Weekend Cooking: Mexican Chocolate Cake

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With the recent chillier days and evenings, I was tempted to bake last weekend. I didn't want anything too big or too rich, and I wanted something that I could make with what I had on hand.

Thank you September 2014 issue of Southern Living. With only one small adjustment to your  original recipe, I found just what I needed. This Mexican Chocolate Pudding Cake was a snap to put together. We're not huge fans of runny cake, so I simply left it in the oven until a toothpick came out clean -- maybe another 7 or 10 minutes (I forgot to pay attention).

The chile in the batter gives the chocolate a nice depth of flavor, and the little bit of salt in the topping offered a nice contrast to the sweet. The cake was light, moist, and perfect with coffee in the afternoon or for dessert with wine after dinner.

I baked this in a 9- by 9-inch pan, and we cut it into at least twelve pieces. If you leave the cake soft in the middle, you'll likely get fewer servings. The photo is my own (I was too lazy to sign it), so you can see what it looked like right out of the oven. The recipe is just as it appeared in the magazine.

Mexican Chocolate Pudding Cake
Serves 6

• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwave-safe bowl at high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until melted, stirring at 30-second intervals. Whisk in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking just until blended after each addition. Whisk in flour, next 4 ingredients, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Pour batter into a greased (with butter) 2-qt. baking dish. Stir together sliced almonds, next 2 ingredients, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle almond mixture over cake batter. Bake for 30 minutes. (Center will be soft.) Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes. Serve warm.