Yesterday was J’s birthday, a date of much culinary importance to catonthebench, up there with “First Peach of Summer Day’ and very close to ‘Hot Cross Buns Featuring in Bakeries Day’.
The gastronomic significance of October 7 started the year that J and I were about to go to India and the Commonwealth Bank made their regretful decision to give us both credit cards. J took me out to dinner at Chocolate Buddha in Fed Square and signed the bill like she had been doing it her whole life. The practice then developed into the non-birthday party organising for the two of us to have dinner somewhere wonderful that we couldn’t really afford. The birthdaying party can make suggestions but the onus is on the other to organise.
The tradition has altered somewhat of late, me being in London last year and the invitation of others to the Kent for my birthday this year. For J’s birthday, the plan was to go to Claypots on Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, along with J’s intimidatingly beautiful housemates, and then to the Lambsgo Barr on Greeves Street.
But, come four o’clock, catonthebench finds herself with food poisoning and a text message advising that birthday cake plans had fallen through. Pots of seafood were looking less and less likely. There was only one thing to do. Grasping her bucket, she heads into the kitchen to bake . . .
catonthebench’s adapted version of Jill Dupleix’s adapted version of Elizabeth David’s Flourless Chocolate Cake
250 grams of the best dark chocolate you can afford this week. I used the last of a packet of Lindt 85%, a 75g packet of 72% and Cadbury’s Old Gold (which is about 45% cocoa butter) for the rest.
150 grams of castor sugar (if you use 100% Old Gold, use a bit less sugar)
150 grams of unsalted butter
100 grams of almond meal
5 eggs, separated (if I am using eggs from N’s aunt’s chickens and they are small, I use 6)
Melt chocolate, sugar and butter in a bowl sitting in a pot of simmering water. I use a pasta bowl because it is the only bowl I have that fits over the saucepan (other than the cat’s water bowl, which I have been forbidden from using).
Remove from heat, stir thoroughly to combine, mix in almond meal, then beat in the egg yolks, one by one. If you used a pasta bowl to melt the chocolate, you may need to transplant the mixture into something bigger to do this.
Beat egg whites until stiff and peaky. The bowl must be absolutely clean to begin with to do this. Stir a couple of spoonfuls of egg white into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, before gently folding in the rest.
Turn into a buttered and floured 20cm round cake tin and bake at 180 for 40-50 minutes, depending on your oven and whether you like a more muddy or crumby cake. I do 40 minutes and rotate the pan halfway.
Leave to cool before removing from tin. Dust with icing sugar to serve with sparklers and a round of 'Happy Birthday' (get the DJ to pause the music for maximum embarassment of the cake receiver). You will get six big or 12-16 little wedges.
Tell any precious law students in attendance that it is a gluten-free high-protein 'torte' (it is!) and come midnight you can stumble home in the rain with an empty cake tin.
You ommited the most pertinant part of the story! Namely catonthebench lights 23 sparkers in quick succession, almost burns down the back kitchen at Lambs Go Bar, narrowly avoids turning her head into a ball of fire whilst skilfully negotiating the hallway!
Posted by: Skye | October 09, 2005 at 05:50 PM
J had a marvellous time and the cake/tort/fancy baked good was stunning!
Posted by: j | October 09, 2005 at 05:52 PM
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Posted by: sicngwzou ewzdxg | March 07, 2009 at 10:58 PM