chocolate, raspberry and fudge... how a-maz-ing is that?!

Oh how I heart to bake. Especially cakes. Especially when they turn out and are beautiful and taste delicious... those are great days. Thursday was a great day.

I baked for The Whalesbone's 5 year anniversary party. I was given carte blanche... however was informed that Josh hearts all things chocolate. The more chocolate -- the better.

Done. I knew exactly which cake I was going to make. I've baked this specific cake recipe twice already; once with a peanut butter butter cream and covered in chocolate ganache (yes... you should moan). The second time with a cherry whipped cream filling and then covered in a chocolate fudge frosting (again... sighs or moans are acceptable).

I decided to hit it up with a fresh raspberry butter cream filling and then cover it in the chocolate fudge frosting. Double the chocolate impact, with the bright, tartness of the fresh raspberries to liven it up. S-U-C-C-E-S-S!

I played around with the original recipe (from smitten kitchen) since I was making 3 x 9-inch rounds and not 8-inch rounds. I love love love how this cake turns out... it is so moist (it puts a Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines cakes to shame) and rich... one thing, watch out, it's a little delicate. But don't let that put you off. It's awesome. I promise.

super moist chocolate cake
ingredients:
3 c. all-purpose flour
3 3/4 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (the richer the better)
3 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. neutral vegetable oil (I use sunflower oil)
1 1/2 c. sour cream
2 c. water
3 tbsp distilled white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Spray the base and sides of 3 x 9-inch round pans with some non-stick spray. Set aside.

Sift (yes, I've started sifting...) together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of your stand-mixer. Use your paddle attachment to combine well.

Add the oil and sour cream and continue to blend. Gradually beat in the water (I added it half a cup at a time) and then add the vinegar and vanilla. Grab your eggs and whisk them in a small bowl. Once whisked, add to the batter. Make sure that your batter is well blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Divide the batter evenly between the 3 pans. Bake for between 35 - 45 minutes... a wooden toothpick should come out almost clean: remember, this is a moist cake. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans on a wire rack (I let them sit for about 30 minutes). At that point, take them out of the pans and allow them to cool completely.

Simple eh? Yep. Now... you can either decide to wrap each layer really well in plastic wrap and stick them in the freezer to firm up OR you can work with them as they are. Your choice. If you freeze them, then take them out as you start on your butter cream -- that will give them a chance to thaw a little before icing them. Do whatever you are comfortable with.

I played around with my raspberry butter cream frosting, using fresh raspberries since I could pick them up in the market ;0)

I like to stack my cake layers before making the fudge frosting. It gives them a chance to sit a little... but that's just my preference.

Now for the chocolate fudge frosting. Probably the easiest thing ever. You only need two ingredients... sour cream and chocolate. That's it.

chocolate fudge frosting
ingredients:
13 oz bitter and semi-sweet chocolate combo, finely chopped
500 ml (one large container) of full-fat sour cream

Melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water, stir until smooth. Once melted, allow it to cool until it is just warm to the touch.

Grab a large spatula and fold in the sour cream -- only until no white streaks remain... otherwise the frosting becomes too thick. You know it's ready because it'll look really silky. Best to use it right away... but I've heard it's pretty awesome for dipping cookies in ;0)

At this point your cake should be filled with butter cream and staked. Grab your spatula and spread your frosting evenly over the entire thing - start at the top and spread out, the frosting will naturally slip to the sides for easy coverage.

I then "dressed" it up a bit by grabbing a small spoon, dipping it in water and making swirls all over it... super easy and everyone will be really impressed.

A perfect cake to celebrate some awesome people. oh... and the decorative strawberries are thanks to Kshonze :0)

Sweetness.

congratulations! you're 5 years old!

Let me tell you how to throw a surprise party ;0)

1. Gather a solid group of people... say, friends and family... Check
2. Buy some bubbly, grab some awesome catering and get some cake... triple check
3. Convince the people being surprised to show up... check!
4. Get the crowd to pay attention when said people arrive... we kinda dropped the ball on that one.

You might want a bit more context. The Whalesbone turned 5 on June 9th. Pretty awesome eh? I thought so. I was also super stoked to be invited to attend the celebratory lunch AND to bake the celebratory cake. Yep. That's right... I got to bake a cake (sweetness!)... recipe to follow ;0)

Friends and family gathered to celebrate Josh and Sherri's 5 years of success. The crowd was gathered, the balloons were hung, the bubbly was chilling... and in walked Josh (and Liam, aka Batman). We didn't jump out or yell surprise... we all kind of stared at each other, turned to Josh and stared some more... until Jen yelled "SURPRISE!" We got it right when Sherri walked in (it only took us a couple tries).

The lunch was catered by The Whalesbone catering - Kate (the caterer) supplied roasted vegetable sandwiches on focaccia, chicken and rhubarb on a cranberry nut bread, assortments of cheese, crostini, smoked salmon, scallops and olives... yeah. It was pretty rad.

And I baked a cake. Yep. A three-layered chocolate cake, filled with raspberry butter cream and covered in a chocolate fudge frosting. Yeah. That was pretty rad too.

I'm super stoked that I got to celebrate with the gang... I mean, even Barry, the first ever client was there. It was the bestest lunch break ever. And bubbly in the middle of the day is never a bad thing ;0)

Congrats guys! I look forward to making you another celebratory cake :0)

what the heck does manicuring a shallot mean?!

Friday night... I was nervous. Why? Check out my "to-do list":

1. whip and pipe brown butter
2. make a mignonette sauce... a lot of it

You're probably wondering why either of those things would make me a tad nervous... well, let me explain.

I am highly intimidated by piping bags and tips. When Emily and I decorated those wedding cupcakes, I had her re-pipe everything I had done... hers looked fluffier, taller, and just plain ol' prettier. Mine looked sad and flat. Not something you want at a wedding ;0)

I digress... On Friday night, Charlotte asked me to whip brown butter and then pipe it out. Although I heart the whipping part - it meant I got to use the industrial-sized stand mixer (super cool)... I really didn't heart the thought of having to pull out a piping bag... that is, until I got to use the large star tip. Seriously! That tip has alleviated all my fears associated with piping... check out the pictures...rows of brown butter, piped, ready to be chilled and then served.

I think I might say I enjoyed doing that as much as I enjoy making sundaes.

Now onto my second task... making a mignonette sauce. Charlotte showed me the recipe - and told me that I would be making it times 12! Yep. That's right. 12.

First thing to tackle - manicuring shallots. Well... I attempted to manicure the shallots, but didn't quite succeed. Manicuring means cutting the shallots into teeny, tiny pieces in 3 cuts of the knife. I diced. You know, when you chop it as finely as you can and then run your knife all over it again, making it even smaller? The difference... manicuring keeps the oils inside the shallot, dicing activates the oils. Basically, the flavours are different.

Back to the shallots. How many hours do you think it would take you to finely dice a large Ziploc bag full of shallots? It took me 3 hours (with some interruptions for sundae making)... 3 hours of slicing the shallots into 1/8 sized pieces. My goal is to be able to do this again by Christmas in half the time. Seriously. This time I finely diced. Next time I manicure.

You'll notice by the pictures that I showed you my step process:

-remove shallots from bag and place on cutting board
-cut in half
-slice horizontally and vertically
-create a pretty pile

Once my large (aren't they beautiful?) pile of shallots was prepared, I set about gathering my other ingredients: red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, red wine, Tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce. Another lesson... when you're making 16 quarts of mignonette sauce you need to use an entire bottle of Worcestershire sauce. I thought I'd throw that out there...cuz you never know when you'll need 16 quarts ;0)

Isn't it pretty? Charlotte gave me a thumbs up :0) Tasks completed... PLUS I got to invent my new favourite sundae...

vanilla ice cream / passionfruit coulis / brownie bits / sliced bananas / drizzle of chocolate ganache

Perfect ending to the evening... well... actually sitting around with a glass of wine upstairs with the crew was the prefect end, but that sundae sure did hit the spot!

i heart balsamic vinegar

Charlotte: "I'd like you to make 4 different vinaigrette's using balsamic vinegar. Use whatever flavours you want, different textures and consistencies, different oils... but I need 4 to taste test tonight."
Me: "Sure!"
Charlotte: "Whichever one I prefer will go on the new menu (starting Tuesday, June 1st)."
Me: "Seriously?! AWESOME!"

3 reasons why this request got me so excited:
1. I heart balsamic vinegar... like, I could drink it straight up and be perfectly happy.
2. I heart challenges... especially culinary challenges.
3. How cool that something I create could end up on the new menu? I think pretty darn cool.

I took some time to think about what I wanted to make... after all, I was asked make 4 different options! So I started off my evening working on some other things:

Cleaning out the fridge and then reorganizing it. Check out all those supplies lined up on the counter. Pretty awesome eh?! I heart getting to the Whalesbone on Friday nights' and getting to set-up the dessert station. Pulling out the sauces and toppings and organizing them so that I can quickly assemble the sundaes as the orders come through - LOVE IT!

Making mini donuts, dipping peppermint fillings in melted chocolate, doctoring up the flambeed bananas, cleaning the fresh berries for that nights fresh fruit option (raspberries, strawberries, pineapple) - don't those strawberries look so juicy and delicious? They were.

I then cleaned some more greens :0) It went waaaayyyyy better this time round - especially dealing with the dill. They seemed to cooperate with me better this time round.

I made some sundaes. I liked Davine's choice: 2 scoops ice cream / strawberry coulis / chocolate ganache / espresso syrup / fresh fruit... lots of it all chopped up. Pretty eh? I though so. Especially that line of ganache. Sigh.

Then I started on the vinaigrette's. Upstairs to the fridge for an egg, lemon, grapefruit, chives, garlic, Dijon mustard, creme fraiche. Back downstairs to pull out the balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, burnt honey, sugar, a selection of spices, and salt.

I started on the first option. I decided to call it India - since i used some garam masala and mustard seed. I thickened it up with some creme fraiche (rather than plain yogurt) and sweetened it with some brown sugar. It needed some lemon juice once I had added the balsamic vinegar and then the canola oil. This was a flavour profile that I would totally enjoy at home.

Number two was called Canadian - maple syrup was the star... along with the star anise that I ground up. Some garlic added a little flavour to it too... but other than salt, this was all about the maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. Again I used canola oil so that the oil wouldn't overpower the flavour of the other ingredients.

Third option was thick and creamy - a Dijon and garlic base, coupled with lemon juice and lemon zest, honey, balsamic vinegar and an egg yolk. I then slowly incorporated the extra virgin olive oil... a slow emulsion. Nice and thick. It still needed something... salt was added.. but I still (even today) think that it needed an extra kick of flavour. But it was nice and thick, super creamy and really consistent.

Finally, the fourth one, and my favourite to make, my citrus vinaigrette. Diced grapefruit, grapefruit juice, finely chopped chives, salt, honey and the extra virgin olive oil to balance the grapefruit with the balsamic vinegar.

I was super happy with what I had made and was excited to have the ladies blind taste test... BUT I did learn a couple lessons making these... although I heart the burnt honey on ice cream... it is completely wrong for the vinaigrette's. Just plain ol' honey would be much better. Secondly, I should have gone upstairs and taken some goodies from Charlotte and Jenna's work station - some green onions, other herbs... I would have created a more chunky dressing along with the others.

But... in the end, the ladies sampled them with some beautiful tomatoes and liked the ideas I came up with. They're going to work off one or two (perhaps creating a new combo?) of the vinaigrette's that I had them taste test and round it out... make it a little less bitter or not too sweet.

I still think it's AWESOME that one of my ideas is going to end up on the menu June 6th. Even a tweak idea is UBER COOL!

For those of you interested in finding out which vinaigrette is going to be on the menu - hit up the WBOH as of Tuesday.

Oh! And if you could have made one... what would you have made? Leave me a comment and let me know! I heart hearing from everyone!!!!

ode to Jenna & Kshonze

So... another week, another blog entry about the Whalesbone. I know... you must wonder if I ever go home? I'll admit... I do spend lots of time there... but you see, it's just so much fun. And I don't just mean the working part, I mean the people. I heart the crew.

You've already met Charlotte. She's the head Chef. And she's super cool. But there are lots of other super cool, awesome people that work there too. I want to introduce you to two of them: Jenna and Kshonze (or Kshonz-ay as Charlotte calls him).

Saturday night. Tasting menu. Jenna and Kshonze behind the saucier and me sitting directly in front of them. I think it's the best spot in the house - I get to chat with the Chefs and see what they're doing while eating some pretty amazing food. Yeah... incredible evening. Exceptional food.

You'll notice the blurry pictures of the two Chefs... it's because they move so fast! HA! Actually, just my playing with my camera. But I think the effect is pretty cool.

Notice how Jenna wears pearls while she works? She was also wearing "moderately" short-shorts... it gets really hot back there after all... you can't blame a girl for wanting to be comfortable while working. She also makes the best desserts. Like her peanut butter chocolate cheesecake. DECADENCE in a bite. I took a picture of my piece. Jenna's also the one who walked me through making chocolate ganache last Friday night. I heart her for that (and all her amazing talent).

Then there is Kshonze. The first time I worked at the Whalebone he and I hung out together in the prep kitchen. He taught me how to cut carrots. Seriously. He also let me make cake. I heart him just for that. And the fact that he is cool as a cucumber. Pretty cool eh?

My evening started off with some local bread, brown butter (a million sighs) and an assortment of oysters. East Coast and West Coast representation... B.C. oysters being my favourite of the evening. Kshonze got me some balsamic vinegar and we were good to go...

Jenna and Kshonze then created my tasting menu:

pickled beets and beans / seared albacore tuna / scallop ceviche / blue cheese ... OK the blue cheese just played off the beets and the seafood perfectly. And honestly, the fish was melt in your mouth tender. And doesn't the plate look pretty?

greens and radish / diced potatoes / spotted prawns / lobster tail ... two salads on the plate. Well, the block. You can see the trio getting plated... and then you can see my clean plate. Except for the prawn shells. So light and fresh. I heart lobster (thanks for listening to my request guys).

a shot of Sailor Jerry's spiced rum... it's gross. Seriously. The one thing I don't recommend at the WBOH. But... it'd be rude to refuse right? So down it went. Maybe it was meant to clean my palate for the next course.

fiddle heads / asparagus / beans / seared pacific salmon / white wine butter sauce ... the salmon was... in a word... perfection. The skin was crisp, the centre was tender and flaked apart. The sauce wasn't heavy, it was light and just drizzled the plate. The bed of greens still had a bite and tasted so fresh. I heart this course.

Pascale's vanilla ice cream / chocolate ganache / fresh fruit / salted peanuts ... I don't have a picture of the sundae. You keep seeing them and honestly, the picture just didn't turn out. I personally would have added more ganache... but that's just me ;0)

finally... I know, I know! I'm still eating!!!!

peanut butter chocolate cheesecake ... Jenna's decadent cake. It's dense and creamy with a kick of cinnamon in the filling. Jenna also made an oreo cookie crumb crust. Seriously!

This my friends, is why I keep going back to the WBOH. Clean flavours. Major taste. But really... it's the crew. They rock. I heart them. This is my ode to two of them.

Oh! I also added a picture of the Paella Valenciana... so that you can see what my paella portions look like when cooked ;0)

lobster, ganache and a whole lotta sundaes

Let me tell you about my Friday night... which means, let's talk the Whalesbone.

I arrived early and was able to enjoy the family meal (fried chicken, burgers, salad... delish!). Then Char and Jenna handed me my list of tasks.

1. Portion seafood for paella. No problem. See all that lobster tail? Yeah, I thought it was pretty darn awesome. Cut in half, grab a claw, some clams, some spotted prawns and mussels. Add all of that to the deliciousness of sausage, peas, rice... that's something I think everyone should check out when they stop by the restaurant.

2. Cut up dark purple beets. On it! I HEART beets!!!! And Char is all about it being organic and artisan... so not having to cut everything in small, precise pieces was fine by me :0)

3. Clean greens... a task I thought would be the simplest and it turned out to be a right pain... the miniature greens all over the place... and they took forever to dry (in order to be put away). I didn't heart that task.

4. Asparagus. Prep it by removing the woody ends and store it in water in 1 L containers. Easy as pie.

5. And finally... make ganache. Sigh. You'd think that would be the task I'd be most enthusiastic about... but you see, last week Jenna asked me to make ganache and I figured "no problem, I make ganache at home, I can make a batch for Jenna." Nope. I messed it up. I actually labeled my 1 L container the "fucked up chocolate ganache"... it was that bad. Jenna apparently went on to save it after I left. You could understand why I was tentative to make another batch. ESPECIALLY because it was going to cover a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for Adrienne's birthday (she works at the WBOY). The pressure was on.

Jenna walked me through it. "Don't mix the peanut butter with the cream, add it to the chocolate, pour the boiling cream over top and melt them that way." "It'll be OK Lynne... I promise. Your other ganache wasn't that bad... I was able to fix it."

Well my friends. I absolutely HEART this ganache recipe. Easiest one EVER. I'm going to make some... not tonight, but soon :0) And seriously, it combines chocolate, peanut butter, cream and... honey. Yep. Killer combo.

So I did that, re-organized the fridge (let me tell you... it gets cold in there when all you're wearing is a pair of shorts and a tank top), and make SUNDAES! I know... I blogged about it last week, but really... people come up with pretty fabulous ideas when topping their vanilla ice cream.

Take Gordon. I like Gordon. He picked chocolate ganache. fresh fruit (apple, banana, pineapple, maraschino cherry) and... RHUBARB!!! Good choice Gordon. You are one of my picks for "best of" the evening.

Then there was the duo... two scoops of vanilla. One with the coconut dulche de leche, the other with strawberry coulis; both with the peanut butter cups and the cookie dough. She labeled his card as "The Copycat". I like that. Plus, they look really pretty side-by-side. They also win a place in my top sundaes of the evening list.

Nadine. You rock! You decided to top your two scoops with flambeed bananas, brownie bites and salted peanuts. I'd totally pick something like that... well done! You too are on the list.

And finally, the winner. I was being TOTALLY biased when I picked this one. I'm OK with that. I hope you are too. Sara stopped by and surprised me at the end of my shift. She came down and was chatting with me and sampled some of the cookie dough I'd made the week before that I had just taken out of the freezer. She thought it rocked. And since I think she rocks, I made her a sundae. So my pick of the evening is:

1 scoop vanilla ice cream. chocolate ganache. rhubarb. cookie dough. maraschino cherries (from the batch I made). marshmallow fluff.

A solid sundae for an even more solid friend.

So that my friends, was my evening at the Whalesbone. Can't wait for next time... and watch out... maybe YOUR sundae will be selected as one of my favourites. And then I'll be blogging about you too :0)

i heart foodies... and sundaes

Six degrees of separation is an interesting thing, don't ya think? Here is a snippet of a conversation between my father and I last week:

Papa: "I'd like to send you a review written in La Presse (Montréal newspaper) about restaurants in Ottawa. It was written by your cousin Ève."
me: "Neat... by the way, I'm working at The Whalesbone every Friday night."
Papa: "That's the restaurant that was highlighted..."

Awesome that my cousin has such great taste eh? ;0)

Jump ahead to Friday night. Charlotte pounds on the floor (my cue to run upstairs and get a dessert order), and hands me a page cut out of a newspaper, and asks me to translate it. There it is, the article my father had been talking to me about, the one I had randomly mentioned to Charlotte and Jenna when I walked in for my shift. Small world eh? But the best part... seriously, the best part, is how the article came to be in Charlotte's hand.

These two older gentlemen decided to drive all the way up from Montréal to have supper at the Whalebone - informing us that it was all thanks to Ève's review in La Presse. I love people who take their food seriously, I especially love it when they go 2 hours out of their way to try something new... all that to say... i heart foodies. Oh, and I especially heart Ève because not only did the Whalesbone make her list but so did some of my other favs; Chez Eric(Wakefield), Soup'Herbe (Chelsea), Oz Cafe (Ottawa), Delish (Hull... Chloé's resto) and the Wellington Gastropub(Ottawa)... well done Ève! Claps for you and your taste buds!!!

Now onto my adventures in the prep kitchen! ;0)

It was an evening full of desserts. Which at the Whalesbone (as of May 1st) means SUNDAES!!!!! Oh, how I heart Jenna's sundae list... all the homemade goodies she makes to accompany that scoop of Pascale's vanilla bean ice cream (or two scoops... or for the truly decant, even three!). Mini cheesecake bites, brownie bites, cookie dough, pecan chocolate skor bar (sigh, my favourite), granola, caramel corn, flambé bananas, strawberry sauce, passion fruit coulis, chocolate ganache, espresso sauce, butterscotch sauce, candied apples... you see, and I haven't even mentioned them all. Sigh.

The biggest problem with the sundae bar (as a client that is) is what to choose! Seriously, you read the list above. When that little sundae menu card is placed in front of you, it takes time to come up with the perfect combo... how much chocolate today? or do I want it to be fresh and light? Half and half? WHAT TO DO!!!!?

That's where I came in on Friday. You see... people were enjoying Charlotte's tasting menu... which meant that they got to enjoy my "tasting" sundae. I decided to take the opportunity to make whatever combo that caught my fancy. Picture this, Charlotte gives me an order for 4 tasting sundaes. I run downstairs, grab the order card and just look at my sauces/topping options. Then I start grabbing the ingredients, I pull out the glass bowls, scoop out ice cream and start my creations.

Here are some of the sundaes I came up with...
vanilla bean ice cream, butterscotch sauce, peanut butter skor bar, brownie bites
vanilla bean ice cream, passion fruit coulis, fresh fruit (banana, pineapple, maraschino cherries), granola
vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate ganache, salted peanuts, peanut butter cups
vanilla bean ice cream, coconut dulce de leche, chocolate chip-cherry cookie dough, sponge toffee
vanilla bean ice cream, strawberry coulis, fresh fruit, brownie bites
vanilla bean ice cream, flambé bananas, brownie bites (yeah, i think these are some of the best brownies ever), candied apples

and then my favourite... the one I ended up making myself at the end of the night... my pat on the back for a good night of scooping ice cream, generously piling on the sauces and toppings and then running up and down the stairs as quickly as possible. My personal favourite, and please, feel free to ask for it the next time you wander into the Whalesbone and sit down for the "make your own sundae"...

vanilla bean ice cream. chocolate ganache. rhubarb compote. granola.

Seriously. A slight tart sweet sundae. And you'll notice... I didn't leave anything in my bowl.

note... I'm writing the following because I hope it'll force Jenna into adding this to the menu (write it and it shall be. Right?)... Jenna mentioned that she'd love to make shortbread cookies... break those up, toss in fresh strawberries and whipped cream... the strawberry shortcake sundae. I think that is a FABULOUS idea.

And the best way for all of you to find out if she takes the hint is to show up and enjoy your very own sundae. I'll be more than happy to serve it up for you!

Cheers!