[⅛ teaspoon]
100 g glucose
[¼ cup]
25 g sugar
[2 tablespoons]
55 g heavy cream
[¼ cup]
In a pinch, substitute 35 g (2 tablespoons) corn syrup for the glucose.
1. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan or in a tea cup in the microwave. Remove from heat, add the tea, and let steep for 4 minutes.
2. Wring and remove the tea bag and pour the tea into a medium bowl. Add the chocolate, cocoa powder, and salt.
3. Combine the glucose, sugar, and heavy cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir intermittently while bringing to a boil over high heat. The moment it boils, pour it into the bowl holding the chocolate. Let sit for 1 full minute.
4. Slowly, slowly begin to whisk the mixture. Then continue, increasing the vigor of your whisking every 30 seconds, until the mixture is glossy and silky-smooth. This will take 2 to 4 minutes, depending on your speed and strength. You can use the sauce at this point or store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks; do not freeze.
chocolate malt layer cake
MAKES 1 (6-INCH) LAYER CAKE, 5 TO 6 INCHES TALL; SERVES 6 TO 8
1 recipe Chocolate Cake
1 recipe Ovaltine Soak
1 recipe Malt Fudge Sauce, warm
½ recipe Malted Milk Crumb
1 recipe Charred Marshmallows
special equipment
1 (6-inch) cake ring
2 strips acetate, each 3 inches wide and 20 inches long
1. Put a piece of parchment or a Silpat on the counter. Invert the cake onto it and peel off the parchment or Silpat from the bottom of the cake. Use the cake ring to stamp out 2 circles from the cake. These are your top 2 cake layers. The remaining cake “scrap” will come together to make the bottom layer of the cake.
layer 1, the bottom
2. Clean the cake ring and place it in the center of a sheet pan lined with clean parchment or a Silpat. Use 1 strip of acetate to line the inside of the cake ring.
3. Put the cake scraps inside the ring and use the back of your hand to tamp the scraps together into a flat even layer.
4. Dunk a pastry brush in the Ovaltine soak and give the layer of cake a good, healthy bath of half of the soak.
5. Use the back of a spoon to spread one-fifth of the malt fudge sauce in an even layer over the cake. (Helpful hint: the warmer the fudge sauce, the easier it is to spread.)
6. Sprinkle half of the malted milk crumbs and one-third of the charred marshmallows evenly over the malt fudge sauce. Use the back of your hand to anchor them in place.
7. Use the back of a spoon to spread another fifth of the malt fudge sauce as evenly as possible over the crumbs and marshmallows.
layer 2, the middle
8. With your index finger, gently tuck the second strip of acetate between the cake ring and the top ¼ inch of the first strip of acetate, so that you have a clear ring of acetate 5 to 6 inches tall—high enough to support the height of the finished cake. Set a cake round on top of the sauce and repeat the process for layer 1 (if 1 of your 2 cake rounds is jankier than the other, use it here in the middle and save the prettier one for the top).
layer 3, the top
9. Nestle the remaining cake round into the sauce. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining fudge sauce. Since it’s a sauce, not a frosting, here you have no choice but to make a shiny, perfectly flat top. Garnish with the remaining charred marshmallows.
10. Transfer the sheet pan to the freezer and freeze for a minimum of 12 hours to set the cake and filling. The cake will keep in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
11. At least 3 hours before you are ready to serve the cake, pull the sheet pan out of the freezer and, using your fingers and thumbs, pop the cake out of the cake ring. Gently peel off the acetate and transfer the cake to a platter or cake stand. Let it defrost in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours. If storing the cake for longer, do not cover with plastic wrap—it will tear the malt fudge off the cake! Instead, get a big bowl, flip it upside down, and use it to protect the cake (or invest in a cake carrier). Stored in this way, the cake will keep fresh for up to 5 days in the fridge.
12. Slice the cake into wedges and serve.
chocolate cake
MAKES 1 QUARTER SHEET PAN CAKE
115 g butter, at room temperature
[8 tablespoons (1 stick)]
300 g sugar
[1½ cups]
3 eggs
110 g buttermilk
[½ cup]
40 g grapeseed oil
[¼ cup]
4 g vanilla extract
[1 teaspoon]
¼ recipe Fudge Sauce
[38 g (3 tablespoons)]
155 g cake flour
[1¼ cups]
70 g cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona
[½ cup]
6 g baking powder
[1½ teaspoons]
6 g kosher salt
[1½ teaspoons]
Pam or other nonstick cooking spray (optional)
1. Heat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and mix on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once more.
3. On low speed, stream in the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and paddle for 3 to 5 minutes, until the mixture is practically white, twice the size of your original fluffy butter-and-sugar mixture, and completely homogenous. There should be no streaks of fat or liquid. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. Add the fudge sauce and mix on low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. With a spatula, stir the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. On very low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix for 45 to 60 seconds, just until your batter comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix on low speed for another 45 seconds to ensure that any little lumps of cocoa powder and cake flour are incorporated.
6. Pam-spray a quarter sheet pan and line it with parchment, or just line the pan with a Silpat. Using a spatula, spread the cake batter in an even layer in the pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The cake will rise and puff, doubling in size, but will remain slightly buttery and dense. At 30 minutes, gently poke the edge of the cake with your finger: the cake should bounce back slightly and the center should no longer be jiggly. Leave the cake in the oven for an extra 3 to 5 minutes if it doesn’t pass these tests.
7. Take the cake out of the oven and cool on a wire rack or, in a pinch, in the fridge or freezer (don’t worry, it’s not cheating). The cooled cake can be stored, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 5 days.
ovaltine soak
MAKES ABOUT 65 G (¼ CUP)
55 g milk
[¼ cup]
10 g Ovaltine, malt flavor
[2 tablespoons]
Whisk together the milk and Ovaltine in a small bowl until the Ovaltine is completely dissolved. Use immediately.
charred marshmallows
MAKES ABOUT 150 G (2¾ CUPS)
I light a forest fire on my sheet pan of mini marshmallows and let it burn out on its own. The surface of all the marshmallows should be black/burnt, while the bottoms remain perfectly white.
150 g mini marshmallows
[2¾ cups]
The only thing we really use our blowtorch for is to char these marshmallows. If you or your significant other happens to be a handy person, then perhaps you already have one. If not, you should get one, because they are superfun to play with and you can teach yourself to weld. That said, it’s not necessary to go out and buy one: you can char the marshmallows under the broiler of your oven or any other type of open flame—like a wand lighter.
Spread the marshmallows out evenly on an unlined sheet pan and cha
r them to hell and back with a blowtorch. Transfer the pan to the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes to firm up the marshmallows and make them easier to handle. Use immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
red velvet ice cream
MAKES ABOUT 450 G (1 PINT)
We use cake scraps in our kitchen for just about anything. Really. Even ice creams, where they add body, texture, and depth of flavor. We put chocolate cake scraps in the red velvet ice cream because we want it to taste like red velvet cake. We also like to take it too far and swirl red velvet ice cream with cream cheese frosting ice cream.
1 gelatin sheet
220 g milk
[1 cup]
½ recipe Fudge Sauce
50 g Chocolate Cake “scraps”
[½ cup]
35 g cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona
[¼ cup]
25 g sugar
[2 tablespoons]
25 g glucose
[1 tablespoon]
12 g distilled white vinegar
[1 tablespoon]
12 g buttermilk
[1 tablespoon]
8 g red food coloring
[2 teaspoons]
4 g kosher salt
[1 teaspoon]
Powdered gelatin can be substituted for the sheet gelatin: use ½ teaspoon. In a pinch, substitute 9 g (2 teaspoons) corn syrup for the glucose.
1. Bloom the gelatin.
2. Warm a little bit of the milk and whisk in the gelatin to dissolve. Transfer the gelatin mixture to a blender, add the remaining milk, the fudge sauce, chocolate cake, cocoa powder, sugar, glucose, vinegar, buttermilk, food coloring, and salt, and puree until smooth and even. Don’t be stingy on the blending time—the cake scraps need to soak up the liquid and kind of dissipate into the mixture.
3. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into your ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream is best spun just before serving or using, but it will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
Back to my childhood obsession with Jell-O No-Bake Cheesecake.… Once I trashed the graham crust, I’d dine on the filling. I’d whisk the powdered cheesecake mixture into some milk and watch it thicken and magically transform itself, no heat required. I’d go over to my friend Megan’s house to mix and eat it because her mom wouldn’t stop me (she’d just look on, horrified) as I fed myself an entire pie’s worth of thickened, creamy cheesecake-like filling. Mmmmm.
In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m kind of a fan of the gooey, just-barely-baked approach to making something delicious. There’s something so naughty and fulfilling about the texture. I’m sure a psychiatrist would tell me it’s because I was deprived of cookie dough for so long (cough, thanks, Mom, cough).
When I worked at wd~50, we would make the most deliciously rich cheesecakes with unlikely cheeses like Manchego, the semi-firm aged Spanish sheep’s-milk cheese, and Cabrales, the stinky firm blue cheese made from the milk of Spanish cows. When Sam, the pastry chef, wasn’t looking or was busy during service, I would shamelessly scrape some batter from the bowl into a pint container and either eat the batter raw or warm it slightly in the microwave to get it to barely set. Sometimes I ate so much of it that I’d have to make more for service.
Once I’d settled into my role as pastry chef at Momofuku, I knew I had every right to eat magically thickened cheesecake filling in the confines of my new home. But I also knew I had to develop my own take on many of the beloved staples of my diet, and so began the search for my voice in the form of cheesecake.
It was a short journey: my heart beats for one and only one kind of cheesecake—the underbaked, messy kind. And so, my signature cheesecake is liquid cheesecake.
liquid cheesecake
MAKES ABOUT 325 G (1½ CUPS)
225 g cream cheese
[8 ounces]
150 g sugar
[¾ cup]
6 g cornstarch
[1 tablespoon]
2 g kosher salt
[½ teaspoon]
25 g milk
[2 tablespoons]
1 egg
Elsewhere in this book: Liquid cheesecake is used in the Carrot Layer Cake.
1. Heat the oven to 300°F.
2. Put the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the sugar and mix for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sugar has been completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Whisk together the cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the milk in a slow, steady stream, then whisk in the egg until the slurry is homogenous.
4. With the mixer on medium-low speed, stream in the egg slurry. Paddle for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and loose. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Line the bottom and sides of a 6 × 6-inch baking pan with plastic wrap. Pour the cheesecake batter into the pan, put the pan in the oven, and bake for 15 minutes. Gently shake the pan. The cheesecake should be firmer and more set toward the outer boundaries of the baking pan but still be jiggly and loose in the dead center. If the cheesecake is jiggly all over, give it 5 minutes more. And 5 minutes more if it needs it, but it’s never taken me more than 25 minutes to underbake one. If the cheesecake rises more than a ¼ inch or begins to brown, take it out of the oven immediately.
6. Cool the cheesecake completely, to finish the baking process and allow the cheesecake to set. The final product will resemble a cheesecake, but it will be pipeable and pliable enough to easily spread or smear, while still having body and volume. Once cool, the cheesecake can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
cheesecake ice cream
MAKES ABOUT 450 G (1 PINT)
At our East Village Milk Bar, we have two big-boy soft-serve machines that churn ice cream day and night. To keep ourselves entertained and to keep customers interested, we change the flavors every six weeks, basing each flight of flavors around a theme. This recipe was part of a suite of ice creams flavored liked baked goods, and, true to its name, it tastes just like cheesecake. The twist with it and our key lime pie ice cream was crazy good!
1 gelatin sheet
220 g milk
[1 cup]
½ recipe Liquid Cheesecake
15 g sour cream
[1 tablespoon]
¼ recipe Graham Crust
[85 g (½ cup)]
20 g milk powder
[¼ cup]
2 g kosher salt
[½ teaspoon]
Powdered gelatin can be substituted for the sheet gelatin: use ½ teaspoon.
1. Bloom the gelatin.
2. Warm a little bit of the milk and whisk in the gelatin to dissolve.
3. Transfer the gelatin mixture to a blender, add the remaining milk, the liquid cheesecake, sour cream, graham crust, milk powder, and salt, and puree until smooth and even. Don’t be stingy on the blending time: you want to make sure the graham crust is completely liquefied; otherwise, your cheesecake ice cream will be missing that flavor.
4. Pour the ice cream base through a fine-mesh sieve into your ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream is best spun just before serving or using, but it will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
cinnamon bun pie
MAKES 1 (10-INCH) PIE; SERVES 8 TO 10
When we first opened Milk Bar, at 4 or 5 o’clock every morning we would make fresh cinnamon buns with liquid cheesecake rolled up into the dough instead of applying cream cheese frosting on top. Cinnamon buns are something I feel very strongly about, since my mother started a tradition of making (not-so-great) ones for breakfast on every holiday. (Sorry, Mom, but you can’t give a kid a Cinnabon and then expect her to be OK with cinnamon buns made with margarine and skim milk!) We’d make them before the crack of dawn so they’d be
ready for breakfast … and then we’d sell most of them to people on their way home at night, ready to tuck in with dessert and some TV. So we decided to get smart and create something that was delicious, available, and fresh at any hour, and didn’t have to be made to order every morning: the cinnamon bun pie.
½ recipe Mother Dough, proofed
30 g flour, for dusting
[3 tablespoons]
80 g brown butter
[¼ cup]
1 recipe Liquid Cheesecake
60 g light brown sugar
[¼ cup tightly packed]
1 g kosher salt
[¼ teaspoon]
2 g ground cinnamon
[1 teaspoon]
1 recipe Cinnamon Streusel
While I tried to have the recipes in this book build chapter-by-chapter on those that came before, sometimes that wasn’t possible. So jump ahead and read about the mother dough before you get going on this pie.
1. Heat the oven to 350°F.
2. Punch down and flatten the proofed dough.
Momofuku Milk Bar Page 14