Nigella’s Chocolate Espresso Cake
April 6th, 2006 Caroline
Nighttime has been all about insomnia and nightmares for me recently, so when I was trying to decide which cake to make next from Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame, the espresso cake called out to me. This would give me a better reason for insomnia, and, full of cake, I’d be happier about it, too.
And so I was. I ate two pieces (in order to be a good reporter, don’t you know), and didn’t sleep much. This is an excellent cake; full of flavor, nicely dry on the outside, but moist inside from its post-bake soaking with a healthy pour of kahlua. The recipe’s easy, as long as you have a stand mixer to beat the eggs for you (they have to go a very long time) and doesn’t seem to have any typos or forgotten ingrediants. I fretted for a second, having whipped the eggs into a gorgeous yellow mousse, after I dumped the flour in, all in a pile, and realized sprinkling the flour over the eggs would have made it easier to incorporate. Then again with the chocolate, which turned out not to be entirely melted when I poured it in. But I decided, rather uncharacteristically, to let the batter sort itself out in the oven, and it did.
My caffe latte cream was another story entirely. When Nigella directs, at the beginning of the recipe, to get all the ingrediants to room temperature, I didn’t really think she was referring to the cream you whip for the topping (besides, I made the cake late one night, the cream the next evening right before serving). I melted the white chocolate, let it cool, poured the cold cream on top, and of course the chocolate seized up. I whipped the cream longer than it should have gone, trying to get the chocolate incorporated. It tasted good, but it all got a little… chunky. No one complained, however.
Thumbs up.
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