Pepita and Mexican chocolate cake with candied ancho chiles
Rick Bayless · ♥ 534 likes · 11.5K views · 7 min video
Read about everyday cakes in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 whole ancho chili
Bring a cup of sugar and a cup of water to a simmer in a saucepan for a one-to-one simple syrup.
Cut the tops off the ancho chiles, open them and remove seeds and stems; cut into quarter-inch pieces, or snip with scissors.
Swirl the pan to dissolve the sugar, add the ancho and let it simmer in the syrup while the pan is prepared.
- room temperature butter
- ½ cup toasted salted pumpkin seeds
- 2 tbsp sugar
Butter the base of the cake pan, add a round of parchment cut to fit, and butter the parchment and the sides. Scatter half a cup of toasted salted pumpkin seeds over the bottom and sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of sugar evenly on top for the crust.
Preparing the pan with a seed crust
- 1¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 cup sugar
In a food processor, pulse the remaining pumpkin seeds with a cup of sugar until they look like sand.
Batter in the food processor
- 1 stick butter
- 3 whole eggs
Add a stick of butter and three eggs, both at room temperature, and pulse until combined.
- ⅓ cup flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp mezcal
Add the flour, the baking powder and the mezcal; pulse a couple more times until it comes together.
- Mexican chocolate
Lift the candied ancho out of the syrup with a slotted spoon. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and pulse both into the batter a couple of times.
Pour into the prepared pan, even the top with a spatula and bake in a 350 degree oven 35 to 40 minutes, until the middle springs back or a toothpick comes out clean.
After about 10 minutes out of the oven, run a knife around the sides, put a serving plate on top and flip out.