I Call It Brownie Cake

Dear Devon,

A lukewarm response to my much praised and loved brownies encouraged me to rethink this American dessert. Some people can't get excited about brownies. I won't name names, but they exist, and I know such a person. They feel that there are so many wonderful desserts out there, why make brownies? I suppose, some of us are too spoiled by on-demand sweet potato pies and regular batches of biscotti to take much notice of a freshly baked, chocolate laden brownie.

Making the perfect brownie has been something of an obsession for me. In high school, I once made the mistake of making a batch of dry and tasteless bronwies. I have never been able to live this down. In certain circles, the story still haunts me. But, taking this critique in stride, I have, ten years later, developed an amazingly fudgy, dense, and absolutely sensational brownie recipe. Unfortunately, there are some who, while admitting admiration for my brownies, feel that it can be difficult to get excited about them.

Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home to Yours has several fantastic brownie recipes. I absolutely love this cookbook and will probably make everything in the book within my lifetime, if not in the next two years. My favorite brownie is the first recipe listed. The brownies are unusual in their thickness. These are not the 2 inch behemoths you find in gourmet bakeries. But at 3/4 of an inch in thickness, my brownies pack an intense chocolate flavor. I played with the recipe adding a bit more chocolate and a tablespoon of espresso to boost the flavors. The brownies come out dark and moist with a crisp and crackled surface.

While wrestling with the challenge to make a more exciting brownie, I decided to bake my way through Dorie's brownie recipes. The result was an amazing range of brownie production. The proportions of ingredients, that is, fat to flour and chocolate, varied noticeably, as did the final brownie. In the end, I was inspired by these recipes to produce a brownie that combined the bold chocolate flavor of a brownie with the light, airy texture of a moist cake.

I liked the idea of making a flourless chocolate cake with a touch of flour. I often think of flourless chocolate cakes as brownies on steroids. To maintain the intense chocolatiness of brownies, I opted for 10 oz of chocolate, combining semi-sweet and bittersweet. I like the complexity of flavor produced by mixing the two chocolates. To ensure richness and moistness, I upped the butter by half and increased the flour two-fold. I added the zest from the clementine and half a vanilla bean. The zest did not have a huge effect. The fruit wasn't ripe, but I imagine orange zest would work very nicely. The last piece of seasoning was salt. I used big crystals of kosher salt, liberally sprinkled into the flour. It makes for an unexpected bit of savory in an otherwise sweet dessert.

What came out of the oven was lovely. My brownie cake embodied the essence and flavor of brownie: the intense chocolate, the wonderful crackly crust, and the moistness and texture of a cake. Gone was the dense and powerful fudge brownie. Instead a lovely chocolate cake emerged with the spirit of a brownie.


Brownie Cake

6 oz of butter

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 oz bitter sweet chocolate
1 tbsp espresso

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1/2 vanilla bean
1 tbsp citrus zest (orange probably works best)

3/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13 x 9 inch pan.

Melt butter and chocolate in the top bowl of a double boiler. Add espresso. Watch the melting chocolate and butter vigilantly, occasionally stirring the contents to promote even melting and prevent the butter and chocolate from scorching. In a large work bowl, measure out the sugar and scrape the seeds from half a vanilla bean. Add zest. Whisk together to mix. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture directly to the sugar, whisking vigorously. Add the eggs, one at a time, thoroughly mixing in each egg. Don't be alarmed if the mixture looks curdled, just keep blending. The chocolate mixture will get thick and dense. Mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Pour batter into the buttered pan. Bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes, until the center is set. I use the toothpick test. Cool slightly before serving. Brownie cake is nice with a big scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream, a tall glass of milk, or as a midnight snack.

P.S. Happy New Year! Been spending the holiday traveling up and down the California coast. I have lots of pictures to share.

xxx