Coach House Chocolate Cake

In her 1969 book, Greenwich Village Cookbook, Vivian Kramer included 12 recipes from The Coach House. She could not get the recipe for the chocolate cake. She stated: "Mr. Lianides (the owner of the Coach House) likes to experiment and changes his menu frequently. He can be protective about his special creations, and once, when asked for his recipe for chocolate cake, declined to give it. When offered money, Mr. Lianides priced it at $3,000, which, he said, was about what it had cost him to spend ten days in Paris perfecting his master recipe for the cake."

Prepare 2 or 3 days before serving.

Ingredients

Cake

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 pound bittersweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 teaspoons salt

Filling

• 1 quart whipping cream
• 1 1/2 pounds bittersweet chocolate

Decoration

• Powdered sugar
• Chocolate curls
  

Instructions

1. For cake: Combine flour and butter in large bowl and mix with fingertips until consistency of coarse oatmeal; do not let butter melt and become oily.
2. Melt chocolate in saucepan over very low heat. Add water and salt and beat until smooth. Make well in flour mixture. Pour in chocolate and mix lightly but thoroughly. Divide dough into 3 parts and wrap each in wax paper. Refrigerate dough until firm, about 20 minutes.
3. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Place 1 piece of dough between 2 sheets of wax paper and roll into large circle about 1/8 inch thick. Lift off top sheet of paper and use sharp knife to cut circle 9 to 10 inches in diameter; remove excess dough. Carefully invert circle onto ungreased baking sheet and remove remaining paper. Bake 15 to 18 minutes. Working carefully, loosen pastry with spatula and slide onto heavy duty foil to cool. Repeat with rest of dough.
5. For filling: Place cream in large bowl and set in larger bowl or sink on bed of ice. Melt chocolate in heavy saucepan over very low heat or hot water. Whip cream until stiff, then fold in chocolate, mixing gently but thoroughly.
6. To assemble: Carefully slide one cake layer onto serving plate. Spread l/2 filling over top. Repeat with second layer and remaining filling. Top with last layer. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and garnish with chocolate curls. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 days.
7. About 2 hours before serving, remove cake from refrigerator; while still cold, slice with serrated knife.