Dad's Day Chocolate Bar-B-Que

Our Mother's Day Brunch was this past weekend and everyone seemed to have an egg-cellent time (Thanks to Charlie for getting me in the mood of terrible puns all weekend long). Pics to be posted soon; check back in a few days.

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In the mean time, the next Five Course Chocolate-Tasting Dinner has been floating around the the chocolatey depths of my mind for some time. Finally ready to be debuted, I've finalized the line-up of our Father's Day Weekend Chocolate Bar-B-Que. Guests to enjoy:

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Chile-roasted Corn on the Cobb with House-made Cocoa-nib Butter

Heirloom Tomato-Goat Cheese Brulee with White Chocolate-Balsamic Drizzle

Bar-B-Que Baked Beans with Cocoa-Glazed Bacon (veggie option)

Cocoa Nib-Smoked Pulled Pork Sammie with White Chocolate Slaw (veggie option)

Milk Chocolate S’mores with House-made Vanilla Bean Marshmallow

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There will also be an optional Grilled Artisan Sausage Platter to complete the meaty occasion. Custom made by local Knight Salumi, these babies will be from the same master-mind who brought us our Cocoa-Glazed Bacon this past Mom's Day Brunch.

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Seatings are limited to 24 people each, and is available ONLY Saturday of Dad's Day Weekend (the 14th) at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm.

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Tickets are $35 a person. RSVP required. Call 619.578.2984 or email today info@eclipsechocolat.com

Crème Fraîche Cupcakes-Part Sept

The last thing I have time to do this week is experiment with new formulas. Mom's Day is, unfortunately, one of my less favored holidays of the year on a personal level, and perhaps it's a good thing that the cafe is pretty busy at the moment. At least it keeps my mind off of other things.

So while I am grateful for all the recent patronage and how busy it's keeping me, how can I still compelled to pump out new Crème Fraîche Cupcakes? Don't I have better things to be doing with my cafe time? Don't I have a brunch to plan? Or train my first full-time manager? More on that one later, but I digress...

The truth of the matter is as simple as our basic chicken egg. One part white, one part yolk, each of these halves lend themselves to varied applications without which the pastry world would be lifeless and nonfunctional. And what does one do with stockpiles of egg whites left over from the coveted egg yolks that are making their way into my yellow cupcakes? Well, develop a crème fraîche white cake, of course.

Yellow cake (or butter cake) and its white cousin are striking similar, except that the first focuses on richness from extra egg yolks and the later on lightness from an all-egg white batter. No better way for me to begin using the vast amounts of egg whites hanging around here. And while I'm sure I'm not the first to try this out, this is a pretty unusual cake formula in that it features both the egg white-only batter AND the crème fraîche. At least I couldn't find a single reference online or in my many baking books about such a monstrosity. The result is a sort of dense and rich cake that is trying to be light and fluffy at the same time. A bit of an identity crisis, but yummy nonetheless.

So there you go. Two more. Now with white ganache glazes! And more white cupcakes to come:

Blueberry-Lemon-White-crème fraîche cake+vanilla bean-lemon curd filling+white chocolate ganache glaze+dried wild blueberry topping.

Lemon-Ginger-White-crème fraîche cake+vanilla bean-lemon curd filling+white chocolate ganache glaze+candied ginger topping.
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Seasonal Dessert Tasting Platter IV

The new Seasonal Dessert Tasting Platter debuted almost two weeks ago and I haven't had a moment to e-mention it! Too many cupcakes, I suppose. Is that even possible? Check it:
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Frozen Chocolate-Mixed Berry Merlot Mousse

[frozen cocoa nib-chocolate mousse+61% dark chocolate & mixed berry merlot glaze]

Grilled White Chocolate Carrot Gateau

[grilled almond-carrot cake, studded with 31% white chocolate chips]
Dark Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding with Creme Anglaise

[croissant bread pudding studded with 61% dark chocolate, warmed+vanilla bean creme anglaise]
White Chocolate-Chamomile Lemon Bar

[vanilla shortbread+tart lemon curd filling+white chocolate chamomile glaze]

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Crème Fraîche Cupcakes-Part Six

For those of you who have been following these cupcake posts yet do not speak French, "six" just happens to be "six" in both languages. Who knew? For those of you who are reading this and haven't a clue what I'm blabbering about... just read on, this part is nearly done.

Two new flavors! Get 'em today and tomorrow until they join the other ten Crème Fraîche Cupcakes and are bound to show up in my pastry case rotation whenever I feel in the mood.

Chile-Burnt Caramel-Butter-crème fraîche cake+chile-burnt caramel filling+dark chocolate ganache glaze+candied mango topping.

Marshmallow Almond-Butter-crème fraîche cake+vanilla bean marshmallow filling+dark chocolate ganache glaze+marcona almond topping.

Crème Fraîche Cupcakes-Part Cinq

My friend Stephen complained when I completed my forth post about cupcakes that it wasn't titled Part Quatre, to which I replied "I think most people only know how to count to three in French". Well in honor of him and everyone out there who speaks better French than I (which, frankly isn't very hard), I'll continue with this charmingly cultural numbering theme.

So here we are with two more Crème Fraîche Cupcakes. And I know what you're thinking... "Is this guy going to go through his entire truffle and chocolate bar collections reinventing each flavor into one of these cupcakes?" Well, yes and no! We may just have to wait for Crème Fraîche Cupcakes-Part Dix-Neuf (that's Nineteen for everyone without Google-translator) to see exactly how many cupcake infusions I will create. Rest assured I have many, many flavor concepts floating around in my head just waiting to burst out.

Freshly debuted today we have:

Burnt-Caramel Marshmallow-Chocolate-crème fraîche cake+chile-burnt caramel filling+vanilla bean marshmallow filling+dark chocolate ganache glaze+toasted marshmallow topping.

Goat Cheese and Fig-Chocolate-crème fraîche cake+mission fig filling+fresh goat cheese filling+dark chocolate ganache glaze+cracked white peppercorn topping.

Exotic Brownie Sundae

Let's start today's post with a brief lesson in the history of the sundae:

There is currently a heated debate between Ithaca, New York, and Two Rivers, Wisconsin, over which city has the right to claim the title "birthplace of the ice cream sundae." Two Rivers' claim is based on the story of patron of Berners' Soda Fountain asking owner Edward C. Berners to drizzle chocolate syrup over ice cream in 1881. Berners eventually did and wound up selling the treat for a nickel, originally only on Sundays, but later every day. According to this story, the spelling changed when a glass salesman ordered canoe-shaped dishes. Some claim, however, that Berners would have only been 16 or 17 in 1881 and it is therefore "improbable" that he would have owned an ice cream shop in that year.

Supporting Ithaca's claim, is an account in 1892 when John M. Scott, a Unitarian Church reverend, and Chester C. Platt, co-owner of Platt & Colt Pharmacy, created the first historically documented sundae. Mr. Platt covered dishes of ice cream with cherry syrup and candied cherries on a whim. Their creation grew so popular that by 1894, Chester Platt attempted to trademark the term ice cream "Sunday." The later spelling "sundae" is believed to have originated as a less blasphemous name for the ice cream treat.

Regardless of where and when this ice cream treat was first created, I'm a big fan. And last week I realized that I already make everything needed to put together a fantastic EC-style sundae. Just in time for the summer heat, we now have Exotic Brownie Sundaes: your choice of fresh brownie, warmed+vanilla bean gelato+our house-made Vanilla Bean Marshmallow+your choice of either Chile-Burnt Caramel or Blood Orange Olive Oil Chocolate Sauce. Take a look:

Even More Crème Fraîche Cupcakes

Believe it or not, today I have six cupcake flavors. Six, I tell you! Six! They don't really even fit into my pastry case in the way I like to present them. Poor Exotic Brownies... they are crammed onto a fourth of the shelf. Perhaps by the summer, the woodworker that did all of my tables and custom display pieces (the enchanting and talented Steffanie Dotson) will have some time to build me a new cabinet just for these little cakes. We'll see!

In the mean time, we'll just have to make do. I may only be able to display four per day, but six just seemed like a good idea today. Take a look at the two new flavors:

Lavender-Vanilla Bean-Chocolate-crème fraîche cake+50% dark chocolate lavender-vanilla bean filling+dark chocolate ganache glaze+vanilla bean sugar topping.

Mixed Berry Merlot-Butter-crème fraîche cake+60% dark chocolate mixed berry merlot filling+dark chocolate ganache glaze+fresh strawberry half topping.