We did something terrible yesterday to one of Julia Child's cake recipes. We *gasp* took out the butter . I know I know, the horror of it all. But it actually turned out fantastically better than we ever could have imagined. I (Annabelle here..) don't do too well with butter anyway and since in my view, recipes are only mere guidelines meant to be challenged and tweaked or ignored altogether , I'd been pondering a way to make a killer , moist , rich chocolate cake without the butter.
We've kind of been on a chocolate cake spree around here (special research you know, somebody has to do it) and we'd tried Julia's Queen of Sheba Cake (or so she called it on her show... it goes by a slightly different name in the book, Chocolate Almond cake or something like that) the other night and found it very good , but , alas, like most things chocolate and cake wise, a bit on the dry side. I am of the opinion that chocolate should never be fluffy or airy or light or dry. By its very nature should be dense , rich, moist , fudgy... all those things at once , or why bother? Those calories have to be worth it! Soooo, I was lying on the couch pinned under a large dog brainstorming a way to make the ultimate chocolate experience (and skip the butter) and since I've also been on sort of an avacado spree (ever try it in a smoothie? CREAMY...trust me, go try it, you'll love it.. add some salt though. oh and you are adding this to other fruit, it isn't the centerpiece of the smoothie or anything. Try some banana, orange juice, peach , honey, vanilla... oh and avacado. ) ANYway , where was I ? Oh, avacado... so I used a combo of avacado and coconut oil and loosely (very very loosely) used Julia's recipe as a sort of guide for ratios and things like that and came up with what we called Annabelle and Elly May's Kick Arse Chocolate Cake. It is GOOOOOD.
Want the recipe? Ha ha, top secret you know. J/K . If anyone ever actually reads this I'd love for them to have the joy of the ultimate chocolate experience. You will eat it and praise the maker of chocolate I promise you.
Okay, here is the recipe (as Elly May followed me around with pad and paper making notes for just such an occasion. You can thank her later.)
Preheat oven to 325 F or maybe a tad more but still below 350. Grease a 9" cake pan with coconut oil and flour it.
4oz bittersweet chocolate (use Ghiardelli!!!!)
1/4 Cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 large avacado... later if I actually weigh the amount or smash it into a measuring cup I might have a more accurate amount to give you..but for now, just go buy large..
4 egg yolks (save the whites!! though you'll only need 3 of them)
2/3 Cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 Cup pulverized almonds
3 egg whites
2 pinches Cream of Tartar
1T sugar
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
Okay, melt the chocolate and coconut oil over a double boiler if you are picky, over medium low flame in a heavy pan if you are really impatient like me. Just stir it and you should be fine. Turn off heat, add vanilla.
Beat or whisk the 1/2 avacado, egg yolks and sugar until smooth , oh and salt. Then pour in chocolate mixture, add the almonds. You can pulverize them in a food processor or in a mortar and pestal. I was being old fashioned and did everything by hand this time around.
Now whisk your egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy, add in sugar (sprinkle it) and whisk until you have stiff but still sort of soft peaks. Does that make sense?
Okay, now add about a third or so of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture and fold in, sift some of the flour over , fold in, keep alternating till you use both of them up.
Pour into prepared cake pan leaving enough in the bowl to lick. That is very important. You need this after all your hard work. Especially if you whisked those egg whites by hand.
Put it in the oven and set the timer for 20min. DON'T OVER COOK IT!!! There is nothing worse than over cooked chocolate cake... Well, chocolate cake that somebody stored with garlic bread is pretty bad too.. don't do that either. A tooth pick should come out clean. But a moist clean .
Okay, cool the cake 10 min in the pan then take it out and cool completely. If you are really really impatient, sticking the whole thing in the freezer for a bit works too. Now .. the frosting..
FROSTING
1/2 large avacado (hope you saved the half of the other one!!)
2oz bittersweet chocolate
5 T coconut oil
1tsp vanilla extract
pinch or two of salt
powdered sugar.... sorry , I didn't measure , but enough to get the desired consistancy
Okay, whisk the avacado until you get most of the lumps out, Melt the chocolate and coconut oil like before . then add the vanilla. Pour into the avacado mess and whisk well. As it cools it will thicken. Sift in powdered sugar until you get it sweet enough and thick enough for your tastes. I don't make it too thick. Anyway, then spread all this on your cool cake and top with sliced almonds. It is way better the second day after it has been in the fridge overnight but if you can't wait that long I totally understand. Test some now, then have the rest tomorrow. It only gets better.
There you go. Hope you enjoy!!
We've kind of been on a chocolate cake spree around here (special research you know, somebody has to do it) and we'd tried Julia's Queen of Sheba Cake (or so she called it on her show... it goes by a slightly different name in the book, Chocolate Almond cake or something like that) the other night and found it very good , but , alas, like most things chocolate and cake wise, a bit on the dry side. I am of the opinion that chocolate should never be fluffy or airy or light or dry. By its very nature should be dense , rich, moist , fudgy... all those things at once , or why bother? Those calories have to be worth it! Soooo, I was lying on the couch pinned under a large dog brainstorming a way to make the ultimate chocolate experience (and skip the butter) and since I've also been on sort of an avacado spree (ever try it in a smoothie? CREAMY...trust me, go try it, you'll love it.. add some salt though. oh and you are adding this to other fruit, it isn't the centerpiece of the smoothie or anything. Try some banana, orange juice, peach , honey, vanilla... oh and avacado. ) ANYway , where was I ? Oh, avacado... so I used a combo of avacado and coconut oil and loosely (very very loosely) used Julia's recipe as a sort of guide for ratios and things like that and came up with what we called Annabelle and Elly May's Kick Arse Chocolate Cake. It is GOOOOOD.
Want the recipe? Ha ha, top secret you know. J/K . If anyone ever actually reads this I'd love for them to have the joy of the ultimate chocolate experience. You will eat it and praise the maker of chocolate I promise you.
Okay, here is the recipe (as Elly May followed me around with pad and paper making notes for just such an occasion. You can thank her later.)
Preheat oven to 325 F or maybe a tad more but still below 350. Grease a 9" cake pan with coconut oil and flour it.
4oz bittersweet chocolate (use Ghiardelli!!!!)
1/4 Cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 large avacado... later if I actually weigh the amount or smash it into a measuring cup I might have a more accurate amount to give you..but for now, just go buy large..
4 egg yolks (save the whites!! though you'll only need 3 of them)
2/3 Cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 Cup pulverized almonds
3 egg whites
2 pinches Cream of Tartar
1T sugar
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
Okay, melt the chocolate and coconut oil over a double boiler if you are picky, over medium low flame in a heavy pan if you are really impatient like me. Just stir it and you should be fine. Turn off heat, add vanilla.
Beat or whisk the 1/2 avacado, egg yolks and sugar until smooth , oh and salt. Then pour in chocolate mixture, add the almonds. You can pulverize them in a food processor or in a mortar and pestal. I was being old fashioned and did everything by hand this time around.
Now whisk your egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy, add in sugar (sprinkle it) and whisk until you have stiff but still sort of soft peaks. Does that make sense?
Okay, now add about a third or so of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture and fold in, sift some of the flour over , fold in, keep alternating till you use both of them up.
Pour into prepared cake pan leaving enough in the bowl to lick. That is very important. You need this after all your hard work. Especially if you whisked those egg whites by hand.
Put it in the oven and set the timer for 20min. DON'T OVER COOK IT!!! There is nothing worse than over cooked chocolate cake... Well, chocolate cake that somebody stored with garlic bread is pretty bad too.. don't do that either. A tooth pick should come out clean. But a moist clean .
Okay, cool the cake 10 min in the pan then take it out and cool completely. If you are really really impatient, sticking the whole thing in the freezer for a bit works too. Now .. the frosting..
FROSTING
1/2 large avacado (hope you saved the half of the other one!!)
2oz bittersweet chocolate
5 T coconut oil
1tsp vanilla extract
pinch or two of salt
powdered sugar.... sorry , I didn't measure , but enough to get the desired consistancy
Okay, whisk the avacado until you get most of the lumps out, Melt the chocolate and coconut oil like before . then add the vanilla. Pour into the avacado mess and whisk well. As it cools it will thicken. Sift in powdered sugar until you get it sweet enough and thick enough for your tastes. I don't make it too thick. Anyway, then spread all this on your cool cake and top with sliced almonds. It is way better the second day after it has been in the fridge overnight but if you can't wait that long I totally understand. Test some now, then have the rest tomorrow. It only gets better.
There you go. Hope you enjoy!!
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