Valentine’s Day Is a Chocolate-Lovers Dream—so Are These Recipes

Creme anglaise makes a decadent base for this rich chocolate cake. JeanMarie Brownson/TCA

We bring home chocolate in beautifully wrapped bars, tins of bonbons, and bottles of sauce from nearly every vacation. Notes of our favorite chocolate dessert indulgences pepper our travel journals.

The steaming cup of hot chocolate at LHardy, a stunning restaurant in Madrid dating back to 1839, made us swoon. We sat at the marble counter while the elegant staff poured the dark, thick beverage from an ornate samovar into delicate bone china cups. We sipped the rich, chocolatey drink and vowed to recreate it at home.

For the best drink, use the darkest cocoa powder you can find. My preferred cocoa powder is alkalized or “Dutch-processed,” which means the cocoa beans are treated with an alkaline solution to reduce acidity. This process results in a darker color and richer flavor than the ordinary (non-alkalized) powder. But no worries, you can use either in the recipe that follows.

For our chocolate-loving Valentine’s celebration, we plan to serve the hot chocolate alongside a slice of chocolate cake made with the dark chocolate-orange bars we brought home from Madrid’s Mercado de San Miguel.

This single-layer cake is easy to make. Beat butter, sugar and eggs into melted chocolate, then fold in a bit of flour and bake. A heavy dusting of sugar and cocoa makes for a fine finish.

My Valentine loves creme anglaise, so I’ll serve him a wedge of cake with plenty of that classic French custard sauce. A scoop of ice cream works well too.

Happy Valentine’s Day to chocolate lovers everywhere.

There's no better time to indulge in sweet treats such as luscious hot chocolate and decadent chocolate cake. JeanMarie Brownson/TCA

Hot Chocolate Madrid-Style

Serves 2

• 2 cups whole milk (or a combination of low-fat milk and half-and-half)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• Pinch cayenne powder, optional
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water

Heat milk, sugar, and salt to simmer in a small saucepan. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Whisk in cocoa powder and optional cayenne until smooth. (Be patient, this may take a bit of whisking.)

Mix cornstarch and 1/4 cup water in a small bowl until smooth. Whisking constantly, pour cornstarch mixture into warm milk mixture. Whisk constantly until smooth. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Serve hot.

Chocolate Cake

Note: To add a hint of orange flavor, look for bars of Lindt’s Intense Orange or Chocolove’s Orange Peel in Dark Chocolate. Alternatively, use semisweet or dark chocolate plus a drop or two of orange extract.

Serves 8

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 2 bars (3.2 to 3.5 ounces each) semisweet or dark chocolate with orange, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cake flour or all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• Vanilla creme anglaise, recipe follows, OR soft vanilla ice cream

For Garnish

• Fresh mint sprigs
• Raspberries
• Candied orange slices

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch round straight-sided cake pan with nonstick spray. Line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper cut to fit. Spray the paper. Dust the inside of the pan with flour and shake out the excess.

Put the chopped chocolate into a large mixer bowl. Set the bowl into a pan of simmering water on the stove. Stir the chocolate until it melts. Remove the bowl from the water. Let cool slightly.

Add the butter to the chocolate and beat with a mixer’s whisk attachment on high to incorporate it into the chocolate. Gradually beat in the sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and salt. Add flour and beat just until incorporated. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted 1 inch from the edge of the pan comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes. Cool the cake completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Run a dull knife around the edge of the cake pan to loosen the sides of the cake. Invert the cake onto a serving plate. Remove the parchment paper.

Put powdered sugar and cocoa into a small sieve or wire mesh strainer. Push the mixture through the sieve to heavily dust the top of the cake.

Serve a wedge of the cake with some of the creme anglaise or a scoop of ice cream. Garnish with mint, raspberries, and orange slices.

Vanilla Creme Anglaise

Makes 2 1/2 cups

• 2 cups whole milk (or a combination of heavy whipping cream and low-fat milk)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Set a fine mesh strainer over a heat-proof bowl. Have a larger bowl of ice ready.

Put milk and salt into a medium-size saucepan. Heat over low heat to a gentle simmer.

Meanwhile, beat egg yolks into a large bowl of electric mixer with whisk attachment. Beat in sugar until light. Slowly beat in a little of the hot milk to gently warm the egg yolks. Then scrape the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, just until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Do not boil. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the saucepan should register 180 degrees F.

Pour the custard sauce through the strainer into the bowl. Then set the bowl into the larger bowl of ice. Stir to cool down the custard. Remove the bowl from the ice bowl. Stir in the vanilla. Refrigerate the custard sauce, covered, up to several days.

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