Sunday, January 31, 2010

Recipe: Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

Posted by Heather / 3 comments » / chocolate, recipes

A feature of our new blog design (thanks to Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil – more on that later!) is a recipe function. In addition to restaurant reviews, we will occasionally post recipes that feature local food sources.

Usually Valentine’s Day brings plans for reservations at restaurants, but Josh and I like to celebrate by making at home the most chocolate-y recipe we can find. We’ve tried several over the years but keep coming back to Nigella Lawson’s Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake. And local chocolate from Olive and Sinclair is perfect for the recipe. We like to use a mix of the 67 and 75% dark chocolate, which we usually pick up at Crema or Whole Foods.

Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

From How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. Makes 8-10 slices.

Ingredients:

1 cup soft unsalted butter
1-2/3 cups dark brown sugar (We've substituted light brown with good results.)
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces best bittersweet chocolate, melted (We suggest chocolate from Olive and Sinclair!)
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease and line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. The lining is important, as this is a very damp cake. In our experience it will not come out of the pan if you simply grease it.

Cream the butter and sugar, 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. 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. The cake will sink in, becoming very dense and delicious. Enjoy!

We like to serve this cake with homemade whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

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3 comments

3 Responses to “Recipe: Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake”

  1. 1

    Justine — February 2, 2010 @ 2:51 pm

    Gosh, that sounds freakin’ great. I have been debating on making my own dessert or ordering a take out dessert from somewhere in Nash. but this is swaying me even though I always make my own on V-day. Any suggestions on some good restaurant desserts in or around Nashville?

    Thanks,
    Justine

  2. 2

    Heather — February 2, 2010 @ 3:01 pm

    Justine,
    Marche always has a really great selection of desserts, and the hot chocolate at Chah Chah is good too. We’ll try to put out a post soon of our restaurant dessert recommendations!

  3. 3

    Everyday chocolate cake | Dr. Hbar — August 26, 2010 @ 3:22 am

    [...] because chocolate cake should be every day!” We still prefer to make Nigella Lawson’s dense chocolate loaf cake for our go-to chocolate cake recipe (and incidentally, it’s one of the most-viewed posts on [...]

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