Receta Baking & Giveaway | Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake … and a Retro Giveaway {#zansaar}
“A little too much chocolate is just about right.”
”Happy December”! Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake … a cake as delicious as it sounds. There comes a time when you heed a certain call, and you succumb to the temptation of dark chocolate all over again! Pair chocolate with berries … cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and there are good times ahead! This was yet another cake that just happened on the go. The culprit as always - too much to do, too little time. Thankfully chocolate is something that hardly ever lets you down. Use dark chocolate, and you can kiss ‘hardly‘ goodbye. Dark chocolate always delivers! This Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake was for my Mums birthday a few days ago. I hit a ‘cake block‘ and decided to bake out of the Chocolate Bible by Le Cordon Blue. Quick check of star rating and Sachertorte was the saviour! I had all the ingredients in the pantry, even apricot jam. I also had 4 egg whites in the fridge trying to gracefully age for macarons. The macarons would have to wait!Baking the cake was a breeze.What bothered me though was that cake was flat-tish as the tin I used was bigger than the specified one. That I didn’t like! By the time I was done with driver duties, doing lunch {hail the AirFryer and chicken tikkas} etc, there was no time to look at the book. All I knew was that I wanted a layer of filling to give the cake some height.
A Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake ‘happened’. It was sublime! Dark, deep, divine, luscious chocolate, a beautiful raspberry cream filling to go with it, and a ganache like velvet … smooth, dark, rich! Of late, I have begun posting recipes based on weight and not cup measures; an attempt to standardise recipes . I have something for you today dear readers.
I am glad to offer my readers in India a Retro Kitchen Electronic Scale with a Retro Kitchen Worktop Saver from the beautiful online site Zansaar. I have partnered with them to bring you the above from their exclusive Vintage Pantry collection. A bold and lively interplay of black and white to lighten up those kitchen chores …
Have you been to Zansaar? Zansaar means ‘world’. I love the colour and vibrancy this online destination offers . The selection is vast – vintage, quirky, vibrant, colourful, retro. It’s a one stop shop for all things food, home and garden. Whether it is black and white that grabs your fancy, or a splash of vibrant yellows, you’ll find something here.
So dear readers, if you’d like to win this beautiful retro scale and worktop saver from Zansaar, please leave a comment saying which product from Zansaar catches your eye.
This giveaway is open to Indian residents, or anyone with an Indian postal address. You can enter if you don’t have a blog too. Please make sure you leave a contact {else mail it to me at vindee {at} airtelmail {dot} in}.
The giveaway closes on the 15th of December.
To increase chances of winning you could do any of the following. Please leave an additional comment for each of the following:
1. “Like” PAB on Facebook.
2. “Like” Zansaar on Facebook.
3. Follow @vindee on Twitter and tweet the following : Win a @zansaar giveaway from @vindee http://bit.ly/bowerybag #giveaway #zansaar
4. Follow on Zansaar on Twitter.
Recipe: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake
Summary: Dark, deep, divine, luscious chocolate, a beautiful raspberry cream filling to go with it, and a ganache like velvet … smooth, dark, rich! A torte fit for celebration!
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- Sponge {minimally adapted from the Le Cordon Blue, Chocolate Bible}
- 180g dark chocolate
- 30g unsalted butter
- 3 egg yolks
- 7 egg whites
- 80g raw sugar {or castor sugar}
- 40g plain flour, sifted
- 20g ground almonds, sifted
- Kirsch Syrup
- 150ml water
- 100g raw sugar {or Castor sugar}
- 1 tbsp Kirsch
- Ganache
- 175g dark chocolate {54% couverture}, chopped
- 200ml low fat cream
- Filling
- 200ml low fat cream, chilled
- 30g raw sugar {or powdered sugar}
- 75g Del Monte raspberry fruit filling {frozen}
- Dark chocolate flakes for garnishing
Method:
Sponge
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 22″ round baking tin with parchment paper.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl in the microwave, 1 minute {or over a bain marie}}. Whisk until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with 25g of sugar until soft peaks, adding the remaining sugar a little at a time, until stiff peaks form.
Incorporate the 3 egg yolks, flour and almond meal.
Fold in the melted chocolate-butter mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes until the top of the sponge is springy to touch.
Cool before turning out. Slice into two.
Kirsch syrup
Place the water and sugar in a pan over simmer and stil until the sugar has melted. Cool and add Kirsch. Reserve.
Ganache
Place chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Whisk until the chocolate has melted and the ganache is smooth and shiny. It will thicken as it cools.
Filling
Beat the low fat cream with sugar until medium peaks. Add the cold raspberry filling and beat until firm.
Assemble
Place one layer of cake on the serving platter and brush generously with the Kirsch syrup.
Top with the raspberry cream filling and spread evenly.
Brush the underside of the second layer with Kirsch syrup and place over the raspberry cream.
Brush the top of cake with Kirsch syrup.
Even out top of cake with some ganache {in case it has a sunken look, mine did}, and give the whole cake a thin layer of ganache. Chill for 10 minutes.
Cover the top and sides with remaining ganache, making tiny peaks with an offset spatula or butter knife.
Top with dark chocolate flakes. Let stand for about an hour or a few hours for the favours to mature. {Since it’s winter here, 15C, I let the cake stand on the kitchen counter for 5 hours}
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