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| The finished triple chocolate king cake, shown here anointed with fresh cream and coconut shavings and served with a ridiculously oversized cup of hot coffee. |
Greetings from the totality of possibilities!
I don't know why the first installment of this blog, which comes as an absurdly tardy response to calls for me to share my life overseas with folks back home, should be a recipe. Still, I suppose it is somewhat fitting; for me, cooking is an unapologetic celebration of the mundane and a fiercely creative endeavor without the slightest pretension. That is, cookery is the most everyday-life sort of thing to do, to think about, and to write about. And people have asked for my daily life. Well, here is something I did one day in my life. Without further ado, I give you the background and recipe for my triple choc king cake. This is a recipe I developed myself and with which I feel fairly smug. You don't have to agree with me as to its lovely taste (my coworkers devoured nearly all of it in one go); just allow me to bask in the glow of self-congratulation.
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Are you familiar with a king cake? In some cases, it's called a three kings' cake. I first heard about it in my second-year high school Spanish class, where it was introduced as rosca de reyes (sponge cake of kings). It is traditionally eaten around the Solemnity of the Epiphany; however, an alternative tradition places it as a final indulgence to be had around Mardi Gras, a sort of last hurrah before putting away the butter and white sugar to don the austerity of the lenten season. We have always celebrated the Epiphany and Lent in my family with a trip to church but never with cake. Pity I didn't encounter this earlier in life when cake factored more prevalently into my dietary habits.
Well, the kings' cake is also a tradition in France, home country of a coworker of mine. He was kind enough to bring a galette des rois (kings' cake) for us. This is a frangipane-filled pastry more than a cake: a real extravagance. As with the Spanish incarnation, the galette des rois contains a trinket. This was originally a bean, but these days you can find a small plastic(!) baby, said to represent the infant Jesus, or any number of small trifles. In the Latin American tradition to which I was first introduced during my Spanish class, the one who finds the trinket is declared the queen/king of the year (or day) and said to have the luck of the year. Evidently, in the French tradition, this new-found prosperity, divined in Kuchen, is to be shared with everyone else. As luck would have it, I sat down to my first and--probably--last cake of the year (more on this glum fact in another post) and ended up the one who discovered the trinket. And that meant I needed to bring the next cake to work with me. The French tradition goes that the one who strikes upon the hidden object must bring the same cake again, another galette des rois.
I am hardly a rebel, but I do have a slightly stubborn streak when it comes to culinary legerdemain; I am not content to reproduce something that everyone has just eaten. I also seem to remember the subject of chocolate factoring into the Latin American versions of this cake, but that could just be my memory playing tricks on me. I wonder why I would have imagined a chocolate cake when most of the rosca de reyes I see appear to be yeasted fruit cakes. In any case, I do not have the time or patience to make puff pastry for the galette des rois, nor have I found puff pastry at a local grocery outlet I deem suitable to attempt something as delectable as a proper galette. More on my dismay at the poor selection of groceries here in a later post when I'm feeling appropriately emo.
I scoured my favorite cookery books for a chocolate cake. There's just one thing: I was more concerned with the portability angle than just about any other aspect of the whole operation. At that point, I figured one cooked in a loaf tin would travel best, and that is one cake pan I do have clattering about in my kitchen drawers someplace.
All the cakes I found that fit the bill call for butter. Now, butter is rather expensive here in Japan, and there has been (was?) a shortage here in the past months (See this NPR story...). What's more, it's a real pain to cream without a mixer, something I have learnt to live without in my time here. So, I fiddled with the recipes I found in my culinary tomes and came up with a proper chocolate loaf that substitutes flavorless cooking oil for butter. I must admit I was wary of doing this and so added an egg to give the cake a bit more structure to make up for the fact that I wouldn't be whipping air into a creamy butter and sugar mixture. Anyway, cooking oil imparts a much lighter texture than butter, all told. I wagered this lighter crumb would be a nice foil to the depth of the copious amounts of chocolate I would be stuffing into the cake.
So, the cake was all settled, but then I got to thinking about the frosting. In an ideal setting, I would use icing sugar to make a chocolate frosting, but confectioner's sugar is not easy to find in any sizable quantity (i.e., the amount necessary to consider making a buttercream or any other frosting I know how to do) and really expensive (about $1.00 US for 25 grams, or less than a quarter cup). I got the idea for a chocolate sugar glaze in lieu of a traditional chocolate frosting from the sugary glaze on the maple bars they used to serve at my middle school in the morning as part of the free breakfast program. And, incidentally, this little fact probably gives some explanation as to why we have such the problem with adolescent overweight in the United States.
And that brings me to the end of my pre-ramble--er, preamble. On with the recipe!
Donny's Triple Choc King Cake
I scoured my favorite cookery books for a chocolate cake. There's just one thing: I was more concerned with the portability angle than just about any other aspect of the whole operation. At that point, I figured one cooked in a loaf tin would travel best, and that is one cake pan I do have clattering about in my kitchen drawers someplace.
All the cakes I found that fit the bill call for butter. Now, butter is rather expensive here in Japan, and there has been (was?) a shortage here in the past months (See this NPR story...). What's more, it's a real pain to cream without a mixer, something I have learnt to live without in my time here. So, I fiddled with the recipes I found in my culinary tomes and came up with a proper chocolate loaf that substitutes flavorless cooking oil for butter. I must admit I was wary of doing this and so added an egg to give the cake a bit more structure to make up for the fact that I wouldn't be whipping air into a creamy butter and sugar mixture. Anyway, cooking oil imparts a much lighter texture than butter, all told. I wagered this lighter crumb would be a nice foil to the depth of the copious amounts of chocolate I would be stuffing into the cake.
So, the cake was all settled, but then I got to thinking about the frosting. In an ideal setting, I would use icing sugar to make a chocolate frosting, but confectioner's sugar is not easy to find in any sizable quantity (i.e., the amount necessary to consider making a buttercream or any other frosting I know how to do) and really expensive (about $1.00 US for 25 grams, or less than a quarter cup). I got the idea for a chocolate sugar glaze in lieu of a traditional chocolate frosting from the sugary glaze on the maple bars they used to serve at my middle school in the morning as part of the free breakfast program. And, incidentally, this little fact probably gives some explanation as to why we have such the problem with adolescent overweight in the United States.
And that brings me to the end of my pre-ramble--er, preamble. On with the recipe!
Donny's Triple Choc King Cake
Recipe
Wet ingredients
120 ml flavorless vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
175 ml buttermilk (3/4 cup) [Substitute the same amount of milk with 1 tbsp vinegar]
1 tsp vanilla extract
175 ml buttermilk (3/4 cup) [Substitute the same amount of milk with 1 tbsp vinegar]
Dry ingredients
200 grams all-purpose flour (1 2/3 cup)
150 grams dark brown sugar (3/4 cup, packed)
150 grams caster sugar (3/4 cup) [US granulated sugar is finely textured; no need to get superfine]
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100 grams semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (Just use half a cup)
1/8 tsp of cinnamon or instant espresso granules (optional)
Glaze
Equal parts sugar and water for simple syrup (say, 1/2 cup each or 125 g to 120 ml)
1 tbsp cocoa
For embellishment: either a dusting of cocoa and icing sugar or else chocolate shavings. I used about 100 grams of chocolate crunch that I bought at the local 100 yen shop (dollar store)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100 grams semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (Just use half a cup)
1/8 tsp of cinnamon or instant espresso granules (optional)
Glaze
Equal parts sugar and water for simple syrup (say, 1/2 cup each or 125 g to 120 ml)
1 tbsp cocoa
For embellishment: either a dusting of cocoa and icing sugar or else chocolate shavings. I used about 100 grams of chocolate crunch that I bought at the local 100 yen shop (dollar store)
Method
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| Is it a microwave? Is it an oven? It's BOTH! By Panasonic. |
a. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (325 Fahrenheit should do it, I'd expect).
b. Line a loaf tin with aluminium foil and oil it. You could also use grease-proof paper (parchment and the like). I used a lot of foil to get enough overhang to make pulling the loaf out easy later.
c. Prepare your buttermilk substitute by intentionally spoiling your milk.
d. Crack three eggs into the bowl.
e. Add your sugar. And whisk like a mad(wo)man to incorporate air.
f. Sift the dry ingredients directly into the bowl. I know, I know: you don't like to sift. I don't either, but I run a spoon along the mesh and all the ingredients fall into the waiting bowl anyway; this way, pouring them through the strainer into a waiting bowl is hardly a chore.
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| Japanese kitchens are not known for being commodious. |
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| This brush is silicone. And only cost 108 yen (Like, a dollar US). |
b. Line a loaf tin with aluminium foil and oil it. You could also use grease-proof paper (parchment and the like). I used a lot of foil to get enough overhang to make pulling the loaf out easy later.
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| Buttermilk, I have never seen in Japan. Besides, spoiling perfectly good milk gives my inner child something to be giddy over. |
c. Prepare your buttermilk substitute by intentionally spoiling your milk.
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| Crack the eggs into the bowl... Yes, I premeasured my ingredients. Did I mention how incommodious the kitchen is? I would have been cleaning up flour for DAYS otherwise. |
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| No, you didn't need two photos. You know how to crack eggs. But I'm doing it like a pro. Please allow me this chance to feel deft. |
d. Crack three eggs into the bowl.
e. Add your sugar. And whisk like a mad(wo)man to incorporate air.
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| My egg and sugar mixture ended up going into ribbons. This is easy to achieve with a stand or electric hand mixer. If you're doing this by hand, it's a workout. But you'll be replenishing your calories shortly, so that's fine. |
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| The last thing you want to do is serve someone a cake with little cocoa pebbles still in it. No, not even your enemy: you would feed them a cake spiked with a laxative, obviously. |
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| Just the sight of that sunny yellow ribbon of sugar and egg is enough to give me a sense of well-being. |
g. Pour the wet mixture into the dry. That's happiness. Right there.
h. Fold in until well-incorporated but... and I stress this only because I care about you... DO NOT OVERMIX. Next, add your chocolate chips.
i. Transfer the batter into the prepared tin.
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| Nothing like the clattering of tiny chocolate chips... |
h. Fold in until well-incorporated but... and I stress this only because I care about you... DO NOT OVERMIX. Next, add your chocolate chips.
i. Transfer the batter into the prepared tin.
j. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. A few damp crumbs is the sign of a moist cake and nothing to be alarmed over; that said, you don't want any unbaked batter remaining. That would be embarrassing later.
l. Allow the cake to cool.
m. Make your sugar glaze: combine your equal parts cold water and granulated sugar. Add the tablespoon of cocoa powder. Whisk to combine and dissolve and cease whisking before turning on the stovetop. Next, apply heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce by about half, swirling the pan as needed but not stirring it.
n. Puncture tiny holes in the cake with a stick of dry somen or, if you don't happen to have somen lying around (And why not?!), a toothpick or other implement. Glaze that cake. Finally, dust with cocoa powder and icing sugar or with chocolate shavings you got for cheap.
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| You may be saying to yourself, "But Donny, that's not water; that's milk." And you would be right. I had this milk left over and don't usually use milk (non-dairy substitutes, rather) so I thought I would be clever and substitute the same amount of milk. |
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| I ended up with not a syrup but a sort of rather hard-set frosting I don't recommend replicating. Just make the sugar syrup. Trust me. |
n. Puncture tiny holes in the cake with a stick of dry somen or, if you don't happen to have somen lying around (And why not?!), a toothpick or other implement. Glaze that cake. Finally, dust with cocoa powder and icing sugar or with chocolate shavings you got for cheap.
I prepared this the day before serving to allow the glaze time to permeate the cake prior to cutting.
I'm told such cakes last about 48 to 72 hours on the counter. However, you are in luck: you have the option of putting the cake in the refrigerator because we have used oil in lieu of butter. I have it on good authority that fridged cake will last up to a week. This one didn't last even a whole day, let alone long enough for me to corroborate such claims; it was devoured by several coworkers after lunch.
So, there you have it: my inaugural blog post. Obviously, more Japan-specific content and some more quasi-philosophical content is in the offing. But in the meantime, make this dessert: it's a real piece of cake.
I'm told such cakes last about 48 to 72 hours on the counter. However, you are in luck: you have the option of putting the cake in the refrigerator because we have used oil in lieu of butter. I have it on good authority that fridged cake will last up to a week. This one didn't last even a whole day, let alone long enough for me to corroborate such claims; it was devoured by several coworkers after lunch.
So, there you have it: my inaugural blog post. Obviously, more Japan-specific content and some more quasi-philosophical content is in the offing. But in the meantime, make this dessert: it's a real piece of cake.
