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Coach House Chocolate Cake The New York Times Magazine Cake layers 4 cups flour 1½ cups butter ½ lb. Maillard Eagle sweet chocolate 1/3 cup warm water ½ tsp. salt Filling 2 cups heavy cream 1 lb. Maillard Eagle sweet chocolate Confectioners' sugar Chocolate curls To make the cake layers, place the flour in a bowl. Using a pastry blender, two knives or the finger tips, work the butter into the flour as though making pastry until the mixture resembles coarse oatmeal. Do not allow the butter to become oil. Melt the chocolate very slowly over hot water. Beat in the water and salt until smooth. Fold the chocolate mixture into the flour and butter. Divide the dough into three, wrap each part in wax paper and chill 20 minutes in the refrigerator or until firm. Roll each third of the dough in turn, between sheets of wax paper, into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches. Peel off the top paper, fold into three, peeling the bottom paper off as you go. Wrap in fresh wax paper and chill about 20 minutes. Repeat the rollings between wax paper, folding and chilling twice more. Wrap each third of dough in wax paper and chill until very firm, about two hours. Preheat oven to 325o. Roll out each third, between wax paper, into a circle and remove the top sheet of wax paper. Cut a 9 - 10 inch circle with a sharp knife, leaving a round of wax paper beneath the layer. Place the circle, wax paper side down, on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes or until done. Cool on the sheet. Repeat with the other two thirds of the dough. Alternately, the dough can be rolled into 4-by-18 inch rectangles and baked as above. When the layers are completely cold, place the cream in a chilled bowl set in ice. Melt the chocolate very slowly over hot water. Whip the cream until it is stiff. When the chocolate is melted, but still only lukewarm, fold it into the whipped cream. Spread the chocolate cream filling between the round or rectangular layers; it wil be quite thick. Sprinkle the top with confections' sugar and garnish with chocolate curls. Chill well. The cake should be removed from the refrigerator at least an hour before it is to be served. Use a sharp, serrated knife for cutting. The cake freezes well. Note: Maillard Eagle sweet chocolate is (was) available at Altman's, Bloomingdale's, Charles & Co. and some supermarkets. Vog and I went to the Coach House for dinner once in New York and sampled this - the whole meal was very good and so was this. |
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