Bakers Love: So long old friend

When Conde Nast recently announced that Gourmet magazine was ending its remarkable run. I felt as if a good trusty friend was going to move to Mongolia, never to be seen again. Published since 1941 Gourmet magazine was part history, part fantasy, and certainly part teacher. I adored Gourmet, sometimes a recipe would sound so enticing that I would run out to the grocery store and eagerly begin preparing in the kitchen. Gourmet was really my first foray into food beyond the everyday, it opened up a world of food that helped me discover favorites I may have never tried. My favorite memory of a Gourmet recipe was a chocolate raspberry cake with a dark chocolate ganache frosting. I thought that if I could make this cake, and make it look like the photo, I should consider going to culinary school. Seizing the opportunity to bake this cake for a friends birthday party, I started the exciting task of making ganache, chopping chocolate to add to hot cream. While the cake was baking, and the ganache cooling, I picked over the raspberries to find the most perfect ones for the cake top decoration. The cake was a smash, and my sights soon set on a lifelong love of baking. All thanks to a beautiful photo of a chocolate cake in Gourmet Magazine.