Last Minute Chocolate Cake

This is an seriously intense chocolate cake.

If you want a dense, extremely chocolatey, fudge like quality cake, then this one's for you!

I even added to the chocolatey goodness by adding in chocolate chips.

I been totally enjoying reading Ruth Reichl's books lately. The first one I read was "Tender at the Bone" and I highly recommend it. It's a delightfully funny book, I especially loved the stories about her Mother! And I came away with one recipe I made from that book, the Beouf a la Bourguignonne. Wow! Three days and a bottle of wine later...it was amazing!

But I digress. In this book, "Garlic and Sapphires", she recommends just a scoop of vanilla ice cream to top off each slice of this cake. And that's really all you need for this...my all things chocolate for Valentine's Day, day two. Bake on!

Combine the chocolate, butter and coffee in the top of a double boiler and stir constantly over low heat til melted.
Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes.
Then add the Grand Marnier, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir well.

In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt together, and add this to the chocolate mixture.

Stir in the chocolate chips, if using.

Pour into your prepared loaf pan and bake 30 to 40 minutes, or til tester comes out clean.

Last-Minute Chocolate Cake ( from "Garlic and Sapphires", by Ruth Reichl)

4 ozs. of fine quality unsweetened chocolate (I used Ghirardelli's 100% cacao)*( see note below)

6 tbsp. unsalted butter

3/4 cup brewed strond black coffee (I used 2 tsp. of espresso powder mixed in 3/4 boiling water)

2 tbsp. Grand Marnier

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup AP flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

********************

Preheat oven to 300. Butter and flour a 9" x 5" loaf pan then line bottom of pan with parchment paper. The cake is much easier to get out using the parchment paper, trust me!

1. Combine chocolate, broken into pieces, butter and coffee in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Stir the mixture constantly til smooth, then take off the heat and let it cool about 15 minutes.

2. Once the mixture has cooled, add in the Grand Marnier, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir well.

3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir into the chocolate mixture.

4. Stir in chocolate chips, if using.

5. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake 30 to 40 minutes, or til a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Note: This cake is very crumbly, made more so by adding the chips. Be sure to let it cool completely before cutting and use a clean sharp knife with each cut.
* FYI- I made this cake the day before and used unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process) because I didn't have any unsweetened chocolate at the time.

I subbed 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon of butter for each ounce of unsweetened chocolate called for in the recipe.*
The result was a less dense cake with a lighter crumb, but still very good.