Cakes & Bakes: Brooklyn blackout cake

This week, we discussed that we hadn’t eaten any chocolate cake for ages, so when I discovered Brooklyn blackout cake, I knew it was the next one for me to give a try.

The story goes that the blackout cake was invented in Brooklyn during the blackouts of the 2^nd World War by local bakers, Ebinger’s. It consists of layers of chocolate cake, sandwiched together with chocolate custard or pudding and topped with chocolate cake crumbs.

At first glance, it appears to be a difficult cake to produce, but it isn’t. Just tackle it in stages and you’ll see how easy… and delicious it is.

I’ve said in previous recipe posts that it can be difficult to get hold of buttermilk. However, a simple solution to this is add the juice of half a lemon to 130ml of full-fat milk, stir and set aside for 5 minutes. Ta dah… home-made buttermilk! The addition of buttermilk stops this chocolate cake from being too sweet and cloying.

I usually use buttercream between the layers of cake, but this chocolate custard was an eye opener; it spread really well and tastes superb.

This is the first time that I’ve covered a cake in crumbs; again, what a revelation! It gives the cake a different and unusual texture.

The cake is sweet, without being too sweet; moist and gooey and, from other people’s reviews, tastes even better when eaten the following day.

This is definitely a recipe to be repeated again & again.

Click here to save the Brooklyn blackout cake recipe to Pinterest

Brooklyn blackout cake

Jane Hornby

Print recipe Pin recipe

Cook Time 30

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Ingredients

For the custard filling and topping

250 g/9oz golden caster sugar
500 ml/¾pt full-fat milk
140 g/5oz dark chocolate broken up into pieces
50 g/1¾oz cornflour
2 tsp espresso powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the cake

140 g/5oz unsalted butter plus extra for greasing
100 ml/3½fl oz vegetable oil
140 g/5oz buttermilk or 130ml full-fat milk with the juice of ½ a lemon stirred in
100 ml/3½fl oz coffee made with 1 tsp espresso powder
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 g/9oz plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp baking powder
50 g/1¾oz cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
250 g/9oz light muscovado sugar

Instructions

For the custard (This needs to be prepared first as it needs to chill completely)

Put all the ingredients, except the vanilla, into a large saucepan and bring it gently to the boil, whisking all the time, until the chocolate has melted and you have a silky, thick custard
Stir in the vanilla extract and a pinch of salt, then scrape the custard into a wide, shallow bowl. Cover the surface with cling film, cool, then chill for at least 3 hours or until cold and set

For the cake

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/175ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease & line the bases of 2 x 20cm round cake tins with parchment paper
Melt the butter in a pan or in the microwave
Once melted, beat in the vegetable oil, buttermilk, espresso powder and eggs
Over a large mixing bowl, sieve all the dry ingredients (except the muscovado sugar) together
Stir in the muscovado sugar, squashing any large lumps with the back of a spoon/spatula
Pour over the wet ingredients and combine until the batter is smooth
Divide the batter equally between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 mins until risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean
Cool for 10 minutes in the tins, then remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, parchment-side down
Remove the parchment linings from the cakes. If the cakes are domed, trim them flat
Cut each cake in half horizontally using a large serrated knife
Put your least successful layer and any trimmings into a processor and pulse it to crumbs (I simply cut it into pieces and rubbed them together using my fingertips). Tip the crumbs into a large bowl
Sit one layer on a cake plate and spread it with a quarter of the custard
Sandwich the next layer on top, add another quarter of the custard
Top with the final layer of cake
Spoon the remaining custard on top of the cake, spreading it around the top and down the sides until smooth
Chill for 15 minutes to firm up the custard again
Hold the cake over the bowl containing the crumbs, then sprinkle and gently press a layer of crumbs all over the cake. Brush any excess from the plate. You’ll have some crumbs left
Chill for at least 2 hours before serving

The cake can be made up to 2 days ahead; it gets fudgier and more enticing the longer you leave it!

Keyword Brooklyn, cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, New York

Cakes & Bakes: Graham crackers

Graham crackers are the thing that American recipes usually call for to make the biscuit base in a cheesecake.

Unfortunately, they’re not something you can find easily here in the UK – so I decided to make some of my own.

The biscuits got their name due to the fact that they’re made using Graham flour; Again, not something that you can get hold of here, but I used an extra-course wholemeal flour from Shipton Mill. I think it was a good substitute for the Graham flour and the wheat bran.

The results were delicious. Thin & crispy with a hint of cinnamon – perfect with a coffee or glass of cold milk. They didn’t last very long! There certainly weren’t any left to try that afore-mentioned cheesecake base, but we can imagine how perfect that they’d be.

Click here or on the image below to save the recipe to Pinterest

Graham crackers

2020-09-02 15:48:46

Yields 16

Cook Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Ingredients

95g/3&frac13oz wholemeal flour
65g/2¼oz plain flour
13g/½oz wheat bran
65g/2¼oz granulated sugar
¼tsp cinnamon
¼tsp baking powder
¼tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼tsp salt
95g/3&frac13oz cold unsalted butter, cubed
1tbsp honey
3tbsp milk
½tsp vanilla extract

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Instructions

Put the flours, wheat bran, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in the bowl of your food processor and pulse until combined
Add the butter and process until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs
Add the honey, milk and vanilla extract and process until the dough begins to clump together
Divide the dough in half. Take half of the dough and roll it between two sheets of parchment paper until it's 25cm x 23cm / 10"x 9". As you roll, periodically check the top and bottom sheets of parchment and smooth out any wrinkles
Using a ruler and a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the 23cm / 9" width into 4 5.5 cm / 2¼" wide strips. Then cut each strip in half, so each cracker is approximately 5.5 x 12.5 cm / 2¼" wide and 5" long (you will get 8 rectangles from each half of dough)
Slide the dough (and the parchment paper) onto a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator for about ½ an hour
Meanwhile, put the shelf in the centre position and preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Once chilled, remove the dough from the refrigerator and peel off the top sheet of parchment paper. To make the Graham crackers look like the store bought ones, take a sharp knife or pizza wheel and gently cut (score) each rectangle in half lengthwise and crosswise. Then using the tines of a fork or the end of a wooden skewer, make small holes in each rectangle
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges of the Graham crackers are golden brown. The longer you bake them the more crisp they'll be
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely - they'll become more crisp as they cool

Notes

Store in an airtight container for about a week

By Stephanie Jaworski

Adapted from Joyofbaking.com

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Coconut Pecan Cake

The past few things I’ve made for the weekly Cakes & Bakes post have been pretty easy and speedy. Today’s coconut pecan cake is also pretty easy – however, the multiple stages take that little bit longer.

If you’re in the mood to spend a lazy, rainy morning baking this is a great cake to try. The recipe is the work of Dolester Miles (or ‘Dol’ as she prefers) who last month (May 2018) won the prestigious James Beard Foundation pastry chef award.

If you’ve not got the luxury of a few hours in a single day, it’s easy to spread the steps over two or three days and bring everything together on the final day.

As the chef (and her recipe) is from Alabama, a couple of the ingredients may be a bit unfamiliar to us Brits. The cream of coconut is the thick, syrupy, sweet tinned stuff that you can use to make piña colada. The sweetened, shredded coconut seems to be similar to the dessicated coconut we get here in the UK, but it appears to be shaved rather finely grated. I used dessicated in the custard filling, but used Tree of Life organic coconut chips in the cake batter and toasted on the top and sides.

I don’t think I’ve incorporated a custard filling into a sponge cake before, it works really well. And I’ll save the recipe for a doughnut filling (when I eventually get round to making those for Cakes & Bakes!).

Once all the component parts have been prepared, it’s simply a case of building up the layers and then coating. I think the colour and textures are very attractive – perfect to display in our recently purchased glass cake dome.

It’s a substantial cake, but light and airy too – coconutty and moist. Absolutely delicious – I’d be very happy if I was served a slice of this in a tea shop!

Here’s Dol making her now-even-more-famous coconut pecan cake!

Click here to save Dol’s coconut pecan cake recipe to Pinterest!

Dolester Miles' coconut pecan cake

2018-06-06 19:24:58

Serves 12

Prep Time

1 hr

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

1 hr 30 min

Prep Time

1 hr

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

1 hr 30 min

For the cake

85g/3oz firmly packed sweetened shredded coconut
74g/2⅔oz pecan halves, toasted
402g/14oz granulated sugar
287g/10oz plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
¾tsp kosher salt
170g/6oz unsalted butter, softened, plus more to grease the tins
60ml/2fl oz cream of coconut
4 large eggs
¼tsp coconut extract (optional)
270ml/9½fl oz unsweetened coconut milk

For the filling

2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
230g/8oz sweetened condensed milk
57g/2oz unsalted butter
1tbsp cream of coconut
85g/3oz sweetened shredded coconut

For the syrup

101g/3½oz granulated sugar
235ml/8 fl oz water

For the icing

240ml/8½ fl oz double cream
31g/1oz icing sugar
1tbsp coconut extract (optional)
170g/6oz sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

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Instructions

Heat oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease two 9-inch round cake tins and line the bottom of each with parchment paper
Finely grind the coconut in a food processor, then transfer to a bowl
Add the pecans to the food processor, along with 2tbsps of the sugar, and finely grind together
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt
Stir in the ground coconut and pecans
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream of coconut and the remaining sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as necessary, then beat in the coconut extract
Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the coconut milk, starting and ending with the flour mixture
Divide the batter equally between the tins and smooth the top of each with a spatula
Bake until the cakes are golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean, 30 to 35 minutes
Allow the cakes cool in the tins on a wire rack for 30 minutes
Run a knife around the edge of each cake, invert onto a wire rack and remove the parchment. Allow to cool completely

For the filling

Place the egg yolks into a small, heatproof bowl and set aside
In a saucepan, combine the condensed milk, butter and cream of coconut and cook over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly until hot, about 4 minutes
Whisk ⅓ of the hot milk into the egg yolks
Transfer the egg mixture to the saucepan of milk and whisk constantly over medium-low heat until mixture has the consistency of custard, about 4 minutes. Don't allow the mixture to get too thick
Transfer to a bowl and stir in the shredded coconut. Allow to cool completely

For the syrup

In a saucepan, heat the sugar and water, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved
Remove from the heat

To assemble

Cut each cake in half horizontally
Place one layer in the bottom of a /9-inch cake tin, moisten the top with 2 to 3 tablespoons simple syrup and spread ⅓ of the coconut filling in a thin, even layer with an offset spatula
Repeat to make 2 more layers of cake and filling, then place the last layer on the top
Refrigerate the cake for about 1 hour
To remove, run a spatula around the edges, invert a cake plate over the top, and flip the cake over onto the plate

For the icing

Whip the cream with the icing sugar and coconut extract until stiff peaks form
Spread on the top and sides of the cake and sprinkle with toasted coconut
Refrigerate until ready to serve

By Kim Severson

Adapted from The New York Times

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Butter-dipped biscuits

We absolutely love our butter in this household, it’s quite alarming how much of the stuff two people get through! With all the bread and cake baking, it’s not surprising, really.

When I saw this butter-licious, American butter-dipped biscuits recipe on Pinterest my mouth immediately started watering.

It may look like a lot of butter but it isn’t really – a mere 113 grams (that’s how much is in an American ‘stick’ of butter). Anyway, it’s been decided by all those hugely intelligent scientists that butter isn’t bad for you!

You’ve probably noticed from the photos that it’s not anything like what the average British person would call a ‘biscuit’. American biscuits are what we over here might refer to as scones (whether you pronounce it to rhyme with ‘gone’ or ‘bone’).

I had one with a fried egg (as you can see in the main photo), and another with some mature cheddar. I must say, I’m not used to having savoury food with a sweet bread product – it took a bit of getting used to, but I’d definitely be making them again.

If you’re not vegetarian like me, try them with chilli con carne, sausages, bacon & eggs – especially if the meats are sweet-cured or maple-glazed. Or, have it like the Americans do, with even more butter as a side to a main course dish and/or with gravy!

Click here to pin the recipe for later!

Butter-dipped biscuits

2017-03-10 13:42:35

Yields 6

Ingredients

113g/4oz salted butter
300g/10½oz plain flour
1½ tbsp granulated sugar
1½ tbsp baking powder
250g/9oz buttermilk

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 230ºC/450ºF/ gas mark 8
In a microwave-safe bowl (or the dish the biscuits are being cooked in if it's microwave-safe) melt the butter in the microwave
Put the melted butter into an 20cmx20cm/8"x8" baking dish
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder
Pour in the buttermilk and stir until a loose dough forms
Pour the biscuit dough into the baking dish (on top of the melted butter.) Some of the butter will run over the top of the dough, that's perfectly fine
Cook for 20-25 minutes (rotating the dish 180º once during baking) - the biscuits should be golden brown on top and spring back to the touch

Adapted from The Country Cook

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/