Wednesday Recipes: February--Food for Love--aka Chocolate

I love many things--God and Jesus, my husband and children, my friends and church, and chocolate. There are many other foods and flavors I love but if I had to narrow the desserts category down, chocolate wins.

This particular cake recipe is rather new for us, but it's already won a place in our Hall of Fame. I've made it several times and the cake emerged from the pan every time in all its deliciousness. Further, our church holds a dessert auction every Christmas to benefit the youth. This cake "won" the night (of course, the most important thing is the kids raising money to travel to the youth conference, but hey, I'll take my wins where I can). Enjoy!!

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Toasted Pecans

Ingredients:

Baking spray

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoon baking soca

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 large eggs

1 cup whole buttermilk

1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled (if you're not a coffee fan--like me--don't worry, the coffee flavor doesn't come through but the richness does)

1/2 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 teaspoon coffee liqueur (such as Kahlua) or coffee extract

*Chopped toasted pecans, for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat a 10 - 12 cup Bundt pan with baking spray and set aside. (Might I recommend a Bundt pan with handles? It's made all the difference).

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and baking power in a large bowl.

3. In a different bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil, and vanilla until combined. Add liquid mixture to dry, stirring until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Invert cake onto rack; remove pan, and let cool completely, about 2 hours. *

5. *Best to do this while waiting on cake to cool. Toast pecans by spreading chopped nuts in a baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for just a few minutes--when you smell the nuts, they're done (or no more than 5 minutes).

6. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until it just begins to steam, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and immediately pour over chocolate chips in a medium-size heatproof bowl (do not stir). Let stand 2 minutes; gently stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in coffee liqueur until combined.

7. Place cake on serving plate (this is a change I made). Drizzle or pour chocolate mixture over top of cooled cake as desired. Pour so that extra chocolate goes in the middle of the cake. You'll have a well of chocolate in the middle!

8. Sprinkle pecans over chocolate before chocolate mixture sets.

9. Store cake in an airtight container in refrigerator or at room temperature up to 3 days.

NOTE: This recipe came from Southern Living magazine, November 2024.