update on that dessert!

Well, the dessert didn't merit the awesome name Fallen Ladies, but it WAS met with unanimous approval.

I'd intended to have individual fallen chocolate cakes, but then I realized those can't really sit around for 24 hours, and there was too much going on for me to leave work early to whip them up within a few hours of their intended consumption. SO, I changed my plan and instead found a recipe for flourless chocolate cake. But I still wanted individual serving sizes, so I fudged it and baked 12 ramekins of cakes instead of one big one. They came out okay, maybe a tiny bit more dry than I'd have liked, but I think that's partly the nature of that type of cake.

Then there was the spice-infused chocolate sauce. After reading a number of recipes, I decided to use David Lebovitz's recipe, which was a good call. My pastry chef consultant told me to heat the water with some spices in it: I doubled the recipe, so put in a whole cinnamon stick, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, and half a dried ancho chili (after I failed to find a dried chipotle pepper).

After a few minutes of steeping, I strained the water (I ran it through a coffee filter balanced precariously in a sieve, over a bowl). I made sure I had the proper volume of water, and continued with David's recipe.

It came out okay, but the heat was SUPER subtle. I really wanted it to be more smoky and warm, so that was kind of disappointing. I suppose I'll keep my eye out for dried chipotles (which are just smoked then dried jalapenos, and may not exist, even!), but I could also try using chipotle powder, I suppose.

So, we'll see. There was room for improvement, but it went over FAR better than I feared. And I have a jar of it left in my fridge!