Well Worth The Skin On The Back Of My Hand

After several days of wanting to bake a cake, but not managing to, due to the odd middle-of-the-night hours that I have been doing my baking at over the last few days, I finally decided enough was enough. I was going to make a cake, and I was going to make it NOW. So, yesterday afternoon, I decided that no amount of distractions was going to keep me from baking my cake. (And no, this is not my contribution for IMBB this Sunday… I have yet to start on that). This was merely my attempt to satisfy a deep-seated craving for a home-baked cake. You know how it is… when you have a craving for a certain food… it JUST won’t go away… it’s like a bad itch that just has to be scratched. Ah! And then… bliss…

I decided to try out a recipe from a fabulous cookbook that I very recently re-discovered. I had never made anything from the book before, even though I have owned it for perhaps 5-6 years. It’s called “Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts” by the highly regarded Californian pastry maestro, Alice Medrich. I will post a full review of the book tomorrow.

Anyway, I opted to try out her “chocolate marble cake”. I love marble cakes. We buy them on a regular basis. But nothing quite beats the taste of a home-made marble cake. I myself have never made one from scratch before. I’ve always taken the easy route… buy it from the store… or eat the one mum makes! But some time ago, when Alberto posted about his marble cake, it had me thinking about and wanting a delicious piece of home-made marble cake. And yes, it has taken me this long to scratch that itch! When I saw Alice’s low fat version, it seemed a perfect sign… it was time to make my marble cake!

Making the cake, which was a very simple and straightforward recipe, turned out to be a very painful experience for me.

In the midst of making the cake, I very cleverly gave myself a rather nasty burn on the back of my hand. How was I so careless? A combination of factors I guess. Not fully concentrating, for one. Trying to do too many things all at the same time, for another. And being harassed at the wrong moment, and getting distracted.

I was half way through mixing the cake batter when the oven timer went off. Something else that I was preparing was ready to come out of the oven. So with grubby hands I tried to remove the item from the oven. Just at that moment, the phone decided to ring. I tried to hurry, so I could get to the phone. Then, the doorbell rang. And this person pressed the doorbell not once, not twice, but four times in quick succession, and then just decided to keep his finger on the buzzer! I yanked the pan out of the oven, and in the process the back of my right hand touched the top element of the oven. I yelped. Actually, more like I screamed. A big patch of skin had come off, and was now probably stuck to the red-hot top element of my oven. The back of my hand immediately turned a bright lobster red, searing pain shot through my entire hand, and it felt like it was on fire. I dropped the hot pan I was holding. I screamed again. All the contents of the pan were now on the floor. I ran to the sink, and placed my hand under running water. It didn’t work. I was nearly in tears. I had to stop the pain. Ran to the fridge. Ack! Of all times to be out of milk. No milk. Yogurt! That should work, shouldn’t it? Dug my fingers into the pot of yogurt. Slathered it onto the wound. Temporary relief. Then the pain returned. I could feel my flesh “cooking”. The heat was no longer on the surface of the hand (or at least I could no longer feel it there, or perhaps more accurately, I could no longer feel the surface of my hand). Instead, I felt intense heat inside, “cooking” my flesh. Oh boy, this must be what it feels like for a piece of meat to be cooked. Tears were really threatening by this time.

A, our domestic helper had sprinted into the kitchen from the backyard when she heard my first scream. She suggested ice. No way! That was a very bad idea. My mind was blank from the pain. I couldn’t for the world of me think of something sensible to put on the wound. Tried to stay calm. Tried to think. Then, simultaneously we both said “aloe”. And so A ran back out into the garden and snipped off a fresh sheaf of aloe vera from the nearest plant. With a slab of freshly cut aloe on the wound, sanity started to return, very slowly. After about 20 minutes, the pain was getting near bearable. The wound looked real nasty. A chunk of skin was gone. Red. Swollen. Oozing. Not pretty. The zigzag outline of the oven element was clearly stamped on the back of my hand. I felt like one of those farm animals branded with a hot iron stamp! I just hope it doesn’t leave an unsightly scar.

Aloe vera – especially fresh aloe vera – is a true miracle worker. Very quickly it stopped the intensely hot “cooking” feeling in the flesh. And it sealed the wound too, substantially reducing the oozing and all that horrible stuff.

Slowly, as the fog of pain started to dissipate, I could begin to see the lighter side of things. What was it that Anthony Bourdain always used to say on his show? Something about how all good cooks must have “battle scars” of burns and cuts to show that they have paid their dues in the kitchen. Well, I guess this would definitely count as a significant “war scar” in my portfolio!

I even went back to the oven to check to see if there was any smell of burning flesh emanating from it. Perverse, huh? But no, all clear. It was quite safe to put the cake into the oven.

So, I went back to finishing the cake. I was clearly no longer in the mood for cake making. Like a one-armed Jack, with my right hand still pretty much immobilized by pain, I perfunctorily layered the batter into the cake pan, gave it a “who-cares” swirl of a knife, and popped it into the oven.

But you know what? The resulting cake was quite incredible. And yes, even worth giving up a piece of my skin for, literally.

Oh, you should have smelt the aromas wafting from the oven as the cake baked. It was heavenly! At times like this, I really wish I have smell-a-blog so that I can capture smells and share it online!

The cake itself was gorgeous. It was very moist and beautifully soft and fluffy, with a very tender and refined crumb. It tasted wonderful. Or as A declared: so much better than the one we buy from the shop. The chocolate bits tasted smooth and chocolatey, even with just the use of cocoa powder. And one would never have guessed that there was only 6 tablespoons of butter in this lightened version. It tasted as rich and flavorful as a regular marble butter cake.

The only thing I wasn’t overly pleased with was the look of the cake. I would have preferred more refined and elegant swirls of chocolate throughout the white batter, rather than a big central lump of chocolate batter as was the case with this cake. Well, I guess that came about from several elements. Firstly, my intimate encounter with my oven element. Secondly, the layering instructions given by the recipe. And thirdly, the chocolate batter instructions in the recipe, which resulted in too much chocolate batter in relation to the white batter.

The next time round, apart from reducing the amount of chocolate batter created, I would also probably have more layers of the batter as it goes into the cake pan, and start with a chocolate layer rather than white – that is, a layer of chocolate batter, a layer of white, another layer of chocolate and a final layer of white. This would give less batter per layer, and so when it comes to swirling it, it should produce a much prettier effect. Of course, this version of the cake, with the large chocolate center, made for very enjoyable eating for chocolate lovers, as there were large parts of chocolatey cake to savor, whereas a more diffused marbling effect would give a less concentrated chocolate sensation. So, I guess maybe it’s more a case of different styles for different cravings?

I was also not too happy about the fissures that appeared in the top of the cake as it baked. I would like some help and advice on this. What are the reasons for the cake “cracking”? Anyone know? How can I prevent this? Would love some suggestions or opinions on this. Thank you.

Other than the minor cosmetic imperfections, the cake was a taste-winner. This is definitely one recipe I would make on a regular basis.

Low-Fat Chocolate Marble Cake
[adapted from “Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts” by Alice Medrich]

2 cups (8 oz) cake flour *
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or coffee powder
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch Process cocoa, sifted
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt **
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

* I recommend using the “swirl, lightly spoon into cup and level” method to measure out the cup measurements. Using this method, 2 cups of flour gave me exactly 8 oz of flour by weight. Using the regular “scoop and level” method would definitely provide too much flour, and result in a dry and dense cake texture.

** I used low fat yogurt, as I don’t usually have nonfat yogurt at home.

• Have all the ingredients at room temperature before starting. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside. (Instead of the bundt pan, I used two 8x4” loaf pans).

• Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and sift together into a medium bowl. (I sifted the flour mixture twice, as per my usual habit for making cakes, instead of just the one time as instructed by the recipe). Set aside.

• In a small bowl, combine the coffee powder, sifted cocoa powder, 1/3 cup of sugar and ¼ cup of room temperature water. Whisk together until smooth. Set aside.

• In another small bowl, whisk together the one egg and one egg white. Set aside.

• Cut the butter into small pieces, and using an electric mixer, beat for approximately 1 minute to soften the butter. Gradually add the remaining 1 cup of sugar and beat at high speed for about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl periodically.

• Slowly dribble the whisked eggs into the butter mixture, one tablespoonful at a time, beating constantly for about 2 minutes.

• Reduce the speed of the mixer to low, and add 1/3 of the flour. Beat to incorporate.

• Add ½ the yogurt, and beat at medium speed until well-combined.

• Return to low speed, and add ½ of the remaining flour.

• Next, add the rest of the yogurt and also the vanilla extract, and beat at high speed to combine.

• Add the final batch of flour, and beat at low speed to incorporate. The mixture should be smooth, thick and creamy.

• Measure out 1 cup of the batter (the recipe actually called for 1 ½ cups to be measured out but I found that gave too much chocolate batter and not enough white batter). Gently fold the cocoa mixture into this 1 cup of batter.

• Using a large spoon, fill bottom of the cake pan(s) with ¾ of the white batter, placed in dollops. Cover the white batter with dollops of the chocolate batter. Top this with small dollops of more white batter, spaced out so that the chocolate batter shows through. Using a table knife, marble the batter together by swirling the batter with either a circular or zigzag motion. Do not over-blend. (These are the original recipe instructions. I would prefer the alternative as suggested in my narrative above).

• Bake in the lower 1/3 of a preheated 350F / 175C oven for approximately 45-50 minutes, or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes on a rack before unmolding.

Fresh out of the oven, the cake tasted amazing! Here is a picture of the last bite on the second piece (or perhaps more aptly “thick slab”) of cake that I devoured… not sure if you can see it, but look how tender, soft and fluffy the texture was…

Mmmm-hmmm… Shiokadelicious indeed!

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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