Let them eat cake
Cakes are not usually my preferred dessert. They aren't at the bottom of my list, but they aren't at the top either. I'll make an exception for this cake, however. It's a very moist cake to begin with. You'd think that after sitting around for a week or two, even under a cake dome, it'd dry and become stale. I thought that would be the case when I made a mocha rum cake for dessert on some holiday and we weren't able to finish it very quickly. After the holiday was over, the cake sat under the dome for some days. Eventually I had a chocolate craving and decided to have a nibble. After all, even dried-out chocolate cake is still chocolate.
The small piece I took was a revelation. It had not just avoided drying out, it had actually become moister as it sat. By the time I had my small wedge, the cake was so dense and moist that it was nearly fudge. The process has worked every time I've made the cake since - generally every Christmas, by request of the family. We try every year to leave some to sit under the cake dome, and are always rewarded with an amazing final slice of cake.
Mocha Rum Cake
cocoa powder for dusting
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup dark rum
2 cups strong brewed coffee
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Accompaniment
lightly sweetened whipped cream
Preheat oven to 300°F. While the oven is heating, butter a 4 1/2-inch-deep (12-cup) Kugelhupf or bundt pan. Dust with the cocoa powder, knocking out any excess.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
Set a large metal bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. In it melt the chocolate and the butter, stirring the mixture until smooth. Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat, stir in the coffee, the rum, and the sugar. Beat the flour into the chocolate with an electric mixer, working a half cup at a time and scraping down the sides. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined thoroughly, and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for about 1 hour and 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack, and then turn it out onto the rack. The cake can be made several days in advance and kept, either well-wrapped and chilled or under a cake dome.
Serve with dollops of the whipped cream.
The small piece I took was a revelation. It had not just avoided drying out, it had actually become moister as it sat. By the time I had my small wedge, the cake was so dense and moist that it was nearly fudge. The process has worked every time I've made the cake since - generally every Christmas, by request of the family. We try every year to leave some to sit under the cake dome, and are always rewarded with an amazing final slice of cake.
Mocha Rum Cake
cocoa powder for dusting
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup dark rum
2 cups strong brewed coffee
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Accompaniment
lightly sweetened whipped cream
Preheat oven to 300°F. While the oven is heating, butter a 4 1/2-inch-deep (12-cup) Kugelhupf or bundt pan. Dust with the cocoa powder, knocking out any excess.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
Set a large metal bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. In it melt the chocolate and the butter, stirring the mixture until smooth. Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat, stir in the coffee, the rum, and the sugar. Beat the flour into the chocolate with an electric mixer, working a half cup at a time and scraping down the sides. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined thoroughly, and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for about 1 hour and 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack, and then turn it out onto the rack. The cake can be made several days in advance and kept, either well-wrapped and chilled or under a cake dome.
Serve with dollops of the whipped cream.