Marcus Whitman Hotel's Chocolate Cake and Bittersweet Chocolate Ice Cream

Special Equipment Needed:
Double boiler or hot water bath
Cooking thermometer
Ice cream maker or ice cream freezer

Ingredients For the Cake:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup black cocoa powder  *Note- Black cocoa powder is an ultra dutched cocoa powder. Using a regular dutched cocoa works wonderful too. But, make sure it is dutched and not natural--an example of that would be Hershey’s cocoa.
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups warm water
Spray oil or pan spray to grease pans

Ingredients For the Bittersweet Chocolate Ice Cream

8 ounces egg yolks
6 ounces confectioner's sugar
1 quart + 8 ounces milk
12 ounces  granulated sugar
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
8 ounces dutched cocoa powder, sifted
1 pint heavy cream.

Directions For the Cake:
 Preheat oven to 325 degrees (325 for commercial ovens).
 Whisk together the cocoa powder and sugar in a small bowl.  In a separate bowl, cream the butter, then gradually add the sugar/cocoa together until light and fluffy.  Whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, flour and salt and mix with the creamed butter until crumbly.  Add eggs one at a time and slowly add water, letting each addition be absorbed into the cake batter before adding more.  Adding the water in slowly is very important, otherwise you are going to be left with big lumps! Pour the mixture into sprayed cake pans.  Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into the center.  Allow the cakes to cool.

*Note- This recipe calls for splitting it up between 2-8” cake pans, but it can be baked as 1 cake in a 9” cake pan, the baking time might increase by doing this.

Directions For the Bittersweet Chocolate Ice Cream:
Combine the egg yolks and the first quantity of sugar in a bowl. Whip until thick and light.
Combine the milk and the second quantity of sugar in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Gradually beat the milk into the egg yolk mixture. Set over a hot water bath and heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This will occur at approximately 165 degrees at which point you must immediately remove from the heat. The change from liquid to thickened custard happens very fast--if you don't have a cooking thermometer, stir the liquid mixture continuously. You will feel when it starts to thicken and can see when it coats the back of a spoon instead of running off. If you continue cooking past this point, the custard will curdle. Let cool until lukewarm.

Melt the chocolate and let cool slightly. Gradually stir into the custard mixture--stirring continuously. Add the cocoa and beat with a whip until it is thoroughly combined. Stir in the heavy cream. Chill the mixture 12 hour to mature the mix, then spin in an ice cream freezer.

*Yields: approximately 3 quarts.