What's Your Chocolate Nemesis?

Everyone's favorite pastry chef should be David Lebovitz. He's got great taste and great stories. After uprooting a life in San Francisco Lebovitz headed to Paris to live and write an endearingly funny cooking blog about French food and everything Parisian. He even wrote a book, The Sweet Life In Paris. A personal exposé of going French, with Parisian observations that include: how the French eat bananas with a fork and knife, to, taking the time to iron jeans, and then wearing them to take out the garbage... seriously? And other incredible factoids about the French, one of them standing out as my fave: 

Every French woman knows how to make a chocolate cake, by heart.

Now, that's impressive. And of all the chocolate cakes I have made, and eaten, I can't say that I have committed one to memory. Just imagine, every woman in America having apple pie at the tip of their fingers... And even if it's not true, I am going to go ahead and believe it anyway. Because there is something so darned romantic about a country of women with chocolate cake recipes pinned to their hearts. Can't we do the same?

Unfortunately, my cake-baking days are still temporarily on hold. Right hand is still on break, and moving my standing mixer around the kitchen and chopping chocolate would be really lame, at this point.

And, as if I had known I would be a one-handed, Lame Chef, with nothing but time on her hands but to write about food, serendipity stepped in. I had my cake!

In December of 2010, before my Lame sojourn, I made Chocolate Nemesis from The River Cafe Cook Book, by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers-- two chefs who had a famous restaurant in London where I had done a quick stage, back in 1999, and I photographed it. What luck! The cake is one of my favorites. And over the years I have made it for dozens of dinner parties, having paired it with just about everything from tangerines to wild strawberries, sweet cream and creme fraiche, and sometimes, even mendiant-like with pistachio and golden sultanas. What a cake.

So, here it is, in each stage of its gloriousness. Super chocolatey, with a flourless, almost custard-like feel, it is not the cake mom made for your birthday. It's just a little more dessert-like. But more importantly, it's fun to make, and even more fun to eat. A little messy, too, so wear an apron.

And here's more good news-- there are just four ingredients to remember. So, C'mon. We can do it!

Now get to work.

Chocolate Nemesis ~ The Rive Cafe Cook Book

Serves 10-12

Note: I always half the recipe.  Just use an 8 x 2" pan instead. Also, the recipe is originally written in grams and then modified for US standards of measurement. So, it's a little more work to half, if you choose to.

1 1/2 pounds of bittersweet chocolate, chopped 

10 whole eggs

1 pound 5 oz. sugar

1 pound of unsalted butter, room temperature, softened

How 

Preheat the oven to 350` and grease and line a 12` cake tin with parchment, then grease and flour it, again.

Beat the eggs with a 1/3 of the sugar until the volume quadruples-- takes about 10 minutes in an electric mixer.

Heat the remaining sugar in a small pan with 1 cup of water until the sugar has dissolved to a syrup.

Add the chocolate and butter to the hot syrup and combine. Remove from the heat and cool, slightly.

Add the warm syrup to the eggs and continue to beat, just until completely combined.

Pour into the prepared cake tin and place in a bain-marie water bath, raising the water just under the lip of the cake tin. This will ensure that the cake will cook evenly.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes and until set. Test by placing the flat of your hand gently on the surface.

Let cool in the tin before turning out.