Labor Day Flourless Chocolate Cake with Berries, Melba Sauce and and White Chocolate Cream
7 ounces (?sticks) unsalted butter
7 ounces best-quality bittersweet (semi-sweet) chocolate (recommended brands: Lind Bittersweet, Bernard C. Semi-Sweet, Godiva Dark)
tablespoon espresso or strong coffee
5 large eggs, separated
tablespoons best-quality unsweetened cocoa (recommended brand: Hershey’s Premium European Style)
7 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 small package fresh blueberries (approximately 6 ounces)
1 small package fresh raspberries (approximately 6 ounces)
Melba Sauce (recipe follows)
White Chocolate Cream (recipe I follows)
Place the oven rack in the middle to lower (not the lowest) part of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 10-inch Springform pan. Make sure you have the bottom of another 10-inch Springform pan on hand.
Place the butter, chocolate, and coffee in the top of a double boiler and melt over boiling water. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool slightly, then stir in the egg yolks and whisk until smooth. Sift the cocoa and sugar together, then sift this mixture directly into the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and set aside. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold half the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then pour the chocolate mixture on top of the remaining egg whites and fold in. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and set it on the lower rack of the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cake is puffed and the center no longer appears moist.
Remove the cake from the oven and immediately press another spring-form pan bottom onto the cake to deflate it. Allow the cake to cool on
When the cake is cool, remove the Springform ring and place the cake on a serving platter. Decorate the top with concentric rings of blueberries and raspberries. When serving, ladle large dollops of Melba Sauce and White Chocolate Cream on top of each slice.
? cup currant jelly
2 (6-ounce) packages fresh
raspberries, sieved (approximately
1 cup after sieving) 2 teaspoons cornstarch 7 tablespoons sugar
Heat the jelly and sieved raspberries in the top of a double boiler (placed directly on the burner) over medium heat until bubbly, about 4 or 5 minutes.
Remove from the direct heat and place on top of the bottom of the double boiler that is filled with boiling water. Mix the cornstarch with the sugar and stir into the jelly mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and clear. Remove from the heat, cool, and chill at least an hour before serving.
6 ounces best-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1?cups whipping cream
Over low heat, melt the chocolate with ? cup of the cream, stirring constantly. When the mixture is melted and smooth, remove from the heat. Pour into a bowl and, stirring occasionally, allow the mixture to come to room temperature. Whip the remaining cup of cream and, whisking constantly to ensure smoothness, stir into the chocolate mixture. Chill before serving.
Keepsake Cookies
? cup blanched, slivered almonds
2 cups (4 sticks; 1 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons very finely minced orange zest
? cup Grand Marnier liqueur
3? cups all-purpose flour
? teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar, for preparing the cookies
? cup (1 stick;? pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier liqueur
Grind almonds in a blender until they resemble large bread crumbs; set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter until it is very smooth and creamy. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the zest and liqueur. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, and ground almonds. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until very well combined. Chill the mixture for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter two cookie sheets. Measure out the cookie dough into ? tablespoon increments. Roll each spoonful of dough into a ball and place them, two inches apart, on the cookie sheets. Butter the bottom of a glass, then dip the glass bottom in sugar. Flatten each cookie with the buttered and sugared glass bottom to a diameter of 2? inches. (Do not make the cookies too thin.) Dip the glass into the sugar before flattening each cookie. Bake approximately 7 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are just cooked through but
For the filling, in the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar, cream, and liqueur, and beat until very smooth and creamy. Spread about a teaspoon of filling on the flat underside of half the cookies; make a sandwich with the flat underside of the other half of the cookies. Store tightly covered.
“Marla, you never mentioned this,” I accused. “Calling like a mother hen when he was going through
“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to
“Well, just don’t give me this stuff about how you never call,” Julian zinged back. “Plus, Arch and I have decided it’s an effect Goldy has had on you. Arch told me, ‘You’ll never be able to do anything again, without Marla checking to see if you’re still alive, or telling you that whatever you’re doing is dangerous or will make you sick.’”
“Uh, excuse me,” I interjected, smiling. “If people want to eat, they need to be
Julian patted my shoulder. “Let me finish about Leah, okay? I think at first she was relieved I wasn’t her biological nephew. She figured I wanted money, or land, or her cabin, just like Bobby and Ian. I told her I just wanted her to know that she has another relation besides Weezie and Bobby. So then she got like, all teary, and said she was just so vulnerable since Ian had died. And did I want to move in with her in the big family house in Aspen Meadow until she sold it, that she would enjoy having family around her, besides Bobby. And I could help her with her move to Phoenix, she said. There was lots and lots for me to do, to help her.”
A familiar fear gripped me.
