Cake of the Day: Boozy Chocolate Torte from ‘The Messy Baker’
Every day, Yahoo Food features delectable cakes. They taste good, they look good, and they’re made by good people — talented bakers from around the world. Today, Charmian Christie shares a recipe from her new book The Messy Baker that celebrates baking as it happens in the real world — sweet, savory, messy, and fun! Her cookbook includes more than 75 delicious recipes from a real kitchen, including this towering dessert of booze-soaked chocolate cake sandwiched with layers of fresh cream and fruit.
Photo: Ryan Szulc
Boozy Chocolate Torte
Talk about versatile: This cake can take almost any chocolate-friendly pairing you throw at it — orange, cherry, raspberry. Don’t like fruit? Try rum and the Boozy Brown Sugar Whipped Cream. Making it for Christmas? Get festive with chopped-up candy canes and crème de menthe. The cocoa gives the chocolate depth, but if you want a subtler backdrop, omit the cocoa powder and add ¼ cup more flour. The result will be a moderately light but fairly thirsty cake, ready and willing to soak up all the liqueur, fruit, and whipped cream you place between its eager layers. If done right, it will act a little drunk, staggering sloppily to the plate when you serve it.
Makes 10 to 12 servings
Cake:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup milk, at room temperature
11/4 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sifted Dutch-processed cocoa powder
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Filling:
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
½ cup (or more) liqueur of choice (such as orange, chocolate, raspberry, coffee, cherry, or hazelnut)
1 cup fruit, nuts, or other matching flavor item of choice
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, grated
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease two 9"-round pans and line with parchment paper.
To make the cake: In a large heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Microwave on low power or set over a pot of simmering water to gently melt. Stir the chocolate and butter together with a spoon. Add the granulated sugar, milk, flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, eggs, and vanilla at once, beating until smooth.
Pour the batter into the pans, making the cakes as even as possible. If you have a kitchen scale, the easiest way to do this is to weigh the pans. Push the batter to the edges of the pan so the cake will remain relatively flat when it rises during baking. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Turn out of the pans onto wire racks, remove the parchment paper, and allow to cool to room temperature.
Slice each cake in half horizontally. (See the tip below for easy ways to do this.)
To make the filling: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream with the confectioners’ sugar until soft peaks form.
Place 1 layer of cake on the platter or stand you will be serving it on. Drizzle with about one-quarter of the liqueur. Spread with one-quarter of the whipped cream, leaving a ¼" edge of cake showing. The weight of the cake will push the cream to the sides. Dot with one-quarter of the fruit/nuts/filling of choice and sprinkle with one-quarter of the grated chocolate. Repeat with the remaining layers of cake, whipped cream, fruit/nuts/filling, and chocolate.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Serve carefully; this is a very messy cake and can fall apart en route to the plate.
Note: Leftover cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It also freezes well for up to a month.
Tip: You can use a serrated knife, but the easiest way to slice a cake in half horizontally is with thread or unflavored dental floss. Just wrap a length of thread around the sides of the cake where you want the cut to be made. Cross the ends of the thread and pull them gently but firmly away from each other. The thread will cut through the cake as you pull.
Reprinted with permission from The Messy Baker by Charmian Christie (Rodale).
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