Chocolate Whole-Wheat Biscuit Cake
Earlier this Spring Ryan (my hubs) and I were chatting about the kids and this coming Fall. Our youngest son would be starting school and I would have a few "kid free" days to myself. I had been wanting to start up a blog for sometime now, ever since my first son was two and and our second was arriving a few months later. Once I became a mother of two I quickly put that idea aside, knowing that the timing was just off and hopefully I could pursue it later. Over the summer I started to mull over the idea of blogging. Could I do it? What would I write about? Would this really be something that I enjoyed? Through the encouragement of friends I decided to go for it and slowly but surely I'm getting my sea legs. Setting up a website (not intuitive for me) and bumbling my way with this beautiful, fancy, complicated camera has been a steeper learning curve than I anticipated but even so I'm really enjoying myself. I'm having fun.
The surprising transition has been my mixed feelings about both my boys in school. The few days I have to myself (I have a busy work life too) have been great, but I find myself missing my little guys. I wonder if they know how much I miss them during the day? I've been thinking about when I was younger and my mom would be waiting at the bus stop after school, sometimes she would surprise me with an afternoon of cookie cutting, baking and decorating or a special craft project we could work on together. I'm guessing I'm feeling what she was feeling then. Those afternoons were pretty special to me.
Lately I've been making some kind of treat to have after dinner more often. It may be for selfish reasons, it keeps us all at the dinner table a little longer and the silly conversations we have with our boys ensue. This week I was running short on time and I really wanted to make a little treat for everyone. I decided on this Chocolate Whole-Wheat Biscuit Cake. Admittedly the draw to make this cake was not only that it sounded delicious, but it was quick and required no baking which freed up my oven for dinner. The addition of the Carrs biscuits as the base is brilliant and works well with the chocolate and cherries. This is a sturdy little cake and would transport well on a fun Fall or Winter picnic, I have a feeling it will make it into the picnic basket this year when we set out to get our Christmas tree!
XO
Lisa
Chocolate Whole-Wheat Biscuit Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Ingredients
1 stick ( 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 large egg
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 tablespoon water
1/2 tablespoon rum (optional)
1 8 1/2 - ounce box whole-wheat biscuit cookies (wheatmeal biscuits or Carr's Wheatolo English Biscuits), coarsely crumbled
2 ounces (about 1/2 cup) walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 ounces (about 1/3 cup) dried sour cherries, chopped coarsely
Preparation
Lightly butter a 8-by-2 inch spring form pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Place bowl on top of a sauce pan filled with 1 inch of simmering water. Stir mixture occasionally until melted and smooth, about 3 minutes. Remove bowl from sauce pan; set aside.
In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, and water. Place over the pot of simmering water; whisk until pale, fluffy and thick 3 to 4 minutes. Remove bowl from heat; whisk in chocolate and rum, if using. Let cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Fold in crushed cookies, half the walnuts, and half the cherries into chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared pan; smooth top with a spatula. Sprinkle remaining nuts and cherries on top. Cover; chill until set, about 1 hour.