holiday cake – Brownie Mischief

Chocolate Gingerbread

Course Dessert

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

Chocolate Gingerbread

1 ¼ cups (156g) all purpose flour, sifted plus extra for dusting the pan
⅓ cup (28g) Dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted plus extra for dusting the pan
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, preferably freshly ground
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (200g) packed dark brown sugar
½ cup (115ml) vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup (113g) sour cream, room temperature
½ cup (118ml) whole milk, room temperature

Cream Cheese Frosting

¼ cup (57g) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups (234g) powdered sugar, sifted
2-3 tablespoons (30-45ml) whole milk, room temperature
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pinch fine sea salt

Instructions

Chocolate Gingerbread

Preheat oven go 350ºF (180ºC). Line the bottom of a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease the insides and dust with a mixture of equal parts flour and cocoa powder.
In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves until well blended
In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla together until smooth.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and milk.
Add flour the mixture to the batter in two additions, alternating with the milk mixture, beating just until combined.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 38-45 minutes.
Cool the loaf in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of milk, the vanilla and salt. Beat until smooth. Add additional milk, if needed, until your desired consistency is reached.

Notes

To make sugared cranberries and rosemary for garnish: Mix 1 teaspoon of meringue powder* with 1 tablespoon of water. Place 1 cup of fresh cranberries in a bowl and coat them in the meringue powder mixture. Drain any excess liquid then coat the cranberries with granulated sugar. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet to dry at room temperature for at least 1 hour. Use the same method for sprigs of rosemary.

*To find meringue powder, click here.

Keyword cake, chocolate gingerbread

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

This cake story has a happy ending. Once, many years ago, someone gave my grandparents’ neighbor a flourless chocolate cake. The neighbor had a slice and couldn’t finish it because it was too rich. She brought the cake over to my grandparents and they each had a slice and couldn’t finish them, because they were too rich. I had a slice and I couldn’t finish mine either and, well…you can guess why. So my grandparents, not wanting to be wasteful, put the cake in the freezer and forgot about it for a very long time. Whenever I opened the freezer and saw it, I wondered why none of us could eat more than a few bites of that rich cake. Although I don’t know for sure, it was probably because the ratio of chocolate to butter was off. But I do know that serving it with something acidic, like berries or raspberry sauce, would have helped immensely.

The happy ending to this story is that this flourless chocolate cake was created to be enjoyed to the last bite. It’s decadent, but not overly rich. It has a good balance, not too sweet or too bitter. The raspberry sauce and fresh raspberries compliment it perfectly. This luscious cake is also delicious with strawberries or any combination of berries you like. It’s also delicious served with salted caramel sauce. I wish my grandparents were still around to give my version of a flourless chocolate cake a try. I think they would have loved this cake and finished every last bite!

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Print Recipe

Servings 8

Ingredients

Flourless Chocolate Cake

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
6 ounces unsalted butter, cubed
6 large eggs, chalazae* removed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
boiling water
powdered sugar for sprinkling
fresh raspberries for top
raspberry sauce (Recipe below)

Raspberry Sauce

3 cups (12 ounces) fresh raspberries
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4-1/3 cup (1 3/4-2 3/8 ounces) sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Instructions

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line a 6-inch springform pan** with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with nonstick spray. Wrap the bottom two inches of the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Set pan in a baking pan.
Combine chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from heat.
In a large bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer until doubled in size, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract and salt.
With a large spatula, gently fold beaten eggs into chocolate mixture in three additions until no streaks of egg remain. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Smooth top of batter with a small offset spatula.
Pour 1 1/2 inches of boiling water into baking pan. Bake until top is set and internal temperature*** reaches 140ºF, about 28-37 minutes.
Remove cake pan from water bath. Cool to room temperature then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or up to overnight, but cake is best served the day it's made).
Remove cake from pan when chilled and set. Top with powdered sugar and fresh raspberries.
To serve, remove cake from refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving and serve at room temperature for best texture. Serve with raspberry sauce.

Raspberry Sauce

Purée raspberries in blender or food processor. Pass purée through a fine mesh sieve**** to remove seeds.
In a small bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch.*****
In a small saucepan, heat raspberry purée with sugar and cornstarch slurry to a boil over medium heat. Turn heat down to low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes.

Notes

*Chalazae are the opaque chords of egg white. Removing them is optional, but they do show up as white spots in the cake after baking.

**To find the 6-inch springform pan I used, click here.

***To find an instant read thermometer, click here.

****To find a fine mesh sieve, click here.

*****To find a mini whisk for whisking small amounts, click here.

Keyword cake, chocolate