"Go the Extra Mile" Chocolate Pudding Cake
August is the month where Paris becomes a ghost town. Everyone leaves for their summer vacation. The boulangerie is closed, the fromagerie is closed, the boucherie is closed, the traiteur is closed… even la presse (newspaper stand) is closed! It’s too hard to keep track of who’s opening up when. So, many people take the entire month of August off. These people who are able to afford the luxury of a 4 – 5 week long vacation are the envy of the ones “left behind” in Paris in August. Never mind that these “left behinds” had already taken their share of vacation in June or July… the mind and heart are just not at work. The “left behinds” drag their feet, grumble about the heat, the cold, the strange weather in Paris, take more coffee breaks, take extra long cigarette breaks… It gets quite demoralising after a while, but I refuse to “join them”. August is my month to do fun stuff!
On the way to work today, my favourite radio station, FIP , was playing Sympathique by Pink Martini
“Je ne veux pas travailler…
Oh, je ne veux pas déjeuner,
Je veux seulement oublier,
Et puis, Je fume….”
Oh boy, did it resonate with the city’s state of being in August!
For some perk-me-up, I brought little squares of my first chocolate pudding cake for my colleagues today. The original recipe is called “Denver Chocolate Pudding Cake” and was shared with me by my friend Hélène. This is the cake that requires the baker to go the extra mile. It’s messy, it’s sticky, you have to be careful or you’ll get everything all over you… It may not look quite so appetising. Well ok, it looks a bit like turd, but daaaaing, it’s good!
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Go the Extra Mile Chocolate Pudding Cake
Ingredients:
Heat oven to 180degC. Butter a square (23cm) baking pan.
Bring a saucepan of 1⁄4 full of water and bring it to a gentle simmer. Place the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. Melt the chocolate. Let cool slightly.
Combine the butter and half the granulated sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. 4mins with an electric beater, 8 mins by hand with wooden spoon.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add it to the butter mixture and stir.
Add the milk and stir until well mixed.
Fold in the melted chocolate and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence. Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan.
Mix together the remaining granulated sugar, brown sugar and cocoa powder. Sprinkle the cocoa mixture onto the cake batter.
Boil the water. Add the remaining teaspoon of vanilla essence to the water. Pour the water mixture slowly over the batter, so as not to disturb the mixture too much.
Bake for 1 hour. Let cool slightly. Can be served warm or cooled. Spoon some of the sauce from the bottom of the pan before each serving.
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I had to reread the recipe... put boiling water on the cake batter? I have never seen that before... It was a challenge putting the squares of sticky chocolate pudding on foil… but not impossible. Everyone had a good time licking the pudding cake off their fingers. That's worth going the extra mile. Hope you’ll have fun sharing it with your colleagues too!
Comments
whoah! that looks insanely chocolatey (just the way i like it ;))
Posted by: J | August 20, 2006 05:45 AM
It is really chocolaty! I didn't think it would be given how little chocolate the recipe asks for...
Posted by: LPC | August 21, 2006 02:58 PM