Jefferson chocolate cake recipe
Cake, courts and the founding wine geek...
Thomas Jefferson is perhaps best known as the third president of the USA, but he was also that country's founding wine geek, so a cake in his honour is only fitting, writes Anna Trapido.
During the course of his illustrious career, Jefferson wrote voluminous, meticulous notes on the wines that he bought and drank. He also assiduously promoted vine growth and wine consumption in the New World and went to great lengths to ensure consistent quality conditions in his cellars.
So, when Palm Beach billionaire William Koch spent $300 000 in 1998 on four bottles of Bordeaux wine that he was told had once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, he felt certain that he was buying well-cared-for oenological gems.
His litigious 2005 response when the Boston Museum of Fine Art scholars suggested that the initials engraved into his 1784 and 1787 Lafite Bordeaux might be the work of a 20th-century forger rather than an 18thcentury founding father was nasty and brutish, but not at all short. There have been numerous legal twists in this tale (including several subsidiary suings and countersuings), but at the time of writing the central lawsuit remains before the courts.
If only Mr Koch had done what the rest of us do when we find ourselves with a disappointing Bordeaux blend - cook with it - he could have saved himself a fortune in time, money and emotional distress. Given his behaviour to date, it seems unlikely that the billionaire will adopt this approach, but there is no reason why the rest of us can't use his misfortune as an excuse to create a meal in line with Jefferson's tastes.
Meaty stews are the obvious choice for a dud bottle of Bordeaux, but a gastro-political literature search reveals that the founding father ate almost no meat. He was, however, exceedingly partial to puddings. Jefferson returned to America from his stint as ambassador to Paris in 1789 with a handwritten vanilla ice cream recipe and the equipment necessary to make the frozen dessert that was then unknown in the USA.
The original copy of Jefferson's ice cream recipe is on display at the United States Library of Congress. He was also a chocoholic - in 1785 he wrote to his friend and comrade John Adams that "the superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the same preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain".
Given his tastes, I feel confident that the founding wine geek would approve of my suggestion that Mr Koch stop pouting and chuck the disputed Bordeaux into this jolly nice chocolate cake recipe. Even the most disappointing of Bordeaux blends give chocolate cake a deliciously grown-up, fruity feel. Serve it with a ball of vanilla ice cream and it is perfection on a plate.
Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence which bravely affords the pursuit of happiness equivalent status to that of life and liberty. And happiness is much more likely to be found in cake than in court.
Jefferson cake
CAKE INGREDIENTS
½ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup dark cocoa
1 cup Bordeaux blend
2 cups granulated white sugar
1 cup sour cream
1½ t vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups cake flour
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
1½ cups chocolate chips
GANACHE INGREDIENTS
¾ cup Bordeaux blend
¾ cup cream
2 cups chocolate chips
¼ cup butter
Cake method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Melt the butter then add the wine, sugar and cocoa. Whisk until smooth. Cool the mixture then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, chocolate and sour cream. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda and fold into the butter, egg, sour cream and chocolate mixture.
Spoon into a cake tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean (approximately one hour). Place the cake on a cooling rack and let it cool for about 10 minutes before loosening it from the tin.
Ganache method
Combine the wine and cream and simmer until reduced by half. Add the chocolate chips and stir until melted and smooth. Whisk in the butter a little at a time. Cool the sauce until thick but still pourable. Drizzle over cake.
