Chocolate: Chocolate History Cake
Source of Recipe
Mary Armstrong
Recipe Introduction
A Rich Chocolate-Almond Sponge Sheet Cake
Cointreau Syrup
5 ounces (5/8 cup) Simple Syrup, combined with 5 ounces (5/8 cup) Cointreau
Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse
4 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 3/4 ounces ( 3/4 cup) scant unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, soft
3 egg whites, large
2 ounces (1/4 cup) generous sugar
Decoration
Bittersweet Chocolate Curls
Confectioners' sugar
Prepare sheet cake according to the recipe and let cool.
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TO PREPARE THE BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
Cut up chocolate, place in a bowl, and melt over hot water. Remove from heat and let cool. Sift cocoa. Cut butter into cubes and melt until just creamy but do not allow to "break" and become oily, as this would cause the mousse to be less light. In a bowl combine butter and cocoa and mix until smooth. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Slowly add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon the cocoa-butter mixture on top of the cool but still liquid chocolate. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg white to loosen mixture. Pour the chocolate mixture over remaining egg whites and lightly fold together.
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TO ASSEMBLE CAKE
Cut the chocolate sponge into 3 equal rectangles, about 10 inches by 5 1/2 inches. Place one layer on a cake board or cardboard rectangle cut to size and covered with tin foil. Using a large pastry brush, soak cake with syrup, and spread with another layer of mousse. Cover with third layer of cake, soak with syrup, and spread with remaining chocolate mousse, saving 3 tablespoons for holding decoration on top of cake. Place cake in freezer for 1 hour.
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TO DECORATE
Remove cake from freezer and spread with reserved chocolate mousse. Using a hot serrated bread knife (dip blade in very hot water and then dry) trim sides of cake evenly. Cover top of cake generously with chocolate curls. Lay a sheet of paper over one half of the cake, forming two triangles. Sift confectioners' sugar over the Chocolate Curls on the exposed half. Remove paper and refrigerate cake until required. Let cake stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.
Serves 8
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CHOCOLATE CURLS
Spread 2 or 3 ounces of tempered chocolate onto marble in a band about 4 inches wide and 1/8 inch thick. Allow to cool until it starts to set up, and the surface dulls. Holding a knife blade at a slight angle, scrape up narrow bands of chocolate, which will curl as you go and form corkscrew curls. It takes a little practice to judge when the chocolate is at the right temperature, but persevere.) Clean off marble and repeat with more chocolate. Place the completed chocolate curls on a plate and refrigerate until required
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RICH CHOCOLATE-ALMOND SPONGE CAKE
7 eggs, large
7 ounces (3/4 cup) generous sugar
6 ounces (1 1/4 cup) scant all-purpose flour
3 ounces (3/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 once (1/3 cup) almond meal (see below)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
Almond Meal
Most supermarkets sell blanched and slivered almonds. Measure amount needed for recipe and grind to powdered consistency.
Preheat oven to 400'F. Line a 17-by-12-by-l-inch sheet cake pan with baking parchment.
Place eggs in bowl of electric mixer and pour sugar on top, beating vigorously by hand with a wire whisk. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water; the water must not touch the bottom of the bowl. Whisk until the egg-sugar mixture is warm to the touch, at 100 F. Remove bowl from heat and place on mixer stand. Beat mixture well with wire whip at medium until it cools and forms a complete emulsion, about 10 minutes. The batter should increase greatly in volume and become very pale in color, and will fall from a spatula in a slowly dissolving ribbon. Remove bowl from stand.
Sift the flour, cocoa, almond meal, and baking powder together onto a sheet of wax paper. Fold lightly into batter. Pour the lukewarm butter around edge of bowl and quickly fold in. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until cake feels springy to the touch. Unmold onto rack, peel off paper after 1 minute, and let cool. Makes one sheet cake. 17-by-12 inch.
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