Essentials: Big Chocolate Cake

Name: Essentials: Big Chocolate Cake
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 20
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 710 milliliters all purpose flour; 2 teaspoons baking soda; 355 milliliters firmly packed dark brown sugar; 237 milliliters whipped cream cheese; 6 larges eggs; 355 milliliters granulated sugar; 591 milliliters powdered sugar; 0 teaspoons salt; 177 milliliters 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened; 142 grams unsweetened chocolate, chopped; 237 milliliters unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process); 1 teaspoon vanilla; 355 milliliters boiling water; 177 milliliters whole milk

If 65 cents per serving falls in your budget, Essentials: Big Chocolate Cake might be an amazing vegetarian recipe to try. This recipe makes 20 servings with 418 calories, 6g of protein, and 17g of fat each. If you have all purpose flour, chocolate, water, and a few other ingredients on hand, you can make it. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes about 45 minutes.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 13x9x2 inch baking pans; line bottoms with waxed or parchment paper and butter the paper. Flour the pans (you can “flour” pans for chocolate cake with cocoa powder, if you like) and tap out excess.

Ingredients you will need

Cocoa Powder

Chocolate

Butter

All Purpose Flour

Equipment you will use

Baking Paper

Baking Pan

Oven

Whisk together boiling water and cocoa until smooth. Then whisk in the milk and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Ingredients you will need

Baking Soda

Vanilla

Cocoa Powder

All Purpose Flour

Water

Milk

Salt

Equipment you will use

Whisk

If possible in a standing mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Ingredients you will need

Butter

Sugar

Equipment you will use

Blender

Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches and the cocoa mixture in 2, alternating flour-cocoa-flour-cocoa-flour. The batter may look curdled.

Ingredients you will need

Cocoa Powder

All Purpose Flour

Egg

Pour half of the batter into each pan and smooth tops.

Equipment you will use

Frying Pan

Bake in the middle of the oven until a tester comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the pan, 25-35 minutes. Turn the cakes onto racks to cool completely.

Equipment you will use

Oven

Frying Pan

Make frosting: melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Cool to room temperature. Beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (I could not find whipped cream cheese in the store, so I just whipped it at home until it looked a little lighter and fluffier before adding the butter).

Ingredients you will need

Whipped Cream

Cream Cheese

Chocolate

Frosting

Butter

Cheese

Water

Equipment you will use

Double Boiler

Bowl

Pot

Add the cooled chocolate and the remaining ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined.

Ingredients you will need

Chocolate

Assemble cake only when the cake layers have cooled completely.

(I’d like to add a note about the recipes in Ruth Reichl’s memoirs: for a long time I stupidly assumed they were just window dressing, but they are in fact very good, and they work.)