Boyfriend-worthy First Date Chocolate Cake

When a fellow Weekly Delicious blogger posted a Girlfriend Cake, I thought to myself, what about those of us who don't care for girlfriends? Think of the boyfriends, won't somebody please think of the boyfriends?!

This is a chocolate cake with a history. A few months ago, when trying to woo my boy just after his birthday and on our first date, I made a cake. You may be thinking, "Who the hell brings a cake to a first date?" Well, that's just me. As it turned out, it was damn lucky I brought a cake, since we were confined to a cafe for several hours due to the Snowmageddon and got to munch on it for a while.

Unconventional? Yes. But this cake has a 100% success rate for securing a boyfriend, and has been refined over repeated batches, so don't argue with it.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 4 ounces of unsweetened baker's chocolate
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 and 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (warmed to room temperature) cut into pieces
  
• 2/3 cup milk (whole is best)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 and 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 chocolate pudding cup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:

• 1 and 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup of light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• About 1 pound dark chocolate (your favorite chocolate will work just fine too, and chocolate chips are very easy)

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two, 9 inch cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper. Lightly dust the parchment paper and sides of the pan with flour. Easy tip: Obey Alton Brown for easily cutting a piece of parchment paper for your pan.

2. In a double boiler (i.e. glass bowl on top of a pot filled with water over heat), melt the unsweetened chocolate with the water and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and stir periodically while you do the other steps.

3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Mix in the butter a few pieces at a time. If you have an electric mixer, now would be the time to use it. Next best thing I've used has been a pastry cutter. You can get away with a spoon or a rubber scraper it you're thorough enough, or a whisk if it's sturdy enough.

5. Gradually introduce the sugar. Once that's in, add eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla, then the chocolate mixture you had in the double boiler.

6. Mix in 1/3 of the flour, followed by half of the milk. Mix completely. Then another 1/3 of the flour, followed by the second half of the milk as well as the pudding cup. Mix completely again, then add in the remaining flour and, you guessed it, mix completely once more.

7. Divide the cake batter between the two cake pans and place in the oven. Bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until the cakes begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean.

8. Let cakes cool for at least 10 minutes. Gently cut the risen dome of one of the cakes to make sure you have a level surface to place the second cake on. By "cut," I actually mean saw off with a serrated knife, otherwise you'll squish or crumble the cake. If you don't want crumbs in your frosting, you can try and gently turn the cake upside-down and gently let the crumbs fall out. GENTLY. Continue to let the cakes cool.

9. In a small pot, combine the butter, cream, and corn syrup and whisk together over medium heat until the contents come to a light simmer.

10. Add in the chocolate and stir together until smooth.

11. Shift the mixture to a large, shallow bowl. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes, then whisk. Back in the freezer for 15 minutes and whisk again. Fifteen more minutes in the freezer and whisk again. Each time the frosting should get lighter and thicker (such as the texture of frosting should be). Depending on how cold your freezer was or how warm the mixture when you first put it in, you may need another freezer/whisk cycle.

12. Take about 1/3 of the frosting and spread over the top of the cake you leveled, making an even layer on the inside. Top with the other cake, then frost the outside evenly.

If nothing else, you'll never go back to store-bought frosting again. And if this cake is a complete success, you'll have a very successful first date.

Girlfriend-worthy Birthday Cake with Strawberries and Cream

What better time to showcase your culinary abilities than an extra-special occasion like a loved one's birthday?

This past month I celebrated my girlfriend's birthday with her for the very first time. Obviously, this was my chance to show off. But I was nervous. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these things. Everything had to be just right. The girlfriend is a rather fantastic cook herself (her strawberry shortcakes with fresh whipped cream played a key role in the winning of my affections). And she had requested something vague yet specific: a cake that was dense, rather than light and airy, and one that would have whipped cream and strawberries on top.

No problem, I told her, and went off to Google any number of variations on "dense cake recipe," followed by browsing all my favorite food blogs for trusted cake recipes, followed by browsing articles on food science to determine what made cakes dense so I could ensure I got the proper result.

It was a tricky process. Most cakes garnished with cream and fruit were very light and very airy, like angel food cake, or close to it. Chocolate cake recipes were often dense, but definitely not what she had asked for.

Finally I found the one. The recipe fit the requirements but also intrigued me: it called for no butter or shortening at all, yet it promised to produce a moist and tender and cakey cake. The secret is in the heavy cream: the fat of the cream replaces the fat of the butter that most cakes rely on for texture and flavor.

This cake came out exactly right. It was everything I had hoped for and more-- and the ingredients and instructions were refreshingly straightforward.

The cream in the cake also makes it an ideal base for topping with whipped cream and strawberries. The girlfriend and I slathered the whipped cream all over it to beautiful effect, and we savored the moist, rich results (no pictures were taken before we devoured it).

Girlfriend-worthy Cream Cake
via Food Loves Writing

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until thick and bright yellow; then add sugar and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Beat alternately with the cream into the egg mixture, a little at a time. Batter will be very thick.

Spread batter into the two cake pans. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Loosen cakes by running a spatula or butter knife around the edges of the pans, tap the pans sharply once, and let cool.

Whipped cream and strawberries:
3 cups whipped cream
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
2 T white sugar
strawberries, or other berries or fruit, sliced, at room temperature

Do not make the whipped cream until just before the cakes are done and cooled completely. Otherwise, your whipped cream will turn right back into cream. (Stick the cakes in the fridge for a while if you're impatient or short on time.) While the cakes are baking, put a metal mixing bowl in the fridge or freezer to chill it. The cream will whip faster that way.

Set out some strawberries (or other berries if you so desire) so they'll be at room temperature and more flavorful. Biting into cold strawberries is less fun for everyone.

When ready to make the whipped cream, pour heavy cream (we used a pint and a half, or 3 cups, but we like whipped cream in copious amounts) and extract into the pre-chilled bowl and beat with electric mixer. (Whipping cream by hand is possible, but not advisable unless you really like taking half an hour to make it.) When cream thickens, add some white sugar (2 to 3 tablespoons) and continue to beat at high speed until thick and whippy. (You'll know.) Take the cakes, invert them, and frost/assemble the layers, arranging the strawberries on top of the whipped cream.

(I've seen complicated instructions on how to trim layer cakes so they have a straight edge, but here you really don't need to bother. The whipped cream will fill out any uneven parts very nicely.)