Flourless Chocolate Whisky Cake from Molly MacRae

 

A cake made with chickpeas? Yes, and it’s amazingly good.

Several years ago, a nice relative gave me a cute small-format cookbook called Chickpeas. It’s volume 17 from Short Stack Editions. A note on the back says that each volume is one author’s love letter to a favorite ingredient. The recipes in Chickpeas range from the expected (hummus, salads, curries, soups) to the awesomely eye-opening (gingerbread milkshake, Persian orange-cardamom shortbreads, chickpea coffee).

I recently made this flourless chocolate whisky cake, another of the eye-opening recipes, and will be happy to make it again. The cake is easy and fun to make because to mix the ingredients you just tossed them all in the blender. The result is a rich, dense, chocolaty, beautiful cake. An added bonus is that it’s gluten-free, if that's an issue. I made the cake with the cayenne pepper and the whisky, but I think either or both could be left out and no one would complain.

According to the cookbook you should always use warm chickpeas in the cake. Why? Because, apparently, chickpea skins are only soft when they’re warm and using chickpeas that aren’t warm will result in a grainy cake.  

Note: if you’re using canned chickpeas you’ll want to “revive” them. Here's' how: drain and rinse them, put them in a saucepan and cover with cold water with a pinch of baking soda, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse again and use warm.

 

Flourless Chocolate Whisky Cake (adapted from Chickpeas by Victoria Granof)

Makes a single layer 9-inch cake

 

Ingredients for the cake

2 cups warm cooked chickpeas (if using canned chickpeas, see note above)

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

½ teaspoon baking powder

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao Baking Chips)

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

2 tablespoons Scotch whisky (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 eggs

 

Ingredients for the glaze

⅓ cup caramel sauce (I used Ghirardelli Sea Salt Caramel)

½ cup heavy cream

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (again, I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao Baking Chips)

1 tablespoon whisky (optional)

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend at medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until completely combined and smooth, stopping to scrape down the inside of the blender halfway through. (I got so excited by tossing everything in the blender and whirling it up that I forgot to take a picture.)

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until firm to the touch. Let the cake cool for at least an hour before removing it from the pan.

Make the glaze while the cake cools. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, stir together the caramel and cream and bring just to a boil, stirring until smooth. Remove pan from heat, add the chopped chocolate all at once and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir until glaze is smooth and chocolate has melted.

Remove cake from pan. Spread glaze over top and sides of cake. Store leftover cake in refrigerator. 

 

Look for Molly’s new series—the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries—coming in July 2024!

Book 1: Come Shell or High Water

And in the meantime, you can enjoy her other books.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhys Bowen presents BARMBRACK

LUCY BURDETTE: We're so happy to have Rhys Bowen as our guest chef and blogger today! Rhys is currently writing TWO bestselling and prizewinning mystery series, the Molly Murphy series and the Royal Spyness series. HUSH NOW, DON'T YOU CRY hits bookshelves this week. Welcome to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen Rhys!

RHYS BOWEN: Since it's almost St Patrick's Day and also the launch of my 12th Molly Murphy Mystery called Hush Now, Don't You Cry, I decided that it should be an Irish recipe. I've chosen not the traditional soda bread but a rich fruity bread called Barmbrack that my mother-in-law used to make. There are many versions, some fancy, some with yeast, but this is the simple one. In Ireland this bread is traditionally served at Halloween with charms inside to foretell the future, exactly the same as the charms in the English Christmas pudding.

BARMBRACK

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups brewed black tea, cold
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups golden raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped candied citron (or can be any combination of dried fruit)
  
• 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Put the tea, sugar, raisins and peel into a bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch round pan (or I use a loaf pan. Easier to cut)
3. Sift the flour into the fruit mixture, add the egg and beat well.
4. Pour into the cake pan and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Serve sliced thinly with butter at tea.