The award competition was sponsored by Ghirardelli, so you know some good chocolate was going into these creations!

The method for the cake is actually pretty simple and looks amazingly delicious: two melted bars of Ghirardelli 100% cacao bars, butter, flour, salt, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Once everything is mixed into a batter, she puts about half of it into a bundt pan, and then layers Ghirardelli caramel squares, toasted pecans, and then the rest of the batter on top.

Chocolate California Goldrush Cake
by Michele Cobarrubio

8 ounces (two 4-ounce bars) Ghirardelli 100 percent Cacao Unsweetened Chocolate Baking Bar, chopped
1 cup unsalted butter
3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag (5.3 ounces) Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares, Milk Chocolate with Caramel Filling, unwrapped
1/2 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped
1/4 cup powdered sugar

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray fluted two-quart bundt pan with baking style cooking spray. In a one-quart saucepan over low heat, melt butter and both baking bars. Remove from heat when chocolate is almost entirely melted. Continue stirring until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside.

~ In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. Set aside.

~ In a stand mixer on low speed, mix sugar, eggs and vanilla. When these are incorporated, gradually increase speed to medium-high. Beat on medium-high for approximately 10 minutes. Batter will be pale yellow and fluffy. Alternately add chocolate mixture and flour mixture to egg batter, beginning and ending with the chocolate. Mix until just incorporated.

~ Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Place unwrapped Milk Chocolate Squares side by side around the center of the pan on top of the batter.

~ Sprinkle toasted pecans over the chocolate squares. Pour the rest of the batter in the pan, spreading it evenly over the candy and nuts. Bake cake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 15 to 20 minutes. Invert cake onto serving plate and cool completely.

~ Before serving, dust cake with powdered sugar.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

I came across some glazed pumpkin cookies at Sugared Blog, who got it from The Repressed Pastry Chef, and had to give them a try (go from link to link there and it’s kind of like a game of telephone, with it being tweaked just a bit as it goes along!).

I had to add some chocolate chips to it, but these are still a bit different from my usual Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies. These turned out lighter, and I also didn’t bother smoothing down the peaks (because I’m lazy like that) and I put the glaze on while it was still somewhat warm so the covering is a little thinner.

The glaze is really amazing – sweet without being too sweet and makes the cookies that much more addicting. The chocolate chips were an easy addition and in my opinion just made the cookies that much better! I used the Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chips.

Glazed Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Cookies:
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Glaze:
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F, line cookie sheet with silicone mat or parchment paper.

Cream shortening, granulated sugar and pumpkin. Add egg and mix well. Add the baking soda, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and flour and mix well. Using a small-to-medium sized cookie scoop or generous tablespoon, scoop batter onto cookie sheet. Using a wet finger, smooth points/peaks and gently press down tops.

Bake 15-18 minutes then remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack and cool about 10-15 minutes before icing.

To Make Icing: Cook butter, milk, and brown sugar until dissolved. Cool and add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Place a sheet of waxed paper under the cooling rack, take the cooled cookies and holding one at a time dip upside down into the icing, invert and place on cooling rack. Decorate with sprinkles while icing is still wet.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

We felt like some brownies yesterday but I wanted to play with them a little bit first!

I just used a box mix (I like the Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownies) because I’m out of cocoa (the horror!), but before I put it into the oven I mixed one 8oz package of softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 egg together until smooth (if it’s too thick you can add a tablespoon or so of water or even coffee), then poured it over the top. Then I used a fork to pull the brownie batter up and around the cream cheese mixture to marble it.

I baked it using the package directions (40 minutes at 325 degrees) but next time I do it (and there’ll definitely be a next time!) I’m going to keep it in at least another 5-10 minutes since the inside was still a little too gooey. But they taste fantastic!

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

My husband isn’t a fan of just plain chocolate so whenever I make a treat with him in mind I try to include nuts. I came across this recipe in a magazine and immediately pulled it out – he loves toffee and almonds so I knew it’d be a hit, and I was right. I’ll be making this for our Christmas treat pans for the neighbors next month too!

I went a little overboard on the almonds sprinkled over the top, as you can see in the picture, but as I said he loves almonds and there were no complaints from him! Instead of the called for milk chocolate chips I used Ghirardelli 60% cocoa bittersweet chocolate chips (which I could live on) and I think it made the toffee that much better.

Chocolate Almond Toffee

1 cup unsalted butter, cut up
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 T light corn syrup
2 T water
1 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds
12 oz milk chocolate chips

Line a 15×10x1 jelly roll pan with nonstick foil or foil coated with nonstick spray. In a medium saucepan, heat butter, sugar, corn syrup and water. Heat over medium heat to melt butter, then increase heat to medium-high and insert candy thermometer. Cook for about 12 minutes until golden brown and temperature reaches 300 degrees. Do not stir. Remove from heat and remove thermometer. Carefully stir in the 1 cup of almonds.

Quickly pour toffee onto prepared pan and spread to edges (mine didn’t actually make it to the edges but the free-form thing looked fine anyway). Let stand in pan on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.

Melt half of the chocolate in the microwave on high for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, stir to smooth. Spread over top of cooled toffee and refrigerate for 20 minutes until firm. Once bar is firm, flip over onto a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper and remove the foil. Microwave the remaining chocolate, stir until smooth and spread over toffee. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of finely chopped almonds. Slide back onto the pan and refrigerate 20 more minutes.

Once bar is firm, break up into pieces and store in an airtight container at room temperature up to one month.

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Post from: Chocolate Bytes