Saturday, April 26, 2008

mexican chocolate cake


mexican chocolate cake, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

I am not a chocolate eating maniac, but I can appreciate the need for a special cake now and then. I made this little extravagance as a present for Chad and Emily when we had dinner at their house recently.

The amazing recipe comes from chef Rebecca Rather, courtesy of Epicurious. I did little to change it, except adding a bit more cinnamon and a dash of cayenne to the batter; and substituting coffee for water. The outcome of these three adjustments is simply to turn up the volume on an already good flavor: cocoa. I also took other reviewers' advice and dusted the inside of my buttered cake pan with cocoa powder rather than flour, which just makes you feel decadent.

Same goes for the pecan-laden glaze. By the time I got to glazing, I felt like this recipe may cause riots, fits, hysteria, and fainting. I did not bother to spread the glaze gracefully over the Bundt pan; I let gravity do the work.

By the end of the evening, I was surprise at how easily and quickly it all came together, how the outrageous ingredients mellowed, and how satisfying a slim slice with one or two pecans tasted as we talked and laughed and sipped wine in the kitchen of Chad and Emily's cozy new home.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I just made this cake for an Xmas get together tomorrow. I wasn't sure if I had done it right so I did an image search and came up with your beautiful picture - mine is quite similar! Thanks for posting this; we'll eat it tomorrow!

Unknown said...

That's a good dessert for sharing with friends! I love how mexican flavors are everywhere! Considering of course that chocolate is a mexican invention and we should call it "original chocolate"!