Boca Negra

I love how these recipes teach me things I didn’t know before…no matter how simple the recipe is.  This one lived up to that thought!  If you would like the recipe check out Cathy’s blog.

First problem: I needed bourbon…no drinkers here in this house and I didn’t want to buy it myself since when would we use the rest of it.  Usually I would just omit the alcohol but this seemed like too much liquid to do without so luckily I found someone willing to lend it to me.  I just asked my group of tasters…of course I offered a slice of cake in return!!  Who knew bourbon has many names?  My dad brought over Seagrams VO and I was like, “Dad I said bourbon?”  “It is bourbon.”  Good thing I didn’t go buying it myself or that could have been very embarrassing!!

Second problem: I realized making this recipe that even though I THINK I am reading the recipe all the way through before starting, clearly I am not.  As I was stirring all that butter in one square at a time, I was kicking myself for not reading all the way to the end and seeing that ALL that stirring could have been avoided using a food processor.  I don’t think I will forget again…that was a lot of stirring!

Third problem: I found I didn’t have a roasting pan deep enough to put 1 inch of water all the way around the cake pan.  I did the best I could and added 10 min onto the cook time.

I have to say expectations were high on this recipe.  We are a chocolate loving family and group of tasters…however this recipe reminded all of us of the “undercooked” brownies we did a few months ago.  My husband tried it while it was still warm from the oven and he thought it tasted more like a lava cake…pudding like in the middle. He also thought the bourbon flavor was really strong.  Everyone thought it was good but not great…too rich and undercooked to be fantastic.  They also agreed that the white chocolate cream was way too much sweetness for this recipe…over the top and not in a good way.

This was a good recipe but because all the reasons stated above, I just don’t see myself baking it again and it is hard to get over ALL that butter in there unless it is simply amazing!  Onto the next one! 🙂

Foccacia

I thought this was going to be the disaster foccacia bread the way I started out.

• didn’t realize on my first read through that you need to have the dough sit for at least 24 hours
• forgot the dough during the first rise and left it an extra hour and a half
• had to bring it out of its second rise a few hours early…not quite the 24 hours

Would you believe, even after my little oversights, it still turned out…we still liked the bread.  Since the dough makes three loaves, I went with a Jalapeno/Cheddar, Parmesan, and Sea Salt.  I would have to say if I was to make this again I would not put the 4t of salt in the dough.  It was WAY too salty for my taste.  I was questioning the amount when I put it in, but it is so hard the first time through a recipe to know if you should change something….should have stuck with my insticts!

Although this bread was tasty and I wouldn’t mind making it again, it crossed my mind that this recipe takes a long time and mine did not taste better than I can get at my local produce store.  This is one of those recipes that I think I would rather just buy it than make it…probably not the right thing to say in the baking group, but just not fun enough/or tasty enough for the time it required.  If you would like to check out the recipe and try for yourself check out Sharmini’s blog.

I have to say, it is hard to follow that French Apple Tart which everyone loved and I didn’t care how long it took to make. 🙂