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Saturday, November 6, 2010

Chocolate Truffle Sour Cream Bundt Cake: Kaye Wilkinson Barley guest blog

As many of you know I have several blogs. I blog about crime fiction at Mystery Fanfare, I blog about chocolate here on DyingforChocolate and I blog about team building at TeamBuilding Talk

My worlds often collide, and today is one of them. Kaye Wilkinson Barley  blogs about mysteries and crime fiction at Meanderings and Muses--and she loves chocolate! Last January she guest blogged here on Dying for Chocolate with a fabulous recipe for Chocolate Walnut Pound Cake. You're going to love this recipe, too, for Chocolate Truffle Sour Cream Bundt Cake. Kaye is the Bundt Cake Queen! Thanks, Kaye, for stopping by again!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley:

I don't really do a lot of cooking.  I'm not overly fond of cooking, and I'm not all that good at it.
But I do love to bake.  Husband Donald and Wonder Corgi Harley and I live in a very rural neighborhood in the North Carolina mountains.
We're a small, close knit neighborhood.  And we all love to eat.
We get together fairly often for pot luck meals and since everyone else cooks so well, I just leave them to it and I bring a dessert.
Usually a pound cake or a bundt cake; and usually chocolate.
Who doesn't love chocolate?!
This was my first try with the Chocolate Truffle Sour Cream Bundt Cake and wouldn't you know it; I left out an ingredient (which I've noted in the recipe below).
But, you know what?  It didn't matter!  The cake was divine and was a huge hit, so probably that missing ingredient will be permanently scratched from my version of the recipe.
Enjoy!  with or without that missing ingredient!

Chocolate Truffle Sour Cream Bundt Cake
(Modified version of recipe originally from Sur La Table)
...
Ingredients:
 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (Valhrona)
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt (do not use kosher salt)
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream at room temperature
1 cup boiling water (note: This is the modification. I forgot to add this cup of boiling water and the cake still turned out wonderfully, so I'm not even sure what the point of it is.)

Chocolate truffle mixture:
2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
2 teaspoon powdered sugar
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
Powdered sugar for dusting

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12 cup capacity bundt pan and dust with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder. In a large bowl, using a triple sifter, sift the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk well and set aside.

In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle (I just used my hand mixer), beat the butter until creamy. Add the granulated sugar and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well for about 30 seconds, after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with two additions of the sour cream. Mix until ingredients are well incorporated. Gradually beat in the boiling water.

Prepare the chocolate truffle mixture by melting butter with vanilla. Sift cocoa with powdered sugar. Toss bittersweet chocolate with melted butter-vanilla mixture then add cocoa-sugar mixture and fold into the cake batter

Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for ten minutes on top of a wire rack. Turn the cake out onto the wire rack and cool completely. Dust it lightly with powdered sugar before slicing.

41 comments:

Mason Canyon said...

Oh this sounds yummy. Wish I had a piece of it for breakfast. It has all the basic ingredients for a balance meal, doesn't it? :) It does sounds quick and easy. Can't wait to try it.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Anonymous said...

Wow! This looks delicious.
Many thanks, from a fellow chocoholic,

Marian, the Northern half of Evelyn David

Lonnie Cruse said...

Sounds wonderful, Kaye! Thanks for sharing!

Jill said...

I had a slice of that cake and it was fabulous!!! Did not miss the water.. Ha.

Vicki Lane said...

Boy, does this look yum! Thanks, Kaye and Janet!

Michael Wiley said...

I just finished breakfast, and already you have me hungry for dessert.

mybillcrider said...

Sounds like just what I need!

Margaret Maron said...

Kaye, you do pop up in the most interesting places. Cute picture, too. All you need are a string of pearls and high heels to compete with Donna Reed for most glamourous housewife. Except for my annual Buche de Noel and choc. chip cookies with black walnuts, I don't bake much any more. Your recipe though almost tempts me to add a bundt pan to my C'mas wish list.

Mike Orenduff said...

Dutch cocoa powder, espresso powder, 3 sticks of butter, 3 cups of sugar, pure vanilla extract, and 1 cup of sour cream. I’m sated from just reading the ingredient list.

I love to cook but rarely bake. Nevertheless, I’m going to try this. It has got to be good.

Thanks, Kaye.

Janet Rudolph said...

Margaret, love you to Guest Blog either of your two 'chocolate' recipes..

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Mason - Balanced! It IS, isn't it! LOL! I have to admit, it is great for breakfast.

Hi Marion! We do share that chocolate bond, don't we?

Hey there, Lonnie! Thanks for stopping by - now get back to your writing!!

Jill, if I don't get off this computer and into the kitchen, we won't have dessert tonight. EEK!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Vicki & Janet - one of these days, we need to compile ALL our chocolate cake recipes. Wouldn't that be fun?

Michael & Bill - It's the newest trend. Chocolate cake for dessert immediately following breakfast. Then a VERY long, VERY brisk work-out! Good to see you!

Mike - DO try it! Let me know how it goes and if you use the water or not.

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Margaret. You're so silly! I TOLD you the pearls got caught in my electric mixer and need to be restrung!

Heels!? Hahahahahahahahahhahahaha.

p.s. - I am SO glad you're O.K.!! Donald is out hunting for the person who slammed into your car. He intends to give her a very stern talking to.

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Janet - this is fun!

Neil Plakcy said...

This sounds delicious. Wish I lived in your neighborhood!

Coco Ihle said...

Kaye, you've left me drooling on my keyboard. Sounds divine!!!

Bobbi Mumm said...

I still remember hearing about all of Kaye's Christmas Bundtlets last year. I was prepared to hop in the Dodge Caravan and drive a few thousand miles. This sounds just as delicious. Thanks, Kaye and Janet!

Mary Cunningham said...

I love anything chocolate, but this sounds particularly yummy!! One question: Where do you get espresso powder? Can you substitute espresso?

Thanks Janet and Kaye for posting.

Mary

Julia Buckley said...

Wow. Chocolate really will be the death of me. Thanks for the amazing recipe, Kaye and Janet!

Mary Jane Maffini said...

Holy moly! Are you the devil, Kaye Barley? I have to make this today. If my clothes are too small tomorrow, that's on you!

Chocolately hugs,

MJ

Charlotte Adams mysteries

Kelli Stanley said...

I can't wait to try this cake, Kaye!
What a wonderful combination of deliciousness! :)

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Neil - I wish you did too!!

Julia, not to worry. This is all that "healthy" dark chocolate.

MJ Honey! YOU'RE calling ME the devil?! (snort). If your clothes are too small, call me. We'll go shopping.

molly Weston said...

Good grief, Kaye! I almost broke my arm sifting a cup of confectioners sugar for a glaze last week. You'll just have to meet me half way (Winston?) and bring me a slice of that incredible-sounding cake!

Lesa said...

Isn't this great, Kaye? So many friends from the crime fiction world are secret (or not so secret) chocoholics. I'll follow you to any blog, but definitely to Janet's!

And, I'm with Janet. I hope Margaret appears with one of those recipes, too.

(And, I love that Donald!)

Kay said...

Ohhh, Kaye, that cake sounds divine! I'm copying your recipe so I can give it a try soon. It puts my lemon sour cream pound cake to shame! LOL Love too that you left out something. Glad to know I'm not the only 'creative' baker! ;-)

Aubrey Hamilton said...

What a gorgeous cake! I love to read about all the baking Kaye does. I haven't done much lately but I may become inspired to pull the cookbooks out.

bo parker said...

Drats, Kaye. Now you've gone and done it. I love chocolate, chocolate anything, but I do very little cooking, and no baking. With apologies to Patrick Henry, "Give me chocolate, or give me death."
Now I need to go to the neighborhood grocery store and look for a chocolate cake to end the craving you created.
Thank you. I needed an excuse to blow my diet.

Larry said...

Well, now you've gone and done it, Kaye. You ever try to wipe up saliva from between the keys on your laptop? This is the kid whose mother used to forbid him to eat chocolate ("No pimply-faced youths in my house"), so he routinely stopped at the neighborhood confectionery on the way home from school, bought a chocolate ice cream cone and/or a Hershey bar, and ate them before he darkened his mother's door.
When can I come visit?

Larry Karp

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Mary - I wasn't sure where to get espresso powder either (I have some in my cabinet, but NO idea where it came from - hope it doesn't have an expiration date!). But. I do know that I have used instant coffee grounds as a replacement in the past. I just pour a little in a sandwich bag, and hit it a few times with a knife handle till it becomes powder & then measure out what I need.

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Coco - no drooling. You're a debut author now - no drooling!

Bobbi - STILL waiting for you to show up!!

Pattie @ Olla-Podrida said...

This sounds heavenly! I had to laugh at your missing ingredient. One year my husband made me a birthday cake and left out a CUP of sour cream. Not being a seasoned baker (if you'll pardon the pun) he didn't think it would make all that much difference. We ended up serving the cake in slabs rather than slices, as it was very similar to concrete. Now he knows.

Lillian Stewart Carl said...

You're going to drive me to finish off the Halloween candy bars, all the while knowing they're just second best!

Wow. What a cake.

N. J. Lindquist said...

I like your idea of just doing desserts and letting other people do the boring cooking part. And if it's dark chocolate, it must be healthy! Interesting what you can leave out or substitute. I'd have thought leaving out a cup of water would have some kind of effect. :)

jenny milchman said...

Oh my. Must. Have. Chocolate. Now.

This sounds divine. I may make it for my Christmas contribution.

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Kelli! Can you meet me & Molly in Winston-Salem, NC? We'll have cake! (sounds like a plan, Molly!).

Lesa - it IS great, isn't it?! I love this crowd. And yes, let's do bug Miss Margaret about those recipes; they sound delish, don't they?! (i'll pass your love along to Donald; thank you, sweetie).

Aubrey - with all those wonderful cook books of yours?! You could whip up something fabulous in a nano second!

LOL - Bo! You're welcome, my friend! Enjoy!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Pattie - I love this! Bless his heart for giving it the ol' college try though. You have to love a man who will bake his wife a birthday cake.

Lillian? are there some butterfingers in that candy bowl?! mmmmmmm . . . I am addicted to butterfingers.

NJ - you know. I'm gonna have to do this cake again WITH that cup of water, huh?! I'll let you know!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Larry - you come along any time you want! We have a lot of catching up to do in the chocolate department to make up for what you missed!!! We will make cakes and fudge and lick the spoons!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

oh Kay! I love lemon as much as I do chocolate! But I don't think I have a lemon sour cream recipe - will you share yours, please?!

Jenny - you will love it! promise!

Earl Staggs said...

Kaye, Darlin', your cake sounds so good, I think you should bake one and send it to me. Send it overnight express so it'll be fresh. And while you're at it, you might as well stick a pound of peanut butter fudge in the box, too. I'll be waiting.

;-) Muchluv.

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

one of these days when you least expect it, Earl Darlin' . . .

Jen Forbus said...

Can I just place my order with you, Kaye? Or maybe you have an extra bedroom and I can just move in? I'm sure Hershey and Nestle would love Harley. :-)