Tuesdays with Dorie: Boca Negra

Baking with Julia Tuesdays with Dorie Boca Negra for Tuesdays with Dorie

Decadence, thy name is boca negra. Seriously chocolately, this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie/ Baking with Julia pick (p. 253) is one to make when you are expecting friends. Twelve or more of them to be exact.

When I read the ingredients – chocolate, sugar, butter, eggs and a 1.5 tablespoons of flour, I thought it might just be like any regular flourless cake. But oh my, this was so much more. The book offers the option to make the cake in the food processor. One bowl instead of many? This dishwasher-less baker was all over that! Basically you melt the chocolate with a sugar and bourbon Cointreau syrup (not a bourbon fan at all – plus we didn’t have any)and blend it for about 15 seconds. Then you add the butter, eggs and flour in sequence and voilà. Cake batter sans all the mess. I am in love with this method.

I was careful to take the cake out of the oven right on 30 minutes as per the recipe though I wondered if it might not be a little pudding-like. At least I was able to remove it from the pan in one piece, as I gather others who made this were not.

It’s a pretty unassuming-looking cake…

Baking with Julia Tuesdays with Dorie Boca Negra

But when you get up closer, you can see the promise of something very special lurking under the lightly crispy exterior…

Julia Child Baking with Julia Tuesdays with Dorie Boca Negra Dorie Greenspan

Because I had used Cointreau instead of bourbon, I grated a little zest on the top of the cake..

Dorie Greenspan Julia Child Baking with Julia Tuesdays with Dorie Boca Negra

And I got out the even more decadent white chocolate cream – white chocolate melted with boiling cream, blended til smooth left in the fridge for a couple of hours then whipped to fluffy just before serving..

Dorie Greenspan Baking with Julia Tuesdays with Dorie Boca Negra Julia Child

Although the cake really didn’t need anything. It was perfect as it was.

The cream was a nice touch (and I’ll be using this method to make ganache for filling macarons!). Again, I didn’t use any alcohol in the cream although Cointreau might have been nice in there.

Baking with Julia Tuesdays with Dorie Boca Negra with orange liqueur and orange zest

Result: Unbelievably insanely delicious. And it actually got better the next day. And the day after. And was still good four days after I made it. It’s the cake that keeps on keeping on. And that’s even leaving half of it at our friends’ house where it was originally consumed. Small, small slices of this one – it’s so rich. Definitely better the day after I made it – on the day itself it was still a little pudding-like in its consistency. The next day it was full-on fudgey.

Baking with Julia Tuesdays with Dorie Orange Boca Negra

This is the sort of cake my colleagues go crazy over. Am filing it away for the end of year potluck. I think it might be a big hit!

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia hosted by Cathy of A Frederick Food Garden and you can find the recipe posted on her blog here. Tuesdays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs except if we happen to be the host for the week, rather, we prefer if you purchase Baking with Julia for yourselves which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us, baking along at Tuesdays with Dorie. Go on, you know you want to.

40 thoughts on “Tuesdays with Dorie: Boca Negra”

  1. This is how it´s supposed to look like Mardi, it´s perfect! I had made the cake a few times before, by the name of nemesis cake, and it is amazing. Nice touch with the cointreau, better than bourbon

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  2. What fantastic photos. Your cake looks fantastic with the orange zest! Such a great idea to use Cointreau. I am sure your colleagues will be talking about this cake for years if you make this for your end of school term potluck.

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  3. I agree with all of your comments. A surprisingly easy recipe and a rich, deliciously decadent dessert that gets better with time. A winner in my book. I cut the bourbon in half in mine and ended up not being able to taste it. Were you able to taste the flavor of the cointreau?

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  4. Even if mine had baked up properly, I just didn’t like the booziness the bourbon gave it (which I used because it made my husband happy!) Cointreau is a much better idea! Citrus would’ve lightened this up a bit for me, I think. And that bit of color makes yours look even better!

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  5. Oh my goodness..this looks like my kind of cake..so easy! Although I am sure i will still have to tweak it as i’m in altitude! But I’m going to give it a go 🙂

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  6. Love the look of the orange zest! Beautiful. Cointreau was a great idea! Love Cointreau – will have to remember this for next time. Yup, there will be a next time. This cake is a little slice of heaven.

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  7. Yes, OK, OK – those of us who are “soft around the middle now”, need to be very careful reading some posts on ELTW. The photos are way too good.

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  8. Good idea with the orange zest. I used grand marnier instead of bourbon, so the zesting would have added to my orange flavour in the grand marnier. (good thinking!)
    It looks great. It really is insanely delicious!

    Reply
  9. I did use bourbon 1/2 cup, as specified in the original recipe in Julia’s book. I was very disappointed in the taste of the cake. I thought the bourbon overpowered the chocolate. I will either not make the cake again, or use another alcohol and reduce it to 1/4 cup.

    Reply

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