So you probably have your Super Bowl menu all lined up. Chips and dips , sliders and smokies — your bases are covered. But have you thought about dessert? No? Phew. Because I’ve got just the thing: Mollie Katzen’s Chocolate Eclipse, a pudding cake that feeds a crowd. Everyone will go gaga.
I learned about Chocolate Eclipse from one of you — thank you! — via email, and after finding the recipe online, I made it immediately. It was too intriguing not to.
Now, let me preface this by saying I know absolutely nothing about making pudding cakes — chocolate, lemon, buttermilk, whatever — but this cake was like none I had made before, including its dainty, molten soft chocolate kin .
The process starts off familiarly: wet ingredients (buttermilk, vanilla, melted chocolate and butter) get stirred into dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, salt and leavenings), chocolate chips are folded in, and after everything is mixed together, the batter gets spread into a 9×13-inch pan.
But then the assembly takes a wild turn. After the batter is covered by a blanket of brown sugar and cocoa powder (which ultimately become the pudding), 2.5 cups of boiling water get poured overtop. As the water meets this sandy layer, plumes of cocoa rise and swirl, and when the cake begins looking like a Breaking Bad set prop, you’ll need some encouragement. Katzen offers it: “It will look terrible, and you will not believe you are actually doing this, but try to persevere.”
In the oven, the pudding layer sinks to the bottom and the cake rises to the top, emerging with a surface dimpled with deep fudgy craters. When inverted into serving bowls, the built-in fudge sauce becomes the topping, and while a scoop of vanilla ice cream would make for an ultimate experience, this pudding cake is utterly delicious on its own.
Katzen notes that Chocolate Eclipse tastes best about an hour or two after it has emerged from the oven, but waiting this long will take some serious meditation. And you don’t have to. Try refraining for at least 30 minutes, then tuck in.
Chocolate Eclipse: part cake; part pudding. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat your pudding, too? Have a wonderful weekend, Everyone.
Description
- butter for greasing
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½ cups ( 11.25 oz | 318 g ) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2¼ cups packed brown sugar, divided (w eight measurements in recipe)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons ( 1.75 oz | 48g ) unsweetened cocoa
- 2½ cups boiling water
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
- Melt the butter and chocolate together. (I did this in the microwave.)
- In a separate saucepan, heat buttermilk gently until just a little warmer than body temperature being careful not to boil or cook it. (Note: I barely heated my buttermilk because I was so worried about it curdling, and next time, I am going to just skip this part. I will report back.) Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, 1 cup (7.25 oz | 208 g) of the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well (use your hands, if necessary, to break up any little lumps of brown sugar), making as uniform a mixture as possible.
- Pour melted chocolate and butter into dry ingredients. Pour in buttermilk and vanilla. Stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips, if desired. Spread into the prepared pan.
- Combine the remaining 1¼ cups (260 g | 9.25 oz) brown sugar with the unsweetened cocoa in a small bowl. Sprinkle this mixture as evenly as possible over the top of the batter.
- Pour on the boiling water. It will look terrible, and you will not believe you are actually doing this, but try to persevere.
- Place immediately in the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (I say closer to 30 — I did 31), or until the center is firm to the touch.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Invert each serving on a plate so that the fudge sauce on the bottom becomes a topping. Serve hot or at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
Incidentally, this might be one of my favorite kitchen tools: a 4-cup catamount measuring cup . It is made of borosilicate glass (super strong glass, the material of the old Pyrex), which means you can, among other things, put the measuring cup directly over a flame. I know, amazing, right? I feel like Walt every time I use it.
So you probably have your Super Bowl menu all lined up. Chips and dips , sliders and smokies — your bases are covered. But have you thought about dessert? No? Phew. Because I’ve got just the thing: Mollie Katzen’s Chocolate Eclipse, a pudding cake that feeds a crowd. Everyone will go gaga.
I learned about Chocolate Eclipse from one of you — thank you! — via email, and after finding the recipe online, I made it immediately. It was too intriguing not to.
Now, let me preface this by saying I know absolutely nothing about making pudding cakes — chocolate, lemon, buttermilk, whatever — but this cake was like none I had made before, including its dainty, molten soft chocolate kin .
The process starts off familiarly: wet ingredients (buttermilk, vanilla, melted chocolate and butter) get stirred into dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, salt and leavenings), chocolate chips are folded in, and after everything is mixed together, the batter gets spread into a 9×13-inch pan.
But then the assembly takes a wild turn. After the batter is covered by a blanket of brown sugar and cocoa powder (which ultimately become the pudding), 2.5 cups of boiling water get poured overtop. As the water meets this sandy layer, plumes of cocoa rise and swirl, and when the cake begins looking like a Breaking Bad set prop, you’ll need some encouragement. Katzen offers it: “It will look terrible, and you will not believe you are actually doing this, but try to persevere.”
In the oven, the pudding layer sinks to the bottom and the cake rises to the top, emerging with a surface dimpled with deep fudgy craters. When inverted into serving bowls, the built-in fudge sauce becomes the topping, and while a scoop of vanilla ice cream would make for an ultimate experience, this pudding cake is utterly delicious on its own.
Katzen notes that Chocolate Eclipse tastes best about an hour or two after it has emerged from the oven, but waiting this long will take some serious meditation. And you don’t have to. Try refraining for at least 30 minutes, then tuck in.
Chocolate Eclipse: part cake; part pudding. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat your pudding, too? Have a wonderful weekend, Everyone.
Description
- butter for greasing
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½ cups ( 11.25 oz | 318 g ) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2¼ cups packed brown sugar, divided (w eight measurements in recipe)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons ( 1.75 oz | 48g ) unsweetened cocoa
- 2½ cups boiling water
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
- Melt the butter and chocolate together. (I did this in the microwave.)
- In a separate saucepan, heat buttermilk gently until just a little warmer than body temperature being careful not to boil or cook it. (Note: I barely heated my buttermilk because I was so worried about it curdling, and next time, I am going to just skip this part. I will report back.) Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, 1 cup (7.25 oz | 208 g) of the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well (use your hands, if necessary, to break up any little lumps of brown sugar), making as uniform a mixture as possible.
- Pour melted chocolate and butter into dry ingredients. Pour in buttermilk and vanilla. Stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips, if desired. Spread into the prepared pan.
- Combine the remaining 1¼ cups (260 g | 9.25 oz) brown sugar with the unsweetened cocoa in a small bowl. Sprinkle this mixture as evenly as possible over the top of the batter.
- Pour on the boiling water. It will look terrible, and you will not believe you are actually doing this, but try to persevere.
- Place immediately in the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (I say closer to 30 — I did 31), or until the center is firm to the touch.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Invert each serving on a plate so that the fudge sauce on the bottom becomes a topping. Serve hot or at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
Incidentally, this might be one of my favorite kitchen tools: a 4-cup catamount measuring cup . It is made of borosilicate glass (super strong glass, the material of the old Pyrex), which means you can, among other things, put the measuring cup directly over a flame. I know, amazing, right? I feel like Walt every time I use it.
Description
- butter for greasing
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½ cups ( 11.25 oz | 318 g ) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2¼ cups packed brown sugar, divided (w eight measurements in recipe)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons ( 1.75 oz | 48g ) unsweetened cocoa
- 2½ cups boiling water
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
- Melt the butter and chocolate together. (I did this in the microwave.)
- In a separate saucepan, heat buttermilk gently until just a little warmer than body temperature being careful not to boil or cook it. (Note: I barely heated my buttermilk because I was so worried about it curdling, and next time, I am going to just skip this part. I will report back.) Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, 1 cup (7.25 oz | 208 g) of the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well (use your hands, if necessary, to break up any little lumps of brown sugar), making as uniform a mixture as possible.
- Pour melted chocolate and butter into dry ingredients. Pour in buttermilk and vanilla. Stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips, if desired. Spread into the prepared pan.
- Combine the remaining 1¼ cups (260 g | 9.25 oz) brown sugar with the unsweetened cocoa in a small bowl. Sprinkle this mixture as evenly as possible over the top of the batter.
- Pour on the boiling water. It will look terrible, and you will not believe you are actually doing this, but try to persevere.
- Place immediately in the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (I say closer to 30 — I did 31), or until the center is firm to the touch.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Invert each serving on a plate so that the fudge sauce on the bottom becomes a topping. Serve hot or at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2014/01/31/mollie-katzens-chocolate-eclipse/
Last week, a friend, a reliable source of all things cooking — books , ingredients , attire, drinks — texted me a recipe. It came from Canal House Cooking Volume No. 6: The Grocery Store , and she described it as a small miracle.
I, of course, made the dish, “chicken and rice,” immediately, and then made it again, and then made it once more last night. The dish is miraculous foremost for its reception — we ALL gobble it up — but also for its simplicity: it’s a one-pot wonder calling for nothing more than butter, one onion, a few stalks of celery, one chicken, rice and water. I added a bay leaf because I can’t not when cooking rice — that’s what my mother does — but otherwise, I followed the text-message recipe to a T.
You’ll be tempted to use stock instead of water — I was — but it’s not necessary. For the first 20 minutes of stove-top cooking, the chicken braises with diced onions, celery and water, during which time that water essentially becomes a light broth. During the next 30 minutes, the rice cooks in that broth with a little more water, absorbing all of the flavors of the vegetables and meat, fluffing up perfectly around the pieces of falling-off-the-bone tender chicken.
You can add peas if you like — my friend does — and you could add some parsley for color, but don’t get too fancy — there is something beautiful about the monochromaticity of this miracle dish. Tan has never tasted so good.
Description
Adapted from Canal House Cooking Volume No. 6: The Grocery Store The original recipe calls for 1.5 cups of rice, and if you choose to use this quantity of rice, be sure to add 1.5 cups of water at the same time. Note: One cup of rice generously feeds four people.
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 chicken cut into 8 pieces (I prefer, as always, using the dark meat for braises such as this one, so if you are not cutting up a whole chicken, I suggest buying bone-in, skin on thighs and drumsticks — three of each should do it.)
- kosher salt and pepper
- 1 onion, diced to yields 1 1/2 cups or so
- a few stalks celery, about 1/2 cup diced
- 1 cup rice (I use Uncle Ben’s Original (parboiled long grain rice) — it’s what my mother always uses; my friend uses long grain basmati, rinsed 4 to 5 times in colander)
- 1 bay leaf
- In a large, wide pot or sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Brown skin side down until golden, about 10 minutes. (Note: The skin does not need to be super dark. It’s best to brown slowly. The goal is to extract flavor. This is not a dish where the skin in the end is crispy.)
- Meanwhile, dice the onion and celery (if you haven’t already). When the chicken is golden, flip it over, add the celery and onion to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and let cook for a minute or so. Add 1 cup of water, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes add the cup of rice, patting it down in between the chicken pieces. Add 1 cup of water and the bay leaf. Cover the pan and cook for 30 minutes. Remove lid and serve.
- If you live with little people, you might want to cut the meat off the bone, chop it up and stir it into the rice.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours
