CHOCOLATE HONEY CAKE for a Sweet New Year!

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, starts Sunday evening. Honey is a traditional food that is eaten at that time and symbolizes a Sweet New Year. Add Chocolate, and the year is bound to be even sweeter! Heaven knows, we need it to be! Here's a wonderful recipe for Chocolate Honey Cake to celebrate. Even if you're not celebrating, September is National Honey Month, so make this wonderful cake!

This recipe is adapted from Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Honey Cake aka Honey Bee Cake. She decorates her Chocolate Honey Cake with the most adorable marzipan bees, but I never get quite that involved.

FYI: Honey cake doesn't have to be dry and heavy. This cake is incredibly moist! As I've mentioned many times, though, your final product will be different depending on the type and brand of chocolate and the type of honey you use.

Chocolate Honey Cake

Ingredients

Cake:
4 ounces dark chocolate (50-65% cacao), chopped
1 1/3 cups soft light brown sugar
8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup local honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp DARK cocoa
1 cup boiling water

Sticky Honey Glaze:
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup honey
6 ounces dark chocolate (60-75% cacao), finely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp confectioners sugar

Directions:
Have all ingredients at room temperature.
Melt chocolate from cake part of ingredients list in large bowl, either in microwave or bowl over pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and line 9-inch springform pan.
Beat together sugar and softened butter until airy and creamy, and then add honey.
Add 1 of eggs, beating in with tablespoon of flour, and then second egg with another tablespoon of flour.
Fold in melted chocolate, and then remaining flour and baking soda.
Add cocoa pushed through tea strainer to ensure no lumps, and last of all, beat in the boiling water.
Mix everything together well to make smooth batter and pour into prepared springform pan.
Bake for up to 1 -1/2 hours, checking cake after 45 minutes. If it's getting too dark, cover top lightly with aluminum foil and keep checking every 15 minutes.
Let cake cool completely in pan on rack.

Glaze: 
To make glaze, bring water and honey to boil in pot, then turn off the heat and add finely chopped chocolate, swirling around to melt in hot liquid.
Leave for few minutes, then whisk together.
Add sugar through sieve and whisk again until smooth.

Putting it together:
Choose plate or stand, and cut 4 strips of parchment paper and form square outline on plate. Reason: So when you put cake on it and ice it, icing won't run all over the plate (you can always cut the excess off later).
Unclip springform pan and set thoroughly cooled cake on prepared plate.

Pour glaze over cold chocolate honey cake. It might dribble a bit down the edges, but don't worry too much about it. Glaze stays tacky for some time (which is what gives it its melting goeyness) so ice in time for glaze to harden a little, at least an hour before you want to serve it.

Nigella Lawson decorates this great cake with marzipan bees. For the recipe for them, and for her exact recipe, go HERE.

Chocolate Pistachio Fudge: National Pistachio Day

Today is National Pistachio Day. Pistachio Day is also January 26.  I posted all kinds of fun Pistachio Facts on that date, as well as a recipe for Pistachio Brownies. So many days and ways to celebrate this green nut! I love the combination of chocolate and pistachios for texture, color and taste. One of the easiest and most delicious recipes comes from Nigella Lawson. Here's a link to her short video (3 minutes): Nigella Lawson makes Chocolate Pistachio Fudge. This fudge recipe is simple to prepare and looks and tastes great! Don't want to watch the video? I've adapted her recipe. It's a snap!

Chocolate Pistachio Fudge

Ingredients
12 ounces 70 percent dark chocolate, chopped or 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
Pinch salt
1 cup shelled pistachios (I use about 1/2 cup)

Directions
Melt chopped chocolate, condensed milk, and salt in heavy saucepan on low heat.
Put nuts into freezer bag and bash with rolling pin, until broken up into both big and small pieces.
Add nuts to melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.
Pour mixture into 9-inch square pan, smoothing top. (I butter the pan slightly)
Let fudge cool and then refrigerate until set. You can then cut into small pieces approximately 3/4 by 1 3/4 inches or cutting 8 by 8 lines in the pan to give 64 pieces.
Once cut you can keep fudge in the freezer. No need to thaw just eat straight away.

Of course this recipe also works with other nuts. Pecans, Walnuts--I've tried them all.

Variations:
Don't add pistachios to chocolate mixture. Just crush pistachios and sprinkle on top for more crunch.
Make truffles from semi-set chocolate fudge. Make into balls and roll in cocoa or more chopped pistachios! Yum. Chocolate Pistachio Truffles.

Celebrate Pistachios today!

Chocolate Honey Cake for a Sweet New Year

As I've mentioned in my last few blogs, September is National Honey Month, so here's another Chocolate Honey Cake Recipe. I posted a Chocolate Honey Cake recipe before, and I really like that Chocolate Honey Cake. It's quite different from the one below.  Either of these cakes would also be great to make to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, that begins on Wednesday night. Honey is a traditional food that symbolizes a Sweet New Year. Add Chocolate, and the year is bound to be sweet!

If you read my blog, you'll know I'm quite taken with many of Nigella Lawson's recipes, especially those with chocolate. Here then is my adaptation of her Chocolate Honey Cake, aka Honey Bee Cake. She decorates her Chocolate Honey Cake with the most adorable marzipan bees, but I never get quite that involved. Too bad, because they're really beautiful.  And, honey cake doesn't have to be dry and heavy. This cake is incredibly moist! As I've mentioned before, though, your final product will be different depending on the type and brand of chocolate and the type of honey you use.

Chocolate Honey Cake

Ingredients

Cake:
4 ounces dark chocolate (50-65% cacao), broken into pieces
1 1/3 cups soft light brown sugar
2 sticks soft sweet butter
1/2 cup local honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon DARK cocoa
1 cup boiling water

Sticky Honey Glaze:
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup honey
6 ounces dark chocolate (50-65% cacao), finely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Directions
1. Have all ingredients at room temperature.
2. Melt the chocolate from the cake part of the ingredients list in a large bowl, either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and butter and line a 9-inch springform pan.
4. Beat together sugar and softened butter until airy and creamy, and then add the honey.
5. Add 1 of the eggs, beating it in with a tablespoon of the flour, and then the other egg with another tablespoon of flour.
6. Fold in the melted chocolate, and then the rest of the flour and baking soda.
7. Add the cocoa pushed through a tea strainer to ensure no lumps, and last of all, beat in the boiling water.
8. Mix everything together well to make a smooth batter and pour into the prepared springform pan.
9. Bake for up to 1 -1/2 hours, but check the cake after 45 minutes. If it's getting too dark, cover the top lightly with aluminium foil and keep checking every 15 minutes.
10. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Glaze: 
1. To make the glaze, bring the water and honey to a boil in a pot, then turn off the heat and add the finely chopped chocolate, swirling it around to melt in the hot liquid.
2. Leave it for a few minutes, then whisk together.
3. Add the sugar through a sieve and whisk again until smooth.

Putting it together:
1. Choose your plate or stand, and cut 4 strips of parchment paper and form a square outline on the plate. Reason: So when you put the cake on it and ice it, the icing won't run  all over the plate (you can always cut the excess off later).
2. Unclip the springform pan and set the thoroughly cooled cake on the prepared plate.

3. Pour the glaze over the cold chocolate honey cake. It might dribble a bit down the edges, but don't worry too much about it. The glaze stays tacky for some time (which is what gives it its melting goeyness) so ice in time for the glaze to harden a little,  at least an hour before you want to serve it.

Nigella Lawson decorates this great cake with marzipan bees. For the recipe for them, and for her exact recipe, go HERE.