The Winners!

(Right): Ann Snodgrass, the overall People's Choice winner)




(Left: Brian Koster, the overall Judges' Choice winner)


Thank you to everyone who came out and made this night so much fun! Thank you to the bakers for all the hard work they put into making the night one tasty evening. Without further delay, I will now post the winners of each category and overall winners.

* The Judges' Choice trophy and $100 went to Brian Koster for his candy (CY5), "Mulberry Truffle." Congratulations, Brian!

* The People's Choice trophy and $100 went to Ann Snodgrass for her cheesecake (CH6), "Be Still My Heart." Congratulations, Ann!

CATEGORY WINNERS:

CAKE
First place, Christina Gehrke with "Mexican Chocolate Cake" (CA3)
Second place, Christine Klumpers with "Greg's Favorite Cake" (CA6)

CHEESECAKE
First place, Ann Snodgrass with "Be Still My Heart" (CH6)
Second place, Holly Bonnicksen-Jones with "Chocolate-Amaretto Cheesecake" (CH1)

CANDY
First place, Kevin Arnold with "Tong Chocolate Truffles" (CY1)
Second place, Brian Koster with "Golden Needle (Black Tea) Truffle" (CY4)

COOKIE
First place, Susan Frank with "Fantasy Chocolate-Caramel Delights" (CK4)
Second place, Amy Sinner with "Delux Chocolate Chip Cookies" (CK10)

BROWNIES
First place, Emily Cunningham with "Nutty Fudge Brownie" (BR1)
Second place, Dolores Kahl with "Bishop's Squares" (BR3)

Thanks again to everyone who made this event so fun! I am looking forward to it already for next year.

Final touches and preparation for D.B.C. bakers

Here are some reminders and suggestions specifically for bakers:

*Get to the library betwen 4:45 PM and 5:15 PM so that you are set up and your desserts are ready to be judged at 5:30 PM (tasters come at 6:30)

*Do you have any toppings or decorations that must be ready? In my case, I am making some homemade whipped cream not too long before I leave the house and I am topping my cheesecake with it at the library.

*Do you need to bring along any special implements to cut or portion your dessert? There will likely be a few extras at the library BUT it's best to bring your own!

*What do you transport your dessert in? I am improvising. I've got two small computer boxes that will work and I'll be making "trays" out of cardboard and aluminum foil. I am cutting my cakes here and carefully putting them in the boxes (while I hold my breath).

*You have to bring along a copy of your recipe. Typed is nice, but even if it's handwritten, bring that recipe along! The bake-off rules require that you submit your recipe tonight at the latest.

Even if you are competitive, remember to enjoy the exileration of taking part in this delicious community event. I have always been so proud of each participant and so complimented that so many people have contributed their best efforts.

Now that I am on the baking side of the event (and making a big mess in my own kitchen), you can believe that I am doubly impressed by what you glorious bakers have always done for Death by Chocolate.

See you there!

Carol Gruba, DBC Founder

Bring your Appetite!

I'm counting up our entries right now, and lemme tell ya, Saturday night is going to be one BIG HUGE CHOCOLATE EVENT!

The category with the highest number of entries is Cake. Are you planning your tasting strategy now? When you come to the Death By Chocolate Bake-Off event, you'll be asked to choose a category to judge, and you'll have to taste a sample from every entry in that category.

Consuming thirteen bites of cake is not as easy as it might sound! (It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.)

The Cheesecake category has the least entries, with six fearless competitors vying for the Cheesecake mantle. Even six bites of cheesecake will be a challenge to eat, so plan accordingly.

• Pace yourself.

• Drink plenty of water.

• Take frequent breaks if necessary. We'll give you from 6:30 to 7:45 to vote.

• Have fun!

And to start getting you in the mood, here's a link to an over-the-top deep fried candy bar! With pictures!

Appearance and display

Question of the day:

How does one judge on appearance (one of the judges' criteria) when bakers must cut their dessert into 60 small bite-sized pieces?

Answer:

Appearance is entirely up to the baker. In past competitions, some bakers made an extra dessert to place adjacent to their cut pieces so that the tasters were wowed by appearance. Some cookies have been frosted or decorated to make them look more attractive than other cookies. Cakes may have decorations in the frosting.

Bakers sometimes want to bring in their own fancy serving dishes and have done so. The first year, one candy-maker hollowed out a large book and inserted "dirt" in the form of crumbled oreo cookies and gummy worms, which definitely added to the display!

Other bakers have placed fresh flowers amongst their desserts to help jazz up the display.

If the baker wants to add creative touches, they may do so to both their display of the dessert area as well as to the appearance of the dessert. If the baker chooses to just bring bite-sized samples without worrying too much about display and appearance, that's great too! The most important criteria is to remember to have a good time!

What's that Buzz?

Did you know that the amount of caffeine in chocolate is lower than most people think? A 1.4 ounce piece of milk chocolate contains about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee. There is an average of 6 mg. of caffeine in both an ounce of milk chocolate and a cup of decaffeinated coffee, while a cup of regular coffee contains between 65 and 150 mg. of caffeine.

If you're like me, you'll be looking forward to augmenting the caffeine you consume in the chocolate Saturday night with the fresh, hot coffee drinks that will be provided by Mary's Coffee Express.

Or if you're a wuss, we'll give you a bottle of water ;-)

Gearing up for the Big Event!

Jessica and I have just returned from Kalscheur's with several hundred forks. We got quite a few looks in the checkout line! (I tried to pretend I was a very picky eater and needed a new fork for every bite, but I don't think anyone bought it.)

Since the forks are now safely in the house, I thought I'd take the opportunity to remind all those bakers out there that your entries are due this Wednesday at 5:00 pm. That's only 50 hours away!

And for those of you who've surfed to this blog from the article in the Cap Times, you can find lots more info on the contest, including a downloadable entry form, at the Mount Horeb Public Library's main website -- www.mhpl.org.

"Neither power outages, nor firemen can keep me from baking for this contest!"

So now that I don't work at the library, I can compete in the chocolate contest I started there! But I don't bake. I eat. Should I make something super-easy but over-the-top like bacon drizzled with fine chocolate?

After some hand-wringing, and chocolate eating, I decided to do something that requires more skill than frosting an Oreo.

I like dairy products. I love chocolate. I adore coffee. And I found a website called “allrecipes.com” and a recipe called “Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake” created by evil genius “Cigdem Buke” (is this a real name?).

I broke out the electric mixer and began talking to myself (because that's what great cooks do before they get their own television shows). And then as if I had crossed over into some forbidden territory, the power went out. Only in the kitchen. Ten minutes after I put my cheesecakes in the oven.

Right now readers may be muttering, “It's a sign from God, stupid”. I began muttering a few words myself. I ran up and down the stairs to the fuse box. I flipped switches off. I flipped switches on. Then all power went out. At this point I thought, “OK! I've learned my lesson! I'll never push cheesecake on people again!” And then I heard a heavy knock at the door.

It was a fireman here to inform me that power in the entire neighborhood would be going down for 1 or 2 hours due to some incident across the street. I threw a couple of cakes in the freezer to chill (yes, they had baked) and I slouched into the couch with a flashlight in my hand.

I could slouch and grumble for only so long before I remembered that I had not even tasted the cheesecakes I had been fighting so hard to make. One chomp into one of those wondercakes and, dear reader, I felt all better, ready to march into the Death by Chocolate Bake Off this Saturday.

Trust me. YOU won't have to fight power outages and flip your fusebox when you make your cakes and cookies. Join me Saturday at the Mount Horeb Public Library at 6:30 PM and I'll share with you what I now call “Electric Cheesecakes”!

Feel free to email Carol at bookluvn at yahoo.com.

"It's the final countdown"

Can you hear that song playing in your head? Remember? That one by the group, "Europe"? My little sister and I used to shoot hoops in our parent's drive-way while listening to that song and imaging that we were in the WNBA. Oh yes, I remember the "Final Countdown" well!

I want you to hear that song playing in your head as it prompts you to come to the library this week to sign up to be a baker. Time is running out! The deadline to sign up is this Wednesday, February 13th at 5:30 p.m. We still have many slots available in all five different dessert categories : candy, cake, cookies, cheesecake, and brownies. Thus, your odds of being in the money are very high at this point!

Think the "Final Countdown" also as next Saturday, February 16th approaches. In just 8 short days from now, the Mount Horeb Public Library is going to be packed with people and chocolate. Not only will we be giving away free chocolate to you, the tasters, but we will also hand out free coffee and hot chocolate thanks to Mary's Coffee. Mary's Coffee is generously providing drinks for everyone! (To counteract the caffeine and chocolate, we will also provide bottled water courtesy of Kalscheur's Fine Foods.) Furthermore, you can eat and drink to your heart's delight while being entertained by the Mount Horeb High School fiddle band. The night promises fun, excitement, and sugar highs like you've never experienced before. I hope to see you there!

One thick batter

Library customer and intrepid baker Karen E. reports that she was surprised at the consistency of the batter when she whipped up the Chocolua Cake recipe from our bookmark-a-week series.

"You put these things together and you're thinking there's something wrong, there needs to be more liquid. The recipe says to pour the batter into the pan; you have to scoop it!" Karen says the batter was so thick that it climbed the beaters on her mixer, and was nearly impossible to scrape off.

Karen proceeded with the recipe as written and the cake turned out great! "Good and moist."

For those of you who didn't grab a bookmark, here's the recipe:

I box dark chocolate cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
16 oz sour cream
2 eggs
1/4 Cup oil
1/4 cup Kahlua liqueur
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together with the chocolate chips folded in last.
Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan.
Bake @ 350F for 55 minutes.
Cool completely before removing from pan.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

It's that easy

Imagine my shock when I figured out that it only takes three ingredients to make basic hot cocoa from scratch! Saco Premium Cocoa (available at Death by Chocolate Bake-Off sponsor Kalscheurs Fine Foods) has the following recipe on the back of the tub:

1 heaping teaspoon Saco Premium Cocoa
2 heaping teaspoons sugar
1 cup milk

Stir and heat in microwave for 1-2 minutes, or heat on stovetop until warm. Stir thoroughly after heating.

That's it? Cocoa, sugar and milk?

The great thing about this recipe is that you can sweeten it with whatever you want: Splenda, NutraSweet, stevia or honey. I use a sugar free Torani syrup flavored with coconut, and my hot chocolate tastes like a Mounds bar.

It takes a long time to stir it up. The cocoa seems resistant to mixing with the milk. But just be persistent and it'll happen, and YOU'LL be in charge of what goes into your cocoa. (Hint: I also use a very tiny pinch of salt to bring out the chocolate flavor.)

What's in it?

The Death by Chocolate rules for ingredients are pretty liberal.
1. It's got to have chocolate (or cocoa) in it. White chocolate doesn't count
2. No raw eggs, for health reasons
3. Nuts and nut derivatives are fair game -- this is an important consideration for anyone with allergies

Thank-you to the Mount Horebite who asked me question #1 this morning :D

Tried and True Recipes

Hello, chocolate fans!

Stop by the library and grab your collectible recipe bookmark. We're putting out a new recipe each week in anticipation of the coming event! 

 

This week's bookmark features the dazzling Chocolate Almond Torte submitted by the Mount Horeb Food 2 class in 2007. 

 

How can you resist this cake???

Changes from last year . . .

* Due to the high number of "tasters" last year, we are requiring that bakers bring at least 60 servings to this year's bake off.
Suggested serving size is small! One or two bites would be big enough!

* Please be sure to pick up your "Baker's Checklist" when you sign up for the event!

Any additional deviations from last year's event will be posted here. Stay tuned!!

Newsletter Article

2007 Judges: Lysianne Unruh, Marcus Candinas, Tracy Thompson





Third Annual Death by Chocolate Bake-Off (Saturday, February 16 at 6:30 p.m.)

Are you ready for the 2008 Death by Chocolate Bake-Off? Start counting calories now, so you can afford a big splurge this February. Bakers from all over the county will be competing for the coveted "Judge's Choice" and "People's Choice" awards to take home a trophy and $100. Cash prizes and ribbons will also be awarded to first and second place winners in the five different bake-off categories.

The bake-off isn't just for bakers-we need tasters, too! This library event is a "date night" for adults only, ages 16 and up. So mark your calendar, call your sitter, and get ready to enjoy some serious chocolate!



2007 Dessert Category Winners



Two of our celebrity judges, Marcus Candinas and Tracy Thompson, will be returning for this year's event. Candinas is founder and chocalatier of Candinas Chocolatier in Verona, Wisconsin. Candinas learned his trade via a three year apprenticeship program in Switzerland. Thompson is the pastry chef and co-owner of Sjolinds Chocolate House, which features chocolate from all over the world contributing to her expertise in the field. Our newest addition to this exciting line-up of judges is David Bacco, the head pastry chef and chocolatier of Cocoliquot. Bacco studied at the French Pastry School in Chicago, IL. At Cocoliquot, Bacco has expanded his repertoire to elegant, fun French desserts and started his own line of chocolates, DB Chocolats, which are incorporated into the restaurant's menu. In 2007, Cocoliquot was named "Best Restaurant in Madison" by the Isthmus magazine (See www.cocoliquot.com).

The event will be sponsored by Kalscheur's Fine Foods and Friends of the Library. After February 1, bakers may pick up registration forms at Kalscheur'. Applications are available NOW at the Mount Horeb Public Library! You may also download the application form from our website (www.mhpl.org). For more information, stay tuned to the Choco-blog or contact Jessica Williams at 43705021 ext. 109 or jwilliams@scls.lib.wi.us.

The Tasters!!!

Application Forms are Available

Application forms are available for bakers ready to take the challenge and sign up for the bake-off. You may download an application from our website (http://mhpl.org/programs/adult/bakeoff.html) or pick one up at the library. Official contest rules are attached to the application form, which you must sign stating your agreement. There is also a $5 entry fee to help cover the costs of the bake-off!

See you at the library!