Chocolate Rose Bundt Cake

As I stated in my Mini Apple Bundt Cakes post, I recently purchased a couple of bundt pans from the Nordic Ware line, thanks to the Food Librarian and her bundt cake project in honor of National Bundt Day.  While this post is slightly late, I did make this cake in time for National Bundt Day (November 15).  My bundt pans arrived just a couple days before National Bundt Day, and for National Bundt Day I chose to use my Rose Bundt Pan
and make a chocolate cake.  Chocolate and roses, what's not to love?

I've been searching for a good chocolate cake recipe.  On Day 21 of Food Librarian's bundts, she made a chocolate bundt.  The recipe she used came from Martha Stewart. 

I chose to make the cake without the glaze.  The bundt pan was great.  With my old bundt pan, it was really hard to get the cake out.  With this one, the cake fell right out when I flipped over the pan.  All the details of the petals and layers of the rose came out sharp and defined.

My cake came out a bit dry.  I don't know if I baked it too long, or if it's the recipe.  It was oh so pretty though and I was able to enjoy it with my siblings and Boyfriend for dessert.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream (4 ounces)
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease Bundt
   pan. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Mix
   milk and sour cream in a small bowl.
2. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat
   in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add
   flour mixture, alternating with milk mixture, ending with flour. Spoon batter into pan. Bake until a tester
   inserted in center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pan
   on a wire rack. Invert cake. 

Mini Apple Bundt Cakes

I found this recipe for Apple Cinnamon Bundt cake on Martha Stewart's Everyday Food.  I recently bought quite a few Nordic Ware bundt pans, thanks to the Food Librarian.  If you aren't a follower of her blog, she loves bundt cakes.  In honor of National Bundt Day, which takes place on November 15th, she has been baking a different bundt cake every single day for the 30 days leading up to National Bundt Day.  Her beautiful cakes have made a bundt lover out of me.  I never really liked bundts until I saw the ones on her page and I love all the different Nordic Ware bundt pans she uses.  Amazon is doing a 4 for 3 promotion on a lot of their Nordic Ware products, so I couldn't resist.

I chose free shipping and unfortunately I have been waiting for them to arrive for a while.  My Nordic Ware Platinum Collection Cast Aluminum Garland Bundt Pan arrived first.  I was a bit hesitant to use these fancy mini bundts to make the apple cake because of all the apple chunks.  I was afraid all the small details in the bundt pans would not come out.  But I was set on making my apple cake, so I went ahead and tried the mini bundts.

The thick batter worried me.  And when I put the batter into the pans, there was very little actual batter and a lot of apples.  However, the end result was beautiful.  I really was impressed with how sharp all the small details of the cakes came out.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Sam Woo Irvine

Sam Woo
15333
Culver Drive, Ste 720
Irvine, CA 92604
http://www.samwooirvine.com/

Just like we have a Sam Woo inside our Ranch 99 in San Diego, next to one of the Ranch 99's in Irvine, there is a Sam Woo.  The difference is that the Sam Woo in Irvine is huge.  It's a big restaurant with a separate take-out section.  I've never eaten inside the restaurant, but I've gotten the take out a couple of times.

Here is the large restaurant:

The website has a menu which includes a banquet menu.

Here is the express section:

Surprisingly, the Sam Woo take out section is more expensive than the one in San Diego.  And while in San Diego, the third item is put in its own container, if you get three items here, they squish it all in one container. However, the Sam Woo express section here has a lot of dishes I like such as fish with black bean sauce, salt and pepper pork.  I'm not very impressed with the taste though.  I think I may prefer the one in San Diego (which is a first.  I don't think I've ever preferred a chinese restaurant in San Diego over one in Irvine). I was alone on this trip, so I only had a few moments to sneak in a few shots of the food section.

Boyfriend complained that last time I only got items I liked and didn't get him his orange chicken.  So this time, I made sure to get all items he would enjoy.  I chose a three item combo: orange chicken, sweet and sour pork, and fish with black bean sauce.

The sweet and sour pork came with the sauce separate.

Boyfriend didn't really like the orange chicken.  He thought it was too wet and preferred the one at the Sam Woo in San Diego.

This is the soup that came with the meal.

I'm not too much of a fan of the Sam Woo in Irvine.  It might also be because the express section inside the Ranch 99 next door is a pretty good deal, whereas I don't like the express section inside the San Diego Ranch 99.  I'll post about the express section inside the Ranch 99 Irvine at some point, along with some of the other great things it has to offer.