“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”
[Charles M. Schulz]
A new, rich recipe with lots and lots of chocolate, chocolate sprinkles, cacao, Lindt Lindor chocolate, cream, coffee and rum.
DISCLAIMER> If you don’t wanna read the intro, you may scroll down to CHAPTER I
I was sitting in a Otorhinolaryngologist’s waiting room to finally do something about my nosebleeds. While I was sitting and waiting, I flipped through one of those women’s magazines and found a very rich and dense looking chocolate cream cake recipe, snatched a picture and decided to give it a try. One of my work colleagues is a big fan of anything that involves cake and chocolate and this seemed like made for him. Being a culinary half-blood prince, I of course did not stick to the recipe but made a few adjustments here and there and as usual ignored precise quantities. The numbers in my recipe down there are therefore in between the original recipe and rough estimations of how much I used.
In order to make this gluttony in cake reality, you need patience, time and follow the following steps:
CHAPTER I. The Cake Base.
Preheat the oven to 180°C ( ≈ 356 Fahrenheit) on upper & lower heat. Whisk 3 eggyolks with 50g white sugar. Whisk 3 tbsp cocao powder and another 50g white sugar into it. In a separate bowl, beat 3 egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Carefully fold in the cocoa mixture. Blend 100g plain flour with 2 tsp baking powder and 2 tbsp instant coffee and slowly stir this, too, into the batter.
Take a baking tray, put some baking paper on it and spread the batter circularly so it covers at least the diameter of a cake ring (which we will be using later anyway, so just keep it nearby). Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes and let it rest. Once it’s cooled down, take aforementioned cake ring and cut out a perfectly round cake base. Leave the cake ring attached. Nibble on the leftovers cause that’s what baking is all about, anyway.
CHAPTER II. The Chocolate Mousse
Aka the best, richest and the most chocolaty step. Heat 250g dark bitter chocolate and 100g milk chocolate in a bain-marie – and OMG, what a noble expression, so French cuisine and nothing like the plain “water bath”. Clever people break the chocolate bar into pieces BEFORE opening the package. Now if you feel really fancy, chop up some Lindt Lindor dark bitter chocolate balls and add them to the melting pot.
While melting away, whisk 2 egg yolks, 2 eggs, 50g white sugar and 8 tbsp rum. Add the melted chocolate and 125g Quark (I think it’s curd cheese in English? I remember it was super difficult to get it in the UK. If all else fails, Greek yoghurt could work as a substitute but it’ll make it even denser and richer. You have been warned.). Add 4 tbsp instant coffee. Whisk 250g cream until whipped and add that, too. Pour the mixture over the cake base and let it rest at a cool place over night. I just left it outside on my balcony in deep winter and that worked perfectly.
CHAPTER III. Coating and Decoration
Fast forward to 4-24 hours later, ready for the final step. Again, heat up the water hot pot and set up le bain-marie to melt 150g dark bitter chocolate, 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp honey.
Whisk 125ml cream with some stabilizer and pour the ready-made chocolate fondue into it. Let it cool down a bit – it doesn’t have to be cold, lukewarm is fine – and smear it onto the cake and, the sides. Make it all smooth with a dough scraper. Unwrap Lindt Lindor dark bitter chocolate balls and cut them in halves. Set them on the outer ring of the cake, one half for each slice, and one in the middle. Sprinkle chocolate sprinkles or grated chocolate everywhere – I personally love the dark bitter sprinkles but that’s up to you.
And now take a pastry fork and go right into the soft creamy texture and indulge this sinful, rich dessert. And die from sugar shock now or diabetes later. Worth it, though.
“Boah, ist die aber fett!”
[G. K., who is not exactly eloquent but brutally honest. And to this day, it remains a mystery if he meant me or my cake.]