Today’s TBT cookbook is very TBT: 1982. “Joy of” cookbooks have been quite popular for decades thanks to The Joy of Cooking. I should say that Suzi here at Cooking by the Book was the test kitchen for the last two editions of The Joy. She knows about joy. And chocolate.
So, when we took down our copy of The Joy of Chocolate, we had some expectations. I rather thought we’d see an array of contemporary recipes provided decades in advance thanks to this Joy.
Well, not exactly. Maybe a hint of what is here is displayed on that book cover. Those are chocolate cabbage leaves. Yup, cabbage leaves coated with melted chocolate, the chocolate cooled, and the mold carefully removed. It’s beautiful and unusual.
Ah, unusual. That’s a good adjective for this book. It has some lovely recipes to try, to be sure, but right of out of the box, the first recipe here is Brandied Chocolate Bavarian, soon followed by Steamed Fudge Pudding and Fruit Curry with Chocolate and Condiments. That’s not a 21st century set of ideas, not even 20th. The book has a Victorian beginning.
As the pages role, author Judith Olney presents ideas that we certainly can enjoy in the here and now. Ideas with Judith’s own added twist:
German Chocolate Torte with extra chocolate, ground pecans in the batter and a crisp coconut topping
Delta Cake, a pound cake with hazelnuts and a topping of bittersweet buttercream with cocoa and coffee
Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Sour Cream Frosting of just 1 cup each of sour cream, confectioner’s sugar, heavy cream
Designer Brownie with a doubled chocolate and egg content
Judith enjoys taking classic ideas and putting a refined edge to them. Just as you see in those unexpected cabbage leaves, these recipes provide intriguing twists. That’s not a normal German Chocolate Cake with a cooked coconut top. The Sour Cream Frosting is a flavor combination I have not tried, yet, but I will this weekend. I’ve not had pound cake dense with nuts in the batter.
The recipes here are “heavy” in chocolate. Why not? This is The Joy of Chocolate of course. I’ll be testing these recipes and I’ll let you know if it is joy they bring.