Boca Negra Recipes

BOCA NEGRA CAKE

Steps:

• Put the white chocolate into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until it is finely chopped. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until small bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Pour the cream over the chocolate and process until completely smooth. Add the bourbon, taste, and add up to a tablespoon more if you want.
• Pour the prepared cream into a container with a tight-fitting lid and chill overnight. The cream can be kept covered in the refrigerator for a week or frozen for up to a month.
• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350.
• Lightly spray the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with baking spray. Line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper; butter the paper and sides of the pan. Put the cake pan in a shallow roasting pan and set aside until needed.
• Put the chopped chocolate in a food processor. Process until finely chopped.
• In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar and the bourbon and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a full boil. Immediately pour the hot syrup over the chocolate and process until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Piece by piece, add the butter into the chocolate mixture with the processor running. Make certain that each piece of butter is melted before you add another. Add the eggs, one at a time, while the processor continues to run. Add the flour and then let the processor run for an additional 15 seconds.
• Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan, running your spatula over the top to smooth it. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come about 1 inch up the side of the cake pan. Bake the cake for exactly 30 minutes, at which point the top will have a thin, dry crust.
• Cover the top of the pan with a large piece of plastic wrap--at this point the excess plastic wrap will cling to the sides of the warm pan. Invert the plate onto a large plate (not the plate you will serve it on) and (this part was easier with 2 people) peel the plastic wrap from the sides of the pan, so that the plastic wrap is no longer attached in any way to the pan. Before it can reattach, lift the pan off of the cake, leaving the cake behind on the plate. Remove the parchment paper which will be stuck to the bottom of the cake. Place the ultimate serving plate or platter on top of the cake and invert again. Peel the plastic wrap off of the cake.
• Serve the cake warm or at room temperature with the chilled white chocolate cream (folded into whipped cream as described above, if desired).
• Once cooled, the cake can be covered with plastic and kept at room temperature for 1 day or refrigerated for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature before serving. I used my cake keeper to store it without any plastic wrap. For longer storage, wrap the cake airtight and freeze it; it will keep up to a month. Thaw overnight, still wrapped, in the refrigerator.

BOCA NEGRA (BOURBON CHOCOLATE CAKE)

Steps:

• Heat the cream in a saucepan until small bubbles form around the edge. Meanwhile, put the white chocolate in a food processor or in a blender container. Pour the cream over the chocolate; process until completely smooth. Add the Bourbon; taste and add up to a tablespoon more if you like.
• Pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid; refrigerate 8 hours. (The cream can be kept in the refrigerator for a week or frozen for up to a month; thaw overnight in refrigerator.).
• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly butter a 9-inch round cake pan; line the bottom with buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the cake pan in a shallow roasting pan; set aside.
• For the cake, heat the sugar and Bourbon to a full boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook to a syrup, about 2 minutes.
• Place the chocolate in a food processor; pour the syrup into the work bowl. Process until the mixture is completely blended, about 12 seconds.
• Add the butter, in pieces, with the machine running.
• Add the eggs, one at a time.
• Add the flour. Process until smooth, about 15 seconds.
• Transfer the batter into the prepared pan.
• Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come about 1 inch up the sides of the cake pan.
• Bake until the top is dry, about 30 minutes. Remove the cake pan from its water bath; wipe the cake pan dry.
• Cover the top of the cake with a sheet of plastic wrap. Invert the cake onto a flat plate, peel off the parchment.
• Quickly but gently invert again onto a serving platter; remove the plastic. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature with the chilled white chocolate cream.

BOCA NEGRA CHOCOLATE CHIPOTLE CAKES

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Butter ramekins and dust with sugar, knocking out excess.
• Toast chiles in a dry heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard stems, seeds, and ribs, then soak chiles in hot water to cover until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Purée chiles in a mini food processor or a blender, adding 2 to 3 tablespoons soaking liquid as needed to form a paste. Force paste through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Set aside 1 1/2 tablespoons chile paste and freeze remainder for another use.
• Bring juice and 1 cup sugar to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour hot syrup over chocolate in a large bowl, stirring until chocolate is melted. Add butter and stir until melted.
• Add eggs 1 at a time, whisking after each addition, then stir in chile paste, flour, and salt. Divide among ramekins and bake in hot water bath , uncovered, until just firm and top is starting to crust, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer ramekins with tongs to a work surface and let stand 2 minutes.
• Unmold warm cakes directly onto dessert plates (they will be difficult to move once they adhere).
• *Available at Mexican markets, many supermarkets, and Chile Today-Hot Tamale (800-468-7377).