Anyone know what exactly the boiling water does in a chocolate cake recipe?
Category: QA
Just curious to know why some chocolate cake recipes call for boiling water. Why does the temperature of the water matter? I mean, can’t you just use room temperature water? What diff does it make, and is why is boiling the water important?
This is the recipe I used: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/one-bowl-chocolate-cake-iii/detail.aspx The cake turned out great, but I would really like to know what would have happened if I didn’t use the boiling water. Another recipe I tried before just used plain water (http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=30351). It didn’t seem much different from the recipe with the boiling water…
I dont know tyr makeing a cake and instead of boiling water put normal water and see what the difference is ??
I am not really sure since none of my chocolate cake recipes call for water – boiling or room temperature. The only thing I can think of is that the boiling water helps to dissolve the chocolate and sugar to aid in the blending of the ingredients.
The only recipe I have used for chocolate cake that uses hot water was for hot fudge cake. When it cooks, it looks like a regular chocolate cake, but when you cut it, it has a layer of hot fudge sauce on the bottom. Great with ice cream. http://recipes.tasteofhome.com/eRMS/recp.aspx?recid=1077
Hot Fudge Cake Recipe
noting
It could be the way the chocolate dissolves. It’s easier to dissolve sugar or any powdery substance in hot water
it make the cake messy…
hahaha…