While still home on break, I turned to another of my recipe books,
Chocolate and Vanilla by pastry chef Gale Gand and Lisa Weiss, for some excellent recipes that illustrate the versatility of those two classic flavors. Not in combination, mind you. The book is literally split between vanilla and chocolate--you need to turn the book over to switch from one to the other. Each flavor gets its own introduction and historical background, followed by a group of recipes employing the flavors in all their forms, from Dutch-processed cocoa powder to vanilla beans.
One of the recipes that I've become particular fond of celebrates the classic combination of chocolate and almonds. The Chocolate Almond Upside-Down Cake is a dark, moist chocolate cake that is topped (once you flip it over) with rich caramel and toasted almonds. omgah so good. Gale Gand flat out rejects the traditional
upside-down cake with those cherries and pineapple all up in it. Blah. This cake looks much better. Dark and sexy, even, to use my friend's words.
