Very dark, very chocolatey, very rich - In search of recipes!

[purplycow]

I'm on a quest for the Ultimate Chocolate Cake, Ultimate Brownie and Ultimate Chocolate Cookie recipe. The kind that would leave all chocolate lovers drooling for more ... ;)

Problem is, the recipes I've tried out so far haven't been chocolatey enough (an intermediate shade of brown doesn't really look/taste chocolatey to me). Is it a recipe problem, or a problem with the chocolate I'm using?

Does anyone have super-chocolate recipes to share? The more chocolate the better! :)

[peri]

This cake recipe was in the Chicago Tribune about 10 years ago and is a great version of flourless cake. It uses more eggs than most recipes and is extremely rich and chocolatey. The glaze is from Bon Appétit. I cover the top of the cake with fresh raspberries when they are available. The cake can be made weeks ahead of time and kept in the freezer. Just wrap tightly in plastic and foil. Then remove and glaze as needed. The glaze takes about 5 minutes and the freshly glazed cake will be semi-frozen when served. (Be prepared to have your kitchen look as if a chocolate factory exploded. It will be worth it. :) )

Frozen Fudge Cake

18 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2¼ c sugar
1 lb unsalted butter, in pieces
1 tbsp instant coffee, or very finely ground coffee
1 c boiling water
9 large eggs

Heat oven to 250°F. Butter 10" springform pan. Line bottom with parchment or waxed paper. Butter paper and dust with cocoa. Wrap pan in aluminum foil.

In medium saucepan, dissolve coffee in boiling water. Add chocolate, sugar and butter. Cook on low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Pour into large bowl. Strain mixture if necessary - it must be smooth. Cool for a few minutes.

Beat eggs until foamy. Pour into chocolate mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk, until completely combined.

Pour into sprinform pan. Bake 2 hours (edges will rise). Turn off oven, prop open door and let cake stand for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Cake will be flat. Remove from pan and carefully invert on serving dish. Freeze. A couple hours before serving cover with Chocolate Glaze and chill in refrigerator.

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup dark corn syrup (I've used light syrup with no drop in quality)
9 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Bring cream and corn syrup to simmer in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth.

Place cake on rack set over baking sheet. Spread 1/2 cup glaze smoothly over top and sides of cake. Freeze until almost set, about three minutes. Pour remaining glaze over cake. Smooth sides and top. Place cake on platter. Chill until glaze is firm, about an hour.

[purplycow]

18oz + 9oz = 27oz chocolate = very chocolatey indeed! :D

Thanks a bunch, peri! Should I reduce the sugar if I'm using semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet?

[peri]

No, the original recipe called for semi-sweet chocolate, so the amount of sugar is fine if you use it. I just prefer bittersweet.

[Dangerosa]

Flourless chocolate cake.

1 lb dark chocolate
1 c. butter
6 eggs.

'nough said.

Serve with a raspberry puree and hot fudge sauce.

(oh I suppose that isn't enough. Oven at 425. Melt butter and chocolate and stir. Whip eggs. Whip eggs more. You are talking whole eggs here and you want to get them as stiff as you can, so whip them some more. Carefully fold chocolate into eggs. Pour into springform pan. Doing this from memory.......ok checked recipe....bake 15 minutes. Cool. Refridge three hours (or overnight). Unmold and serve

There are some details, but this will get you a cake. This is from the Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum, if you want the details.

You can cover in ganache like in peri's recipe if you want. (Though I suppose Peri's recipe isn't ganache - which would be just cream and chocolate - no corn syrup.

I'll also recommend any of Marcel Desaulniers cookbooks. With names like "Death by Chocolate" they should be right up your alley. (Warning, his recipes don't tend to be simple). He has brownie and cookie recipes.

[chique]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/436/2925679.html

24 ounces chocolate, 666 calories per serving.

And as long as you use really good chocolate and not that Baker's crap, this is really, REALLY good.

Really.

[chique]

Best brownie recipe ever. I forgot where I stole it from....

5 oz. semisweet chocolate
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter
3 T cocoa powder
3 eggs
1 ¼ c sugar
2 t vanilla
½ t salt
1 c flour

1. Spray 8? pan, foil the pan, spray the foil. 2. Melt chocolate and butter; whisk in cocoa. 3. Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt WELL. Add chocolate. Add flour and stir just til combined. 4. Lower oven rack to lower-middle. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes ? toothpick will NOT come out clean. Cool in pan for @2 hours.

[Bumbazine]

I was trying to remember a recipe for cookies that included a cake mix and pudding, so I looked on Epicurious and found this. It's not the same recipe but pretty darn close.

CHOCOLATE CHUNK CHOCOLATE COOKIES


Mayonnaise is the surprise ingredient in these cookies.
1 18 1/4-ounce package chocolate fudge cake mix
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into small chunks
2 5 1/8-ounce packages chocolate fudge pudding mix
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

Preheat oven 350°F. Combine first 4 ingredients in medium bowl. Mix in mayonnaise. Shape dough by 2 tablespoons into balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 12 minutes. Cool. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Store in airtight container.)

Makes about 48.


Bon Appétit
May 1990
Kristin H. R. Small, Americus GA

[Bumbazine]

P.S. I wouldn't be surprised if that cookie recipe was a little dry. You might want to add an egg or two.

[purplycow]

Black Hole Chocolate Cake - the name sounds spot on! Wonder if the 666 calories per serving is symbolic of anything. ;)

Thanks for all the recipes! What brands of chocolate would you consider good?

[Suburban Plankton]

Thanks for all the recipes! What brands of chocolate would you consider good?

No question about it. Valrhona, specifically their Guanaja variety. http://www.valrhona.com/fr/gpublic/chacchoc/gout/guanaja/guanaja.php3?vlang=A

Also very good is Sharffen Berger. http://www.scharffenberger.com/

Absolutely, positively, the most important thing is to make sure the ingredients list vanilla, not vanillin. The first is made from the pod of a tropical orchid. The second is an abomination. (http://valhalla.chem.udel.edu/vanillin.html) Sorry, no more Nestle Toll House morsels.
Next, remember that milk has no place in cholcolate.
Lastly, make sure your ingredients list cocoa powder first, sugar second. Remember, it is called chocolate. If it were meant to be the other way 'round, it would be called sugar.

I do have some strong feelings on the subject.

[Lissla Lissar]

There's a Nigella Lawson recipe in How To Eat for a steamed chocolate pudding. Here's the recipe.

Seven-Minute Steamed Chocolate Pudding
150 g butter
250g dark chocolate
100g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
125 ml heavy cream
40g all-purpose flour, sifted
½ tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
whipped cream for serving

Butter a 1 litre or bigger microwave-proof bowl with 30g of the butter. Grate the chocolate in a food processor, then with the normal 2-blade knife in place, add remaining butter, cut in 8 pieces, and sugar. Process until combined. Add remaining ingredients and process until it’s smooth.

Pour it into the bowl. Cover tightly with clingwrap. Cook at 100% for 5 minutes, until set. Pierce wrap with a knife tip, remove from microwave and cover the bowl with a heavy plate. Leave for ten minutes. Serve with whipped cream.

It's very moist and chocolatey, but why not make some ganache to go with it? Melt equal parts of chocolate and whipping cream together, and pour it over the pudding for a sauce.

I don't actually have scales for measuring, so I can say that the recipe is pretty forgiving, measurement-wise.

[Draelin]

This is a recipe FaerieBeth gave me ages ago, but I've never gotten around to making it. The concoction is called, my hand to Og, "Knock You Naked Brownies."

Ingredients

1 package (18-1/2 oz.) German chocolate cake mix, 1 cup chopped pecans, 1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup evaporated milk divided, 3/4 cup butter melted, 60 vanilla caramels unwrapped (one 14 oz. package), 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry cake mix, pecans, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and melted butter. Press half of the batter into the bottom of a greased 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.

Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 8 minutes.

In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, melt caramels with remaining ½ cup evaporated milk. When caramel mixture is well blended, pour ½ over baked layer. Cover with chocolate morsels. Pour remaining batter on top of morsels.

Return to preheated 350° oven and bake 18 minutes.

Let cool before cutting into squares.

[racinchikki]

If I'm permitted a slight hijack - Cracker Barrel has a seasonal cake - usually served in January or February - that they call the Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake. It's incredibly rich and chocolately and moist and good. I've seen recipes online claiming to make this cake, but when I've made them, they always turn out too dry and not chocolatey enough, and the frosting's all wrong. Has anybody here had any experience making a Coca-Cola Cake, and can share a recipe that works deliciously?

[Jurph]

I found this recipe (http://www.everything2.org/index.pl?node_id=1299270) on another website I frequent. The main ingredient is 30+ Oreo cookies. Add in half a bag of chocolate chips (dark or semi-sweet; your choice) and a stick of butter, and 3/4 cup flour to hold it all together, and you're dealing with serious amounts of chocolate.

The end result are brownie bars that are deep brown, almost black, and so rich that I occasionally have to sponge the excess butter off the top of the pan after I cool them down.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

I'll second Dangerosa's reference to The Cake Bible's recipe. It's a staple of holiday events in my family, mostly due to my sister's love of the cake. A tiny bit will fill you up. It's super-good, and very versatile -- my sister likes making it with berries, but I've made it with coffee and with rum, both of which are yummy.

Daniel

[Annie-Xmas]

Lora Brody's book "Growing Up On The Chocolate Diet" is very well written, an enjoyable read, and has some recipes that are so very dark, very chocolately, very rich that they will give you orgasms.

Whenever I go to a potluck, I bring her "Choclate Lasagna." Great and very unusual.

[DeVena]

These are the best brownies you’ll ever eat, guaranteed!

MOMMA'S BROWNIES

¼ c margarine
1 c sugar
4 t (¼ c) cocoa
½ c self-rising flour
2 eggs
1 c chopped nuts (optional)
8x8” square pan sprayed with Pam

With a fork, mix in order margarine, sugar, cocoa, flour, eggs, and nuts. Pour into pan. Bake 325º - 30 minutes
==================================
CHOCOLATE HERSHEY CAKE

1 c sugar
1 stick margarine
4 eggs
1 c self-rising flour
1 8-oz can Hershey chocolate syrup
3 T cocoa
1 stick margarine
1 c sugar
1/3 c milk

Do not use mixer!

Cream sugar and margarine. Add eggs, flour & syrup. Bake 350º for 30 minutes in 9x13” greased pan.

Add cocoa, margarine, sugar and milk in medium boiler. Bring to boil, and boil. Cook only 3 minutes. Cool slightly before pouring over hot cake.

[Maus Magill]

I pulled this recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_10108,00.html) off Food Network. These cookies will, in fact, kill you. Please make sure you consume them safely.

It make only three dozen, but in those three dozen cookies there is a half pound of chocolate (not counting the chocolate chips). Also, the recipe calls for some fancy-schmancy instant espresso. I use Tasters Choice, and it works out fine.

[Lissla Lissar]

So, what's the recipe for Chocolate Lasagna? You mentioned it! You have to give us the recipe!

[tracer]

Aztec chocolate

Enjoy chocolate the same way the ancient Aztecs did! Just stir 2-3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder into 2/3 cup boiling water, and enough ground chiles to make it spicy. The palate-wrenching, overwhelming bitterness of this concoction will make you feel very, very sorry for the poor ancient Aztecs who had to drink the stuff.

[purplycow]

Thanks for all the recipes and the health warnings! ;)
Methinks the best part of baking is when there are many ready and willing taste test guinea pigs around ... so I still get to taste a little of the orgasmic chocolate stuff, and after that I distribute all the baked goods away to my delighted friends to prevent further temptation and to share the calories :D

And yes, the Chocolate Lasagna sounds really interesting!
P/S: We have a little dessert place here in Kuala Lumpur that serves Mango Fettucine. Definitely for mango lovers.

[Little Nemo]

Tracer's post reminds me of Mexican Chococlate Cake I used to make. Unfortunately, I don't have the cookbook handy for the original recipe. But it was basically a standard flourless chocolate cake (Dangerosa's recipe would be fine) with the addition of coffee, cinnamon, and a ground jalapeno (remove the seeds).