Chocolate Celebration Cake

This is the Chocolate Celebration Cake recipe featured in the beautiful and poignant book Grandpa Cacao by Liz Zunon. Liz was born in Albany New York and spent most of her early childhood in Abidijan, Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast was her father's home country and her mother was American. Therefore, she took frequent summer trips back to Albany, New York, where her grandparents lived. As Liz explains in Episode 008 of The Storied Recipe, this cake is all about connections. The cake connects her to her grandfather who was a cacao farmer in the Ivory Coast. However, the recipe also connects her to her mother. Liz developed this recipe from their memory of her mother's Gateau de Chocolat cake. Because Liz was featuring this book in a children's book, she simplified the recipe to be more suitable for young cooks. Also, as an artist, Liz wanted to include the visual of that divine combination of melted butter and chocolate in her book! Therefore, this recipe uses melted chocolate rather than cocoa powder.

Finally, as a nod to her mother, and also as a way to contrast the climates of her childhood, Liz suggested decorating the cake with a snowflake stencil. My oldest son made this stencil for me, and it turned out so beautifully! I'll have a post up for you next week with directions on how to create a stencil like this!
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Episodes Related to this Chocolate Celebration Cake Recipe

The Storied Recipe Podcast, Episode 008, Grandpa Cacao's Granddaughter

Follow The Storied Recipe in Your Favorite Player

One of my favorites! Author/Illustrator Liz Zunon talks about her semi-autobiographical children's book. As the little girl in the book bakes a cake with her father, she is connected across climates, continents, and generations to her grandfather. We discuss Liz's story and how it relates to her book in our interview. We also discuss issues surrounding cacao farming and fair trade chocolate. Finally, Liz tells us about the many artistic techniques she used to create a "visual

Chocolate Celebration Cake

4 from 3 votes

Recipe by Liz Zunon + Guest of The Storied Recipe Podcast Difficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

29

minutes

Total time

59

minutes

A dense, intensely flavored chocolate cake created with melted butter and chocolate rather than the traditional cocoa powder.

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ c 1 ¼ flour

• 2 teaspoon 2 baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon ¼ salt

• 4 oz 4 semi-sweet baking chocolate

• ½ c ½ butter

• ¾ cup ¾ brown sugar

• ¼ cup ¼ sugar

• 3 3 eggs

• ¼ c ¼ milk

• If you’re feeling adventurous, add some cinnamon or chili like the Aztecs added to their drinking chocolate!

Directions

• Sift together the flour and baking powder
• Add the salt.
• In a separate bowl, melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave in 20 second increments
• Add the sugars. Beat well.
• Whisk in the eggs and the milk until liquidy and shiny like chocolate syrup.
• Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
• Pour into a 9 inch greased pan and bake for 30 minutes

Notes

• Make sure to listen to Liz on The Storied Recipe Podcast, Grandpa Cacao’s Granddaughter while you make her Chocolate Cake recipe!

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