Title: Gateau Au Chocolate (Bittersweet Chocolate Cake) Pt 1of2
Categories: Cake Chocolate
Yield: 8 Servings

THE CHOCOLATE
2	ts	Instant espresso coffee
1/4	c	Boiling water
7	oz	Semi-sweet baking chocolate
2	oz	Unsweetened (bitter) chocolate
THE CAKE PANS
		Two 8" x 1-1/2" round one-piece cake pans (4 cup capacity)
2	ts	Soft butter
2		Rounds wax paper cut to fit bottom of pans
1/4	c	Flour
THE BATTER
4	lg	Eggs (if chilled, set in tepid water for 5 minutes)
3/4	c	Sugar (extra-fine, granulated if possible)
4	oz	Soft unsalted butter (one stick)
1/4	ts	Cream of tarter and a pinch salt
2	tb	Additional sugar
3/4	c	Cornstarch
FOR THE CHOCOLATE AND BUTTER
1	ts	Instant espresso coffee
2	tb	Boiling water
4	oz	Semi-sweet chocolate
1	oz	Unsweetened chocolate
2	oz	Unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

From the Chocolate Manufacturers Association Luncheon at the home of Julia Child in Cambridge, Massachusetts in September 1995:

GATEAU AU CHOCOLAT; L'EMINENCE BRUNE

(BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE CAKE)

This is a very special chocolate cake -- very chocolatey, brown, bittersweet, and buttery, yet very light and delicate in texture. It really needs no icing at all, but is nevertheless filled and covered with a glittering chocolate-butter glaze. Like most French chocolate cakes it is moist, and, even by other standards, slightly underdone. As for technique, rather than being a whole-egg batter, this is the separated egg method where you beat the yolks and sugar, add the melted chocolate, and fold in stiffly-beaten egg whites. To keep the cake light, sifted cornstarch rather than flour goes in. You can make a chocolate cake with no starch at all, by the way, but to my mind you produce more of a chocolate pudding than a cake.

Julia Child Julia Child's Kitchen, 1975

Equipment:

For melting chocolate, a covered 6-cup saucepan and a second pan of simmering water that will hold the first; a clean dry beating bowl for the egg whites, and 3 to 4 quart mixing bowl for the yolks; a portable electric beater with, if possible, 2 sets of blades; a sifter set over wax paper; a cake tester or wooden toothpick.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and set rack in lower-middle level of the oven.

The chocolate:

Blend the coffee and water in the pan, set in larger pan of simmering water, and remove from heat. Break up the chocolate, stir it into the coffee; cover and set aside to melt slowly until you are ready to use it.

The cake pans:

Smear butter inside both cake pans, covering them completely. Place wax paper in bottom of each, butter it, then roll flour around in first pan to coat inside completely. Knock flour out into second pan, coat it, and knock out excess flour.

The batter:

Separate the eggs, dropping the whites into the beating bowl, and the yolks in the mixing bowl. Start beating the egg yolks, gradually adding in the sugar, and continue until yolks are thick, pale yellow, and, when a bit is lifted in blades of beater, it drops off in a thick ribbon that slowly dissolves on the surface of the mixture -- about 3 minutes of beating.

Finishing the chocolate:

Chocolate should now be soft. If not, remove pan and re-heat water; remove from heat, set chocolate pan in again, and beat the chocolate with the portable mixer until perfectly smooth. Beat in the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, then gradually beat the chocolate and butter into the egg-yolk mixture.

MM format by Manny Rothstein, 5/14/98

From: Manny Rothstein Date: 05-20-98 (05:31) The Once And Future Legend (1) Cooking

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