It’s my final day in Austin. As you can see I have not had much better luck in getting blog posts up. It turns out that it’s not so easy to do your regular job, go to a conference and also keep up with the blog at the same time. Who would have thought?

I do feel like today I’m getting a little back in the groove, though. Instead of going out last night (which, at SXSW can mean starting at 3 p.m. and ending at 3 a.m.), I took myself out for a nice dinner and then came back to the hotel, did some work and went to the gym. And I even made it to the gym again this morning! I’m sitting here with my steel cut oats and my coffee, and feeling more like myself. It feels good.

And while I’ve had a ton of great meals here (I’ve made it a personal mission to visit as many great places as possible), I am excited about being back home. I miss baking for breakfast. Especially because the last thing Dave and I made was this Chocolate Krantz Cake, another fine recipe from the Jerusalem cookbook:

Basically, a brioche-like dough is twisted with a delicious chocolate filling, and the results are sweet but not too sweet, and most importantly, there’s a ton of chocolate. I know this looks like a complicated process but this dough is actually really easy to work with – kind of like a pizza dough, almost. So never fear! While there are quite a few steps, they are not difficult steps. And the end result is so worth it.

Chocolate Krantz Cake
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. AP flour
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. yeast
Grated zest of ½ lemon
2 large eggs
¼ cup water
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Chocolate filling:
¼ cup powdered sugar
1/6 cup cocoa
2 ¼ oz. dark chocolate
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 tbsp. powdered sugar
Syrup
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup powdered sugar

For the dough, add the flour, sugar, yeast and zest to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix for one minute on low speed.

Next, add the eggs and water. Start the speed on low, but after a few seconds bring the speed up to medium and mix until the dough comes together. While the mixer is going, add in the salt and then the butter, a few cubes at a time. Keep mixing for about ten minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge overnight.

The next day, grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper.

To make the filling, melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or if you are me, put an inch of water in a sauce pan, cover with a heat safe bowl and bring to a simmer), then whisk in the powdered sugar, cocoa and a tiny pinch of salt until mostly smooth.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roll the dough out to be approximately 15×11 inches. Then spread the chocolate paste evenly over the dough, leaving about an inch around each edge. Sprinkle the walnuts and powdered sugar on top.

With one of the long sides facing you, carefully begin to roll the dough up. For best results, start in the middle and work gently out to each end, then reverse the process as you continue to roll. Keep moving your fingers in and out for the most even result.

Trim off the ends of the roll so each is flat. Then, use your sharpest knife to cut straight down the middle of the length of the roll, giving you two half-circle strips. This will be pretty messy, so use a really sharp knife and forge ahead!

Twist these two halves together so they have four or five twists, then carefully transfer to the loaf pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top of the dough is caramel-colored and a skewer inserted into the dough comes out clean (except for some chocolate).

When the cake is almost done, stir together the two ingredients for the glaze as best you can. Then, heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir again, and hit the microwave one more time until the newly-formed syrup is almost clear. Pour all of the syrup over the cake while it is in the loaf pan. Allow to cool most of the way before removing to a drying rack.