Caleb’s birthday falls in the second week of December, giving me a big fat wonderful excuse to drool over dessert recipes. Perfect. After an exhaustive search I decided upon a Joy of Cooking special: lemon cheesecake made with cottage cheese. This appealed to my low fat sensibilities. I worked out a number of ways to further reduce the fat and I was off, flying high before I fell. Because I reduced the fat in the cake it needed a shorter baking time. I realized this after I pulled it from the oven. Boohoo. While the dessert was tasty, it was decidedly dry, as over-baked cheesecakes tend to be, particularly low-fat over baked cheese cake. Yet I’m still excited, and hopeful. With a little tinkering this could prove to be my work-horse of cheesecakes. Well I couldn’t serve a dried out cake at the birthday go time. What to do? I had no time during the day to prepare another dessert, as Caleb and I had a list of plans. A normal, less obsessive person would probably just pick up a cake from the store or bakery. But I am obsessive. I unearthed my recipe, or rather, the Moosewood Collective’s recipe, for Six Minute Cake. As Caleb’s family members arrived for the birthday dinner, and I sprinkled the coarse salt on the foccacia, dropped the meatballs in the sauce, panicked about a salad, I used my third free hand to whip up a six minute cake. I swear I did it in five. I served this simple chocolate cake warm from the oven with a dollop of mocha whipped cream. It was a hit.
What a reminder that food should be simple and fun. It should taste good. Tiered cakes and frothy egg whites have their place but most often a slice of something hot and chocolate and a little sweet beside it is all a girl needs.
Six Minute Chocolate Cake
1 ½ cups white flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water or coffee
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Pour the liquid ingredients into the baking pan and mix with a fork or whisk.
The Moosewood Collective suggests that you let the cake cool and then refrigerate it for 30 minutes but I prefer the cake warm.
1 TBSP instant coffee
1 cup whipping cream
¼ cup icing sugar
1 TBSP cocoa powder
I really felt like I was there - the anticipation of the cheesecake.. the overbaked sadness.. and (drum roll) the triumphant save! Nice work on the chocolate cake. Mocha whipped cream sounds like my new favourite thing.
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