You know how sometimes you’ll find a recipe and really want to make it, but then you start reading the ingredients list and the instructions and it will slowly dawn on you that you’re missing EVERYTHING and there isn’t possibly anyway you could “fudge it” (so to speak). Well that’s what happened to me when I read the recipe for Double Shot Cake. I knew I couldn’t possibly do Diane Mott Davidson’s devilish dessert justice, when I didn’t have a double boiler, parchment paper, or a ten inch cake pan. So I made the horrifying decision to go to the mall–on a Saturday.

My cake baking journey took me to three stores and drained my wallet of about a hundred dollars. It’s my own fault. I’m a cookware snob and I only wanted the All-Clad double boiler insert for my four quart saucepan. They finally had it at Williams-Sonoma. Next, on my list was a cake pan. For some bizarre reason, Davidson wants us to use a ten inch cake pan. Frankly I thought this sized pan was as mythical as a unicorn, until once again I found a set at Williams-Sonoma. Are you sensing a pattern here? I rounded out my ridiculously frivolous purchases with parchment paper. The moral of the story is obviously to always start at Williams-Sonoma.

Note: I entered this pricey concoction in The Kitchn’s “Bittersweet Baking Contest.” Wish me luck!

Line & Butter	The Double Boiler Earns Its Keep
Foamy Eggs	Triple Sifted
Unintentional Yin & Yang	Stir it All Together
Fill	Set Into a Water Bath Very Carefully & Bake

Double Shot Chocolate Cake (Originally published by Diane Mott Davidson in her novel Double Shot)

10 ounces unsalted butter
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into small pieces (recommended brand: Godiva dark)
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-fine granulated sugar
2 tablespoons Dutch-style cocoa (recommended brand: Hershey’s Premium European-Style)
8 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Butter a 10-by-1 1/2-inch heavy-duty round cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment cut to fit. Butter the parchment. Set aside.

Fill a 16-by-11-inch roasting pan with 1 inch of hot water, place the roasting pan on a baking sheet, and put it into the oven.

In the top of a double boiler, melt the butter with the chocolate. When the ingredients are melted, remove the pan from the heat to cool slightly. Sift the sugar with the cocoa twice, then whisk it into the melted chocolate mixture.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until they are foamy. Add the vanilla and the chocolate mixture. Blend with a spatula until very well mixed.

Carefully pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Gently place the cake pan in the water-filled roasting pan.

Bake about 40 to 50 minutes, or until the cake begins to shrink slightly from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool for 15 minutes, then invert carefully and peel off the paper. Allow to cool completely.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream, best quality vanilla ice cream, or my awesome Espresso Whipped Cream (see recipe below).

Erin’s Espresso Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon very finely ground espresso beans

Combine cream, sugar, vanilla, and espresso and beat until soft peaks form. Try not to eat it directly from the bowl. It’s going to be difficult.

Say it isn’t so?! There have been rumors and grumblings for months and months as to whether or not the adorable Dave Lieberman would be continuing his stint on the Food Network. Unfortunately it appears that a definite decision has been made. Dave’s “all grown up now ” and has cut the Food Network apron strings in favor of new opportunities and the possibility of opening his own restaurant in L.A. Honestly, with the departure of Dave from the Food Network there just isn’t any male eye candy left and I’m certainly not going to have a celebrity chef crush on Bobby Flay or (God forbid) Guy Fieri.

My subscription to Blueprint magazine finally managed to catch-up with me after the big move and I thoroughly enjoyed thumbing through it yesterday morning while enjoying my breakfast of delicious coffee and leftover gingerbread. As I’ve previously mentioned I really love making risotto. Yes, the stirring can be laborious, but it’s a dish that you inevitably feel extremely accomplished about feeding to guests when you’re through. So I’m a little skeptical about a shortcut risotto product Blueprint endorses this month that claims “its texture and flavor match those of made-from-scratch versions.” Apparently very little stirring is required and you finish the risotto with a sprinkle of salt and freshly grated cheese. The risotto takes a total of 18 minutes to make, to which I have to say, add 10 more minutes to your prep time and a little elbow grease and you can have the real honest-to-goodness thing.

Blueprint wasn’t completely off the mark this month. They did introduce a new cooking column called “The Kitchen” where they hope to educate readers with a series of “go-to” dishes that you can master and then pass off as your own. In the first article they have a really beautiful lesson on making a classic lasagna. It’s not my kind of lasagna (I don’t put meat in my sauce) but I really like the idea behind the column and I’m looking forward to seeing what recipe the editors will breakdown next. Unfortunately, the Blueprint website hasn’t been updated with content from the September/October issue yet so you may have to go out and buy your own copy in order to get the whole scoop.

The slow cooker hype has been waxing and waning for several years at this point and I still haven’t purchased a proper crock pot. However, I think I may have finally met my perfect time-saving match. I’m currently lusting over this All-Clad version on the Williams-Sonoma website. Like all All-Clad products it’s quite the thing of beauty. Friends and family please take note…the holidays are just around the corner after all.

I’ve been on a bit of a popcorn bender lately. It all started innocently enough. One evening a few weeks ago I was settling in for the night, all snuggled up in my cozy comfy bed, when I came across an Alton Brown episode about popcorn. And then I started craving it. The only problem was that I’d never made popcorn the “old fashioned” stove top way. We had one of those air poppers when I was a kid that made something resembling the texture of fluffy cardboard, and I distinctly remember an alarming incident at my grandmother’s where we attempted to make popcorn in the fireplace with a fancy contraption from LL. Bean. My mother somehow managed to catch it on fire and melt off the little knob that served as the lid handle. And of course I’ve consumed my weight in the microwave brand, but there was something incredibly intimidating to me about making popcorn on top of my stove.

Fear of the unknown forced me to do what any clueless girl would. I polled all my girlfriends via mass email asking them to assuage my fears and impart on me all of the “knowledge and wisdom” I would need to make a yummy batch of popcorn (and not catch my kitchen on fire). These brilliant ladies all agreed with Alton Brown that the keys to great popcorn were lots of salt and good oil (but not too much). After a tentative start, and a few searing hot kernel burns (do not remove the pot lid too hastily) I did manage to make a pretty yummy first batch of popcorn and I didn’t even need to use any butter.

I definitely don’t recommend using a heavy pan to make popcorn. I practically gave myself carpel tunnel trying to shake one of my All-Clad saucepans. I switched to an old lightweight college cast off after that. It’s now become the official popcorn pan. I’m completely juvenile and really enjoy the fact that it has a see-through lid. I admit it. I totally dig being able to watch the corn popping.

On my way home from Crane Beach one weekend I even branched out a bit and bought some fancy “Crimson Jewel” dark colored popcorn kernels at Russell Farms (a local farm stand / winery). The popping of this corn finally allowed me to answer a nagging childhood question that was brought about by countless marathon readings of Tomie dePaola’s The Popcorn Book. Of course I’ve always known deep down that all popcorn pops into snowy white kernels, but the five-year-old Erin that still exists somewhere inside of me was a bit skeptical. Fortunately grown-up Erin now has delicious proof.

Simple Ingredients

Big Fluffy Results

Sometimes checking email in the morning just sends me into a complete fit of envy. For instance today I received the most beautiful and tempting ad from Sur La Table introducing the full line of Carribean Blue Le Creuset. Of course it’s more gorgeous than words and I want the entire set. Obviously I can’t justify such an impulsive purchase (since I do already own a very nice array of All-Clad stainless and the much talked about Target Chefmate Dutch Oven) but I might be able to justify just a little taste of bright blue stoneware, especially as it’s on sale. To splurge or not to splurge, that is the question.