When I received a sample of Lindt chocolate last week I earmarked the 60% packet for the Tetsuya flourless chocolate cake. I had made it in the past with 70% and thought it could be slightly more sweet. When I went to bake the cake I noticed the chocolate wrapper said 60% hard shell with a delectably smooth centre. Anyway half went into the cake and half went into Bryan's mouth. He liked loved it.
To be honest my cake looks nothing like the picture in the book. But then I mucked up a couple of times. Like adding all the sugar to the butter mixture when I should have added half to the egg white mixture. I did not cut and serve the cake immediately. It was the following day and the cake height had dropped. However the taste was excellent. Slightly fudgy and not overly sweet.
I served it with banana and peach sorbet and left over berry puree from a previous dessert.
FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE
50grams dark chocolate buttons
20grams unsweetened cocoa
20grams cornflour
50grams unsalted butter
40grams castor sugar
4 x 65gram eggs, separated
a pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
extra cocoa for dusting
Preheat oven to 200C. Grease and flour a 24cm x 9cm tin. Size is important here. I used a larger tin so my cake didn't have the height. It also cooked within 20 minutes.
Melt chocolate in double boiler, or over a pan of gently simmering water. Cool, mix to make sure it is smooth.
Combine cocoa and cornflour and sift thru fine meshed 3 times to ensure it is mixed well.
In an electric mixer, whisk butter until it is light and creamy. Add half the sugar and continue to whisk for 3-4 minutes. Add the egg yolk to the mixture, combine well and whisk on high speed for a further 3 minutes.
Whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar,pinch of salt and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.Fold in 1/3 of the cocoa/flour mixture, then gently fold in remainder.
Fold the egg whites into the melted chocolate, then the butter and egg yolks mixture. Do not overmix.
Gently spoon mixture into the prepared tin.. Place tin in a baking dish half filled with water and bake 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in middle comes out clean.
To serve, slice thinly and dust the cake with cocoa
Thanks to a gift from Tetsuya I now have a second copy of his book. I have decided to give away one, the one I bought, not the signed one.
Go to my original Tetsuya post here and leave a comment and I'll put you in the in the draw for the book. The draw is open to all. I'll ship world wide.
And if you live in Australia enter to win a trip to Sydney with a Masterclass with Tetsuya. Entries close on 04th May 2010.
BANANA AND PEACH SORBET
Peel and chop one large ripe banana and 1 large peach into chunks. Freeze overnight. Next day remove from freezer 20 minutes before serving. Blend in a food processor or Thermomix until smooth.
