Caramelized Plum Torte:
The idea here is taken from a classic Bavarian summertime dessert Pflaumenkuchen or German Plum Cake. Instead of baking it as a cake we bake the biscuit (made with cottage cheese) by itself. Then at service we caramelize plums to order. The plums are topped with a French Sabayon (made with a crisp Chardonnay) lightened with some cream and torched for texture and look.





Next we come to Chocolate Blackout Cake as made famous by Ebingger's Bakery in Brooklyn, NY that closed a long time ago. Karen Barker of Magnolia Grill in Durham, NC wrote about it in her baking book and recreated a stellar version which I have borrowed but changed the pudding filling. For effect, we stood up the slice on the plate. While I am not a fan of this type of plating, it a good way to plate a slice of cake and make it look fancy! The cake is nothing like anything I have worked with before. It is so moist and impossible to cut to make layers. It is challenging to work with but the end result is a Chocolate Blackout (cake) :)