Tag Archives: chocolate dessert

Layers of Chocolate, Strawberries and Cream

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When I pulled out the pocket folder filled with recipes I’ve gathered from cooking classes I’ve attended over the years, I was surprised to see that some of the recipes dated back to 1984. That was the year I started taking classes from Andrea Halgrimson in her cozy little kitchen in Fargo. I had two young sons at the time. Gathering with a small group of food-loving people in Andrea’s kitchen was always a special night out for me.

I flipped through my stash of recipes to find Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake. On a May evening in 1984, Halgrimson mixed up a biscuit-like chocolate dough that she rolled out and pressed into large round cake pans. The two chocolate shortcake layers were packed with a filling of whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

That was the night I got over my fear of unflavored gelatin. Halgrimson showed how easy it is to dissolve a little gelatin in water in a glass measuring cup. She placed the measuring cup in a small amount of water in a saucepan over low heat. As the water in the saucepan warmed up, the granulated gelatin dissolved in the water in the cup. Easy.

The warm gelatin and water mixture got whipped into thick cream that created the filling for the chocolate shortcake. The gelatin stabilizes the whipped cream, making it stay fluffy and beautiful as the shortcake sits in the refrigerator. The stabilized whipped cream will also have a much longer life at room temperature.

This time I used stabilized whipped cream to make my own Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake.

I baked the light and moist chocolate cake that I use for creating Strawberries and Cream Chocolate Roll. When it was cool, I pulled out the round cutters that I found at an antique shop in Pequot Lakes last month. One can never have too many round and square cutters:)

The tin has seen better days, but the cutters are in perfect condition. I love them.

I stacked the thin chocolate cake rounds with lots of sweetened stabilized whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Magnificent individual desserts!

This dessert is heavenly and needs nothing but a dainty edible flower on top. If you’re looking for over-the-top decadence, drizzle each dessert with your favorite hot fudge sauce.

Just another way to enjoy the fresh-picked berries of the season.

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

  • 4 eggs
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar plus extra for sprinkling
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh strawberries
  • Sugar for sprinkling
  • 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water
  • 2 cups (1 pint) whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15- x 10- x 1-inch jellyroll pan. Line the greased pan with waxed paper. Grease and flour the waxed paper. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs at high speed of an electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add ¾ cup sugar, continuing to beat for 5 minutes until mixture is thick and fluffy.  Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together. Add sifted ingredients to bowl and blend on low speed. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and mix to blend.

Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake for about 11 minutes in preheated 350-degree oven. Cake should spring back when pressed lightly with a finger.

While cake bakes, place chopped strawberries in a shallow dish. Sprinkle with sugar to taste. Refrigerate until needed.

Sprinkle large, clean linen or cotton kitchen towel with granulated sugar in a 15- x 10-inch rectangle.

Remove cake from oven and immediately loosen from sides of pan and turn out onto sugared towel. Carefully peel away the waxed paper. Allow cake to cool.

When cake is cool, prepare the cream filling. Place gelatin and cold water in a glass measuring cup or custard cup. Place cup in a saucepan containing an inch of water. Heat gently until the gelatin melts.

Place whipping cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a large bowl and beat until the cream has thickened slightly. Stir 2 tablespoons of the cream into the warm gelatin and quickly add mixture back into the large bowl of cream. Immediately resume beating. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the cream and continue beating until cream is thick.

Use a 2 3/4-inch or 3-inch round cookie cutter to make 12 rounds of cake. Place 4 cake rounds of serving platter, sugared side down. Top with whipped cream filling and prepared strawberries. Place another round of cake on top of each, sugar side up. Top with more cream and strawberries. Place a third round of cake on each serving. Garnish with an edible flower, if desired. Makes 4 dessert servings.

Tips from the cook

  • Try using vanilla sugar for sweetening the strawberries.
  • It’s important that the dissolved gelatin mixture is still warm when added to the whipping cream. It thickens as it cools. Thick gelatin will create little gelatin balls in the whipped cream, resembling tapioca. You don’t want that.

Shamefully Rich Chambord Brownies

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When my friend, Ann, discovered I was making raspberry brownies, she quickly sent me a recipe for one of her favorite raspberry-spiked brownies. They have a layer of creamy raspberry-flavored butter frosting sandwiched between moist chocolate brownies and a rich, fudge-like topping.

These brownies have an interesting history.

According to Ann, this recipe originally came from R. Marie Jones, a sister to John Carlson, both originally from Fargo.  John is no longer living, but the ice coliseum in north Fargo is named after him.  Marie, who was very instrumental in Trollwood and the presence of Altrusa’s concession stand there, passed away in July of 2006.

Apparently, many years ago the sweet and lovely Marie brought the Chambord brownies as a treat to a needlepoint class Ann was teaching. Since that sinfully delicious introduction, Chambord brownies have become a favorite of Ann and her husband, Pat.

Ann describes these brownies as “a melt-in-your-mouth indulgence.” She’s absolutely right!

The brownies are moist and not too sweet. The creamy pink middle layer offers just a hint of raspberry, produced by a small amount of Chambord, a raspberry liqueur that is a little spendy. I find it very nice to sip on, though:) The chocolate topping is thick, rich and chocolaty.

Who could ask for anything more? Chambord brownies are shamefully rich and decadent. They are chocolate. They are to die for.

Thanks Ann. And, thank you, sweet Marie.

Chambord Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9- x 13-inch pan and set aside.

Layer one:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1 (16-ounce) can chocolate syrup or 1 1/2 cups
  • 1 cup flour

Cream butter and sugar until light. Add salt, eggs and chocolate syrup. Blend together well. Add flour and mix just until incorporated into the chocolate mixture. pour into greased 9″ x 13″ pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Allow to cool in pan.

Layer two:

  • 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 2 tablespoons Chambord liqueur (product of France)
  • Dash of red food coloring

Beat ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.  Spread over cooled brownies.

Layer three:

  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter

In a small, heavy saucepan, melt chips and butter. Cool slightly.  Spoon over Chambord topping and spread evenly to cover.

When chocolate topping is firm, cut brownies into 1″ squares.

Tips from the cook

I put the chocolate-topped brownies in the refrigerator just until the chocolate was firm. After that, I stored the brownies tightly covered at room temperature.

I have a habit of lining the brownie-baking pan with foil, allowing the edges to come up over the sides of the pan. I butter the foil before pouring in the batter. This way, I can easily lift the cooled and frosted brownies from the pan before cutting. Producing pretty squares of dessert is so easy using this technique. No funny-looking first serving from the pan.

I’d bike miles for this dessert

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 My biking partners and I did our first organized bike ride on Saturday. I think we registered last January or February for the Tour of Lakes. This year the routes started and finished at the high school in Crosby, Minn. Since it is pretty early in our biking season, we decided we’d take it easy on the 35-mile route, which actually turned out to be close to 42 miles.

We’d never done this ride before, but we’d heard lots of good things about the food served at the stops along the way. In fact, Tour of Lakes has become famous for the food they provide. We were expecting great things. As it turned out, though, the best thing we ate on our Tour of Lakes weekend was not at a rest stop.

We were tired and shopped out by the time we got to Deerwood on Friday afternoon and checked into Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge. We had dinner reservations at Ruby’s, the restaurant at Ruttger’s. We were getting ready for a walk around the reseort before dinner when I opened the little refrigerator in our room. I really couldn’t believe my eyes.

Tucked into that small refrigerator was a plate with three beautiful slices of the chocolate dessert that Ruttger’s is famous for — Bette LeMae. I had sampled it at the Twin Cities Food & Wine Experience last winter. When I mentioned it on my blog, Chris Ruttger left a comment and said they’d be sure there was some Bette LeMae for Tour of Lakes. I thought that meant they would be offering little sample bites at one of the stops along the bike route. After all, Tour of Lakes was known to have awesome fuel for riders.

Yes, we rode more miles than expected on Saturday. But, really, it was Chris Ruttger who went the most important extra mile. He was so kind to surprise us with that decadent melt-in-the-mouth chocolate. He must be a good detective, too. How did he even know we were staying there? That chocolate before bed kept us riding like wild women the next morning, pedaling 21 miles to the first stop. Thanks, Sherlock.

The fresh fruit, yogurt, breakfast burritos, candy bars, granola bars and root beer floats along the bike route were great. But the best food for me and my biking partners was at Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge.

You can make your own Bette LeMae using the recipe on Ruttger’s web site. Click here to get right to the recipe.

To read more about Bette LeMae, you can go to the post I wrote in March. Click here.