BitterSweet

Wrapping up this marathon of May birthdays is my sister’s, as she turns 19 this year. Yikes, can you believe it?

A picky eater if anything, I was excited by the propect of making the Vegan with a Vengance ‘Chocolate Raspberry Blackout Cake’ in an attempt to sneak extra fruit into her sparse diet. Raspberries were her favorite after all, and who can say no to anything with chocolate in addition?

So I set out at Stop and Shop to buy supplies; I’ve been baking so much lately, we needed to stock up on basics like flour and sugar again. But what’s this? Not a single raspberry amongst the whole selection of produce? Okay, I’m aware they are painfully out of season right now, but I had just seen pints upon pints of these in every market around! Well, no matter, I would just have to try somewhere else after dinner. I ran home and hit the ground baking – It was already getting late and there was no time to loose.

I will admit that going into the oven, the consistency of the batter worried me a little. It was so watery, I was afraid that it would be a mush of cake and pudding in the end. Luckily, I was very pleasantly surprised and they were absolutely lovely. The pans were set out on the counter to cool, and I returned to my hunt for the elusive raspberries.

The first target was Shaw’s. We even asked, in case they might be stocking invisible fruit these days, or if they had decided that they were better suited to be shelved among more similar items, like the canned soups. The employee helpfully proved a completely unintelligible answer, and since there didn’t appear to be any random hidden berries along the isles, we moved on. Trader Joe’s was right across the street, so it was a quick stop… Where they didn’t have any either. Umm… Okay…

At this point I was beginning to think that this might not work. But I had already made the layers with raspberry jam, I couldn’t just toss in some odd fruit that we had on hand. And what else would the finicky recipient eat? I was totally stuck. So onto our tiny little Stratfield Market… to discover nothing useful. Crap!!

But enough was enough. It was pretty obvious by now that we just weren’t going to find fresh raspberries. Frozen were breifly considered… but they were for decoration afterall, and frozen berries are just so… ugly. Crazily tearing through drawers and cupboards in our own kitchen, I decided that I would have to settle on something far less nutritious, but maybe in the end more enjoyable to my sister: Sprinkles. Yes, my sister is a sprinkle fiend, so just for her, I ultimately emptied an entire jar of mixed hearts and jimmy’s over the raspberry blackout cake…

She didn’t even care about the berries, the copious amounts of chocolate and sugar were enough for her. She did actually comment that the extra jam between the layers really made the cake, as did a handful of others present. It just goes to show, who knows how much better it could have been with real fruit!!

Such lovely layers… Definitely a recipe that will see many reappearances in the future. A wonderfully moist cake with a light, tender crumb. Not overly dense at all, and delightfully sweet with that touch of raspberry jam. Maybe I could make a variation using blueberry jam… Or perhaps apricot… But no matter what, next time, I’ll plan to use fruit that’s in season.

Sometimes, thats just how the cake crumbles.

[Check out those glowing sprinkles! Not the best pictures due to lighting conditions.]

Idly browsing through our massive collections of cookbooks one day, I stumbled upon my mom’s old “Microwave Gourmet” [or something to that effect.] I’m not a huge fan of the microwave, personally… Sure, they’re wonderful for reheating, but in general, almost every dish suffers somewhat texturally in the end. I do have somewhat of a bias towards the toaster oven… I even think that some toasters out there are downright sexy. If only it were blue…

Anyway, back to this whole microwave cookbook deal. Flipping through the basic recipes, they were little more than plates of steamed vegetables and meats, nothing that really caught my eye. But then, in the very back hid a tiny section on desserts. Upon closer examination, there were pretty decent ideas lurking beneath the surface. There was even a recipe for… Brownies?! What?? Is it even possible? Why had no one told me that this could be done before?

Essentially, my whole concept of the microwave had been shattered.

There was no way to leave this thought alone; It haunted me, calling out from its pastic shell. Just try it, you know you want to… How could I possibly resist?

Digging through various vegan brownie techniques, I discovered that I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand for any of them. Ah well, time to get creative with what’s avaliable and mix things up! A flurry of measuring and stirring ensued, yeilding quickly to a promising brownie batter. Out of the bowl and into the…. microwave.

The initial results were… Less than inspiring. The center appeared to have remained in a pudding-like state, while the sides nonetheless seemed to have cooked – More than I had honestly expected. It even pulled away from the sides of the dish, indicating solidity. A gentle poke proved that the surface was… Erm, somewhat disturbingly rubbery. Having satisified my immediate curiousity, I returned it to the microwave for another minute or two in order to thoroughly nuke the center.

End verdict? Wow, gooey chocolately goodness. So much so that my mom feels they’re closer to fudge than brownies, and decided they deserve the title of “fudgey bars” instead. The fact that there is no actual cooking on the outside allows they to be so dense and creamy, and while possessing a wonderfully smooth mouth-feel, this is not what I see as the perfect brownie. Still, this little experiment has given me a lot to think about regarding the modern innovation known as the microwave. Perhaps it deserves more respect that I’ve previously allowed.

Now, you’d think this is where it would all end right? At first I would have agreed, but then I realized I hadn’t yet fully completed my test. A few nights later I was called upon to bring baked goods to a family function… And realized it was the perfect opportunity to try out the same exact technique, but this time, in a traditional oven for a full comparison.

Ensuring accurate results, I greased up the exact same pan, mixed up the same chocolate mess, and tossed it into my trusty old oven…

..I believe I may have inadvertently found the mythical “perfect” vegan brownie. A different create entirely from its microwaved sibbling, they are near flawless. A delicate balance between cake and fudge, richly chocolate and crunchy around the crisp edges, I don’t think it can get much better than this.

Really, it’s so amazing, I’m going to have to be a greedly little vegan and keeping my golden recipe all to myself for now… But your patience will be rewarded, for the method shall be forthcoming in due time. I’m extremely proud of this one, but I still think it could use some work before I can truly deem it to be a “perfect” brownie recipe.