Saturday, August 25, 2012

Saturday Morning Cooking Show

First up:  how to separate egg yolks if you're squeamish and kind of anal retentive and like screwing around with suction and plastic bottles. You know who you are. You were the kid that stuck the water bottle on your chin until it left a black bruise like a hickey.

Admit it.




Here is how you separate egg yolks if you're gorgeous and sexy and can really cook. Trust me.


Sorry about the stupid subtitles.


This recipe for Chocolate Cloud Cake is absolutely sinful, but I've always thought it should be named Chocolate Truffle Cake because the final result is a dense, soft intensely chocolate torte that has the texture of a gloriously rich truffle. I have been making this cake for years and there isn't a person on the planet that doesn't swoon and ask for the recipe. As a Brit, Nigella uses grams and centigrade and shit, like she thinks the rest of us just effortlessly cook that way. Sure.

Here is the recipe converted for Stupid 'Mericans, like you.



CHOCOLATE CLOUD CAKE

9 oz dark chocolate
9 TBSP butter
6 eggs
¾ cup sugar
Cointreau, Jack Daniels, Rum, Kahlua, whatever
Orange zest from one orange (Entirely optional. I normally use Jack Daniels and then just a bit of vanilla. If using Grand Marnier or Cointreau, the additional orange is lovely.)


Preheat oven to 350 F. Line bottom of springform pan with parchment paper.

Melt chocolate with butter. Let cool.

Separate four eggs, reserving yolks. Whip egg whites with ¼ cup sugar until stiff peaks form and whites are glossy.

In separate bowl, add remaining whole eggs to the four reserved yolks and beat in ½ cup sugar. Stir in liquor of choice (or vanilla, if desired). Stir in orange zest, if desired. Stir in cooled chocolate mixture. Fold in whites.

Pour into prepared springform pan. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes. Served chilled with sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla or liquor used in cake.



3 comments:

  1. Camille Paglia:
    "English poetry is thriving in the subtle, mellifluous, adjective-laden culinary odes of Nigella Lawson (who has an Oxford degree in medieval and modern languages). After listening to her on my car radio on the way to work, I often arrive for my morning classes in an ecstatic haze."

    Paglia experienced ecstatic haze. I, watching Nigella separate egg yolks ... almost experienced ecstatic unconsciousness.

    I am a fan of Nigella's embrace of sensuality, be it tactile, aromatic, sonant, savory, or visual. Her embrace of sensuality makes inevitable her embrace of egg yolks.

    I once blogged. About Nigella. http://theendzone.blogspot.com/search?q=nigella

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is terrible to say, but: if I were to go out to dinner with a man who ... didn't look like he enjoyed his food, I would know: this is never gonna happen for me.

      Exactly. But my distaste for those who don't enjoy food extends to female dinner guests as well. My husband and I once began a friendship with a couple who seemed delightful on the surface. We had them over for dinner where I began the meal with a wild mushroom tart with champagne, asparagus soup, roasted chicken with garlic and basil, a pear and spiced pecan salad with cheese and finished with a strawberry tart. The husband dived in and was an excellent guest. The wife barely ate, picking her food APART like a two year old with hideous manners. I wanted to slap her. I never invited them back again.

      Nigella Lawson is the perfect combination of crackling intelligence, winsome beauty and deliciously suspect naughtiness. I used to watch her show faithfully.

      I adore her way with the English language every bit as much as I loved her recipes. This one is divine.

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  2. What a meal you served!

    And what a foolish dinner guest. Are we designed to exist at a target weight, or to live? That poor husband.

    ReplyDelete