time building, and built my sisters and me a wonderful dollhouse, which we still have and love: “He went to the Master Woodworker with all ten fingers. And now he’ll use those hands to bring Him glory.”

What a blessing, to have these hands, to think of all the wonderful things they can accomplish. But also of all the things that aren’t so wonderful. These hands, with all ten fingers, whether callused and burned or soft, how are you using them for God’s glory? That’s what I pray for. When one day I look back on the hands, all the burns from ovens, the cuts from knives, the calluses from utensils and rolling pins, that I can honestly stand before the Lord and say, “With these hands, I brought Thee glory.”

The Humble Cow Pea

I don’t necessarily agree with all the statements in this little essay, but I find the revelations about the cow pea interesting. My family serves collards, peas, pork, and sweet potatoes every year for New Years’, and we, of course, pile our plates high with peas and collards; we all need a little luck and greenbacks in the New Year.

Hope you all had a wonderful New Years!

“Tomorrow is New Years Day, 2012. Here in the South we are fond of tradition and one of the traditions which will be observed tomorrow is the eating of Black-eyed Peas also known in the South as Cow Peas and often served in a dish known as Hoppin’-John.

Tradition is a good and useful thing. It’s purpose is to make us remember and it serves to teach those who were too young to witness the original lesson first hand what was so important to their ancestors.

So what’s so important about Black-eyed Peas? What lesson could that humble little pea possibly teach us? Well, let me tell you a little story.

The Cow Pea was brought to the shores of North America in the late 1600s. It was not considered a food source for humans, hence the name, Cow Peas. They were grown for feeding livestock. That was, until the turbulent period between 1861 and 1865 when Southerners were fighting for the independence of their Southland.

During this time the US Army had the custom of burning everything in it path that it couldn’t steal and use for itself or ship North. Cash crops like cotton and tobacco were often burned to prevent its use in funding the Confederate cause. All food crops were also stolen or burned often leading to the intentional starvation deaths of thousands of Southern women and children. One crop that was often overlooked was the Cow Pea. It was just an animal feed and with the animals stolen and shipped North or shot and left to rot where they fell, what was the sense in expending the time and manpower in burning a useless livestock feed crop?

History has it that during the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi the ravaging horde of United States troops burned every food crop surrounding the city that their vandal torches could touch. Every available food source left to the citizens of Vicksburg, animal or vegetable was laid waste. The patriotic citizens held out for as long as possible eating shoe leather and rat meat. If an artillery mule was accidentally killed by an incoming federal shell, its meat barely had time to cool before it was cut up and distributed to the starving civilians and soldiers in the city. The shelling was so thick from the federal guns that the citizens took to living in dank and filthy bomb-proof caves cut from dirt banks. Disease took its toll along with starvation. No doubt, the prayers rose thickly to Heaven from Vicksburg during that brutal siege and prayers were answered. It was discovered that the Cow Peas were still available and they didn’t taste so bad after all when you’re hungry. The dried peas were ground into flour and mixed with water to make bread. They weren’t too bad just boiled in water or even eaten raw. The threat of death from starvation has a way of making things look different. I know it’s hard to imagine anyone turning up their nose at Black-eyed Peas today but back then it would have been like asking someone to eat dried dog food or a bag of goat feed.

Even though the city of Vicksburg eventually fell to the forces of federal despotism, the lives of many Southerners were spared due to the little Cow Pea. This scene was played out all across the South, especially in the swath of desolation cut by Sherman in his vindictive march to the sea.

But what has the little Cow Pea taught us? Why have we remembered it every year since the close of that war so long ago? Many people will just tell you that eating Black-eyed Peas will bring you good luck and that’s as far as the story is ever told. But for our Southern ancestors it wasn’t about good luck. They had something else they wanted us to know and remember. The lesson taught by the Cow Pea was a blessing from God. It reminded us that God never places a burden on us too great to bear and he always leaves a way out to the faithful. It was a lesson in humility. Sometimes the way out is to humble ourselves. The Cow Pea showed us that we can adapt and persevere in the face of death and overwhelming odds. It gave us hope when all hope had fled. It was a symbol of strength in that the small and insignificant can confound the strong and mighty.

And there are other things the little pea taught us that our fathers wish us to remember every year. But this is where I start to talk of things that scare my friends and family and those who were raised in government schools, learning government lies from government textbooks printed up North.

Our fathers wanted us to remember the importance of liberty through Southern independence. To them, it was worth every deprivation imaginable. It was worth starvation and disease. It was worth dismemberment, blindness and other horrific wounds on the battlefield and slow death. It was worth the risk of rotting in a government prison. It was worth losing all your worldly possessions. Liberty at every cost save the loss of honor because the alternative was slavery under a despotic government.

Our fathers wanted us to remember their noble Cause and the sacrifices they made for it. They wanted us to vindicate that Cause. Not by merely talking about it and remembering it but by making the same kind of sacrifices they made. So tomorrow, and every New Year’s Day henceforth, when you hoist a forkful of savory Hoppin’- Jon to your palate, think about this; Are we more free today than our ancestors 150 years ago? If you say yes, go back to sleep. If you say no, prepare with me for hard times and sacrifice” -R. Tubbs

Goodbye 2011…

Hello 2012!

Wishing everyone a happy New Year!