Nigella's Squidgy Chocolate Cake

This cake is dense. It's dense and fudgy and moist and squidgy. It is not, however, fancy. It's a very basic chocolate loaf cake, except that the chocolate gets really cranked up. The basic recipe is from Nigella's Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess, which is such a very good book. I tweaked a few things here and there, mostly adding in a little more vanilla, a pinch of salt and two tablespoons of cocoa powder. It's easy, easy to make, although it takes a little leap of faith in the baking (you'll swear you're under-baking it when it's actually just right and perfectly squidgy inside), and you'll die happy death by chocolate. But you should definitely be at least a little into chocolate for this one. Here's a little test. If the thought of moist, fudgy cake doesn't make you feel squidgy inside, best skip it and hit the vanilla ice cream instead.

Ingredients:

- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

- 1 tsp. baking soda

- 1 2/3 cup brown sugar, dark or light

- 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup) at room temp.

- 1 cup plus 2 tbs. boiling water

- 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted. I used 70% Ghiradelli's, although Lindt and Scharffenberger are lovely too. As long as the percentage is between 62% and 80%, and you love the way it tastes broken right from the bar, you're in business.

- 2 tbs. cocoa powder. Again, use one that you love the taste of.

- 2 large eggs, whisked.

- 1 tsp. vanilla

*** For a Mexican Chocolate Squidgy Cake, add cinnemon and clove and a pinch of chili powder to taste ***

Process:

1. Preheat the over to 375.

2. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. The lining is important beceause the cake is super moist and will want to stick.

4. Combine the flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Cream the butter and the brown sugar with an electric mixer or a spoon until roughly incorporated. Resist the urge to over-mix.

4. Beat in the vanilla and the eggs until well incorporated.

5. By hand, fold in the melted chocolate. It should be a little bit cooled, but still warm.

6. By hand, fold in the flour mixture 1/3 cup at a time, alternating with the boiling water and mixing after each addition. Don't over-mix. The batter should end up being dark and fragrant and quite liquid.

7. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake on the middle rack for 30 min.

8. At 30 min., turn the heat down to 325 and bake for another 15 min.

9. The cake is done when a toothpick into the sides comes out clean, but a toothpick into the middle comes out with a nice, moist drag of crumb. If the center is still batter, leave in for another five minutes, then check again. Don't over-bake. The center will seem barely set, and that's when it's done.

10. Allow the cake to cool in the pan completely. Don't unmold it until it's completely cold. You can even leave it over-night - it just keeps developing flavor, and believe me, wrapped or covered, this cake will not dry out.

11. Serve any time, for anything. It's really yummy plain with a nice glass of milk, or you could be really decadent and toss on some ice cream or pouring cream. Any way you slice it (sorry for pun), this cake defies the loaf cake's general legacy of 'meh'.