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Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

Source of Recipe

From "Food52: Genius Recipes" by Kristen Miglore


Recipe Introduction

"This is a good cake to keep lying around—for roaming family members who need to be kept happy between mealtimes, for neighbors who swoop in unannounced, for you. It's a chocolate cake that's full of nuance and personality, damp and puddinglike within, with caramel-crisp edges. Where most loaf cakes are domed, sturdy, and evenly crumbed, this one is slumped and squidgy (from the British, meaning 'soft, spongy and moist'). That's thanks to a generous amount of dark brown sugar that arms the cake with loads of moisture. There is also the rather unusual step of starting with creamed soft butter and brown sugar and ending with spoonfuls of boiling water interspersed with leavened flour, making a surprisingly runny batter. It is this creaming and partially melting process that makes the final product resembling a cake, a steamed pudding, and a fudgy brownie all at once. It also causes this cake to collapse in a slightly different way every time you bake it. Embrace it—it's this collapse that gives the cake its glorious denseness. If you're concerned by the looks of it, you can distract with crème fraîche, whipped cream, or cold cream cheese, the way Lawson likes it."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 cup soft unsalted butter
â—¦ 1 â…” cups packed dark brown or dark muscovado sugar
â—¦ 2 large eggs, beaten
â—¦ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
â—¦ 4 ounces best bittersweet chocolate, melted
â—¦ 1 â…“ cups all-purpose flour
â—¦ 1 teaspoon baking soda
â—¦ 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water


Recipe

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Put a baking sheet on a lower rack in case of sticky drips later. Grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper. The lining is important as this is a very damp cake; use parchment paper or one of those loaf-pan-shaped paper liners.

Cream the butter and brown sugar, either with a wooden spoon or with an electric mixer, then add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well. Next, fold in the melted and now slightly cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but being careful not to overbeat. You want the ingredients combined. You don't want a light, airy mass.

Mix the flour and baking soda and gently add the flour mixture to the batter, alternately spoon by spoon with the boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter. Pour into the lined loaf pan. (Note: Don't let this batter come closer than 1 inch from the rim of the loaf pan or it risks overflowing. Pour any excess into a smaller cake or muffin pan.) Bake for 30 minutes.

Turn the oven down to 325° F and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside, so an inserted cake tester or skewer won't come out completely clean.

Place the loaf pan on a rack and leave it to get completely cold before turning it out. (Lawson often leaves it for a day or so; like gingerbread, it improves.) Don't worry if it sinks in the middle; indeed, it will do so because it's such a dense and damp cake.

Makes 8 to 10 slices