Recipes Discovered – Recipes

Read my review of this recipe.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• Cocoa powder, for dusting
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups strong coffee or espresso
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons bourbon or whiskey
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups sweetened dried coconut

Filling:

• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups pecans, chopped
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows

Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups double cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch cake pans and dust bottoms and side with cocoa. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate, butter, coffee, salt, and sugar, stirring occasionally until the mixture is smooth and the sugar as dissolved. Stir in the bourbon or whisky. Pour the chocolate mixture into a bowl and cool slightly. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat in the eggs and vanilla. Decrease the speed and beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the coconut. Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attaches. Do no over bake or the cake will be too dry. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling:

Combine the evaporated milk, sugar, butter, chocolate, eggs yolks, and vanilla in a large heavy bottom saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes, until the chocolate is melted and smooth and the batter is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon; do no boil or the mixture will curdle. Remove from the heat and stir in the nuts and marshmallows, stirring until melted. Refrigerate until thick enough to spread, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming.

For the topping:

In a medium bowl, whip the cream and the vanilla until firm peaks form.

To assemble the cake:

With a serrated knife, slice both cake layers in half horizontally, making four layers. Spread each of the bottom cake layers with half of the chocolate nut filling and cover each bottom half with its respective top layer. Place one filled cake layer on a serving plate an spread with half of the whipped cream. Top with the second filled cake layer and spread with the remaining cream, swirling it to form an attractive pattern.

Serves 8-10 people.

Nutrition:

Substitutions:

I used dark brown sugar and walnuts in place of the pecans to make the chocolate nut filling. I also made this into a two layer cake, omitted the whipped cream topping. I used the chocolate nut filling in between the cake layers and also as the topping. The cakes baked in less than 25 minutes, around 22 or 23 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Cakes & Cake Decorating, Step by Step