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Thursday, July 13, 2006

Espresso Cream Cake with Chile-Chocolate Sauce

I was too tired last night to write about that 4th fabulous recipe from the Cooking Light book. Espresso Cream Cake is light and fluffy - a type of angel food cake, actually. I wasn't prepared for that. Not that it's a bad thing, it was delicious.. you can really taste the coffee, which I love. I've just never attempted an angel food cake before and even as I was folding in the meringue I had no idea how the cake was going to turn out. Silly me, guess that should have been my first clue, yes? hehe

I did veer off the recipe when it came to the cream though. The recipe called for Silken Tofu and when I mentioned that to Hubbs the look of fear that came across his face was priceless. I have to admit, I'm still afraid to try tofu myself. I've read many a recipe with tofu as the main ingredient and those recipes make me want to try it as the recipe looks delicious, but all I can think about it how it looks as if it tastes like eating a flavored sponge, so I always chicken out. So for the espresso cream, I went to Nigella. Remember that gooey gorgeous sinfully rich cake I made a few months ago? Nigella had suggested serving that cake with her Caffe Latte Cream, which I didn't make. I figured this would be perfect with last night's cake and WOW! was I right! I could sit and eat this cream by myself.. the whole bowl. The coffee flavor is outstanding and the cream is neither too sweet nor too bland. It was heavenly. Here's the thing though, I didn't have white chocolate, so I subbed that for 3 heaping TBS. of confectioners' sugar. The final component of the Espresso Cream Cake is the Chile-Chocolate Sauce. I was intrigued because it called for chocolate infused with Ancho Chile powder. Yay.. another chance for added spice! I bought the Ancho Chile powder and couldn't wait to use it. Although the chocolate sauce is excellent, very creamy and chocolately, I could not taste any spice and I even doubled the amount of the chile powder. I'm hoping that maybe the spice will have boosted some after sitting for a day. We'll see tonight.

All in all this is a fabulous light dessert that I'll make again for company one night. =)

Espresso Cream Cake with Chile-Chocolate Sauce
Espresso Cream Cake with Chile-Chocolate Sauce
Courtesy of Cooking Light's Annual Recipes 2006

Cake:
1 1/3 c. sifted cake flour (about 5 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 c. sugar, divided
6 large eggs, separated
3 TBS. brewed espresso, cooled (I don't have an espresso maker, but the recipe says you can use very strong coffee, which I did)
1 1/2 tsp. finely ground espresso powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Espresso Cream (Original version)
1/2 c. firm silken tofu (about 1/2 [12.3 ounce] package)
6 TBS. fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c. brewed espresso, cooled

Caffe Latte Cream
3 oz. white choclate, broken into small pieces (I didn't have the chocolate so I subbed it for 3 TBS. confectioners' sugar)
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
scant 2 tsp. instant espresso powder

Chocolate Sauce
1/4 c. (2 ounces) bittersweet chocolate
2 TBS. fat-free milk
1/4 tsp. ancho chile powder (I used 1/2 tsp.)

Preheat oven to 350º F.

To prepare cake, sift together flour and 3 TBS. sugar, set aside.

Combine 1 c. sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl, beat with a mixer at high speed 5 minutes, or until thick and pale. Combine 3 TBS. brewed espresso, espresso powder, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl; add to egg yolk mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Sift flour mixture evenly over egg yolk mixture, stir until just moist.

Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy using clean, dry beaters. Add cream of tartar, beat until soft peaks form. Slowly add 1 TBS. sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into batter, gently fold remaining egg white mixture into batter.

Pour batter into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350º for 40 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan 1 hour, run a knife around outside edge, remove sides of pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare espresso cream (Original version), place tofu, condensed milk and 1/4 c. brewed coffee in a blender, process until smooth. Chill

To prepare Caffe Latte Cream (What I used), Melt the white chocolate either in a microwave or double boiler, and let it cool. Fold in the cream and espresso powder, whipping the latte cream together to thicken it a little. Nigella said, "For some reason the white chocolate seems to make the cream instantly thicker; if I whisk the cream first it can seize a little when it's stirred into the chocolate." If you don't have the chocolate and use the confectioners' sugar like I did, place heavy cream, sugar and espresso powder into a mixer and whip together on high speed until cream thickens.

To prepare chocolate sauce, combine chocolate and fat-free milk in a 1 cup glass measure, microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until chocolate is almost melted. Add chile powder, stirring until smooth.

Spoon espresso cream onto dessert plates, spreading evenly. Drizzle chocolate sauce in center of espresso cream, top with cake slices. (Or drizzle tons of chocolate sauce over the whole thing because it's chocolate for crissakes and it's a sin to only use a tiny bit. :P)

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 cake slice, about 1 1/2 TBS. espresso cream, and about 2 1/2 tsp. chocolate sauce)

Now that's a poofy cake
Now that's a poofy cake =)

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Comments on "Espresso Cream Cake with Chile-Chocolate Sauce"

 

Blogger Acme Instant Food said ... (7/13/2006 10:29 AM) : 

Did ya ever see the film "Chocolat" with Juliette Binoche, Johnny Deepp and Dame Judy Dench? It was the first time I'd really heard about chocolate and chile together. I watched it with another friend of mine who also loves to cook. The images of chocolates and lust interwoven throughout that film were an irrestible Siren song--urging us to indulge our inner Willy Wonkas. It was about 2 am when we finished watching the DVD. Our friends had passed out on the couch at that point. We RAN ito the kitchen and brought milk, some primo dutch chocolate and sugar to a simmer on the stove top. He whipped up cream whith the gusto of a man possessed while I added just a pinch of chile powder to the mixture, howled with delight and poured it into mugs. I mean, this stuff was RICH and amazing! We excitedly returned to the living room and woke everyone up with a mug full of steaming hot cocoa. We thought they loved us at the time. Looking back--maybe not.

It's worthwhile to note that all of us may have been out drinking earlier that night. But, the cocoa was still orgasmic.

Your cake conjures up these fine memories. Maybe I'll surprise Ed at 2 am with some!

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (7/13/2006 12:33 PM) : 

I'd like to type some gloriously wonderful comment but I'm too busy drooling all over my keyboard ...

 

Blogger Lis said ... (7/14/2006 9:22 AM) : 

Kevin - hahahahaaa! I can just see you guys moaning and groaning with each sip of that cocoa. That lovely concoction is one of my favorite winter treats. I also love mexican coffee, it's fabulous.

Ivonne - here's a napkin, my friend. teee!

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (7/14/2006 11:04 AM) : 

Oooer, chocolate and chilli are a marveoulous combination! That cake looks absolutely delish!

As for silken tofu, you'll find that it's almost nothing like the firm tofu people cook with - it's almost liquid and once passed through a sieve has less structural integrity than thickened cream :)

 

Blogger Lis said ... (7/15/2006 8:13 AM) : 

Ellie - I had no idea, thanks! Okay, so next time I will use it and see how the original cream turns out =)

BNA - hehe thanks :D

 

Blogger archana said ... (7/16/2006 11:15 PM) : 

Terrific, that's the word, and that's it !!!!! Can't wait to try this one out

 

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