Eat this Chocolate Souffle Cake Straight from the Fridge

dark chocolate, coffee & miso in cake form with mezcal creme anglaise...ja tak!

I am a lover of a lot of foods cold, and eaten the following day—pizza, my dad’s spaghetti, chicken wings, and this dark chocolate souffle cake. Yes, straight from the fridge. Let’s first get into the details around this cake and then I’ll explain what “ja tak” means (assuming you’re reading this and are not Danish).

I made this cake a few weeks back for an Easter Sunday gathering with some close friends (who better to experiment on?). Inspired by the cakes from Estela in NYC and Anna Higham in her book, The Last Bite, this is a dark chocolate souffle cake that falls back into itself after baking, creating this gorgeous, effortless drop that makes a slice on its own look simple yet chic and classic. The cake contains zero flour which enhances it’s moody, fudgey, deeply indulgent texture, and if you’re gluten-free, well, this cake is a jackpot! I tend to weave complimentary (or sometimes seemingly odd) flavors together, developing a quiet depth to dishes and baked goods…so here, I’ve worked in some leftover brewed coffee because coffee with chocolate adds a layer of intrigue, a small hit of miso for some salty umami, and some cream cheese for texture. I used an 80% fair trade dark chocolate from my local grocery store (it’s really excellent for a white label grocery brand)—I note this just to say that your choice of chocolate does not need to be anything super fancy for the cake to be a stunner, it just needs to be dark and tasty. The mezcal creme anglaise sauce lends a light uplifting smokiness to the cake and can also be served cold. Why mezcal? It goes really well with chocolate and coffee and it seemed appropriate for our very non-traditional Easter nacho and braised birria beef theme (that’s what happens when you put one Dane and 4 southern-raised/NYC-adulted expats together).

Back to the cake - typically, this type of cake would be served warm, as would the creme anglaise, and Estela actually broils the cake quickly just before serving to bring out a bit of char (which is absolutely delicious). But I found that after spending a day or two in the fridge, the cake’s flavor really developed, all the notes popped a little more, and the texture was just so exhilarating. So, from now on, I will serve this beauty of a chocolate cake nicely chilled, ja tak! For the language lesson portion of this post, “ja tak” is Danish for “yes, please” / “yes, thanks” (pronounced like ‘ya’). I like to say it with exuberance, similar to how I feel about this dessert. And here’s the recipe…