Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (11 page)

Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Rotate the pan briskly back and forth just to level the top of the batter.

Bake for about 1 hour and 5 or 10 minutes until a cake tester gently inserted in the middle comes out clean, and the cake barely begins to come away from the sides of the pan.

Let the cake cool completely in the pan.

When cool, cut around the sides of the cake to release it, cover with a rack, invert the cake pan and the rack, and remove the pan and the paper lining. Cover with another rack and invert again, leaving the cake right side up.

The cooled cake will be a scant 2 inches high.

The cake is extremely fragile; in order to transfer it safely to a cake plate I recommend freezing the cake on the rack until it is firm enough to handle.

Place four strips of wax paper around the edges
of a cake plate to protect the plate while icing the cake (see page 18). Place the cake right side up on the cake plate and check to see that the wax paper touches the cake all around the bottom. With a pastry brush, brush away any loose crumbs from the sides of the cake and the plate.

If you have a turntable for icing cakes or a lazy Susan, place the cake plate on it.

CHOCOLATE ICING

6 ounces semisweet chocolate (see Note)

3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted, then uncover and stir until completely melted and smooth. Transfer the melted chocolate to the small bowl of an electric mixer. Let stand for a minute or two to cool slightly. Then add the butter, egg, and egg yolk and beat at low speed only until the mixture is smooth. Do not overbeat; additional beating will lighten the color and it is best if it stays dark.

The icing should be ready to use now, but if it is too thin let it stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes to thicken very slightly.

Pour the icing onto the top of the cake. With a long, narrow metal spatula smooth the top, spreading the icing to make a little bit (not much) run down the sides. Then with a small, narrow metal spatula smooth the icing on the sides—it should be a very thin layer on the sides, only enough to coat the cake but not enough to run down onto the plate.

Let stand at room temperature for at least a few hours (or overnight if you wish) before serving.

NOTE
:
Any semisweet chocolate may be used. If you use bars, break them into pieces before melting; 1-ounce squares may be melted whole.

Viennese Chocolate Almond Torte

10
T
O 12
P
ORTIONS

This is a single-layer cake 2½ inches high, with a thin, dark chocolate glaze. It is typically Viennese—chic, classy, and simple-looking. Made without flour, it is not as fine-textured as cakes made with flour. It is light, moist, and not too sweet.

It may be made the day before serving or the cake may be made well ahead of time, frozen, and then iced the day it is served. (If you freeze the cake, give it plenty of time to thaw, wrapped, at room temperature before icing it—see Note.)

4 ounces semisweet chocolate

8 ounces (l£ cups) almonds (they can be blanched or unblanched, whole, sliced, or slivered)

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon fine, dry bread crumbs

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ pound (1 stick) sweet butter

1 cup granulated sugar

6 eggs (graded large), separated

2 tablespoons whiskey, rum, bourbon or kirsch

Pinch of salt

Adjust rack one-third up from bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8 × 3-inch spring-form pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of baking-pan liner paper or wax paper cut to fit, and butter the paper. Dust the inside of the pan lightly with fine, dry bread crumbs, invert over
paper and tap the pan lightly to shake out excess crumbs. (The crumbs for preparing the pan are in addition to those called for in the ingredients.)

The chocolate and the almonds must be ground to a fine powder. They may easily be done all together in a food processor (if you are using 1-ounce squares of chocolate they should first be chopped coarsely—bar chocolate should be broken into pieces). Or they may be ground in a blender, doing only part at a time. Or use a nut grinder.

In a medium-size mixing bowl mix the ground chocolate and almonds with the bread crumbs and baking powder, stirring until thoroughly mixed.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add ¾ cup of the sugar (reserve ¼ cup) and beat to mix. Add the egg yolks all at once and beat well, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula, until very smooth. Add the whiskey, rum, bourbon, or kirsch and beat well for 2 to 3 minutes until light in color. Then on low speed add the chocolate-nut mixture and beat only until incorporated. Remove from the mixer.

In the small bowl of the mixer, add the salt to the egg whites and beat with clean beaters until they hold a soft shape. Reduce the speed to medium, gradually add the reserved ¼ cup sugar, increase the speed again and beat until the mixture holds a definite shape but is not stiff or dry.

The chocolate mixture will be rather thick; stir a large spoonful of the whites into the chocolate to lighten it a bit and then, in several additions, small at first, fold in the remaining whites.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Level the top by rotating the pan briskly back and forth a few times.

Bake for 60 to 65 minutes until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out thoroughly dry.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for about 20 minutes. Then with a thin, sharp knife carefully cut around the sides to release. Remove the sides of the pan. Cover the cake with a rack. Carefully invert the rack and the cake (it is safest to hold your right hand directly under the middle of the cake to keep it from slipping). Remove the bottom of the pan and the paper. Cover with another rack and invert again, leaving the cake right side up. Let stand until completely cool. (If you let it stand overnight or longer, or if you freeze it, wrap it in plastic wrap after it has cooled to room temperature.)

If the top of the cake is uneven use a long thin sharp knife to level it.

To ice the cake, cut four strips of wax paper and place them around the outer edges of a flat cake plate. Place the cake upside down on the plate, adjusting the paper strips so they touch the bottom of the cake all around. With a pastry brush, brush the sides of the cake to remove any loose crumbs.

If you have a cake-decorating turntable or a lazy Susan, place the cake plate on it. (Incidentally, it is best to ice the cake about 4 to 6 hours before serving, although a bit more or less really won’t matter much.)

THIN CHOCOLATE GLAZE

4 ounces semisweet chocolate

1½ teaspoons dry instant coffee

¼ cup boiling water

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces

¼ cup sifted confectioners sugar

Break or chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place it in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat or in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat. Add the butter and stir until smooth. Then add the sugar and stir until smooth (it must be smooth)—either stir with a wire whisk or press against any lumps with a rubber spatula, but do not beat.

Let the glaze stand for about 15 or 20 minutes until it is cool and very slightly thickened. Or refrigerate or stir over ice, but be careful not to let it thicken too much.

Once this glaze is on the cake it is important not to spread it or work over it any more than necessary. It will be beautifully shiny if you don’t fool with it too much; the more you work over it the more of its shine it will lose.

Pour all the glaze over the top of the cake. With a long, narrow metal spatula spread the glaze so that just a very little bit of it runs down on the sides; there should be only enough to cover the sides with a very thin layer (if you have too much of it on the sides it will run off). With the spatula smooth the sides.

In Vienna this cake simply has a small sprinkling of chopped green pistachio nuts in the middle of the glaze. Or you could use a bit of crumbled toasted sliced almonds. Or nothing.

And, although it is wonderful just as it is, it is also wonderful with whipped cream served on the side.

The cake should be at room temperature when it is served.

NOTE
:
The iced cake may be frozen if you don’t mind the fact that the icing will lose its shine—I don’t mind. If so, let the cake stand at room temperature long enough for the icing to set. Freeze the cake first and then wrap it. Thaw it, wrapped, at room temperature.

Chocolate Almond Sponge Torte

6
P
ORTIONS

This is a small and classy dessert cake which will serve 4 to 6 people. Two chocolate almond sponge layers, made without flour, are filled and covered with chocolate buttercream; the top is coated with small chocolate curls. It may be made a few hours before serving or the day before (or it may be frozen with the icing and then thawed before serving).

5 ounces (I cup) whole blanched almonds

4 eggs (graded extra-large), separated

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons strained unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process)

1 tablespoon rum or Cognac

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract

Pinch of salt

Adjust rack to center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms with rounds of wax paper, butter the paper, dust the insides lightly with flour, then invert and tap gently to remove excess flour.

The almonds must be ground into a fine powder; this can be done in a food processor, a blender, or a nut grinder. But they must be fine. Set them aside.

In the small bowl of an electric mixer beat the egg yolks and the sugar at high speed for 5 minutes. Add the cocoa, rum or Cognac, and vanilla and almond extracts and beat at low speed, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula only until mixed. On low speed add the ground almonds and beat only until mixed. Remove from the mixer.

In a clean bowl with clean beaters add the salt to the egg whites and beat only until they hold a firm shape or are stiff but not dry.

The chocolate mixture will be stiff. Stir a large spoonful of the whites into the chocolate to lighten it a bit. Then, in three additions, fold the whites into the chocolate, handling lightly and as little as possible.

Place half of the mixture in each of the prepared pans. Smooth the layers.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip and the cakes begin to come away from the sides of the pans.

Remove from the oven. With a small, sharp knife cut around the sides to release. Cover a pan with a rack and invert the pan and the rack. Remove the pan, peel off the paper, cover with another rack, and invert again to cool right side up. Repeat with remaining layer.

Place four strips of wax paper around the sides of a cake plate to protect the plate while icing the cake. Place one layer right side up on the plate, checking to see that the wax paper touches the cake all around.

If you have a cake-decorating turntable or a lazy Susan, place the cake plate on it.