Chocolate Blackout Cake
Posted: June 21st, 2010 | Joanna | | Tags: birthday cake, Blackout Cake, Ebinger's | 3 Comments »
Happy Birthday Arlene
We recently celebrated my aunt’s birthday.. (I won’t say which one) and when I found out what her favorite cake was, I had to do a little research. Chocolate Blackout Cake was made famous by a bakery in Brooklyn called Ebingers, that closed in 1972. Traditionally it is a chocolate cake, layered with chocolate pudding, frosted in pudding and covered in additional chocolate cake crumbs. It was named “Blackout” because of the wartime blackout drills, where windows and city lights were turned off or blacked out to prevent aerial spottings during the war.
I found a variety of recipes online claiming to be the original Ebinger’s recipe, so I chose the most widely cited one and it turned out great. I think the cake tasted better the next day, after the pudding had more time to set. You will need to set aside some time, because the pudding needs about 4 hours minimum to solidify. Because you cover it in cake crumbs it looks like a sloppy joe of a cake, but like sloppy joes, looks don’t mean anything. This dessert is really delicious and chocolatey.
my cousins job left, my job right
I had some help in the kitchen on this one, my cousin prepared the pudding while I baked the cake. Divide and conquer applies to any situation, especially baking. The only part of this recipe that makes it harder than your average layered confection, is the splitting of layers. This cake is a little more forgiving than most, because even though you create 4 layers, you can mess up one because it gets crumbled for topping later. My splitting advice is a steady hand, and a large spatula for moving off.
Ta da! There are only three layers pictured because the other one gets crumbled up for topping!
After your pudding has sufficiently set you need to cover the entire cake in it, just like regular frosting. A broad utensil is best, I used a pie cutter but I’m sure a more equipped kitchen would have better tools, (I was cooking at my parents). It is a three layer cake so it is necessary to ration out your pudding per layer. For me the assembly is the best part of the process. It provides me with the same joy as building IKEA furniture. I let the cake sit in the fridge and if I were do to this again I would have let it sit a bit longer. Pudding taste best very cold. Also whipped cream would have been a good addition. As said before, this cake is very chocolatey.
“Ebinger’s” Brooklyn Blackout Birthday Cake
From Cook’s Country
1. For the pudding: Whisk sugar, cornstarch, salt, half-and-half, and milk in large saucepan. Set pan over medium heat. Add chocolate and whisk constantly until chocolate melts and mixture begins to bubble, 2 to 4 minutes.I was working on a horrible electric stove and this took me a bit longer 10 minutes or so. Stir in vanilla and transfer pudding to large bowl. We kept stirring until the pudding began to thicken. and then poured in a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 1 day.
2. For the cake layers: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl.
3. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cocoa and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Off heat, whisk in coffee, buttermilk, and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in flour mixture.
4. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Mine took about 40. Cool layers in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool to room temperature, at least 1 hour.
5. To assemble the cake: Cut each cake in half horizontally. Crumble one cake layer into medium crumbs and set aside. Place one take layer on a clean plate. Spread 1 cup pudding over cake layer and top with another layer. Repeat with 1 cup pudding and last cake layer. Spread remaining pudding evenly over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle cake crumbs evenly over top and sides of cake, pressing lightly to adhere crumbs. Serve. (Cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
Super impressive!
Looks AMAZING! Would like to try and make it sometime!
bookmarked.
delicious. it looks sooo good. =D *drool*