Chocolate Cake Shooter

I took CowBoyCaleb out for dinner at ChangAn and I introduced this after-dinner drink so much that he kept bugging me to blog about it for him to plug. So being the good friend (despite him rumour mongering me with Lexandria), here it is without further ado:

Recipe For Chocolate Cake Shooter

Ingredients

• Half Peg (15 ml) of Frangelico *
• Half Peg (15 ml) of Vodka **
• Lemon Wedge (1/6 of a full lemon) ***
• Coarse White Sugar ****

1. Pour both half pegs of Frangelico and Vodka into shaker full of ice.
   
2. Seal the shaker, shake then let it sit for a couple of minutes.
3. In the mean time. 3 cuts into a lemon length-wise to get 6 wedges which you serve on a small serving tray.
4. Coat the lemon wedges with coarse white sugar.
5. Uncap the shaker and strain the concoction into a shot glass, leaving the ice behind.

1. Hold the shot glass in one hand and the white sugar-coated lemon wedge in the other hand.
2. Shoot the shot glass in one down and take a bite of the sugar-coated lemon wedge. Quickly take it out and DO NOT suck that lemon as if you were doing Tequila Shots. This is a different drink altogether.

Notes

* Frangelico. Frangelico was an invention by the Italian Christian monks dated as far back as 300 years ago. It is a sweet liqueur derived from hazelnuts and herbs. the unique bottle packaging is that of a friar in his habit and the robe tied to the waist to serve as a belt. Apparently, given that this is not a very mainstream liqueur, locating it may be a tad tricky. According to AKK who has been scouring Singapore for this, I am glad to report that the bottle is available at the basement supermarket of Isetan Scotts. Perhaps AKK would be able to update us on more locations of its availability in the comments section?

** Vodka. Some recipes on the web call for the use of lemon-flavoured vodka e.g. Absolut Citron as the vodka mixer. I disagree on the grounds that natural lemon trumps artificial flavouring any place, any time. Hence, I strongly recommend plain regular vodka. You don't have to splurge on a premium brand like Grey Goose since the role of the vodka here is merely a supporting one. Your regular Smirnoff or Stolichnaya will do just fine.

*** 1/6 Lemon Wedge. This is just a trial-and-error experience on my part to share with everybody. A thin slice is not enough while anything bigger that a quarter wedge is just wasteful as you do not need that much lemon. Thus my special mention of quickly taking the lemon out as soon as you bite it so that you don't get too much lemon juice overpowering the shooter.

**** Coarse White Sugar. Coarse white sugar is usually available in our home kitchens but not at cocktail bars or commercial establishments. Reason being that sugar there are usually in packet form for coffee and tea. These are fine white sugar i.e. more finely grounded to allow the sugar to dissolve faster. The problem here is two-fold while not critical i.e. you still get the same taste after all, fine or coarse, they are still white sugar.

When you sprinkle fine white sugar on a succulent lemon wedge i.e. not dried up, you will realised that the sugar dissolves into the lemon very quickly and disappears. It is only normal response to want to add some more until you actually see the sugar sit on the lemon wedge, which by then, may inadvertently be too much already. Coarse sugar dissolves much slowly and as such is favoured for this particular reason.

What about coarse brown sugar? I don't have an answer to that as I have always stayed with white sugar. If anyone tried it, do drop a feedback to let us know in the comments section.

The other problem with too much sugar on a wet surface, you are going to get a very sticky mess on the table and fingers. So do be careful where you wipe that hand of yours!

AKK loved this drink so much that 1) she haiku-ed it, 2) evangelise this drink to every establishment that she had come across. I am happy to report that her efforts have not gone in vain for some of these places actually gave this shooter a permanent spot on their menus. One of them being the The Boulevard Bar at Red Dot Traffic ($72 for a dozen). If there is more, AKK will update us all in the comments section.

The funny thing about Frangelico is that while quite a number of establishments carry a bottle of it, none of them knows what to do with it. I have taught a few places namely The Clinic at Clarke Quay and Indochine Siem Reap at Holland Village. Problem with them is that they are not on the regular menu. You may have to teach them all over again and may be a tad pricey since this is off-the-menu (i.e. they also dunno how to price it).

Salut!

Image Credit: http://beeractivist.files.wordpress.com, R0913R on Flickr

- Voxeros

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