Whether you eat them out or make them at home, most people would agree that Valentine's Day desserts should be chocolate. Its rich indulgence goes with hand-holding and eye-gazing.
If you were to dine on Valentine's Day this weekend at a Jeff Ruby restaurant, you could order a special chocolate dessert for the occasion. But two of the restaurants' pastry chefs have also shared their recipes so you can make dinner at home special.
For a long time, the Jeff Ruby restaurants were not places where you'd go with dessert in mind. (This may stem from the early days of The Precinct, when it was so busy that guests were often offered a drink in the bar after dinner so someone else could take the table.) There was a good cheesecake and a carrot cake, but in recent years, desserts at the three local restaurants (The Precinct, Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, and Carlo and Johnny) have been expanded and improved.
Under the leadership of pastry chef Amy Guterba, pastry chefs were hired for each restaurant, and after-dinner menus expanded. Customers have responded by ordering more desserts. Guterba has left to work on a much smaller scale at Newberry's in Newport, but the chefs she hired are still creating and serving desserts, and selling more than ever. Eric Clark, of Carlo and Johnny, said many customers will have dinner, then order dessert to go.
Here are two that will be on the menu for Valentine's Day, each richly chocolate. Olivia Pangallo created a lovely combination of cherries, chocolate, bourbon and almonds for Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, and Clark turned his popular butter pie into a chocolate butter pie at Carlo and Johnny. Both have made their restaurant recipes into versions you can easily make at home.
Chocolate almond cake with Bourbon cherry sauce
At Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, Olivia Pangallo makes this in individual size pans, but at home it can be made in a regular cake pan. To toast the almonds, place in a dry skillet and shake them constantly over medium heat until they turn golden and smell good. Be careful--they can burn quickly.
Almond topping:
4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons clover honey
4 ounces sliced almonds, toasted
Cake:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Make the topping first: place melted butter in a small mixing bowl, and add the sugar, almonds and honey. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10 inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray
In the large kitchen mixing bowl place softened butter and sugar and beat with a mixer until it fluffs together.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined
In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk until evenly combined. Gradually add dry ingredients to the sugar butter until incorporated.
Turn off mixer, scrape down side of bowls and add buttermilk and vanilla. Mix again until just combined, making sure to not over mix.
Pour the almond/honey mixture in the pan so it covers the bottom. Pour in cake batter over the mixture. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
Insert toothpick into the center of cake; it should come out clean. Allow cake to cool to room temperature and remove from cake pan. Place cake on desired serving platter. Cut into even wedges Add 2 tablespoons of bourbon cherry sauce over each serving.
Bourbon Cherry Sauce:
8 ounces dried cherries
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Woodford Reserve (or another good bourbon you like.)
2 whole cinnamon sticks
In medium sauce pot combine bourbon, water, brown sugar and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and add the cherries. Allow sauce to simmer until it is reduced by half. Remove cinnamon sticks.
6-8 servings
Chocolate Butter Pie
This is a chocolate variation on a pie Eric Clark's grandmother used to make. "My grandfather was a southern Baptist preacher, and this was the kind of thing she'd bring to a church picnic," he said. At the restaurant, he does not use a cake mix, but he finds it works well at home.
1 (15oz) box chocolate cake mix
3 whole large eggs
1 8-ounce stick unsalted butter
8 ounces cream cheese
2 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Extra confectioners sugar to top off the pie
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Melt half the butter. Combine it with box mix and one egg in a medium bowl and mix together until well combined.
Push mixture to the bottom of a 10 inch round cake pan until the bottom of the pan is evenly covered. This will become the crust.
In a small pot boil the other half of the butter on medium heat until it becomes light brown color and has a "nutty" scent to it. Take off the heat, add chocolate chips and stir until melted.
Using a mixer, mix brown butter mixture, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder on medium speed until combined. Add remaining eggs one at a time at slow steady speed.
Pour batter on top of crust in pan and bake for 45 minutes until the crust on top is firm. (Pie should have just a little jiggle to it).
Let it sit at room temperature for one hour. (The pie will fall as it cools) then sieve confectioner's sugar on top. Store in the refrigerator.
Serve with vanilla gelato, and a drizzle of chocolate sauce if desired.
6-8 servings
