Torta di cioccolato (chocolate cinnamon cake) - Valle d'Aosta
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Categories: Kids, Vegetarian This recipe has been adjusted from a recipe from the restaurant at the Grand Hotel Cour-maison in Pre'-saint-didier, just outside Courmayeur. The key to making this cake correctly is to have all the ingredients at room temperature and ensure that each ingredient is well mixed before adding the next ingredient. Don't worry about feeding this cake to children as the alcohol in the red wine cooks out and adds depth of flavour to the chocolate cake. This recipe can actually be made in a rice cooker as well (see Notes below).
Author: Woo Wei-Duan
Recipe type: Dolci (Dessert)
Cuisine: Valle d'Aosta
Serves: 10 servings
Ingredients
- 250 grams butter, room temperature
- 250 grams caster sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 210 grams 00 flour
- 10 gramspotato starch (can substitute with 00 flour)
- 5 grams baking powder
- 30 grams cocoa powder
- 5 grams ground cinnamon
- 100 mls red wine
- 150 grams chocolate, coarsely grated
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 185 C. Butter a 23cm cake tin. Sift together the flour, potato starch, baking powder, cocoa powder and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar together until white and fluffy.
- Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, adding them one by one making sure they are incorporated well before adding the next ensuring that you scrape the sides with a spatula in between, otherwise the mixture will break. If this happens you can fix it by adding a spoonful or two of your dry ingredients and beat quickly the mixture until the batter emulsifies again. If it is still not emulsifying, you can put the mixing bowl in a bowl of very warm water or wrap the bottom with a towel soaked in very warm water and keep mixing until it comes to-gether.
- Add the dry mixture little by little, stirring by hand into the egg mixture.
- Once it is all incorporated, add the wine and vanilla.
- Finally add in the grated chocolate and mix to combine.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out dry. Cool on a wire rack.
Notes
The alcohol in the red wine evaporates when the cake is baked so don't worry about serving this to children and pregnant women.
Cooking in a rice cooker: Make sure the quantity of batter fits in the rice cooker. My machine has a 1.8 litre capacity so it is more than enough and the cake has enough surface area with the heating element on the bottom to cook evenly. To make the cake, butter the inside of the rice container, make the cake batter, add the batter to the rice container, place the container in the machine and turn on. Every machine is different so the first few times, it may be necessary to keep checking the cake until a toothpick poked in the centre comes out clean. My rice cooker takes 80 minutes to bake a full recipe of this cake and 50 minutes to bake a half recipe.
Cooking in a rice cooker: Make sure the quantity of batter fits in the rice cooker. My machine has a 1.8 litre capacity so it is more than enough and the cake has enough surface area with the heating element on the bottom to cook evenly. To make the cake, butter the inside of the rice container, make the cake batter, add the batter to the rice container, place the container in the machine and turn on. Every machine is different so the first few times, it may be necessary to keep checking the cake until a toothpick poked in the centre comes out clean. My rice cooker takes 80 minutes to bake a full recipe of this cake and 50 minutes to bake a half recipe.
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