Commander's Palace Brunch

Justin took me out to Commander's Palace to celebrate that I passed Step 2. It's one of my favorite places to go for brunch and it definitely didn't disappoint. I had the turtle soup as an appetizer, huckleberry pancakes with candied pecans, white chocolate, and syrup, and then the bread pudding soufflé as dessert. The waitress even wrote "Congratulations" around the soufflé! It made me feel really special.


Justin ended up having a crab quiche as an appetizer, the "sportsman's breakfast" which was duck topped with an egg on top of a sweet potato griddle cake, and then a creole cheesecake for dessert. He wasn't a big fan of the sportsman's breakfast because he felt like there was too little duck and too much egg. The crab quiche was so delicious though. I would definitely get that again. Anyway here are the pictures!

Red wine chocolate cake

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! About three weeks ago I found out I passed step 2 of my medical boards and it's been super busy since then. I was also presenting for journal club last week so I was busy preparing for that.
After I found out that I passed I had some people over to sample a red wine chocolate cake. I also made a buttermilk version, but I think the red wine one was much better. It had much more flavor to it and had just the right level of chocolate flavor. I've been toying with the idea of making it for my relatives over Christmas but since we have a lot of younger cousins I'm not sure how well it would work. It really is a lovely cake but definitely too potent for children.
Justin also took me out to Commander's palace to celebrate! I took lots of pictures so the next blog post will be about that. I also just got a gift card to Melting Pot from my god-mother so I'll post pictures after we go there! I'm super excited to go back to Melting Pot since we haven't been in forever (and Justin proposed to me at one!). Anyway, on to the recipe:

Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Taken from Smitten Kitchen

For the cake:
6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
3/4 cup red wine (I used cabernet)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

For the topping:
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325˚F.
Line the bottom of a 8-inch round cake pan with parchment and butter and flour the rest of the pan.
In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add in the sugars and beat until they are fluffy. Add in the egg mixture and beat well.
Add in the red wine and vanilla and combine. The batter will look a little weird- this is normal.
Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into the wet ingredient bowl. Mix until it is just combined and then use a rubber spatula to fold it until it is all combined.
Pour batter into baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes (or 25-30 minutes if using a 9-inch pan).
Cool in the pan on a baking rack for 10 minutes. Flip it out of the pan onto the baking rack. Cool until it is room temperature.
Optional: sift some powdered sugar over the cake.

For the topping: Whip the mascarpone, cream, sugar, and vanilla together until soft peaks form. Serve on the side of each cake slice.