The second part of the title – chocolate bourbon pudding – is my personal experience with the recipe. It ended up being a pudding cake, or spoon cake or similar. Dark chocolate meets bourbon meets under baking and finally goes to rest on a spoon. The recipe says to unmold it while hot and eat it warm if possible. So I did.
We’re baking Boca Negra, from the book Baking with Julia. Find the whole recipe here.
First of all, you should know that bourbon makes my baking world go round, and this has quite a lot of it.
So I don’t mind at all that it was more a mousse than a pie or cake or whatever the picture in the book told me. I not only baked it exactly as it said, but I measured the pan also. Because the recipe says bake 30 minutes and unmold. Well, I don’t like that kind of directions, they are not clear. Like using the juice of 4 oranges.
What size of oranges? How much juice should it be? This was pretty much the same, hence the under baking.
What size of oranges? How much juice should it be? This was pretty much the same, hence the under baking.
So it follows that when I tried to cut it, it completely fell apart, puddle-like, and after trying three times, to make one miserable ‘slice’ land on a plate with a barely reasonable shape that would allow me to take a picture, I gave up, piled it in my yellow ramekins, the ones I use for puddings like this coconut tapioca pudding, took the goddamn pictures and ate one. This is good stuff.
The first step reminded me of the Nemesis chocolate cake, boiling syrup poured over dark chocolate, whisk it and you have a wonderful ganache to which butter, a lot, is added.
And when I looked at my recipe, ripped from a newspaper at least 15 years ago, of the famous cake, guess what I found out? It IS my beloved nemesis cake, the fantastic chocolate cake from the famous River Cafe in London. The only difference is that it has some bourbon instead of all water.
You never heard of the nemesis cake? Go and google it right now. I’ll wait here. What? You never even heard of the River Cafe? Where a very young Jamie Oliver was discovered? Well then, let’s talk about the pudding cake.
Again, I have to tell you I adore bourbon in my kitchen, and I actually don’t drink it.
So if I tell you that it was a bit much, that the flavor was somewhat overpowering, you draw your own conclusions.
So if I tell you that it was a bit much, that the flavor was somewhat overpowering, you draw your own conclusions.
Whatever the name, this is a cake to make and a recipe to keep. But next time, I’ll change the booze, maybe cointreau or frangelico.
The white chocolate cream was too thick. Too much chocolate and not enough cream. I warmed it a few seconds in the microwave for the pictures.
The directions say to make it one day before the cake and refrigerate it. I didn’t read the whole thing through so I made it right before I started with the cake.
By the time it was done, or in my case under baked, the white chocolate cream had solidified and it was like cold peanut butter. So why would it need to be made a day earlier?
By the time it was done, or in my case under baked, the white chocolate cream had solidified and it was like cold peanut butter. So why would it need to be made a day earlier?
In the end, despite the many questions that didn’t have an answer, this is the cake to make if you love dark chocolate. I’d use less alcohol or coffee next time.
I took the boca negra, in a plastic container, to a friend’s house and we ate it cold. I had also made another dulce de leche mille feuille, because I thought the boca negra would be a total mess. But no, it was amazing cold with the white chocolate cream on top. So we ended up having two decadent desserts to choose from. Poor us.
Simply delicious! I will give this recipe a try soon. I am sure it is a HIT!!
How in the heck did I miss this amazing post?! I can relate to all the angst you had in the kitchen over this recipe. But seriously – it turned out beautifully! I think it looks awesome scooped into your adorable little containers. Remember how I was lamenting in a post about how my cakes never look as perfect as they do on other blogs and you told me you were suspicious of perfect-looking desserts? I agree full heartedly – it's always be luscious, dripping, melting, ooey gooey desserts that are the best. And hells yeah to bourbon!
Sometimes, the prettiest and most perfect pastries are the most boring! For me it is all about the taste and this seems like it will taste amazing at my table! ~ David
There's nothing wrong with bourbon chocolate pudding! It looks wonderful, but I am sorry it didn't turn out the way you would have liked.
Grab me a spoon because I want this in my face right now! Pretty certain I will be under-baking this so I can spoon my way to bourbon chocolate bliss.
Your ramekins are adorable and looks like it was a great solution to under baking (I had the same issue). Lovely photos!
Alcoholic chocolate – we've reached heaven!! 😀
Love the photos… looks like that spooned sweetness is about to come to mah belly!
All of your tips on how you would change the recipe to make it not only workable but better are very helpful.
Your photos are truly amazing.
yay looks tempting to me! Bourbon, chocolate.. with a bit cream on top..luxurious
there are so many wonderful things in this post paula, it's why i love reading you! recipes not working (i can identify with you there), a link to a gooey chocolate cake i have to try. i always use frangelico or tia maria in my chocolate cakes and brownies, even if they say water! and i too loathe it when a recipe says 'juice of 4 oranges' – what of you have big oranges? or dry oranges? they should give measurements as well. then again, if they say, half a cup of orange juice, i have no idea how many oranges to buy … what if my oranges are big, or dry?… we are never satisfied! thanks paula! XX
Nice save Paula! Pretty damn amazing photos for a kitchen "fail." Beautiful post. Enjoyed reading every word.
I love bourbon! Pass over a fork, this is my kind of cake!
Paula, are you serious? I really wish we weren't so far apart, I'd love to come have dessert with you. My goodness this looks like heaven and is just gorgeous!! Yum!
Frangelico and I became fast friends on a previous recipe from TWD — maybe the biscotti? What a terrific idea. Thanks.
Lucky you and your friend. Oh my goodness…I'm wiping the drool just reading your description of this fantastic cake that looks like a huge success to me:)
This looks like the best under-baking situation ever! It's making my mouth water, seriously! I too was a little frustrated with the exactly 30 minutes thing…..how many times have we heard and witnessed that all ovens are not equal. I would have also liked a better description of what I was looking for when it was 'done'. But that's partly my fault too since I decided to make mini-cakes and my baking time would be different. Ah well, this looks delicious.
Great images! Your cake looks just like mine. Good job!
It still looks awesome in pudding form!! Great pics of it. I'm glad it still tasted good, and I think it looks wonderful in those bowls. I kept mine in the oven for an extra 20 minutes, as there was no way it was done in 30. And I'm glad I did. I don't like that kind of direction, as everyone's oven is different and bakes at different times.