Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

It may seem funny to start the new year with a recipe for chocolate cake, but when you wake up thinking about making a chocolate cake — dreaming of a rich, fudge-y crumb — well, it’s a good sign you should get baking. Besides, I’ve never been one for resolutions.

This chocolate cake is rich, with a deep chocolate flavor. As far as cakes go, it’s not too sweet, which is perfect for me (if you prefer a sweeter cake, increase the granulated cane sugar to 1 cup). Good for a celebration or just any old day! Eat plain or with a dollop of whipped cream.

Happy 2021!

Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

Published January 4, 2020 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 9   |    Active Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar (Option to increase this to 1 cup if you prefer a sweeter cake)

1 large egg

3/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup strongly brewed coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (Raw cocoa powder is more acidic so will change how this cake bakes. IT will still be delicious, but for the fluffiest cake, I recommend Dutch-processes. Try Droste cocoa powder -- my go-to!)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal table salt

Optional: Small handful semi-sweet chocolate chips

For serving: Whipped cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare a 9x4 (standard) loaf pan by greasing with butter and dusting lightly with flour. Tap off any access flour.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer), cream together the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the egg, sour cream, coffee, and vanilla and continue to beat for about 3 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and sift (or whisk) to incorporate. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix -- a few little clumps may remain and that's ok!
4. Using a spatula, spread the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Optional: Sprinkle a small handful of chocolate chips over top.
5. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan, then continue to cool for 10-15 more minutes.
6. Slice and serve with whipped cream.

Raspberry Popsicles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Poison ivy and raspberry bushes—when I was a kid, these were the two plants my dad always pointed out to me on camping trips. This summer, as we hiked through Big Elk Meadows (which is not a meadow and there were no elk), the wild raspberries were copious. The dry creek was spotted with small bushes, each of them ripe with red gems. Those wild berries were far better than the ones growing in my own backyard, and not just because we were eating them outside. They were juicier and sweeter. We ate the ripest ones and left the others for the birds.

These popsicles are an end of summer hoorah! A sweet-tart cool down for mid-afternoon.

Raspberry Popsicles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Published September 10, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 20 active minutes

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Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh raspberries

1/4 teaspoon lemon or lime juice

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

Optional: 1-2 tablespoons raw sugar or coconut sugar

Equipment: Popsicle molds and popsicle sticks

Directions:

1. Place raspberries in a blender and purée.
2. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a sauce pan, and pour raspberry puree through sieve in order to remove seeds. All of the juice should go through the sieve (into the pot), and you should be left with just seeds in the sieve. Discard of seeds.
3. Place raspberry purée on stove over low heat and stir in lemon juice. Bring to a slow simmer, and add sugar to taste. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow mixture to cool, about 10 minutes.
4. Pour raspberry mixture into popsicle molds with popsicle sticks and freeze for 8 hours, until frozen solid.
5. When popsicles are frozen, prep the chocolate: melt chocolate in microwave (at 30 second increments, stirring in between each until smooth), or in a double boiler.
6. Remove popsicles from molds, and drizzle with chocolate. Allow chocolate to set. Serve immediately, or store in air-tight container until ready to eat.

No-Churn, 5-Ingredient Pistachio Ice Cream

One of the first fare-weather recipes I shared this year was for No-Churn Rhubarb Crisp Ice Cream. There is some debate in the house on whether making a rhubarb crisp and turning it into ice cream is a good use of time, but I’ll tell you where I stand: ice cream is delicious.

In that same blog post, I promised to share some of the other recipe adaptions I had tried, including this winner, which causes no hot debates in the house. Other than who is getting the last scoop, of course. All you need is 5 ingredients, including real pistachios. (Real pistachios are important—something anyone who has ever bought a pistachio ice cream that tasted more like pistachio liquor than actual pistachios will understand).

No-Churn, 5-Ingredient Pistachio Ice Cream

Published July 23, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 12   |    Active Time: 20 active minutes

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Ingredients:

2/3 cup shelled, roasted, unsalted pistachios, divided

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

Pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups whipping cream 

Directions:

1. Place half (1/3 cup) of pistachios in a blender, and blend on high until a paste begins to form. Add sweetened condensed milk, salt, and vanilla to blender and blend again until fully combined and smooth. Transfer for a small mixing bowl.
2. In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, beat whipping cream with electric beaters until firm peaks form.
3. Gently fold 1 cup of the whipped cream into the pistachio mixture until combined. Then, scape pistachio mixture into the rest of the whipped cream, gently folding it in. Do not over mix (you want as much air in the whipping cream as possible!). A few streaks of green or white are OK.
4. Scrape the ice cream mixture into a glass pyrex with air-tight lid (about 9x5 inches, or equivalent volume). Place lid on container, and place flat in freezer for 2 hours.
5. After 2 hours, gently swirl in remaining pistachios to taste, and sprinkle some pistachios on top. Place lid back on ice cream and freeze for at least 3 more hours before serving.