minow (12/09/82)
This week, I took a "chocolate orgy" evening course from The Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Here are a few notes and one recipe. The best place to buy chocolate is at a professional baker's supply house (Premier Chocolate Co, 107 No. Washington, Boston was recommended). There, you can buy a 10 lb. block of top-quality chocolate (much better than supermarket stuff) for $2.00 per pound. This is 1/4 the price of German Sweet Chocolate. The instructor recommended -- and used -- Yucatan Dark "coating" chocolate with 60% cocoa fat. Premier will sell smaller quantities, and is apparently willing to break off pieces -- at a higher price, of course. I haven't confirmed this. Some friends and I are considering buying 100 lbs and dividing it up. One way to check chocolate out is by melting it in your mouth, rubbing it with your tongue against your palate -- cheap chocolate is gritty. If you can find it in a gourmet food store, try Poulain unsugured cocoa. This is not alkali process. It contains more cocoa fat than most other brands. Droste, vanHouten, and Bensdorp were also recommended. Here is a recipe -- based on one in Maida Heeter's Chocolate book. Queen Mother Cake 8 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate 6 oz. Sweet butter 1/2 cup Sugar -- this is cut way down from the book 6 Eggs, seperated. We used extra-large eggs, by the way. 6 oz Blanched almonds. Buy unblanched and blanch them yourself. Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot water. (Never, never, let chocolate get too hot. Never let water come in contact with melted chocolate.) Remove from heat, stir until smooth. In a food processor, finely grind the almonds with the sugar (this draws out the nut oil, preventing the almonds from forming nut butter). You will end up with a nut flour. Cream the butter. Add the egg yolks to the butter, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the chocolate, beating well. Using low speed, slowly and thoroughly mix in the almond-sugar mixture. Transfer to a large bowl. Beat the egg whites to medium peaks (with a pinch of salt). Do not beat to stiff peaks -- the oven heat will expand the air and, if you have already beaten in as much air as the egg white can hold, the bubbles will burst and your cake will fall. Carefully fold the whites into the chocolate butter egg mixture. Butter a 9 inch springform pan and line the bottom with a circle of buttered wax paper. (Butter is on both sides of the paper.) Pour in the batter. Bake 20 minutes at 375 degrees, reduce heat to 350, bake 50 minutes longer. When cooked, let the pan cool on a damp, folded towel on the counter top for 20 minutes. Remove the side wall of the pan and invert the cake onto a cake rack. Remove the bottom and re-invert the onto another cake rack. Allow to cook completely. Coat with Chocolate Truffle mixture or Chocolate Glaze. Chocolate Glaze 8 oz Semi-sweet chocolate 1/2 cup Heavy cream Melt together on a double boiler over very low heat, stirring. Pour over the cake while still warm, letting it run 1/2 way down the sides. It will firm up when chilled. Feel free to send samples to Martin Minow decvax!minow