Chocolate Yeasted Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Sponge: In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and yeast. Stir in flour with a wooden spoon and set aside until mixture is fully alive with billions of beautiful bubbles, about 20 minutes.
• Dough: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl and add flour and salt. Beat on low until a crumbly dough forms.
• Scrape down bowl once more and add sponge. Switch to dough-hook attachment and beat on medium-low until dough gathers around hook and mostly cleans sides of bowl, 6 to 8 minutes. Scrape dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently to form a ball. Return to mixer bowl, cover with beeswax wrap or plastic, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Meanwhile, play a few rounds of gin rummy.
• Filling: In a small bowl, whisk together oil and flour until combined to make the "pan goo". (This mixture can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 weeks). Generously brush a 10-inch tube pan with pan goo; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and cinnamon. In another small bowl, toss fresh blueberries with flour. With floured hands, punch down dough and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Dust top of dough with flour and roll out into a 14-by-18-inch rectangle, with a long side facing you. Brush with about 2 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle evenly with cinnamon sugar, fresh and dried blueberries, and pecans.
• Starting on one of the long ends, roll dough into a tight spiral, lifting and tugging to capture all nuts and berries. Gently place in prepared pan, seam-side down, and overlap ends. Brush with remaining butter, including in area between overlapping ends of dough. Cover pan with beeswax wrap or plastic and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• At least 30 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 350°F, with a rack in lower third. Lightly beat together egg and salt. When dough has risen, brush top of cake with beaten egg and sprinkle liberally with pearl sugar. Cut slits in dough on the bias, about 1 inch deep, using kitchen shears.
• Bake until cake is deep golden brown and firm to the touch, and a thermometer inserted in center registers 200°, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack. Let cake rest in pan 15 minutes, then carefully flip out and invert again onto rack; let cool completely.
• Glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar and about 1 tablespoon milk. Continue adding milk by the teaspoonful until it forms a glaze that coats the back of a spoon. Drizzle over cake in diagonal swaths. Slice with a serrated knife to serve.

Steps:

• Sprinkle the yeast over the water in a medium-large bowl. Stir to blend, and then let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Mix in the milk and 1 1/2 cups of the flour; whisk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until light and spongy, about 45 minutes.
• Using an electric mixer, preferably stand, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until totally incorporated. Add the yeast mixture and vanilla and beat until blended.
• In another bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, the baking soda, and the salt until fluffy and blended. Add this flour mixture to the batter in 3 additions, alternating with the melted chocolate and beginning and ending with the flour. With the last flour addition, add the mini chocolate chips and mix until completely blended. Finish by hand, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
• Generously butter a 10 inch tube pan and scrape the dough into the pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until light and foamy, but not quite doubled. After 40-60 minutes (depending on how fast it seems to be rising), preheat your oven to 350°F Bake until the sides pull away from the edges and a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for at least 20 minutes. Use a thin knife to gently loosen the edges before inverting and removing. After it cools, wrap it securely with plastic wrap or store in a cake keeper.

Steps:

• Make the cake: Sprinkle yeast and a pinch of granulated sugar over milk in a medium bowl. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Whisk together remaining 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, the egg, and yolk. Whisk into yeast mixture.
• Combine flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a mixer. Add egg mixture. Beat on low speed until almost fully combined, about 30 seconds. Switch to the dough-hook attachment. Add butter. Beat until smooth, soft, and slightly sticky, about 10 minutes.
• Butter a large bowl. Turn out dough onto a floured surface; knead a few times until smooth. Place in bowl, turn to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Make the filling: Combine chocolate, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or rub in with your fingers until combined.
• Punch down dough. Transfer to a floured work surface. Let stand for 5 minutes. Roll out to an 18-inch square (about 1/8 inch thick). Brush edges with egg wash. Spread filling over dough, reserving 1/2 cup and leaving a 1-inch border. Tightly roll dough like a jelly roll. Pinch seam to seal, and fold in half to bring ends together to form a U. Twist 2 or 3 times to "braid." Butter a 5-by-10-inch loaf pan, and line with parchment, leaving 1-inch overhangs; butter parchment. Transfer dough to pan. Brush top with egg wash.
• Make the crumb topping: Combine confectioners' sugar, flour, and butter. Sprinkle topping and reserved 1/2 cup filling over cake.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drape plastic wrap over dough. Let stand in a warm place until risen by half, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Remove plastic wrap, and bake, rotating halfway through, until golden, about 55 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until deeply golden, 15 to 20 minutes more (cover with foil if top gets too dark). Transfer pan to a wire rack. Let cake cool.

Steps:

• Prepare the dough: In a small saucepan or a bowl in the microwave, warm the milk until it's lukewarm but not hot (about 110 degrees). Add yeast and a pinch of sugar and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, until slightly foamy.
• In an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, or in a food processor, mix together flour, 1/3 cup sugar, the salt, the vanilla, the lemon zest (if using) and the nutmeg. (If you don't have a mixer or processor, use a large bowl and a wooden spoon.) Beat or process in the yeast mixture and eggs until the dough comes together in a soft mass, about 2 minutes. If the dough sticks to the side of the bowl and doesn't come together, add a tablespoon more flour at a time until it does, beating very well in between additions.
• Add half the butter and beat or pulse until the dough is smooth and elastic, 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed. Beat in the rest of the butter and continue to beat or pulse until the dough is smooth and stretchy, another 5 to 7 minutes. Again, if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Butter a clean bowl, form the dough into a ball and roll it around in the bowl so all sides are buttered. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place (inside of a turned-off oven with the oven light on is good) until it puffs and rises, about 1 to 2 hours. It may not double in bulk but it should rise.
• Press the dough down with your hands, re-cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight (or, in a pinch, for at least 4 hours, but the flavor won't be as developed).
• Prepare the filling: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cream and salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Scrape mixture into a bowl. Stir in chocolate, butter and vanilla until smooth. Let cool to room temperature. Filling can be made up to a week ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge. Let come to room temperature before using.
• Prepare the streusel: In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Stir in melted butter until it is evenly distributed and forms large, moist crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. Streusel can be prepared up to 3 days ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge.
• Prepare the syrup: In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 2/3 cup/158 milliliters water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
• Butter two 9-inch loaf pans, then line with parchment paper, leaving 2 inches of paper hanging over on the sides to use as handles later.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and divide in half. On a floured surface, roll one piece into a 9-by-17-inch rectangle. Spread with half the filling (there's no need to leave a border). Starting with a long side, roll into a tight coil. Transfer the coil onto a dish towel or piece of plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes. Repeat with the other piece of dough.
• Slice one of the dough coils in half lengthwise to expose the filling. Twist the halves together as if you were braiding them, then fold the braid in half so it's about 9 inches long. Place into a prepared pan, letting it curl around itself if it's a little too long for the pan. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until puffy (it won't quite double). Alternatively, you can cover the pans with plastic wrap and let them rise in the refrigerator overnight; bring them back to room temperature for an hour before baking.
• When you're ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Use your fingers to clump streusel together and scatter all over the tops of the cakes. Transfer to oven and bake until a tester goes into the cakes without any rubbery resistance and comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. The cakes will also sound hollow if you unmold them and tap on the bottom. An instant-read thermometer will read between 185 and 210 degrees.
• As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, use a skewer or paring knife to pierce them all over going all the way to the bottom of the cakes, and then pour the syrup on top of the cakes, making sure to use half the syrup for each cake.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.