dianem1999 wrote:

> Someone gave us a bottle of port. It's not the type of wine we like to
> drink, so I was wondering if it could be used in cooking, maybe instead of
> madera.
>
> Diane M
>
>
Catalan (Chocolate) Cake

If you're not making a children's b'day cake here's a recipe for a
rather unusual but very delicious chocolate cake. As with anything
chocolate, the better the chocolate the better the finished product. Its
name in Catalan means "perfect little spanish cake". The following
recipe is for a 5 x 5 inch pan, double it for a larger amount of cake
but keep them small as they tend to not have the solidity of regular
cakes and if too large will easily break up. However several small cakes
can be put together horizontally and frosted. - JL

Ingredients

1 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup ruby port (a good porto, not something cheap)
1 and 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate (10 ounces)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
1/3 cup toasted and ground hazelnuts
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cocoa powder (this is as the recipe is
written I just use 3 tablespoons cocoa powder)
1 jumbo egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C)
2. grease and flour a 5x5 inch baking pan
3. in a small heavy saucepan over medium high heat, reduce the port
to 3 tablespoons (takes 10 to 15 minutes)
4. in another small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup of the semi sweet
chocolate with the butter and stir over low heat until melted; do not
let the mixture burn. remove from the heat and cool slightly. stir in 2
tablespoons of the port, the ground hazelnuts, the the cocoa powder and
the tablespoon of flour. set aside.
5. in a medium sized bowl, beat the egg and sugar with an electric
mixer until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes.
6. Fold the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture thoroughly, and
pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick
inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs. Place the pan on a
wire rack to fool for 5 minutes. run a knife around the sides to loosen.
Continue to cool for 1 hour, then invert the pan onto a serving plate.
7. In a small heavy sauce pan over very low heat. melt the remaining
3/4 cup of semisweet chocolate. Stir in the remaining port. and add the
vanilla and corn syrup. Remove from the heat and cool until the icing
reaches a good spreading consistency. Spread the icing over the sides
and top of the cake.

Fresh raspberries and whipped cream are very nice to pile on top of this
small cake.