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Recipebook from the Milonguita

anna's amazing burgtheatertorte

(a.k.a. chocolate cake for the obsessive-complusive)

I have a cookbook called "Kaffeehaus" that is perfect for slightly obsessive-compulsive bakers. Like me. It contains the following recipe.

Cake:

• 9 ozs raw almonds and/or hazelnuts (half and half is nice)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsps Dutch-processed, unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/4 sticks of unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 6 large eggs (also at room temperature and beaten)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 cups chocolate cake crumbs ("Hmm" you are probably thinking. More on this later.)
• 1/2 cup diced, candied orange peel

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup red currant preserves
• 1 tbsp rum

Accompaniment:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (the least pasteurized you can get)
• 2 tbsps powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Decoration:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tiny piece of candied orange peel

1. Make a chocolate cake. You will use the cake crumbs to make the chocolate cake. This step is the main point of appeal for obsessive-compulsives and those interested in recursion. I used the Joy of Cooking's Sour Cream Fudge Cake (pg. 931 in the new edition). After you've made the cake, let it cool, and then use a food processor to make 4 cups of crumbs.
2. Prepare to make the cake:
   1. Get out the butter and the eggs a couple of hours before you start.
   2. Butter a 9in springform pan.
   3. Cut a 9in circle of parchment paper and put it in the bottom of the pan.
   4. Butter the parchment paper.
   5. Preheat the oven to 350.
3. Make nut flour. Put the nuts, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and cocoa in a food processor and grind it up until it is almost flour.
4. Make another chocolate cake:
   1. Beat the butter for 1min on high speed using an electric mixer.
   2. Add 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar and beat on low until mixed.
   3. Beat on high for 2 min.
   4. Beat in the eggs very, very slowly (this is also a bit obsessive-compulsive). You want the butter to look fluffy, not curdled.
   5. Beat in the cinnamon.
   6. Stir in the nut flour, gently.
   7. Stir in the cake crumbs, gently.
   8. Stir in the candied orange peel, gently.
   9. Spread it in the pan, and bake for about an hour until a toothpick comes out clean. I over-baked mine because of a highly unpredictable oven and an inopportune phone call, but Sabina liked the slightly crusty crust, so use your own judgment.
   10. Cool on a wire rack for 5 min.
   11. Remove from pan, remove parchment, and let cool completely.
   12. When cool, flatten the top of the cake. If it has bulged at the middle, press it down there using your fingers.
5. Make the glaze:
   1. Put the preserves and rum in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
   2. Boil and stir for 2 1/2 min.
   3. Strain the preserves through a fine gauge wire sieve, pressing on the bits of currant with a spoon.
   
6. Assemble the cake:
   1. Cut the cake in half. I prefer the "dental floss" method for this:
      1. With a knife, cut a shallow groove all the way around the cake. If you're in the mood to really cut loose, don't use a ruler. Otherwise, use a ruler to make the groove half way between the top and bottom of the cake.
      2. Cut a piece of dental floss 6 inches longer than the cake circumference.
      3. Fit the floss into the cake groove, letting the ends of the floss cross each other.
      4. Pull the floss ends, so that the floss cuts the cake in half.
      5. Wa-lah!
   2. Spread the still-warm glaze on the bottom half of the cake and replace the top.
7. Make the accompaniment:
   1. Chill a metal bowl and the beaters from an electric mixer.
   2. In the bowl, beat the cream, 2 tbsps powdered sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until fluffy. Stop before it turns to butter.
8. Decorate the cake:
   1. Put 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a fine gauge wire sieve and shake over the cake until you get an even distribution of sugar.
   2. Use a knife to trace a pretty pattern in the sugar, allowing the dark cake to show through. I like an offset checkerboard pattern, with the second set of parallel lines hitting the first at about 40 degrees.
   3. Decorate with candied orange peel, as appropriate to the occasion. A tiny orange peel triangle, set right in the middle is attractive, and appropriate for Gay Pride Week and Triangulo's milonguita.
9. Serve slices of the cake with dollops of whipped cream.