Happiness is (sharing) a slice of chocolate cake

A few days ago, while I was working here in my kitchen on the second or third day of a new diet – read diet as a slightly controlled food habit to get rid of the Christmas feast – I had a sudden urge, a strong desire, a physical need to stick my fork into a slice of chocolate cake, an obscenely layered, moist, intense, black chocolate cake.

I was torn, as you can imagine. Then I realized that I deserved it, yes, I deserved a chocolate cake. I am facing a new challenge: in February I will teach an Interpersonal Communication course in Florence at the Florence University Of the Arts. I am flattered, honoured, excited, scared to death. I feel again as ten years ago, when I was at the university, with books, notebooks, abstracts and summaries of the summaries, because I am the most serious graphomaniac you have met, if I do not write I do not memorize. At the same time I’m also trying to arrange my work for the next months, the first requests for the new season cooking classes have begun to pop into my mailbox and there are other long-term projects on the horizon.

You see, I totally deserved that chocolate cake.

When it comes to chocolate cakes, though, you are on a slippery ground. Often chocolate cakes are boring and dry, or on the opposite, they reach the excesses, they are too sweet and complex, you lose the intense pleasure of chocolate. Fresh crusty bread and crisp dark chocolate are a perfect combination, for example.

I wanted a chocolate cake that was exactly as I had imagined, I could see the white thin layers of a creamy filling in between the thick layers of the cake, and these had to be moist, black and intense. And I wanted a hint of coffee, too, to quench the sweetness. I wanted a spectacular cake, the kind of cake that you would slice keeping your breath, but it was equally important to me to give to my cake a homely rustic feel, because it had to be a cake for the afternoon tea.

I found my ideal cake, a chocolate mud cake from the South of the United States, in a new to me blog, Citrus and candy. I made Karen’s cake without Baileys (just because I didn’t have it at home, otherwise I would have used it as well). I added also a soft mascarpone and coffee filling, as it was present in my dreams, and I assure you the cake becomes outrageously decadent. As it wasn’t enough lavish…

Link love

So, yes, hum, chocolate cake. Which is your favourite chocolate cake? The cake you dream of at your third day of diet, the cake you would enjoy curled up in your sofa in front of a fireplace, the cake you would share (reluctantly) with your loved one?

• This is still my favourite chocolate cake, I’ve made it several times and every time I’m impressed by its simple winter feel, it’s the olive oil and tangerine chocolate cake. Perfect with the afternoon tea.

Related posts:

Tuscan Nutella and meringue tart Citrus pound cake. Where everything began. Dobos Torte, the 127-year-old Hungarian dessert Walnut and chocolate cake to celebrate