Last week, we had friends from Yorkshire come to stay with us for a few days. Like us, they do a lot of walking, so some of that was on the agenda.
They wanted a trip to the seaside, so we took them to Ynyslas for a few hours. We timed our arrival to coincide with low tide – to enjoy walking through the dunes and along the long, wide swathes of sandy beach.
Although it was quite sunny, it was a breezy day, so the kiteboarders were out in force.
On another day, we took them on one of our favourite nearby woodland walks. We promised them an encounter with a couple of pigs, and our porcine friends didn’t disappoint!
The sow and one of her piglets wandered over when we offered some apple pieces that we brought with us.
As well as walking, we enjoyed sharing food & drink with our friends. One of the dishes that went down well was a chocolate buttermilk hazelnut layer cake – Justin thinks it’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made. Deliciously moist and chocolaty without being too sweet or sickly.
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 2nd 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.
140g/5oz buttermilkor 130ml full-fat milk with the juice of ½ a lemon stirred in
100ml/3½fl oz coffeemade with 1 tsp espresso powder
2large eggs
1tspvanilla extract
250g/9oz plain flour
1tspbicarbonate of soda
2tspbaking powder
50g/1¾oz cocoa powder
Pinchof salt
250g/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
Rose Levy Beranbaum named this recipe Chocolate oblivion truffle torte. It’s a mere 3 ingredients; chocolate, butter and eggs. And it cooks in 15 minutes.
In this Food52 article, she guides the reader through the reasons why she chooses to use particular ingredients and methods to make this torte. Eggs and butter at room temperature, a particular percentage of cocoa solids in the chocolate, whipping the eggs over heat, the water bath to cook…
To make an easy cake recipe even easier, I not only lined the bottom of the tin but also the sides. This meant that I didn’t have to faff around with heating the tin to get the torte out and on to the serving plate.
It was delicious – and a little goes a long way. I halved the recipe and it still made 8 portions.
454g / 16oz dark chocolate (fine quality, but no higher than 62%)
227g 8oz unsalted butter, room temperature
6 large eggs, room temperature
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Instructions
Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425°F/Gas mark 7
In a large, heat-proof bowl set over a pan of hot, not simmering water (don't allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water) place the chocolate and butter and allow it to stand, stirring occasionally, until smooth and melted. (You can also use a microwave on higher power, stirring every 20 seconds)
In a large mixing bowl, set over a pan of simmering water, heat the eggs, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, until just warm to the touch. Immediately remove the 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 billowy and lighter in colour. (If using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the eggs over simmering water until they're hot. Remove them from the heat and beat for about 5 minutes or until cold)
Using a rubber spatula, fold half the eggs into the chocolate mixture until almost evenly incorporated
Fold in the remaining eggs, scraping up the mixture from the bottom to ensure that all the heavier chocolate mixture gets incorporated and almost no streaks remain
Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and set it in the larger tin. Place it in the oven and surround it with 1 inch of hot water
Bake for 5 minutes. Cover it loosely with a sheet of buttered foil and bake another 10 minutes. (It will wobble when moved)
Remove the cake tin from the water bath and allow it to cool for about 45 minutes
Cover tightly with cling film and refrigerate until it's very firm - at least 3 hours
Un-mould the cake: Have ready a serving plate that has at least an 8-inch flat centre portion and an 8-inch or large flat loose bottom of a tart tin or plate, covered with greased cling film
Use a torch, hair drier or a hot damp towel to wipe the sides of the tin
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
Heat the bottom of the pan and remove it
Peel off the parchment and flip the torte onto the serving plate
Cut the torte using a thin-bladed knife dipped into hot water between each slice
Notes
It's most moussey and delicious served at room temperature. Accompany with raspberry sauce and fresh raspberries and whipped cream if desired
A few weeks ago, we tried a great Camembert bread recipe from Jamie Oliver’s recent Christmas programme. In the same episode, Jamie made a chocolate clementine torte. Justin immediately put in a request for me to make it.
Like many of his recipes, there are a mere 5 ingredients – all readily available and most you’ll probably already have to hand.
The cake is luxuriously decadent – you’ll only need a small slice to be sated.
Finishing with the little drizzle of clementine syrup adds a lovely tangy note to the rich, intense chocolate. If clementine doesn’t grab you, you could always serve the torte alongside a raspberry, strawberry or mango or coulis… or simply on its own!
It’s a perfect dinner party dessert which can be prepared well in advance.
Snap the chocolate and melt it in a heatproof bowl with the butter and a pinch of salt over a pan of gently simmering water (do not allow the bottom of the bowl to come into contact with the water) until smooth and glossy, stirring occasionally
Whisk the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer on a high speed until light, fluffy and tripled in size
Grease a 20cm/8" round cake tin all over with a little butter and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper. If you're using a spring-form tin, also wrap the outside if the tin with tin foil to prevent the water seeping into the tin
Remove the chocolate from the heat, allow to stand for a couple of minutes prior to pouring it into the egg mixture
Whisk on a medium speed to combine, then pour the batter into the lined tin
Give the tin a few gentle taps on the work-surface to bring the air bubbles to the surface, then place the tin into a shallow roasting tray
Place the tray into the oven and carefully pour enough boiling kettle water into the tray to come halfway up the side of the cake tin
Gently slide the shelf back in and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until set but with a slight wobble
Squeeze the clementine juice through a sieve into a small pan and simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, or until syrupy enough to coat the back of a spoon
Carefully pour it into a bowl and leave to cool
Remove the torte from the oven and leave to cool in the water-filled tin for an hour
Gently loosen the edges with a butter knife, then carefully turn it out onto a serving board/plate and peel off the paper
Slice and serve with a drizzle of the clementine syrup
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