Recipe: Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake

This is yet another easy to do chocolate beauty! Great for a dinner party or just a weekend relaxation with friends who happen to drop by for a lounging visit over coffee or tea. During Marti Gras season in Louisiana this little recipe will come in handy for that hectic time when feasting, cooking and baking is at its height just before the Lenten season begins. This will be a bit hit with everyone!


Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake


Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes, Bake time: 1 hour plus 20 minutes

From: Southern Living


Ingredients:

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 (16 oz.) can chocolate syrup

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnishes: Strawberry slices and Wintry-White Icing (recipe follows)


Directions: Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at HIGH for 30-second intervals until melted (about 1 ½ minutes total). Stir in chocolate syrup until smooth.

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and melted chocolate just until blended. Pour batter into a greased and floured 14-cup Bundt pan.

Bake at 325° F. for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and let cool 30 minutes or until completely cool. Garnish, if desired.


Wintery-White Icing

Yield: Makes about ¾ cup

Prep time: 5 minutes

Stir together all ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake and when ready to serve garnish with beautiful sliced fresh strawberries! Last thing to do? Enjoy at will!

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog:
Comfort Food From Louisiana

Recipe: Shrimp-Stuffed Eggplant

Shrimp-Stuffed Eggplant

Serves 4. Bake at 400° F. for 20 minutes.

From: Corinne Cook of The Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.


Another popular vegetable in Louisiana is eggplant. Could be from the influence of the Sicilian immigrants 100 years ago. Whatever the reason, it is a beloved dish when it is stuffed with seafood as a particular favorite.

Here the eggplant is halved lengthwise and partially cooked. The flesh is scooped out and then cooked together with onions, bell peppers, shrimp and garlic for the stuffing that is placed back into the shell and baked. Don’t worry if the eggplant shell tends to collapse or flatten from the weight of the stuffing. You are still able to pile quite a bit of the stuffing above the shell’s edge. Anything else left over can be placed in a casserole dish and baked as the stuffing dish it is!

Make sure you purchase small to medium-sized eggplants and they have smooth, shiny, blemish-free skins.


Ingredients:

2 small to medium eggplants

1 ½ lbs. shrimp

¼ cup vegetable/canola oil

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

4 slices day-old bread

1 Tablespoon butter

Salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper to taste

2 eggs, slightly beaten

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup Parmesan cheese for topping


Directions:


Cut eggplant in half length-wise. Do not peel. Drop halves in boiling water and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes or until they are just tender. Drain.

Peel and devein shrimp. Cook shrimp in a little water or sauté in a little oil until just done. Do not overcook – usually 30 seconds per side or less.

Using a knife or grapefruit spoon, remove the eggplant pulp. Leave some of the pulp around the edges to form a shell. Don’t worry if the shells don’t stand upright. You can still put the stuffing over the flat shell. Put shells in greased baking dish. Chop eggplant pulp into small pieces; reserve.

Sauté onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic in oil until soft. Add chopped pulp.

Wet the slices of bread under running water and squeeze out most of the water.

Add the bread, butter and the salt and pepper to the eggplant mixture. Stir until bread is mixed with the eggplant and seasonings. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the beaten eggs. Blend well. Add cooked shrimp and fresh parsley.

Spoon stuffing into eggplant shells. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake in 400-degree oven until heated through, about 20 minutes.


Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog -
Romancing The Chocolate

I Am Not A Chocoholoc!

I Am Not A Chocoholoc ! - This is a fun article from a new friend over at HubPages who talks about how chocolate is so user friendly, like a member of the family! You will enjoy her!

Swamp Dragons

Photo by William A. Franklin @ flickr

Swamp Dragons - You will enjoy this Louisiana native's tale of her growing up years! Alligators can get up to 14 feet long and weigh up to 1,000 pounds!

Recipe: Dennys Valentines Day Chocolate Crepes with Sweet Ricotta Cheese

Dennys Valentines Day Chocolate Crepes with Sweet Ricotta Cheese - Videos posted below to help you see just how easy it is to make that French culture favorite: crepes!