Macadamia Fudge Torte
Katie Liguori, pastry chef at The Green Ladle, says this is her mom’s favorite dessert.

Serves: 12

Filling:
1/3 cup low-fat sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cake:
1 package devil’s food cake mix
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
1 (16 ounce) can sliced pears in light syrup, drained
2 eggs
1/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts or pecans
2 teaspoons water

Sauce:
1 jar caramel ice cream topping
3 tablespoons milk

Prepare the filling. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9- or 10-inch springform pan. In a small saucepan, combine filling ingredients. Cook over medium heat until chocolate has melted, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, cinnamon and oil; blend at low speed for 20 to 30 seconds or until crumbly (mixture will be dry). Place pears in a blender; blend until smooth.

In a large bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups of the cake mixture, pureed pears and eggs; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Spread batter evenly in sprayed pan. Drop the filling mixture by spoonfuls over batter. Stir in nuts and water into remaining cake mix mixture. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until top springs back when touched. Cool 10 minutes. Remove sides of pan. Cool 1 hour.

In small saucepan, combine sauce ingredients. Cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until well blended, stirring occasionally. To serve: spoon warm sauce over cake and serve with ice cream.

Chocolate Ganache Torte

About this recipe, Liguori says, “This is a new recipe I have served here at The Green Ladle, and customers have said they love the dessert.”

Serves: 12

Crust:
1 box of chocolate wafer cookies, or your favorite wafer nut cookie

2/3 cup pecans
1/4 cup (or less) melted butter or margarine

Filling:
1 1/2 pounds to 2 pounds of the best available semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, well chopped into small pieces.
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1 cup heavy cream

Sauce:
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Prepare the crust: Chop or put in food processor the wafer cookies and pecans until fine. Add enough melted butter to press this into a 9-inch springform pan (along the bottom and halfway up the sides). Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes; set aside.

While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. In a double boiler melt the butter and then add the chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, slowly add the whipping cream, stirring slowly, until the mixture is blended and smooth. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Prepare the sauce before serving (the sauce, served warm, should accompany the torte, served cold). Melt the butter over fairly high heat. Add sugar until saturated (the heat must be high enough for the sugar to dissolve; when no more will dissolve, the solution is saturated). Stirring only occasionally, let the mixture “burn” just enough to turn into a rich caramel color. Add the cream, stirring briskly until well blended and smooth. Strain if necessary for smoothness.

Molten chocolate cakes
Makes 1 dozen mini cakes

Filling:
1/2 cup dark chocolate candy melts or chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Cake:
2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Chocolate ganache sauce:
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter (do not use margarine)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Prepare filling: Heat cream and candy/chocolate chips in medium saucepan, whisking until chocolate is melted and smooth. DO NOT BOIL. Refrigerate until firm. Best made several hours or one day in advance.

Prepare cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini cake pans with spray. In saucepan melt chocolate chips and butter over low heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in flour, sugar and vanilla. Stir in eggs until well mixed. Pour 2 to 3 tablespoons into each mini pan. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in each pan, and top with more batter until each pan is 2/3 full. Smooth batter to cover filling. Place mini pans on sheet pan and bake 15-17 minutes or until cakes spring back. Cool 5 minutes, turn out onto serving platter.

Make ganache: Heat all ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Refrigerate about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.

Chocolate.

Nearly any kind of chocolate, in any form, will do for this girl. So much so that just walking into The Green Ladle, a culinary arts program at Lewiston Regional Technical Center, for the first annual “Chocolat!” last Sunday was an extreme test of willpower.

The sweet smell of confections, like the pied piper’s piping, drew people into the dining room, where a line of smiles and ready plates had already formed. Indulging would have sent me into a chocolate frenzy. It took incredible effort, but I managed to avoid eating my way around the busy room.

With Valentine’s Day just two weeks away, who wouldn’t want to focus on chocolate? Anyone giving the gift of chocolate on February 14 could benefit from some ideas offered up at “Chocolat!” — none of those standard, pre-wrapped boxes from the drugstore this year. The seven vendors who participated in the competition event brought out their best chocolate creations.

Event organizer Michel Courchesne was pleased with the more than 350 guests who turned out for the first-time event. “You want it to go well and you want everyone to enjoy themselves,” said Courchesne, whose favorite chocolate indulgence is chocolate cream pie. “For the first time, this is really good.”

The Bread Shack of Auburn entered its chocolate croissant, a local favorite. Baker Tasha Wing said temperature can be critical for successfully making treats with chocolate. For instance, the Bread Shack’s chocolate croissants are made with cocoa powder because the dough needs to remain cold. Melted chocolate would not work well. Wing also made peanut butter caramels, topped with chocolate ganache and a peanut as an added treat. Wing says she is a fan of all things chocolate.

And who wouldn’t be a fan of the fruit of theobroma cacao, the “tree of the gods”? Certainly no one at this event, from the happy looks that shown on all the faces.

Each table was continually restocked with each vendor’s treats. Chocolate-dipped cherries and caramels from Ella’s Candy in Lewiston disappeared off the trays quickly, and before long the chocolate-covered caramels were gone. The secret to the cherries, says owner Ellen Magee, is the confection she uses around them before dipping them in chocolate.

Magee says that when you are using chocolate to bake or make candy, it is important to remember that all chocolates are different. Some melt easier than others, the quality varies from brand to brand, and chocolate responds to the environment you are working in. For candy making, it’s best work in a cooler kitchen, she said.

Island Candy Company of Orr’s Island had a number of decadent offerings. Owner Melinda Richter made raspberry chocolates made with Chambord (raspberry liqueur), English toffee with milk chocolate, and orange candied pecans in dark chocolate. While they use molds for their store stock, these goodies were hand dipped for the event, and looked delicious.

“I think that the flavors of liqueurs are more true than the concentrated flavor,” said Richter. “We like to use the real stuff.”

Chocolate piña coladas and chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips were disappearing from the Bates College table overseen by bakers Heather Keach and Amanda Deschambeault. The cookies, a favorite with the college’s students, were their entry into the contest, and Deschambeault said the piña coladas were just a fun addition.

Goldie and Faye Edward, and Hannah Coughlin, all of Lewiston, were enjoying the chocolate event as they sat at a table with nearly empty plates in front of them. They agreed that they will most definitely be returning next year. Faye, whose favorite chocolate is milk chocolate, described the experience as “very chocolaty.” There seemed to be something for everyone, Goldie said.

Chef Dan Caron of The Green Ladle and several students joined Chocolat! coordinator and pastry chef Katie Liguori in hosting the event. While The Green Ladle did not enter its own chocolate creations in the event, staff and students offered a chocolate fountain, cheese fondue, fruit and other saltier fare. An added benefit of hosting the event, said Caron, was the chance to get people into the building who had not yet been to The Green Ladle.

“It looks like next year we will probably have to go to a bigger venue, which is awesome,” said Liguori.

Brittany Marland, a former student of The Green Ladle’s adult-education 15-week culinary course, handed out Crunchy Chocolate Mousse bars at the table for Bocce’s Grill. The dessert chef for Bocce’s, Marland is passionate about chocolate. One of her favorites is ganache, though she says chocolate in general can be challenging. She seconded Tasha Wing’s observation that temperature is critical to success. “When you’re making ganache, or any chocolate, it’s all about temperature,” said Marland.

Temperature is also crucial if you’re making chocolate art, like the carvings and sculpted flowers created by Russell Park Manor cook Gary Davis. Using block chocolate, Davis carved birds with impressive detail, and surrounded that with sculpted flowers made of white and dark chocolate. Just as impressive was the Reve de Gateau au Chocolat, a layered chocolate cake with silky chocolate frosting that Davis and fellow cook Tony Cortez made and entered in the event. The cake was adorned with decorative chocolate candies, made by cook Robin Tibbetts.

The final vendor was Maine Mountain Confectioners of Norway. Owner Pamela Libby, also a guidance counselor at Martel and Longley elementary schools in Lewiston, began candy making with chocolate truffles. Libby said making truffles is time consuming — more than a six-hour process — so patience is needed. For the event, she brought samples of her Almond Butter Crunch, which was her entry in the contest, as well as a new product, Sea Salt Toffee.

Beth Woodhead, a teacher at Lewiston Middle School., and her fiance, Burt Miller, of Auburn, came to the event to support the school, though Miller admitted to being a chocoholic too. As a Christmas gift, Woodhead had given Miller two tickets to Chocolat! and a box of chocolates. The Raspberry Truffle from Island Candy Company was his favorite, Miller said.

The money raised by the event will be split among Lewiston Middle School teams to fund field trips, end-of-school activities and buses for trips. Organizers say planning for the second annual Chocolat! are already under way.

And the winners of the chocolate competition were:

Candy is Dandy Award (People’s Choice)
1st Place —The Bread Shack: Croissants
2nd Place — Island Candy Company: Raspberry chocolates
3rd Place — Ella’s Candy: Chocolate covered cherries

Chocoholic’s Dream
1st Place — The Bread Shack: Croissants
2nd Place — Bates College Dining Facility: Cookies
3rd Place — Maine Mountain Confections: Almond Butter Crunch

Decadent Display
1st Place — Russell Park Living Center
2nd Place — Island Candy Company
3rd Place — Bates College

Tips

• Melinda Richter of Island Candy Company says using candy molds will save your hands from fatigue.

• The secret to great-tasting chocolate baked goods, says Bates College baker Heather Keach, is to NOT overcook them; chocolate is very temperamental.

• Likewise, Brittany Marland, a former student of The Green Ladle’s adult-education 15-week culinary course and dessert chef for Bocce’s Grill in Lewiston, says the amount of heat used is critical to the success of chocolate desserts and treats. “When you’re making ganache, or any chocolate, it’s all about temperature.”

Chocolate croissants with white chocolate filling were made by The Bread Shack of Auburn for the Lewiston Middle School fundraiser, “Chocolat!”

Ella Magee of Ella’s Candy in Lewiston made milk chocolate covered cherries for the Lewiston Middle School fundraiser, “Chocolat!” Magee also made cherries covered with dark chocolate.

Hunter Marshall, 11, of Turner, passes out raspberry truffles, candy orange pecans with dark chocolate and English toffee during the Lewiston Middle School fundraiser, “Chocolat!” Marshall was helping family friend Melinda Richter, owner of the Island Candy Co. on Orrs Island.

Next week

 What a confluence of events! The Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and the Year of the Tiger (not that Tiger) are all ushered in next Sunday, Feb. 14. To honor our addiction for Chinese food, we’re off to Wei-Li Restaurant in Auburn (not Mississippi) for insights on how they do it so well, and how you can too at home. Wokin’ the wok.

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