I am still travelling, but fortunatly have internet access today and decided to not go hiking today. We have hiked so much these latest days, I feel like I am familiar with Gros Morne national park already. If you haven’t been to Newfoundland yet – GO! It is such a beautiful and friendly place. You can just be – no rush and no goals.
So for today I decided to take a jog, explore Norris Point and write up this neat little recipe.
Kalter Hund – cold dog – is a German (at least I only know this recipe from Germany) cake without the need to bake. It contains all the things you actually don’t want to think about too much. But it is a classic, which I want to share with you and invite you to make your own version of it – with your kind of shortbread.
Ingredients:
- 300 g coconut oil
- 300 g confectioner’s sugar
- 120 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 eggs
- 4 tbsp orange juice
- 8 tbsp hot water
- 225 g shortbread
- 200 g semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions:
Prepare a standard loaf pan by greasing it and lining it with parchment paper. Cut the parchment paper in triangular form at all four corncrs of the load pan, so you can make the paper line up straight and you have corners that you can grab to remove the cake from the form once done.
In a pot, melt coconut oil at medium temperature. Remove pot from stove and let the coconut oil cool a bit. In the meantime sift and mix confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder into a medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl whisk eggs until fluffy. Now add the sugar-cocoa mixture gradually to the eggs, whisking carefully with a hand mixer. Add orange juice and mix evenly. Now while whisking, slowly add the coconut oil and mix evenly. Then add the hot water and whisk until the mixture is glossy and even.
On the bottom of the load pan spread evenly 4 tablespoons of the chocolate mixture. Line the chocolate layer with shortbread*. Now layer again, this time only using 2 tablespoons of chocolate mixture. Continue in the same fashion as before, finishing with a chocolate layer. The less chocolate mixture you use for each layer, the more layers you will be able to make – decide for yourself. Once you are done place the cake into the fridge and let cool for at least 2-3 hours. Once the cake has settled, remove from fridge, place loaf pan upside down on a plate to remove cake. Then carefully remove the parchment paper.
Now carefully melt the semisweet chocolate and let cool until room temperature. Coat the cake evenly with the chocolate and let cool once again.
Cut into 2cm / 1″ thick slices and enjoy this forbidden little treat.
* A German standard shortbread fits neatly into your average loaf pan. This is how they look like. You may want to check out which kind of shortbread fits best in your country of origin. I would be interested. Let me know which one you used.
Source: Marions Kochbuch
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This looks so rich and delicious!
I’ve been stuck in the middle of exams for the past month and have been waiting to make this treat. Finally today I got to making it and it’s right now setting in the fridge.
You asked us to let you know about the shortbread we used. Well, I am from Venezuela and here we don’t have commercial shortbread so if you want shortbread you have to make it yourself, wich is what I did (I made them in sheets the size of my loaf pan so they would fit perfectly). Here in Venezuela we have a similar dessert called “marquesa de chocolate” and it’s made with layers of a “Maria” cookies (wich are commercial cookies very common here in our country) and milk chocolate and usually topped with almonds. If you are ever interested in any traditional Venezuelan recipes don’t hesitate to ask.
By the way, your blog is amazing and you post very beautiful photos (I also tried your bagels with the poppy and sesame toppings and they turned out beautifuly)
Dear Valeria,
wow – hats off for making your own shortbread for that recipe! Would you mind sharing your recipe for the shortbread? I am still on the lookout for a good one, and I would love to see a picture of your result? I believe it will look beautiful with shortbread that actually fits the baking dish perfectly. And I am actually quite interested in the marquesa de chocolate – wouldn’t it be nice to feature both variations of a similar treat? Thanks so much for the compliments and I am glad the poppy seed bagels turned out well. I love making these on the weekend before everyone else is up to then have them on the table for breakfast.
It does look delicious. This is one of my childhood favorite (well! even now is:) ) great job and I love your blog…
I just stumbled on this page when doing a search for Kalter Hund.
My german mother taught me to make this many years ago. At Christmas time she whips up a number of these cakes and gives them away.
Your recipe is near identical to hers. She adds a splash of rum to the chocolate, and a tablespoon of strong coffee. She also uses Nabisco social tea biscuits for the cookie layer. She dips her biscuits very quickly in water, just to soften them a touch.
Nice post. Great picture!