I’m a sucker for a clever recipe name and the name for this dense chocolate cake is clever indeed. This great little cake could easily become a staple in your cooking repertoire.
If you are a chocolate lover this would be a great Valentine’s Day dessert. After all, to quote Charles Schulz:
“All you need is love. But, a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”
I adapted this recipe from one posted on an Australian site, delicious. . The link to that recipe appears at the end of this post. You will note that the ingredient quantities are listed in metric measurements. I got out my trusty scale and the cake came together quickly.
The recipe calls for a tablespoon of rum or brandy. You could leave that out but that would be no fun. To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t really taste the brandy flavor in my cake, so I poured myself a generous glass of brandy to accompany the cake. Worked for me.
I served my cake with fresh raspberries but I think a scoop of French vanilla ice cream would be a spectacular accompaniment, too. I sprinkled ground walnuts over my cake.
Recipe:
The Cake
250 grams dark chocolate (chopped)
65 grams unsalted butter (chopped)
3 eggs (separated)
45 grams ultra-fine sugar (caster sugar)
75 ml heavy cream
1 T. dark rum or brandy
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. cream of tartar
The Ganache
225 g. dark chocolate (chopped)
88 g. unsalted butter (chopped)
300 ml heavy cream
1/8 C. corn syrup
Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare a 12-inch springform pan by greasing it and covering the bottom with a layer of parchment paper.
Using a double boiler or a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and the butter. Stir to combine. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture thickens and takes on a pale color. Add cream, brandy (or rum), vanilla and cooled chocolate to mixture.
Put egg whites and cream of tartar into a clean and dry bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture using a metal spoon. It is better to mix the beaten whites in gradually in three or four additions. You want to fold the egg whites in gradually and carefully to keep as much air in the mixture as possible to keep your cake light.
Transfer your batter into your springform pan. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pan. Bake for 25 minutes. When the cake is done, you should be able to insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and have it come out clean. Cool your cake (in the pan) on a wire rack.
To make the ganache, melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or a bowl set over simmering water). Stir the melting mixture until the chocolate and butter are smooth and incorporated. Remove the melted mixture from the heat and set aside while you heat the cream and corn syrup in a separate pan. You want the cream and syrup to heat thoroughly, just to the point before it would boil.
Pour the cream and syrup mixture into your pan of chocolate and stir it to mix. Put this mixture into the refrigerator for 30 minutes (or until it thickens).
Remove the sides of the springform pan from the cake. Frost and enjoy. I sprinkled some finely-ground walnuts on the top of my cake.
Cook’s Notes: I made my superfine sugar by blitzing granulated sugar in my Vitamix blender. You can find superfine sugar in the market, however. I used Trader Joe’s dark chocolate in my recipe. My ganache was fairly warm when I put it into the refrigerator. It took longer for it to thicken.
Here is the link to the original recipe:
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