As the shades of 2010 are drawing to a close, I am confident I can heave a huge sigh of relief and let go of my life changing woes. Not the intro sentence you expected for a post about a cake, eh? Well, what if my story of cake is a metaphor of a cliche yet necessary life lesson I feel I diligently learned over the course of the previous year? What if my rounds of cake makery simplify and represent the rounds and rounds of questions crafted and re-crafted in my mind about leaving a great job and breezy Florida living for a crash course in the culinary life full-time deep in the heart of the foodie mecca of New York City? What if the Tyler Florence Cracked Earth Chocolate Cake recipe I perfected while pre-baking for my biggest private chef gig to date are the symbolic building blocks of life wisdom from family, friends, and The Alchemist which I set into motion in my life makeover? And what if, what if, my final cake is like me spreading happiness solely from the happiness the burns from within as does the true nature of cake? And finally, what if I am doing my best to make all my life nonsense and this cake tale seem like they are meaningfully inter-twined purely for plot's sake?
Alright I give. This year has been unnerving in the best possible way. Everything and everyone I love is still around and everything which formerly bummed me out is no longer part of my stratosphere. So is this bliss realized at last? Has my car been towed? Do I struggle to pay my rent month-to-month? Am I the only neighbor who will shovel the walk after a blizzard? Yes, this is life in New York City and it is bliss at last. I may work three jobs and an occasional fourth, but I cook for dough (that's the cheddar dough, Benjamins-I think you get it) plus still working at my college education related field of interactive media. Ergo, I no longer feel like a total schmuck for my student loan debt.
The life lesson-not just in cake but in life life-I learned was loving what you do day-to-day is the key to extended happiness. Nearly all things in life will change, die, destruct, mutate, or disappear forever and you need to maneuver through these events using a light. That light is your work, your love, your passion, the only tangible love that exists in you and you alone. When cooking, writing, and in other creative endeavors I finally feel this very personal love. It is while exercising said love that I tackled the Tyler Florence Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe preparing for a fantastic Christmas Eve party where I attended as chef. Twenty-five adults and kids were expected in attendance and since I own a 9-inch springform pan, I repeated and perfected the execution of this cake recipe for those of us baking balling without a stand mixer.
Tyler Florence Cracked Earth Cake Recipe adapted by Rachel Joyce (Prep time: 30 minutes, Cook time: 40-45 minutes, Total time: 1-1 1/2 hours, Servings: 1 9-inch cake)
Ingredients
- 1 pound bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips or broken into pieces.
- 1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature, cubed
- 9 large eggs, separated
- 3/4 cup + 1 tblsp white granulated sugar
- confectioner's sugar for dusting
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan.
- Set out 3 mixing bowls, ideally all metal or at least 1 metal. Put the chocolate and butter cubes in the metal bowl.
- Measure the sugar into the largest bowl.
- Separate the eggs. Dropping the egg whites into the third and final bowl and the yolks into the largest bowl already containing the sugar.
- Whisk or whip the egg yolks with sugar until light yellow in color.
- Beat the egg whites with a clean whisk or beaters until stiff peaks form. In mid-beating, put your put with 1-2 inches of water in it on the stove on high to bring the water to a boil.
- When the water boils and the egg whites are fully beaten, bring the metal bowl to the pot of water and place it on top to create a double-boiler. Slightly turn the heat down so the water goes down to a simmer.
- Stir the chocolate and butter until they are both fully melted.
- Bring the melted chocolate mixture to the egg yolk mixture and temper the egg yolk mixture by whisking in 1 tbslp of the hot chocolate mixture. Continue to add more chocolate mixture to the egg yolk mixture constantly mixing until all the chocolate has been added.
- Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is set, the top starts to crack and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, 40 to 45 minutes.
- Let stand 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan.
- Serve at room temperature dusted with confectioners' sugar and topped with whipped cream such as...
Rachel's Peppermint Whipped Cream Recipe (Prep time: 10 minutes, Cooling time: 30-overnight minutes, Total time: 40 minutes, Servings: apprx. 10)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
Directions
- Using a metal bowl and a metal whisk that has been in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill them, add all of the ingredients into the bowl.
- Whisk furiously and continuously in a side-to-side motion being sure to work the entire mixture for 5-7 minutes to ensure the cream thickens.
- Final cream should be cool, creamy, silky and voluminous.
Makes me feel merry just looking at it.
Sorry I didn't get to snap a pic of the Peppermint Whipped Cream but I promise it is divine dolloped atop a healthy slice of this cake. Perhaps this cake recipe will come in handy for a New Year's Eve party right around the corner or a birthday later in the year, and if so, I do hope you consider using my method (I mean, it is scientifically tested.) Here's to a blessed 2011 to all and to more epicly awesome and awful life lessons-oh, and cake. It doesn't matter what year it is, we got to have cake!
