Category Archives: Chocolate

Black Forest Cake

black forest cakeRICH COCOA ESPRESSO SPONGE CAKE BRUSHED WITH CHERRY SYRUP. KIRSCHWASSER WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING AND SWEET DARK CHERRIES. GARNISHED WITH DARK CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS AND MARASCHINO CHERRIES.

When Pea and Boo first moved in together, Pea not-so-subtly hinted at making a Black Forest Cake. As cherry season came that year, Pea and Boo found piles upon piles of fresh, dark red cherries on display at the local farmer’s market, and they decided the time had come. It was one of the first cake projects they took on together, and it was time to revisit the old recipe to give it a few delectable tweaks in time for our friends’ birthday surprises!

One of the greatest things about sponge cakes is their ability to soak up delicious syrups and juices, intensifying the flavor of the cake. The Black Forest Cake, layered with a rich cocoa sponge soaked in cherry and liqueur syrup, is a brilliant example. Kirschwasser (cherry liqueur) is signature, and (fun fact) required by law in Germany, but you can put as much or as little as you want. This recipe uses about one shot for the entire cake, but no one’s stopping you! – Boo

Servings: 8-12 (dessert portions)

Difficulty: 3 star

Oven: 350 F, 25-35 minutes

NOTES:

  • May use fresh and/or canned cherries. If using canned cherries, reserve syrup as a soak for the sponge cake.

Preparation:

  • Line a 8.5-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the interior.

Cocoa genoise:

  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 0.66 c sugar
  • 1 ts vanilla
  • Dry ingredients, sifted
    0.5 c flour
    0.33 c cocoa powder
    2 tb instant espresso powder
    0.5 ts salt
  • 3 tb butter, melted
  1. Over a bain-marie, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while beating to a firm, glossy meringue, ~4-6 minutes.
  2. Beat egg yolks and vanilla into meringue until just combined.
  3. Fold dry ingredients into egg mixture by thirds.
  4. Stir a large spoonful of batter into melted butter to lighten. Fold butter gently into remaining batter.
  5. Bake in prepared springform pan until cooked through, 25-35 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven, and invert springform pan over a cooling rack until cooled to room temperature.
  7. Remove cake from pan. Set aside until assembly.

Macerated cherries:

  • 1.5 lb cherries, pitted (including 1 can of cherries with syrup)
  • 2 tb kirschwasser
  1. In a bowl, toss cherries with kirschwasser. Cover and refrigerate until assembly.
  2. Stir remaining ingredients together until sugar dissolves. Refrigerate to cool.

Whipped cream frosting:

  • 3 c heavy cream
  • 1.5 ts vanilla
  • 1.5 ts kirschwasser
  • 0.25 c sugar
  1. Beat cream to soft peaks. Add remaining ingredients, and beat to stiff peaks.

Assembly:

  • Garnish
    dark chocolate curls, shavings, or bark
    cherries
    whipped cream
  1. Reserve several cherries for garnish.
  2. Divide the cake into three disks.
    Small pea tip: Use the disk with the flattest surface as the top layer.
  3. Place the bottom cake layer on assembly surface. Soak with one-third of the cherry syrup, and top with one-quarter of the whipped cream and half of the cherries.
  4. Place the middle cake layer on the cherries, and repeat with cherry syrup soak, whipped cream frosting, and cherries.
  5. Place the top cake layer. Spread frosting evenly over entire cake, and reserve ~0.5 c frosting for garnish.
  6. Decorate cake with chocolate, whipped cream, and cherries.
  7. Refrigerate until chilled, and serve.

black forest cake 2

 

Chocolate Soufflé with Passionfruit-White Chocolate Filling

chocolate souffle passionfruit fillingRICH, SWEET, AND FLUFFY CHOCOLATE DESSERT WITH A WARM WHITE CHOCOLATE AND A PASSIONFRUIT CENTER.

And now to finish off the Valentine’s tangy series, the dessert course. I thought we could combine chocolate and passionfruit, and we decided to make a soufflé with a passionfruit filling. We ended up posting this a little later because Boo wanted to make some changes to the recipe to make it a little more chocolaty with a dash of coffee and cocoa powder. Hope you enjoy! – Pea

Servings: 2 (9-oz ramekins) or 4 (5-oz ramekins)
Difficulty: 2 star

Oven: 375 F, 22 minutes

Preparation:

  • Coat inside of ramekins with melted butter, then with sugar. Place prepared ramekins in freezer until use.

Passionfruit white chocolate filling:

  • 3 tb white chocolate chips
  • 0.75 tb passionfruit concentrate
  • 0.5 tb heavy cream
  • pinch salt
  1. In a small bowl, microwave and stir together ingredients in 5-10 second increments until homogenized.
  2. Refrigerate to set while preparing souffle.

Chocolate souffle:

  • Chocolate mixture
    3.5 oz dark chocolate
    4 tb butter
  • Yolk mixture
    2 egg yolks
    0.5 tb instant espresso powder
    0.5 tb  cocoa powder
    1 ts vanilla
    0.25 ts salt
  • Meringue
    3 egg whites
    0.25 ts cream of tartar
    3 tb sugar
  • powdered sugar
  1. Over a bain-marie, melt chocolate with butter. Set aside to cool slightly.
  2. Beat yolk mixture ingredients until homogenized, and whisk into chocolate mixture.
  3. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while beating to stiff peaks (tips of peaks should gently curl when whisk is lifted), 4-6 minutes.
  4. Fold meringue into chocolate mixture by thirds.
  5. Fill prepared ramekins halfway with batter. Spoon the passionfruit white chocolate filling into the center of each ramekin. Top off with remaining batter.
  6. Level off with a knife, and use a fingertip to trace around the inside of the top edge, which helps the souffle to rise.
  7. Bake until maximally risen and cooked through, 21-23 minutes.
  8. Dust with powdered sugar, and serve.

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

DARK CHOCOLATE MERINGUE MOUSSE ACCENTED WITH ESPRESSO AND SALT. MILK CHOCOLATE CREME ANGLAISE MOUSSE. WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM MOUSSE. COCOA POWDER. SERVED OVER CHOCOLATE GENOISE SPONGE.

Chocolate is the key to the heart and soul, and mousse is one of the all-time great ways to deliver it. There are basically two kinds of mousse – egg white mousse and cream mousse, sometimes with gelatin to help keep structure. Each of these types of mousse can borrow a little from the other, but egg white mousse generally has more body to it, while cream mousse is… well, creamy. So we made mousse out of three chocolates – dark, milk, and white – which would all be great on their own, but were even better layered on top of each other in showstopping fashion! And who doesn’t like a coffee-enhanced chocolate sponge cake surprise at the bottom?

Each mousse layer is a little different, giving a little contrast as you nom your way through the layers. The dark chocolate mousse is a classic meringue mousse, with egg whites and cream folded into a melted chocolate. The milk chocolate mousse started with a custard that enriches the milk chocolate before being lightened with whipped cream. The white chocolate mousse is a a classic cream mousse that gets topped off with a healthy dusting of cocoa powder.

While the recipe itself isn’t too hard, it does test your patience since you have to let the layers set completely before pouring on the next one! Hope you give this one a try soon! – Boo

Servings: 12-16 slices
Difficulty: 

Oven: 350 F, 25 minutes

Preparation:

  • Line an 8-inch cake or springform pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour the interior.
  • Line a 9.5-inch cake ring or springform pan with parchment paper. Optionally, line interior with acetate paper.

Chocolate genoise:

  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 0.33 c sugar
  • 0.5 ts vanilla
  • Dry ingredients
    0.25 c flour
    2.5 tb cocoa powder
    0.25 ts salt
  • 0.25 c coffee liqueur
  1. Over a bain-marie, beat eggs with sugar until warm, but not hot. Remove from heat, and beat until eggs fall in ribbons. Beat vanilla into eggs.
  2. Sift and fold dry ingredients into egg mixture.
  3. Bake batter in a buttered and floured 8-inch cake or springform pan, 25 minutes.
  4. Remove from oven, and cool to room temperature.
  5. Transfer cake to the center of lined 9.5-inch springform pan, and brush with coffee liqueur.
  6. Refrigerate while preparing the dark chocolate mousse.

Dark chocolate mousse:

  • Chocolate mixture
    6 oz dark chocolate, recommended 70-78%
    2 tb cocoa powder
    1 tb instant espresso powder
    0.33 ts salt
  • Meringue
    3 egg whites
    4 tb sugar
    1 ts vanilla extract
  • 0.75 c heavy cream
  1. Over a bain-marie, melt dark chocolate. Stir cocoa powder, espresso powder, and salt into melted chocolate.
  2. Beat egg whites with sugar and vanilla to stiff peaks. Fold meringue into chocolate mixture by thirds.
  3. Beat cream to stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into meringue mixture by thirds.
  4. Pour mousse over the chocolate genoise, starting from the center. Tap down gently several times, and smooth the top.
  5. Refrigerate to set, 1-1.5 hours, then prepare milk chocolate mousse.

Milk chocolate mousse:

  • 1.5 ts gelatin powder
  • Custard
    2 egg yolks
    3 tb sugar
    0.33 c milk
    0.25 c heavy cream
  • 6 oz milk chocolate, chopped
  • 1 ts vanilla extract
  • 1.25 c heavy cream
  1. In a small bowl, stir gelatin into 1 tb water. Set aside.
  2. In a saucepan, heat milk and cream on medium heat to a bare simmer.
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk yolks with sugar. Whisk hot milk mixture into yolks.
  4. Return yolk mixture to the saucepan over medium heat, and whisk constantly until slightly thickened.
    Small pea tip: the custard should coat the back of a rubber spatula.
  5. In a mixing bowl, stir custard and vanilla into chocolate until homogenized.
  6. Microwave gelatin until melted, 6-8 seconds. Whisk gelatin into chocolate mixture.
  7. Beat cream to stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture by thirds.
  8. Pour mousse over the set dark chocolate layer, starting from the center. Tap down gently several times, and smooth the top.
  9. Refrigerate to set, 1-1.5 hours, then prepare white chocolate mousse.

White chocolate mousse:

  • 1 ts gelatin
  • White chocolate cream
    8 oz white chocolate
    0.5 c heavy cream
    0.5 ts vanilla extract
  • 1.5 c heavy cream
  1. In a small bowl, stir gelatin into 1 tb water. Set aside.
  2. Microwave and stir white chocolate in 30-second intervals until melted. Whisk cream and vanilla into white chocolate.
  3. Microwave gelatin until melted, 6-8 seconds. Whisk gelatin into chocolate mixture.
  4. Beat cream to stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture by thirds.
  5. Pour mousse over the set milk chocolate layer, starting from the center. Tap down gently several times, and smooth the top.
  6. Refrigerate to set, 1.5-2 hours.

Finish:

  • Garnish
    chocolate espresso beans
    chocolate shavings
    cocoa powder
  1. Optionally garnish, and serve.