Today Fiber Took the Backseat

This weekend I put all fiber work on hold. Why? Because in my world CHOCOLATE trumps everything.

A good friend found his true love out of the country, got married and brought her home to meet everyone. Instead of a big party, he wanted a couple open houses where all his friends could come over & meet her. Knowing of and having sampled my little past time of making decadent desserts, he asked me to make a "centerpiece dessert" for each day of their open houses. That meant I had to come up with 2 desserts that would serve lots of people, taste like a dream and hold up for at least a day. My friend is not a big "cake" fan (like myself), so I wanted to stay away from traditional cake-like desserts. That knocked out one of my favorite desserts "Guinness Chocolate Cake". Yes, it is full of Guiness beer.


At my house all desserts lead to Nigella Lawson. In order to insure baking success I chose two of my favorite Nigella recipes, Chocolate Meringue Truffle Cake (CMTC) & Chocolate Orange Cake (COC). Tried and true, they are both from Feast, my favorite NL cookbook.

The CMTC looked a bit thin because my springform pan is a 10", my 9" is missing a bottom, and I can't quite justify owning more than 2 springform pans. To compensate I made a chocolate ganache and slathered the dessert in it, thickening it by at least 1/4". I used fondant & chocolate to make the shapes and applied lots of glitter to it all. I couldn't cut into the dessert when guests started arriving, it was too beautiful. So, Scott & I departed leaving instructions to cut the cake into thin slices when I was out of the house. The powerful richness of the truffle layer will hopefully stop the crowds in their tracks insuring that the very thin pieces will be enough for everyone.



The COC is the wettest cake I have ever made. There is no flour in it, just 1 entire orange boiled till it is almost translucent and pulverized in the food processor. Followed by 2 cups of ground almonds and 6 eggs. The remaining ingredients are immaterial. One day I would like to make it without the chocolate and let the orange & almonds stand on their own. But for now, the chocolate tops off the flavors to a tee. (Wipe that drool!) I decorated this cake with powdered sugar around a centerpiece of candied orange peels, gold dusted almonds and chocolate swirls.

It was hard to leave my little creations behind. Hopefully, they will be enjoyed by all.