Nancy Silverton’s Bittersweet Chocolate Cake
The Signature Chocolate Dessert from Osteria Mozza
Give Americans a menu, and most will order the chocolate dessert. Last Thursday’s Los Angeles Times Food section showcased a chocolate dessert dressed to the nines, just in time for the holidays. From Los Angeles area chef Nancy Silverton of Osteria Mozza, comes a bittersweet chocolate fantasia – dense chocolate cake napped with voluptuous fudge sauce presented with a trio of chocolate confections – candied almonds dipped and rolled in cocoa, chocolate coated candied hazelnut clusters and chocolate dipped honeycomb. I simply can not conjure up a more spectacularly elegant dessert for New Year’s Eve.
The success of this dessert will rest on the quality of your ingredients. With one pound of chocolate in the cake alone, you will not want to skimp, especially not when you are going to invest this much effort. Be sure to use fine quality: my favorite is Callebaut (available from Amazon). However, brands such as Valrhona and Scharffen Berger are also marvelous. The same holds true for the fudge sauce – use high quality cocoa. Go for Pernigotti, or Penzeys high fat (24%) natural cocoa from Penzeys.com.
Okay, I know it looks like a lot – this is fine dining in the home, senza dubito. Don’t be daunted; you can do this. Just do not make the mistake of thinking you can do it all in one day. Each of the five components can be made ahead, some as far as a week, and in the case of the fudge sauce, several weeks. The recipe and directions available at the LA Times website are meticulous in their detail, and Ms. Silverton and the editors have generously included a video.
Buone feste!
Note: You can click on any picture for a larger image, and to see a slide show!
I have no affiliation with any product, manufacturer, or site mentioned in this article.
Monday, December 5th 2011 at 12:07 am |
What an indulgence. And a very appetizing photo. I really have to bookmark this recipe Adri.
Monday, December 5th 2011 at 7:40 am |
Ciao Mette,
When I saw this one in the LA Times Food Section, I was pretty impressed. It is indeed an indulgence, fitting for this time of year. Let me say I went through a lot of chocolate to get to that end shot! This dessert is a remarkable play of texture and temperature – chilled cake, warm fudge, nuts coated in cracking hard cooked sugar, coated with chocolate or chocolate and cocoa, and golden honeycomb dipped in chocolate and topped with chopped nuts, a veritable tour de force. Trained as a pastry hound, I was taught to “work neat”, but even at that, there was a lot of clean-up after this one! Well worth it, though. We loved it. Thanks so much for your comment. Buon natale!
Monday, December 5th 2011 at 8:30 am |
“a chocolate dessert dressed to the nines”–great description. And I agree that Pernigotti cocoa is the best. I love their torrone, too. Buone Natale…
Monday, December 5th 2011 at 8:54 am |
Ciao Domenica,
Thanks so much for stopping by. And it is always great to meet another Pernigotti lover – so often when I mention it to people they reply “Perni-who? I have never heard of it.” Then they try it and never use any other brand. I have never tasted their torrone, though. I must taste some. Thank you for the tip. Buone Feste!
Tuesday, December 13th 2011 at 12:26 pm |
This looks heavenly!!!
I was thinking of you today as I worked on a post about the Roman tradition of cooking fish for the “Vigilia”, Christmas Eve. I am so hopeless at cooking in general and with fish in particular and was thinking I need one of your fantastic photo posts explaining how to do some holiday cooking. No pressure of course. Keep up the beautiful, scrumptious looking posts.
Buon Natale, Trisha
Tuesday, December 13th 2011 at 11:40 pm |
Hi Trisha,
I’m glad this one caught your eye – it is a very special dessert. You will get a kick out of this one – I too am pretty hopeless with fish. Yup, Italian. Catholic, and I just do not like it. My mom said that I ate it all the time until one evening at dinner when I was about 10 years old, I stared that halibut down, it stared back at me, and I just could not do it. I offered no explanation, and my mom, being pretty savvy figured it best not to push Adri the Picky Eater – see my post Dad’s Favorite Dishes for her reasoning on the subject. For ever after, I just did not get a plate on fish night! I tried my best as an adult – a ten week fish cookery course, oysters poached in champagne, the whole nine yards and yet there was no changing me. So for the Feast of the Seven Fishes, I am sorry to say I come up a cropper! We are in the same boat, m’dear. My motto – reach for the ravioli, even for La Vigilia! One thing about cooking though, with thoughtful practice and a can do attitude coupled with a healthy dose of humility one can get awfully good. I say buy the food and get to it! I am so pleased to hear you continue to enjoy my site. I certainly enjoy MozzarellaMamma – what a great name you chose. I look forward to your upcoming post! Thanks so much for stopping by, and Buon Natale to you and yours!