Mexican Chocolate Cake

Mexican Chocolate Cake

Cake

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

3/4 cup water

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Glaze

1 cup pecans

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup high-quality cocoa powder

2 cups sifted powdered sugar (sift first, then measure the 2 cups of sugar out)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and heavily grease a 9″ tube pan or a Bundt pan (this was my first foray into owning a Bundt pan and, as you can see, I went for the vintage shaped pan instead of the more traditional shape). If you don’t have baking non-stick spray, use butter and then sprinkle the inside with flour, tapping the excess out of the pan.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and whisk in the cocoa until smooth. Add the water to the cocoa butter mixture and whisk until smooth, then turn the burner off.

Add the sugar, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla to the cocoa mixture and whisk until ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.

Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt all at once and whisk until everything is, again, fully incorporated (Rebecca warns it’s okay if there are some small lumps, but I didn’t encounter any).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and slide it in the oven to bake for 40-45 minutes, until firm yet springy to the touch and the edges start to pull slightly away from the pan.

Take the pan out (leave the oven on) and let the cake cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then invert the cake on to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Once you take the pan out of the oven, spread the pecans out on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes and then coarsely chop them. I like lots of big pecan pieces so I didn’t chop them up too much.

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium saucepan, then turn off the burner.

Add the milk, cocoa and powdered sugar and whisk until glossy. (Warning: My glaze seized and turned super gritty at this point so that it was completely unusable, and all of this happened super fast. I think it was because I accidentally overheated it, which is why I had you turn off the heat in the last step.)

Whisk the vanilla, salt and pecans into the glaze.

Carefully move the cake onto your desired serving dish and pour the warm glaze over the top of the cake. Enjoy–and be sure to have a glass of milk on hand!