Torta al Cioccolato

"What you see before you, my friend,

is the result of a lifetime of chocolate."
- Katherine Hepburn

This post comes with two immediate confessions. The first is, I’m not the world’s biggest chocolate freak. This has always made me feel somewhat inhuman, as though I was suffering from some alien-esque mutation. Dark chocolate is preferable, milk chocolate is unappealing, and white chocolate is unacceptable to me. I’ve done some research on this and it seems that it could be physiologically linked (something about iron in the blood). Either way, I never crave it, long for it, salivate anywhere near it…and certainly have no problems resisting it.

Except for when I’m making it.

And now for my second confession, which comes in two parts. The first is, I make the best chocolate cake in the world. And the second part is, I’d started this blog to share that recipe and then had second thoughts, wondering how revealing my recipe would alter the state of my mystical chocolate-cake universe.

Then it dawned on me…I’ll reveal the main contents of my recipe via someone else’s trademarked pudding cake. And who better than…Martha Stewart.

Here it is. Read it and weep (with joy).

Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 1 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup whole milk 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 3/4 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar 1 1/2 cups boiling water 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into small chunks.

Directions: 1) Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, sift together flour, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla; add to flour mixture. Stir batter until just combined. Spread batter evenly into an 8 cup shallow baking dish. Set aside.

3) In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 1/3 cup cocoa powder, brown sugar, and boiling water. Pour liquid evenly over batter, do not mix. Distribute chocolate chunks into batter.

Bake until a tooth pick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with crumbs adhering to it, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.


I’m not sure how true this is, but I recently read that chocolate is a great source of magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc. An average chocolate bar is supposed to contain the same amount of antioxidants as a glass of red wine.

So…if you really want to achieve maximum health, combine the two and enjoy all the wonderful benefits only chocolate can bring.