So that day was a typical rainy day and I was not in the best of my moods. But I was having this grey weather craving of something sweet and spicy. The word’s of my brother, “chocolate is the best cure for all mood swings”, was ringing in my ears, but I need something spicy too! So I quickly Googled chocolate cakes I could bake. Out of nowhere I got a dessert named “Brazilian Chili Chocolate Cake”. At first the idea of chili and chocolate took me by surprise but was enticing enough to lure me into the kitchen.
So stepping into the kitchen I thought of origin of this extraordinary combination. I knew chocolate comes from cocoa plant which was the native to South and Central Americans. But the earliest traceable history belongs to Puerto Escondido, Honduras. Chili were discovered in Mesoamerica (Central America and its surroundings) was grown as a crop until 4000BC. Mesoamericans used Chili in everything… nothing was cooked without chili. In fact Chocolate and chilies was the favorite combination of the Mesoamericans.
So without much delay I went ahead to get my hands dirty for the best reason I could find in that day. So in order to bake this rich and sumptuous awesomeness these are the ingredients I needed:
Brazilian Chilli Chocolate Cake
- 250g Butter
- 300g Golden Castor Sugar
- 100g plain flour
- 100g Self Raising Flour (if you don’t have it, you can make your own by adding 1 cup all purpose flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt)
{I don’t recommend adding extra baking powder since I have used self raising flour.}
- 4 Large Eggs
- 1-3 Red Chilies ( depending on your taste)/ 1-3 Tablespoon Chili Paste
- 100g Ground Almonds
- 300g Dark Chocolate
ICING
- 200ml Double Cream
- 200G Dark Chocolate
So without much ado let’s get to the business!
- Pre-Heat your oven to 170°C or Gas 3 (Take 20°C if a fan oven)
- Grease with butter a 20cm (approx) Cake tin.
- Use electric or classic whisk and add the butter to the mixing bowl with sugar. Whisk till it turns fluffy.
- Keep adding plain flour and gently fold it.
- Beat in the eggs -one at a time- with ground almonds. Take care to not let the mixture separate, even if it does add in some flour.
- Now it’s time to melt the gorgeous dark chocolate in a double boiler and cool it down.
- Now add this into your cake batter and whisk it all up together by adding in the remaining flour.
- Crush the red chilies and pour it into your batter.
- Pour the cake mixture into the greased cake tin.
- Bake for under 1 ½ hour or until fully cooked. Check by poking a knife, if it comes out clean, your Cake is baked.
- Take it out and cool it down before taking it out of the tin.
- For icing, melt the chocolate as before, add in cream, and mix it together. This will make the color of the chocolate even darker. Allow your chocolate sponge to cool down. Now finally pour the icing all over your cake and layer it slowly all around. Allow it to cool down in a refrigerator. This will give a gorgeous sheen over your chocolate layer. And now just dig in before the next thought jumps out in your head!
Now the best part is pouncing on this toothsome dessert and let the luscious and succulent taste of chocolate blended with the piquant and peppery punch of chilies cure my mood. Looking at the grey weather and wet streets outside, I sat by my window and celebrated this day with myself. This was the story of my rainy day morning and the best curative for my mood.