Monday, January 7, 2013

THB : Dark Chocolate-Almond Cake

Bake No. 13 at The Home Bakers (THB), Dark Chocolate-Almond Cake is chosen by Jocelyn from Riceball Eats. Drop by Riceball Eats for the full recipe. This is a great pick, Jocelyn! I totally enjoyed this cake A LOT! Kinda of "dangerous" as I can't seem to stop at one slice! It is a good thing that I've made only half a recipe, but later on, kinda regretted made only half a recipe!



This cake uses ground almonds and very little amount of all-purpose flour. I used bittersweet chocolate, and the cake is chocolaty bitter and delicious! Ground almonds makes the cake really tender and tasty. Notice the crinkly bubbly crust at the top, first time I'm baking a cake with a very crinkly bubbly top, but it look kinda nice, well to me anyway! And the crust has a soft texture.



I baked half a recipe using a 7" loose-bottomed cake pan, and bake for 30 minutes, I may have overbaked it a little, as according to the book, the center should still be gently soft when at room temperature. The centre of my cake is not gently soft, but more like a normal cake texture. But I like the texture the way it is, the cake is very, very moist, soft and tender with soft outer crust. If you do not like bittersweet chocolate, then feel free to use semi-sweet chocolate. I used rum (I love rum in bakes), other options are coffee, Grand Marnier or Triple Sec, choose your favourite. 



Sprinkle with some icing sugar on the top before eating. I had mine without the icing sugar, either ways are yummy!


This is one of the best cake I've baked from this book.


Yum!


Welcome to The Home Bakers


To visit my friends' bake on this cake, please drop by The Home Bakers (THB). We are a group of home bakers who are currently baking from "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas, until each recipe from this book has been baked. This is our bake no. 13 and we have 47 recipes more to go. If you are interested to be a member and join in our bakes, you may drop me an email at kitchenflavours@yahoo.com.


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32 comments:

  1. Joyce I can see!! Moist and delicious! look georgeous!

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  2. I have to tell you this one looks chocolaty good; great photos again.

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  3. Hi Joyce,

    Happy 2013!

    It is a nice start to eat chocolate cake for a new year... We were happy too eating our chocolate cake but at the same time, fussy and critical with the fine detail of this cake.

    My visiting auntie liked this cake very much but we were too critical saying it is just ok for us :D Ops!

    Zoe

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  4. Well this looks great to me - I simply love the almond/dark chocolate combination :)
    Mary x

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  5. Hi Joyce
    This chocolate looks very inviting to me....and oh...chocolate almond cake is first time for me as mostly all those are just chocolate cake. I would loves this .... this is a everyday type of cake for me.

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  6. Love the height of your cake! mmmph u regret baking half the recipe? looks like full recipe for me then!

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  7. Hi Joyce, I love this cake as much as you do :) By the way, I have moved my blog to a blogger platform after much thinking. Not easy to start all over, but didn't want to stop blogging because I got to know so many wonderful friends through this. Can you update my blog URL on The Home Bakers website? It's now http://eatapieceofcake.blogspot.com. Thanks so much :)

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    1. Hi Mich,
      Congratulations on your new site! Hope everything will be better this time round!
      Yes, I've enjoyed this cake, for me, it is one of the best cake I've baked from this book. I love the moist soft almost velvety texture and chocolaty taste!
      Your url, done! I'm your first follower! Hehe!

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  8. Joyce, goodie! Now I can clear off my ground almonds hah!hah! Your chocolate cake looks very yummy and I noted the crinkly bubbly top - my cakes do that all the, I don't know why. Anyway, I'm very eager to bake this because I love chocolate cake!

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  9. This looks moist and rich and good!

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  10. Looks good but I'm slightly allergic so I don't think I could eat too much. :P

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  11. hi, i'll be baking the cake soon and i intend to use bittersweet choc too like you and maybe rum too. I hope i can get a nice one like yours:)

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  12. Very tempting! Just finish chocolate cheesecake. Now looking at your bakes feel like baking with chocolate again :D By the way if I want to link up The Home Baker do I need to become member first? Second do I need to bake for the coming recipes once join as members? Thanks on advance!

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    1. Hi Vivian,
      Yes, this cake is very good!
      In order to link to THB, you would have to be a member, as we are baking all the recipes from this book. As a member, you would get your turn at selecting a recipe to host. Each member need not bake all the recipes, but would appreciate if you could bake as often as you could. For further details, please refer to "About The Home Bakers" over at THB's blog. Or you may send me an email for further clarification.
      Would be happy if you could join us!

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  13. Yes please! I'll take a slice (or two!) Thank you for sharing. What a great way to start my Monday. I'm already hungry...and I just finished breakfast. I hope you have a wonderful week!

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  14. Congrats! That cake looks very dark and chocolatey!

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  15. Hi Joyce,
    Happy 2013!!!

    Sorry I've been missin in action, the end of the year is always a hectic and busy one for our business so bloggin was put on hold.
    Finally managed to take some time out and get back into it and OH WOW this cake looks super YUMMY!!!!
    I must give this a go.

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  16. Wow Joyce, the cake looks delicious, great texture and moist looking...Love the dark color of it.
    Happy New Year and have a great week ahead!

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  17. Happy New Year, dear Joyce! Wow! Your cake looks so moist & decadent! YUM! I LOVE this cake so chocolatey & yes, very addictive! I think I can makan the whole cake all by myself! Well, almost! :D LOL

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  18. I've seen this on a number of different sites now and they all look so different. I really like how dark and moist yours looks.

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  19. Dangerously rich chocolate cake indeed :D Love how moist the texture is !

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  20. The texture of the cake looks so good and moist.

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  21. Hi Joyce, I used bittersweet chocolate too and though I'm not fond of the texture of mine, I love how intense and the bitterness of the cake. Your cake looks delicious! Makes me feel like baking one to try again.

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  22. Loving that rich and fabulous texture of the cake.

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  23. this looks really good, Joyce
    i will find time to bake this cake, Joyce
    i must apologize to u for not being able to paricipate as actively as before for THB and also Bake Along
    I missed THB's 12th bake! But i will still bake that yummy looking apple cake :)
    for Bake Along, aaaahhh I have so many 'debts' to pay LOL

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    1. Hi Alice,
      This cake is yummy! Do give it a try!
      No worries about not participating in some bakes, sometimes life can get very crazy, especially when you have school-going kids at home! Just join in whenever you can find the time!
      Have a nice day!

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  24. Oh, that does look like a delicious cake! I love that the wonderful flavor of the cake isn't covered in sweet frosting also :)

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  25. Why chocolate make us become fat ?... Sigh ... WHY THIS IS NOT A DIET PRODUCT ! Life is unfair ...

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    1. Hi Axelle,
      Yeah, not fair!
      If choc is a diet product, everyone will be dieting! LOL! Won't that be great! :)

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  26. Looks really moist and chocolatey!

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  27. Joyce,
    Yummy looking chocolate cake!
    I would love to have this with a cuppa hot tea!
    mui

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  28. Hey Joyce,

    I love the way your cake looks so delicious and inviting :) Absolutely moist and chocoliciously good!! Glad you love this cake as much as I do.

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