The Chocolate Bar
River Oaks
1835 W Alabama St
Houston, TX 77098

I give this place two thumbs up! You need to be aware that the parking lot is very small! If you cannot find parking right away you just have to wait for someone to back out. Just wait it out because is worth the wait to get in! It is located right next door to another magical shop called candylicious. Both of these shops are places where everyone becomes a kid again.

You walk in the door to find chocolate everywhere! One side of the store is all packaged chocolates. This side also has cases where they will help you pick out individual chocolates. Everything tastes better dipped in chocolate to chocoholics! Walk around to the other side of the store you will pass the ice cream cases to find the cases with cakes. They are huge! Some cakes are $10 for one slice or $75 for the whole cake. One cake weighs 177.60 ounces  (11.1 pounds)

The selection of ice cream is really interesting. They will let you  sample some to see what you would like to eat.

 The sample of Cape Cod Crunch ice cream was enough for me to stop. It is is really amazing! It was loaded with broken chocolate, almonds and cranberries.

Ice Cream Flavors

16 ounces  (1 pkg) mini marshmallows
2  tablespoons water
2 pounds (8 cups)  confectioners sugar
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
* optional 1/8 Teaspoon candy flavoring and decrease the water by 1/8 Teaspoon

Did you know that confectioners sugar, icing sugar and powdered sugar are the same? Once I actually had a student who used granulated sugar to make buttercream. It was sparkly looking and strange. I got the opportunity to play with it because she brought it to class to work with. She even iced her cake with it thinking it was fine.

Grease your microwave safe bowl or the fondant will just stick to the sides

Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in the microwave for 30 second at a time until melted. It will take between 2 – 2 1/2 minutes

By machine: Dump into a greased KitchenAid bowl

Dump in the rest of the ingredients and mix for 10 minutes on #2 setting on the KitchenAid

Most of the time I make it by hand as it is faster for me

By hand: Grease your spoon and mix

Dump 1/2 of the confectioners sugar into melted marshmallow mix

Add the other half of the confectioners sugar and mix until it clumps together

Dump onto a greased counter and knead with greased hands until smooth. Do not use butter flavored Crisco unless you want yellow colored fondant. You can even pull it like it is taffy

After any method you will now do this next step. Wrap in plastic wrap and place into a ziplock bag. Did you know air is the enemy of fondant? Protect all that work you just did by protecting it from getting hard.

Let it sit to “ripen” overnight. You can use it right away but it is not as elastic as it will be later. Use as you would any commercial fondant

1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon water
1 pound (4 cups) confectioner’s sugar sifted
2 tablespoons Color Flow Mix

With electric mixer, using grease-free utensils, blend all ingredients on low speed for 5 minutes. If using hand mixer, use high speed. Color flow icing “crusts” quickly, so keep bowl covered with a damp cloth while using. Stir in desired icing color.

makes 2 cups

1 lb confectioners sugar
1 c shortening
3 Tablespoons milk or water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon merange powder

Cream shortening, milk, vanilla together until creamy. Add confectioners sugar and merange powder. Mix until blended with paddle attachment at a low speed or by hand

medium consistency

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (softened)
8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 lb (4 cups) confectioners sugar
1 Tablespoon milk

Recipe can be doubled. In a mixing bowl cream butter and cheese together until smooth. Add milk and sugar; beat on high until smooth. Thin to ice your cake or use full strength for piping borders.

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 pound semi sweet chocolate chopped
Bring cream to boil. Pour over chocolate allow to stand for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Optionally add 1/4 c light corn syrup and/ or 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter.

2 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 Teaspoon salt
1 1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c shortening
2 eggs
1 c milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla
yield: 2  8 or 9″ cakes

Yellow Cake (Basic):
Mix egg whites until soft peaks form put aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in shortening until fine crumbs are formed. Add egg yolks, milk and vanilla; beat at low speed for 1 minute then high for 2 minutes. Gently fold in egg whites. Pour batter into prepared pan/s. Bake at 350 for 25 – 30 min.
White Cake:
Prepare as for basic cake except use 3 egg whites in place of the whole eggs.
Chocolate Cake:
Add 1/4 c cocoa powder to the basic mix prior to adding the milk
Spice Cake:
Add 1 Teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ground all spice to the basic mix.
Lemon Cake:
Decrease milk to 2/3 and add 1/3 cup lemon juice.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake:
Melt 14 cup butter in the bottom of your pan. Add 2/3 cup brown sugar into the butter. Place crushed pineapple or slices onto the sugar. Pour prepared basic mix into the pan. Bake 350 for 30 – 35 minutes. Cool 5 – 10 minutes and invert on a cake plate to serve.
Tres Leches – Three Milk Cake
You will need a yellow cake mix baked as directed. Poke holes in the cake with a fork. Pour 1 can evaporated milk, 1 can sweetened condensed milk and 1 pint heavy whipping cream. Spread whipped cream over the top of the cake and sprinkle 5 oz of sweetened coconut on the top. Traditionally served with seasonal fruit.