Dense and dark

Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake from Nigella Lawson

from Kristen Miglore's "Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook"

1 cup soft unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups packed dark brown or dark muscovado sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup plus 2 Tbsps. boiling water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Put a baking sheet on a lower rack in case of sticky drips later. Grease a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper. The lining is important as this is a very damp cake. Use parchment paper or one of those loaf-pan-shaped paper liners.

Cream the butter and brown sugar, either with a wooden spoon or with an electric mixer, then add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well. Next fold in the melted and now slightly cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but being careful not to overbeat. You want the ingredients combined. You don't want a light, airy mass.

Mix the flour and baking soda and gently add the flour mixture to the batter, alternately spoon by spoon with the boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter. Pour into the lined loaf pan. (Note: Don't let this batter come closer than 1 inch from the rim of the loaf pan or it risks overflowing. Pour any excess into a smaller cake or muffin pan.) Bake for 30 minutes.

Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside, so an inserted cake tester or skewer won't come out completely clean.

Place the loaf pan on a rack and leave it to get completely cold before turning it out. (Lawson often leaves it for a day or so. Like gingerbread, it improves.) Don't worry if it sinks in the middle. Indeed it will do so because it's such a dense and damp cake. Makes 8 to 10 servings.