Intensely chocolatey cake with a simple liqueur icing
City/Region: United Kingdom
Time Period: 1922
People have celebrated their birthdays with good food and dessert at least since 430 B.C.E. when Herodotus writes of the Persians doing just that, eating “little solid food but abundance of dessert”. In Ancient Rome, a yeasted cake of nuts and honey was only for wealthy men with political power who were turning 50. In 15th century Germany, bakers began selling birthday cakes to anyone who could afford them (sugar was very expensive). And by the Industrial Revolution, just about everybody could enjoy a birthday cake.
While this recipe isn’t specifically for a birthday, the cookbook says that it’s for “a festive occasion”, which a birthday certainly is. It’s super chocolatey, as the historical name implies, yet light, and would be delicious any day of the year.
“Super-Chocolate Cake. Half a pound fresh butter beaten to a cream, 7 eggs (yolks and whites beaten separately, and the whites stirred in the last thing), 1/2 lb. best vanilla chocolate grated and heated in oven, then beaten up in the butter with 3 oz. dried flour, 1/2 lb. sifted sugar, 4 oz. ground almonds, 1 teaspoon of sal volatile. Bake in a slack oven, then ice with a thin soft icing flavored with maraschino. If ingredients are thoroughly beaten up it will be very light.”
Ingredients:
Cake
- 3/4 cup (90 g) flour
- 1 1/4 cups (115 g) almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 8 oz (225 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 6 eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (226 g) butter, softened
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 g) superfine sugar
Icing
- 1 cup (115 g) powdered sugar
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cherry or orange liqueur
Instructions:
- For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Butter the bottom of a 9-inch (23 cm) round cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment, then butter the parchment and the sides of the pan. Dust the bottom and sides of the pan with a little flour and sugar, just enough to coat it.
- Sift the flour and almond flour into a large bowl. Whisk in the baking powder and salt.
- Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or in a double boiler. For the microwave, heat it for about 30 second intervals, stirring in between so it melts evenly and doesn’t burn. For a double boiler, bring a little water to a simmer, then place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over the simmering water. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water, and stir frequently until the chocolate melts. Be careful that no water gets into the chocolate or it will seize.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks just to blend them, then stir in the vanilla.
- In a large very clean bowl, whip the egg whites with a whisk or mixer on medium high until you get nice stiff peaks.
- In another bowl, beat the butter until it’s smooth, then add the sugar and cream them together until it’s nice and fluffy.
- Add the melted chocolate to the butter and beat until it is well mixed.
- Mix in a spoonful of the flour mixture, then add in the egg yolk mixture and beat until combined.
- Gently stir in the rest of the flour mixture until well combined.
- Add 1/4 of the egg whites and gently fold them in until no streaks remain, then add the rest of the egg whites and gently fold them in as well until no streaks remain.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top.
- Place the cake in the preheated oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 250°F (120°C). This is the emulate the "slack", or cooling, oven that is called for in the historical recipe. Bake for 75 to 90 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- When the cake is done, let it cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Once cooled, remove it from the pan.
- For the icing: Whisk the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of the liqueur together until smooth. If you’d like a thinner icing, add more liqueur 1 teaspoon at a time until it’s the consistency you like.
- Spread the icing on the cooled cake, stick in the appropriate number of candles, and serve it forth.