Chocolate Truffle Torte

Last week was my lovely sister's birthday, so I decided that as my baking skills have developed quite well I should have a go at making her a birthday cake. Not just any birthday cake though, I decided to make an attempt at a Chocolate Truffle Torte, a recipe I found in a great book -  'Rosie's Pantry: Baking, a collection of essential recipes'. My lovely friend over at Orchard House Living had given me this book a couple of months ago, and I finally got round to trying out one of the recipes. Unfortunately, the 'Rosie's Pantry' range (previously sold by Boots) seems to have been discontinued, and I can only find the book on eBay now

I had one sort-of practise run the week before my sister's birthday, where I made the torte for the very first time. It turned out very well, was very delicious (so much lovely chocolate!), but I felt that the cake base was a tad thin for my liking. Therefore I made some adjustments to the recipe when I made the birthday cake.

Ingredients (serves 10 apparently):
For the cake - 

• Butter, for greasing (I used the cake release spray instead again).
• 110g/4oz golden caster sugar (original recipe calls for 55g/2oz)
• 4 eggs (original recipe - 2 eggs)
• 50g/2oz plain flour (original recipe - 25g/1oz)
• 50g/2oz cocoa powder (original recipe - 25g/1oz)
• 50ml/2fl.oz cold strong black coffee (I used espresso powder)
• 2 tbsp Brandy

For the topping - 

• 600ml/20fl.oz whipping cream
• 425g/15oz plain chocolate, melted and cooled
• Icing sugar, to decorate
• Cocoa powder, to decorate

First, I lined the base of a 23cm/9inch springform cake tin with baking paper, before greasing the sides with the cake release spray. I then set the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.

Tin prepped, along with the cocoa powder and flour.

Next I put the eggs and the caster sugar into a heat-proof bowl and set it over a pan of simmering water. I whisked the eggs and sugar together until pale and mousse-like.

Moussey goodness.

I then gently folded the flour and cocoa powder into the moussey batter, and then poured it into the prepared cake tin.

Adding the cocoa powder and flour.

Batter ready for the oven.

The batter was then baked in preheated the oven for ten minutes, until it was risen and firm to the touch. It was then transferred to a wire rack to cool.

Ooh, cake.

Looking good!

The coffee and brandy were mixed together to create a mixture that smelled incredible. Once the cake had cooled sufficiently, it was put back into the newly-washed tin, and then was brushed with the coffee and brandy mixture.

Ready for brandy and coffee.

A suitably coffee-and-brandy-drenched sponge.

Next, I had to make the yummy topping that goes on top of the sponge. This involved firstly melting all the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once it was fully melted, I set it aside to cool slightly.

Delicious, melted chocolate.

Next, I poured the cream into a bowl and whipped it until it formed very soft peaks.

That's a lot of whipped cream. Yum!

Then I gently folded the melted chocolate into the whipped cream, and then poured the mixture over the sponge. The torte was then placed in the refrigerator to chill for five hours and the set.

Lovely marbling.

Looking good.

Ready for the fridge.

Once the torte had chilled and set, it was carefully removed from the springform tin. A small amount of the chocolate and cream mixture stuck to the sides of the tin, but not enough to ruin the look of the torte. I did, however, smooth out the sides of the torte a little.

Chilled, set, and ready for decoration.

Then it was time to decorate the torte. I started by sifting cocoa powder over the surface of the torte, before placing three strips of waxed card on top of the torte as a mask. With this mask prepared, I then sifted icing sugar over the torte to create a striped pattern.

Layer of cocoa powder nicely done.

Less-than-tidy but still decent-ish stripes.

Then it was time for the final flourish - the candles!

Yay! Candles!

I must admit, I was quite pleased with how the torte turned out. It sat in the fridge oh-so-temptingly until my sister came over and picked it up.

Deliciousness.

Of course, we had to try some of it immediately, just to make sure it was acceptable. It seemed to pas the sister test, so that's good.

It didn't take us long to try some.

Yet again, I seem to have found a recipe that I can only highly recommend. The torte is delicious, and not too sweet, as it only uses plain chocolate. The sponge is wonderfully light, and with the coffee and brandy has a delightful flavour. The main thing, of course, is that my sister loved it, which was the whole point really.

Another very successful recipe!

Beckie.

Whisky-Soaked Chocolate Bundt Cake

Hello again,

I decided to continue my baking by attempting another bundt cake. Last time I did this was for the Tokamak cake that I made for L's boyfriend's viva celebration. As I'd mentioned in that post, one problem that I had with the bundt tin was that each time I'd used it half the cake had been left behind in the tin, no matter how much I'd greased it. So this time I was armed with a new toy, some cake release spray. I must admit that I was feeling sceptical about it, but I reasoned that it was worth a try.

So I stumbled upon this recipe for a Whisky-Soaked Chocolate Bundt Cake at some stage (probably on Buzzfeed again!), and thought that it sounded amazing.

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 300g plain flour
• 150g plain chocolate
• 40g instant espresso powder
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 240ml bourbon or whisky (I used Southern Comfort), plus more for sprinkling
• ½ tsp salt
• 450g granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Icing sugar, for decoration

First, preheat oven to 170°C (325°F, Gas Mark 3). Grease and flour a 10-cup-capacity Bundt pan (I used the cake-release spray instead of butter to grease the pan).

All greased up.

In a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate until just smooth, stirring occasionally. Once fully melted, let it cool a little.

Lots of yummy chocolate to melt.

 

All melted, and smelling sooooo good.

Then put the espresso and cocoa powders in a measuring jug, and add enough boiling water to come up to the 240ml measuring line. Stir until the powders dissolve, and then add the whiskey and salt. Let it cool down.

Espresso and cocoa powder.

Nice mixture of coffee and chocolate.

Yeah, there was no way I was wasting this much of my precious single malt whisky on this recipe (or any recipe for that matter).

A gorgeous-smelling combination of cocoa, coffee and Southern Comfort.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until really fluffy, and then add the sugar, and beat until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then beat in the vanilla extract, bicarbonate of soda and melted chocolate, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula in order to get all the mixture in the bowl.

Nicely beaten butter and sugar.

Adding the eggs one at a time.

Adding the chocolate goodness.

Looking nice and chocolatey.

With the mixer on low speed, beat in a third of the whisky mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in half of the flour. Repeat additions, ending with the whisky mixture.

First part of the whisky mixture going in.

And now for some flour.

It really is a large volume of cake mixture!

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Bake until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes for a Bundt pan.

It fills the tin nicely. Looking good so far.

Transfer the cake, still in its pan, to a rack to cool slightly.

Wow, it really expands like mad in the tin.

Unmold the cake after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more Southern Comfort (following the original recipe, I did this by pouring a little bit of the Southern Comfort into a teaspoon, and then shaking the teaspoon over the cake; I only used about two teaspoons in total). I can definitely tell you that the cake-release spray is amazing - the cake fell out of the tin very easily, and there was no spray residue left on the cake at all. I was very impressed with it, and will definitely use in my my future baking.

Perfect!

Allow the cake to cool completely before sieving icing sugar over it to decorate.

Ready to go to work.

What can I say? What a recipe! The cake was absolutely beautiful. All the doctors and my administration colleagues loved it, and even my parents enjoyed it (which is a minor miracle). The cake was basically a giant cakey whisky truffle, and was one of the moistest cakes I have made yet. The Southern Comfort actually worked really well in the cake mix, and tastes amazing. I will try it with some other whisky at some stage (possibly Bells or Teachers - I will never waste single malt in this, I'll be honest).

Look at that truffley cakey goodness.

I can definitely recommend giving this recipe a go - it is well worth it.

Beckie.