A Brit & An American Loving Life at Home

Paprika Chocolate Sauce with Chocolate Cake

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The other day we found some lovely Spanish smoked paprika at our local Marshall’s store.  Marshall’s, Home Goods, TJ Maxx…..all great for culinary finds.  We snatched it up and then thought what will we make?  You might remember we love cookbooks.  We have so many and are always reading through them for inspiration.  We generally find a recipe we like and then tweak it a bit to suit our needs.  In this case, no tweaking was necessary.  We copied it directly from the book.  What book you ask? Seasonal Spanish Food by Jose Pizarro.  It is a fabulous book done by seasons.  The photos are gorgeous.  The paper is matte and just feels good in your hand.  We love to flip through it.
Ingredients:

Cake:

7 oz. plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
1 stick of butter cut into 1/2″ cubes
6 large free-range egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 large free-range egg whites

Chocolate Paprika Sauce:

3.5 oz. chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika (mild)

1. Pre-heat oven to 400

2. Butter six ramekins and then coat with cocoa powder

3. Melt chocolate and butter in heavy sauce pan and stir over a medium heat until melted.  Do not boil.  Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm temperature.  Stir occasionally.

4. Reserve 1 Tablespoon of sugar and set aside.  Add the rest of the sugar to the egg yolks.

5.  With an electric mixer beat the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thick and pale.

6. In another bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
7. Add the remaining sugar and continue to beat the whites until you have created stiff peaks.

7.   Fold a tablespoon of the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture and then fold this back into the remaining egg mixture in the bowl.

8. Using a metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture then divide this equally into the ramekins.

9.  Bake at 400 for 12 minutes.  The insides should be gooey.  If you would like them more well done, leave them in for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes before you turn them out onto a plate.

10. For the sauce…melt 3.5 oz. of the chocolate in 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.  Stir regularly.    Keep warm and then just before serving stir in the paprika .

The book states that while chocolate and paprika go well together, they do not cook well together! By stirring the paprika in at the very last minute you will alleviate the bitter flavor that will occur if you cook it with the chocolate.  

We served ours with a few cherries and a big glass of milk.  The flavor was not at all sweet, but more savory and very chocolatey. It would had also been great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

 

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