Double Hot Chocolate Cake
With the warmer weather, the season of hot chocolate is quickly coming to an end so I thought I should complete this recipe before the evenings get too hot.
Following is my experimental recipe. The most important part of this recipe is the CHOCOLATE. Use a chocolate that you love. A high quality chocolate creates intense flavors in this recipe.
Also invest in a really good craft chocolate bar for the top of the cake. I have listed some great chocolate companies at the bottom of this post. The variety of chocolate flavors used in this recipe make this dessert amazing!
Double Hot Chocolate Cake
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
small pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
4 oz chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup hot drinking chocolate
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put a teapot on to boil.
Begin by making a cup of your favorite hot chocolate. For this recipe I used Marie Belle Aztec Hot Chocolate mixed with milk, just because I had a canister sitting on the counter and it was easy to grab. Alternatively you could make a hot chocolate using an artisan bar melted into milk. There are a lot of Hot Chocolate Recipes. Just prepare one that you like. Set aside.
Melt 4 oz chocolate in the microwave. I used Valrhona chocolate when I made this recipe, but any high quality chocolate would be delicious. Set aside to cool.
In a small bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl beat the butter until it is light in color. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Continue to mix for a few more minutes.
Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add the melted chocolate.
Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture. Continue mixing and alternate adding flour and hot chocolate. Mix until incorporated.
Pour the batter into two prepared 6-inch rounds (I usually just line the bottom of the pans with a parchment circle)
Place the pans in the center of a larger baking dish. Carefully pour hot water from the tea kettle into the larger pan to create a water bath that surrounds the two smaller cake pans.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
Carefully lift the cake pans out of the water bath. Place the pans on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.
Cut around the edges of the cake pans. Carefully remove the cakes from the pans and place on serving platters. If desired you can stack the two cakes, but I prefer to have two smaller cakes since this is a very rich dessert.
Place a piece of parchment on the table. Using a vegetable peeler carefully cut slices from the **craft chocolate bar (or other high quality chocolate) to create curls of chocolate. Lift the parchment paper and carefully tip the curls of chocolate onto the tops of the cakes.
Serve the cakes warm with ice-cream and fruit or sweetened whipped cream. The cake has a brownie crust with a fudge interior.
The cake can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days. Once chilled the cake becomes extra dense. Eat cold or bring to room temperature to serve.
CHOCOLATE
**Following is a list of some of my favorite chocolate companies. Find your favorite chocolate to use on the top of this cake recipe.
Akesson's
Amano
Amedei
Cacao Sampaka
Chocolate Conspiracy
Dick Taylor
Domori
Francois Pralus
French Broad
Friis-Holm
Fruition
Letterpress Chocolate
Madecasse
Manoa
Marou
Michel Cluizel
Millcreek Cacao
Mulate
Naive
Omnom
Original Beans
Potomac Chocolate
Pump Street Bakery
Raaka
Ritual
Solstice
Taza
The Smooth Chocolator
Valrhona