The Robert Redford Cake

The Robert Redford Cake (source: Maida Heatter's New Book of Great Desserts (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982. pg. 178.)

The recent death of Robert Redford reminded me that I had never made this cake. The cake has a confusing history. Maida herself first saw the recipe in the magazine Chocolate News. It was a recipe from Hisae restaurant in New York City and named for the actor who loved the cake. Later, Maida was in NYC and visited Hisae and ordered the cake. She knew immediately that it was different from the one in the magazine.  She got the recipe from the restaurant and it is the one in her book. She never solved the mystery as to why they were different.

Flash forward some fifty years later, and when you do a search for "Robert Redford Cake", you get something very different from this recipe. Most likely, search results give you a popular layered dessert with a shortbread-like crust, a filling made with sweetened condensed milk, and a pudding layer sprinkled with a toffee/butterscotch sprinkling. I remember the recipe well.  Every time you attended a function where people brought desserts, it was sure to be there. It was then called "Better Than Sex Cake". I know my mother made it, but she would never have called it that. 

So this cake, entirely different, is a chocolate honey cake with a velvety, nutty texture and subtle chocolate and honey flavor. It is delicious and reminds me of some of the wonderful tortes that I've made in the past. The technique is a little different from most of her other recipes. I wasn't sure about the icing, which is more like a pudding, but it tastes wonderful. Maida says to make making individual servings of the whipped cream to go with each slice of cake when serving. 

6 1/2 oz. (1 1/4 cups) blanched hazelnuts or almonds

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

6 oz. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2 cup honey

10 large eggs, separated

1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 375. Butter a springform pan (or 10 x 3" round pan) and line the bottom with parchment or baking paper. Lightly dust with bread crumbs.

Blanch the almonds or hazelnuts and grind them in a food processor to a fine powder.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and let it come to room temperature, stirring occasionally (I used an ice-water bath to speed this up).

Beat the butter until softened.

Gradually add the honey and beat until smooth.

Add the egg yolks, a few at a time, and blend well.

The mixture will appear curdled.

Add the chocolate and mix well, scraping the bowl as necessary. The mixture should now appear smooth.

Add the ground nuts.

In a separate, clean bowl, whisk the egg whites. Add the salt and beat until the egg whites form soft peaks.

Fold one-third of the egg whites at a time into the chocolate mixture until fully incorporated. This makes a lot of batter. (A stand-mixer bowl is adequate but if you are using a hand mixture, you will need a large bowl.)

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350. Bake an additional 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean (40 minutes worked for me). After turning the oven off, allow the cake to sit in the open oven for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

During cooling, the cake will shrink a little.

After cooling, carefully remove from the pan. 

ICING

3/4 cup heavy cream

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

In a heavy saucepan, heat the cream until a wrinkled skin forms on top.

Reduce the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and smooth.

Transfer the icing to a bowl to cool completely (again, an ice-bath helps). Occasionally stir. The icing should gradually become slightly thicker.

Pour the icing over the top of the cake and smooth.

The cake can be served immediately or later. Serve with whipped cream.

WHIPPED CREAM

For every cup of heavy cream, add 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar or granulated sugar or one tablespoon of honey and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Use a chilled bowl and whisk to beat the cream until it holds a soft shape. 

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Nordic Ware Pan Springform, 9 Inch, Charcoal

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Hamilton Beach Food Processor & Vegetable Chopper

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Chocolate Date Cake

Chocolate Date Cake 
Source: Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg.  77.

I had a large bag of dates, well sealed, that I thought would have to be discarded. Well, apparently, they don't expire. Maida uses dates in a lot of her recipes. This cake is easy to make, very dense with a subtle flavor. The icing is quite good to have only two ingredients.

After making this, I realized that her Chocolate Date Nut Cake is the exact recipe, except with nuts.

4 oz. (1/2 packed cup) pitted dates

1/3 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1 oz. semisweet chocolate

3/4 cup unsifted unbleached flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/3 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350. Use the lower third rack. Line an 8x8x2 pan with foil allowing the foil to extend over the edges of the pan. Butter the foil and set aside.

Add the dates to a small bowl and add the baking soda and the boiling water. Stir to mix and then transfer the dates to a food processor. Process for 10 seconds. Set aside.

Place both chocolates in top of a double boiler and melt. Set aside.

Sift together the flour and salt and set aside.

In a mixer bowl, beat the butter until it is soft. Add the vanilla and sugar and mix. Beat in the egg, the melted chocolate and the pureed dates.

On low speed, beat in half of the sifted flour mixture. Add the sour cream and then the remaining flour. Beat only until incorporated.

Transfer to the pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top bounces back slightly when pressed.

Cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes. Carefully remove from the pan and the foil. Let the cake stand while you make the icing.

ICING

4 oz. semisweet chocolate

4 tablespoons whipping cream

Chop the chocolate finely and place in top of a double boiler. After the chocolate has melted, add the whipping cream and mix until smooth. Let it sit for a few minutes, occasionally mixing. Pour the icing on top of the cake and spread it with a spatula, covering just the top of the cake.  Let the cake stand at room temperature.

 

Walnut Fudge Pie a' la Mode with Hot Fudge Sauce

 

Walnut Fudge Pie a' la Mode with Hot Fudge Sauce
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 48.

Not really a pie but more like a brownie made in a pie plate, this is a thin and dense dessert enhanced by adding ice cream and hot fudge sauce. It baked beautifully.

I was not a fan of the Hot Fudge Sauce but I'm sure there are better ones our there (in fact, she herself has many recipes of chocolate sauces). This one tasted fine but, like she says, it hardens very quickly, almost instantaneously. You can refrigerate it but you must reheat it over hot water. I thought I had ruined my sauce pan after making it but I finally cleaned it by boiling vinegar and water in it for a few minutes.

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/4 lb. (1 stick) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar (divide into 3/4 and 1/4 portions)
2 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons hot water
1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup walnuts, broken into medium-sized pieces
Pinch of salt

Use the center rack and preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9-inch oven-proof glass pan with foil. Brush the foil with melted or soft butter.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over hot water. Set aside.

Beat the butter in mixer bowl until soft. Add the vanilla and 3/4 cup sugar (reserve the remaining 1/4 cup sugar). Beat for one minute.

Add the egg yolks and then the chocolate. Beat until smooth.

Add the hot water and then the flour, scraping the bowl as necessary.

Remove from the mixer and stir in the nuts.

Beat the egg whites until they hold a soft shape. Add the reserved 1/4 cup of sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is stiff (but not dry). Fold into the chocolate mixture. Spread into the pie plate.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. The cake will rise and then sink, causing a crust to form but the inside will be soft. Cool in the pan on a rack. After it has cooled, allow it to stand an additonal 1/2 to 1 hour. Invert and remove the foil and then replace the pie back into the glass pan.

Serve with ice cream and hot fudge sauce.

The recipe for the Hot Fudge Sauce follows. However, like I mentioned earlier, I would try another one.

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon butter
1/3 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Over low heat, combine the chocolate, butter and water until smooth. Mix in the corn syrup and sugar.

Increase the heat to moderate and stir occasionally until it comes to a boil. Stop stirring and let it boil for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and place the pan in water to stop the boiling. Stir in the vanilla.

Use it immediately while still warm or let it cool and reheat it over hot water.