How It All Started

Bob Phillips

The title of this blog was inspired by one of my Spanish professor's at Miami University of Ohio, Dr. Robert Phillips, who died in the e...

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Six-Minute Chocolate Cake - The "Espresso" of Cakes!

So, James had a birthday on Sunday. I baked him a cake, but he was away most of the day taking a train from Baltimore to Providence, Rhode Island where Paloma and I picked him up. It was almost 9:00 p.m. when we met the train, and then we stopped for a bite to eat, so it was close to 10:30 when we got home - past my bedtime. I had to work the next day, so the cake sat until after our Cinco de Mayo Celebration on Monday.

I found the recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook. The editors say they got the original recipe from a 1976 House & Garden magazine. It is quite simple, and really only takes about 6 minutes to whip together.  Mixing of ingredients is done directly in the pan in which it is cooked.

The recipe calls for:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. sugar (I used a little less - about 3/4 cup)
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. cold water OR brewed coffee (regular readers of this blog will have no problem guessing which one I chose!)
2. t. vanilla extract
2 T. vinegar

The dry ingredients were sifted directly into an ungreased 9" round cake pan. Then everything else, except the vinegar, was poured into a 2-cup measuring cup, then poured and mixed with the dry ingredients. Once the batter was smooth I added the vinegar (I used one tablespoon of Espresso-flavored vinegar; and one tablespoon of dark chocolate-flavored) and mixed well. It baked at 350 for about 25 minutes. It was such a dark brown color it was almost black after it baked.

The recipe also includes directions for an optional glaze, which I also made.

Ingredients are:
1/2 pound bittersweet chocolate (I had to re-read that several times, yes 1/2 pound, which was all I had in my cupboard)
3/4 c. hot milk
1/2 t. vanilla

The chocolate was melted in a 300 degree oven then mixed with the other ingredients. It was not so much a "glaze", but rather a blob of bittersweet chocolate. I could not figure out why it called for so much chocolate, I ended up using only a tiny fraction of the "blob" to frost the cake. I added some confectioners sugar to the top of the cake, along with a bit of ground cocoa, coffee, and sugar. The cake had a rich flavor, not too sweet, and was enjoyed by us both (alas - poor Paloma did not get to partake).  James is taking the rest over to his Social Justice League meeting today.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for a wonderful cake! It was a big hit with the students as well. It has been better each day than the day before -- as we eat only small slivers of this very rich cake. So I think the fact that we missed it the first day was not a problem.

    On the third day, I poked some holes in the top of my sliver with a fork, and carefully poured a very small amount of Kahlua over it. This was definitely a good idea.

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