Tag: CHOCOLATE

Chocolate Sundae Cake – Southern Plate by Gordon Ramsay

Chocolate Sundae Cake originally posted in 2009 and updated with fresh photos in 2019. If you enjoy Southern Plate, please help support the site by telling your friends!

In the south, our menu selection changes entirely with the season, and each new season is something to be excited about. Right now, we’re all celebrating sunshine and heat, gardens and the outdoors. When the temperature reaches as high as it does here, that means cold food is a welcome delight. That is where Chocolate Sundae Cake comes in!

This cake is definitely celebration worthy on all counts. The appearance makes you think of red balloons and barbecues but beyond that, the ease of it is stunning. I dreamed this up a years ago when I had company coming and wanted an impressive dessert with ingredients I had on hand. I was hoping they’d like it and the speed with which it disappeared confirmed that they did. Just to be sure though, I made another one. POOF! And another…POOF!

Alright, now I’m ready to bring it to you – with a POOF! Guarantee.

One of my reader’s asked me on facebook if I had any suggestions for dishes to bring to family reunions and this one is going to go to the top of my list! The complete list of my personal favorite Southern Plate family reunion dishes is coming tomorrow so stay tuned!

I LOVE family reunions but it looks like we’re done with them for the time being in my family. Folks scatter to the wind and family expand, people get older and in a bad way, leaving just a few of us stragglers with the enthusiasm to herd the crowd back to the farm one bright sunny day. We still gather at my mother’s house a few times a year though and while this is just my siblings and their families it’s still a big enough gathering to count as a reunion to the younger generation.

They won’t remember Papa Reed giving us rides on the tractor as he let kids take turns getting to sit over the wheel. They won’t remember fifty people piling up on the flatbed trailer for a ride to the creek where we’d try to find the biggest rock to make the biggest splash. And they won’t ever sit in the front yard of the farm and listen to people playing banjos and fiddles on the porch.

They won’t ever have the memories in my head or the experiences I gathered as a little girl. But they’ll have new ones. Not the same, but just as precious to them. And of course, they’ll remember the food. Maybe this chocolate sundae cake will be one of those special memories, too. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a list of my favorite things to bring to family get togethers.

You’ll need: Chocolate Cake mix (regular, dark, devil’s food, etc) and whatever the package calls for to make that, a large container of whipped topping, a bottle of chocolate syrup, and some cherries (I prefer with stems) along with chopped nuts for the topping.

Of course I’m using the cheap stuff!

~smiles her perky housewife of the 1950’s era smile and looks into the camera with pride~

“Nothing but the cheapest for me and my family!” Hey, ain’t no shame in saving money. In fact, there is a lot of wisdom there!

Prepare your cake according to package directions in a 9×13 inch pan.

As soon as you take it out of the oven, poke holes all in the top with a fork.

Until it looks like it has been attacked by a mob of angry chickens.

Now take that bottle of chocolate syrup and pour it over the cake.

Yes, the entire bottle. Saturate that cake. It will soak into the holes and warm cake and…oh my if your mouth isn’t watering now I don’t know what it takes to do it for ya!

Let your cake cool completely and place in the fridge to get it chilled.

Sometimes I speed things up a bit by placing my hot cake in the freezer but lets keep that between us, alrighty?

Once your cake is cold, spread the entire container of whipped topping over it.

Top with chopped nuts and a cherry and serve cold!

Check out that cross section!

This is so easy, you don’t have any excuse not to make it!

Chocolate Sundae Cake

A deeply chocolate cake soaked with chocolate sauce and topped with a light whipped cream, chopped nuts, and a cherry! Everyone’s favorite summer cake!

Ingredients

1 box Chocolate Cake Mix, Devil’s Food or Dark Chocolate preferred plus ingredients needed to prepare according to pkg directions
1 Bottle Hershey’s Chocolate syrup Or chocolate syrup of your choice
16 ounces whipped topping
chopped nuts and cherries with stems, for garnishing

Instructions

Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions in a 9×13 pan.
Once, done, remove cake from oven and poke holes all in top with fork while still hot. Pour entire bottle of chocolate syrup over cake. Allow to cool completely.
Spread whipped topping over entire cake. Refrigerate for several hours. Garnish each slice with chopped nuts and a cherry. Enjoy!

“He has the most who is most content with the least.”

~ Diogenes, an ancient Greek philosopher

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Yum

Gluten-Free Goddess Recipes: Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes by Gordon Ramsay

Gluten free chocolate cupcake recipe with coffee flavored icing

Cupcakes for the In Crowd…

Gluten-free cupcakes are hot. Or should I say, HAWT. Tack on vegan status, too, and you’ve got a trend worthy of the most BoHo WeHo GoGo. So I’m reprising this chocolate cupcake recipe to tempt you into baking this week. These little beauties remind me of Devil’s Food Cake. Dark, moist and chocolatey.

So grab your inner Domestic Goddess by the hand and stir up some trouble.

But before we get to (what happens to be my favorite) chocolate cupcake recipe from the archives, I want to share something. Maybe it’s the new moon just around the corner in early June, that cyclic siren pulling us toward wholeness, to embracing our shadow, urging us to let go, shed the outworn for the sake of authenticity. Or maybe it’s the fresh start of a new summer season, possessing me with cravings for leafy walks and the scent of lavender with its clean as a cloud fragrance, conjuring flashes of new beginnings.

Whatever it is, I surrender to it.

I came across these Polaroids during our recent move to Texas.

I won’t tell you how many years have passed since these images were taken. How many moons have waxed and waned. Let’s just say my sons and I are warm weather babies, born into sunlit heat and generous greenery, the open window sounds of summer, our lullabies.

Looking back across the seasons feels dreamlike. I float through it. And all too soon realize I cannot grasp anything. I cannot hold on to the past. My hands are empty. And that’s okay. Though a secret piece of me sometimes aches for that once clear definition my mothering role carved out for me. My days are fluid now. And soft. And I’ve been thinking.

After a certain age you get, well. Tired.

Tired of squeezing your self into one-size-fits-normal. Tired of accommodating expectations. Weary of scanning your body through a Madison Avenue filter. Exhausted pretending you even care about Top 40 pop, manicures, or fashion trends (it’s obvious, you don’t). I am increasingly irritated by this ancient automatic reflex to fit in, find the perfect hair color, be nice. That nice woman. The one the neighbors like.

It sneaks in slowly on tiny paws, this anarchy.

This wildness.

It starts in dreams and keeps you awake at night with its low throated hum. You can feel it growing, toothy and buzzing inside you, like some fractal shattering cracked spiral candy. Like flinging honey and bee stings into thunder. Inescapable. A rush. A roaring undertow- this need for life. A life lived true.

Karina
xox

Gluten free chocolate cupcakes with coffee icing

Karina’s Wheat-Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing- a Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free Vegan Recipe

Gluten-free chocolate cupcake heaven. Yep. And if you don’t care for the taste of coffee, use rice milk or coconut milk in the batter in place of the coffee and make a vanilla, coconut, or chocolate flavored icing.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with parchment or paper liners.

Ingredients:

3/4 rounded cup sorghum flour

3/4 rounded cup potato starch, cornstarch or tapioca starch

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup organic cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 cup warm coffee (not too hot or it will make the starch gluey)

1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer beaten with 1/4 cup warm water

3 tablespoons organic canola or coconut oil

2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon light tasting rice vinegar

Instructions:

Whisk together the flours and dry ingredients.

Add in the coffee, egg replacer, oil, vanilla and vinegar. Beat the batter for a full two to three minutes until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth.

Using an ice cream scoop, plop the batter into the cups and smooth the tops.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven till done- about 20 minutes or so.

Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack (don’t let them sit in the baking pan too long or they’ll get soggy).

Frost when completely cooled. See recipe for coffee flavored icing below.

Notes on gluten-free vegan batter:

Gluten-free vegan batters are a tad different than wheat and white flour batters. They are stiffer at first, then stretch and get sticky as the xanthan gum and egg replacer do their thing.

If the batter “climbs” the beaters, slow down the speed and slightly lift the beaters to encourage the batter to move back down into the bowl. Move your beater around the bowl in figure eights, at a slight angle. Practice your technique- soon you’ll be winging around gluten-free vegan baking like a pro.

Vegan Coffee Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

2-3 tablespoons Spectrum Organic Shortening or vegan margarine

2-4 ounces cold coffee, as needed

1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla

Instructions:

Starting with the least amount of liquid, beat the sugar to incorporate the shortening, coffee and vanilla. if you need more liquid, add a small amount at a time. beat for two minutes or so until smooth.

If you need to stiffen the frosting, add a little more confectioner’s sugar.

Chill the frosting before using it. I chill it, covered, for roughly an hour.

Frost the cupcakes. Cover in an air-tight container until serving. best eaten the first day. If making ahead of time, chill frosted cakes briefly in the freezer before wrapping individually and freezing.

Cook time: 1 hour, total

Yield: Serves 12

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

Enjoy sugary treats in moderation. Gluten-Free Goddess advises consuming no more than 2 tablespoons of sugar a day.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins by Gordon Ramsay

Luscious Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins- gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free... and tasty!

Strawberry Moon

From the archives- a Mother’s Day recipe idea that you may have missed! xox Karina

The moon rose almost full last night, hanging gold and low above the palm and ficus trees, urging the local beauty factor to give up its pretense of reality and meld with dreamland. The sky was a deep shade of violet with a wash of strawberry pink at the ocean’s edge. Santa Monica holds me in her sway. I am in love with her- and deeply grateful to be here, celebrating my first spring in California since the late seventies. I drink the friendly May sea air in gulps. I wander the alleys and sidewalks in a state bordering on bliss, photographing details and eye candy with my iPhone.

It is a visual feast.

And I am savoring every bite.

Snippets from my neighborhood

Walking the streets with an artist’s eye is screwing with time in a Lostian sense. I am reliving art school and aging backwards in a slippery flashback time travel Back to the Future buoyancy, wandering with a camera, photographing shop windows, pieces of strangers, a red high heel, a cloud shaped like a crow, a chalk mark, an empty cup. Am I nineteen or am I fifty-five?

For the hours I navigate the neighborhood, I am neither.

Age is not relevant in a state of observation and creative response- although I would be lying if I didn’t mention a certain advantage advancing age can offer. Being older- without the magnet of estrogen oozing from our pores- renders us invisible. This kind of freedom is not to be taken lightly. Its pleasure needs to be broadcast. Celebrated. Moving through time and space as something other than a trophy, a focus for desire, or a brooding hen is more fun than eating cotton candy barefoot. Nobody notices you. Nobody cares.

For a visual person like me this is heaven.

Or my idea of heaven, anyway. Which I do not embrace with a literal imposition but grasp lightly with irony and an abstract, low down bare bones trust in the reality of now as we know it, no strings attached. Because heaven?

It’s here on Earth.

Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need— roads.

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

By Karina Allrich

I changed up my usual gluten-free flour mix to create a lighter, fluffier vegan muffin (translation- more starch). And then I added chocolate chips. Gasp. Health food, this isn’t. But lip smacking tasty? That would be, Affirmative. This recipe is vegan, egg-free, but eggs will work just fine, if you prefer.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 12-muffin tin with parchment or paper liners.

Ingredients:

1 rounded cup stemmed, cored, cut up fresh strawberries- set aside

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl:

3/4 cup sweet sorghum flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch or potato starch (not potato flour!)
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup organic light brown sugar

Add in and beat:

3/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup coconut oil, softened
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water till frothy (or 2 beaten eggs)

Beat until the batter is smooth- it will be fairly sticky, but much like a thick cake batter.

Stir in by hand:

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

Spoon only one tablespoon of the batter into the twelve lined muffin cups.

Add three to four pieces of fresh strawberries- sticking them into the batter a bit but avoid pushing them to the bottom- this helps keeps the muffin bottoms from getting soggy.

Divide the remaining batter evenly between the twelve muffin cups.

Take the remaining strawberry pieces and push them slightly into the batter- about three to four pieces per muffin. Add a few extra chocolate chips to the tops.

Bake in the center of a pre-heated oven till domed and firm- about 25 minutes. They should feel springy when lightly touched. if they dent, they’re not done. Bake for another five minutes. If in doubt, insert a clean toothpick into the center to check for doneness.

Note: Cold and wet strawberries will chill down the batter; so if you use ice cold berries- or really wet berries- be aware they may make the muffin a bit soggy. I drained the berries well; and let them sit at room temperature while I made the batter and preheated the oven.

Cool the muffins on a wire rack. Super delicious served a little bit warm when the chocolate chips are melty.

Wrap and bag extras to freeze for easy, on-the-go treats.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com