Chocolate Cake
Peter Johansky
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La Belle Cuisine - More Chocolate Treats

   Fine Cuisine with Art Infusion

"To cook is to create. And to create well...
is an act of integrity, and faith."

Two Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cakes

“In the beginning, the Lord created chocolate, and he saw that it was
good. Then he separated the light from the dark, and it was better.”
~ Unknown

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Red Ginger
Art Print
White, Shari
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Labrot and Graham Distillery, Bourbon and Pecan Chocolate, Kentucky, USA
Photographic Print
Molinari, Michele
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The Word Lust, Chocolate-coated
Photographic Print
Stiepel, Kai
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La Belle Cuisine

The source for both superb cake recipes is:
Maida Heatter's Book of
Great Chocolate Desserts
by Maida Heatter, 1995, Random House

Chocolate Gingerbread

16 portions

“This is a thick, soft, moist, spicy, old-fashioned dark chocolate cake. It is
quite plain. Marvelous between meals with milk or coffee, or with whipped
cream as a dessert. Or anytime with ice cream and chocolate sauce.”

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger [We use a bit more!]
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate
1/2 pound (2 sticks) sweet [unsalted] butter,
cut into small pieces
1 cup boiling water or hot prepared
coffee [coffee, of course!]
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup light molasses
4 eggs (graded large or extra-large)
Optional: 1/3 cup finely chopped
candied or preserved ginger

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven
to 325 degrees [F.] Butter a shallow 9 x 13-inch baking pan; dust it with
fine, dry breadcrumbs and invert it over paper to shake out the excess
crumbs. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and allspice,
and set aside.
Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on
low heat. Cover until the chocolate is melted. Then remove the top of
the double boiler and set it aside, uncovered, to cool slightly.
Place the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add the boiling
water or hot coffee and mix until the butter is melted. Add the brown
sugar and mix well. Then mix in the molasses. Add the eggs all together
and beat until well mixed. Mix in the chocolate. On low speed gradually
add the sifted dry ingredients and beat only until they are incorporated.
Stir in the optional ginger. The mixture will be thin.
Pout it into the prepared pan and tilt the pan to level the batter.
Bake for about 50 minutes until the top of the cake springs back when
it is gently pressed with a fingertip.
Cool in the pan for 15 or 20 minutes. Cover with a cookie sheet or a
rack and invert. Remove the pan. Cover the cake again with a sheet or
a rack and invert again leaving the cake right side up to cool.
Cut the cake into 16 large squares or 32 slices.

86-Proof Chocolate Cake

12 portions

“This is an especially moist and luscious dark chocolate cake generously
flavored with bourbon and coffee. Sensational!  It is made in a fancy
pan and is served without icing. I have made this at demonstrations
all around the country. It is one of my favorite cakes to teach because
people can’t wait to make it.”

5 ounces (5 squares) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dry instant coffee or espresso
Boiling water
Cold water
1/2 cup bourbon (see Note)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) sweet [unsalted] butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs (graded large or extra-large)
Optional: additional bourbon
Optional: confectioners’ sugar

Adjust rack one-third from bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees [F.] You will need a 9-inch Bundt pan (that is the smaller size;
it is called a Mini-Bundt pan) or any other fancy tube pan with a 10-cup
capacity. Butter the pan (even if it is a non-stick pan). Then dust the
whole inside of the pan with fine, dry breadcrumbs; invert over a piece
of paper and tap lightly to shake out excess crumbs. Set the pan aside.
Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on
low heat. Cover and cook only until melted; then remove the top of the
double boiler, and set it aside, uncovered, to cool slightly.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a 2-cup glass measuring cup dissolve the coffee in a bit of boiling
water. Add cold water to the 1 1/2-cup line. Add the bourbon. Set aside.
Cream the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add the vanilla
and sugar and beat to mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until
smooth after each addition. Add the chocolate and beat until smooth.
Then, on low speed, alternately add the sifted dry ingredients in three additions with the liquids in two additions, adding the liquids very gradu-
ally to avoid splashing, and scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula after
each addition, Be sure to beat until smooth after each addition, especially
after the last. It will be a thin mixture.
Pour into the prepared pan. Rotate the pan a bit briskly, first in one direc-
tion, then in the other, to level the top. (In a Mini-Bundt pan the batter
will almost reach the top of the pan, but it is O. K. – it will not run over,
and you will have a beautifully high cake.)
Bake for 1 hour and 10 or 15 minutes. Test by inserting a cake tester
into the middle of the cake and bake only until the tester come out clean
and dry.
Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then cover with a rack and invert. Remove the pan, sprinkle the cake with a bit of optional bourbon, and
leave the cake upside down on the rack to cool.
Before serving, if you wish, sprinkle the top with confectioners’ sugar
through a fine strainer.
This is a simple, no-icing cake, wonderful as is. Or with a spoonful of
vanilla- or bourbon-flavored whipped cream.

Note:  Of course you can substitute rum, Cognac, and Scotch whiskey for
the bourbon; or Amaretto, the suggestion of a friend of mine in Ohio.

Featured Archive Recipes:
How to Make Gingerbread
(Laurie Colwin)
New Orleans Chocolate Layer Cake
Three Chocolate Cakes (Laurie Colwin)
Ultimate Chocolate Cake Collection

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