Mexican Chocolate-Pumpkin Seed Cake devised by Rick Bayless

We have and will keep mentioning that we have a lot of cookbooks--well over a thousand, maybe two thousand? Yes, we know the internet is out there so why do you need to buy a cookbook? Because there are a lot of cookbook authors out there that have wonderful food and you might like to support them. We'll probably keep repeating ourselves, but one of our biggest go to authors is Rick Bayless (just google him). We've eaten at his restaurants, we've met him several times and he was always gracious and just a nice guy. Eat his food. Buy his books, visit his restaurants in Chicago, watch his TV shows (the delight he shows for the Mexican cuisine is wondrous) . This recipe is adapted from More Mexican Everyday by, of course, Rick Bayless and his wife Deanna Groen Bayless.

It is one of the easiest and most delicious desserts we have ever made. Try it. Try it soon. And let us know if we're wrong.

We did it to cap off a New Year's meal. Leftovers freeze well and we had the rest 3 months later. Was as good as when we made it.

Ingredients - Who Needs a Lot of Ingredients?!

There are at most 9 ingredients. Two are optional, and if you have a decent blender you can even get away with just six ingredients! For a wonderful cake, no less. One we're betting most of you have never even seen or tasted.

Mexican Chocolate

While we can conceive of duplicating the flavors of Mexican Chocolate, there is really no reason to try as it is pretty much readily available (at least where we're at). On the other hand, there is no reason to go out of your way to find some artisinal, crazy high end Mexican Chocolate either. Because it was New Year's we got it in our heads that maybe we should try to do just that. When we got the stuff home we found that half of it was missing from the wrapper and we were concerned that therefore the thing had been opened and resealed and we weren't going to risk using it. Around here, though, Mexican Chocolate is a staple and so we grabbed what we had and we don't think you'd never know the difference in this great cake.

Besides this cake, you use it for Mexican Hot Chocolate (it has a nice cinnamon flavor) and in various moles (a subject for many other occasions).

We do want to mention that Mr. Bayless isn't fond of the mass-produced stuff compared to what he has had in Mexico. He does recommend the Taza brand which happens to be the one we found but couldn't use. In a cake, still not sure it matters, but in Hot Chocolate... maybe another story.

Pumpkin Seeds

Usually we try to do most things from scratch. Somehow, though, it has seemed that every time we deal with pumpkin, it is probably easier (maybe cheaper) to buy it at the store. We've roasted whole pumpkins for pumpkin pie and it cost more than the cans of stuff (though you might find out that what IS in those cans may not be real pumpkin but some squash related to it). Once  you add all those pumpkin pie spices (THAT we do from scratch), you really can't tell the difference.

Here you'll want hulled toasted, salted pumpkin seeds. Where we're at you find them everywhere. But then we also have Trader Joe's which has sold them for as long as we can remember. Hulling and toasting a bunch of pumpkin seeds would be a real pain in the neck.

Confectioner's Sugar aka Powdered Sugar aka Icing Sugar

Yes, was a time when we thought we had to buy the stuff and then let it sit around forever since it isn't something that we use all that often. So what is it? Just plain sugar ground up to a powder plus an 'anti-caking agent.' Got a good blender? Then you don't need to buy it--grind it! Leave it around and it will absorb water from the air and cake up, so DYI recipes tell you to add about 1 TB of cornstarch to a cup of sugar and blend till fine. The cornstarch probably alters the flavor a bit, but then, maybe that flavor is what you expect, otherwise if you're just doing enough for this recipe and use it quickly, you can skip the cornstarch (unless you want the 'added flavor' whatever that might be. Since this recipe already calls for sugar, we're making the purchase of confectioner's sugar optional. On the other hand, it does seem to keep forever so don't feel bad in buying the 'real thing'.

Warning: There are those that recommend using a spice grinder when making just little bits of powdered sugar. Should work fine (we haven't tried), but it is said that the sugar scratches plastic. That wouldn't bother us, but it might you.

BTW, when sprinkling confectioner's sugar onto something we just put it into a mesh strainer and shake it over the cake (or whatever).

Tequila

Not at all sure whether we can taste the 1 TB of Tequila in this recipe, we use it, but water will be fine.

Butter, Sugar, Eggs and Flour

Well, if you don't have those around, maybe you need another blog to read. We admit to ignoring the fact that this recipe calls for unsalted butter. That's all we buy. You can always add salt when you have unsalted. You can use less salt if you have salted butter. There's no added salt in this recipe, but the pumpkin seeds are salted, so unsalted butter makes sense. We're just trying to say how few ingredients we can get away with. Full disclosure...

About Oven Temperatures

We have been enthusiastic about our SMOKE probe thermometer from Thermoworks (no, we didn't get paid to say this). We use it all the time as it lets us know both the temperature of a roast chicken AND the temperature of the oven at the same time (and even remotely).

When we used it for this recipe something interesting happened. Controlling our rather old oven to be exactly the right temperature resulted in a baking time considerably longer than we expected. Why? Well, it could be that there is so much variation in oven temperatures that it is hard to know if the one used in creating the recipe is perfectly correct, or (and maybe more likely) we weren't so good at judging when to take it out. Or maybe because we used jumbo eggs which would add some liquid to the mix.  It seems to be common wisdom that if the size of an egg isn't mentioned, use large eggs.

We still think, though, that you should make sure that your oven really is at least somewhat close to what the dial (or input setting) says. You might be surprised! Our oven is way off at lower temps....

Well... When we first wrote this part we didn't have our brand new table top convection oven/broiler. It has a very accurate temperature reading and when we baked the cake in it, it pretty much took the amount of time recommended.

The Recipe

Have you ever made a pineapple upside-down cake? Probably some would call it 'retro', but still great. Mr. Bayless never says it as such, but this is really just a really neat "upside-down (pumpkin seed) cake."

8 TB (4 oz, 1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened, cut into 1/2" pieces + another TB or 2 to grease pan
1 3/4 cups hulled toasted salted pumpkin seeds (aka Pepitas)
1 cup plus 2 TB sugar
3 eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 TB tequila (optional, you can use water)
3 oz Mexican chocolate chopped into pea sized pieces
Confectioners' sugar for serving (optional)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put your oven rack on the lower third of the oven.  Cut a piece of parchment paper so that it will fit exactly on the bottom of the pan. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9" cake pan (we used a spring form pan). Place the parchment on the bottom of the pan and slather a lot more butter (about 1 TB) all over the parchment paper. (BTW, if you don't have parchment paper, rather than trying something else--and don't use waxed paper--some recommend heading to the dollar store. If they have it it won't be cost effective, but it will only be a buck and besides, you only need 9"! We get the parchment paper from Costco. It will last forever and be there when you need it.)

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the pumpkin seeds evenly over the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle 2 TB of the granulated sugar evenly over the seeds.

Place the remaining 1 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds and one cup of the granulated sugar in a food processor or blender and pulse until the seeds are pulverized and resemble damp sand. Add the eggs and butter and pulse until incorporated. Add the flour, baking powder and tequila (or water) and continue to pulse just until you have a smooth batter. Add the chocolate to the batter and pulse until it is mixed in--two or three times should be enough. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (35 to 40 minutes).

Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack, then upend it (ie put it upside down) onto a serving platter. Remove the parchment paper. The cake will have a crunchy layer of candied pepitas on top which looks even better with a sprinkling of confectioners' sugar.

How many does it serve? For New Year's when the entire meal was way over the top, half the cake served 4. A few months later the leftovers served 3, it was worth a bigger piece.

Palate Test

If you can trust your favorite wine maker's palate with wine, why not with cake? Recently we baked this cake, froze it, then took it to Andrew and April Nalle. A few days later we got an email:

"Wow! That’s the word I kept hearing from the living room and I peer over and Andrew is eating the cake you made. We both agree, it’s one of the best cakes we’ve ever had." April.

So Good. So Easy.

This recipe is SO easy we thought we'd repeat the steps in pictures to amplify just how easy this is. You really have to try it! (And let us know what you think.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cut a piece of parchment paper to cover the bottom of a 9" cake pan. We like to use a spring form pan. Butter the sides and bottom of the pan.

3. Place the parchment paper on the bottom of the pan and butter the parchment with 1 TB butter.


4. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the pumpkin seeds evenly over the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle 2 TB of the granulated sugar evenly over the seeds.



5. Place the remaining 1 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds and one cup of the granulated sugar in a food processor or blender and pulse until the seeds are pulverized and resemble damp sand.


6. Add the eggs and butter and pulse until incorporated. Add the flour, baking powder and tequila (or water) and continue to pulse just until you have a smooth batter.



7. Chop or process Mexican Chocolate into pea sized pieces (smaller won't hurt, just don't over process so that it turns to liquid).


8. Add the chocolate to the batter and pulse until it is mixed in--two or three times should be enough.

9. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (35 to 40 minutes).

10. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack.

11. If using a spring form pan or cake pan with removable bottom you can place it on a can or other handy item, then release the side. Upend it (ie put it upside down) onto a serving platter. Remove the parchment paper. The cake will have a crunchy layer of candied pepitas on top.


12. Sprinkle a little confectioner's sugar on top if you like. If you had issues with how the top looks, sprinkle a lot!


13. Devour Cake.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

What we served to end our New Year's dinner was just good Hot Chocolate, Mexican style, the perfect match to this wonderful dessert cake.

2 1/2 cups milk
1 3.3 oz tablet of Mexican Chocolate

Heat the milk and chocolate together over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the chocolate. Froth the liquid. How? The traditional way is to use a molinillo, pictured below. We just put it in the blender.





Want something instead of coffee to drink with your dessert?

If you are looking for something wine related to go with this sweet cake and happen to have one in your possession, then a good choice could be the Nalle 2015 Late Harvest Zinfindel. It has 1/2 percent residual sugar for a little bit of sweetness and 15 1/2 % alcohol to stand up to the cake.

Or, try the Mexican Hot Chocolate above.

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Here is a summary of the recipe in a .pdf you can print