Professor Butter Beard’s “Old Fire God”
This morning was the coldest it has been all season. Winter finally blew in with a window-shaking roar, riding upon the wolf full moon. These are the mornings that I miss the house I rented in Ashfield, Massachusetts. Yes, you could feel and hear the wind whistling through the century-old walls, but the three fireplaces provided a glow and warmth and a wood crackle that held you close like a cozy hug. Now, in my current digs, that warmth comes from peeking through the golden window of the kitchen oven and smelling the comforting baking aroma of a dark chocolate cake with chilis.
According to Aztec mythology, Huehueteotl is the “Old God of Fire” representing light, warmth and life against darkness, cold and death. He is often portrayed as an old man, with fierce eyes, a full beard and stooped back. In this case, he is seated, slightly hunched over with crossed legs, balancing an enormous circular brazier on his back where offerings are burned. According to the 16th century Dominican friar Diego Duran’s “Book of the Gods,” the Mexica classified their ages into four terms and the fourth term was huehuetqui, which means Old Age. Brother Duran writes that “old people are much esteemed, and so are their opinions and counsel, without which no steps are taken.”
It was the responsibility of the Aztec priests to keep a fire always burning in honor of Huehueteotl. The two annual feasts of the Old Fire God coincide with the two extremes in the climate cycle, the heat of August and the cold of January. But the one great public ritual dedicated to the old man was the “great feast of the dead,” which occurred every 52 years (the Aztec century). In order to ensure that the Aztec covenant with their gods was renewed, victims were drugged and had their hearts cut out to be burned over coal as a sacrifice to replenish favor with the god’s elements – fire and blood.
Now, I am not recommending anything quite as dramatic this winter. Instead, why not extend a tantalizing offering combining Mexican dark chocolate, candied poblano chilis and toasted pepitas? It might just make the Old Man smile.
Mexican Chocolate Cake with Candied Poblanos and Pepitas
One 9-inch cake – Adapted from a version by Rick Bayless
Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp white sugar
1 medium cinnamon stick
4 medium poblano chiles, stems and seeds removed, and coarsely chopped
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature (plus 1 Tbsp more to butter the cake pan)
1 ¾ cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
2 tsp Kosher salt – used separately
3 large eggs, room temperature
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp instant espresso dissolved in 1 ½ Tbsp warm water
4 ounces (3 disks) Mexican chocolate, roughly chopped
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle position.
2) In a non-stick pan over medium heat, toast the pepitas until they glisten and start to brown. Remove the pan from the heat and toss with 1 tsp of the salt. Let cool to room temperature.
3) In a medium saucepan, stir together 1 cup water, 1 cup of the white sugar and the cinnamon stick and bring to a simmer to melt the sugar. While that comes to temperature, stem and seed the chilis and chop them coarsely. Add the chopped chilis to the simple syrup and simmer for 5-8 minutes until the peppers soften. Strain the peppers through a sieve and remove the cinnamon stick. Save the syrup in a closed container in the refrigerator for another purpose. Make sure you label the syrup as spicy!
4) Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch cake pan, line the bottom with a parchment circle and butter the parchment. Measure out ½ cup of the toasted pepitas and sprinkle them over the bottom of the cake pan. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp white sugar evenly over the pepitas.
5) In the food processor, combine the remaining pepitas with the final cup of white sugar and process until it resembles coarse sand. Add the 3 eggs and the unsalted butter and pulse until the mixture is well combined. Add the flour, the baking powder, remaining salt and the dissolved espresso and pulse until just combined. Add the chopped chocolate and pulse to further chop the pieces into the batter. Finally, add the candied poblanos and pulse until fully combined.
6) Pour the batter into the prepared pan over the whole pepitas and bake until a wooden skewer comes out clean. This should be about 35-40 minutes for a 9-inch pan. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes and then invert the cake onto a platter and carefully remove the pan and parchment. Let the cake cool and then, if desired, gently dust the top with confectionary sugar in a lovely pattern. (I use a stencil I cut from a circle of parchment paper) Serve with cinnamon whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
