Tag: youtube

Chocolate Toasted Marshmallow Cake

A few months ago I came across a great cake blog. The blogger made this amazing toasted marshmallow cake, I just had to make it!  My lovely boyfriend, owner of Cut to Create, filmed me making this extremely tasty cake. The chocolate cake part is by far the best recipe I’ve come across, it’s very moist and chocolatey.

Dutch processed Cocoa vs. regular Cocoa Powder? There’s an on going argument that dutch processed cocoa powder is better than regular cocoa powder.  In school, I learned that dutch processed cocoa is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids. If your point is to get the darkest chocolate cake, add a little white vinegar to the mix. It’ll deepen the color to your liking.

Yes, I know I have small hands 🙂 In the video, I use two different sized marshmallows- you don’t need to follow that. I ran out of large ones and used what I had in the pantry. The small ones worked just as well.
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Print Recipe
 Chocolate Toasted Marshmallow Cake
Servings
Ingredients
Rich and Dark Chocolate Cake
Toasted Marshmallow Frosting
Malted Belgian Chocolate Frosting
Servings
Ingredients
Rich and Dark Chocolate Cake
Toasted Marshmallow Frosting
Malted Belgian Chocolate Frosting
Instructions
Rich and Dark Chocolate Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 3 x 8" cake pans with parchment paper. In bowl of standing mixer, sift all dry ingredients. Add all remaining ingredients to bowl with the dry ingredients and with paddle attachment on mixer, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed and pour into prepared pans. Batter will be liquidy. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate pans in oven (if not cooked in convection oven). Cakes are done when toothpick or skewer comes clean, approximately 35 minutes.
Toasted-Marshmallow Frosting
  1. Place marshmallows on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven, and broil marshmallows until nice and brown. Keep an eye on them as they burn very quickly. Combine butter and icing sugar in standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, on low until blended (about 1 minute). Add vanilla and mix on high for about 3 minutes. Add marshmallow cream and toasted marshmallows, and mix on lowest setting for about 1 minute.
Malted Belgian Chocolate Frosting
  1. In a bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine the powdered sugar and butter and beat on low speed for about 1 minute. Add vanilla and malt powder, and beat on low until well combined. Add the melted chocolate and beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes). Add whipping cream and beat on med-high speed for another minute. Best used right away. *The malted chocolate frosting isn't my favorite, It isn't bad though. I'm a lover of freshly made Swiss meringue or French butter cream, nothing compares to those two!

Ratatouille

I felt inspired to make this classic dish after watching the pixar film, Ratatouille. I’ve never eaten the dish before but I wanted to try it out since it has such a pretty presentation.  I’m not the biggest fan of eggplant or red bell peppers but I wanted to make it the traditional way. The oh so talented people  at Cut To Create  put together yet another awesome video of me making the dish. Check it out below.

Print Recipe
 Ratatouille
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Start off by making the tomato sauce before prepping the vegetables. I usually make my own sauce but you can always buy a jar of prepared tomato sauce. Also, if you want to be fancy, you can make tomato concasse which are blanched, shocked, skins removed, and seeded. You can skip the work by buying a can of tomatoes that already have the skins removed. The next step is to just squeeze the seeds out, like I do in the video. I also do not use the juice in the can, it tends to have a metallic taste.
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil then season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the onions become translucent, add the tomatoes that have been seeded and drained. Cook for a few minutes until the flavors combine. Add 2 tsp of Thyme, bay leaf, tomato paste, sugar, and the wine. Cover and let simmer for up to an hour. I let it simmer while preparing the vegetables.
  3. *Hint on tomato paste: I found that when buying a small can of tomato paste, I never use the whole can. You can save it by spooning out a tablespoon onto parchment paper then freeze it. Once frozen, you can place them in a zip-top bag and use them as you please!
  4. While the tomato sauce is simmering, cut the eggplant, zucchini, squash, and red bell pepper in 1/8th inch pieces. This is best achieved with a mandoline but a sharp knife with consistent cuts works well too. Once this is done, add the cream to the tomato sauce and season with salt if needed.
  5. Add the tomato sauce to the bottom of the baking dish (remove the bay leaf) and spread evenly. Start by laying the vegetables in this order: eggplant, squash, zucchini, red bell pepper and repeat. Once it's layered, you can press down to make sure that it is tightly packed. To finish, season the vegetables with salt, pepper, thyme (1 tbsp), and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with foil or parchment and bake for 40-55 minutes. You will know it's ready when the tomato sauce is bubbly and the vegetables have given off their liquid. Serve hot, Bon Appetite!