Recipe: Black Forest Cake by Alan Carter

Pastry Chef Alan Carter from Mission Beach Cafe (San Francisco) kindly shared with Zooey a few recipes from his collection. One of our favorites include this delicious Black Forest Cake - chocolate goodness and perfect for this beautiful holiday season!

Ingredients - Cake

Butter - 9oz Sugar - 3 cups Eggs - 4 + ¼ cup egg whites Milk - 1 ½ cups Cocoa powder - 1 cup Salt - 1 teaspoon Sour Cream - 1/3 cup Vanilla - 1 tablespoons All purpose Flour - 3 1/3 cups Baking powder - 2 teaspoon Baking Soda - 3/4 teaspoons Heavy cream - 1/3 cup whipped until soft peaks form

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Dress two 9” cake pans with cooking spray and place a parchment circle at the bottom of each pan.

All dry ingredients together set aside, in a separate bowl put milk, cocoa, salt, sour cream, vanilla and mix together. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together in an electric mixer until fluffy (about 4 minutes), and then add two eggs one at a time. Then add egg whites and the last two eggs, beat mixture until fluffy again, another 1 min at high speed. Now add 1/3 of the flour mixture on low speed, add ½ chocolate mixture, another 1/3 of flour, ½ chocolate and the last of flour but do not mix completely, you should still see flour not fully incorporated. Remove batter from mixer and fold in the whipped cream and divide into the prepared 2 cake pans. Bake until toothpick comes out clean: 1 hour.

Using a long, thin, sharp knife, cut the cakes into 4 layers (2 rounds for each cake), measure from the bottom 1 ½ inches, then cut off the top from each layer. Now cut each of the two 1 ½ inch layers in half to equal 4 – ¾ inch layers. Put one of the cut layers in the food processor to make even cake crumbs.

To assemble the cake, brush each layer with simple syrup and cover with pudding icing (will be a 3-layer cake). Cover the top and the sides of the cake with the crumbs.

Ingredients - Pudding

Milk - 9 cups Sugar - 3 1/3 cups Salt - 1 ½ teaspoon Cornstarch - 1 cup Vanilla - 1 tablespoon Bittersweet Chocolate - 18 oz Gelatin - 1 ½ teaspoon mix with 2 tablespoons of cold water

Directions

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Bring milk close to a boil, then pour a small amount into the dry ingredients then beat with a whisk until smooth. Add mixture back into the hot milk and cook until it reaches a full boil, remove from heat then add bloomed gelatin.

Ingredients - Syrup

4 cups - Water 6 cups - sugar

Directions

Bring to a boil or until sugar dissolves then cool.

Recipe: Black Forest Cake by Alan Carter

Pastry Chef Alan Carter from Mission Beach Cafe (San Francisco) kindly shared with Zooey a few recipes from his collection. One of our favorites include this delicious Black Forest Cake - chocolate goodness and perfect for this beautiful holiday season!

Ingredients - Cake

Butter - 9oz Sugar - 3 cups Eggs - 4 + ¼ cup egg whites Milk - 1 ½ cups Cocoa powder - 1 cup Salt - 1 teaspoon Sour Cream - 1/3 cup Vanilla - 1 tablespoons All purpose Flour - 3 1/3 cups Baking powder - 2 teaspoon Baking Soda - 3/4 teaspoons Heavy cream - 1/3 cup whipped until soft peaks form

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Dress two 9” cake pans with cooking spray and place a parchment circle at the bottom of each pan.

All dry ingredients together set aside, in a separate bowl put milk, cocoa, salt, sour cream, vanilla and mix together. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together in an electric mixer until fluffy (about 4 minutes), and then add two eggs one at a time. Then add egg whites and the last two eggs, beat mixture until fluffy again, another 1 min at high speed. Now add 1/3 of the flour mixture on low speed, add ½ chocolate mixture, another 1/3 of flour, ½ chocolate and the last of flour but do not mix completely, you should still see flour not fully incorporated. Remove batter from mixer and fold in the whipped cream and divide into the prepared 2 cake pans. Bake until toothpick comes out clean: 1 hour.

Using a long, thin, sharp knife, cut the cakes into 4 layers (2 rounds for each cake), measure from the bottom 1 ½ inches, then cut off the top from each layer. Now cut each of the two 1 ½ inch layers in half to equal 4 – ¾ inch layers. Put one of the cut layers in the food processor to make even cake crumbs.

To assemble the cake, brush each layer with simple syrup and cover with pudding icing (will be a 3-layer cake). Cover the top and the sides of the cake with the crumbs.

Ingredients - Pudding

Milk - 9 cups Sugar - 3 1/3 cups Salt - 1 ½ teaspoon Cornstarch - 1 cup Vanilla - 1 tablespoon Bittersweet Chocolate - 18 oz Gelatin - 1 ½ teaspoon mix with 2 tablespoons of cold water

Directions

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Bring milk close to a boil, then pour a small amount into the dry ingredients then beat with a whisk until smooth. Add mixture back into the hot milk and cook until it reaches a full boil, remove from heat then add bloomed gelatin.

Ingredients - Syrup

4 cups - Water 6 cups - sugar

Directions

Bring to a boil or until sugar dissolves then cool.

Emmy Rossum graces January 2012 cover

Emmy Rossum ("Shameless") graces the January 2012 cover of Zooey Magazine. The actress danced her way through smoke on her cover shoot in Los Angeles. Her laugh and smile is addicting - she's a natural beauty and she sure knows how to move!

Season One of "Shameless" is set for release on Blu-ray™ and DVD December 27, 2011 from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. The release will be available in advance of the season two premiere of Shameless on Sunday, January 8 at 10/9c on Showtime. Shameless: The Complete First Season, will feature all 12 season one episodes and over two hours of never-before-seen bonus footage. The release will retail for $39.98 for the standard DVD edition and $49.99 for the Blu-ray™ combo pack.

DVD Bonus Material: - Bringing Shameless to America – This behind-the-scenes documentary delves into the art of writing the audacious material featured in the series from the perspective of Executive Producer John Wells, Shameless Creator Paul Abbott and the production team. - Shameless: Bringing the “Fun” in “Dysfunctional” – John Wells and Paul Abbott discuss the importance of getting the right actors for these highly unorthodox roles, while the cast relates their desires to step into these characters’ skins. - A Shameless Discussion About Sex – A no-holds-barred discussion about the awkwardness, anxiety and all-out hilarious situations that come with filming frequent sex scenes on the set of the series. - Shameless Season Two Sneak Peek. - Commentary for Two Episodes Including the Series Pilot. - Deleted Scenes.

Shameless' Season Two premieres on January 8th, 2012 on Showtime.