PROFESSOR'S CHOCOLATE CAKE

SOURCE: BEATRICE OJAKANGAS. SCANDINAVIAN FEASTS: CELEBRATING TRADITIONS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

Without a doubt, any chocophile involuntarily loses self-restraint and immediately gives in to gratification from the moment a morsel of this Swedish chocolate cake touches the taste buds. The desire to have more further intensifies when the fudgy and sticky interior slowly transitions to a molten chocolate lava inside the mouth. Regarding the professorial title, who knows and who cares? The simple cake might have been the product of cosmopolitan baking practices, thus, appealing to sophisticated tastes, or might have inexplicably possess a discursive element, consequently provoking an inner debate between the simultaneous feelings of reservation and allure towards an outwardly undercooked but deeply decadent chocolate temptation.

Ingredients

6 ounces/170 grams semisweet chocolate OR bittersweet chocolate, preferably at least 50% cacao

6 ounces/170 grams unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup/150 grams granulated sugar

3 large egg whites

3 large egg yolks

3/4 cup/50 grams sifted cake flour OR all-purpose flour

3/4 cup/100 grams walnuts, pecans, OR skinned hazelnuts, finely chopped

1 tablespoon/15 mL instant espresso coffee

Confectioner’s sugar, for garnish

Specific Equipment

2 medium-sized mixing bowls

Small saucepan

Spatula

Wire whisk OR stand mixer or hand mixer equipped with a whisk attachment

9-inch/23-cm cake pan, preferably springform cake pans, greased with butter and dusted with flour

Cooling rack

Sifter OR fine-mesh strainer

Serves 8 to 12

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.

2. Melt the chocolate, butter, and sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl set over a small saucepan of simmering water. Stir altogether with a spatula until the mixture is smooth and well-blended. Remove the bowl from heat and set aside to cool.

3. Beat the egg whites in another mixing bowl with a wire whisk, stand mixer, or hand mixer until peaks are stiff and glossy.

4. Beat the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture. Stir in the flour, the walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts and the instant coffee until well-blended.

5. Stir a third of the beaten egg whites with a spatula to lighten the chocolate mixture. Fold in the rest of egg whites until completely incorporated into the batter.

6. Pour the batter into cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake has risen double in volume. Remove from oven and let the cake pans cool on a wire rack to allow the cake to deflate.

7. Sift over the confectioner’s sugar and serve the cake by cutting into wedges.