Its Thursday, so I’ve been up since three this morning baking and cooking. My kids are grown, but they are dedicated to family dinner together once a week. While I wait for my chocolate Swiss roll to cool, I ran across your article. Great writing (I’m jealous).

If you ever feel adventurous… I learned to make Mole in Mexico, came home and added chocolate to my pasta sauce and never went back. Red wine and chocolate are lovers and when they spice it up with chilies, the flavor profile jumps to attention. Warning, it has to be real chocolate (not candy). Dark or black cocoa powder works, but I prefer unsweetened chocolate (shaved).

I rely on unsweetened chocolate for my baking and a two-pound block lasts me about a year. It is super dense, and I shave it with a knife. It’s bitter, which is nice, cause I like to control my sweetening (white, light, medium, and dark brown sugars, molasses, honey, and fruit). For your pasta recipe I’d start with a cup of shaved chocolate and add more to taste.

When I’m low on baking chocolate, I use dark, or black cocoa powder for my sauce, which is also bitter. For your recipe I’d start with half a cup of cocoa powder and add more to taste.

In baked goods, I grind Sichuan peppercorns for chocolate and if I’m out, I use cayenne. Chilis opens up the taste buds, which intensifies the chocolate (not the hot). The Sichuan peppercorns have great flavor, but they have a numbing effect that scares some people.

Any who, thanks for the read, my cake is cool and it’s time to fill and roll, then melt my chocolate and finish my ganache. PS, this Swiss cake has a heaping teaspoon of cayenne in it.