From Amazon
From the "mix-and-dump" variety to the exquisitely layered and filled Marjolaine, Michele Urvater's Chocolate Cake makes sure that no matter how much time you have or your level of kitchen experience--whether you prefer sweet to bitter chocolate, whether you're looking for something fancy to impress or something easy to make someone happy--you will find a chocolate cake to fit the bill in this book.
Urvater has both studied and taught the culinary arts, and readers reap the benefits of her knowledge. She begins with a clear and informative chapter on ingredients, one on baking equipment, and one on techniques, and then organizes the recipes from simple to most complex. Because they are all chocolate cakes, chapters are divided by technique. Plain and Easy Batter Cakes include easy favorites like the Classic Brownie, with its crispy crunchy top protecting a moist and chewy interior, and a Chocolate Pudding Cake, a soufflé-like cake on top of a custardy layer--heavenly when warm from the oven. A short chapter on cheesecakes gets creative with smooth and silky creations such as the Berry White Chocolate Cheesecake. Butter and Shortened Cakes start with the Dependable Chocolate Pound Cake with numerous variations, and move on to the most delectable, delicious, and easy-to-make Chocolate Banana Tea Cake. Rich and moist, studded with chocolate chips, nuts, and dried fruit, it is with great pleasure that we read that it's "fabulous for breakfast." Urvater continues to tempt with foam cakes, biscuit cakes, individual cakes, flourless cakes, and icings, and then explains a number of fancy decorative techniques like Caramel Shards and Meringue Mushrooms.
Even though everything is chocolate, the varieties are endless. With 150 recipes for desserts like Streusel-Woven Chocolate Coffee Cake, Minted Chocolate Cake, White Chocolate Flourless Cake with Lemon, and the Gianduja (an aromatic hazelnut praline and chocolate "creamy concoction"), no chocolate lover should be without this delectably chocolate volume. --Leora Y. Bloom
From Library Journal
Urvater is well known for her "Monday to Friday" cookbook series and the accompanying Food Network show. But at the age of 50, she signed on for the one-year pastry arts program at the French Culinary Institute in New York, which in turn led to this baking book. She begins with a thorough introduction covering equipment, terms and techniques, and ingredients, followed by dozens of recipes for chocolate cakes of all types, from Boozy Mud Cake and The Brownie Torte to the Marzipan Lover's Dream Cake. Recipes are graded by level of difficulty; some of the three-star recipes come from pastry chefs, but there are many that will be easy even for the novice baker. There are also delectable recipes for frostings, fillings, and sauces, as well as a detailed section on decoration and garnishes. Highly recommended. [Main Selection of The Good Cook.]
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Chocolate cake is America’s favorite dessert, from fudgy brownies to mile-high layer cakes. Now, virtually every rendition of this best-loved dessert is presented in one tempting volume–more than 150 cakes for every occasion.
Bestselling cookbook author and pastry chef Michele Urvater has collected and reinterpreted the finest recipes from American and European baking traditions. Here are easy homemade classics such as old-fashioned Devil’s Food Cake and Buttermilk Chocolate Cake as well as more challenging pastry-shop fare such as Sacher Torte, Hungarian Dobos Torte, and a festive Double Chocolate Christmas Log. There are heirloom cakes that date to the beginning of the last century and desserts as up-to-the-minute as individual warm chocolate cakes.
Urvater guides bakers of all skill levels through a wealth of original and tempting variations on the standards, such as Pecan Bourbon Chocolate Cake or Hawaiian Coconut Cake with White Chocolate Ganache. And a plethora of fillings, icings, buttercreams, and glazes allows for nearly endless mixing and matching of layers and frostings.
Each recipe has a designated level of difficulty, so even the novice baker will be able to achieve instant success–and chocolate gratification. Meticulous recipes along with advice on advance preparation, serving, decoration, and storage all make this comprehensive tribute to the ultimate dessert a book that belongs in every baker’s library.
Bestselling cookbook author and pastry chef Michele Urvater has collected and reinterpreted the finest recipes from American and European baking traditions. Here are easy homemade classics such as old-fashioned Devil’s Food Cake and Buttermilk Chocolate Cake as well as more challenging pastry-shop fare such as Sacher Torte, Hungarian Dobos Torte, and a festive Double Chocolate Christmas Log. There are heirloom cakes that date to the beginning of the last century and desserts as up-to-the-minute as individual warm chocolate cakes.
Urvater guides bakers of all skill levels through a wealth of original and tempting variations on the standards, such as Pecan Bourbon Chocolate Cake or Hawaiian Coconut Cake with White Chocolate Ganache. And a plethora of fillings, icings, buttercreams, and glazes allows for nearly endless mixing and matching of layers and frostings.
Each recipe has a designated level of difficulty, so even the novice baker will be able to achieve instant success–and chocolate gratification. Meticulous recipes along with advice on advance preparation, serving, decoration, and storage all make this comprehensive tribute to the ultimate dessert a book that belongs in every baker’s library.
About the Author
Michele Urvater is the author of the bestselling Monday-to-Friday cookbook series and former host of the TVFN program of the same name. A baking and culinary graduate of New York City Technical College, she began her career sharing a single chef’s job with two other women in a small restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She then worked as a chef in a private corporate dining room and taught cooking classes before beginning her second career as a cookbook writer. Her third career began just a couple of years ago, when she fell in love with the pastry arts and returned to school to earn a diploma as a pastry chef from the esteemed French Culinary Institute.
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PART ONE
Ingredients, Equipment, and Techniques
INGREDIENTS
HOW DELICIOUS YOUR cakes taste and how well they come out depends on the quality of the ingredients and how you handle them. I think about ingredients in two categories: those like eggs, butter, sugar, and flour that are essential to the structure and flavor of the cake, and those like spices, nuts, and vanilla extract that are "add-ins" for flavor and texture.
EGGS
All the recipes in this book were tested with U.S. Grade AA or Grade A large eggs, which weigh about 1.67 ounces each out of the shell or 2 ounces in the shell.
Eggs are a most amazing and perfect food, essential to the art of baking. They are part of the liquid content of the cake, and their protein coagulates so that they bind the ingredients together as they give structure to the cake. They help cakes rise as well as contribute to color, nutrition, and, of course, flavor.
Egg yolks are natural emulsifiers so they help to produce smooth batters, which in turn help in the leavening and texture of the finished cake. They are rich in fat, which tenderizes the cake because the fat weakens ("shortens") the gluten strands in the flour. The fat in the yolks is also what thickens custards, sauces, and fillings.
Egg whites, too, have a unique function in cake-making: They are rich in albumen so they can be stretched enough to hold in air bubbles when beaten, which is why they are essential to the structure of angel food and chiffon cakes.
There is no difference between brown and white eggs in terms of nutrition and other properties; in fact, the only difference between them is the pigment in the shells, which varies according to the breed of chicken. In some parts of the country, brown eggs are more expensive because they are less popular, so you should buy what is freshest and cheapest.
Buying and Storing Eggs
Eggs have recently been implicated in salmonella poisoning, so the American Egg Board recommends you take special care in their handling. Check the expiration date on the carton and make sure the eggs are clean and without cracks. Refrigerate the eggs immediately when you get them home and store them in the carton toward the back wall of the refrigerator, not in the door where they deteriorate more quickly because of the temperature swings that come from opening and closing the refrigerator door.
Whole eggs out of the shell can be stored in a covered jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To freeze whole eggs, first stir them gently to blend without incorporating air, and freeze them in a container, leaving 1-2 inch of headroom at the top, for up to 9 months.
Store egg yolks in the refrigerator, by keeping them covered with water in a glass jar so they don't dry out, but use them within 2 days. You cannot freeze whole egg yolks because, upon thawing, they turn into an unusable sticky gel. To freeze them correctly, first pierce each yolk gently with a toothpick, then combine each 1-4 cup of yolks with 1 teaspoon of sugar if you are going to use them in sweet dishes or with 1-8 teaspoon of salt if you are going to use them in savory ones. Transfer them to a container with a tight-fitting lid, leaving 1-2 inch of headroom for expansion, and freeze for up to 9 months.
Store leftover egg whites in the refrigerator in a covered glass jar for up to a week, or freeze them for up to a year. Be sure to thaw them in the refrigerator, however, before using, and don't refreeze them.
Dried Egg Whites
These are dehydrated egg whites that have been pasteurized so they are safe to eat and great to use in situations where you don't cook the egg whites. I use them only for crystallizing flowers.
Handling Eggs in Baking
THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE: Before baking, other ingredients should be between 68°F and 70°F, but eggs should be even a bit warmer. Warm eggs behave more efficiently: Egg whites whip up to a greater volume and egg yolks emulsify more readily. Remove the eggs from the refrigerator about 20 minutes before you are ready to assemble the batter, but if you forget, then set the whole eggs, in their shells, in a bowl of warm water and they will be ready to use within minutes.
ADDING WHOLE EGGS TO A BATTER: When one of my recipes instructs you to "add the eggs one at a time," please don't crack them open right into the batter. To make sure you don't get any shell or blood spots in the batter, crack the egg into a small bowl, then add the egg to the batter. If there are large blood spots in an egg, discard it.
TO SEPARATE EGGS: Even though eggs should be at room temperature when you add them to a cake batter, they are easier to separate when cold because the yolk is less likely to run into the white. When I need separated eggs, I separate them while cold, then leave the egg whites and egg yolks to come to room temperature. As they are coming to room temperature, set a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the egg yolks so they don't develop a surface skin and crust over.
To crack open an egg, tap it gently in the center with the back of a knife. Separate the two shell halves along the crack and let the egg white drip into a bowl while you pass the yolk back and forth between the two shell halves. A messier way but less likely to break the yolks is to tap open the egg and let it drop into your slightly cupped hand. Let the egg white drip through your slightly opened fingers while the yolk remains in your hand. A final way is to use an egg separator, which is a little contraption that catches the yolk in the center while the egg white slips through side openings.
Even though I have never seen a professional chef work this way, I recommend that the home baker separate eggs over three bowls to ensure there is no trace of fat or egg yolk in the egg whites, because fat inhibits aeration and foaming. Begin by cracking open the egg over one bowl, then transfer the egg yolk to the second bowl and the egg white to the third. Repeat this procedure with the second egg over the first bowl and continue until all the eggs are separated. The reason it is wise to work this way is that if you have almost finished separating a batch of eggs and accidentally get some yolk from the last egg into the whites, the entire batch of whites will be lost. However, if you work over three bowls and get some yolk into a single egg white, then you can either discard the egg or save it for some other use.
BEATING AND "BURNING" EGG YOLKS: When you beat egg yolks with sugar, begin by beating the yolks on their own to break them up, then add the sugar as you continue to beat. If the recipe advises you to beat the yolks with the sugar until "ribbons" form, that means beating them on medium-high speed until they turn a pale lemon yellow and, when you lift up the beaters, the batter falls back onto itself in flat "ribbon" shapes.
Before adding egg yolks to a batter, don't premix them with other ingredients such as vanilla extract or lemon zest because they will curdle or "burn" as the French like to say. And finally, add sugar to egg yolks at the last possible moment because if you combine egg yolks and sugar in advance and let them stand on the counter for a while, again the yolks will "burn" or turn grainy.
Whipping Egg Whites: The Different Stages
Learning how to whip egg whites properly and make a meringue (whipped egg whites with sugar) is crucial to the art of making cakes. If you underbeat the egg whites, your cakes won't have the texture you want, nor rise enough. Conversely, if you overbeat the egg whites, your cakes might collapse in the oven.
In this book I refer to several stages of beating egg whites, and each is described in the recipe by a crucial word or phrase that is explained more fully below.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
• Beat the egg whites in a nonreactive metal bowl made of stainless steel or copper, but not of aluminum, which reacts with eggs, nor of plastic, which doesn’t provide enough friction to whip up the eggs. Glass and porcelain work fine but are breakable.
• Make sure the bowl in which you are going to beat the whites is absolutely spotless, dry, and grease-free because fat inhibits the proper aeration of the egg whites.
• Make sure the egg whites are at room temperature so they can incorporate as much air as possible when you whip them. (A trick to maximize the amount of air you incorporate is to first warm the egg whites in a bowl set over simmering water, then start to whip them.)
• Use an electric mixer, either stationary or handheld, for whipping up more than one egg white. Whipping egg whites by hand requires a very strong arm and the patience of Job. When I have only one egg white to whip, I do it by hand, using a large balloon whisk, because it's faster and easier than using an electric mixer.
THE STAGES
Stage # 1: Beat until frothy. Using an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachments, beat on low speed until the whites have large bubbles in them, are still somewhat yellowish clear in color, and look "frothy."
Stage # 2: Beat until soft peaks form. When the egg whites are frothy, add the salt and cream of tartar as indicated in the recipe, increase the speed to medium, and beat until soft peaks form. Salt breaks up the albumen in the whites so they whip up more easily, and the cream of tartar acts as a stabilizer to prevent the beaten egg whites from deflating too quickly. At the soft peak stage, the egg whites are much whiter than before, the bubbles are smaller, more like the foam in a head of beer, and when you lift up the beaters, the egg whites form peaks, the tips of which droop.
Stage # 3: Beat until stiff and glossy peaks form. To get to this stage you increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the egg whites are stiff and, when you lift up the beaters, form stiff peaks, the tips of which point almost straig...
Ingredients, Equipment, and Techniques
INGREDIENTS
HOW DELICIOUS YOUR cakes taste and how well they come out depends on the quality of the ingredients and how you handle them. I think about ingredients in two categories: those like eggs, butter, sugar, and flour that are essential to the structure and flavor of the cake, and those like spices, nuts, and vanilla extract that are "add-ins" for flavor and texture.
EGGS
All the recipes in this book were tested with U.S. Grade AA or Grade A large eggs, which weigh about 1.67 ounces each out of the shell or 2 ounces in the shell.
Eggs are a most amazing and perfect food, essential to the art of baking. They are part of the liquid content of the cake, and their protein coagulates so that they bind the ingredients together as they give structure to the cake. They help cakes rise as well as contribute to color, nutrition, and, of course, flavor.
Egg yolks are natural emulsifiers so they help to produce smooth batters, which in turn help in the leavening and texture of the finished cake. They are rich in fat, which tenderizes the cake because the fat weakens ("shortens") the gluten strands in the flour. The fat in the yolks is also what thickens custards, sauces, and fillings.
Egg whites, too, have a unique function in cake-making: They are rich in albumen so they can be stretched enough to hold in air bubbles when beaten, which is why they are essential to the structure of angel food and chiffon cakes.
There is no difference between brown and white eggs in terms of nutrition and other properties; in fact, the only difference between them is the pigment in the shells, which varies according to the breed of chicken. In some parts of the country, brown eggs are more expensive because they are less popular, so you should buy what is freshest and cheapest.
Buying and Storing Eggs
Eggs have recently been implicated in salmonella poisoning, so the American Egg Board recommends you take special care in their handling. Check the expiration date on the carton and make sure the eggs are clean and without cracks. Refrigerate the eggs immediately when you get them home and store them in the carton toward the back wall of the refrigerator, not in the door where they deteriorate more quickly because of the temperature swings that come from opening and closing the refrigerator door.
Whole eggs out of the shell can be stored in a covered jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To freeze whole eggs, first stir them gently to blend without incorporating air, and freeze them in a container, leaving 1-2 inch of headroom at the top, for up to 9 months.
Store egg yolks in the refrigerator, by keeping them covered with water in a glass jar so they don't dry out, but use them within 2 days. You cannot freeze whole egg yolks because, upon thawing, they turn into an unusable sticky gel. To freeze them correctly, first pierce each yolk gently with a toothpick, then combine each 1-4 cup of yolks with 1 teaspoon of sugar if you are going to use them in sweet dishes or with 1-8 teaspoon of salt if you are going to use them in savory ones. Transfer them to a container with a tight-fitting lid, leaving 1-2 inch of headroom for expansion, and freeze for up to 9 months.
Store leftover egg whites in the refrigerator in a covered glass jar for up to a week, or freeze them for up to a year. Be sure to thaw them in the refrigerator, however, before using, and don't refreeze them.
Dried Egg Whites
These are dehydrated egg whites that have been pasteurized so they are safe to eat and great to use in situations where you don't cook the egg whites. I use them only for crystallizing flowers.
Handling Eggs in Baking
THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE: Before baking, other ingredients should be between 68°F and 70°F, but eggs should be even a bit warmer. Warm eggs behave more efficiently: Egg whites whip up to a greater volume and egg yolks emulsify more readily. Remove the eggs from the refrigerator about 20 minutes before you are ready to assemble the batter, but if you forget, then set the whole eggs, in their shells, in a bowl of warm water and they will be ready to use within minutes.
ADDING WHOLE EGGS TO A BATTER: When one of my recipes instructs you to "add the eggs one at a time," please don't crack them open right into the batter. To make sure you don't get any shell or blood spots in the batter, crack the egg into a small bowl, then add the egg to the batter. If there are large blood spots in an egg, discard it.
TO SEPARATE EGGS: Even though eggs should be at room temperature when you add them to a cake batter, they are easier to separate when cold because the yolk is less likely to run into the white. When I need separated eggs, I separate them while cold, then leave the egg whites and egg yolks to come to room temperature. As they are coming to room temperature, set a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the egg yolks so they don't develop a surface skin and crust over.
To crack open an egg, tap it gently in the center with the back of a knife. Separate the two shell halves along the crack and let the egg white drip into a bowl while you pass the yolk back and forth between the two shell halves. A messier way but less likely to break the yolks is to tap open the egg and let it drop into your slightly cupped hand. Let the egg white drip through your slightly opened fingers while the yolk remains in your hand. A final way is to use an egg separator, which is a little contraption that catches the yolk in the center while the egg white slips through side openings.
Even though I have never seen a professional chef work this way, I recommend that the home baker separate eggs over three bowls to ensure there is no trace of fat or egg yolk in the egg whites, because fat inhibits aeration and foaming. Begin by cracking open the egg over one bowl, then transfer the egg yolk to the second bowl and the egg white to the third. Repeat this procedure with the second egg over the first bowl and continue until all the eggs are separated. The reason it is wise to work this way is that if you have almost finished separating a batch of eggs and accidentally get some yolk from the last egg into the whites, the entire batch of whites will be lost. However, if you work over three bowls and get some yolk into a single egg white, then you can either discard the egg or save it for some other use.
BEATING AND "BURNING" EGG YOLKS: When you beat egg yolks with sugar, begin by beating the yolks on their own to break them up, then add the sugar as you continue to beat. If the recipe advises you to beat the yolks with the sugar until "ribbons" form, that means beating them on medium-high speed until they turn a pale lemon yellow and, when you lift up the beaters, the batter falls back onto itself in flat "ribbon" shapes.
Before adding egg yolks to a batter, don't premix them with other ingredients such as vanilla extract or lemon zest because they will curdle or "burn" as the French like to say. And finally, add sugar to egg yolks at the last possible moment because if you combine egg yolks and sugar in advance and let them stand on the counter for a while, again the yolks will "burn" or turn grainy.
Whipping Egg Whites: The Different Stages
Learning how to whip egg whites properly and make a meringue (whipped egg whites with sugar) is crucial to the art of making cakes. If you underbeat the egg whites, your cakes won't have the texture you want, nor rise enough. Conversely, if you overbeat the egg whites, your cakes might collapse in the oven.
In this book I refer to several stages of beating egg whites, and each is described in the recipe by a crucial word or phrase that is explained more fully below.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
• Beat the egg whites in a nonreactive metal bowl made of stainless steel or copper, but not of aluminum, which reacts with eggs, nor of plastic, which doesn’t provide enough friction to whip up the eggs. Glass and porcelain work fine but are breakable.
• Make sure the bowl in which you are going to beat the whites is absolutely spotless, dry, and grease-free because fat inhibits the proper aeration of the egg whites.
• Make sure the egg whites are at room temperature so they can incorporate as much air as possible when you whip them. (A trick to maximize the amount of air you incorporate is to first warm the egg whites in a bowl set over simmering water, then start to whip them.)
• Use an electric mixer, either stationary or handheld, for whipping up more than one egg white. Whipping egg whites by hand requires a very strong arm and the patience of Job. When I have only one egg white to whip, I do it by hand, using a large balloon whisk, because it's faster and easier than using an electric mixer.
THE STAGES
Stage # 1: Beat until frothy. Using an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachments, beat on low speed until the whites have large bubbles in them, are still somewhat yellowish clear in color, and look "frothy."
Stage # 2: Beat until soft peaks form. When the egg whites are frothy, add the salt and cream of tartar as indicated in the recipe, increase the speed to medium, and beat until soft peaks form. Salt breaks up the albumen in the whites so they whip up more easily, and the cream of tartar acts as a stabilizer to prevent the beaten egg whites from deflating too quickly. At the soft peak stage, the egg whites are much whiter than before, the bubbles are smaller, more like the foam in a head of beer, and when you lift up the beaters, the egg whites form peaks, the tips of which droop.
Stage # 3: Beat until stiff and glossy peaks form. To get to this stage you increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the egg whites are stiff and, when you lift up the beaters, form stiff peaks, the tips of which point almost straig...
