After our little group of bakers took on Battle Croissant it was decided that perhaps for our next group project we should chose something a little more on the less challenging side…you know, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich 🙂 . We all made suggestions. My suggestion was for a chocolate flour less cake. I have made many a flour less cake and I know that they are simple to make. Plus it is February, the month of chocolate! Well my idea was chosen and we picked Chocolate Intensity by Tish Boyle. This was actually very different from any flour less cake I had made before. The ones I had made use beaten egg whites to add volume, this did not. So as a result the cake is far more dense than the chocolate flour less cakes that I am used to. This was almost fudge-like, in a good way(as if that could ever be a bad way). They only disappointing thing was for my husband, who was very excited when this baby came out of the oven(remember not much baking has been happening on my end). But the minute he bit into it he was sad…it has a fairly strong coffee flavor(fine by me) and he is not a fan of the caffeine wonder(and we live in Seattle). It was so rich in fact that I chose to not put the glaze over the whole cake but just the individual slice. And as usual I made mini cakes, because the smaller they are, the more of them you can eat!
To see what others were up to head on over to Brilynn, Quellia, Ivonne, Mary, Lis, Tanna, Helen, Veronica or Hester to see what they did with theirs.
Chocolate Intensity
from Tish Boyle’s The Cake Book
makes one 9-inch cake or two mini 4 inch cakes
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 62% cocoa), finely chopped
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brewed coffee
6 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with a parchment round and butter the parchment. (If you’re using a pan with a removable bottom like a springform, make sure to wrap the pan with 2 or 3 layers of foil.)
Place chopped chocolate in a large bowl.
In a saucepan over medium-high heat, stir butter, sugar and coffee until the butter is melted and mixture is boiling. Pour the hot mixture over your chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously until blended. Whisk in the vanilla and salt. Slowly add about 3/4 cup hot chocolate mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. (Tempering the eggs with a little bit of the hot chocolate mixture will prevent “scrambled eggs” when combining the two mixtures.) Add the egg mixture to the hot chocolate mixture and whisk to combine well.
Strain the batter through a sieve (to catch any cooked egg bits) and then pour batter into prepared pan. Set cake pan in a large roasting pan and fill the pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the center is shiny and set but still a bit jiggly. Transfer cake pan to a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes.
Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a cardboard round on top of the pan and invert the cake onto it. Remove pan and carefully remove the parchment paper. Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours before glazing with chocolate glaze.
Chocolate Glaze
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth. Gently stir in the vanilla. Transfer glaze to a small bowl and cover the surface of the glaze with plastic wrap and let cool for 5 minutes at room temperature before using.
To glaze the cake:
Place the chilled cake, still on the cake round, on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Slowly pour the hot glaze onto the center of the cake. Smooth the glaze over the top and sides, letting the excess drip onto the baking sheet.
Scrape the extra glaze from the baking sheet and put it in a small ziploc bag. Seal the bag and cut a tiny hole in one of the bottom corners. Gently squeeze the bag over the top of the cake to drizzle the glaze in a decorative pattern. Refrigerate the cake at least one hour before serving.
Special thanks to Mary for getting her post up early so super lazy me could just copy and paste the recipe. 😛
Lisa says
Now THAT’S a wedge of Intensity. Fabulous photos.. I heart the drizzle of glaze and the shaved chocolate on top.. quite beautimous, indeed. 😀
Yeah, I never thought about that before but you guys are from the coffee capital of the world.. how has he managed to not become a fan? hehe
xoxo
Hester says
Oooh – it’s so beautiful! I love the shavings of chocolate… So fun how everyone personalizes the same cake!
x
Cheryl says
That first picture is just not fair this early in the morning. I can’t stop staring at it.
I bow down to you.
Ivonne says
Oh, yummy yummy yummy! I want to jump into that little puddle. It’s gorgeous, Peabody. Great suggestion!
P.S. So happy that Buffalo kicked Ottawa’s ass!
Brilynn says
As usual, your photos are gorgeous! I don’t actually drink coffee either, but I like the flavour it gives to baked goods, so I really liked this cake.
Tanna says
I love coffee. My friend tasted the coffee in this cake. For me it was just the chocolate.
Wow, Peabody that white chocolate shaving is so simple and so perfect! Super neat.
gattina says
Peabody, I’m with you, every “disappointing” thing is actually making my taste buds singing 😀 Gosh, 3 sticks of butter, 6 eggs… I want to bite this devil!
Very beautiful white chocolate shavings you made!
Maria says
Wow! You guys are amazing! I loved looking at all your recipes…they are all unique and lovely! I wish I could taste them all:)
Laurie says
YUM! I just love looking at the creations you guys are coming up with, and chocolate on top of that, love the contrast with the white chocolate shavings.
Claire says
I love the fudginess! Looks yummy, though I’m not a big fan of chocolate.
Patricia Scarpin says
I should give up – I can’t keep up with you, girls! 🙂
The cake looks amazing, Peabody, I wish you were my neighbor. 😉
Susan from Food "Blogga" says
When my husband and I visited Seattle, we experienced a 5-day caffeine buzz. This fudgy, coffee-flavored cake sounds like perfection to me.
rachel says
I love dense cakes, this one looks great!
Helen says
That pool of chocolate is just decadent. Those chocolate shavings are precious on top of the cake. Beautiful!
sher says
Yowza!!! It’s an experience just looking at that marvelous cake. Your pictures are beautiful, I really feel like I’m looking at the cake in person! I like the coffee added to the batter. That works so well with chocolate.
Mary says
I found it funny that your husband didn’t really like the coffee flavor. But you guys probably don’t live in Seattle because of the coffee. 🙂
Very nice! I like the chocolate shavings too. I wanted to make some ruffles for mine but I got lazy.
Linda, The Village Vegetable says
this is amazing. you are such a talented photographer. it’s plated so beautifully as well! not to mention my mouth is watering!
gilly says
Lovely work, Peabody – I love the little chocolate curls.
I’m sure your version of a PB&J sandwich is pretty impressive too 😉
Jenny says
Okay now I can’t decide if I like yours or Ivonne’s better! Oh wait, after the Buffalo/Ottawa comment, I’d rather have yours!
Looks great!
Ari (Baking and Books) says
Oh hell, I think you just broke down my chocolate resistance. I was doing so well, looking at these gorgeous photos of chocolate cake you and your conspirators posted… I was really resisting the tempation to eat that chocolate ice cream bar in the freezer. But now, after your photos, that’s it. I’m eating the chocolate!
Kristen says
What a beautiful creation! That looks incredible. I like the idea of mini cakes too… good philosophy on that one 🙂
tigerfish says
Oh, I love chocolates, no matter how much is the intensity 😀
Kirsten says
WOW!! So amazing. Flourless choc cakes are probably my all-time favorite dessert. If I had to eat one dessert for the rest of my life it would probably be that. 🙂
SOOOO good. And your photos, although always amazing, really really are great on this one.
And, even for non-baker me, the recipe seems easy enough that I may try it!
veron says
I love the way the glaze is just saying “Eat me”. This was a perfect suggestion for the baking group!
Brokenspoke says
Incredible! I am here in Afghanistan and your site is an injection of sanity in this mess. This is one recipe I will try when I get home. Photography is great and allows me and fellow troops to at least dream of the better things in life! Thanks – keep up the great work!
Elle says
Fabulous photos…looks like a party with the white chocolate. Makes me want to dive in with a fork. Genius.
MeltingWok says
oh my goddddd..so so intensed !! you must be one of those chocolate chain gang hehe 🙂
Deb says
Holy Smokes!!!!!!! That looks insane!
connie says
Chocolate intensity indeed!
joey says
This looks just sublime! I love any chocolate cake that can be described as “intense” 🙂 I just want to shake your’s out of my laptop and into my plate!
Love your group cooking adventures! 🙂
jann says
chocolate on overload and sooooo delicious looking!
Rosa says
That looks gorgeous! I’m sure that it’s a real killer…
dali says
i LOVE this, i tried out your recipe to a T (even factored in differences in measurements between USA/UK cups, tsps) cos i’m a novice baker who hasn’t quite broken into baking yet. the only problem with my cake was that the sides around the circumference of the pan rose so much, the cake looked like a crater with the middle being heavy. would you know what i did wrong? too much fat? eggs too large? temp too high?
other than that, it’s DELISH! and i’d love to give it a go one more time.
Calum says
Wow! It took me about half a week to get over the fact that this contained almost two pats of butter (UK), not to mention six eggs and a stonking 200g of chocolate…
…but…
I think it’s going to be worth it! As I speak, the cake is in the oven, singing quietly to itself. (I’ll tell it to shut up in a minute. I never did like Clementine.) The “plop” as the mixture fell into the tin was as good as…well, maybe not quite. But almost! Interested to see how it turns out. The only no-flour cake I’ve made before is usualyy ridden with ground almonds.
Thanks!
Ellie says
Hi Peabody,
I thought I should let you know that the second photo in this post has been stolen by a Flickr user – they have uploaded it onto their account without crediting the image to you in any way:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94535543@N00/441863863/
She did the same thing with one of my images, but if you email her and ask her to remove it then she’s rather apologetic and removes it quickly.
Cheers,
Ellie
holly says
hi-
I just made the cake with whole milk substituted for coffee.
I can’t compare since I’ve never had it with the coffee, but all I know is this cake is divine!
holly
Martha says
Peabody, this was delicious. It turned out perfect. I decorated it with fresh berries over the ganache and it was a total hit at my dinner party, very elegant!
Joyce says
Dear Peabody,
Really love your blog esp. all the mouth-watering photos. My only complain is that somehow I cannot view the photos for this particular recipe and looking at all the reviews, they sounded great. Is there any way that I can view them – not sure why the pictures don’t appear.
Thanks.