Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (24 page)

Refrigerate the loaf before slicing or it may crumble.

NOTE
:
Dates or dried prunes, cut up, may be substituted for the raisins, or for part of them.

Sour Cream Chocolate Loaf Cake

12
G
ENEROUS
P
ORTIONS

This is a fine-grained, sweet chocolate loaf cake similar to a pound cake—with a creamy, semi-soft, fudgelike icing.

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons dry instant coffee

1 cup boiling water

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ pound (1 stick) sweet butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1¾ cups dark or light brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs (graded large)

½ cup sour cream

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf pan (8-cup capacity). Dust it lightly with fine, dry bread crumbs; invert the pan over paper and tap to shake out excess.

Place the chocolate and instant coffee in a small mixing bowl. Add the boiling water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Then let stand to cool to room temperature. It is all right if the chocolate settles to the bottom.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the vanilla and brown sugar and beat to mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until it is thoroughly incorporated. On low speed gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating only until smooth. Then add the sour cream and again beat only until smooth. Finally, stir the cooled chocolate and gradually, on low speed, beat it in.

The batter will be thin. Pour it into the prepared pan.

Bake for 60 to 75 minutes until a cake tester inserted all the way to the bottom of the cake comes out clean and dry.

Cool the cake in the pan for several minutes. Then cover it with a rack, invert pan and rack, remove pan, and let the cake cool upside down.

When the cake is cool prepare the following Fudge Icing.

FUDGE ICING

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup strained confectioners sugar

1 egg (graded large)

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on low heat. Cover and let the chocolate melt.

Meanwhile, place the butter, vanilla, confectioners sugar, and the egg in the small bowl of an electric mixer and beat well until smooth. Add the warm melted chocolate and continue to beat until smooth and creamy.

Spread the icing over the top of the cake. Smooth it, or you can make deep zigzag ridges by moving a spatula or the back of a spoon through this thick, creamy icing.

Let the cake stand for an hour or so until the icing is set. (If you refrigerate this cake, the icing will become firm fudge candy.)

VARIATION
:
You may stir ¼ to ½ cup of walnuts or pecans, cut into medium-fine pieces, into the icing just before it is spread on the cake.

Buena Vista Loaf Cake

1 9-INCH
L
OAF
C
AKE

This won first prize at several county fairs in Colorado and California. It is a plain and wonderful chocolate loaf loaded with fruit, nuts, and chocolate chips—almost a fruit cake but not as sweet. It is easy to wrap and makes a marvelous gift.

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process)

¼ pound (1 stick) sweet butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon dry instant espresso or other powdered (not granular) instant coffee

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs (graded large or extra-large)

½ cup milk

8 ounces (1 cup, packed) dates, cut in half

3 ounces (⅔ cup) raisins

7 ounces (2 cups) walnut and/or pecan halves or large pieces

6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate morsels

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf pan (8-cup capacity) and dust it with fine, dry bread crumbs, invert to shake out excess, and then set aside.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cocoa and set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the vanilla, dry instant espresso, and sugar and beat to mix well. Beat in the eggs one at a time. On low speed add about half of the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating only until incorporated. Then gradually beat in the milk, and finally the remaining dry ingredients, again scraping the bowl and beating only until incorporated. Remove from the mixer.

Add the dates and stir to mix well, then stir in the raisins, nuts, and chocolate morsels.

Turn into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 1½ hours or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean and dry.

Let the cake stand in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then cover with a rack and invert pan and rack. Remove the pan and then carefully turn the cake right side up and let it stand until it is cool.

The crust will be very crisp and crunchy; slice with a serrated knife.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Loaf Cake

2¼
POUNDS

This is a plain, fine-grained cake similar to a pound cake. It slices beautifully, keeps well if wrapped airtight, and makes a great gift. Serve it with tea or coffee, with cold milk, or as a dessert with ice cream and hot fudge sauce. It is best to let it (and all pound cakes) stand overnight before slicing. This recipe calls for long, slow baking.

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate

4 ounces semisweet chocolate

½ pound (2 sticks) sweet butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1¼ cups granulated sugar

5 eggs (graded large or extra-large), separated

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 300 degrees. You will need a bread-loaf pan with an 8-cup capacity. I have made this in many different pans. Since there is no conformity among manufacturers as to pan sizes, you will have to check the pan’s contents with measuring cups of water.

Butter the pan and dust it with fine, dry bread crumbs; invert and tap the pan to shake out excess. Or line the pan with buttered foil, buttered side up (in which case the crumbs are not necessary). Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Place both chocolates in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted and smooth and then remove the top of the double boiler and set aside to cool the chocolate slightly.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the vanilla and then 1 cup (reserve remaining ¼ cup) of the sugar and beat to mix thoroughly. Add the egg yolks all at once and beat well, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the chocolate and beat until blended. On low speed gradually add the sifted dry ingredients and beat, scraping the bowl with the spatula, only until they are smoothly incorporated.

In the small bowl of the mixer (with clean beaters) beat the egg whites on moderately high speed until the whites hold a soft shape. Gradually add the reserved ¼ cup sugar and continue to beat until the whites hold a firm shape or are stiff but not dry.

To fold the whites into the thick chocolate mixture: If you have a large rubber spatula use that, or start the folding with a large wooden spatula and then change to a standard-size rubber spatula. Fold in one-third of the whites, then another third, and finally fold in the remainder—with the first two additions do not fold completely (a bit of white may remain), but after the last addition fold until no white remains.

Turn the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean and dry. A 14 × 4 ¼ inch pan will take about 1 hour and 40 minutes. (A long, thin pan takes less time than a short, wide one.)

While it bakes the cake will crack along the top as do most pound cakes.

Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then very gently invert the cake onto a rack and remove the pan. With your hands carefully turn the cake right side up and let it stand until cool.

Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature (preferably overnight) before serving.

Pound cake should be sliced rather thin. Use a long, thin, sharp knife and cut with a sawing motion.

Since pan sizes vary so much, I can’t tell you what size cake you will have. But it will be 2¼ pounds.

NOTE
:
Because of the long, slow baking, called for in recipes for old-fashioned pound cakes, these cakes develop a crumbly top crust. To soften the crust slightly, steam it. That is, cover the cake loosely with a cotton towel or napkin as soon as it is removed from the oven, and then again when it is removed from the pan.

Cheesecakes

THE NEWEST CHEESECAKE

MOCHA VELVET

AMARETTO-AMARETTI CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

CHOCOLATE-MARBLEIZED CHEESECAKE

NEW YORK CITY CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

The Newest Cheesecake

10 TO 16
P
ORTIONS

My favorite cheesecake recipe came from Craig Claiborne. I made it every day for 10 years for restaurants my husband owned. Sometime during those years I made up a black-and-white version. And Craig made a hazelnut version. (All three are in my dessert book.) This is an exciting combination of the three cakes.

It is formed into three layers before baking, one white, one nut, and one chocolate. None of these cakes individually takes very much time to put together—but this combination one takes longer since the two bottom layers must be frozen before the next one is put on or they will run into each other.