I received this Kalter Hund recipe from my podcast guest, the lovely Selina Goldi, an enchanting storyteller and hostesss of culinary retreats in the French Countryside. The name is odd - translated it means "Cold Dog - and no one seems to know why. The description is clumsy. But the cake? The cake is so good, words fail me when I try to describe it. I often decline chocolate desserts. This isn't because I dislike chocolate. On the contrary, I adore chocolate and am often disappointed by desserts that dilute the rich, powerful chocolate flavor I seek. This cake delivers chocolate as it's meant to be: completely and utterly decadent, rich, creamy, and solid but soft. The crunch of the biscuit layers is necessary only as a foil to the chocolate perfection. Like the dessert itself, this chocolate texture is hard to describe. At first, Selina called it a ganache, but later, she referred to it as a "chocolate butter". Whatever you call it, this chocolate is exactly what chocolate is meant to be.
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Episodes related to the Kalter Hund Recipe
The Storied Recipe, Episode 025, "From France, Where the Air is Full of Lilac Scent"
"Selina has this special gift - the ability to transport others to a different time and place. After a career in economics, Selina took this genius and turned it into a life. She bought a very old place on a river in a remote corner of France (not unlike the place in Switzerland where she grew up.) There, she invites those wearied with the pace of the outside world to culinary retreats. Selina teaches her guests to reconnect to not only the food they eat, but also the pleasure of cooking."
Follow The Storied Recipe in Your Favorite Player
How to Connect with Selina
Website: Les Poisson Chats
Instagram: @lespoissonchats
Selina's Culinary Workshops: L’Art de Bien Manger
Equipment
- A rectangular baking tin or loaf pan
- Parchment paper
Recipe
Kalter Hund – German No Bake Rich Chocolate and Biscuit Cake
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 100 g sugar
- 250 g sweetened cocoa powder (If you can only find unsweeted, make a 56/44% mix, or 140g cocoa powder, 110g sugar)
- 450 g coconut oil
- A large packet of Leibniz biscuits (or any other brand)
Instructions
- Lay out the baking tin with parchment paper, this will facilitate removing the cake.
- Double boil the coconut oil. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar until creamy foamy white and the sugar entirely dissolved (five to ten minutes). Carefully stir in the cocoa powder, if you work too hastily you’ll cover everything around with a thin layer of cocoa dust. Fold the molten warm coconut oil under.
- Pour a layer, say 0.5mm, into the tin, then a layer of biscuits, a layer of chocolate and so on and forth until all is used up (although you may want to leave a generous bit in the bowl to eat up before cleaning) and let the cake cool in the fridge or cellar until the next day.
- Carefully remove from the tin and remove the parchment paper scraps. Place on a nice tray bottom up.
How to eat it
- Cut 1 cm slices and have a cup of hot coffee or a fancy sweet wine along with it. It’s really good and so it’s absolutely ok to have a second helping.
Felicitas Loranger says
I have grown up with Kalter Hund and of course love it but lost my original recipe. In order to not have to convert every thing into engl. measurements, i would have truly loved it to be already done for me. The recipe is true to what my mother made many many moons ago.
admin says
Hi Felicitas! I'm thrilled to hear it was true to your mother's recipe... and a big thanks for the suggestion to provide English measurements. This is on my (long) list of recipes to update and I'll do so when I update. Thanks again!!!
Ron S. says
In Germany the story is that the Hund part of the name comes from early 20th century mining, where the long rectangular mine carts are called hunds; they are said to resemble the pan in which you make Kalter Hund. In Italy they add dried fruit and it is called Chocolate Salami, and in the UK it is Hedgehog Slice. In Germany you would mix cocoa powder and sugar with fine almond meal, then very slowly add the warm (but not hot) coconut oil. Then very slowly add the warm (but not hot) milk, then very slowly add the well mixed, room temperature eggs. Most people who make this there use plastic wrap (easiest) or waxed paper rather than parchment to avoid it sticking.
admin says
Ron, this is incredibly helpful information - thank you!!!!!! I am working on updating this post soon and will include all of this information. Thank you again!! Really appreciate it. P.S. My son is living in Germany right now; he is studying physics at the University of Leipzig!