Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Nanny Ogg Cooking

Nanny Ogg is a character from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. She's a witch. She's also someone who sees everything as a double entendre. In Maskerade, she makes a cake that is an incredible aphrodisiac.

Soon after writing it, Pratchett wrote a Nanny Ogg's Cookbook with ways to make things from Discworld. Usually toned down for our simplers tastes. One of them is a recipe for this cake.

Ever since buying the book, I've been wanting to make the cake, but the original recipe is in metric units. It also has some out of the ordinary ingredients.

Finally, I took the time for measurements and conversions and translations, so what you have below is a best approximation for Imperial units with American ingredients.

So here follows:

Nanny Ogg's Chocolate Delight
with
Special Secret Sauce

For the Delight:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 tsp salt
5/6 (1/2 + 1/3) cup corn starch
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup superfine sugar
1 cup + 3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 eggs (beaten)
3/8 cup milk
1 cup white chocolate chips
5 tbsp dark chocolate syrup

For the sauce:
5/8 cup cream
7 pods cardamom
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4+ cup (heaping) milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup white rum

Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix all the dry ingredients for the delight in a bowl, and then rub in the butter. Add the eggs and milk and beat thoroughly. Swirl in the white chocolate chips and syrup, making sure not to overmix (the syrup should give a ripple effect). Divide between two 8-inch, deep, well-greased cake tins and bake in the top part fo the oven for 30 minutes. [Reduce cooking time for 9-inch pans] or until skewer comes out clean when testing.

Note: This is a cross between a pudding and a cake and should be moist. When baked, allow to cool for five minutes and if not for immediate consumption transfer to airtight container.

Start preparing the sauce about 10 minutes before the delight is ready. Warm the cream with the spices, taking care not to boil. Break up the chocolate and stir into the cream. When it has melted, add the rum. Keep stirring for a couple more minutes, then remove the cardamom pods. Serve with the delight fresh from the oven.

An additional note from me: We found that it might be better for the sliced delight to be served in a bowl to better contain the sauce, although we mopped it up pretty well. It was truly amazing.

1 comment:

Janet A said...

Maybe you would want to make it again for Mother's Day???