Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » in the kitchen with: wendy dooldeniya

Wendy Dooldeniya, art teacher, food photographer, blogger, mom, and wife-extraordinaire who runs Foodchic at Etsy, sent over her submission in December, and I can’t believe we managed to keep it under wraps for so long. Whenever we have anything chocolate, we’re just dying to share it, and usually do, instantaneously. But we used our will power and held out on his one, I know, we’re cruel! But good things come to those who wait, so we hope this easy to make Chocoholic Torte makes your day, or makes a great show at your next dinner! –Kristina

About Wendy: “I am a half breed – half Michigan northerner with a sarcastic wit, half “Texan” southerner with a nostalgic bent. So naturally I had to marry a foreign man to keep me on my toes. I am a mom with two fabulous daughters, a wife to a curry loving, romantic Sri Lankan, a high school art teacher, a photographer, a blogger, an etsy shop owner/shopper and a hater of chocolate with peanut butter. All this keeps me quite busy and requires daily infusions of coffee and a good laugh. I spend my free time day-dreaming of the perfect bedroom paint color and the guy from Fringe.”

Click here for Wendy’s recipe for Chocoholic Torte, or just click “read more” below…

Chocoholic Torte

The recipe:

12 – 14 oz chocolate ( I prefer 8 oz semi sweet chocolate chips + 4 oz 56% or higher cacao chips)

2 Tblsp Cocoa powder (dark, dutch process is best!)

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp espresso powder

5 Tblsp Flour

5 eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup)

For top/decor: powdered sugar and raspberries

Tools: 10 inch springform or torte pan with removable bottom, mixer, sifter for powdered sugar

1. Butter and flour pan.

2. Set oven to 375º

3. Melt and stir butter and chocolate together over double boiler until everything is melted and smooth.

4. Beat eggs and sugar in mixer until starting to thicken.

5. Add remaining dry ingredients to mixer, and fold in slowly.

6. Slowly fold in melted chocolate to dry mixture so eggs do not curdle.

7. Pour into pan and bake for 25 – 45 minutes.

8. Cake will vary in baking time (I don’t know why!) so check with a toothpick frequently after 25 minutes.

9. Cool on rack.

10. Sprinkle top with powdered sugar and serve with fresh raspberries or raspberry coulis.

Why is this Wendy’s favorite recipe?

Chocolate with a hint of chocolate with a hint of cinnamon – enough for any situation that might arise. This torte is rich, yet delicate, and so so romantic. It is perfect for celebrations, and never fails to send me places. Like France, or Blockbuster to rent a foreign film. I’ve even known pregnant women to break their special diets for this! It is also perfect for the time challenged. On average, this wonderful torte takes me about 15 minutes to prepare and it makes my/your house smell heavenly! So next time someone invites you to a party, or your best friend gets dumped by a total looser – whip this up and save the day!

I hate to be difficult, but I’m dying to see more savory recipes featured in this column. It’s been a couple of months since we’ve had anything but a dessert. I love this feature, but I’m a resolute non-sweets eater. If you’re short on savory submissions, my photographer SO and I would be happy to step up.

I’m with Tabitha here – the photographs in this post really add to the recipe. I’m sure that it would be totally delicious without the pictures but it’s those images that have my mouth watering! Unfortunately, it makes me feel like I need a much better kitchen design (like this perhaps? http://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen) than the one that I have to really do justice to making this dish!

wow, I can’t wait to try it! I love a decadent dessert, and it’s even better when I already have the ingredients on hand and don’t have to hunt down something obscure. …i will have to search for the rarely-used springform pan, though. what’s a torte pan?

Jessica –
This is very much a cross between gooey brownies and a dense torte. Under-bake by 10 minutes and you’ll have gooey delight!

Katheryn –
I love your idea for a new kitchen. Mine is so, so 70s – florescent lights and all.

Wendy,
I love rich chocolate as much as anyone and try to make a new different chocolate dessert every few weeks. A new chocolate mousse recipe is next in line until my wife sent me this one. It all sounds good but every dessert I’ve made that included cocoa just didn’t seem rich and decadent enough. We’re just finishing a chocolate ganache from Ina Garten that had too much flour and included Hershey’s chocolate in the cake and I was disappointed probably because of lower quality chocolate included. It didn’t live up to it’s picture. Seems like the more top quality chocolate in a recipe the more decadent and rich it turns out. Can you comment on the richness of this recipe with the cocoa included? Also I have an amazing, but not simple, chocolate dessert if you’d like to have it.

Michael –
I was watching America’s test kitchen and learned that if you combine chocolate to cocoa AND a touch of espresso powder, you get a rich consistency. This is exactly what happened when I got this final version for my torte! (I’d love if you shared your recipe!!! There is NEVER enough chocolate food in the world.)

I made the torte this afternoon and it is so yummy. I took a picture of a slice and added it to my blog (linked back to your recipe of course). Thanks!! It was super easy and I plan to make it next time I am invited to a dinner party.

i’ve actually been so lucky to have had wendy’s torte on several occasions…and she’s kept this reipe a secret! now i can make my very own – DELICIOUS! can’t wait!! thanks for finally sharing. as always, beautiful pictures.

Our oven broke a couple of weeks ago so I’ve been looking for something new to bake when our new oven arrives! Our oven is supposed to be delivered tomorrow and I think this recipe should be perfect! Looks delicious!

Wendy,
The chocolate ganache I referred to had 1t of instant coffee and that didn’t achieve richness, maybe espresso will work better. I would be happy to forward that chocolate mousse pie recipe but it’s probably too long to paste into this box. Is there another way?

I made this last night. Delicious and SO easy! We put our left overs (this is quite a large torte) in the fridge and today when I took it out it was VERY dense, more like a brownie, but a few seconds in the microwave and a leftover slice was tender and warm, like it was just baked. Great recipe!

I’d love to make this but I fear it would probably be a disaster like most of the cullinary delights I have tried…and failed…to create!

For now I’ll content myself with drooling over photographs I think!

20 minutes… That’s the time it took from reading this recipe for the first time to when the cake was mixed and in the oven!

I thought it would be good. But my, oh my, I didn’t imagine it would so sinfully delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this easy, yet impressive dessert.

Can’t wait to make this torte! Looks fab…I would love to see more wonderful creations for my vast growning collection. Someday I hope to share all with my granddaughters the passion of cooking! Don’t you think that is a wonderful gift to give?

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