Hello World.

    Hi Everyone. My name is Joyce and this is officially the very first posting on my very own blog about my baking/cooking adventures. Why must I add another baking/food blog to the abundant plethora of baking/food blogs already out there? The answer is simple: I love baking and it gives me great joy. I feel it is my responsiblilty to share this great joy with as many people as I can, or at least with those who care. When I come across a recipe that yields a final product delicious and fabulous enough to roll around naked in, I cannot contain myself and I feel the strongest urge to share. I figure blogging will satisfy that urge for me. In fact, that is my promise to my readers/followers. All the recipes and food items that I share on my blog will be just that (at least to my standards), delicious and good enough to roll around naked in. FYI, this standard will be referred to as GJW - Gateau Joie Worthy in future postings. GJW food: good enough to roll around naked in.
     As far as sharing recipes go, I have an "open book" policy for my blog. I will post recipes and step by step procedures with reviews on what works and doesn't. I will hopefully have pictures as well. And of course, I am open to all your comments and inputs. I only ask that you be gentle and criticize in a loving way, after all, the whole purpose for this blog is to share the love and joy.
     So what's up the name you ask? Gateau Joie is French and literally translates into "Cake/cookie happy". I'm sure there are other variations and meanings but that is the translation I had in mind when I decided to name my blog this and it is the name that will be associated with my baking creations. Although the majority of postings will be on baking and desserts, this blog is certainly not limited to only sweets.
     So without further ado, here is my very first recipe posting. I should mention however that this is NOT my own recipe (haha). It is from a book that I absolutely adore called Miette by Meg Ray & Leslie Jonath. (Miette is a charming pastry shop in San Francisco that I have yet to visit.) I fell in love with the book when I first thumbed through it last year at a random bookstore. I've fallen in love with every single recipe I've tried out from it since I got one in my possession a few months ago. So far this is my favorite recipe in it: The double chocolate cake with boiled icing. I tried it out both in cake form as well as cupcakes. The recipe is the same for both and the only thing needing adjusting is the bake time, a little less with the cupcakes and of course, the pan you use. There are a couple extra steps for this cake than for the average joe cake but that is what sets this cake apart from any other chocolate cake. It is the most moistest, richest, and chocolatey-est cake I've ever tasted and it doesn't even contain a lick of butter!

Double Chocolate Cake (From Miette, pg. 55)

Ingredients For cake:

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking power
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 oz 70% cacao chocolate, coarse chop
1 cup boiling water
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 lrg eggs at room temp.
1/2 cup veg. oil
2 1/4 cup sugar (although I cut the sugar to 1 3/4 cup)

1. Liberally butter two 6in cake rounds and dust w/ sifted cocoa powder. Tap out excess.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
4. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl and add boiling water to it, whisk until melted. let cool for 15 min.
5. in seperate bowl, combine buttermilk and vanilla. set aside.
6. in a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk the eggs in high until foamy about 2 min. reduce the spped to low and slowly pour in oil. whisk until combined about 30 sec. raise speed and whisk on med until fully incorporated 2 min.
7. reduce sppeed to low and slowly pour chocolate mixture into egg mixture. slowly pour in buttermilk mixture. Add sugar and which until batter is smooth and liquid, 2min.
8. Stop mixer and remove bowl. add sifted dry ingredients and mix just unitl incorporated w/a rubber spatula by hand lifting and folding from bottom center. scrape down sides and mix by hand briefly. Batter will appear lumpy but stop mixing.
9. pour batter through a medium mesh sieve to remove large lumps. Press out as much batter as possible. divide batter in pans and bake until tester comes out clean. About 45-50min.
10. Transfer to wire racks and let cool in pan about 20 min. Carefully loosen sides of cake and remove from pans. Let cool 20 min longer. Refrigerate cakes tightly wrapped in plastic to ensure complete cooling before decorating or icing. ***Very important step here. the cake is extremely moist and will crumble otherwise!*** Stores wrapped in plastic in freezer up to 2 months.

Boiled Icing (Miette, pg. 192)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup water
3 lrg egg whites
1 tsp vanilla

1. combine sugar cream of tartar, and water in a small saucepan and fit w/ candy thermometer. stir to dissolve sugar and heat over med-low. have a heatproof bowl sitting nearby.
2. put egg whites and vanilla in stand mixer with whisk attachment. Once syrup reaches 240 degrees F, immediately pour into heatproof bowl to stop cooking. With mixer on medium speed, slowly pour syrup into egg mixture aiming for side of bowl. once it's all added, mix on medium high until icing is thick and holds a firm peak. continue to whisk until icing is just slightly warm and very thick, about 10 min TOTAL, do not over mix or it will become too thick to pipe or ice!

     The icing is similar to the old 7 minute frosting. It is very light and fluffy, yet holds its ground with the cake. Kinda reminds me of marshmallow creme. Goes beautifully with the chocolate cake! Make this, eat it, and be happy!