We can't ever have too many chocolate recipes, can we? Since the quality of chocolate available in the supermarket has dramatically improved over the past twenty years or so, it's great to have a few more cookbooks that focus on using the most widely available products including chocolate bars, cocoa powder and chocolate chips. Here are three recent titles.

First up is a book that falls into the "I can't believe I didn't think of that!" category. The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook. Veteran baking expert and pastry chef Elinor Klivans who has written books on cupcakes, cookies and cakes has created a book devoted to chocolate chips and surprisingly there are only 6 cookie recipes in it. The book contains 45 recipes and is divided into chapters starting with Chocolate Chip Cookies and Candies, Chocolate Chip Brownies, Bars, Muffins and a Tea Loaf, Chocolate Chip Pies, tarts and Puddings, Chocolate Chip Cakes without Frosting, Chocolate Chip Cakes with Frosting and/or Filling and finally Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Desserts. There are recommendations for brands of chocolate chips to use, and happily most of the recipes come together very quickly.

One of Klivan's top picks for chocolate chips is Ghirardelli, especially in the bittersweet category. Ghirardelli has their own cookbook, The Ghirardelli Chocolate Book. A hardback book, it has 16 recipes for cookies, though not all of them are chocolate chip cookies. The book contains 80 recipes in all. The chapters are fairly similar to the chapters in the chocolate chip book, but also include Chocolate Breads and Breakfast and Anything-but-Boring Chocolate Drinks. Despite the ice cream parlor at Ghirardelli Square, there are only two ice cream desserts. The book has many classics like chocolate souffles, flourless chocolate torte, and chocolate fudge sauce plus some new ideas such as butter breakfast scones with chocolate chunks and chocolate dipped lemon cookies.

The slimmest volume of the three books is Viva Chocolate! but it is the most diverse and includes 50 savory as well as sweet recipes. Smokin' Hot Chili and Turkey Mole both caught my eye as did a recipe for champurrado, a Mexican chocolate drink with masa I've been wanting to try for ages. During citrus season, the Chocolate Tangerine Pound Cake with or without the Tangerine Whipped Cream is a great pick as well.

While each of these books are smaller format "gift" types, they are also solid choices for the chocoholic looking for easy recipes to whip up at home.

Double Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti

Makes 48 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa
4 ounces Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate baking bar, finely chopped
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, ground chocolate and semisweet chocolate.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla, and stir until well-blended. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until a dough forms (it should adhere to the beaters), 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in the nuts.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. On the prepared cookie sheets, using lightly floured hands, shape each portion into 1 1/4-inch-by-10-inch logs. Place the logs at least 4 inches apart.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the logs are firm to the touch. Let cool on the cookie sheets for 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Transfer 1 log to a cutting board and with a serrated knife, cut into twelve 1-inch-wide cookies. Repeat with the remaining 3 logs. Remove 1 oven rack and place the 48 cookies directly on it. Return the rack to the uppermost position in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until crisp. To test for doneness, remove one cookie, let it cool, then check for crispness.

Transfer the cookies from the oven rack to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. Store at room temperature in a tightly covered container.

Reprinted with permission from The Ghirardelli Chocolate Cookbook Copyright © 2007 by the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company published in 2007 by Ten Speed Press.

I love Valentine’s Day. In addition to it being the day my normally unsentimental husband proposed to me, I see Valentine’s Day as a “free” day for eating chocolate. From morning to late in the evening, all chocolate is fair game.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, I thought it would be fun to make three different kinds of chocolate fondue. Although I’ve trained my kids to love semi-sweet chocolate, we plan on eating the fondue after dinner tonight, which is about an hour and a half before bedtime for my kids. I’m concerned the semi-sweet chocolate will have enough caffeine to wire them just enough to keep them up, so am opting to make a nice white chocolate fondue as well as a creamy milk chocolate one. I also think it will be delicious to have a varied palette of chocolate to choose from.

I must admit that until yesterday, I had never made chocolate fondue. After making a batch last night, however, I am a convert. In addition to it being a remarkably luscious dessert, it is also probably easier than almost any other dessert I’ve ever made.

Before I get into how to make the actual fondue, however, we need to talk about chocolate. When I decided to make fondue, I had a lot of questions. What sort of chocolate should I choose? How much should I use? Should I make it with heavy whipping cream or sweetened and condensed milk? The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to buy the chocolate at Bittersweet, the lovely little chocolate café in the Rockridge district of Oakland, not far from my house. So, with a list of questions in tow, I headed over to Bittersweet.

Bittersweet is a fantastic little café and chocolate shop. In addition to carrying a wide array of fair trade chocolates, they also have a bar where you can order a variety of chocolate drinks: from a classic creamy cocoa or a hot and spicy chocolate, to a white chocolate drink infused with cardamom and spices (which I had and loved).

Becky Vandragt was nice enough to show me around. She listened to my chocolate needs (making fondue for adults and kids) and helped me pick out the best chocolates for my requirements. She started by showing me the white chocolates, of which there were only two. She thought the El Rey Icoa from Venezuela was the best choice. It turns out that most chocolatiers deodorize their cocoa butter so they can sell it to other manufacturers (who make things like lip balm and lotion). The deodorizing process takes out all of those wonderful and natural cocoa smells. El Rey, however, doesn’t sell their cocoa butter. They use it all in-house. This means that their white chocolate retains the natural perfume of the cocoa beans, which gives the white chocolate a more nuanced flavor.

Becky then showed me the milk chocolates. She felt that the E. Guittard and the Michel Cluizel Mangaro Lait were both great choices. I ended up buying the Michel Cluizel simply because it came in a 7 oz. package, while the E. Guittard was 3 oz. package. We then moved over to the other end of the wall of chocolate to find a nice semi-sweet. I told Becky that I planned on flavoring this one fondue with either amaretto or Grand Marnier. I was surprised when she said that I should figure out which one I wanted to use before I settled on a chocolate. I didn’t think it would matter much, but Becky explained that many chocolates have undercurrents of citrus or vanilla and that I should take that into consideration when buying my chocolate. I settled on using Grand Marnier. She then chose a Grenada Organic Dark Chocolate 71%.

After settling on my chocolates, Marienne Warehine, the store manager, gave me a quick rundown on how to make fondue. She felt that heavy cream was the best liquid, as sweetened and condensed milk could make the fondue too sweet and could detract from the complexity of the chocolate. She also felt that you should use a one-to-one ratio when using dark or milk chocolate, but that you should use a two-to-one ratio when using white chocolate. According to Marienne, white chocolate needs more cream to become smooth. Her other bit of very helpful advice was to add any liqueur (to white, milk, or dark chocolate) after everything has melted and fused together because adding it too soon could make the chocolate seize up. I wasn’t quite sure what seized chocolate would look or taste like, but it seemed like something I should definitely avoid.

Last night, I put some of this great advice to the test and made the semi-sweet fondue. We didn’t have any sterno gel for our fondue pot, so I ended up putting the fondue in a glass bowl set in another glass bowl that contained warm water. The fondue stayed silky for about 10 minutes and adhered nicely to the fruit and pound cake I had made earlier that day. I used a one-to-one ratio of heavy cream and the Grenada Organic Dark Chocolate. I then added the Grand Marnier.

White we were admiring how nicely the chocolate tasted with fruit and pound cake, I noted that this was really one of the easiest desserts I had ever made. It literally took me less than five minutes to throw everything together, which included cutting up the bananas and peeling the tangerines. I can’t wait to do it all again tonight.

Recipe for Semi-Sweet Chocolate Fondue with Grand Marnier

Ingredients
7 ounces heavy whipping cream
7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 teaspoons Grand Marnier or other liqueur

Preparation
1. Chop chocolate into small pieces.
2. Heat whipping cream on medium heat until it starts to simmer.
3. Turn off heat and add chocolate.
4. Stir until chocolate is melted.
5. Add to fondue pot or heated bowl and stir in liqueur.
6. Serve with slices of fruit, pound cake, angel food cake, or macaroons.

Note from 2/15/2008 -- I made some white chocolate fondue last night, using a 2-to-1 cream-to-chocolate ratio. The result was a bit drippy and runny. Next time I will use a one-to-one ration (as I did with the semi-sweet and milk chocolate fondues) and then add more heated cream by the teaspoon as necessary to create the right consistency.

In case you missed it, last week I shared some general musings on the first annual San Francisco WhiskyFest hosted by Malt Advocate. And as you can see from my first post, we tried quite a few whiskies.

Throughout the evening, there were numerous seminars offered to attendees, beyond the tastings on the main floor--from discussions on bourbon to the art of Japanese distilling. So, in the middle of drinking all that whisky (remember, these are very small tastes, and I generally only took a sip or two), we ventured upstairs to attend probably the most popular seminar of the evening, the Chocolate and Whisky Tasting. Fortunately, we snagged two seats before they started turning people away.

Laid out in front of us, on long rows of tables, were 5 glasses of whisky and 4 pieces of Scharffen Berger chocolate. After a rather tedious and far too detailed history of how chocolate is made (word of advice: know your audience) by the Scharffen Berger representative (not John Scharffenberger who was listed to appear) and a rousing, get-up-and-dance show put on by the highly entertaining whisky ambassador to The Dalmore and Laphroaig, we were finally able to get down and do some tasting.

First things first, we were introduced to each whisky and each paired piece of chocolate, and then asked to take a bite of the chocolate, and with it still in our mouths, to take a sip of whisky. Um. Yes. Mmmmmmm. Heaven.

Here's what we tasted, along with some tasting notes:

1) The Dalmore Cigar Malt + 82% extra dark chocolate
This whisky from The Dalmore distillery, located in the northern highlands of Scotland, is aged in sherry casks, and pairs beautifully with the darkest of Scharffen Berger's chocolate offerings. The chocolate was earthy, peppery, and fruity with hints of cherry.

2) The Dalmore 12 year + 70% bittersweet chocolate
This Dalmore whisky was aged in bourbon casks and was rich with vanilla and caramel, which paired nicely with the ripe fruity flavors in the bittersweet chocolate.

3) Laphroaig Quarter Cask + 62% semisweet chocolate
This whisky, from the Laphroaig distillery located on the island of Islay off the southwest coast of Scotland, is knows for it's bold peaty flavors. The quarter cask whisky is interesting because it is aged in bourbon casks, then finished in smaller quarter-sized casks, which gives it deeply woody flavors. The soft, citrusy notes in the chocolate were complemented by the tropical flavors in the whisky.

4) Laphroaig 10 year + 41% extra rich milk chocolate
This pairing came as a big surprise. We would never have thought to pair such a big, peaty whisky with a milk chocolate, but it works. The caramel flavors and smoothness of the chocolate balanced perfectly with the sweet smoke of the whisky.

5) Laphroaig 30 year + Cacao Antilles chocolate
This was the fifth glass of whisky on the table and was unaccompanied by a piece of chocolate. The chocolate was actually passed around the room so that participants could snap off a piece. This was the big special extra taste of the night, a 30-year-old Laphroaig which is supposedly only available here in the US, and has a very limited stock. Meaning it's pricey. It was paired with one of Scharffen Berger's new limited series chocolates, a 75% bittersweet chocolate using cacao from the Antilles region. The sweet, dry whisky, aged in sherry casks, was an excellent complement to the rich bitter chocolate.

All in all, even in my whisky haze, I learned quite a bit about whisky and it's love affair with chocolate. I hope next year they offer this again, and perhaps have a few sessions so everyone can enjoy it.

One more note...WhiskyFest is coming back to San Francisco next year and they've already announced the date: October 10, 2008. Lucky me, it's the night before my birthday. I guess I know what I'm getting for my birthday next year. About 50 sips of whisky. A word of advice though, buy tickets early because they did sell out this year.

Happy November! Happy cool weather, foggy evenings, cozy couch lounging, flannel sheets, soft scarves, cashmere sweaters, one pot meals, soup and stock simmering in the kitchen, and hot cocoa for breakfast.

People often ask me what the difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate is. I like to think the answer is something akin to the difference between Soul Food and Southern Cookery/ Cuisine. Both are from the American South, but Soul Food is a little more specific.

Hot cocoa and hot chocolate are basically the same animal, but hot chocolate is a mink and the former is more like a very soft cat. Hot chocolate is made with bar chocolate and hot cocoa, with, yes obvious - cocoa. Both can be made with milk, cream or a mixture of both.

Depending on your age, and the particular geography you were standing in when you had your first sip of hot cocoa, means the cocoa your body registered as the correct hot cocoa taste will differ from someone else of another age and of another place.

For the sake of this discussion we will say there are two kinds of cocoa. Natural and European or Dutch Process. Natural cocoa is light in color and DP is dark. For baking, knowing the difference is of utmost importance. But in the case of a drinkable, it more has to do with your taste memory and preference. If you were me, or from New York City, you might have had your hot cocoa epiphany at the now, sadly, closed Rumplemeyer's. Hot cocoa at this venerable restaurant was served in silver teapots. It was rich and aromatic and very hot. You sat in plush pink banquets surrounded by other reverent small people and their adult companions. It was benchmark hot cocoa. I have a feeling it was made with natural cocoa because when I make hot cocoa now it is the cocoa I have the strongest emotional memory reaction to.

Hot chocolate is a rich enterprise. Although you can use milk, bitter/semi-sweet chocolate begs {heavy} cream, and then what you have on your hand is the opinionated view of your expensive chocolate versus how you're going to explain to anyone else why it's ok to drink ganache. We're talking seriously supple, silky and smooth, but at the cost of your arteries, and for me I would rather slather a wide mug of hot cocoa with whipped cream to amend the whole milk.

The most famous hot chocolate of my generation is created by the slightly wicked, darkly humoured Maury Rubin, pastry chef/ baker/ owner of City Bakery in NYC and Los Angeles. He is smart enough to serve it in a thimble-sized portion for reasonable, informed persons, and has a larger portion for those unawares of what lies within. Not only are there no words to describe what Maury's hot chocolate is like, even if I had any, they would disappear under the weight of this brutally rich concoction. Yes, I like it, but I have been known to share the shot size with more than one other person. No joke, yo.

I have a few tricks should you like to take hot cocoa on as a end of year meal amending or replacing project. Years of making beverages, ice cream, cakes, frostings, ganache, truffles and more with cocoa and chocolate have given me insight to a number of cocoa and chocolate personality quirks.

Chocolate and cocoa have little to no flavor when they are cold or frozen. Cocoa's chocolatey-ness can only be achieved if added to warm or hot liquid. If cocoa is added to cold or cool liquid and then heated up, the cocoa will float to the bottom of the pot and burn on the bottom. This scorching will destroy the flavor of the dairy.

Every cocoa is not only different in terms of its manufacturing process, but not one of them is ground to the same particle size. You may think you don't care about such minute details, but 4 teaspoons of one cocoa is not 4 teaspoons of another. If you are making a large batch of hot cocoa, as I have begun to at work in preparation of all the ice skaters in Justin Herman Plaza, measure cocoa by weight. If you have a scale that can be adjusted to grams, do so. Good quality cocoa is strong and a smidge goes a long way.

If you are making hot chocolate, it is best to chop chocolate fine and place in a large, wide mouthed bowl. Heat cream/milk until just boiling and pour over chocolate. Let sit a few minutes and then whisk in tight concentric circles, from the interior, out. Although you can make hot chocolate with milk, you will find that cream or half & half will emulsify with the solid chocolate better. It's never a good idea to cook chocolate right in a saucepan because it burns so easily, but if you want to heat up your mixture again or more, place bowl over a pot of boiling water and whisk until desired consistency. Or a microwave can be you fast friend.

I'm one of those odd ducks who likes a big mug of hot cocoa to be unsweetened or barely sweet. But if you like yours a little sweeter try using brown or raw sugar. The caramel-ly flavor of these sugars backs up the chocolate taste nicely. And lastly, a tiny pinch of kosher salt is a nice finesse.

Because hot cocoa and hot chocolate are made up of just two or three ingredients, making sure your dairy is the best quality is a good idea. Ultra-pasteurized milk and cream can sometimes have stabilizers that read on the tongue as bitter and can interfere with your hot cocoa purr.

This is how I make hot cocoa:
I pour about 2 cups of whole milk into a non-reactive saucepan, sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar in, and then turn flame to low or medium. When milk is hot to the touch I sprinkle in cocoa one teaspoon at a time, whisking constantly, until it tastes right. I continue to whisk for about 5 minutes, but I try not to let it boil.

I don't know about you, but I'm glad it's cold again. I love summer, but as an East Coaster originally, I like autumn to give way to winter, without a 90-degree October in between. Because without a bunch of cold and dreary months I would have a hard time explaining away my hot cocoa for breakfast, lunch and dinner habit.

Last week Tutti Foodie, Scharffen Berger, and Marcia Gagliardi of Tablehopper joined forces and unveiled The Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest with a number of events at local restaurants featuring pastry chefs and chocolate. On Monday August 13 I went to Campton Place to see what Boris Portnoy {pastry chef of Campton Place, the restaurant) might make and talk about. An innovative and forward thinking chef, Boris's desserts guarantee a challenge to the palate as well as mind.

Much to my delight there was more in store than the same old chocolate thang I, and other pastry chefs, often find ourselves at. The afternoon at Campton Place was spent in a small private room on the second floor with some of California's most dynamic food writers, bloggers, bakers and movers and shakers in the local chocolate scene.

Before we set about eating the arranged chocolate on our plates, John Scharffenberger gave a short but thorough history of cacao and chocolate. If you work for a school, or just love chocolate, give this semi-retired chocolate maker a call! His talk was engaging, funny, compassionate and delicious in every sense of the word. While leading us through the earth's best rain forests for cacao growing, harvesting and fermenting, he directed us to eat the disparate chocolate shapes on our plates, in the order his lesson informed.

Much to the surprise of many of our virgin mouths, we tasted a number of chocolate examples which were not chocolate in the truest sense of the word. We learned that when tasting chocolate in its pure form, tongues met with acidity and tannins most commonly found in wine and bitter edges associated with dark-roasted coffees.

After eating 8-9 versions of cacao and chocolate we listened to Boris talk excitedly about his love for cacao nibs; their texture, flavor and versatility tantalized his sweet imagination. And discovering how to make his own chocolate in a food processor appeared to have changed his life! Yes, he encouraged, go and try this at home. After a short demonstration he motioned with a regal flourish, and quiet waiters appeared with a three component cacao nib-themed plated dessert.

You'd think after three hours of smelling, tasting, eating, talking, inquiring, and listening to chocolate I would have left the hotel without a desire to ponder the chocolate contest... But the truth is that my friend and I discussed what we would do if we could enter the contest. {I cannot, but he can.}

I thought I would share a bit of our conversation. Think of these word formations the way you would poetry, a game, an interpretive dance or maybe like you were sitting near us on BART, overhearing our chocolate-meal fueled crazytalk.

Theme: Bacon & Chocolate

Render bacon fat brunoise or dice, caramelize crispy pork fat cubes and make chocolate with this in food processor with cacao nibs.
Pork cracklins (like the snack food found at gas stations) enrobed in bittersweet chocolate.
Bacon lardons half dipped in chocolate.
Fatback chocolate with quince paste.
Pork belly & rosemary infused chocolate pot de creme, quince paste (?) & sea salt garnish.

Don't worry, these ideas won't end up on a dessert of mine.....

The Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest website. "You. Dark Chocolate. And A Special Ingredient."

The Rules are simple: pair a list of innovative/ aromatic spices and flavors with any of Scharffen Berger's exquisite dark chocolates. The prizes include both money and fame. If you don't want the Bacon & Chocolate dessert to win, enter soon.

And, as Jen Maiser said aptly, "What could be better than the opportunity to create an interesting recipe using chocolate?"

Related Links:
The Art of Tasting Chocolate
Jalapeno Girl
Ladle and Whisk

What could be better than the opportunity to create an interesting recipe using chocolate? TuttiFoodie has teamed up with Scharffen Berger to host an exciting recipe contest that will take place this fall.

THE GIST. Contestants create a recipe combining Scharffen Berger chocolate (cacao content 62% and above) and at least one "adventure ingredient," which can be chosen from a list of 20 ingredients including amchur powder (powder made from raw green mangoes), green tea, mastiha, quince, star anise, and wasabi. The recipe can be savory or sweet, and can be an appetizer, entree, dessert, or beverage.

THE PRIZES. The grand prize winner receives $5000 and will have their recipe featured at Scharffen Berger's Cafe Cacao for a month in 2008. Other prizes include cold hard cash, publicity for your recipe, and cookbooks.

MORE INFO. For more information, check out The Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest site.

When I arrived at the San Francisco Chocolate Salon, I made a beeline for the Poco Dolce booth. Besides being madly in love with their salt-sprinkled burnt caramel and chocolate tiles, I wanted to say hi to chocolatier Kathy Wiley and her peeps since I'd recently written them up in Edible San Francisco. As I nibbled on a small bite of the aforementioned heaven, I decided to hit Kathy up for a recommendation on where to head next, since being caught in a large crowd that is slowly shuffling from side to side is my idea of hell. I wanted to get in, get the goods, and get out.

"Try the blue cheese truffles. They're in the back corner," she replied. My friend wrinkled her nose but I was off like a shot. (Or, given the thick swarms of humanity clustered around us, like a hippopotamus through mud. But a very fast and hungry hippopotamus on the scent of an unusual treat.) It wasn't that I thought the combination sounded good; the truth is, it sounded sort of horrible. But it also sounded interesting, and besides, if Kathy liked it, how bad could it be?

When I arrived at the Lillie Belle Farms stand it took me a minute for my eyes to focus amidst all the pretty truffles. But the second I spotted the shimmering silver-blue packaging, I knew I'd found what I was looking for. I quickly popped a sample in my mouth, half expecting to spit it out a moment later. Instead, my entire body began to slowly quiver, overcome with a taste that was positively angelic and a feeling that was stronger than happiness and more powerful than simple satisfaction.

This was an absolutely perfect chocolate.

The San Francisco Chocolate Salon agreed, and awarded it best new product at the show. The truffle is made by a small artisan chocolatier by the name of Jeff Shepherd, who is also the farmer/proprietor of Lillie Belle, an organic berry farm in southern Oregon. He got his start making truffles in the kitchen at home and selling them at the farmers' market. Today it's a full-time operation.

The Smokey Blue Truffles combine organic milk chocolate, local Oregonian cream, and toasted almonds with award-winning "Oregon Blue," an artisan cheese from The Rogue Creamery that is smoked over hazelnut shells. The result is a surprisingly mellow chocolate. The texture is smooth and silky, and the blue cheese and chocolate blend harmoniously into a flavor that is ethereal, and far more than the sum of its parts. Though both the sweet chocolate and the tangy cheese are clear and strong, neither overpowers the other.

According to Shepherd, "Many people are skeptical at the beginning but after the first bite peoples' faces light up and they are immediately reaching for another one." That's exactly what I did. I promptly bought a box, tossed it into my purse, and greedily devoured the five truffles nestled inside at home later that night. It's hard to believe, but in the right hands, blue cheese and chocolate are a match made in heaven.

Lillie Belle's Smokey Blue Truffles are available for purchase online. $11 per box.

I remember family car trips as a series of factory tours. Some were more interesting than others. The canned tuna tour was nightmare-inducing. The Hershey's tour was much better. In the East Bay there used to be just one chocolate facility you could tour, but now there are two factories within spitting distance of each other- Scharffenberger and Charles Chocolates.

Scharffenberger is really all about the transformation of the beans to the bar. To see how it happens, you make a reservation and then you sit through a presentation on how chocolate is made and finally see the factory itself. After the tour, you can head to the cafe or retail shop. There is also a virtual tour.

At Charles Chocolate, the factory is also attached to the retail shop and there are long glass windows that allow you a great view of the action. While not exactly a tour you can see chocolate confections being made by a team of candy makers. Any time the store is open, you can take a peek.

My suggestion? Make a reservation at Scharffenberger, take a break for lunch and then head over to Charles Chocolate. Both offer a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes. You won't have Willy Wonka as a guide, but the experience will be scrumpdiddleumptious nonetheless.

I was never a big fan of the game Monopoly. Somehow buying up hotels just didn't do it for me. But I like the idea of a game where you can go on an adventure and become a tycoon. So what if you added food to the mix instead of hotels? Would it be the perfect game for me? It might just be...

Chocolatier is a new game by PlayFirst the same company that published the game DinerDash. In the popular game DinerDash you follow the path of Flo, who leaves her office job to work in a restaurant and grows her diner into something finer--as in a fine dining establishment. Chocolatier takes you back to the turn of the century and sets you up as a budding chocolatier. You have to source products from all around the world, and make chocolate. You then sell the chocolate, buying factories and growing your business along the way. Little bits of chocolate trivia are interspersed throughout and the game is more about strategy than serious hand-to-eye coordination, although there is a bit of that too as you set up your factory operations.

If you've ever dreamt of becoming a chocolate baron and traveling the world, you'll find this to be a very entertaining game. The story line takes you from San Francisco to exotic ports of call like Merida, Trinidad and Istanbul. There are 130+ "quests" and 14 cities in all. On your quests you'll meet interesting characters, search for long lost recipes, make various chocolate confections, deliver special orders, buy factory equipment, follow the market trends and even haggle over the price of ingredients. I got sucked in and it was hard to pull myself away. A free 60 minute trial is available online. If you get hooked, don't blame me, everyone knows chocolate is highly addictive.

My favorite story illustrating the inventiveness of fans making requests comes from a Violent Femmes concert. The Violent Femmes made famous a number of songs suggestive or outright sexual in nature. But then they became Born Again Christians and had a hard time loosening up at the few shows they played since this transformation.

One night, after informing the crowd that they would not only not play said famous songs, but they would stop playing altogether if the crowd didn't quiet down, a paper cup landed on stage. Attached to the cup was a plain string.

Do you remember this sound science experiment from elementary school?

A fan deep within the crowd held the other cup. Into it they whispered a request. Through the string was sent the quietest of questions.

Flattered and wowed by the silly, practical, respectful inventiveness of the method, the Violent Femmes played a song they would never have otherwise.

To this end I bring you a recipe, at the bequest of one Eggbeater reader; a chocolate cake for all occasions. I think she was asking for the sister cake to the best yellow cake ever, but this one came to mind.

Devil's Food Cake relies on some very particular science for all that it is and will become. A chocolate cake of deep blackness, moist light crumb and chocolaty perfume, is actually devoid of chocolate proper. It is said that the infamous Red Velvet Cake is really Devil's Food Cake before cocoa was very good. *For this reason, and others soon to be explained, it is of utmost importance that you use alkalized, European cocoa when making this cake. The all natural stuff will produce something that will not be able to be called cake. (It will not rise.)

As I have explained before in other posts about particular recipes, baking is a science reliant upon knowing exactly what role each ingredient plays to create the outcome, the final performance. Devil's Food Cake is about the reaction between acid (cocoa, buttermilk, baking soda, coffee) leaveners (baking soda, baking powder) and heat (temp of the coffee and oven.) The structure, albeit bare and tender, comes from cake flour and the whites in the eggs. Richness is added to the cocoa with butter, a few extra yolks add fat without more butter, which would weigh down the rise.

A little known fact: cocoa has no flavor, no perfume, until introduced to a heat source.

And without further words I give you,

DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE

1 C Sugar
12 Tablespoons Cocoa*
3/4 Cup Cake flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 each Egg
2 each Egg Yolks
1/2 Cup Hot Coffee
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
5 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cubed
Splash Vanilla Extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F Place oven rack in middle of oven.
2. Butter and flour 9" round cake pan or individual ramekins. If you have parchment paper, cut out a circle and place on bottom of buttered pan. Butter and flour over parchment, if using.
3. In one big bowl sift cocoa, sugar, cake flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add salt to this, whisk to achieve a uniform mixture, and create a "well" in center.
4. Brew coffee, measure and drop cubed butter in hot liquid, whisk to melt and combine. (Do not let mixture cool too much.)
5. Pour cracked egg and yolks into well, whisk briefly. Pour in coffee-melted butter mixture, whisk briefly, pour in buttermilk and then whisk thoroughly to incorporate all dries. Attempt to eliminate any lumps. Add splash of vanilla extract.
6. Batter will be very loose, pourable.
7. Pour batter into prepared baking vessel(s) and set on a baking pan. (This insures heat will be better distributed than if you just put the cake pan directly on the rack of the oven.) Set first timer for 20 minutes. At the 20 minute mark, turn pan around, and set timer for another 10-15 minutes. (If you choose not to turn pan around it will most probably rise lopsided.) **Cake is done when skewer or sharp knife inserted in middle comes out clean and/or when sides pull away from pan and middle bounces back to the touch.
8. Cool cake pan on cooling rack until room temperature. Turn cake out to cool more or serve.

**I don't like to say how long a cake will take to bake. It depends on your oven, how long it needs to preheat, how hot your kitchen is, and the weight/material of your cooking vessel(s).

Because Devil's Food Cake is very chocolatey, but almost as light as Angel Food Cake, it can stand to be served with much richer items like ice cream, ganache or mousse. For a foolproof chocolate frosting click here.

Devil's Food Cake tastes good the day it's made, but if you can muster the will power, this recipe tastes even better the next day or a few days later, refigerated. It's the only cake I know that gets better with cold and age. The crumb is denser after a few days in the icebox, but nonetheless delicious.