Fat whores, do you add coffee ☕️ to your chocolate 🍫 desserts?

She also over-salts everything she makes. Just cuz Ina does it doesn't make it good...

Bite your tongue r1

Italian instant black coffee powder dissolved in a small amount of water, enough to make a thick paste. It’s in my espresso brownie recipe that uses cocoa powder not chocolate, everyone raves about them. The coffee does make a big difference.

Often but not always.

I am in a less piggish phase right now and so I am not baking anything but sometimes I always put coffee in chocolate stuff and other times I don't want even a hint of a taste of it. Seems to come and go in waves.

Why are the tops of brownies so perfectly hunger inducing? Do any other baked goods form such a perfect crust with such a perfect crackly sheen?

A teaspoon of instant coffee and a bit of cinnamon, not enough to know it’s got cinnamon in it, go in all chocolate desserts in my house. Technically, it’s called mocha when you add the coffee.

As a fat baking whore, I do add espresso powder to my chocolate/cocoa bakes.

Yep. I, too, am a Fat Whore who's been putting a teaspoon or so of instant coffee in my chocolate baked goods for years. It's not enough to really taste it but it makes the chocolate more chocolatey (supposedly).

One thing about Fat Ina Garten, she does know how to cook. Her recipes always work so she and her staff must have their shit together in their test kitchen.

Tip: Always dissolve it in a little liquid first. I've tried the lazyman's way of just tossing it in dry assuming it will dissolve and distribute - no good.

If you make fairly strong coffee that day, you can just use some of that. If not, Trader Joe's has a good instant coffee and I keep a jar around for this exact purpose.

R1 I agree! I make her sausage/apple/cranberry stuffing (it has been my favorite stuffing recipe a few years running), and while it calls for 16 cups of bread (among other things), 1 TABLESPOON of Kosher salt is entirely too much. Particularly with the addition of the sausage.

The first time I made it, I knew it was too much, but because it was the first time, I followed the recipe to have something to compare to when I made it in the future. ONE GRAIN MORE of salt would've completely ruined the dish. Otherwise, it's a BANGIN' recipe. I also use herb bread, instead of what's listed in the recipe.

Her kugel recipe also calls for a TABLESPOON of kosher salt!

Another hint when baking with chocolate: put an ever so tiny bit of cayenne pepper. Just like, coffee, you don't necessarily taste it, but it enhances the chocolatiness of chocolate. Seriously, just an EVER SO TINY BIT.

The recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa Powder is the absolute best recipe for a chocolate layer cake. I add a few teaspoons of instant coffee to the cup of boiling water. Friends beg me to make that cake for them.

Yes, espresso or double strength coffee. I always add it for brownies, and chocolate mousse, or pudding. A bit in the frosting is another trick of mine.

For those that do add coffee to their chocolate desserts: can you detect coffee in the final product?

R13 My mom always made Nestlé toll house cookies from the recipe on the chocolate chip bag. People who ate them would go crazy and tell her they want the recipe. "IT'S ON THE CHOCOLATE CHIP BAG," she would say.

R15 In my frosting I can, definitely a "mocha coffee" flavour, but not really in the cakes or brownies.

R15 Not always but I didn't put it in brownies one time after it had become habit to do so, and when I ate them, I realized it was missing and liked the milder flavor at that time.

R15 no discernible taste of coffee. There's something about the interaction between coffee and chocolate that enhances the flavor of the chocolate without imparting a coffee flavor.

It's good to be careful with kosher salt because the flake size varies considerably. A lot of times the tv chefs (ATK esp) use diamond crystal which has larger crystals. Then if you use Morten's kosher, you effectively get double the salt.

That *is* the recipe, r16. The secret is to slightly underbake them.

I don't taste the coffee at all. It's lots of chocolate and a lot of batter for a layer cake (or whatever other chocolate dessert) and not that much coffee.

It ends up boosting the chocolatey-ness of the cake without turning it mocha. If you want a mocha flavor, which I sometimes do in frosting, I add more coffee.

Another option is to fart on them.

Store-bought won't do in this case.

Ina Garten davida honey

R16, the problem is that most people can't actually follow a recipe. They use things like margarine or Crisco in place of butter, and imitation vanilla. They often leave out the salt entirely, which results in bland cookies. I always add more chocolate chips than the recipe requires, but I'm a serious chocoholic...

I add coffee to most chocolate desserts, and I even add cocoa to my chili.

I can always taste coffee and rum when added to chocolate, and I dislike both flavors. I use a few drops of almond extract to enhance the chocolate, or a specific flavor that I actually want to taste like raspberry or orange. Julia Child used to suggest melting chocolate in orange juice if you didn't like coffee.

"sometimes I always put coffee in chocolate stuff"

Which one is it, R4?

[Quote] Julia Child used to suggest melting chocolate in orange juice if you didn't like coffee.

That sounds disgusting and a terrible substitute for coffee.

R29 I don't happen to be the poster you have quoted, but I did think that was odd reading it years ago. I think it has something to do with the acid in the orange juice. I thought if someone had an aversion to coffee, why not amp up the chocolate flavour with a chocolate extract, or liqueur.

I have the recipe for chocolate cake by the Queen's pastrychef, and its secret ingredient is not coffee but marmalade. Marmalade and real melted chocolate and half a pound of butter.

I only add coffee to a couple of things, and only because the original recipes called for it.

The Prune Pecan Cake with Mahogany Icing, a recipe passed down to me from my grandmother, calls for a little bit in the frosting. The original recipe, from what I could make out of her chicken-scratch writing on a piece of 1950s tablet paper folded and stashed in a book, called for "a couple tsp strong brewed coffee." I have since substituted that amount of decaffeinated instant coffee. And there's also a chocolate cake recipe I tried maybe five years ago that calls for finely ground or powdered espresso in the cake.

I certainly don't add it to every chocolate dessert, but yes using finely ground expresso powder leads to some amazing results for many recipes - just don't overdue it as posters above mentioned. For example, I never make brownies without it. I always use a variation of Katharine Hepburn's brownie recipe (easy to Google quickly and simple to follow), but just make some additions to it. I first double the entire recipe because I hate thin brownies and deeper height makes for a really chewy and satisfying final product. Her true secret is using VERY little flour (for a doubled recipe I use 2/3 cup to her 1/2 cup). I use BOTH the cocoa powder called for and around 10 oz. of decent quality dark chocolate (Godiva or Lindt are usually easy to find for example), sometimes I use half dark and half white chocolate, vanilla, salt, unsalted butter, the walnuts that she calls for (a large amount), a little extra molasses added to the sugar and of course a little of this stuff below (about a teaspoon). I just cut them really small (despite the thickness, they are still about a "3 bite" serving per piece) and then freeze a bunch (or just give a ton away for Xmas or the like). This is the best brand of expresso powder to cook with IMO. You want to make sure that the beans that are used were actually of good quality and most importantly - that they are ground very, very fine. That is the kicker - the coffee flavor is great but no one wants to bite into crunchy little bits either. The other kicker is not to cut them until after the brownies are completely cooled, covered covered with foil and then cooled in the fridge overnight. The next day they cut perfectly and look really professional. Just my two cents.

R33, Medaglia D'Oro is precisely the brand I used for that chocolate cake I mentioned in R32. ;)

R32 Hey Dragon, your Gran's Prune Pecan cake sounds delicious... Would you be so kind as to post her recipe? There's currently a " Prunes Are the Best Dried Fruit Thread", that might be another good place to share it.

R31 I've been hearing the lore of that cake of hers for as far back as I can remember! Some say HM carries around a slice in her purse at all times. Her chef has to make one every two or three days or something. You ought to post that as well, though perhaps it's even worthy of its own thread, as it doesn't contain coffee. I dig the orange and chocolate together. Sounds as if it may taste a bit like Jaffa cakes

Link to Prune thread R34 If you could share your recipe!

Ina! Ina! Ina!

This is the recipe as I now make it:

𝐏𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐈𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠

For the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cardamom (optional)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup cold cooked prunes *

1 cup cold prune juice *

1/2 cup 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑠 (dried cranberries); optional

1/2 tsp orange zest

3 eggs 𝑠𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑; egg whites beaten until stiff

1 cup chopped pecans

Maraschino Cherries and unbroken pecan halves reserved for decoration.

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* 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞: Using one 12oz package of pitted prunes, roughly chop the prunes and optional Craisins. Place in a medium saucepan with 1/2 cup of sugar (not part of sugar listed above), 1/2 tsp orange zest, and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Using a strainer, separate solids from juice, to obtain one cup of each. Chill fruit solids and juice before using.

Place the flour, baking soda and powder, and spices together in a container; seal, and shake thoroughly together. Beat egg whites. Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

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In a large mixing bowl, blend 3/4 cup butter/margarine, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and egg yolks together; add cold prunes. Add prune juice and combined dry ingredients alternately, mixing well between each addition. Fold in stiff egg whites, stir in chopped pecans. Divide batter evenly between the two cake pans, and bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 35 to 45 minutes. Cool, and frost with Mahogany Icing. This cake is said to be best if it's allowed to set, covered, for two days before cutting, but this is optional.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐈𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠

1 lb. bag Powdered Confectioner's Sugar (or more, if necessary)

3/4 cup butter/margarine

1 tbs powdered cocoa

dash ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp Instant Coffee, melted in 1 tbs hot water

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whip together in a mixing bowl. The frosting color should be beige or taupe. If it's darker, you've used too much chocolate. If too stiff, use a little of the Maraschino Cherry juice to thin. If too thin, add additional powdered sugar to stiffen to spreading consistency.

Spread frosting between cake layers with frosting knife or spatula. Frost sides and top. (Optional: carefully slice the two cake layers lengthwise, producing four layers, and frost accordingly. This may make the cake too rich, so it's up to you - it depends on how fond you are of the frosting. )

Slice six or eight Maraschino Cherries in half; place on paper towel to blot excess juice. Place a cherry half on top of the frosted cake, in the center; surround with four pecan halves in concentric pattern, like flower petals. Arrange more cherry and pecan halves around these, until the top of the cake is decoratively covered. The effect is not unlike the jeweled ornate cover of a medieval Book of Hours.

Enjoy!

A few remarks:

Anything I characterized as 'optional' is a modification of the original recipe.

For a couple of decades, I used my grandmother's actual cake pans, which I had inherited. They had sliders to help remove the cake from the pans. I used them anytime I baked cakes, and quite wore out the originals; I have replacements now.

I no longer do the whole egg-separation thing; I just use whole eggs, and don't really see a difference in the finished product. Perhaps someone here can explain why so many cake recipes from the early 20th century called for the step of separating the eggs, with the whites whipped to stiff peaks, subsequently folded it. What's the point?

Maybe fifteen or twenty years ago, I taught my best friend this recipe. When one of his great-aunts passed away, he made the cake and brought it to the wake. It was so successful that it became something of an "apple of discord"; the relatives actually fought over who was going to take the rest of it home, and the whole thing apparently became an incident of some lasting bitterness between them. I was secretly quite pleased with this result. :D

^^ 'subsequently folded in"

R39 Cheers Dragon. I'm going to make your Gran's cake for dessert on Thanksgiving, I'm already doing a non-traditional Lasagne. That's an interesting story about your friend as well. BTW, I have no idea as to common recommendations for beating seperated egg whites, but I realised it often made no discernible difference in other recipes. Perhaps their baking powder wasn't as fresh or reliable, so they were dependant on the extra air and lift, but I'm just guessing. I feel somewhat the same way about "folding in", rather than gently stirring or combining, though only with some recipes.

Really excited to make this, as I love Prunes, and have a lot of Pecans I need to use up, so thanks again!

I love 💕 the fatty threads

I do whatever Ina and Martha tell me to do. And sometimes I consult lydia.

So, R41, did you try it?