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Join us as we talk about wakes, customized chocolate bars, egg timers and the King and Queen of Fruits
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I came home from Atlanta to a few gifts from friends and listeners. One of them was “Chocolate: A Love Story—65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Max Brenner’s Private Collection”
If you haven’t been to one of their restaurants, you should make a point to go and try it out. I am a big fan as you can tell by my earlier post. The book is full of fun and quirky dessert names. I think a lot of the recipes seem very easy but one of the thing that’s missing from this book are picture of the finished product. Although I love the fun designs since I am a designer, I’d rather see what it will look like at the end and I think most of you would too.
Below is a sample of the recipes from this book
A Love Story: My lost childhood chocolate birthday cake
Ingredients
Cake2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Sprinkles for decoration
Ganache
1-1/4 cups heavy cream
20 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Cointreau
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly flour and butter a 9-inch round cake pan
2. Make the cake. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Set to cool on a cooling rack.
4. Make the ganache. Bring the cream to a simmer and pour over the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit until the chocolate begins to melt, about 1 minute, then beat with an electric mixer until the ganache is fluffy and smooth. Let cool to room temperature.
5. Make the syrup. Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Lower the heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 10 minutes. Stir in the Cointreau and remove from the heat.
6. Cut the cake horizontally into 2 layers. Brush the still-warm cake with the syrup (do not soak). Once the syrup is absorbed, spread the cooled ganache frosting generously over the top of one round. Top with the second layer of cake and cover with the remaining ganache, using an offset spatula to smooth the ganache down and around the sides of the cake.
7. Sprinkle liberally with multicolored sprinkles.
Thank you for sending the book. Much Love :)
Chuti
You can get the book from Amazon or from the restaurant.
I saved this review for last because it was my favorite place I ate on this trip. In my book, it’s by far the best place to get dessert in NYC. The only place that would come really close to it would be Finale in Boston, but I’ll post about Finale later.
Max Brenner’s sits in the center of Union Square where it’s convenient to get to from just about any where in NYC. Most people who know of Max Brenner’s would probably plan to skip dessert at any restaurant to save room to come and experience all the wonderful dessert creations by Max.
The place is busy. We had to wait about 40 minutes to get in, but trust me… it was worth the wait. While you wait you can check out all the chocolate and other items for sale in the front of the place. If you’re crazy about chocolate… this is THE place.
As we walked to our table, I made sure to look around to get an idea of what to order. Everything looked so good that it was really hard for me to decided. The smell of the place was simply amazing. Once we sat down, we looked over the menu and carefully picked out a few items. We decided on the Hazelnut Cream Banana Toffee Crepe, Banana Tempura Fondue, and the Swiss Whipped Cream Chocolat. I was in chocolate heaven… it was double chocolate bliss! Both of the desserts were equally awesome. I could describe it but you have to experience it for yourself to know just how amazing it was.
While we were eating our delectable desserts, we noticed someone at the table next to us was drinking a martini that looked divine. We asked the waitress and found out it was the the “Little Miss Pinky Martini” basically a Cosmo with pureed strawberries. We were so curious we decided to order one for “dessert” on top of our dessert! It tasted as good as it looks… let me tell you! 
Add to all of this .. Max Brenner’s also serves a full menu of chocolate inspired dinner and breakfast foods! It’s definitely one heck of a romantic place for a couple or a great fun place to hang out with your friends! I walked out of the place as happy as I could be. For some people sweets just make them feel good… and I’m one of those people! If you are visiting NYC (or any of the locations around the world), you should make it a point to not have dessert where you’re eating an and stop by Max Brenner’s to experience the wonderful chocolate heaven!
I would give them 10 skillets if I could, but since the highest we can give any place is 5, I give them all 5 pans overflowing with chocolate!
Max Benner’s—Union Square NYC
841 Broadway (between 13th and 14th Streets)
Tel. 212-388-0030
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