Old School Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake.  Simple and delicious.  I’ve been looking for a recipe like the one my Pop Pop used to make for me and my brother when we were little.  It may have come from a box, maybe it was from scratch.  Either way, this is a great old school chocolate cake.  Cook's Illustrated never fails to inspire.  I think it goes best with freshly whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

Cheers to nostalgia and chocolate.   

 

12 tbs unsalted butter, softened

1 ¾ cups (8 ¾ ounces) unbleached flour plus extra for dusting pans

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

¼ cup dutch processed cocoa

½ cup hot water

1 ¾ cups (12 ¼ ounces) granulated sugar

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

Oven at 350°, rack in middle position

Grease 2, 9-inch round cake pans with butter and coat with flour

1. Whisk cocoa powder and hot water and set aside.  In a heat safe bowl or measuring cup, melt unsweetened chocolate.  Set aside until cool.
2. Add ½ cup sugar to melted chocolate and mix in cocoa powder/water mixture.
3. Whisk together flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
4. Combine buttermilk and vanilla and set aside 
5. In a mixing bowl fitted with wire whisk, mix eggs until combined.  Add the remaining 1 ¼ cups sugar and mix on high for 3 minutes until light yellow in color and almost tripled in volume.
6. Change from whisk to paddle attachment.
7. Add cooled chocolate mixture and mix until incorporated.  Be sure to scrape down the bowl intermittently.
8. Add butter, one tablespoon at a time.  Be sure that each tablespoon of butter in incorporated before adding the next. 
9. On low speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture. When flour is incorporated, added ½ of the buttermilk/vanilla mixture.  Continue adding another third of the flour, mixing until incorporated and then add buttermilk.  Finish by adding the remaining third of flour and scrape down the bowl to combine all ingredients.
10.  Divide batter between the two pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.  If it is still slightly liquid-y in the center after 25 minutes, continue to bake but check every 2 minutes to avoid over baking. 
11. Cool cakes in their pans for about 10 minutes then invert on a cooling rack for an additional 40 minutes before frosting.

Enjoy!
MJM

Crumb Topped Banana Bread

Bread:

2 cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

3 very ripe/speckled bananas, mashed (about 1 ½ cups)

¼ cup plain yogurt or sour cream

2 large eggs

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp vanilla extract

       

Crumb Topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp ground cinnamon

6 Tbsp unsalted melted butter

Preheat oven to 350°

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position. Grease and flour bottom and sides of nonstick 9x5x3-inch loaf pan and set aside.

Make the Crumb Top:

1. Mix together flour, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Add melted butter and mix with a fork until fully incorporated.  Use your hands to break up the mixture into crumbs. Set aside.

Make the Bread:

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl; set aside.

2. Mix together mashed bananas, yogurt/sour cream, eggs, butter, vanilla, walnuts and chocolate (if using) in medium bowl. Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined.  Batter will look thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan and add the crumb topping over the batter.

3. Bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

MJM

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Flourless Chocolate Torte

16 ounces bittersweet chocolate*

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

6 large eggs, room temperature

*Guittard, Ghiradelli or Callebaut: step away from the Nestle

Equipment: One 8-inch spring form pan buttered, and lined with buttered parchment or wax paper on the bottom; outside of pan wrapped with a double layer of heavy-duty foil. Roasting pan to serve as a water bath.

Stand mixer with whisk attachment or hand mixer

Preheat the oven to 425°

 

1.  Melt chocolate and butter in microwave safe bowl, stirring every 20 seconds until mixture is smooth.  Be careful not to burn the chocolate.

2.  Add eggs to stand mixer bowl and set over a pan of simmering water and heat the eggs, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, until just warm to the touch.

3.  Move bowl to the stand mixer and with the whisk attachment on high speed, beat about 5 minutes until triple in volume and the eggs are fluffy and lighter in color.

4.  Use a rubber spatula to fold half the eggs into the chocolate mixture until almost evenly incorporated.  Fold in the remaining eggs until almost no streaks remain. Use a rubber spatula to finish folding, scraping up the mixture from the bottom to make sure the all chocolate mixture gets incorporated.

5.  Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and set it in the larger pan. Place it in the oven and add 1 inch of hot water to the larger pan. Bake for 5 minutes then cover it loosely with a sheet of buttered foil and bake another 10 minutes. (It will wobble when moved.)

6.  Remove the cake pan from the water bath and allow it to cool for about 45 minutes.  Here’s what it will look like:

7.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until very firm, at least 3 hours.

To unmold the cake:

Have a serving plate that has at least an 8-inch flat center portion and an 8-inch plate, covered with greased plastic wrap.

Use a hot damp towel to wipe the sides of the pan. Run a thin metal spatula around the sides of the torte and release the sides of the spring form pan.

Place the plastic-wrapped plate on top and invert the torte onto it.  Remove the bottom of the spring form pan. Peel off the parchment and re-invert the torte onto the serving plate.

To serve:

Cut the torte, using a thin-bladed knife dipped in hot water between each slice.  This helps to keep the sides smooth and it looks pretty.  Ice cream, whipped cream, anything goes. 

After testing and tweaking tons of flourless chocolate torte recipes, this by far exceeds all exptectations.  Adapted from the Cake Bible.

Enjoy!
MJM

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