You Wanna Piece of Me ??!!!

It was only a matter of time before the classy chocolate cake that melts in your mouth makes its appearance on my blog. A star of the dessert world, its wide appeal rests on one simple truth: good quality chocolate! If you are to dedicate your time to its confection, please do not degrade its magnificence with what I call chocolate-flavored wax. Sacrebleu! At the very minimum use 60% cocoa chocolate (semisweet to bittersweet). Personally I choose at least 70% for a true chocolate flavor. In other words, if you are going to swallow those calories, make it worth it !

I did mention calories. Well, yes, at 2 sticks of butter and sugar to match, it is not for the weightwatcher. I am sure you can find a low calorie alternative out there, with fake sugar and, gasp, fake butter, but I won't comment on the taste. So I'll let you in on a little secret. There is a reason for maximizing the cocoa content, hence the bitterness, of the cake: a tiny piece and you are satisfied. Dependent, of course, of your level of addiction to the black substance :)

So here is how I satisfy my cocoa addiction. Welcome to my Hell ! :)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa
• 8 oz unsalted butter
• 8 oz sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 table spoons of Kailua liquor

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 360F
2. Melt the chocolate on low
3. In the meantime, mix the soft butter (I soften it in the microwave for 15 seconds) and the sugar until you get a creamy consistency
4. Add the eggs one by one, mixing each egg with the batter for a minute each
5. Add the melted chocolate and mix well
6. Add the flour and mix well
7. Add the coffee liquor (it's an option) and mix well.
8. Pour into a greased cake pan (I use butter for greasing, of course) and bake for 45 minutes at 360F. You know the cake is ready when you put a knife into teh center and it comes out clean. Be careful not to overcook the cake or it could get a bit on the dry side.
9. Cool the cake down, flip it to present the bottom up, and sprinkle some confection sugar on top for presentation.

Then just wait for the OOOOhs and the AAAhhhhhs :)

Pierre