Last week the smell of dark chocolate permeated the offices as we were making chocolate sauce to fill a large international order. The aroma of chocolate is sublime, but after smelling warm, melted chocolate for a couple of days, I desperately wanted to eat chocolate cake. I had the image of a soft, fluffy, chocolate cake oozing with decadent icing in my mind. I started hunting through the recipe books looking for chocolate cake (with chocolate icing) and unfortunately, I could not find a basic chocolate cake that looked interesting. Some were too bland, others used mediocre ingredients and others yet had unappetizing icing. Then finally, I found a recipe book from Grand Central Bakery, a popular Seattle bakery. I looked at the picture and decided that was my cake. I went through the process of getting the ingredients ready…. I took out the double boiler, melted the chocolate, sifted the flour and cocoa, creamed the butter and sugar. I put it in the oven and waited impatiently for it to bake. Once I took it out, I started on the ganache. I drizzled the ganache over the top of the cake, waited the 20 minutes for it to set and then cut myself a large slice. The cake melted in my mouth and my craving was satiated.
One of the reasons I found the recipe interesting was the comment by the author that she is usually not picky about high quality chocolate but that this recipe deserved the best chocolate you could get. I believe that every recipe deserves the best ingredients. If you put the very best into everything you make, then you are always making the very best. We apply that principal every day, to all our products.