Chef Susan’s COOKBOOK PASSION

Episode 1

This is the first in a series of articles in which Chef Susan will share recipes, thoughts, and stories about the baking books, cake decorating books, and multi-topic cookbooks that populate her extensive library

 CHOCOLATE SENSATIONS by Faye Levy

Why does anyone purchase cookbooks these days?

With the advent of Google research, recipes are literally fingertips away!

Many enjoy the ease of scrolling tablets, cell phones and using eBooks

perched on a kitchen counter.

I do not own an eBook preferring the use and feel of “the real thing,”

No insults intended here; this is simply my preference.

Depending on my needs, over the years I have used cookbooks to

research menus for large school catering events attended by hundreds

as well as for personal entertaining.

Often, I also peruse the pages of cookbooks to relax

and lull me to a restful night’s sleep.

Learning about food and cooking is a life-long process and passion.

In choosing cookbooks, I look for new flavor combinations

or a new slant on preparation techniques.

The autobiographical information and the written “dialogue”

gleaned from the forward and chapter introductions are

informative, inspirational, and an insight into the

personality of a book’s author.

The cookbooks that I use most often look the worse for wear

evidenced by their oil-stained pages and notes in pen and pencil.

Each book then shows a history of its use and is treated as a resource

and not coffee table decoration.

I also must admit that I still have the very first cookbook that I received

as a gift from my parents and the second, and the third….

I have over one-thousand and counting.

Also, collecting cookbooks has been and is a useful passion!

I have shared the contents of many books

with hundreds of my students over the years

to enhance classroom textbooks as they mastered

garde manger, pasta making, sauce making, and

many other baking and cooking techniques.

Some of my favorite cookbooks are written by Faye Levy.

Faye is an accomplished cookbook author

and food journalist who also speaks several languages.

As an avid and accomplished world traveler,

her culinary education includes prestigious European institutions.

Faye’s writing has been featured in many

leading food magazines such as Bon Appetit and she currently is

the Food Editor for the Jerusalem Post.

Faye and her husband, Yakir, have shared

several Los Angeles food events with me over the years,

and their company and erudite cumulative cooking knowledge

made those occasions interesting and fun.

I own many of Faye’s twenty-plus books on varied topics.

Faye’s writing is clear, concise, and her knowledge is limitless!

Her writing and creative recipes show profound evidence of fondness for,

exposure to, and inclusion of various world cuisines.

When I spoke to Faye about her book,

Chocolate Sensations, she identified the recipe for

Ganache-Frosted Bittersweet Brownies as one of her favorites.

Her choice surprised me because of its simplicity.

Also, she shared that if she prepares a recipe

on multiple occasions, she is likely to substitute, add, subtract, and just

change ingredients around.

This is the mark of a curious, creative, and thinking person.

In my opinion, Ganache Frosted Bittersweet Brownies 

illustrates Faye’s ability to combine cuisines, and

it is a perfect recipe to implement fun modifications

because the brownies’ flavor profile is not overly sweet.

You could add dried fruit and/ or substitute different

types of chopped and toasted nuts such as hazelnuts- a favorite combination

of mine with chocolate.

Adding chocolate chips would give additional sweetness

to the brownie if that is what you fancy.

I have an original autographed edition of Chocolate Sensations, and

the book is available on Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Sensations-Faye-Levy/dp/0895864118/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=chocolate+sensations+faye+levy&qid=1621744657&sr=8-1

The two-hundred sensational chocolate-focused recipes featured

in the book definitely show a French influence.

I have yet to try Chocolate Crepe Gateau with Brazil Nuts (page 96),

served with a shiny chocolate glaze.

So, when Pandemic concerns pass, it will be

a choice for a dessert buffet since  

I require an audience when I prepare such delicacies

because sharing such creations is more than half the fun!

One of Faye’s gifts is to simplify exacting techniques

that enables the reader with an “I can do this” mindset.

For example, I recommend reading Faye’s instructions that

simplify chocolate tempering with the most complete yet

the most succinct writing on the subject that I have read!

The Checkerboard Conversation Cake 

jumped off the page.

Faye’s version deletes the need for special pans, and

instead features ingenious piping instructions.

This recipe appealed to my cake artist self and the

need to try new techniques because when

the cake is cut and served; a “checkered” design is part of

the dramatic reveal!

By the way, I must mention that

Chocolate Sensations is beautifully photographed!

Because of my special interest in cakes,

I used Faye’s recipe for Checkerboard Conversation Cake

as an inspiration for the cake math part of this article

and share the results in Part 2 below.

I modified the batter amounts from the original

because I did not have enough of the cake pans that the recipe recommended.

This is a common issue for anyone who bakes cakes.

As I have multiple 7-inch round cake pans,

my goal was to modify Faye’s recipe that uses three 8-inch round pans 

and prepare and decorate an extra-tall cake

which is two cakes stacked and is currently referred to

as a double-barrel style, therefore,

I used six 7-inch round cake pans.

I needed to use some math to create a modified formula

that met my design goals.

There are several math paths to choose, and I was in an

experiential mood so in the next section, I

will explain the process….

Thank you, Faye Levy and Chocolate Sensations for inspiration!

For more information about the amazing Faye Levy and her

books, please refer to the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AFaye+Levy&s=relevancerank&text=Faye+Levy&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

COOKBOOK PASSION: Chocolate Sensations-Part II

CAKE MATH: FACTORING

Faye’s delectable Raspberry Chocolate Ganache covers my “double-barrel” cake design Modelling Chocolate “flowers” provide simple and fast decorations.

If you figure the area of a circle,**

a 7-inch round cake pan is .77 of the area of the 8-inch pan

that is called for in Faye’s recipe.

This number (a ratio or comparison) between the pan sizes

is called a FACTOR.

I will assign weights to all the ingredients in the original recipe

and simply multiply those weights by .77 x 2

which equals 1.54 since I am preparing double (2) or six- 7-inch pans instead

of three 8-inch pans called for in Faye’s recipe.

Both the .77 and 1.54 are called FACTORS.

I chose my calculations based on cake pan area instead of weight of the batter

because the baked cakes are designed to bake below

the height of my 2-inch-high cake pans.

I changed any volume measurements to weights first and

then multiplied those weights by 1.54 (.77×2) to obtain the final

action formula.

If you want to make Faye’s original recipe, you now have all

of those ingredient weights in the third column.

I use weights rather than volume measures when I bake.

The following are the ingredients of Faye’s recipe expressed by weight.

Rather than restating the preparation methods,

I will show some photos to illustrate the method.

The preparation and baking instructions are

clearly described in Faye’s book as my purpose here

is to explain how I used simple math as an accurate facilitator of

recipe conversions.

The parchment paper is marked using a pencil to designate where to pipe the chocolate and vanilla batters.

Chocolate and vanilla cake batters ready to pipe into the cake pans.

Baked cakes stacked and doweled to achieve a “double-barrel” design.

Cake sliced beautifully at room temperature-the preferred serving temperature to allow the flavors to be fully appreciated.

Cake slice closeup.

In addition to changing the size of the cake,

I applied two ounces of a Cognac simple syrup to each

cake layer before spreading with seedless raspberry jam.

I doubled Faye’s recipe for Raspberry Ganache to cover

the extra high cake and that recipe alone

is worth the already reasonable price of Chocolate Sensations!

Bon appetite chocolate lovers.

Until the next time!

Bake for the ones you love!

Chef Susan

** The area of a circle is: ? r2