Monday, April 08, 2013

Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake and Sweet Potato Falafel—Secret Recipe Club

Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake 4-7-13

This cake is delicious!  I chose to make this cake I found on my Secret Recipe Club blog for today.  I had Isabelle’s blog, Crumb, which is such a wonderful blog.  SO many great recipes to try and delicious looking pictures!  I love Isabelle’s quick run down about herself—“I'm a 30-something coffee-chugging, booty-shaking, bargain-shopping, cookbook-collecting, photo-snapping, trucker-swearing, farmers-market-loving self-taught cook with a Boy and two cats to feed.”  She lives in Toronto, Canada and works in the telecom industry.  She could totally pull it off as a real chef!  I was lucky enough to fill-in last minute and do a post for Isabelle’s blog back in 2011 when she would have been an orphan.  I made some delicious Granola and Marbled Chocolate Banana Muffins then.  I’ve since found a recipe for granola that I usually turn to and make, but after looking back that I wrote Isabelle’s was one of the best granolas I’ve ever made/tasted, I will be making it again.  I love granola!

Looking through all her recipes and once again, I had a hard time deciding what to make.  And as usual, I couldn’t decide on just one.  So I made two.  It’s only fitting for me to start out with dessert first though.  I made her Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake.  Just as I started out this post, let me say it again—this was delicious!  I don’t know if you’ve had chocolate pudding cake before, but it’s super easy to make.  You think it’s strange as you follow the recipe with a thick, brownie-like batter put in the bottom of the pan, then a boiling hot liquid with cocoa and sugar in it poured over the top.  You wonder if it will really bake into a cake—but darn it all, it does, and ends up with a warm, gooey pudding on the bottom. 

I LOVE the combination of chocolate and raspberries, it’s one of my favorite combinations.  When I saw Isabelle had a version of this cake that included raspberries, I knew I needed to make it.  Luckily I had some frozen raspberries in the freezer.  I WISH raspberries were in season right now because some fresh ones on the plate with this dessert would have been perfect.  It was still worth it without the little fresh berries on the side.  I made the cake and was really happy with how it looked as it came out of the oven.

Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake 4-7-13

Almost couldn’t wait to dig in to it until after dinner!  To make this a chocolate-raspberry dessert, a simple raspberry coulis is made and poured over the thick brownie-cake layer, before the hot liquid is added.  So you can’t see it, but there is great raspberry flavor hiding in there!  Since I didn’t have any fresh raspberries, this definitely needed something on top and I’m not sure I’ve ever had chocolate pudding cake without ice cream, so naturally this got some vanilla ice cream on top.

Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake

I was still sad about  not having any fresh raspberries and then I thought some more raspberry coulis drizzled over the ice cream would be really good.  But I didn’t have any more coulis already made—so I got some raspberry jam out of the fridge and heated it up a bit, then drizzled that over the top.  Delicious!  (Go drool over the first photo in this post again!)

Here’s the link for Isabelle’s recipe again—I didn’t change a thing!  Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake

While fishing through all her recipes, I ran across her Homemade Sweet Potato Falafel and realized I had everything to make them for dinner.  We love falafel.  Kevin has even been to Israel where he still says they make the “real” thing and he’s never had any quite like the authentic ones in Israel.  I keep trying different recipes.  I’m not really trying to make some JUST like he remembers.  I just like trying different kinds.  I LOVE sweet potatoes, so when I saw Isabelle’s recipe for falafel with sweet potato added, I was set on trying it.  Go check out her recipe.  She filled her falafel wraps with a tahini sauce, hummus, a tabbouleh salad AND the falafel.  I really want to make all those components sometime.  For this meal, I went simple and just made the tahini sauce and falafel patties.  Easy and delicious!  Kevin knew when he saw the falafel there was something different about them, they looked more orange.  But he didn’t say anything and I didn’t tell him until after dinner that they had sweet potato in them.  He liked them okay.  I loved them.  The boys ate them, too.  Okay, Sam wouldn’t even try them.  I knew he wouldn’t.  He’s still my picky youngest.  ;)

Falafels 4-7-13

I changed a few simple things in Isabelle’s recipe, but go check out hers with the tabbouleh salad recipes and hummus!  (Link above.)

Sweet Potato Falafel with Yogurt Sauce, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Crumb (www.crumbblog.com)

Yogurt Sauce--

1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon tahini oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Whisk together all four ingredients in a small bowl.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Sweet Potato Falafel--

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 cloves garlic

15.5 ounce can of chickpeas (garbanzo bean), drained and rinsed

1 cup sweet potato, cooked and mashed (about 1 large sweet potato)

3-4 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon salt

Canola oil, for frying falafel

Put the cilantro, parsley and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until nicely chopped.  Add the chickpeas and pulse until coarsely ground.  Add the already cooked, mashed sweet potato and pulse to combine, just don’t pulse it too much in the food processor.  You can also remove the mixture from the food processor to a bowl and stir in the sweet potato.  Then add the flour, cumin, red pepper flakes, and salt.  Once it is all combined, heat some oil in a large skillet (enough to cover the bottom of the whole pan).  Form patties using about 2 tablespoons of the mixture for each.  You should get 12-14 patties.  Fry the patties over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes on each side, until they are golden and crisp.  Transfer them to a baking sheet lined with paper towel.

For finished falafel pitas--

Whole wheat pitas

Shredded lettuce

Thinly sliced tomatoes

Thinly sliced cucumber

Sliced dill pickles

When all the patties are finished and the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and pickles are prepared, assemble the pitas starting with some of the yogurt sauce.  Let each person decide what vegetables to put in theirs.  Put two falafel in each half-pita.

Sweet Potato Falafel PitasThe falafel are a little fragile as the sweet potato makes them softer.  You can add a little more flour to make them really hold together.  I loved the tender crunch on the outside and the soft inside!

Sweet Potato Falafels 4-7-13 (SRC from Crumb Blog)

Sweet potato falafel frying action shot. ;)

image

 

15 comments:

Nickki said...

So many delicious things in one post! That Falafel looks so good. It's something I've never made but would love to give it a try. The raspberry chocolate pudding looks and sound delicious. I think chocolate & raspberries are one of the yummiest combinations :-)

Isabelle @ Crumb said...

Oh wow... I get a two-fer this month! I'm thrilled you enjoyed both recipes. The chocolate pudding cake is one of my go-tos... in fact, I keep a bag of raspberries in the freezer just in case I need a last-minute dessert.
As for the falafel, I can sympathise with your husband. I still have dreams about the delicious falafels I had in Tel Aviv, and I have yet to figure out how to replicate that awesomeness at home... so while these are good, they're not in the same league as the real deal. I'm glad you and the kids enjoyed them, though!

Evelyne CulturEatz said...

Oh wow both recipes looks so tempting. Great picks for SRC. And it was a pleasure having your blog this month!

Lisa said...

Sam will learn what he's missing out on cause those falafel look incredible. And of course your cake is a thing of beauty and chocolatey goodness.

Granny Jacque said...

Yum! The falafel looks so delish I could lick my computer screen! Love you much! MOM

Lesa @ Edesias Notebook said...

What great choices, Katrina! I make a "warm brownie pudding" which is similar to this pudding cake, but putting raspberry in it is pure genius! Chocolate and raspberry is prob my favorite flavor combo ever. And we love falafel too, but haven't tried it with sweet potato. Sounds fantastic.

Lisa~~ said...

You out-did yourself and both recipes look amazing! I sure wish that I had been eating in your house that night...yum!

If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my SRC entry: Laura Goodenough's Apple Coffee Cake

Lisa~~

Unknown said...

Great job on making two!

Unfortunately my post missed the blog hop due to tech issues…argh..here is the link as I'd hate for people to miss seeing Aly's recipe and her wonderful blog - http://chitchatchomp.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/secret-recipe-club-april.html

Nutmeg Nanny said...

That pita looks delicious :) I love falafel! The pudding cake looks so tempting.

Elizabeth - SugarHero.com said...

Those falafels are calling my name! I haven't been to Israel but I grew up eating some from a falafel place near my house that has always been "the falafel against which all others will be measured." I've never tried them with sweet potatoes, so I'm excited to give these a try!

angela@spinachtiger said...

Everything looks wonderful. I love falafel the pudding cake is sheer joy.

Barbara Bakes said...

Two delicious picks! I love the combination of chocolate and raspberries too. I'm off to check out the recipe.

Sarah said...

wow, i couldn't choose between those 2 recipes either!! yum!

Unknown said...

The cake looks great and the felafel amazing! I find regular felafel are often a bit dry, I bet the sweet potato helps to make them more moist!

Nancy @ gottagetbaked said...

I only recently discovered Isabelle's kick ass blog and I agree - she and her recipes are awesome! That chocolate pudding cake is killing me - look at that delicious, decadent, molten inside. I wish I had a giant scoop of it right now!