Dessert of the Month: Pudding and Cake!

DESSERT

With the closing of the doors of Gourmet magazine, it is time to savor all of their recipes they have given us through the years. My favorite section of the magazine was readers wanting to know recipes from various restaurants. While looking through some of their best issues I came across a recipe I have made only once but it was very good.

This is Valrhona chocolate pudding and is really good. I ordered the chocolate from chocosphere.com. This is my favorite source for hard to find chocolates. The flavor of what you bake with will make a huge difference if you use the best ingredients.

Valrhona Chocolate Pudding

City Limits Diner, Stamford Connecticut

1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
4 1/2 ounces Valrhona bittersweet chocolate (61%) finely chopped
5 large egg yolks

You will need 6 4 ounce ramekins

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 275 degrees
Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into a 2-3 quart heavy saucepan with tip of a paring knife, then add pod, milk, cream, and sugar and bring just to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add chocolate and cook over moderately high heat, stirring gently with a whisk, until chocolate is melted and mixture just boils. Remove from heat.

Pour mixture into a metal bowl. Set bowl, in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and cool to room temperature, stirring yolks, then pour through a fine mesh sieve in to a one quart measure, discarding pod and any other solids.

Divide among ramekins. Bake in a water bath until puddings are just set around edge but centers wobble when ramekins are gently shaken, about one hour.

Cool puddings in water bath one hour, then remove from water and chill, uncovered, until cold, at least one hour. Be sure to put plastic wrap on if you decide to keep longer. You can store these for 2 days before serving. Blot with paper towels before serving.

Chocolate Pumpkin Marble cakeThe flavors of chocolate and pumpkin taste very well in this combination cake.

Makes 12 to 16 servings

Ingredients
• 1 1/2  cups  (3/4 lb.) butter, at room temperature
• 3  cups  sugar
• 6  large eggs
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla
• 1 1/4  cups  canned pumpkin
• 2 3/4  cups  all-purpose flour
• 2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cloves
• 3/4  cup  Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa
• 2/3  cup  buttermilk
• Chocolate glaze (recipe follows)
• 1/2  cup  chopped roasted, unsalted peanuts (optional)
Preparation
1. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Scrape half the mixture into another bowl.
2. To make pumpkin batter: Beat pumpkin into half the butter mixture until well blended. In another bowl, stir together 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and beat on low speed or fold in with a flexible spatula just until blended.
3. To make chocolate batter: In another bowl, mix remaining 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the cocoa. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the other half of the butter mixture (starting and ending with flour mixture), beating after each addition just until blended.
4. Spoon half the pumpkin batter into a buttered and floured 12-cup bundt-cake pan. Drop half the chocolate batter by spoonfuls over (but not entirely covering) the pumpkin batter. Repeat to spoon remaining pumpkin and chocolate batters into pan. Gently run the blade of a butter knife around the center of the pan several times, then draw the knife across the width of the pan in 10 to 12 places to swirl batters.
5. Bake in a 350° regular or 325° convection oven until a wood skewer inserted into center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cake cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert onto a rack, lift off pan, and cool cake completely.
6. Pour warm chocolate glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Sprinkle glaze with peanuts if desired. Let stand until glaze is set, about 2 hours, or chill about 30 minutes.

Chocolate Glaze: In a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler, combine 4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate, 1/2 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon butter, and 1 teaspoon corn syrup. Bring an inch or two of water to a boil in a pan that the bowl can nest in or in bottom of double boiler, then remove from heat. Place chocolate mixture over water and let stand, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth, about 10 minutes.