We've been chocolate blackout cake obsessed since the first time we made it. The cake and pudding are fantastic on their own, but combine the two and you have the best chocolate cake ever!

The last few times we've made this dessert we skipped the icing because it's very temperamental. Instead, we doubled the pudding and used all four layers of cake. Who's not going to like twice as much homemade chocolate pudding?

To prove how good this cake is, all you need to do is take a look at the last picture in the slideshow. That's our friend, Jane, having a piece while in early labor. I'm not kidding! We planned on cooking for Jane and Mark back in September. But, she started having contractions early in the morning so we figured dinner was off. Hungry Bear and I decided to make dinner anyway since we had already gone shopping.

Then, Jane called in the evening telling us that she was coming over for cake. We thought she was just joking, but Jane and Mark soon showed up at our door (the hospital is only a few blocks away). I told her she was welcome to have some dessert, but if her water broke she had to clean it up.

Luckily for us, there were no accidents. Jane enjoyed her cake while Mark was timing her contractions. It was one of the more entertaining Sunday nite dinners we've had in awhile. We sent Jane and Mark to the hospital with a good portion of the cake and Jane delivered a healthy baby boy, Dylan. When we visited Jane and the baby in hospital, she also declared it the best chocolate cake she's ever had!

P.S. We promise a savory dish in our next post. And I also promise to deliver it in less than a week.

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First off, sorry for the lack of posts, but foodgawker has been "eating" up all of our time. We hope to get back on a more frequent schedule soon. Second, we had our one year blogiversary at the beginning of the month, but sadly we didn't get chance to post about it. Hungry Bear did make this incredible chocolate blackout cake to celebrate the milestone.

She used a blackout cake recipe from Sweet Stuff: Karen Barker's American Desserts, but substituted bittersweet Valrhona chocolate for the semisweet. The cake is absolutely delicious, but it's time consuming to make because of the many steps... coffee brewing, pudding creating, cake baking, cookie crumbling and icing making. We loved the pudding and the cake part. There was an extra layer of unused cake and it was fantastic by itself.

The icing tasted good, but we didn't like the hardened texture and it was difficult to work with. If we had to make it again, we would use Gale Gand's fudgy chocolate frosting instead. Or we would skip the icing, double the pudding quantity, use all four cake layers and top it with pudding.

Still, it was one of the best chocolate cakes we've made and definitely worth the effort!

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I usually don't get too personal in my posts and just stick to the basics (good food, good photos, good recipe). For the most part, I don't think you are interested in what Hungry Bear and I do outside of our adventures in the kitchen. But, I'm making an exception with this post to fully explain why we made these decadent cocoa brownies.

I've mentioned our NYC friends, Jeff and Aimee, in the past. They organized our first cupcake tasting tour. I met Jeff in 1990 when I was a sophomore at Penn State. Despite getting off on the wrong foot (Jeff initially disliked me, imagine that?), we become very close and eventually lived together for a year and half.

I remember whipping up homemade hashbrowns with Jeff at 2:00 AM, when normal college kids would go get pizza. I was there when Jeff and Aimee started dating. They had to keep it a secret initially and it was funny how they snuck in kisses when no one else was looking. I was honored to be in their wedding party six years later. Now, they have a beautiful baby girl, Ava.

We only see each other once a year, twice if we're lucky. But, I have great memories of their visits to San Francisco and my visits to NYC, especially the meals. We've spent time on vacation together in France, Italy and Canada. Despite not living in the same city in over 15 years, we've remained extremely tight and they are still my closest friends.

Last week, Jeff and Aimee received a double dose of bad news. I was stunned and saddened. I've spent a lot of time talking on the phone with them trying to comfort them. I wish I lived in NYC because I feel so useless in San Francisco. Besides being there 24/7 whenever they needed to chat, the only other thing I could do was to make some comforting food for them.

Cookies and brownies are probably the easiest things to ship cross country. So, we planned on making cream cheese brownies. One of the first things I ever baked was cream cheese chocolate cupcakes that I made for Aimee. I actually had to make two batches of the cupcakes, because my dog, a little cock-a-poo named Champagne, ate the first batch. Never let cupcakes cool on top of a coffee table when a hungry dog is prowling!

We planned on using Alice Medrich's classic chocolate brownie recipe, modifying it slightly and adding a cream cheese filling. Then we realized that shipping cream cheese baked goods at room temperature was probably not a good idea. Instead, we settled on making Medrich's best cocoa brownies.

We used Valrhona cocoa powder and the brownies turned out great. They weren't too sweet and they had a deep, bittersweet chocolate flavor. Our only issue was the brownies were on the thin side. We would have doubled the recipe had we known. Are they the best cocoa brownies as the name suggests? Well, they're pretty damn close, but we prefer the taste and texture of the chocolate bouchons a little more.

Anyway... Jeff, Aimee and Ava, when you receive the package, besides the original item I was sending, you'll find a little tin of brownies. I hope they are still good and fresh. And I hope you can find a little comfort in them. I love you guys!

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The first time I was offered a tofu chocolate chip cookie, I made a funny face, probably the same look that some of you are giving me right now. With a little hesitation, I took a bite and much to my surprise, the tofu cookie was really good. Ever since then, I've always looked forward to eating the cookies made by our friend, Jeanne. In fact, I like them so much, I've made football game bets with Jeanne, pitting her tofu cookies against my chewy chocolate chunk cookies.

The recipe was created by Jeanne's friend, a certified nutritionist, who wanted to make a healthy alternative to traditional chocolate chip cookies. Butter is not used in the recipe and is replaced with peanut butter and cream cheese. In addition to the soy protein from the tofu, the cookies are made with high-protein egg whites and the aforementioned peanut butter. Lower glycemic index (GI) oat flour is used instead of all-purpose flour. The oat flour is also higher in protein and is gluten-free.

We made the tofu cookies for the first time last week and used white whole wheat flour instead of oat flour, which we couldn't find at the local supermarkets. We thought about using all-purpose flour, but decided to stay true to the healthy intent of the recipe and went with the whole wheat. The tofu cookies were good with predominant flavors from the whole wheat, peanut butter and Valrhona 61% chocolate chunks. I don't think anyone would be able to tell that the cookies contained tofu.

There are definite differences between the oat and wheat flour cookies. I prefer the taste of the oat flour cookies, but I like the texture and crumb of the whole wheat cookies. Since oat flour doesn't contain gluten, it doesn't rise and the cookies are a little more dense. The next time we make the cookies, I'm going to try a 50/50 mix of oat and whole wheat flour.

After eating the tofu cookies for the last few days, Hungry Bear and I decided that the cookies would be a great energy bar alternative. They are relatively low in sugar, a good source of low GI carbs and contain a decent amount of protein. And since they are homemade, you know exactly what's in them and they contain no preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, palm kernel oil or other questionable ingredients. On a long bike ride, I would definitely prefer eating a chocolate tofu cookie over a Cliff bar or Powerbar.

Don't hold me to these exact numbers, but I calculated the nutritional value of the tofu cookies compared to some of my favorite chocolate energy bars and regular chocolate chip cookies. The serving size of the Cliff energy bars are 68 grams, the Balance bar is 50 grams, and the chocolate chip cookie is 55 grams. For comparison sake, I used 68 grams, about 1.5 cookies, as the serving size for the tofu cookies.

Tofu Cookie and Energy Bar Nutritional Comparison

The tofu cookies have less protein than the protein powder/isolate stuffed energy bars, but they also have less calories for a 68 gram serving size, which means you can eat more cookies!

I don't think tofu chocolate chip cookies will ever replace my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but they are a good healthier alternative. Compared to processed energy bars, the tofu cookies are superior in taste and natural nutrition. The next time you are on a long bike ride or need a post workout boost of energy, grab a few homemade tofu chocolate chip cookies instead of that processed bar.

Updated February 27, 2008: I added the nutritional breakdown for my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe to the chart.

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On a cold day, nothing beats a warm chocolate pudding cake for dessert. This is our "go to" dessert during snowboarding trips. It's easy to make and doesn't require a mixer, which may not be available in a rental house kitchen. After a long, chilly day outside, this old-fashioned dessert really hits the spot!

I saw this recipe on a Martha Stewart show many, many moons ago. Please don't ask me why I was watching it. I'm not a fan of Martha, and I never intentionally watch her show, but the pudding cake caught my eye while channel surfing. Well, anyone can get my attention if these words are spoken... warm, chocolate, pudding, cake.

The recipe used to be on her website, but I can't find it now. Fortunately, I copied it to take along on our boarding trips. We modified the original recipe by reducing the amount of brown sugar in the batter and adding 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chunks.

The chocolate pudding cake is spectacular. It's a cross between a spongy cake and a gooey pudding with a crispy, chewy top layer. This simple dessert has a rich, intense chocolate flavor, especially if the bite has a melted chocolate chunk in it. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, and you'll be in heaven!

All of the SNDsters wish you a...  Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Belated Hanukkah or Happy Festivus for the rest of us!

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What do you get when you win a bet against a Hoosier fan? The answer is chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies, if you make the bet with Hungry Bear. My Penn State buddy, Jeff, made a bet with her on the Penn State vs. Indiana football game last month. Since Jeff lives in New York City, they agreed to wager on homemade cookies, which are easily shippable. Despite a valiant effort by the Hoosiers, the Nittany Lions narrowly came out on top and Hungry Bear was relegated to baking cookies! One batch for Jeff and another batch for us to enjoy.

We don't have a tried and true oatmeal cookie recipe, so Hungry Bear used a recipe from The New Best Recipe cookbook, which has our favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe. She followed the recipe with one minor change for the first batch. Instead of using semisweet chips, she used Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate chunks for a more rustic look and a richer chocolate taste. The second batch contained half bittersweet chunks and half butter toffee chunks from chopped Hershey's SKOR candy bars.

Both batches of cookies turned out great and had a super nice texture — crispy around the edge, but still soft and chewy in the middle. I have never had oatmeal cookies made with Scharffen Berger chocolate. I loved the fruity, bittersweet chocolate with the oatmeal. The toffee and chocolate batch was equally as good and had an extra gooeyness from the toffee. I preferred the regular chocolate oatmeal cookies, while Hungry Bear liked the chocolate toffee ones more.

The only issue with the cookies was the oatmeal. Hungry Bear used old-fashioned Quaker Oats. The next time we make these cookies, we want to try a higher quality, steel-cut oatmeal and possibly add more of it. The cookies were delicious tasting as is, but we'd like a more prominent oatmeal texture.

Packaging

What's the best way to pack and ship cookies? After a little research, Hungry Bear discovered the best method is to Saran wrap the cookies, back to back in pairs and then place them in a tin. We didn't have a cookie tin; instead Hungry Bear used the round Quaker Oats container and a large plastic yogurt container to store the cookies. On Monday, these containers were carefully packed in a box and shipped to NYC via DHL 2-day service.

Sadly, the package didn't arrive on Wednesday and these pictures are the closest Jeff will get to the cookies right now. Either DHL or the shipping store screwed up and sent the package via ground service, which will take five business days. Hungry Bear is quite upset, as she put a lot of love and effort into baking the cookies. She's afraid the cookies will be stale when they finally arrive in NYC. I think they still will taste good.

The moral of the story is don't ship your cookies using DHL and more importantly, don't bet against a Penn State fan without taking the points! WE ARE...

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On our last visit to the Scharffen Berger factory, we picked up a cookbook by the founders of Scharffen Berger, The Essence of Chocolate - Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate. The recipes in the book are arranged by chocolate intensity and are contributed by the founders and chefs including Michael Chiarello, Elizabeth Falkner, Thomas Keller and Jacques Pepin.

In addition to sweet and savory recipes, there's also a brief history of Scharffen Berger and the chocolate making process. A few recipes that immediately caught my eye were chocolate pudding cakes, chocolate chocolate cupcakes, cakey brownies, chocolate chunk cheesecake and chili-marinated flank steak (with cocoa powder).

The first dessert I made from the cookbook was baked hot chocolate contributed by Heidi Friedlander, which she developed for Moxie, a popular Cleveland restaurant. I chose this recipe because it was simple to make with only four ingredients and the description in the book made me crave it.

"Baked hot chocolate is almost like having three desserts in one -- the top layer has just a hint of crispness, the center has the texture of warm chocolate pudding, and the bottom layer is just a shade thicker than the thickest hot chocolate you can imagine."

If this description doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will. My attempt at baked hot chocolate was delicious! I only achieved two distinct layers, the crispy top and the warm chocolate pudding. I believe the missing bottom layer of thick hot chocolate was due to my 6-ounce ramekins, which is smaller than the 8-ounce ramekins used in the recipe.

I also modified the recipe by substituting 72% bittersweet chocolate for semisweet, because I believe the darker the chocolate, the better. And I skipped the double broiler method and melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave, which is faster and easier. Despite only achieving two layers of chocolate goodness on my first attempt, the baked hot chocolate was very rich and a dark chocolate lover's delight!

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