A Tale Of Two Cakes – Anne Burrell’s Olive Oil Cake and Gina Neely’s Flourless Chocolate Cake

Anne Burrell’s Olive Oil Cake with Blueberries and Mascarpone
Gina Neely’s Flourless Chocolate Cake

I actually said Gina Neely in the same breath as the fabulously gifted Anne Burrell. Both made pretty rockin’ cakes this weekend on the Food Network’s Saturday lineup.

Anne Burrell’s was from her Spaghetti Carbonara show.

Anne learned how to make this cake while in cooking school in Italy. She begins by adding sugar to egg yolks. How much sugar? How many egg yolks…she doesn’t say. Anne beats her whites separately. How many? She won’t say. Oy, let me look! It’s ¾ cup of sugar and 5 yolks and SEVEN whites. That might have been worth mentioning.

She adds salt in her whites. NO! I know Ina does that and lots of other folks too. But, on this, I will have to go with Rose Levy Beranbaum, who after all, wrote The Bible on these matters. No salt with egg whites. It only dries them out.

Anne is going too fast. She zests a Meyer lemon over her egg yolk and sugar bowl. She describes it well as a lemon with the aroma of a tangerine. It’s actually a cross between a lemon and an orange. It looks like she has about a dozen egg yolks in there, but it’s only 7.

Anne beats the whites on the second speed of her KitchenAid and the yolks to ribbon-stage by hand. This is where a second mixer bowl could come in handy. She checks her whites by removing the beater and bowl from the stand. She dips the whisk straight into the whites to get some on the end of the whisk and then holds it over the bowl sideways. If the peaks keep their shape and don’t flop over, they are firm enough.

She thoroughly whisks in ¾ cup high quality olive oil and Vin Santo (or you can substitute sweet sherry) to the yolks. Anne stirs in one cup of flour and tells us we can make this in a regular cake pan, if we don’t have a spring-form one. She doesn’t tell us to be sure to line the cake pan with waxed paper or parchment, but be sure you do.

Anne folds her egg whites into the batter in 3 parts. I guess that’s her substitution for beating in a quarter of the whites at the beginning to lighten the mixture. I still would do that.

Anne is great at showing us the straight-in-and-over folding technique with the spatula and then showing us how to “draw lines” in the batter to “bust through” the egg whites. This is important.

You don’t want huge globs of egg white left in the batter. After folding for a bit, you hold the spatula straight down (as if you were inserting a skewer) and move it back and forth through the masses of whites almost in a scissoring motion. That breaks them down without deflating them.

Anne greases the pan with olive oil, which makes sense, since she’s using it in the cake. She lines the springform pan with parchment paper. How is THAT going to work? Unless she turns it over to remove the paper, you risk papery slices. So then why not just use a regular cake pan?

The batter goes into the pan and the cake gets baked at 350°F for 45 minutes…That was fast. She takes out the cake. It’s beautiful. Anne tests it with a skewer. It comes out clean, so it’s done.

For a topping, Anne rinses and goes through blueberries. They go in a pan with a cinnamon stick, sugar, ¼ cup water and the sieved juice of half a Meyer lemon. As she discards the lemon half in her garbage bowl (which bears no resemblance to this one), Anne smiles and says – to the lemon - “Thanks for coming.” She really is adorable.

The blueberries get cooked for 20 minutes. Oh, I don’t watch her enough to know that she says “Thanks for coming” to every ingredient that she’s finished wish. I love chef-to-food communication.

Anne unmolds the cake and reminds us that there’s paper on the bottom. (I still don’t get why. Just grease and flour it and it should be fine. BUT I ALWAYS line cake pans.)

The slice goes on a plate and she tops it with some berry compote. Luscious. She spoons a little mascarpone over in a quenelle shape. She practically inhales the cake. It’s pretty great and so is she.

But may I ask you a question? Would an olive oil cake ever - in a hundred years - be as good as one made with butter? This cake looks so darn good, but I’ll be honest, I kinda want to use butter. That would be sacrilegious, though, wouldn’t it?

I must have been born with butter running through my veins, so I just can’t help thinking that I would taste this cake and think, okay, but I’d prefer butter.

But what if I kept to the spirit of the cake and used OIL, (I LOVE my carrot and apple cakes with oil), just not olive oil?

Remember, that my olive oil comes straight from Spain and, while I do use it liberally, I never use it without thought.

How about safflower oil? I’m sure that’s against the entire spirit of the recipe and I’d be excommunicated from the church of Italian Food Aficionados. Is it possible that we sometimes just have to admit, “You know what? I’m just not sure I’d love that”? But I do love everything about the recipe…except the olive oil.

Strangely enough, I had no such dilemma with this Flourless Chocolate Cake from Gina Neely. Imagine her in the same post as Anne!!! But I think this recipe could become a standard in your kitchen…and mine.

Pat chops 8 oz. semisweet chocolate while Gina melts two stick of butter on the stove. He stirs the chopped chocolate into the butter.

Do you ever really bother with chopping the chocolate? I almost never do...I find it good fun to jab a fork right into the chocolate bar in the pan. Then I stir it around the bottom, mixing it with the melting butter as I go. Yup, THAT is truly what I do for fun.

Gina beats 1 of cup sugar and 6 eggs in a mixer until light and fluffy. Pat reminds us to continually stir the chocolate.

I’m also reminded of Ina’s trick. She holds back a bit of chopped chocolate and stirs it into the melted mixture off the heat to ensure that she doesn’t overheat it.

Gina whisks in ½ cup of cocoa, vanilla and 1/3 cup of brandy to the egg mixture. Pat’s deep blue polo shirt matches the deep blue mixing bowls that Gina was using earlier.

Gina lines her springform pan with parchment paper. Too? What’s going on here? Am I completely out of it?

THEN Gina sprays the pan with Pam. Never! Not with this cake. Butter and flour the pan properly. Pat pours the melted butter and chocolate into the batter and Gina mixes it together. Pat pours it into the lazily prepared pan. It bakes at 350°F for 50 minutes.

Gina tells us to have the bowl and beaters cold as she beats 1 cup of cream. See, Gina? You don’t need Cool Whip! She beats in ¼ cup of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of brandy. Gina cuts a piece, then tops it with the whipped cream and then some raspberries.

This is a really nice serviceable recipe and it would freeze beautifully too. You could also top it differently. How about chocolate whipped cream spread over the top and chocolate shavings to finish it off? Or a raspberry sauce with Grand Marnier garnished with rosettes of Grand Marnier-spiked whipped cream and fresh raspberries? Or top it with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. Ooh la la! OR just a bit of powdered sugar. You could also cut it into rounds and make little individual cakes. Those trimmings would have to be disposed of somehow…I guess.

Anyway, Gina did good and I HAD to acknowledge it.

Out Of The Bleu, Ina Serves Souffles

The Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten

LA Story

Apple Turnovers
Blue Cheese Souffle
Fingerling Potatoes with Aioli
Pomegranate Cosmos

To get the recipes:

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Ina's LA screenwriter friend Bill Finkelstein* and his architect wife Barbara are coming over for dinner. (Couldn't she just once have Harry the plumber and his wife Edith, a state government worker, over for a meal?) She's not giving her left-coast guests what she thinks they eat in LA most of the time - water and frozen yogurt. Oh no, she's going the other way and really packing a punch with rich gorgeous food. And she jokes that most people say they don't want dessert, but she doesn't remember anyone ever turning it down.

She starts by making apple turnovers - interesting choice. I don't think I have ever served or been served turnovers at a dinner party. But I've never known our Contessa to fail in her menu planning, I'm going to go with her on this one.

She peels and chops 3 granny smith apples, 1 teaspoon grated orange zest, fresh orange juice (from 1/2 an orange), 3 tablespoons sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Then she adds some dried cherries. She tastes it. It’s good...

Ina takes out frozen puff pastry that she's thawed. She flours the counter and rolls it out to 12" by 12", telling us to keep the dough really cold and that this "sure beats making pie crust." The Barefooted One cuts the dough into squares and spoons the filling in the middle. She paints an egg wash around the edges and folds over the turnover into a nice triangle. Then she forks the edges (I just HAD to say that.) 2 little slits get made in each one and Ina sprinkles sugar over each turnover. They go into the fridge to be baked before serving.

Meanwhile we see friend Michael arranging flowers in his shop. Ina comes in and tells him she needs chic flowers. She wants to do a "deconstructed French bouquet." (Does that mean throwing them around on the floor?) She gets enough flowers to decorate Versailles. I like how she gets basically one color.

Now she's on to the heart of the meal - THE COCKTAIL.

She making a yummy one - a pomegranate cosmopolitan. She premixes a batch in a pitcher. She mixes 2 cups vodka (I would definitely go with a flavored one), 2 cups Cointreau, 1 cup of pomegranate juice and 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice. (Don't tell anyone but I use Rose's Lime Juice in place of fresh. I like the added sweetness.) The Pom Cosmos will get a final shaking over ice before serving.

For an hors d'oeuvre, she's serving fingerling potatoes with aioli. That's fine as long as you're sure EVERYONE is eating the aioli, so that everyone will be equally garlic-scented.

Ina boils the potatoes for 10 minutes, drains them and then does her little truc

of covering them with a cloth and leaving them to steam for 10 minutes to finish cooking. She tears up bread and soaks it in champagne vinegar to make the base of the aioli. She chops 8 garlic cloves in the food processor and then adds 2 yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and saffron (interesting), as well as salt and pepper. Ina squeezes out the bread and adds that to the mixture. Then she adds one and a half cups olive oil. She's NOT using extra virgin olive oil, because she doesn't want its strong taste to come through. She tastes it. It's wonderful.

I would do just one little thing different here. I would dissolve the saffron in 1 tablespoon of really hot water, and then when it's cool, add it. Or at least let it sit in the vinegar or lemon juice for a minute.

She cleans up a bit while explaining, "I can really make a mess." Well, as Rosanne Barr says, "Excuse the mess, but we live here." Ina pours the aioli into a bowl and surrounds it with the halved fingerlings. She sprinkles over salt, pepper and chives.

The only reservation I have about this dish is that you really have to be spot-on with cooking the potatoes. If they're too underdone, you have an unpleasant crunch that shouldn't be there, and if they're overcooked, they can be mealy. I might serve this with other veggies instead - carrots, fennel, blanched cauliflower. (I only use baby carrots when I'm feeling overworked in the kitchen. They really have no flavor.)

Now, finally, we get to the main course - 2, count 'em two, bleu cheese soufflés. She is bold, our Contessa, in supposing that her dinner guests like bleu cheese. It's not an assumption that I would be brave enough to make, but Ina stands firm in her conviction that bleu cheese has universal appeal. Dang all that, SHE just really likes bleu cheese.

For 2 soufflés (after all, there are FOUR people...I'm surprised she didn't throw 2 or 3 more in the oven) she melts 6 tablespoons of butter and adds 6 tablespoons of flour and cooks it. She heats 2 cups of milk and pours it in, not particularly gradually, and whisks the whole thing.

I have to admit I would have been REALLY impressed if she had infused her milk with the heel of an onion, a few peppercorns and a bay leaf (like we did in cooking school, back in the 3rd quarter of the 20th century. Ah well.)

She adds salt, pepper and fresh nutmeg. Please, for the rest of your entire life, add ONLY freshly ground nutmeg. A nutmeg berry lasts FOREVER and its aroma is INCOMPARABLE. Then off the heat, she beats in 8 egg yolks, more or less one at a time.

Ina tells us that this makes a "light" dinner as she adds the bleu cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. She pours the base into 2 different mixing bowls. She has 10 egg whites at room temperature (very important) She adds 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and beats them on HIGH.

The correct amount of cream of tartar, according to Rose Levy Beranbaum in The Cake Bible is 1/2 teaspoon for 4 egg whites or 1 teaspoon for 8. Ina is using 10 whites, so technically the proper amount of cream of tartar is 1 1/4 teaspoons. The cream of tartar virtually guarantees that you can't overbeat the whites and that's an assurance that I want when I'm dealing with that many egg whites. Obviously, we're talking about COOKED egg whites here. If you're using them uncooked, then don't add cream of tartar. You don't want the sour taste. Ina also adds salt. I wish I knew why. They dry out the egg whites and add to the beating time. Don't do it.

Salt or not, her egg whites are glorious. She places half in each bowl and folds them in.

She cuts down the middle and folds them over, turning the bowl as she goes. She pours the mixture into 2 greased and cheese-d soufflé dishes. They get put into a 400 degree F. oven that immediately gets turned down to 375 degrees. She bakes them for 30 to 35 minutes, setting a timer, so she doesn't forget about them.

Ina claims that she never quite has a handle on the table setting. PULEEZ!!! Our Contessa is all-knowing about flower arrangements and tabletop design. That bouquet could have been done for a State Dinner, it's so beautiful.

The California folks have arrived. They're really tucking into the potatoes. (Where's Jeffrey?)

The tarts go In the oven. If this were LA, they'd be sitting at the table too. JUST KIDDING. The timer rings. "The moment of truth. Now isn't that a WOW?" Her guests are thrilled. The soufflés are presented to much acclaim.

I couldn't have written it better myself. Dessert is served. Bill wants to move in. Maybe there's a story to be written here about the Contessa and her love of bleu cheese or maybe there's just one heck of a recipe.

*I'm thinking that that ain't just any screenwriter, that's LA Law's William Finkelstein.

The Barefoot Quandary of Extra-Large Eggs and Bleu Cheese

Barefoot Contessa - Ina Garten
Barefoot Reunion

Barbecued Ribs
Blue Cheese Cole Slaw
Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes
New Potato Salad

To get the recipes:
Click here

Ina tells us about her store, Barefoot Contessa, which she sold in 1996. It almost sounds like another icon...this time on the big screen: "I had a farm in Africa". Anyway, Ina has invited 6 of her longtime co-workers from "the early years'" to dinner and she's making several of their famous dishes. And she can't wait to see how they're all doing.

She starts with barbecued ribs. Apparently, this recipe was a long time in development. They had several recipes they were working with and she decided to put them all together - Asian, Tex-Mex, traditional - to come up with what became the signature Barefoot Contessa Barbecued Ribs.

She cooks the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Then she adds chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, ginger, lime zest and juice. Goodness, there's more! She's adding vinegar, mustard and orange juice. She wasn't kidding about merging MANY different recipes and she obviously kept each and every ingredient from them all. She simmers it for 15 minutes.

I don't approve of something so far. Can you guess what it is?

Very good, if you guessed that Ina didn't cook the spices first, before adding all the liquidy stuff.

WHENever, HOWever, WHEREever, WHOever (ok, that last one doesn't make sense) you're adding warm spices, i.e. chili powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon (usually to sautéed onions and/or garlic), they should be stirred over the lowest heat you have for 3 minutes BEFORE you add anything even vaguely liquidy. This takes away the raw taste and develops the flavor of the spices. This can be the difference between a so-so dish and one that really sings. And, of course, I'm talking about sautéed dishes here, not baked goods, like cakes or rolls with cinnamon other spices.

To clarify, before you add the entire left side of your pantry to this barbecue sauce, stir in the entire right side (the spices) for 3 minutes on low heat...I just checked the recipe and the Contessa goes halfway. She cooks the chili powder, cumin and red pepper flakes for ONE minute. Not enough, but, at least, she didn't skip it altogether. You and I know know what we have to do, right? 3 minutes, super low heat BEFORE the wet stuff goes in.

Luckily, we're moving on to the chocolate cupcake recipe. She creams room temperature butter with sugar, until it's light and fluffy. Then she adds 4 extra large eggs, one at a time.

Hold on just a minute. Just what exactly are we going to do about The Barefoot Contessa's use of EXTRA LARGE eggs in every recipe?

Very few food writers use extra large eggs in their recipes, the standard is large. I almost think Ina's doing it as a way to stand out and make it harder for anyone to copy her.

THIS is the problem: a large egg is 2 ounces. An extra large egg is 2 1/4 ounces. Obviously, this matters when you're baking, not making omelets.

What to do? I have NEVER used extra large eggs. EVER. After great thought, this is what I've come up with. When I crack open an egg, I make sure to get every drop of egginess from the inside of the shell. That could be an extra teaspoon or so. I may not be using the size she specifies, but at least I'm getting every last bit of the egg that I AM using into the recipe. AND when I'm adding liquid to her baked recipes, I intentionally add perhaps a teaspoon more.

Even though I've baked plenty of Barefoot Contessa recipes, I've never used the correct size egg and it doesn't seem to matter (although theory says it should).

However, if you have a recipe that uses A LOT of eggs, 8 extra-large for example, that WILL make a difference - a 2 ounce difference to be exact, which conveniently is the size of a large egg. So that one is easy...8 extra-large eggs equal 9 large eggs exactly. It's when it's less than that that you have the issue.

Here's a rather confusing chart that seems to say that if the recipe calls for 4 extra-large eggs, do what you want, use 4 OR 5 large eggs. After that, use one more large egg than extra-large. Thus, if the recipe says 5 extra-large eggs, use 6 large and so on. Got it?

Ok, so you've added whatever the heck eggs you're going to add, and now she's adding a 16 oz can of chocolate syrup!!! What? It's the secret ingredient. Ok, if you say so. And I guess all that liquid deliciousness will make up for the exactly 1 oz shortfall of egg protein that my cupcakes will suffer from. Add vanilla extract and then put the flour in the bowl. Beat only until it's JUST mixed, or you'll have tough cupcakes and noone wants that for you, least of all the Contessa.

This batter makes 12 cupcakes. She uses an ice cream scoop to get them into the muffin pan. VERY CLEVER IDEA! They bake at 325 deg F. for 25 to 30 minutes. She says 30 in the recipe - check after 25 minutes.

We're back to the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink marinade. Set aside some to be served with the cooked ribs. The rest gets spread all over the meat and it goes into the refrigerator to marinate for as long as possible - a few hours, overnight, a day or 2. She likes Country Ribs the best, which you may have to discuss with your butcher in advance. Ina doesn't think baby back ribs have enough meat on them and that spare ribs are too fatty.

Her friend, TR, arrives in a wild shirt. He's in charge of the grill. She cracks open the Veuve Clicquot and he starts the fire. She heads back into the kitchen to finish cooking.

For the cole slaw, she slices green and red cabbage in the food processor. Put it in sideways to get long slices. The red cabbage goes ON TOP OF the green cabbage. Don't mix them together yet. She grates the carrots with the grating disk and puts them on top of the red cabbage. She makes the sauce, starting with 16 oz. of mayonnaise. "This makes a lot", she adds rather sheepishly. Dijon and whole grain mustard get mixed in with apple cider vinegar, celery salt (tell me the truth, is your celery salt from the last quarter of the 20th century?) and salt and pepper. "Put enough sauce on so that it moistens it, but not so much that it's wet and sloppy." Ok, maybe I wouldn't have put it exactly that way, but you get the idea.

Ina adds Roquefort. "I know there are those of you who think this smells like gym socks, but it's really delicious." She adds parsley now. "I'm going to put it in the refrigerator and it's just going to get better and better as it sits." (Kinda like gym socks?)

I have mixed feelings about the bleu cheese. One thing I am completely sure of: the cole slaw doesn't need it. I do defend her right to add it, but I really prefer to enjoy bleu cheese on its own, where it doesn't taint, I mean overpower, the rest of what it's being served with. I think the best way to present it is at room temperature with a generous portion of good honey lavished overtop, dripping all down the sides and surrounded by well-toasted walnut halves and sturdy crackers or bread.

Back to the cupcakes. She's doing her ganache thing - heavy cream and chocolate get melted together with a bit of coffee powder in a double boiler arrangement. Stir until just melted. By the way, the usual way to make ganache is to heat the cream, just to boiling, and stir in FINELY chopped chocolate until smooth. No less an authority than Rose Levy Beranbaum loves to make it in the food processor, so that it's silky smooth.

TR lights the coals. The ribs are on. They really don't have to cook that long, maybe a half hour. They get turned once or twice. Ina sets the table with Barefoot Contessa colors - red and white. She puts bags of candy down the middle, tied with BF ribbons. BIG napkins (for the ribs) go on and she reminds TR (and us) that the coals should be even and not too thick.

Back in the kitchen to ice the cupcakes. She spoons a LARGE amount of ganache over each cupcake. The recipe says to dip each one, I like using a spoon. Ina places a large candied violet on each cupcake and they go on cake stands. That's an attractive way to present them. They look gorgeous.

The Barefoot friends arrive. They toast to the Barefoot Contessa - the store AND the person, I guess. They take a lot of pictures and hunker down with the ribs (they turned out BEAUTIFULLY) and cole slaw, these original foodies. And Ina didn't forget to serve the extra marinade.

The Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes come out. They remember them well. To old times, old friends and old recipes.