Yield: 8 individual cakes
Recipe: 171/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 304
One rainy day I was craving some chocolate-type dessert and I thought I would try this delicious-sounding recipe. It was fun to make and what I particularly like about this recipe is that it can be prepared in advance and reheated when one wants to enjoy it. Very convenient. With steamed desserts I am never sure if I am baking them correctly, as I usually worry about underbaking them, so I instead tend to overcompensate and overbake them instead. I am trying to fight against this. So I am not quite sure that I got the texture of the steamed puddings right, but nonetheless it seemed okay and was very enjoyable.
Ingredients:
- 4 oz (125 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
- 5 eggs, at room temperature, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon Chinese Five-spice powder
- Cocoa powder, for dusting
The flavors were very surprising to me, especially the first couple bites. You can taste the chocolate but it is very umami as well, likely as a result of the Chinese Five-spice powder which I don’t think I have had before. At first I thought I didn’t like it, but after the second and third bite my tastebuds got adjusted to the flavor profile and I started enjoying it. I think it was more the unexpected kick that made me unsure. Kind of like when you expect to be drinking a glass of water and it is juice, for instance. It just catches you off guard. In any case, the dessert as a whole is lovely, pleasurable to eat and has a very interesting flavor profile that may take some getting used to but then quickly becomes enjoyable. It’s hard to explain but that’s what it is, a good dessert! It definitely goes very well with the vanilla cranberry compote. Actually, they were made for each other, I think. Try it!
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease eight 6-ounce ramekins and then sprinkle them with sugar, tapping out the excess. Place the dishes into a roasting pan that has an outside edge that is taller than the ramekins.
- Melt the chocolate in a metal or glass bowl placed over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring until it has melted. Set aside.
- Beat the butter, ¼ cup of the sugar and the orange zest until it is fluffy.
- Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla extract.
- Beat in the melted chocolate.
- Stir the almonds and the five-spice powder together, and add this to the batter, mixing until blended.
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until foamy, then slowly pour in the remaining ¼ of sugar while whipping, continuing to whip until the whites hold a soft peak. Fold the whites into the batter until well incorporated.
- Ladle this mixture into the prepared ramekins. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan so that the water comes halfway up the sides of the dishes. Cover the roasting pan with foil and bake the puddings for 45 minutes, until they spring back when gently pressed. Let the puddings sit, covered, for 15 minutes.
- To serve, run a spatula or knife around the inside edge of each dish and invert it onto a dessert plate. Dust with cocoa and serve warm.
- Alternatively, the cakes can be prepared a day ahead and warmed in their dishes in a water bath, as they were bakes, for 15 minutes at 325°F.
Happy baking!
Valerie
Valerie 