Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Flourless Chocolate Torte w. Chocolate ganache

I LOVE to bake, but I don't have a big sweet tooth. Last night we were having some of our good friends over, and so I decided I wanted to try out a chocolate torte. I watch Top Chef Just Desserts, and they make these ALL THE TIME! So, I thought I would try this "high end" creation. It turned out BEAUTIFUL! Not to toot my own horn, but I swear it was restaurant quality! I was so stinking proud of it! But, it is extremely rich. I could only have a few bites, and only one of the four of us actually finished our piece. So this is a great dessert in small doses, or for a fancy party. Here it is, and the recipe!

 Torte Pre Ganache
 Make sure and put it on a wire rack when pouring the ganache!

I wouldn't recommend these big of slices! haha

Flourless Chocolate Torte
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Using 1/2 tablespoon butter grease a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with a parchment round. Cover pan underneath and along sides with foil and set in a roasting pan. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil.
Combine the chocolate, butter, and amaretto in a metal bowl set over simmering water or in the top of a double boiler. Melt the mixture, stirring constantly, until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes; reserve.
Meanwhile combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until frothy and almost doubled in volume, about 5 to 10 minutes. Fold 1/3 of egg mixture into chocolate mixture using a rubber spatula. Repeat this process 2 more times - until all of egg mixture has been folded into chocolate mixture.
Pour batter into prepared springform pan and place in the roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to come about halfway up the sides. Bake until cake has risen slightly and edges are just beginning to set, about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove cake from roasting pan and cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove foil, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
Remove cake from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. Remove springform pan sides, invert cake onto a large plate, and peel away the parchment paper from bottom. Reinvert cake on another large plate or serving platter and garnish with confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder immediately before serving.

Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

  1. In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips with cream over low heat. Remove from the heat. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally.
  2. For a pourable ganache, cool until mixture reaches 85 degrees F-90 degrees F and is slightly thickened, about 40 minutes. Pour over cake, allowing some to flow down the edges to completely coat. Spread ganache with a spatula if necessary to evenly coat, working quickly before it thickens. Chill until set.
  3. For spreadable ganache, chill until mixture reaches a spreadable consistency. Spread over cake. Chill until set.
  

34 comments:

  1. It looks soooo decadent, my husband loves these, I'll have to make him one. I love them too, but then I found out I'm allergic to eggs...sniff sniff, no flourless torte for me :D Oh, well, keeps the calories from settling on my hips!! :D

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  2. Is there any chance of being able to replace Amaretto with something? Like expresso? Would that change the taste?

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    1. Frangelico would be delicious... hazelnut flavour instead of almond... but I'm sure expresso would also be good if you like the coffee flavour.

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  3. I just made this cake last night for a Christmas party today. I substituted chambord liqueur (raspberry) for the amaretto. It was fabulous and everyone enjoyed it. Thanks!!

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    1. The chambord sounds delicious and I have some to use for this recipe this weekend! Thanks for the suggestion.

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  4. A friend brought this over and it was one of the best I've ever had! She led me to the recipe and now I'm making it for Easter!

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  5. These are great! I made them exactly as the recipe states but I baked them in a mini cupcake pan with paper wrappers. It made more than 50 mini dangerously delicious cakes. Baked for 7 minutes, they maybe could have gone longer but not much more. The amaretto in them really makes it amazing. Took them to our church picnic and they were a hit.

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  6. I've just made this cake using triplsec and orange extract rather than the ameretto and vanilla. The orange flavour is marvellous!!

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  7. Can this be premade and frozen?

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  8. I made this cake, deeeelicious! Used chocolate Godiva instead of Amaretto. Very moist and rich.

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