watch your mouth | nigella’s dense chocolate loaf cake

i can’t help myself.

Please tell me that sometimes bad words come-a-tumbling out when you make something that tastes better than you could have expected.   I’m not alone, am I?

Here’s the crazy part.  I had eaten most of the Nigella Lawson’s Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake cold, right out of the fridge.  It was fine.  Brownie-like.  Then, I kinda left cake out on the counter for a couple of hours.  I had another piece and started cursing.  Seriously.

It was everything everyone says.  Moist and heavy.  Rich, but not super sweet.  Decadent, but on the hush.  It’s not a cute cake.  The beauty is in its simplicity.

The Nikki Bits. Surprise!  I actually followed the recipe.  That was real work.  Plenty of alternating spoonfuls of boiling water and flour.  It was just me, a whisk and a bowl.  Surprise!  I added something else. I put in a tablespoon, I think, of instant espresso powder.  You know I can’t leave well enough alone.

I knew there was going to be a good bit of butter in it, but the night I baked the cake, my apt just smelled like trouble.  It’s like the air was sitting in a butter ride with chocolate calling shotgun.

What’s Next. Well, my favorite librarian* had suggested the recipe when she saw that I had the book on hold.  And since, somehow, another bag of bittersweet chocolate has moved in and refuses to pay rent, I think I’m going to make another loaf to give to the staff of my local.

Nikki♥

*Yes, I have a favorite librarian.  I♥Los Angeles Public Library.  There are some  some really cool folks at my local and the central branch.

*Update*… I thought I’d, you know, add the recipe.

Nigella’s Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake
adoringly adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess

1 cup soft unsalted butter
1 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 lg eggs, beaten
1 tsp of vanilla extract
4 ounces of really good bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 tsp of baking soda
1 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tblsps of boiling water

9×5 loaf pan
parchment paper

CLWEA* says: add espresso powder or fresh ginger.

Preheat oven to 375.

Put a baking sheet in the oven.  It will save you from any errant drippage later.  Grease and line your loaf pan.  Now, I’ve never kept parchment paper in the house.  I scoffed a bit when I saw the price for a roll at the grocery.  But, even, CLWEA didn’t want to chance the muy moist cake not coming out of the pan.

Melt chocolate.  I don’t have, wait for it, a microwave.  So I’m a bit old school.  Hell, I don’t even use the double boiler I have.  It’s just a bowl over a pot of gently simmering water.
Cream the butter and sugar either by hand or use a mixer.
Add the eggs and vanilla.
Fold in the chocolate after letting it cool slightly.
Nigella advises against overworking at this point adding that you want the ingredients just combined before you start to add the flour.
Add the baking soda to the flour.  Quick question: Are we all sifters? I was raised always sifting the flour, especially when incorporating other dry ingredients.  Here’s the slightly work-y part if you’re not using a mixer.  Seriously, my muscles are twitching from the memory.  Add the flour in alternating spoonfuls with the boiling water.  Yes, I said alternating spoonfuls.  You should get a fairly loose batter.
Pour into the lined loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes.
Turn the oven down to 325 and continue for another 15 minutes.
Okay, so with this cake, inserting a toothpick or knife won’t indicate doneness.  It’s going to come out with cake bits clinging.  Don’t worry about it.
Let the cake cool before turning it out.  I tend to bake this pretty late, so, I leave it out overnight.  I end up dreaming of chocolate with every buttery breath.
Now, the sinking part.  Nigella takes pains to prepare you for the un-prettiness due to a dense saggy middle.  I’ve made it where it sinks.  I’ve made it where it doesn’t.  Don’t worry about it either way.
Makes 8-10 slices

MoreNikkiBits: I’ve tried this three ways: recipe to the letter, with instant espresso powder and with fresh ginger.  Hands down, I’m so loving it with a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger.  I made it for an office potluck/baby shower thingy.  I had people following the smell of butter down the hall.  It was quite well-received.  Someone brought vanilla ice cream.  Someone else brought strawberries.  It all seemed to induce moans of decadent delight.   The best part about this dense beautiful thing was that it wasn’t so outrageously rich that you had to stop mid-slice and unbutton.  I’m kinda over icing right now, so this was so perfectly simple and not cloyingly sweet.  It’s just right.

What’sNext: Time to buy more chocolate.  There’s a going away/potluck thingy on Friday.  The Dense Beauty was requested.  I hope no on calls HR.  I don’t deserve fault or the praise.  This goodness is all Nigella.

*Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone