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The very decadent, very delicious Boca Negra, which literally translates to “black mouth" |
This has been a dessert laden week. OK, maybe two weeks! First, we had our valentine cookie exchange for French Fridays. That meant baking cookies to send to my secret Valentine, and while I was at it, baking a bunch more to send to my grandchildren. Of course, I put a few aside for my hubby! How could I not? Even though I knew I would be receiving a box of cookies from my secret Valentine! On top of all those cookies, our FFWD recipe for last week was Coure a la Creme. I made it the weekend before Valentine’s day, while I was visiting with my son and his family in Atlanta. It was a big hit!
That brings us to this weeks pick for TWD ~ Baking with Julia, the very decadent Boca Negra, contributed by Lora Brody. I almost didn’t make it. We have been indulging in way too many sweets. However, we are staying on the beautiful Gulf coast of Florida, and my cousin and her husband (who live on the east coast) were coming to visit for a few days. It was Valentine’s Day, and she made a wonderful Shrimp Scampi, with gorgeous fresh shrimp she brought from home. So, dessert just seemed appropriate!
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Absolutely luscious…Perfect for Valentine’s day |
Right from the start, I made a big mistake with the batter. Because my cousin and I were deep in conversation, solving the worlds problems, I didn’t read the part that said make a syrup…OH NO!!! I added the melted chocolate to the sugar and liquor ( another oh no ) but, by then it was too late to retreat. I decided to continue, and if it didn’t come out I would start over again. After all, it was a whole bag of very good chocolate! I put my mixture over low heat, and heated it until it started to melt and blend. At that point I added the butter, one piece at a time until fully incorporated. It didn’t look bad, it was coming together nicely, so I continued. My cousin beat the eggs with the remaining ⅓ cup of sugar, and I whisked them into the batter. It still looked good to me so, into the oven it went! Thirty minutes later it was done, with a thin crust, just the way it was described.
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Beating in the butter…this was where my cake started to come together |
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Beating eggs with ⅓ cup of sugar |
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Mixed together and poured into 9 inch pan to bake |
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I turned this cake onto a platter immediately after taking it out of oven…it cracked |
I turned the cake out onto a platter and it cracked a bit, but still looked good. It smelled amazing!
What could be bad? It’s pretty much pure chocolate mixed with butter, sugar, eggs and rum (I didn’t have rum, so I substituted some chocolate wine). I also didn’t make the cream. I served mine with vanilla gelato and blueberries! If you love deep chocolatey desserts, this one’s for you!! Simply irresistible!!
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OMG…this was amazing….a keeper for sure |
So, my Valentine’s day was perfect!! We had a scrumptious dinner with great company, and we had a luscious dessert to follow!! Oh, and my hubby bought me a lovely orchid, my favorite flower!
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Just beautiful!! |
Our host for the very decadent, very delicious Boca Negra is Cathy of A Frederick Food Garden. The recipe is posted on her blog. To see what the other bakers are doing, check it out on the Tuesdays with Dorie site. Have a great day everyone!
Well, it looks perfect, way better than mine that came out pudding-like. But it tasted amazing! Beautiful cake to share Kathy!
ReplyDeleteYour cake looks great with the cascading blueberries. What a gorgeous Orchid!
ReplyDeleteThe cake looks delicious:). Love the blueberries and vanilla gelato. Lovely orchid - your hubby has good taste.
ReplyDeleteMmm, vanilla gelato would have gone a long way in taming the richness of this cake. And it looks gorgeous with those blueberries! Nice job!
ReplyDeletegosh..look at that slice! So moist and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou used blueberries for the Boca Negra - almost like I served my "boule à la crème" - vanilla gelato sounds like it would go well with the Boca Negra too.
ReplyDeleteyour cake looks gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the vanilla gelato and blueberries....So yummy!!!!
Well done!!
I love that you can see how moist your cake is by the side view of the slice!
ReplyDeleteYour cake did turn out great - wish mine had too. It was definitely deliciously decadent!
ReplyDeleteLooks delicous, Kathy! I had planned to serve our boca negra with fresh strawberries and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Instead, the "cake" ended up a spoonable pudding....oops....and we just ate a few bites from a bowl. I'm not sure what happened. Perhaps my substitution of orange juice for the bourbon!?
ReplyDeleteSo glad you had success!! :)
Beautiful! Loved how you chose to serve it with fresh blueberries and vanilla gelato.
ReplyDeleteBlueberries and gelato - you are speaking my language :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad it all worked out in the end - even better than you were able to share it with good company. Enjoy Florida!
I'm glad it turned out well! Also, that orchid is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteFantastic pics!! Yours looks wonderful. What a great way to end a great Valentine meal. :) Looks great with gelato and blueberries!
ReplyDeleteYour cake looks so great- good to know it is a flexible recipe too in terms of the chocolate and butter and syrup mixing!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a nice visit in FL.... that sounds amazing right now.
Your photos are truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteI like your photos, the blueberries and gelato make very pretty garnish!
ReplyDeleteJust gorgeous, Kathy! I love fresh shrimp! Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteI can't get past the idea of making soup with lettuce, so I'll be delinquent again this week...
Your boca negra is so beautiful, Kathy. Shrimp scampi is one of my favorite dinners to make and how thoughtful that she brought you some fresh shrimp. And those orchids are just so very lovely. I can tell you are really enjoying your time in Florida. :)
ReplyDeleteBeautifully done, Kathy!!! I'm glad your little slip made no difference in the outcome :)
ReplyDeletePerfect Valentine's Day... how wonderful! Your cake turned out beautifully and looks absolutely delicious!
ReplyDeleteThat cake looks superbly chocolatey and heavenly :D
ReplyDeleteCheers
CCU
Chocolate wine sounds like a great idea! It looks so beautiful! Way less cracks than I had. I mixed up the addition of the eggs and butter, adding the eggs first (to the processor) so I'm lucky I didn't end up with scrambled eggs.
ReplyDeletebeautiful orchid and beautiful boca negra! Sounds like a great celebration
ReplyDeleteHow can a chocolate cake with the name boca negra not be fantastic- oh and how chocolatey it looks!!!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a wonderful Valentine's Day- we were in NJ/NY in the freezing weather but we ate too well as usual-so many good restaurants in your area;-)
I want to bite right into that gorgeously gooey slice of boca negra - whatever it was that you did, it clearly had no influence on the end result. Love your beautiful orchid - what a good hubby.
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