DEATH BY CHOCOLATE CAKE – AN INTENSE CHOCOLATE TORTE
By far the most requested of all the cakes that I bake this seems to be everybody’s favourite, be they very young or ancient. It is suddenly enjoying a bit of the limelight again thanx to my friend Nina from My Easy Cooking who requested a recipe on twitter a few days ago and I passed mine on to her. She was delighted with how it turned out and today I met the lady who’s birthday it was and who was the incredibly happy recipient of this stunning cake…..it went down a treat we were told!
Photo courtesy of Nina Timm My Easy Cooking
Note: The recipe is flourless so should therefore suit wheat intolerant individuals and will fit into a gluten-free diet
My favourite way of eating this intense chocolate cake is simply with a dusting of icing sugar, a drizzle of raspberry coulis & a dollop of crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream
Do also note that that the texture and flavour intensifies and settles with time so plan to prepare and bake this cake 24 hours prior to consuming. It loves spending the night chilling in the fridge!! 🙂
COLLEEN’S INTENSE CHOCOLATE TORTE (DEATH BY CHOCOLATE)
Ingredients:
100g Lindt Dark Chocolate (82%) – use 70% for a slightly sweeter version
100g Lindt Milk Chocolate – or if you want it really rich and dark use the full 200g dark )
200g Lurpak Unsalted Butter
250g Granulated Sugar
6 Jumbo Eggs – separated into 2 bowls
2 Tbs Finely Ground Almonds – I like to roast then grind the nuts – I put a little bit of castor sugar into the grinder with the nuts. It works well at grinding them finer…
1 Tbs Brandy, Cointreau or Van der Hum (optional but delicious)
Pinch Salt
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
¼ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Zest of ½ Orange
Juice of 1 Orange
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 1800C
- Butter the sides and the base of a deep 23cm diameter cake pan. Line with parchment paper and brush this with soft butter as well
- Roughly chop the chocolate and cut the butter into small cubes
- Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave on 20% power for 1-2 minutes, stirring every minute to combine. Set aside to cool a bit
- Add ½ the sugar and salt to the egg yolks and beat until warm, pale, thick and trebled in size. Don’t shortcut this stage, you need as much air in the batter as you can get
- Gently stir in the orange zest, alcohol, juice and vanilla extract
- Add the melted chocolate-butter mixture to the eggs and blend in evenly
- Sprinkle the almond flour over the batter and fold in.
- Beat the egg whites till foamy, add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Add the remaining sugar and beat till stiff peaks form
- Fold ¼ of the whites into the chocolate batter and incorporate then add the rest and fold in very gently so as not to lose any of the air
- Pour batter into the buttered cake pan and bake for 35 – 45 minutes until the centre of the cake barely trembles when the pan is shaken and the top is set, shiny and a bit crackly-looking
- Run a hot knife around the cake to loosen from sides of pan, leave in pan on a cooling rack to cool completely then cover pan well with cling film and refrigerate overnight
- Remove from fridge at least an hour (2 hours is better) before serving at room temperature
- Warm the bottom of the pan briefly over medium flame, shake to loosen the cake then turn the cake out of the pan then invert back onto a plate lined with fresh wax paper so top of cake is uppermost
- Dredge the entire top surface of the cake with a thick layer of sifted icing sugar
- Serve in wedges with a raspberry coulis or passion fruit/lemon curd drizzled onto the plate, fresh raspberries for garnish & a dollop of crème fraîche or a ball of good vanilla ice cream.
You can also frost this cake with chocolate ganache for special occasions. I love the rustic simplicity of it served as above but some people do prefer a birthday cake with frosting or icing
Chocolate Ganache
200g Dark Chocolate
125ml Fresh Cream
1 Tbs Unsalted Butter
1 Tbs Brandy or Liqueur – very optional but delicious
- Chop the chocolate very finely & place in a clean dry bowl
- Heat cream, liqueur & butter over medium heat until little bubbles start forming around the sides of the saucepan – do not allow it to boil!!
- Quickly pour all the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl & leave to stand for a few minutes
- Stir well then leave to stand a few more minutes until all the chocolate has melted, stir until smoothly blended
- Allow to cool to room temperature
- Place the chilled cake on a board exactly the same size as the cake. Place on a wire rack over a tray, pour some of the ganache onto the cake. Quickly spread it around with a spatula to cover the cake in a smooth thin layer (this is called a crumb coat) Refrigerate for 10 minutes to allow it to set
- Pour the rest of the chocolate into the centre of the cake & working quickly, using a long spatula & with wide strokes smooth the rest of the chocolate over the cake. (If you prefer you can just tilt the cake in different directions allowing the ganache to cover the top and run down the sides of the cake) Remove from rack onto a serving plate & allow to set before decorating & serving as desired (the chocolate that has dripped into the tray can be put through a strainer to remove any cake crumbs and refrigerated for further use – making truffles comes to mind :o) or you can whip it and pipe rosettes onto your cake)If you want to frost your cake with whipped ganache then place the bowl of melted creamy chocolate over a bowl of water with ice cubes & start whisking – either with a wire whisk if you have strong arms and wrists or use a handheld beater like I do 🙂
- Once the ganache starts thickening and is whipped to a spreading or piping consistency you need to work fairly fast to frost your cake as it hardens up quickly. If you overbeat it, it will become grainy.
Apologies if the photos aren’t aligned…I’m battling with it and its late so am leaving it as is now. Just some examples of the versatility of ganache…..
Enjoy,
browniegirl xx
World Wide News Flash 18/09/2010 at 1:21 am
DEATH BY CHOCOLATE CAKE ? AN INTENSE CHOCOLATE TORTE « browniegirl…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Barbara | VinoLuciStyle 18/09/2010 at 1:25 am
Oh my! I sort of want to stop what I’m doing and make this right now but will try not to cause then I would have to eat it all by myself too and don’t think my trainer would like that much. Or my lying about gaining 5 lbs overnight.
I simply love flourless chocolate cakes…sort of fudgie instead of cakeish. Think with a ganache it would be ‘to die for’ and the name would really resonate with meaning!
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 6:49 pm
HAHA! Too true Barb……..I can just see you lying there gaining 5lb overnight! Thanx so much for the lovely comment xx
Tweets that mention DEATH BY CHOCOLATE CAKE – AN INTENSE CHOCOLATE TORTE « browniegirl -- Topsy.com 18/09/2010 at 2:02 am
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Colleen Grove, Colleen Grove. Colleen Grove said: @tamiya_t Absolutely….. here is a link to my recipe http://wp.me/pTbaR-4w #deathbychocolate […]
Tanvi 18/09/2010 at 2:52 am
Came across ur blog on WordPress Tag Surfer!
That is one deadly beautiful looking cake! And the best part …its flourless!
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 6:49 pm
Hi Tanvi and welcome. Thanx so much for popping in and for commenting. Much appreciate it. This is one stunning cake xx
halfp1nt 18/09/2010 at 6:19 am
What a way to go!
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 6:57 pm
LOL! Preceded by a divine hot hot chilli curry…….xx
viewfromtheside 18/09/2010 at 8:39 am
oh oh oh, memories of it, leave my tastebuds dancing and cheering
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 6:57 pm
Aaaah yes, once you have partaken it leaves you always wanting more doesnt it?? Hehe…hugs xx
Blonde Moments (67/365) | C'est la Vie 18/09/2010 at 10:02 am
[…] and not conducive to dough rising. So we have the heater going. The things we do for food! I made this cake last night. Except mine does look quite so professional. Mine flopped. Totally my own fault.A […]
Jo 18/09/2010 at 10:26 am
This looks so – well… “professional” is the only word I can come up with at the moment, O Captain, my Captain!
Is there really only 2T of ground almonds? What makes the density?
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 6:59 pm
Thanx Jo, the top cake was made by my friend Nina from My Easy Cooking. The bottom pix are all mine. Yes only 2 tablespoons. You could use flour instead of the almonds for those who have nut allergies. The density comes from the eggs. Very NB to beat them extremely well. Hugs to you and so good to see you this side. xx
whippingitup 18/09/2010 at 10:39 am
Ooooooooooh, Colleen, why do you torture us so?! Looks absolutely fantastic, delicious, scary!
Lots of love and thank you, hope all is going well down there by the bay I love so much x
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 7:00 pm
Where are you sweetpea? All is going swimmingly down by the bay! Thanx so much for the lovely comment hehe…lots of love to you too xx
Marietjie 18/09/2010 at 12:09 pm
This looks and sounds wonderful – totally out of this world. yummy!!!!
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 7:01 pm
Thank you so much Marietjie. appreciate that xx
Saf 18/09/2010 at 1:39 pm
Once again you have out done yourself my friend- this looks incredible!
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 7:01 pm
Thanx Saf. So good to see you popping in here. Hugs and love xx
Beadz2Pleaz 19/09/2010 at 8:50 pm
My only complaint…………those photographs are not aligned 😉 otherwise, it looks yummy, decadent and simply delish. I can smell the chocolate.
Colleen 19/09/2010 at 10:55 pm
Hehe…if you only knew how I battled :o) xx
Meeta 19/09/2010 at 11:46 pm
oh i do not want to die but i will gladly die for this cake. OMG! this looks incredible!
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 7:02 pm
HAHA!! Thanx sweet Meeta. So good of you to visit and comment. Much appreciate. Hugs xx
Marisa 20/09/2010 at 1:23 pm
Looks spectacular Colleen! All that chocolate-y goodness will make for a very happy tummy.
Colleen 26/09/2010 at 7:03 pm
A very happy tummy indeed Marisa. Thanx so much xx
DARK CHOCOLATE AMARULA AND OREO CHEESECAKE « browniegirl 18/11/2010 at 6:26 pm
[…] my son in law (who had his birthday on Sunday) ordered this over his regular annual choice of my death by chocolate cake after he tasted the cheesecake that I made just before we went on holiday…yes, the husband […]