Chocolate Cake
This One Surprising Step Makes Better, Fudgier Chocolate Cake
Straight from the River Cafe in London.
Photo by Rocky Luten
Popular on Food52
8 Comments
Sue
April 7, 2019
At age 11, I tried making my first chocolate cake from scratch. For whatever reason, it deflated quite nicely after baking. I had worked so hard to make the cake perfect and started tearing up over my "failure" just as my dad entered the kitchen. I have never forgotten his comment that if a dropped cake wouldn't dent the floor, it just isn't a good cake. He was definitely on to something.
anniette
April 6, 2019
Bang your cookie sheets on the open oven door, when you turn them around at halfway. Releases air, makes them nice and lightly crisp outside, chewy inside.
Krista P.
April 5, 2019
I have tried this with chocolate chip cookies as well. I tried a recipe that said to add 1 tbs of cornstarch to ensure a chewy texture, but the next day they still were "snappy" ( probably cuz I let it sit on the hot pan to cool too long, my bad) so the next time I baked them, I wanted to pull them out sooner but they havnt reached full spread yet, so I just pressed them with a mug and then quickly removed them to a cold sheet pan to cool slightly and then put them in a container still slightly warm to keep. some of the moisture in. Im going to check these later today and hopefully they will turn out better 🤞🏼
cyanpineapple
April 4, 2019
I like to do this with cookies that puff up too much. Squishing them while they're warm with a mug takes some of that air out so they get more chewy rather than dry.
Emma L.
April 4, 2019
What!? So cool! I need more details. So the cookies come out of the oven...and you smush them with a mug right away? Is there a certain kind of cookie you do this with most? Chocolate chip? Peanut butter?
cyanpineapple
April 4, 2019
I first "discovered" it when I was making regular batches of lactation cookies (generally an oatmeal cookie with a bunch of extra stuff for boosting milk production) right after having my baby. The recipe I was using was delicious, but they'd puff up a lot, and by the next day they were too dry and crumbly to be really appealing. So I tried smooshing them. It pushed out some of the air and I assume steamed up the insides a bit so they stayed crispy outside and gooey inside. Now I do it with any cookie recipe that comes out a little too puffy. I've had a lot of success with snickerdoodles especially, because they frequently over-rise. And of course, the OG, oatmeal.
Smaug
April 5, 2019
I usually omit baking soda from chocolate chip cookies because I don't much like them puffy; never (intentionally) tried squashing them. The result on the chocolate cake sounds similar to the cloud cake/torte soufflé that had a lot of discussion here.
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