Howdy, dear all!

When Anya Mc Coy invited CaFleureBon to participate in her project utilizing her new chef’s essences and absolutes for food and drink, I was THRILLED.

AND intimidated.

Now I’m not going all “Uriah Heep” on you good folk- I’m no slouch in the kitchen.

I’ve been at it for 51 years, by my count- and at 57, that’s not bad.

I even used to cater parties for friends, before I was married, with children.

But I’m not exactly a pro!

That aside- I really love to share recipes, and lately, I’ve taken to handing out whatever Microsoft Office Word Doc I’ve made up for our “cooking eldest”.

I’ve probably plagued more than a few of you with these, I’ll bet!

First things first: I want you to get it right .

You want to know how I get my hair this color? You got it.

My skin care? Exercise? My weight? My blood type? Here it comes.

And so it is with food.

I will tell you what it’s supposed to look like; when you stick your finger in it, how it should feel.

I want you to succeed, and enjoy, with as little fuss as possible.

So you have more time to eat!

[Of course ;-)]

Anya’s oils and absolutes are food-grade and perfumery-worthy natural; it makes sense to begin with just a tiptoe touch, as she recently reminded me on the phone, with her throaty, infectious laugh 😉

My contribution is a new riff on an old family favorite: a very moist, dense, relatively- good- for- you [it doesn’t taste that way, though] dark chocolate ginger cake, spiked with espresso, and lilted with a teensy drop of ylang-ylang –

JUST in CASE it wasn’t exotic enough.

When Anya listed the “what’s available and what’s taken”, I couldn’t believe that no one had yet nabbed the three I hankered for: coffee, fresh ginger, and ylang-ylang !

This cake already had both coffee and fresh ginger in it, but where’s the harm in upping the ante a little bit?

And all this Caribbean / Mexican-ness was crying out for some sweet bloom of naughtiness; Anya’s ylang- ylang is really stellar, I couldn’t pull it away from my nose.

Moister Meister Chocolate Ginger Cake

Ingredients:

1 ¼ c. packed dark brown sugar

2/3 c. buttermilk

1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce

¼ c. canola oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 full dropperful of coffee absolute [cold pressed]

3 drops fresh ginger essential oil

2 drops ylang-ylang essential oil

1 c. unbleached white flour

¾ c. unsweetened cocoa powder [we like Droste, but there are many good ones]

3 tsps. espresso powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon [more, if you like !]

3 Tbsps. freshly ground ginger root

1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips [Ghirardelli is fine, but you can chop up Scharffenberger or anything else you really like- if no one’s watching]

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter [or oil] your cake pan, and dust it with cocoa .

[Use a 9” round cake pan, or a fancy Bundt]

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, buttermilk, applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa, espresso coffee powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.

Sift the dry mixture into your moist mixture until smooth.

Then stir in your grated ginger, drops of essences, and chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake it until a bamboo skewer [or a very looong toothpick] inserted into the center comes out clean-

Approximately 45 minutes to an hour- but keep checking!

Let cake ‘rest’ before unmolding…about 20 minutes, at least.

This cake is great for several days, if stored properly- well-covered in aluminum foil.

It can also be refrigerated.

GREAT served with whipped cream- especially if you scent it with a few drops of coffee essence or a single drop of ylang-ylang…or ginger.

Dear husband “B “[that’s really what we call him ] and I were fiddling around with whipping cream and essences just now.

We thought that it would be nice if you all could recreate Mr. B’s famous coffee recipe, to enjoy with your cake…

[Leah and Herr Mark can attest to his wowzer coffee]

Start with:-

• Trader Joe's Organic Bolivian Blend (Medium Dark Roast; Sweet Caramel Flavor; Medium Body) whole beans
• Use only a Burr-type grinder. Grind a medium grind.

Grind about enough… Then weigh what you have ground. Use the 'gram' setting. Say you grind 90 grams.

(I remove the brew basket from our cheap Braun coffee maker; place the empty basket on the scale; place a # 4 brown Melitta filter in the basket; Turn on the scale and it tares to (0g) zero grams.)

For each 10g of ground coffee for 6 oz cup of brewed coffee… add fresh, filtered water to the cup level of the coffee maker : e.g. 90g of ground coffee.

I fill it to between '8' and '9' cups on the coffee maker's water reservoir.

Brew and you're done

NOW DO THIS:

Make yourself 4 oz. heavy whipped cream sweetened with 1 Tbsp of cane sugar- add 3 drops coffee essence and 1 drop fresh ginger essence.

Float it in your coffee, and be very happy.

Courtesy of my master Meister.

Anya's Garden [naturlich!]- the hostess with the mostess.org 😉

Thank you, dear Anya

These essences are definitely worth every penny-

And Anya assures us that they last indefinitely….mmmmm.

–Ida Meister, Senior Editor

Editor's Note: Due to the Passover Holiday, a few blogs could not participate.