chocolate « (y)our food choices™

This has been our summer of s’mores. It began in early June with a campfire and a family week in the mountains. On that trip, we even found ourselves manning a s’mores table at a race expo in West Yellowstone. We were up to our elbows in sticky melted marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate and graham cracker crumbs. Still, we could have eaten more of them.

Before summer gets away from us, we’re spending some weekend time baking up this s’mores-inspired cake. The result is a tender graham cracker cake, a thick layer of rich chocolate ganache, and toasty “marshmallow fluff” frosting. Summer on a cake stand.

We’ve taken some liberties with this one. The chocolate is dark and the fluffy white frosting isn’t what it looks like. Instead of whipping up a traditional marshmallow cream, we’ve whipped up a bit of aquafaba (seriously cool stuff), sweetened it with sugar and lathered it on the cake. A kitchen blowtorch makes toasting a snap.

If you’re not familiar with aquafaba, welcome to one of 2016’s biggest food trends. Aquafaba is essentially the brainchild of some very clever French and American food geeks who figured out that the liquid in a can of garbanzo beans contained enough of certain bean proteins that it could be whipped like egg whites to create foam. As it turns out, aquafaba is more than just a passable substitute for egg whites. Aquafaba foam is more stable for longer periods of time and at a wider range of temperatures. It’s also much harder to over whip and break because it doesn’t dry out quickly. It can be flavored and colored to suit the use (think meringue, French macaroons), pavlovas, etc.). And, it’s also vegan. Although, that doesn’t seem to matter to us too much since we’re using butter, eggs, and cream in the cake and ganache recipes. However, we’re always game to try the latest food trends and incorporate them into our recipe repertoire.

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S’mores Cake
one 6-inch cake with a 6-pack of cupcakes

Graham Cracker Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs, finely ground
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2/3 cup kefir
2 tsp vanilla

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Aquafaba Marshmallow Fluff

Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour a 6″ cake round and line with parchment. Grease and flour, or use cupcake papers, for 6-7 muffin spaces. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Sift through a fine sieve and slowly push through most of the graham and flour until only small graham cracker crumbs are left. Add the crumbs to the flour mixture and set aside.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth.
Add sugars and beat on med-high until pale and fluffy (2-3mins).
Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.

Alternate adding flour mixture and kefir, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of kefir). Fully incorporating after each addition. Do not over-mix.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pans. Smooth the top with a spatula and gently whack the pans against the counter to evenly distribute and release any air bubbles.
Bake the cupcakes for 12 minutes then rotate the pan and bake another 12 minutes or until the cupcakes bounce back from a light touch. For the 6-inch cake. Bake for approx. 40 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.

Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10 mins. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and cake to loosen. Gently remove the cakes from the pans, set on racks and allow to fully cool before continuing.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

5.25 ounces dark chocolate (1 1/2 bars TJ’s 3.5 ounce dark chocolate bars)
4 ounces heavy cream
2 tablespoon soften butter
pinch of salt

Chop the dark chocolate and place it in a heat proof bowl. In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat bring the heavy cream to just about a boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate, add a pinch of salt, and let sit for a minute or two, then whisk the chocolate and cream together. Once all the chocolate is incorporated, add the butter.

Allow the ganache to cool at room temperature for a couple of hours or in the fridge for about 30 minutes before continuing.

Aquafaba Marshmallow Fluff
(adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie)

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup ultra fine (baker’s) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Drain the garbanzo beans into a bowl with a lid. Use the garbanzo beans for another use. Refrigerate the bean water over night. We think chilling it makes for a shorter whipping time.

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or using a handheld mixer, add the refrigerated bean water and cream of tartar to the mixing bowl and mix on medium-high speed. Once double in volume, add the ultra fine sugar and vanilla. Whisk until peaks reach desired stiffness. The bean water seems to hold up well to over-mixing.

Assembling the cakes:

Split the 6 inch layer cake in half and add 2/3 of the chocolate ganache to the split layer. Spread until to the border of the cake and top with the other split layered cake. Spread a thin crumb coat over the sides of the cake. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, or up to a day or two. Freeze the cake at that point for up to a month before frosting.

Top the cake with a very big dollop of the fluff. Using an off set spatula, smooth over the top and sides using swishing with flourishes to the cake. This is an excellent beginner decorator frosting.

Cupcakes:

With the rest of the ganache, divide between 6 or 7 balls (depending on how many cupcakes are left). Gently and quickly roll the balls between hands. Freeze until ready to use.

With a melon baller, scope a small amount of cake out of the top center of the cupcake. Place the frozen ganache in the hole. Frost the cupcake in a variety of ways, with a pastry bag, using a big ice cream scoop, or just a spooned dollop on top. Toast the marshmallow using a home creme brûlée kit or a more toolbox-type blowtorch. A quick sit under the broiler may work also to get some color on the fluff, but it could also melt the chocolate. Who knows?

We’re combining two of the most sacred national holidays Pecan Torte Day and Chocolate Pecan Pie Day into one, with a little booze. And in preparation for the upcoming 5th Annual San Francisco Craft Spirits Carnival, where we’ll be serving up these spirited treats, we’re returning to Jason’s springtime adventure in mass-produced “Bulleit Bites” (bourbon pecan mini-pies) with these boozy beauties. Bulleit Bourbon inspires this chocolate and whiskey-spiked variation of a Southern favorite, pecan pie.

In keeping with the whiskey mash, the pastry includes a mix of corn, rye, and barley flours, as well as a little all-purpose flour. A little adjustment was needed to create the larger pictured here instead of the small bite-sized ones we’ll be making for the carnival crowd.

The crust gets pre-baked with pie weights to insure it is flakey and fully baked. The raw pecans and chocolate are then added with just a little coating of the bourbon caramel. More caramel is added every five minutes of baking to assure that not only are these the most alcoholic pecan pies you’ll ever taste, but that the nuts and chocolate mix together to create a chewy and crunchy concoction.

The squeeze bottle in the pictures was unnecessary for the two tarts. The bourbon, brown sugar, and salt can easily be mixed in a small bowl. The resulting flavors are more complex and nutty. And adding the caramel base in drizzles throughout the baking process ensures the final tart isn’t a parched, dried out mess.

If you think the recipe is intimidating or if you just prefer to eat these tarts instead of baking them yourselves, you’re in luck. In the next couple of months we’ll be fine tuning our next culinary venture, Cheeky Bakery (website is currently under construction) right out of our small one-assed kitchen. We’ll be taking orders for these bites and a few other baked items, so stay tuned!

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Chocolate Pecan Bulleit Tarts
Makes two small tarts with a little extra dough

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons corn flour
1/2 tablespoon rye flour
1/2 tablespoon barley flour
3/4 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, grated and frozen
1/2 teaspoon bourbon whiskey
1/4 teaspooon vanilla
2 tablespoons ice water, plus more as needed

Mix flours, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add grated frozen butter to the bowl along with the flours and sprinkle bourbon and vanilla over the top. Using one hand and a plastic scraper, mix flour, butter, and water until the dough comes together when squeezing it into a fist. The dough should not be wet.

Place the dough on a sheet of plastic and shape it into a disc. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before continuing. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees while chilling the disc. Cut the disc in half and roll out the disc until it’s 1/8-1/4″ thick. Place the rolled dough over the tart shell and press the dough into the shell, pressing it into the corners and trimming off the top of the dough to make it look uniformed. Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork and place some crumpled parchment paper over the top of the shell, then add pie weights (or beans) to the shell. Freeze for ten minutes before baking.

Take the shell out of the freezer and place it into the oven with the pie weights still covering the bottom. Bake for 7 minutes, then take off the pie weights and bake for another 3 minutes. Remove the crusts from the oven.

Chocolate Pecan Filling
1/2 cup chopped raw pecans
1.75 ounces good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup Bulleit Bourbon
1 1/2 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
pinch of kosher salt

Combine pecan and chocolate in medium bowl, set aside. Combine the brown sugar, bourbon, heavy cream, and salt into a small bowl, whisk until there are no lumps.

Add two tablespoons of the caramel to the chocolate and pecans, and mix. Divide the chocolate and pecans into the prebaked shells. Place the shells back in the oven and bake for five minutes. Remove the pies from the oven and drizzle one tablespoon of the caramel over each tart. Place back in the oven and bake another five minutes. Continue adding the caramel every five minutes during baking until all the caramel is in the tarts.

Once completely baked, remove from the oven and allow to rest in the tart pan for at least 15 minutes before removing. Allow to cool completely, about an hour, before serving.