Shabbat Dessert

One of the things I do to set Shabbat apart from the rest of the week is make dessert. Unlike my inlaws house, we do not regularly have dessert. Yet on Shabbat one of the festive special foods we have is dessert. And to me that means chocolate.

It has been a challenge for me to come up with interesting appealing desserts week after week given that I had an extremely limited dessert repetroir when I started this process. Add into that the new requirement that it be 100% dairy free regardless of the rest of the meal and that means I need to get creative and experiment.

This week's experiment is a huge hit. It is a complicated dessert which really calls for company or an extra special occasion but it is worth it. The recipe is broken into parts and I made each part at a different time to fit into my schedule better. I made two huge modifications to the recipe to make it dairy-free and was really concerned how they affect the finished product. The substitute cream works great! The butter-substitute works ok. I can taste the difference. It is not such a big deal in this cake because there are lots of other flavors in the frosting but it still means I am looking for a better butter substitute.

So at last here is the recipe (pardon the cut slice. You can the crunch in the frosting though)


Chocolate Walnut Crunch Cake (From Death By Chocolate Cakes)

Sponge Cake Ingredients
2 tsps butter melted (I used PAM - It is just to grease the pans)
1/2 cup cake flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
5 eggs seperated
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup hot water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts toasted and coarsley chopped

Walnut Crunch Ingredients
1 1/2 cup walnuts toasted and coarsley chopped
2 cups sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Chocolate Walnut Frosting
8 oz semi sweet chocolate coarsely chopped (look careful only some are dairy free)
3/4 cup heavy cream ( here is the first big substitute - Soy Creamer - Works great)
3/4 pound unsalted butter (and here is the second - I use Crisco - functional but still looking for better)
1tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Prepare Cake (I did this Thursday morning)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9" pans. Place parchment cirlces in bottom of pans and then grease again.

In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir and set aside. Place 5 eggs and 1/4 c of the sugar in bowl of electric mixer. Beat on medium high until slightly thickened. Scape down then beat again until very thick. With the mixer on low, slowly add dry ingredients. Add water and vanilla mix briefly. Add the chopped walnuts and mix thoroughly.

In a sperate bowl whisk egg whites and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until soft peaks form. Gently and gradually fold egg whites into batter. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes then invert and carefull remove paper. Refigerate cakes until needed.

Walnut Crunch (I did this Thursday Night)

Place walnuts on a baking sheet and set aside.
Place sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Stir with a whisk to combine. Carmalize sugar, whisking constantly to break up lumps. Immediately pour over walnuts. Let harden for about 30 min. Break up into pieces by hand then use either a knife to chop or hammer or food processer. Make sure you chop it fairly small. Store in an airtight container until ready for it.

Chocolate Walnut Frosting (I did this Friday midday)
Place chocolate in bowl. Het cream in small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pour over chocolate. Let sit 5 min. Whisk until smooth. Chill 30 min in fridge. This is the ganache
Place butter (or butter substitute) in bowl of electric mixer. Whisk until very soft, scaping down the bowl twice during. Add the chilled ganache. Whisk on medium until light and fluffy. Add Crunch and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

Assemble Cake (I did right after making cake. Do at least 2 hrs prior to serving.)
Invert first layer on serving plate. I recommend placing a liner around the bottom of the cake to keep the serving plate clean while frosting. Spread 1/3 of the frosting on first layer. Invert second layer on top of first, pressing down slightly. Use remaining frosting to cover top and sides.