Triple Chocolate Pistachio Praline Cake

Are you ready for this? Can you handle it?

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This is the latest from my kitchen. The Triple Chocolate Pistachio Praline Cake. It's a combination of rich chocolate flavors, notes of mocha, hints of salt, & a delicious, sweet, nutty crunch that join together to do the ultimate happy-dance on your tongue.

A friend at work asked me to make a "birthday cake" for a friend of hers. She & her husband were having the friend & husband over for a birthday dinner so they wanted a dessert. Only, I know this woman well enough to know that a normal "birthday cake" seemed a little out of place. These people are foodies in every sense of the word. They love to experiment with food, they truly appreciate new combinations of flavors & textures, but indulging in any ol' thing that's sweet is not a part of their daily habit. So when I asked to clarify, she really just wanted a delicious, beautiful dessert but it didn't have to be the standard "birthday cake." It just had to be chocolate, as the friends were both super chocoholics. PHEW. I mean, I could do a birthday cake, of course. I just knew this wasn't the time, place, or audience for it. But you know what that means? Time to put the creative baking cap on!! YESSSS.

You remember the layered brownie thing I made back in December? The Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Tart? I drew my inspiration from that. It was easy (well, relatively speaking) but elegant, & the individual components were simple but delicious so I thought about turning it into cake form. The brownie tart was great, but quite honestly, the ganache & whipped cream could've used something a bit more porous & delicate to absorb the layers of goo. Enter the cake.

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For the bottom layer of the cake I adapted the recipe for my favorite chocolate cake, a super moist & flavorful Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake from Nigella Lawson's book How to be a Domestic Goddess. I added my own twist to it (of course). For one, you can see that it's clearly not in loaf form. I used a 9.5" springform pan. Secondly, I added ground pistachios. This cake typically falls in the middle b/c it's so dense--WHICH IS OKAY, it's supposed to. But I did add a little something extra to counteract that. Plus, a few extra twists. ;-)

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Time for the ganache & the praline. Instead of a typical chocolate + cream ganache, I upped the flavor profile by adding a strong coffee flavor plus a blend of different types of chocolate for a richer, more flavorful topping. Mocha ganache!! Oh my goodness, it was so tasty. The ganache was poured on top of the cake, while the praline was crunched, smashed, chopped, and crumbled so it could grace the edges of the cake. Truth be told, it could also be a pistachio brittle, but in the end, it's basically a seriously sugar-coated nut so I'm going with praline. Semantics. Go figure.

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Next up! The chocolate whipped cream. This had a much different chocolate flavor b/c the natural flavor of whipped cream is so strong. The chocolate is much lighter in this component. It works out beautifully though, it's balances out the other intense flavors. It's the perfect compliment.

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And here we go! The complete creation. The Triple Chocolate Pistachio Praline cake. The top is garnished w/ chocolate ganache frosting & more pistachio praline crumbles, mixed w/ chopped pistachios.

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One more reason I'm so excited about this cake: it can translate into cupcakes. Quite easily!! Can you imagine it? Perfect little bouncy cupcakes, dipped in mocha ganache with crumbles of pistachio praline & topped with a dollop of chocolate whipped cream? Yeeeaaaahhhhh, doesn't that sound INCREDIBLE??? (that's a rhetorical question, of course it'd be incredible)

Now this makes me think about my Couture Cupcake collection. A select few flavors that up the ante on your average vanilla cupcake + some color of sugary frosting. How do you feel about that?? I'm excited, are you?

Pistachio Praline

What happens when you cook sugar & water, then pour it over chopped pistachios & let it cool?

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You get this! Pistachio praline. I used it for a cake garnish over the weekend, which was a perfect unique way to add a new flavor & interesting texture change. More to come on this in a few days.

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Screw flowers. Valentine's day is for CUPCAKES!

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I have something to confess. Valentine's Day... is one of my favorite holidays. But not b/c I'm a sap. I'm actually not much of a sap at all. You know why I love it? B/c everything's pink. (Yup, it's that easy.) And red & white. AND CUTE. And full of hearts! I flippin' love hearts. You see my logo? Yeah, hearts. Lacey doiley things? Totally appropriate for Valentine's Day. If this was how Arbor Day was celebrated, I'd probably be all about Arbor Day. But turns out, it's Valentine's Day so dang it, I'm gonna embrace it.

Valentine's Day is also a perfect time to promote cupcakes. Everyone's buying random gifty things. It's not like Christmas where you have a list (or I dunno, it may be like that for some people—not me). It's not like a birthday. If you need something, you don't ask for it for Valentine's Day. You just give & get... nice, happy stuff. THUS THE CUPCAKES. They're celebratory, they're cute, they're a delicious treat, & the holiday gives people a reason to order them so really, I couldn't be happier! My Valentine's Day promo is a pretty darn good deal if you ask me. Six cupcakes for $10—you can choose between one of the two flavors offered or mix it up for 3 & 3. This year's flavor options? Red velvet cake with vanilla malt frosting, & strawberry cake with strawberry frosting, then dipped in chocolate.

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This year I had 9 total orders. It's less than last year, but still a good bit of work. Pictured above are the order cards. I had a spark of inspiration one day while perusing the online shop Paper Valise when I saw old-school library cards. Library cards... THAT COULD WORK!! As long as I design my own, that is. But hell, that's not hard! The card could actually have the order on it. I could stamp the date. Mark whether it's pick-up or delivery. Place it in a little pocket on the box, which also gives me a place to put a business card to give people... it's just crazy enough to work! Plus, I get to use that sweet date stamp like SERIOUS old school library style. I feel like I'm back in grade school!

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Below is pretty self-explanatory. It's the naked cakes! Top is red velvet. Bottom is strawberry.

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And here we go. The GOOD stuff. Below are the strawberry cupcakes. They turned out very well, & I was super psyched about how they looked. In my head, everything was going to work. But sometimes what's in your head doesn't match what comes out of your kitchen. That day, luckily, it did. So here you're seeing the strawberry cake, topped with strawberry frosting, dipped in rich chocolate ganache, topped with a very light sprinkling of thin chocolate sprinkles topped with a mint leaf for garnish.

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Next up are the red velvet-vanilla malts! This is one of my personal favorite cupcake combos, if not THE favorite. The pairing is just so classic, but still different b/c quite frankly I'm the only one here doing vanilla malt frosting! And if I'm not the only one, I'll bet you $$ that mine's the best. The light chocolately flavor of the red velvet cake & the creamy, sweet vanilla bite of the malt frosting compliment each other perfectly. SO GOOD. On top is a Whopper malt ball of "strawberry" flavor. I put "strawberry" in quotes because I have a feel it's more the color than the actual flavor that makes them "strawberry."

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The next photo is one of my favorite shots. The image is just so graphic—I really love it. Strawberry on the left, red velvet on the right (duh).

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And here we are! The final packaging. Authentic library card pocket & all. The pockets were purchased from the local United Art & Education. The library order cards were designed by yours truly. When my design world & baking world compliment each other—that makes me a happy camper.

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And there we have it, in somewhat of a nutshell. Now don't you wish you ordered some?? ;-)

Happiness in blog form

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This has nothing to do with food. Well, not exactly. It's candy. Eye candy. Pure, delightful, colorful, thoughtful, happy-making eye candy.

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I found this blog, A Creative Mint, awhile ago but haven't visited it in the past few months until yesterday. I forgot how happy it makes me. All you have to do is sit there and absorb the beautiful images—nothing else. You can find more from Leslie (the blogger) on Decor8 as a regular guest feature called Color Me Pretty. Her blog posts are so visually stunning, they have a calming effect on me during crazy days at work when deadlines are looming closely overhead.

Pretty amazing stuff, right? *sigh* Happy place.

So you guys don't get uber bored...

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This is one of the latest projects to come out of the Sugarlush oven this past weekend. More about them after Valentine's Day! Speaking of which...

If you're in Columbus, have you made your Valentine's Day order yet?? $10 gets you 6 cupcakes. Email me if you want to reserve a box! For more info, go here (or just scroll down to the next blog post).