author: willandleah
created: 2005-02-07 14:53:25
servings: 4-6
notes:
This is THE dessert in my mother's family. It is slightly adapted from an old edition of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and although Cooks' Illustrated thoroughly revised the recipe recently, I still cling to the old version; it just tastes better to me. And it's easy and quick and requires no eggs, if you're like me and habitually forget to restock them. I have no idea what it has to do with Denver, though. Will would just like to add that this is the dessert that sealed his fate.
recipe:
3/4 cup white sugar, plus another 1/2 cup 1 cup flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/8 tsp salt 2 Tbsp butter 1 oz unsweetened chocolate OR 3 Tbsp cocoa 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup brown sugar 4 Tbsp cocoa Cold coffee or water Preheat the oven to 350F. Sift together the 3/4 cup white sugar, the flour, the baking powder, and the salt. Melt the butter and chocolate or cocoa together, and pour into flour mixture. Stir in the milk and vanilla, and mix well. Scrape into a buttered baking dish, one large enough to leave a little clearence at the top. Over the top of the cake, strew the brown sugar, the 1/2 cup white sugar, and the cocoa. (You don't have to combine them first if you don't want to get another bowl dirty, and I rarely do.) Then, even though it looks like a mistake, pour 1 1/2 cups of cold coffee or water over the whole thing (hence the need for clearance in your baking dish). Bake for 40 minutes. The water or coffee will combine with the cocoa and sugars and melt down through the cake somehow, making it rich and moist, with its own chocolate sauce at the bottom of the dish. Serve at room temperature, not hot out of the oven; Will likes his with a bit of cream or milk poured over it, but I feel this is gilding the lily.