Choco­late Sour Cream Fudge Cake

w/​Chocolate Crème Fraiche Frosting

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2 cups flour
2 tsp bak­ing soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup unsalt­ed butter
soft­ened
2 ¼ cup brown sug­ar
4 oz bit­ter chocolate
melt­ed & cooled
1 ½ tsp real vanil­la
1 cup sour cream
1 cup strong hot coffee
3 eggs

Sift flour, bak­ing soda & salt… set aside

Beat but­ter, sug­ar, & eggs 5 min­utes in elec­tric mix­er bowl, until light & fluffy.

Beat in choco­late & vanilla.

Stir in 1⁄3 dry ingre­di­ents, 1⁄2 of the sour cream…

anoth­er 1⁄3 dry ingre­di­ents & rest of the sour cream… 

and the last of the 1⁄3 of dry ingre­di­ents. Stir JUST until mixed!

Stir in hot coffee.

Pour into 2 9″ pans, greased & lined with waxed paper (a 9×13 pan will work too).

Strike each pan on counter edge to release air bubbles.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Cool on wire rack for 15 min­utes, then run knife around edge and turn out to fin­ish cooling.

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Choco­late Crème Fraiche Frosting

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1 cup crème fraîche
See recipe below
2 egg yolks
1 pound semi­sweet chocolate
melt­ed and kept warm

With elec­tric mixer…

Beat togeth­er crème fraîche & egg yolks. Add warm melt­ed choco­late & beat for 2 minutes.

Let sit 10 min­utes, beat briefly & use immediately

E N J O Y !

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Make ahead your own Cream Fraiche

For every cup of heavy cream, use 1 table­spoon but­ter­milk.

Com­bine cream & but­ter­milk in saucepan over medi­um heat until the chill is off (approx­i­mate­ly 90 decrees F. Pour into clean glass jar, cov­er loose­ly with waxed paper & let sit in warm place (65−70 degrees F.) for 12 to 20 hours, until thick­ened. Replace waxed paper with plas­tic wrap & refrig­er­ate for at least 6 hours before using.

Keeps up to 2 weeks.

Moc Mince Meat Pie alla giovanna

1 ½ cups seed­less raisins
4 medi­um size tart apples
Cut into small pieces/​diced (squeeze a lit­tle lemon so not to brown)
10-15 dried apri­cots
Cut into small pieces w/​scissors
1/2+/- wal­nuts*
*Option­al… coarse­ly broken
1 large orange (rind & juice)
Grate the rind & add the juice
½ cup cider
Mar­tinel­li’s sparkling apple cider or oth­er juice
¾ cups sug­ar
brown sug­ar works well
½ tsp. cin­na­mon
½ tsp. cloves
~1 tsp. fresh grat­ed nutmeg
2-3 tbls. fine­ly crushed soda crackers
I use crack­er meal (hard to find though)
2-3 tbls. tapi­o­ca
Use instant tapi­o­ca or small pearl tapioca
2-3 tbls. + brandy**
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Make up your favorite 2 crust pie crust, or buy the ready made refrig­er­at­ed pie crust. Keep in frig till needed.

Pre­heat oven to 450

Put the first 6 ingre­di­ents into a sauce pan, cov­er and sim­mer over med heat until apples are soft. Stir now and then and add a lit­tle more cider if need­ed to pre­vent scorching.

Remove from heat. 

Stir in the next 6 ingre­di­ents till well blended.

Line pie pan w/​one pie crust; add the fill­ing, Plus, driz­zle brandy on top.

Do a lat­tice crust on top… light­ly brush a lit­tle milk and sprin­kle a lit­tle coarse sug­ar on top.

Bake @ 450 for 10 min­utes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake ~20 – 25 min­utes longer.

**Note: If you care to make the fill­ing a few days ahead, don’t add the brandy till you are ready to make the pie.

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It’s autumn .… need to start think­ing ​“turkey”!

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