Pulled from the Silver Palate Cookbook, this bittersweet chocolate cake recipe features almost a pound of chocolate and a dozen eggs! Light yet rich, it’s a head turner.
In this recipe
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Chocolate cake with a silver palate
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Bittersweet Chocolate Cake Tips
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The best chocolate
Adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook, this bittersweet chocolate cake has nearly a pound of chocolate, a full dozen eggsalmost a pound of butter and just a cup of flour.
If you’ve been looking for a chocolate cake that represents 1980’s excesses, I can’t think of a better one!
The famous chocolate cake with a silvery palate
Ever since Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins introduced this cake to the world decades ago, it has become part of our national baking repertoire. It’s like a pound cake but with dark chocolate.
This cake manages to be both light and fluffy while also being wonderfully rich and delicious. Because the eggs add so much structure, you can easily cut thin slices without the cake falling apart.
Tips for making bittersweet chocolate cake
This bittersweet chocolate cake requires a little baking skill to make, but it’s definitely doable. The parts that people may have trouble with are melting the chocolate, beating the egg whites, and folding the egg whites into the batter. Here are a few helpful tips:
The best chocolate for this cake
The best chocolate for baking is chocolate blocks or candy bars. Look at these in the baking section and choose chocolate with 60% to 85% cocoa solids. Some brands we recommend are Guittard, Ghirardelli’s and Scharffen Berger.
We do not recommend using chocolate chips for this recipe.
More glamorous dessert recipes
- Tiramisu
- Lemon Cheesecake
- Three-layer white cake with orange curd filling
- Hummingbird Cake
- Champagne Chocolate Truffle
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Bittersweet chocolate cake
ingredients
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12 big eggsseparate (see separate eggs)
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2 cups (400G) granulated sugar
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14 ounces (400G) bittersweet or Dark chocolategrated or cut into small pieces
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4 tablespoons (60ml) water (or more if needed)
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prize kosher salt
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3 1/2 double crochet (400G) unsalted buttersoftened
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2 teaspoon Orange peel
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1 cup (135G) all purpose floursieved (first measure, then sieve)
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powdered sugarfor garnish
special equipment
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9 inch or 10 inch springform pan
method
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Preheat the oven and prepare the pan:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare a rack in the center of the oven. Place a baking sheet in a rack underneath (to catch any drips or spills).
Generously butter the sides and bottom of a 9-inch or 10-inch springform pan. Add a few tablespoons of sugar and shake gently so all sides and bottom of the pan are coated in sugar. Tap off the excess sugar.
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Beat egg yolks and sugar:
Beat egg yolks with the caster sugar until thick and pale yellow, forming a ribbon as they fall from the beater, about 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed on an electric hand mixer.
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Melt chocolate:
Make a water bath by bringing an inch of water to a simmer in a saucepan and placing a metal bowl on top. Make sure the bottom of the metal bowl doesn’t touch the water underneath.
Combine chocolate and 4 tablespoons water in top metal bowl of water bath.
Melt the chocolate slowly over barely simmering water and stir until smooth. If the chocolate gets too thick and seems like it’s going to set, stir in 1 tablespoon more water.
Stir in a pinch of salt.
Let cool until just warm to the touch.
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Make the dough:
Slowly fold the warm chocolate into the egg mixture, stirring gently as you add the chocolate. Stir in the softened butter. Stir in the grated orange zest. Stir in the sifted flour. Mix thoroughly but gently.
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Fold in the beaten egg whites:
Beat the egg white stiff. (See this wonderful explanation on whipping egg whites from La Bonne Cuisine de Madame Sant-Ange.)
Stir 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate egg mixture to thin it. Gently fold in the remaining beaten egg whites, one third at a time, until the egg whites are fully incorporated. At this stage, be careful not to mix too vigorously.
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Bake:
Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan. The batter comes close to the top of the pan. Place pan on the middle rack of your oven and bake at 325°F for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a cake tester or digital thermometer inserted in the center reads 200°F (93°C).
Simple tip!
Don’t worry if the top of your baked chocolate cake cracks! As the cake cools, the top will settle and the cracks will close.
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Cool:
Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the outer rim. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing the bottom of the pan. Refrigerate.
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Surcharge:
Sprinkle with powdered sugar to serve.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 763 | calories |
| 66g | Fat |
| 43g | carbohydrates |
| 6g | protein |
