A Taste of Québec: Gâteaux Joe Louis (Joe Louis Cakes)

I'm back!

After a long, long siesta from Wanderlust--and after some pretty persistent prodding from my husband--I've come back to blogging.

Lots has happened since the last post back in November--yes, last year--and it would take far too long to tell you all of it, so let's just get to the food, shall we?

Matt and I are getting super jazzed about our trip to Québec at the end of June. We're going there with Matt's parents, which will be a ton of fun since they are very active people and I'm the kind of person who really needs a little extra motivation to get going on vacations. If I didn't have travel companions like that, I'd have spent most of my time abroad sitting at a cafe table, sipping on a beer or a cafe au lait and just listening to the people passing by. There's just something about the experience of sitting alone in a totally foreign place for a while, listening to conversations in a language you don't understand and realizing how small you are in the grand scheme of things.

...But then, there's also something to be said about actually doing things on a vacation, so it's good I'm traveling with Heidricks.

I thought that, in anticipation of our trip, I'd explore some Québec cuisine. My mother-in-law, Charlotte, sent me a great Québecois cookbook (which I definitely recommend), called A Taste of Québec, some time ago, and I quickly managed to find the least healthy recipe in it: Gâteaux Joe Louis (or Joe Louis cakes).

This recipe is credited to the Beauce region of Québec, the part of the province that is apparently especially known for its maple syrup. But because I'm me, I picked the recipe that was 0% maple and 99.9% chocolate. 

While you might think these adorable treats were named after the famous boxer, they're actually named for the sons of two Beauce bakers. I altered this recipe just a bit to fit my taste and made it in cupcake tins because I figured I'd be in less danger of inhaling the entire recipe--WRONG--but you can certainly make it in a cake tin. 

These cakes are dense and chocolatey, but not overly sweet like a boxed mix or back-of-the-Hershey's-cocoa-container chocolate cake recipe, which I found to be actually preferable. They're best either with a big cup of strong coffee or (even better) a cold glass of milk. In the middle is a delicious homemade marshmallow-y filling that's made with equal parts culinary art and sheer persistence. Finish it off with a homemade chocolate icing and you're on the express train to happy town. 

So let's get started.

Gâteaux Joe Louis

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time:  10-12 minutes

What You'll Need:

For the cake batter:

• 1/2 c. butter (don't wimp out on me and use margarine!)
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. milk
• 1 T white vinegar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla

 For the filling:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• Pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

For the chocolate frosting:

• 2 T softened butter (at room temp--not melted)
• 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 to 3 T milk, depending on how you like the consistency
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Approx. 1/2 c. powdered sugar

What To Do:  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease 12-16 cupcake tins (don't use liners, just spray tins really well with nonstick cooking spray) or your cake tin.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until they're nice and fluffy. Then add in the eggs and mix.
3. In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together your milk, vinegar, and baking soda. 
4. In yet another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt.
5. Little by little, combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients with the butter mixture. Once everything's mixed together, add in the vanilla. The batter will be a little sturdier than what you might be used to with a brownie mix or typical cake batter. But that's okay! We like sturdy.
6. Fill the muffin tins about 3/4 full and bake for 10-12, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the top of one of the cakes comes out clean.
7. Once they're cool enough so you don't burn your hands, take out the cakes (here's where it helps if you've greased the pans really well--they'll just fall out) and lay on a cooling rack. 
8. While those are cooling, make your vanilla filling:
1. In a double boiler (bring a pot of water to boil, then place a glass bowl over it, but make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water!), beat together the egg whites, sugar, salt and water until stiff-ish and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes. Be patient, it takes a while for this to come together. Remove from heat and beat in vanilla.
9. Then make your chocolate frosting:
1. Cream the butter and cocoa powder together.
2. Whisk in 2 T of the milk and vanilla.
3. Then alternately whisk in powdered sugar and the additional 1 T milk until you get the consistency you want for your frosting.
10. MAKE THOSE CAKES!
1. Sort of like making a whoopie pie, cut the cakes in half and fill with the vanilla filling. Then put the top back on cake(s).
2. Smoosh the chocolate frosting on top.
3. Eat. Repeat. Feel no guilt.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
 

À bientôt! XO,

Betsey