DARK CHOCOLATE AND SICHUAN PEPPER CAKE RECIPE WITH CARAMELIZED PINEAPPLE
DARK CHOCOLATE AND SICHUAN PEPPER CAKE RECIPE WITH CARAMELIZED PINEAPPLE
Recipe
Incorporating unexpected savory ingredients in the baking, characteristic style of The Caker. I’ve developed a huge love for Sichuan pepper recently and if you know anything about my style of recipe creation, you’ll know that I love incorporating unexpected savory ingredients into my cakes and desserts. If you can’t find sichuan pepper oil you can use regular chili oil, just make sure it’s pure chili and oil because you don’t want garlic in your cake!
For the cake:
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
200 g butter, soft
1 tablespoon sichuan pepper oil (or regular chili oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 free range eggs
70 g dark brown sugar
200 g ground almonds
For the pineapple:
1 small pineapple, without skin
175 g dark brown sugar
100 ml of water
1 tablespoon sichuan pepper oil (or regular chili oil)
1 vanilla pod
At your service:
1 cup unsweetened Greek yogurt
- Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a 22 cm tart tin with baking paper.
- Melt the dark chocolate, butter, oil, and vanilla in a bowl over a double boiler until completely melted. Set aside to cool.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cooled chocolate mixture with the eggs, sugar, and ground almonds.
- Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. The cake is ready once elastic to the touch and when inserting a knife it comes out clean.
- Let the cake rest in your pan for 10 minutes before inverting it onto a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile prepare the pineapple. Take the skinless pineapple and quarter it lengthwise avoiding the fibrous center. Cut these 4 sectors into 1 cm thick slices and then into cubes.
- Next, spread the sugar in the base of a large skillet over medium-high heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until the sugar melts and caramelizes; this should take about 5 minutes. Carefully add 100ml of water and shake to combine with the sugar (rather than stirring). Next, add the sichuan/chili oil and the whole vanilla bean.
- Add the pineapple chunks to the caramel. Flip them in the caramel until smooth and dark in color; this should take about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the vanilla bean and let cool.
- Remove the seeds from the cooled vanilla bean and stir into the Greek yogurt.
- Top off the cake, still slightly warm, with the warm caramelized pineapple.
- Serve hot with the vanilla yogurt.
- Refrigerate in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 3 days.