The Chocolate Cake Monster

After the Cheesecake Master is only natural I have a follow-up on chocolate cakes..and how better to call it than ...the Chocolate Cake ...Monster?

This is how the cake looked like when just out of the oven. I guess when the dudes say "turn it upside down" I should really turn it upside down, eh? Not so lovely cracks showing there ...

Fortunately I'm the kind of person that eats with the belly and not with the eyes, so looks-shmooks aside this is what really went in the mouth, down the throat, right in mah belly! :)

It's dark, it's chocolaty, it's buttery and it's flourless!

No, I haven't discovered I'm gluten intolerant or anything, I was just experimenting and wanted to really get to that intense cocoa flavour without many "additives" in the way.

And I really wanted to re-create that mud-cake I had in Stockholm @ EspressoHouse but the recipes for mud cake I found on the Internets seemed just too complicated.

So I just had to settle for this:

And I don't regret it at all!

Just a note: if you're on the dark (chocolate) side like I am, you'll want to cut the sugar in the recipe. I did it just a bit: 1/2 a cup instead of 3/4 and it was enough to get the bitterness of the cocoa go over the sweetness. Because that is what we want, no?

Since we're talking about chocolate cakes...

I found abandoned in my online photo album some photographs of the New Year's brownie that I realised I haven't shared with you yet.

This is the cake that made the windows wet and whose recipe you can spot here (the right side). It's a classic brownie that I've pimped up with a little bit more cocoa than what was called for, dark cocoa that is, and some crushed almonds on top.

Nom nom! :)

A Tale of Cheese and Cake and Cheesecake

Cheesecake done right: Trattoria Bocca.

Un clasament al cheesecake-urilor mâncate prin Bucureşti:

1. Bocca - pufoasă, cremoasă, aromată, perfectă, crusta cu aromă slabă de scorţişoară, fructele de pădure servite individual.
2. Starbucks - am mâncat cu ciocolată şi cu fructe de pădure. Cea cu ciocolată era mai grea şi mai cheesy, aproape de consistenţa untului. Cea cu fructe de pădure (ceva de culoarea fructelor de pădure era amestecat în cremă) era mai uşoară dar şi mai puţin impresionantă ca arome.
3. Red Angus - nu era tartă, deloc cremoasă, mai mult un fel de plăcintă cu brânză sărată. Se vroia a fi cu sirop de caramel, dar cei 2-3 stropi nu au fost de ajuns să ascundă gustul de brânză acră
4. French Bakery - se vroia a fi cheesecake au citron. E fost un dezastru. Totuşi, în apărarea ei cred că era un tip de cheesecake ce se prepară prin coacere la cuptor, nu la rece ca celelalte. Crema avea gust de lapte stricat şi consistenţa era cea a unei creme de zahăr ars - sans le goût d'œufs
5. St. George - crusta era cu nuci, foarte greu de digerat. Crema nu prea cheesy. Scuza: în română se numea Tort cu brânză
6. Coffee Right - 0g de brânză, cred că era făcută cu griş 

Baking cookies

makes the windows wet