A Chocolate Dream Comes True

Copyright 2011 keikos-cake.com All Rights Reserved

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm2xNjfyQHo

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Happy Baking!

For the ganache*: Couverture chocolate 300 g (10.58 oz) Heavy cream (30-35%) 240 g (8.47 oz) Glucose 36 g (1.27 oz) Butter (unsalted) 72 g (2.54 oz)
* Wikipedia says: Ganache refers to a variety of icing, fillings for pastries, and glazes.It is typically made from chocolate and cream. Its origins date to around 1850, when it may have been invented in Switzerland or in France.

For the batter: Couverture chocolate 95 g (3.35 oz) Butter (unsalted) 95 g (3.35 oz) Sugar (granulated) 110 g (3.88 oz) Egg yolk 90 g (3.17 oz) Egg white 140 g (4.94 oz) Sugar (for egg white) 50 g (1.76 oz) Cake flour 80 g (2.82 oz) Cocoa powder 15 g (0.53 oz)

Wrap inside with baking paper.

I use a baking pan with 18 cm diameter (7 inches) and I recommend you use the same size. However, if your baking pan has a different diameter and you wish to get the same height of the cake, you need to multiply all ingredients with a factor. For example, if your baking pan has a diameter of 22 cm, the factor would be: (22 * 22) : (18 * 18) = 484 : 324 = 1.5

One word about the chocolate This is the #1 ingredient and I suggest you use only high quality couverture chocolate. Dont use normal chocolate that wont work. Use dark couverture chocolate with a cocoa percentage of 55-65%. If you use a block of couverture chocolate, chop it into small pieces before using.

Sift the flour together with the cocoa powder twice.

The glucose makes the ganache shiny and moisty. If you cant find glucose, its possible to substitute it with corn syrup. Glucose gives better results, though.

Heat the heavy cream (30-35% fat) together with the glucose in a small saucepan. The glucose will dissolve completely. Pour the hot mixture into the bowl with the couverture and stir gently until it is fully melted.

Add half of the butter and keep mixing until the butter dissolves. Add the remaining butter and mix until you get a smooth ganache. To let the ganache cool down faster, you can pour it into a flat pan. Cover it with plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge (not freezer!) for 2-3 hours.

Prepare the baking pan with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 175C (347 F). Next, we start preparing the cake batter. Heat the butter until it is fully melted. Dont let the butter burn or turn brown.

The butter should have less than 80C (178 F) when you pour it into the bowl with the couverture.
Stir until the couverture is fully melted.

Add the suger and mix with the couverture.

Add the egg yolk and mix.

Next, we prepare the egg white in a separate bowl.

Start beating and when the egg white has a consistency like shown in the picture above, add half of the granulated sugar. Keep whisking a few minutes. Then, add the remaining sugar and whisk until the egg white is stiff like in the picture to the right.

Add half of the egg white to the chocolate batter and mix until the dough has a uniform color (light brown instead of dark brown with white stripes).

Next, add the sifted flour and cocoa powder. Stir gently, then add the remaining egg white and mix until you get a smooth texture with uniform color. See the video for the right consistency.

Pour the dough into the baking pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes in your pre-heated oven at 175C (347 F).

Nice. Dont worry if the cake has cracks on top thats normal.

Take the hot cake out from the baking pan and let it cool down on a wire rack (1-2 hours).

Copyright 2011 keikos-cake.com All Rights Reserved

Peel off the top of the cake. If pieces keep sticking to the top, dont mind. We will cut them away in a moment

Turn the cake around and carefully strip off the baking paper from the bottom.

Next, cut the cake into three slices. Use a knife with a serrated edge (bread knife). You can cut off a bit from the top, if there are bumps or pieces of crust.
If you find it difficult to slice the cake evenly, you can use a layered cake cutter instead of the knife.

This is the way the slices are combined in the final cake top middle bottom middle top

bottom

Take the ganache out of the fridge and take away the plastic wrap. See the picture and video for the right consistency. If your ganache is still too liquid, put it back into the fridge for some more minutes. If its already too stiff, you can warm it carefully using a double boiler (pot with ganache on top of a saucepan with boiling water). Keep stiring when heating the ganache. Now, its time to assemble the cake I use a cake turntable and a palette knife for preparing and decorating the chocolate cake.

Cover the bottom slice with raspberry jam.

Add a layer of ganache, around 0.5 cm thick (0.2 inches).

Put fresh raspberries on the ganache. Frozen raspberries are not so good because they contain too much water. Of course, you can use other fruits, but raspberries taste especially good combined with the ganache.

Put the middle slice on top and push gently with your hands or a flat board.

signed edition

Repeat the steps for the next layer of jam, ganache, raspberries, and cake slice.

Cover the cake with the ganache. Start by adding and evenly spreading a thick layer on top. Next, put chunks of ganache on the side of the cake and evenly distribute it while rotating the cake turntable.

When you are satified with the side of the cake, finish the top with a few strokes from outside to inside with the palette knife. You can watch how I do it in the video. Learning by seeing actually works. And yes, this may take some practice. Dont give up if your cake looks less professional on your first try.

It tastes great, nevertheless

Put the cake on a nice plate and cut into eight pieces (or twelve ).

You can decorate the cake, if you want. Here, I just added a few raspberries and icing powder on top. Then, Invite your friends and family and let them taste this

Copyright 2011 keikos-cake.com All Rights Reserved

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