Triumphant Return of the Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake
Posted by Moose on April 1st, 2006. Filed under: I Live to Eat.I am lolling on the couch in a chocolate sated stupor after polishing off the last piece of this:
Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake of the gods. In spite of my vague worry over the lumps and my distrust of the golden brown sugar (recipe specified dark brown and deviations of this kind make me twitchy), it turned out extremely well. It was rich and moist, but not so rich that you feel ill after one slice. This is a plus if, like me, you’ve never learned to stop after one slice. It turned out so well that I would like to share the recipe with you, dear internet. If you are ever in need of some chocolate cake, I highly recommend this one.
Courtesy of How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson~
Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake
1 cup soft unsalted butter
1-2/3 cups dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces best bittersweet chocolate, melted
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
9 x 5-inch loaf pan
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, put in a baking sheet in case of sticky drips later, and grease and line the loaf pan. The lining is important as this is a very damp cake: use parchment or one of those loaf-pan shaped paper liners.
Cream the butter and sugar, either with a wooden spoon or with an electric hand-held mixer, then add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well. Next, fold in the melted and now slightly cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but being careful not to overbeat. You want the ingredients combined: you don’t want a light airy mass. Then gently add the flour, to which you’ve added the baking soda, alternately spoon by spoon, with the boiling water until you have a smooth fairly liquid batter. Pour into the lined loaf pan, and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. (MH5 note: all ovens vary, I know mine is most certainly off by 25 degrees so for me this cake took closer to an hour to bake.) The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside, so an inserted cake tester or skewer won’t come out completely clean.
Place the loaf pan on a rack, and leave to get completely cold before turning it out. (I often leave it for a day or so: like gingerbread, it improves.) Don’t worry if it sinks in the middle: indeed, it will do so because it’s such a dense and damp cake
Makes 8-10 slices
Moose note: Don’t eat them all in one sitting.
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April 5th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
testing, testing, testing
no fire here
April 6th, 2006 at 8:36 am
I too am a devotee of Nigella’s dense chocolate loaf cake. Mine always sinks in the middle, though. Yours is far more charming.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Nigella does say it’s supposed to sink in the middle. Nigella’s word is law in my world, so it follows that your cake is the most accurate. : ) Though, I think mine sunk eventually. This picture was taken when it was fresh out of the oven.