Hi, my name is Irina and I am a chocoholic. The day without chocolate is a lost day. And on the contrary the more chocolate is in your day – the better it is. A bit of chocolate is good, a cup of thick hot chocolate is better, a chocolate desert is perfect and if it is a whole chocolate cake made – it is the best!
I sharewith you a recipe of the best day ever. Sorry, it’s a recipe of a choco cake only so far. It’s my improvisation on Black forest cake. With mousse, cherry panna cotta and a crispy surprise inside.
From bottom to top on the picture: chocolate sponge (a proper one, no cheating with baking powder), cherry panna cotta with Morello cherries, almond daqoise and milk chocolate mousse.
The sponge is particular pride, ’cause I could never manage to make a chocolate sponge without baking powder. The whites sank each time I added flour. But this time it worked: it is soft, tender, moist, springy and idealy foamy. It isnt actually my great job, it is the genius of Pasquale Marigliano – I used his recipe.
Silk chocolate sponge (square tin 22 cm)
120 g whole eggs (about 2,5 )
80 g sugar
80 g egg yolks (about 6 )
70 g flour
8 g unsweetened cocoa powder
10 g cornstarch
30 g butter plus a little to greese the tin
Whisk eggs and sugar until very fluffy (about 7 minutes), add yolks one by one and whisk 3 more minutes after adding the last yolk. Gently fold in dry ingredients sifted beforehand. Blend with a spatula moving it as if your are drawing an 8. Add melted and chilled butter and draw an 8 with a spatula a little more. be gentle, try to save as many air inside batter as you can. Pour the mixture into tin and bake for 15-18 minutes at 180° С. When ready, take the sponge out of tin immediately, so it cools fast and evenly.
Almond dacquoise (baking sheet)
340 g egg whites (from 8-9 eggs)
115 g caster sugar
85 g almond meal
85 g icing sugar.
Whisk eggs and sugar to a firm meringue, blend almond meal and icing sugar and add them to meringue. Gently mix. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180° С.
Cherry panna cotta (square tin 20 cm)
100 g cheery juice (or liquid from concerve)
50 g cherry syrup
180 g milk
180 g double cream
135 g caster sugar
5 г gelatine (softened in cold water)
20-25 Morello cherries
Put all ingredients except for gelatin and cherries in a pan, simmer on a low heat about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add gelatine and mix until blended. Lay cherries in a tin, pour the panna cotta mixture over. Freeze at list 4 hours.
Milk chocolate mousse (recipe: Martin Isaksson, square tin 20 cm)
You will need only half amount of mousse for cake.
94 g water
94 g sugar
83 g eggs
75 g egg yolks (about 6 )
195 g double cream (1)
6 g gelatine (softened in cold water)
550 g milk chocolate
488 g doudle cream (2)
Mix eggs, yolks, water and sugar and heat in double boiler to 84 °С stirring constantly. The yolks will curl, it’s okey. Just keep stirring. Remove from heat and whisk until very fluffy.
Heat cream (1) to simmering, add gelatine, mix until fully incorporated. Add chocolate cut into small pieces, stir until chocolate dissolves. Remove from the heat.
Whisk cream (2) to firm peaks. Fold chocolate to egg mixture, mix well, follow by cream, mix well again.
Cherry jelly
100 g cherry juice
50 g rose wine
100 g sugar
4 g gelatine (softed in cold water)
Heat juice. wine and sugar to simmering, remove from heat and ad gelatine. Stir till gelatine dissolves, pour into tin or container and refrigirate for 1 hour.
Mirror glaze.
75 g water
150 g sugar
150 g golden syrup
100 g condenced milk
150 g dark chocolate
12 g gelatine (softened in cold water)
Bring water, sugar and syrup to 105°С. Cut chocolate and blend it with condenced milk. Pour syrup over chocolate and mix until smooth. Add gelatine and stir. Cool to 31-32°С before using.
Assembling.
Cut sponge to the size of your tin (20×20 cm). Cover with panna cotta and follow by dacquoise. Cut both to size of the sponge. Put all three layers into tin. Pour over with a half of mousse and freeze for 3-4 hours. When ready, cut into squate cake bites (or leave whole if you’re making a cake) and cover with glaze, pouring it generously. It makes sense to put the cake onto the wire rack and put a big pan underneath, so the sides will be glazed evenly and you catch all the leftovers which u can refrigirate and keep up to two weeks. Decorate your cake with cherry jelly, white chocolate and edible gold.
Enjoy!