Week 3: Chocolate Intensity Cake (Katie)

I made this week's assignment for Mother's Day, and it was a hit! I picked chocolate intensity cake because Brent was out of town, and I didn't think he'd miss the chocolate overload!

Here's the recipe (from Trish Boyle’s The Cake Book):
Makes one 9-inch cake

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 62% cocoa), finely chopped
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brewed coffee
6 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350º F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with a parchment round and butter the parchment. (If you’re using a pan with a removable bottom like a springform, make sure to wrap the pan with 2 or 3 layers of foil.)

Place chopped chocolate in a large bowl. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, stir butter, sugar and coffee until the butter is melted and mixture is boiling. Pour the hot mixture over your chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously until blended. Whisk in the vanilla and salt. Slowly add about 3/4 cup hot chocolate mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. (Tempering the eggs with a little bit of the hot chocolate mixture will prevent “scrambled eggs” when combining the two mixtures.) Add the egg mixture to the hot chocolate mixture and whisk to combine well. Strain the batter through a sieve (to catch any cooked egg bits) and then pour batter into prepared pan.

Set cake pan in a large roasting pan and fill the pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the center is shiny and set but still a bit jiggly. Transfer cake pan to a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes.

Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a cardboard round on top of the pan and invert the cake onto it. Remove pan and carefully remove the parchment paper. Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours before glazing with chocolate glaze. *I chilled overnight before glazing and then chilled for 2 hours more before serving. It was PERFECT!

Bittersweet Ganache
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth. Gently stir in the vanilla. Transfer glaze to a small bowl and cover the surface of the glaze with plastic wrap and let cool for 5 minutes at room temperature before using.

To glaze the cake:
Place the chilled cake, still on the cake round, on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Slowly pour the hot glaze onto the center of the cake. Smooth the glaze over the top and sides, letting the excess drip onto the baking sheet. Scrape the extra glaze from the baking sheet and put it in a small ziploc bag. Seal the bag and cut a tiny hole in one of the bottom corners. Gently squeeze the bag over the top of the cake to drizzle the glaze in a decorative pattern. Refrigerate the cake at least one hour before serving. *I chilled the cake overnight and LOVED the texture and flavor of it. I actually prefer to eat it straight from the fridge, nice and chilled! The texture is smooth, rich and creamy and holds up well while eating.

I made just a few little changes...I read somewhere that the cake has a strong coffee flavor. So instead of using 1/2 cup of brewed coffee, I mixed some International French Vanilla Cafe mix with 1/2 cup of milk. For the ganache, I used 4 oz of bittersweet chocolate, and 2 oz of semi-sweet. Then there were a few changes in prep (I didn't strain for "scrambled eggs"), but I mostly stuck to the directions.

Saturday afternoon I made the cake. No trouble with the batter. I set the oven timer for 35 minutes, and when I got it out, it had no "jiggle." I was so upset, thinking I baked it for too long and I should have checked it sooner...but once I took it out of the pan, it looked was just fine.


I put it in the fridge and took it out to glaze around 11:00 pm that night (so it chilled about 10 hours). I didn't have any cardboard laying around, so I used a double layered brown bag. It seemed like so much glaze, layered thick on the top. I thought it looked odd, and I was feeling pretty skeptical at this point. But I put it in a pan, covered it with foil, and back in the fridge it went.


When I got it out of the fridge, the glaze had hardened and looked a lot darker. Since my glaze didn't really "drip" down the baking rack, I used a thin knife to go around the edge of the cake. I probably could have cut this a lot nicer, but I had a crowd waiting!


We ate it chilled, right out of the fridge.


Yum yum! The end product was delicious! Very rich, but not too sweet (thanks to the bittersweet chocolate). And just the right hint of coffee. The texture was so interesting...I read some reviews that said this wasn't like a normal flourless cake, and they were right. It was dense, but it was also creamy and soft (kind of like cheesecake texture). Here's a close up:


Everyone seemed to love the cake (of course maybe they just didn't want to tell me otherwise to my face?). Garret gave it an A+, my dad asked me to send my mom the recipe...overall it seemed like a success!


My mom had another taste after the cake got to room temperature, and said it was like a completely different cake. She said it tasted sweeter, and preferred the chilled bittersweet effect. Interesting. I would definitely make this again - it was worth the effort!

Happy Mother's Day, ladies! I hope your day was glorious! Love you all!