Hi all, just starting a new topic for this month’s Bake-Off

I’m not sure how this works since I’m new here, but I made Rose’s chocolate bread from tcb today in honor of the September bake-off :D

It came out pretty good, not great, but good. I wish the loaf had more height/depth. I only have 8.5x4.5 loaf pans, so I think next time I make this I will increase it by a third so that the mixture will more fully fill the loaf pan. Another contributing factor on the height: I can’t get cake flour in the UK. I substituted 15% potato starch for some of the (plain unbleached) flour which I think definitely helped.

I’ve attached a pic…I hope it works!

**edited to correct the pan size!

jen, welcome!  Your chocolate bread looks just great!  Did you syrup it?  Glad to hear the potato starch worked for you.

I still haven’t yet obtained the perfect small loaf pan, everytime I see one and get it, it still turns out to be too large when I pour water into it to check the capacity.

Welcome Jen!  I was looking at that recipe yesterday as a matter of fact.  Your chocolate bread looks just great.  I have had to make the same substitution for a cake I made because the recipient could only eat unbleached flour.  First I tried the cornstarch and unbleached flour and I still got some dipping in the middle.  But the potato starch and unbleached flour gave me great results.  No dipping at all, and beautiful height to the cake.  So if in the future you make some of Rose’s cakes,you can use the potato starch instead of the cornstarch with great results.

Even though you didn’t get the height that you wanted I am sure it tasted great.

b-4 i forget, here is my entry (but the link won’t be life until 9/15):

http://myyellowkitchen.com/2010/09/15/chocolate-05-apricot-roll-with-lacquer-glaze-page-163-–-hectors-big-heart/

No syrup. I have a one year old that I must share all baked goods with :D The syrup did inspire me though, and I think I may add cinnamon next time I make it to give it a mexican chocolate twist. Yum!

I corrected the pan size in my original post. I think I had mommy brain when I wrote that.

These are Chocolate Ingots from RHC. I made the caramelized cacao nibs and they turned out to be such a great addition - both in flavor and texture. I only made 1/2 recipe because I was also making the Gold Ingots, but these chocolate babies were so good that I made another 1/2 recipe the next day!

Hubby described it well when he took a bite: “these are better than cakes!” I think he was referring to those that are covered in ganache or buttercream .

Jenn, those are beautiful!  Everyone raves about those caramelized cocoa nibs.  I will have to make some!  Your ingots look beautiful and delicious (and cute in their alternating lineup)!

Jenn, they are just gorgeous, both the financiers and the photos.  I especially like the pic with the bites taken out so you can see the texture.

Jenn, your pictures are making my mouth water.  They look so so delish!!  Yet again, another recipe to add to my to do list ( which seems to be growing and growing )  Did you use a silicone pan to bake them in?  And if you don’t mind me asking, what kind did you use.  I made the barcelona brownies in my silicone financier pan.  It has 4 rows of three cavities, but the middle cavitites didn’t bake very well.  They were still goopy when the outside rows were done.  Just wondered if you had any problems like that.
I bought the Matfer Gastroflex financier pan.  I can’t get the Lekue brand here in canada unless I want to pay a huge shipping fee.

I have the three layer devils food cake studded with chocolate buttercream and chocolate ganache.I made it for a musian who is at the house of prayer in Kansas city when he came to florida to play at our church,he loves chocolate.i dirty frosted each layer with ganache,then studded the top with alternateing rows of ganache and chocolate buttercream and studded the sides and filled the layer with chocolate buttercream.There was not a bite left!!!

Welcome to this month’s Bake-Off!  Your devil’s food cake looks and sounds scrumptious!  I’ll be the recipient was thrilled

Really creative idea, genbedard!

These chocolate cakes look great.  I cannot wait to get mine done.

These all look beautiful! Jenn, the Ingots are very cute, I love it how you have the two colors!

I made a chocolate featherbed - and forgot to take a picture. I read a few of the HCB reviews, and people didn’t seem to like it, which I really don’t understand. I like its fluffiness, almost like a mousse. And I didn’t think it took a long time, I beat the egg yolks in my Kitchen Aid, and the egg whites with a whisk attached to my handheld blender, so I didn’t need to wash any bowls in between the two layers. I made the ganache with the “quick” method, heating the chocolate with a bit of cream, then beating the cold cream and mixing the cooled chocolate cream mixture in - came out really nice. There was no trouble handling the layers, either. And everybody (about 15 people) loved the taste.

Ehem.. I am one of those people Silke . For me (and hubby), we are finding that we love cakes with fruit more than without. So the Featherbed taste a little plain vs the Orange Genoise or the Chocolate Banana Stud Cake.