'Harry Potter' Recipe - Cauldron Cakes

by Alex Van Buren, Posted Jul 16th 2009 @ 3:00PM

Cauldron Cakes. Photo: Alex Van Buren

So the new "Harry Potter" movie opened in the wee hours of the morning, and your cravings for Butterbeer, pumpkin juice (here are our recipes), Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and Cauldron Cakes are probably at full tilt.

Thankfully we have discovered that the folks at Brooklyn's renowned shop Baked have been serving these delicious brownie-cookie-cake hybrids to Muggles under the extremely suspicious name of "Black Forest Cookies" for years, but they are well-known to wizards by their real name: Cauldron Cakes.

Easily stackable for that train ride to Hogwarts, these Cakes are utterly worthy of defending via wand-wielding showdowns, sword battles with giant water snakes, etc. The surfaces of the decadent treats become cratered and volcanic after a whirl in the oven, and bubble as if they've emerged straight from a cauldron. Break them apart to reveal a moist, dark-as-night center the texture of a brownie. It must be magic.

Eating one feels slightly wicked. Eating two is downright evil. Ten points to Slytherin, indeed.

Cauldron Cakes recipe courtesy of the magicians at Baked, after the jump.

The Cauldron Cake's brownie-like center. Photo: Alex Van Buren.

For the version shown here, the dried cherries and white chocolate chips have been replaced by semisweet chocolate chips. Also, some wizards will insist that this is a spiced concoction. If you have such a wizard on your hands, ply her by adding two teaspoons of cinnamon to the dry mixture. ... Abracadabra! Spiced Cauldron Cake.

Cauldron Cakes (known to Muggles as Black Forest Cookies)
Recipe from 'Baked: New Frontiers in Baking' (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)

Yield : 24 cookies

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 ounces dark chocolate (60 percent to 72 percent cacao), coarsely chopped
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 large eggs
11/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cherries

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large nonreactive metal bowl, combine the dark chocolate and butter. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugars on high speed until the mixture is pale and thick, about 5 minutes.

Add the cooled chocolate mixture and the vanilla and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bowl and beat again for 10 seconds.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined, about 10 seconds. Do not overmix.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and dried cherries. The dough will look very loose, but it will harden in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until the tops of the cookies are set and begin to show a few cracks. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before removing from the pans and serving.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Editor's tasting note: For an absurdly decadent twist in honor of National Ice Cream month, create a sandwich out of these cookies and your favorite mint ice cream (we like Häagen-Dazs Five).

Filed Under: Television/Film
Tags: baking, butterbeer, butterbeer recipe, ButterbeerRecipe, cauldron cakes, cauldron cakes recipe, CauldronCakes, CauldronCakesRecipe, harry potter, harry potter recipe, harry potter recipes, HarryPotter, HarryPotterRecipe, HarryPotterRecipes, hogwarts, pumpkin juice, pumpkin juice recipe, PumpkinJuice, PumpkinJuiceRecipe, recipe, slytherin

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-24-2009 @2:30PM christopher said... One hard to find potion in many of the less magical desserts that Harry loves, like treacle tart, is golden syrup. Its either hard to find in the US or just hard for me to find but I saw a can at a tea shop and know how to make it. Golden syrup seems to be the same as 'light belgian candi' in the brewing world.

To make golden syrup use lots of table sugar and enough water to dissolve it. Add a bit of lemon juice and simmer for about a half hour until the syrup turns yellow (if you keep going it turns red). Look up inverting sugar online for more info.
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7-27-2009 @4:58AM Peter said... I tried this recipe just last week, and I must have done something wrong, because the dough never got thick enough, resulting in paperthink, REALLY big cookies. They tasted great, but were literally only 7mm think, but about 10cm across. I used the right measurements, perhaps a little more chocolate than recommended, but came away feeling like perhaps there should have been more flour in the mix?

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8-10-2009 @11:34AM Slashfood Editor said... Hi, Peter. Thanks for giving the recipe a shot! I was in touch with the guys at Baked on your behalf and did some online research. Here's what I found:

1) Was your baking powder expired, perchance? If it's several years old, it might not have as much potency. http://www.slashfood.com/2006/10/16/test-your-baking-power-and-baking-soda/

2) (From one of the Baked owners): "If you use a lesser quality chocolate (say, Bakers) you might get a thinner cookie."

Hope that helps and that you can give 'em another shot. And glad they were delicious!

Best,
Alex

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