Let Them Eat Cake! Orange Chocolate Brandy Cake, That Is.

I recently attended a potluck and member meeting for my local Slow Food organization – Slow Food Oahu. Being January (and thus a month where we are still reeling from the painful sucking dry of our bank-account paying for health insurance, estimated taxes, car registration and of course, the ghosts of Christmas presents past), I needed something that didn’t require a trip to the nearest grocery store for $20 worth of ingredients (though I can’t seem to get out of the nearest grocery store for less that $30 no matter what I am buying). Thus, it had to be easy and use only ingredients that I might already have. Surfing through my blog recipe archives (which sorely need updating), I found just such a thing: Chocolate Brandy Bundt Cake.

The first time I made this humble cake was in the beginning of my blogging days – over three years ago. Since then, the recipe has sat in my archives – lost, lonely and unused. That’s a shame for a cake that has coffee, cocoa and a hefty shot (ahem…1/2 a cup) of brandy in its humble ingredient list. Not to mention that the cake is easy to make, can be whipped up simply using a whisk, a couple of bowls and a single pot, and includes ingredients you’re likely to have in your larder – if you own such a thing (which, of course, I don’t) – or at least in your cupboards. I don't even own a "real" bundt pan, but that's okay too.

Reading over my old post, I saw that back then, while I thought the cake was good, it didn’t have much brandy flavor to it. Since the particular potluck in question was a round-up of the various chefs, restaurant owners and resident foodies in town that care about where their food comes from, I thought I should probably kick it up a notch. I decided to add a bit of orange zest and cinnamon to the cake, guessing that one couldn’t go wrong with the combination of brandy and oranges, and that a bit of cinnamon rarely hurts most baked desserts. Luckily, I was right. The combo is delightful, and LB and I practically licked the bowl clean before it was even baked - something I haven't done since I was a kid. It smells amazing coming out of the oven and this time, the brandy didn’t hide behind any of the other flavors, making the cake rich and complex even with only a simple dusting of powdered sugar.

The only other dessert in attendance at the potluck was a concoction made of tangy lilikoi (passionfruit), bananas, yogurt, honey and tiny squares of poundcake (um, YUM). Everyone raved about how tasty it was to mix the lilikoi and yogurt with the chocolate cake and I have to admit, the tartness of the lilikoi was a nice offset to the richness of the cake. So if I was doing a dinner party at home, I might even serve this with a bit of lilikoi ice cream next time since we just so happen to have a tree outside that kicks off a few lilikoi every couple of weeks (which I of course run over and snag before the neighbors get to them) – but plain old vanilla ice cream or even lightly sweetened whipped cream would also do the trick.

There are a few things I did differently this time while making it because my style of cooking and baking has changed over the years. I’ve listed these changes, as well as modified the recipe for cooking here in Hawaii, but the old recipe works just fine too. Honestly, I’m re-posting it now because there’s some sort of satisfaction in being able to re-post an old recipe because you’ve figured out how to make it better – and besides, don’t you just love taking a (little) better picture than you did the first time? It’s like a special kind of food-blogging retribution. I have one more version I want to try of this cake - a spicy version - so you'll be seeing it again sometime in the future.

Orange Chocolate Brandy Bundt Cake

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli) + 1 tbsp. for dusting pan
1/2 cup strong, brewed coffee
1/2 cup brandy
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch peices + extra for pan
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
zest from one (organic, preferably local) orange

Preheat your oven to 325F. Generously butter a bundt (or pseudo-bundt as the case may be) pan and dust with 1 tbsp cocoa; knocking excess out. Heat coffee, whiskey, and remaining cup of cocoa powder in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat. When this is warm, add the butter and whisk until the butter is melted. Remove the pan from heat and add sugar, whisking until it's dissolved. At this point, it should turn dark and silky. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and cool ~5 minutes.

While the chocolate is cooling, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a separate bowl. In a third bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla and orange zest, then whisk this mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture until combined well. Finally, add flour and whisk until just combined (the batter will be thin and bubbly). Pour batter into your prepared bundt pan and bake until a wooden skewer or pick inserted into center comes out clean (about 45 - 50 minutes; though it took 55 min. here in Hawaii).

Cool completely in pan on rack (about 2 hours), then remove from pan onto rack. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.