Aunt Wendy's Chocolate Pie

This chocolate pie recipe is everything you hope a chocolate pie will be and rarely is.  It is a sophisticated alternative to the usual cookies and candy that often end christmas meals.  As a plus, it is very easy to make and is best made one day ahead of time.

Ingredients:
- 1c butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 c sugar
- 3 squares unsweetened bakers chocolate, melted
- 1t vanilla (for pie filling) + 1/2t vanilla (for whipped cream topping)
- 4 eggs (pasteurized)
- Pie crust
- Heavy whipping cream
- 2T powdered sugar
- Chocolate to shave for garnish

Cream the sugar and butter until fluffy looking.  Add the chocolate and 1t vanilla and mix well to incorporate.  Then add the eggs one at a time with the mixer running at medium-high speed, allowing to run for five minutes in between adding each egg.

Meanwhile, lay your pie crust in your pie pan, trim to fit leaving about 1-inch extra, flute, prick all over with a fork and bake until golden.  This would be a good pie crust to bake blind so you don't get any air bubbles under the crust.

When the crust is cool, pour in your chocolate mixture and chill in the refrigerator.

Clean your mixer bowl and then cream the whipping cream on high speed until fluffy.  Add in 1/2t vanilla and powdered sugar and mix to incorporate.  Set aside your whipped cream topping and add to the pie before serving.  Shave chocolate over the top.

Martha Stewart's Devils Food Cupcakes

I made Martha Stewart's devils food cupcakes for a baby shower at work on Friday.  The shower recipient is a chocolate lover, so I knew I had to find a rich chocolate option.  My original choice was lava cakes, but abandoned them because of the uncertainty of making them in the morning and then transporting them to the office and having to let them sit until lunchtime.  The devils food cake cupcakes did not disappoint!

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup hot water
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, combine baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 

Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add half of the flour mixture, then the sour cream, and then the other half of the flour mixture.

Fill your cupcake tins about 80% full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Frost with chocolate frosting.

Pumpkin Rum Cake (or Coffee Cake)

Seeing as how we have seemingly really entered the fall season here in D.C., I made a number of pumpkin dishes over the weekend to test various uses of the ubiquitous can of Libby's.  I made a pumpkin chili and pumpkin rum cake.  My conclusion is that pumpkin can be added to nearly anything without really changing the flavor.

This pumpkin rum cake recipe comes from the recipe book from a "Chunkin' Punkin'" festival in Delaware. This recipe is extremely easy, but I will warn you that the end result is very sugary.  I actually much preferred it as a coffee cake with some bitter black coffee as opposed to a dessert.  To each his own though.

Ingredients:
- 1 box of yellow cake mix
- 1 box of vanilla pudding mix (about 3.4oz)
- 4 eggs
- 3/4c white rum, divided
- 1c butter, divided
- 1/2c walnuts
- 1 can pumpkin
- 1c sugar

Preheat your oven to 325.

To make the cake, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, 1/2 cup of the rum, 1/2 cup butter (melted), and the can of pumpkin.  Mix well.  Pour into a cake pan.  I used a 8x13 pan, but the recipe actually calls for a bundt pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for about 30-60 minutes (30 minutes for the 8x13 pan, longer for the bundt pan).

When the cake is done, combine the remaining 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup rum, and 1 cup sugar in a small saucepan on the stovetop over medium heat.  Cook until the butter is melted and the sugar totally dissolved, then cook about 2 minutes longer, or until the mixture gets thick and syrupy.  Pour the glaze over the top of the cake.  Serve!