Last week my friend Jim asked if I would make some baked goods for a going away party at his office this afternoon. He told me that they had already ordered a cookies 'n' cream ice cream cake for the occasion. At a birthday party Jim threw for his wife last summer, he served an ice cream cake that was 100% ice cream, formed into the shape of a cake and frosted -- no actual cake or brownie layer was included. So when Jim told me about the ice cream cake at his office party, I asked if the cake was actually all ice cream, or if it also included cake; I wanted to know if I was supposed to be making something specifically to be served with ice cream. He said he thought it included a cake layer, but I still wanted to know if I was supposed to make something that went with cookies 'n' cream ice cream. I started thinking aloud about what would go with the ice cream, and Jim stated matter-of-factly that in his mind, there is nothing that doesn't go with cookies 'n' cream ice cream. Inside-Out-Carrot Cake Cookies, I teased? Raspberry white-chocolate bars? Jim insisted they would all be fine accompaniments.
In the end, I decided to make Fudgy Chocolate-Raspberry Bars, a recipe from the August 1997 issue of Gourmet that I am quite fond of. The recipe includes seedless raspberry preserves in both the batter and the ganache topping for a strong raspberry flavor, and on the cakey vs. fudgy scale, they score as super-fudgy. A batch baked up in a 9 x 13 inch pan contains only one-half cup of flour, but 15 ounces of chocolate in the batter and another 9 ounces in the topping, making 1.5 pounds total!
I also threw together a blueberry coffee cake for my office. The recipe is from a Land o' Lakes recipe booklet that I bought ages ago -- you know, it's one of those half-size color booklets that they sell at the checkout stand at the supermarket. I must have purchased the booklet shortly after college, because I do have a distinct recollection that the first time I made this cake, I thought it tasted exactly like the blueberry coffee cake at Hobee's that I loved in college. Now it's probably been about 15 years since I tasted a piece of Hobee's coffee cake, so I longer have any idea if it takes like Hobee's coffee cake or not... But if served warm with a scoop of whipped butter on the side, I think it might still give Hobee's a run for its money...
In the end, I decided to make Fudgy Chocolate-Raspberry Bars, a recipe from the August 1997 issue of Gourmet that I am quite fond of. The recipe includes seedless raspberry preserves in both the batter and the ganache topping for a strong raspberry flavor, and on the cakey vs. fudgy scale, they score as super-fudgy. A batch baked up in a 9 x 13 inch pan contains only one-half cup of flour, but 15 ounces of chocolate in the batter and another 9 ounces in the topping, making 1.5 pounds total!
I also threw together a blueberry coffee cake for my office. The recipe is from a Land o' Lakes recipe booklet that I bought ages ago -- you know, it's one of those half-size color booklets that they sell at the checkout stand at the supermarket. I must have purchased the booklet shortly after college, because I do have a distinct recollection that the first time I made this cake, I thought it tasted exactly like the blueberry coffee cake at Hobee's that I loved in college. Now it's probably been about 15 years since I tasted a piece of Hobee's coffee cake, so I longer have any idea if it takes like Hobee's coffee cake or not... But if served warm with a scoop of whipped butter on the side, I think it might still give Hobee's a run for its money...
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