This is my go-to holiday and special occasion cake - Flourless Chocolate Cake made with a recipe first introduced by Gourmet magazine in November 1997.
There is nothing not to love about a cake that looks this good, tastes this good and is done, ready to serve in under an hour - including clean up.
I prefer to serve it with vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream or seasonal fruits.
Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.
Yield: Makes one 8-inch cake
ingredients
4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)Accompaniment if desired: Coconut Lime Sorbet
PreparationChop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth.
Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.
Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate.
Dust cake with additional cocoa powder and serve with sorbet if desired. (Cake keeps, after being cooled completely, in an airtight container, 1 week.)
Light the Yule log and drink up the nog with Christmas at Crystal Springs Resort.
The Grand Cascades Lodge, 3 Wild Turkey Way , Hardyston, has three options for Christmas Eve and Day. Dine at Restaurant Latour, which will serve its regular menu as well as holiday additions. The Crystal Tavern will have its regular and a special prix-fixe menus And the Springs Bistro will feature its regular menu plus holiday additions.
Kites Restaurant, located at Minerals Resort & Spa, 2 Chamonix Dr, Vernon, will be open both Christmas Eve & Day and serving a special Christmas menu on Christmas Day.
For more information and reservations call 973-827-1587 ext 3 or visit their website.
Out with the old and in with the new - year that is.
Crystal Springs Resort offers 9 different options for New Year’s Eve ranging from romantic dinners to family buffets to a one-of-a-kind tropical party in the Biosphere Pool Complex.
Celebrate with dinner at Restaurant Latour, Crystal Tavern, Springs Bistro or party all night at the amazing tropical Biosphere Party and/or an overnight stay at the Grand Cascades Lodge. For a family focus, with a little for Mom & Dad in the mix, try Minerals Resort & Spa. The family-focused resort offers a family party, dinner at Kites restaurant, late night parties and tons of children’s events.
A New Year’s Day brunch will be available at both hotels.
For information visit the website or call 973-827-5996 ext 3.
It's not too late to buy tickets to celebrate the New Year at some of the city's hottest parties.
Best bets from Joonbug, online NYC social networking and events site, are:
Capitale Rated #1 Event Space In The Country
For seven consecutive years, New York City's largest New Year's Eve event producer is proud to present Capitale New York’s New Year's Eve 2009 Extravaganza.
Capitale has earned the formidable reputation as the elite party destination for "everyone who's anyone" in New York. Recent celebrity sightings include:
For a truly one of a kind, all-out New Year's bash like no other, celebrate in dramatic style and spoil yourself in modern luxury at the one and only Capitale.
New Year's Eve 2009 celebration at Home and Guest House will bring sexy back to New York at the most smoking hot party this city has never seen!
Amidst New York's sizzling, high drama nightlife circuit there lives a tale of two uber-clubs under one roof: The devilishly sexy, super chill HOME and its seductively sleek, high energy sister club, GUEST HOUSE. Two hot spots under one roof, with two vibes and two contrasting decors brimming with two times the hotness! A-listers, rockers, moguls, models, celebutantes and fashionistas all flock to this mega-hot spot located in the much hyped nightclub zone of West Chelsea. So which mega-watt star was seen exiting the exclusive doors of Home and GuestHouse this week? You'll just have to catch them in the pages of TMZ, In Style, Page Six, Ok! Magazine and People to find out! Recent celebrity sightings:
HOME's decor is rocker chic meets Manhattan swank-with edgy sex appeal and temptations in every nook. Saunter up the staircase under dazzling red crystal chandeliers suspended from a black leather tufted ceiling, past the heavy velvet curtains into a den illuminated with red light district sex appeal. The decor is accented with red wood floors, exposed stone columns, walls stenciled with a damask pattern and tufted black leather banquettes. Hip Hop, rock and 80's are the genres of choice spun behind a raised DJ booth commanding the entire dance floor setting this party ablaze.
GUEST HOUSE' decor is sleek, sensual and warm but don't be fooled by its demurely rich amber tones and recessed candlelit walls. The pulsating beats resonating off its cream wallpaper and the energized partygoers dancing on the brown leather banquettes will kick this party into full throttle! Guesthouse=House Music...and with a world renowned DJ's spinning sets of modern, classic and underground house, the anthem lives on in 2009..."House music all night long!"
Connected through a corridor, Home and Guest House fills your wants, desires and your wildest guilty pleasures for an ultimate New Year's party! Dance, prance, rock, revel, swagger, strut, sashay your night away...the night is yours and for two fabulous parties for the price of one...this ticket is a tremendous value!
