Helen McCully's French Chocolate Torte

Helen McCully's French Chocolate Torte (Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 19.

After a long, dry summer, we are finally getting some much needed rain here in the Pacific Northwest. It is also much cooler, with highs in the 50s. Time to get back in the kitchen!

Here is a nice after-dinner dessert that is great with coffee. With only a few ingredients, it is not that difficult. The filling is composed of chocolate and ground almonds and it has a very nutty texture. Very rich - a small slice goes a long way!

You can decorate the cake with toasted almonds or chocolate-covered orange rind. I decided to use some raspberries that I had on hand and I made another Maida recipe for a simple raspberry sauce.

Helen McCully was the food editor of House Beautiful.

4 oz. semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup fine, dry bread crumbs
1 cup (5 oz.) almonds
1/4 lb. (1 stick) butter (softened)
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
Finely grated rind of 1 large orange

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and butter the paper. Dust with fine, dry bread crumbs.

Break the chocolate into small pieces and place it in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. (I have found the best way to do this is to bring the water to a boil and then turn off the heat. Cover the top of the boiler with a plate for a few minutes. Then remove the plate and stir the chocolate, which should be melted.) Set aside to cool slightly.

Place the bread crumbs and the almonds in a food processor and grind them together until fine (about 10-15 seconds). 

In a mixer, beat the butter slightly and gradually add the sugar. 

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well. The mixture will look curdled.

Add the melted chocolate, bread crumbs and almond mixture and beat until smooth.

Remove from the mixer and stir in the orange rind.

Transfer to the baking pan and smooth the top. Bake for 25 minutes. The center of the cake will appear soft and moist. This is ok.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes. Then slide a sharp knife around the perimeter and use another wire rack to invert. Peel off the parchment paper. Allow the cake to cool completely. (You can speed up the cooling process by placing it in the freezer after it has partially cooled.)

Place strips of parchment or wax paper around the edges of the cake plate to avoid a mess when frosting.

Glaze

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 oz. semisweet chocolate
2 oz. (1/2 stick) butter
2 tsp. honey
Optional: 1/4 cup toasted, slivered almonds or 6 pieces of chocolate-covered candied orange rind)

Place the chocolates, butter and honey in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water and stir until melted. Replace the hot water in the pan with ice water and continue to stir until the glaze is slightly thick. Do not let it harden.

Slowly pour the glaze over the center top of the cake. Use a spatula and spread it outward and around the sides of the cake. Remove the paper strips. Decorate the top of the cake with slivered almonds or candied orange rinds if desired (or you can use a sauce, like I did).

Fresh Raspberry Sauce

Fresh Raspberry Sauce (Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 495.

This is a simple sauce that is good when paired with chocolate cakes (I used it with French Chocolate Torte and and it was wonderful.

2 cups raspberries
2 TBSP. sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice

Puree the berries in a food processor and strain to remove the seeds. 

Mix in the sugar and lemon juice. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Whole Wheat Banana Bread (Source: Maida Heatter's Cakes (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed., pg. 256) 

I would be willing to bet that Banana Bread is one of the most popular recipes around. Here in the Pacific Northwest in late summer, zucchini bread is equally as popular when they begin to ripen. 

For a long time now, I've been using Flour's recipe for Banana Bread as so many people claim it to be the best. It is good, however, I have always found it to be really heavy and on more than one occasion, it did not bake properly (it does have 1/2 cup of oil). I've been on a King Arthur phase lately and I recently tried their Whole Wheat Banana Bread recipe and I think it was one of the best I've made. 

Now I've finally tried Maida's recipe which uses both whole wheat and white flour as well as buttermilk. It tastes a lot like the King Arthur recipe and is delicious. I do believe I like the King Arthur recipe the best.

And finally, here is an additional tip that I learned in the past but can't remember where I found it - Combine 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the cake before you put it in the oven. It makes a crunchy topping that brings it up a notch. Delicious!

1 cup sifted all-purpose whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. mace
1 1/3 cups mashed bananas (about 3-4 ripe bananas)
1/4 cup buttermilk
4 oz. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter or spray a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Sift together both flours, baking soda, salt and mace and set aside.

Combine the bananas and the buttermilk.

Cream the butter and add the vanilla and the sugar.

Add the egg and beat well.

On low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the banana and milk mixture.

Stir in the lemon rind and the nuts.

Turn into the pan and smooth the top. (Add the sugar and cinnamon mixture I mentioned in the intro for added deliciousness).

Bake 50-55 minutes until a tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before removing from the pan.