All things Irish and chocolate

‘Tis the season to run around madly, trying to get everything done before we leave—nothing major, just a remodel and the taxes. And then there are the 1001 items to tick off our list, answering questions like, “where can I get a SIM card for my mobile phone?” “Where’s the nearest off-license?” and my personal favorite, “where will we buy our food?”

I took some time today with a map, trying to figure out just where we’re staying (and how to get there from the airport), and discovered it’s just two stops up the tram line from the Dundrum Shopping Centre, which, I learn from their Website, is open extra hours for St. Patrick’s Day. I also note, with some disappointment, that I can eat at McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, or (gasp!) TGIFriday’s, after stimulating the economy at The Body Shop, Tommy Hilfiger or even Build-a-Bear. When I can’t go any further, I can always grab a mocha at Starbuck’s.

But all is not American here: the anchor stores are Tesco and Marks & Spencers, along with one I’ve never visited before called Harvey Nichols. While Tesco and M&S are UK ‘imports,’ they do well with providing local produce and products (see my musings about flown food); however, The upscale Irish store’s marketing copy focuses on the local.

To wit: Harvey is featuring carrageen moss, traditionally used as a remedy for colds and flu, but that can also act as an alternative to gelatin for desserts and savoury dishes. Since I’m trying to fight off a cold on the eve of flying, I am sorely tempted. But then I read on, and my knees go weak: artisan chocolate bars created in Limerick, with “slightly left-field flavour combinations” such as Gin & Tonic, Sea Salt, Wild Flower, Lime & Black Pepper and Star Anise & Ginger. But wait, that’s not all: a chocolate truffle tribute to that very Irish cocktail, the Black Velvet (made from equal measures of champagne and Irish stout).

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With chocolate on my mind, Number One Son reminded me that we needed to make a cake for Darling Husband’s birthday. Since we’ve both been trying to stick to very healthy fare before our departure (in anticipation of blowing the rotation diet in a huge way), I thought I would try the chocolate cardamom combination on a GF cake base. We took it with to the school community gathering this evening, and amazingly, there was some left, but only because the kids decamped to the carousel before we pulled the cake out of hiding!

Chocolate Cardmom Cake

1½ cups GF flour (Bob’s Red Mill, contains garbanzo flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, ‘sweet’ white sorghum flour and fava flour)
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process; I used Green & Black)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. xanthan gum
¾ tsp. salt
1¼ cup milk (cow, soy, rice, almond, etc.)
1/3 cup butter, margarine or shortening
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
½ tsp. ground cardamom

Preheat oven to 350°F; grease an 11”x7” pan, set aside. Blend all ingredients with food processor or mixer until thoroughly blended. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool, then garnish with melted chocolate, chopped smoked almonds and chopped hard toffee.