It’s Blue Cayenne’s Birthday!
This improbable journey started on a blustery October day three years ago. I desperately wanted to be a better writer, a better cook, and a better photographer, but I needed a nudge–a structured project to bring all those elements together in my life. I needed deadlines, too.
So, after a lot of false starts, my direction became obvious. I would start a food blog. How hard could that be?
Well…
I remember the electric moment when Blue Cayenne went live. I had worked on the project for a couple of months. I’d told no one except my sainted photography teacher. I guess I wanted to see if he laughed riotously when I broached the possibility of posting my photographs on the Internet. (He didn’t. He is a keeper.)
I’ll be honest. My struggles with the technical details of starting a blog were daunting. I didn’t know a plug-in from a widget, but finally, in October of 2015, I had pages ready to publish. All I needed was the courage to actually do it. That was the hard part–the personally risky part– and I’ll admit that I sat staring at the “Publish” button for a very long time.
Could I? Should I? Would it work?
Then, in a moment of wild abandon and fortified by a couple glasses of very good Malbec, I pushed the button and Blue Cayenne was born.
That first blog post featured a black-eyed pea salad recipe. Black-eye pea recipes augur good luck, or, at least they do on New Year’s Day. Blue Cayenne, I knew, needed a whole lot of good luck. We were wading into a very crowded field. (Here is a link to that original recipe if you haven’t tried it: Senegalese Bean Salad. It’s a great recipe.)
For those of you who have wondered about the name, blue–saturated and intense– is a favorite color and spicy and impossibly hot cayenne pepper is a favorite spice. So, Blue Cayenne it was and we became bluecayenne.com.
Since that first post, I have posted 257 recipes. Whew! (I try to publish five recipes a month.) Blue Cayenne’s readership has grown over the three years to somewhere between a very respectable 100 and 200 readers on an average day. Our best day ever was 544 readers. We’re ad free, too. We’re all about food.
Our operation is spartan. This is a one person (me) and a one pup (Juliet) operation, so our overhead is very low. I work for free. Juliet works for pumpkin treats and an occasional bowl of strawberry ice cream. I cook, write and photograph. Juliet is the face of Blue Cayenne–our “Betty Crocker.” She appears on all of our pages. Blue Cayenne’s Juliet is a looker.
Thank you for reading this blog. We’re still having fun and we’re ever so glad you are here.
Now, will you share a piece of fudgy pecan birthday torte with us?
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 1/2 C. toasted pecans
- 1 C. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate (chopped--I used a mixture of bittersweet and semisweet)
- 1 C.sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
- 6 large eggs
- 1 1/2 C. sugar
- 1/3 C. bourbon
- 1/2 C. whipping cream
- 1/4 C. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 10 ounces semisweet chocolate (chopped)
- 1 C. chopped toasted pecans
- 12 pecan halves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch-diameter springform pan with sides that are at leasst 2 1/4 inches. Line the bottom of your springform pan with parchment paper. Dust the pan with flour and tap off the excess.
- Using a food processor, finely grind the pecans. Watch them carefully, if you over-grind the pecans you will turn them into pecan butter. Pecan butter is wonderful, but not for this recipe. You just want a fine dry grind.
- Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Add the chocolate to the butter and stir the mixture until the chocolate is melted smooth. Add the cocoa powder to the melted chocolate and stir. Remove this mixture from the heat and set aside.
- Put eggs and sugar into a bowl and whisk just until blended. Add the chocolate mixture and whisk to blend. Add the bourbon and the ground pecans and mix. Pour this batter into your prepared springform pan. Bake for about 45 minutes. You want the sides of the torte to be set but the center of the torte will jiggle a bit when the pan is shaken. Put your baked torte on a rack and cool completely.
- To make the glaze, put butter and cream in a heavy medium saucepan and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the chocolate and stir until it is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and let the glaze sit for about 5 minutes. You want it to be a bit cooler but you want it to be pourable, too.
- Remove the torte from the springform pan by releasing the sides. Invert the torte onto a 8-inch cardboard round or plate. Remove the parchment paper. Set the cardboard round or plate on a cookie sheet (to catch the excess chocolate) and pour the glaze over the torte. You want the glaze to competely cover the top and the sides of the cake. Use a spatula to spread the glaze onto the sides of the torte. Put the torte in the refrigerator and let it chill for about 10 minutes. This will allow the glaze to partially set but still a little sticky. Remove from the refrigerator and press the chopped pecans around the sides of the torte and decorate the top of the torte with the pecan halves. Refrigerate overnight. Before you serve the cake, let it sit on the counter for a while. Ideally, you will want to serve it cool but not cold. You will also want to move the torte onto a clean cardboard round or a clean plate. I used a long spatula to safely move the cake.
Calories
Fat
Carbs
Protein
This recipe is an adaptation of one that appeared in Bon Appetit Magazine.
2 thoughts on “Let’s Party With Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Torte! Blue Cayenne is three!!!”