Gateau au Grand Marnier et Chocolat

GATEAU AU GRAND MARNIER ET CHOCOLATE

ADAPTED FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES AND ROSE LEVY BERANBAUM, DECEMBER 12, 1984

Cake

  • 2 cups cake flour, sifted

  • 1/2 cup superfine almond flour from blanched almonds, sifted

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

  • 1 cup granulated sugar

  • 4 eggs, room temp

  • 1 cup sour cream, room temp

  • 1/2 cup ground almonds

  • Peeled orange rind from one orange, finely chopped

  • 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

  • 1/2 teaspoon Grand Marnier

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons flour

Grand Marnier Syrup

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar

  • 1/3 cup Grand Marnier

  • 1/4 cup orange juice

Chocolate Grand Marnier Glaze

  • 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

  • 1/4 heavy cream

  • 1–2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

It was one specific winter of my childhood when this cake graced our holiday table. True to form (mine), I remember literally nothing else about the holiday. I don’t remember what gifts were under the Christmas tree or how old I was or what I was wearing or what anyone else in my family was doing. I remember this cake.

I remember taking tiny sliver after tiny sliver for days on end (an endless cake!), each day, the cake seeming to yield more magic than it had the day before. Drunk on its own powers, inexplicably more and more moist with each passing hour… this cake was (and is) my dream cake, but I will never be able to love it and taste it the way that I did then, over thirty years ago.

I have been reading the Polar Express with my son Luca and I am reminded of the bell:

“At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.

As I and the cake recipe have grown older, I make modifications to it that are entirely designed to suit this memory that I have. The original recipe is lovely as is, but the magic of that first encounter pulls me this way and that… more Grand Marnier here, coarser orange zest there, double the chocolate everywhere, a little almond flour.

I won’t even pretend to say that I’ve nailed it (I can’t go back in time), but I did enjoy this latest tinkering and I hope you will, too. I also think that in my less fruitful trials, I’ve unlocked one of its secrets: You have to under-bake this cake just slightly (about 5 minutes). First of all, a lot of residual baking happens in a giant bundt pan, where the size of the sides is far greater than the surface of the cake that is releasing the heat. Secondly, because you are going to cover the cake in a boozy syrup, you want the cake to take the syrup happily, but not be so dry that it really needs it (not a desperate cake). If the cake itself is too thirsty, that dryness will cancel out the effect of the liquored up moisture, which is absolutely divine when you get it right, or even close enough to right, as the case may be.

HOW TO MAKE IT

First, some notes about the modifications: I’ve significantly amped up the chocolate and orange in this recipe. Maybe as I’ve aged, my tastebuds have dulled, so I’ve needing to add more of both to more closely approximate my memory of the cake. The orange zest is made more prominent by adjusting the technique. Instead of grating the zest, I peel the orange rind with a vegetable peeler avoiding the pith, and then I finely chop that. I’ve also replaced some of the cake flour with superfine almond flour, which was beautiful. I will eventually try a version with entirely almond flour, or maybe a mixture of almond and oat flours. I bet it will work, making some gluten-free friends super happy. (I am occasionally GF, too.) For the chocolate glaze, I didn’t have cream when I made this cake last, so I used half and half and added a bit of butter. It worked great, but I am recommending the original glaze using heavy cream below.

Make the cake: Grease and flour a 9-10 cup bundt pan. Preheat the oven to 325. In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder and soda, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the softened butter until light. Then add the sugar and continue beating for about 4 minutes on medium speed until it looks fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one by one. Turn the speed down to low, then add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the sour cream, like this: 1/3 flour, 1/2 sour cream, 1/3 flour, 1/2 sour cream, 1/3 flour. Stir together orange rind and nuts in a small bowl and then stir it into the cake batter. Sprinkle chopped chocolate with Grand Marnier in a bowl, and then toss it with 1 1/2 teaspoons flour. Fold the chocolate into the cake batter. Spoon into prepared pan. Smooth the top. Bake for 55 minutes, or until a tester comes out nearly clean (do not overbake! it will keep baking in the pan!). Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes.

Make the syrup: While the cake is cooling, combine the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook just until the sugar is dissolved, then remove from heat.

Assemble the cake: Prick the surface of the cake all over with a fork (it’s still in the bundt pan at this point). Brush or drizzle half the syrup all over the cake. Let it soak in. Then invert the cake onto a cake stand and prick and drizzle the top with the remaining syrup. Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing it. In another small saucepan, scald the heavy cream and remove from heat. Add the finely chopped chocolate and the Grand Marnier, starting with 1 teaspoon and adding more if the mixture is too thick. Pour the glaze all over the cooled cake.

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