chocolate gateau

took a break from baking the past 2 days as i was busy shopping for my winter clothings. originally wanted to try out a chocolate mousse cake for my grandma's birthday this saturday as a "cartoon cake" would probably take TOO long.

The cake didn't turn out nice/beautiful so i didn't take any photos.

Woke up early this morning to try our happyhomabaking's chocolate gateau. I guess i was tootired and not in the right mood for baking. It's supposed to be a flourless chocolate cake, with ground almonds replacing flour.

1.I was too lazy to sift the ground almonds as i didn't wanna spend 2 hours sifting it like i did before (for my previous macarons attempts)

I started out, melting the chocolate and all, whisked in the eggs, ground almonds and milk. whipped up the egg whites. Sigh.

2.the egg whites was whipped a tad too much, a little liquid started coming off and that really upset me as this hasn't happened in a long long time. Anyway, i went ahead to fold the egg whites in and poured it into the baking tin.

3. The oven was pre-heated and stayed at 170C for quite some time. little did i know, 5-10 min after placing it in the oven, after i was almost done with washing up, the temp dropped 20 degress! argh

4. I fiddled here and there to get it baked and the top became charred while the insides still soft.

I read that HHB baked it in a smaller tin and baked it for the same amt of time stated in the recipe. She mentioned a shorter time would prob be needed in a smaller tin. I checked the doneness for like 4-5 times. sigh

5. The center rose nicely while the sides could not rise past a certain height. I'd probably not butter the sides the next time round

6. I let the cake cool. Was preparing the ingredients for my chocolate mousse. 10 min was up and i unmoulded the cake. A careless move and a chunk of the cake broke off! I gave up and decided not to continue. my cake wasn't as high as her too.

7. Used the cracked eggs for the choc mousse to do a quick omelette for my sis. Lucikly that went alright (how wrong can omelette go anw)

The verdict:

• I took a small slice to eat it. It was good enough on its own. Really moist like how HHB described it. However, it wasn't smooth and velvety perhaps due to the coarse almond bits. I could even "crunch" them
• I could very much taste the almond and the rich chocolately taste.
• i can't say if people who detest nuts would take a liking but i thought the texture could be a nice contrast to chocolate mousse.

Till i'm back and regain my baking mood i'll probably try out the full chocolate mousse cake recipe.

but that will be till i'm back from my holiday..

those intersted to give the recipe a try: my own notes/comment in [brackets]

Adapted from happyhomebaking

Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate, broken up
75g golden caster sugar (I used light brown sugar) [i used normal brown sugar]
150g unsalted butter, diced
1 tablespoon runny honey [I used NuZee Bee honey bought from NTUC]
4 large eggs, separated
200g ground almonds (almond powder)
75ml milk (I used low fat fresh milk) [I used about 70g of low fat milk]

chocolate ganache:
100g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
[I did not do the chocolate ganache]

Method:

1. Line the base of a 20cm cake pan (with removable base)[I used an 8'' cake tin with a removable base] with parchment paper, grease the sides with butter and set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks from whites when the eggs are still cold. Set aside to bring to room temperature.
3. Place chocolate, sugar, butter, honey in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir frequently till the ingredients melted. Let cool. [I only let it coll till "warm" to touch]
4. Transfer to a large bowl. With a manual whisk beat in egg yolks and ground almonds, then stir in the milk. (Just a few stir should get everything incorporated. The mixture will be rather thick at this stage.) [my mixture was rather thick but the bits of almonds were really obvious, i recommend sifting the almonds before hand for a smoother texture]
5. In a clean, dry, grease free mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, whisk egg whites until stiff. [I whipped them in my KA mixer on speed 4 for about 7 min which got it a little over-whipped, maybe a shorter time is better or a pinch of cream of tar tar should make it more stable]With a spatula, Fold In the beaten egg whites in 3 separate additions, into the cake mixture. (Ensure all the whites are fully incorporate into the cake mixture after every addition.)
6. Pour batter into prepared cake pan (the final batter will be less thick). Give the pan several sharp taps on a work top to bring up any air bubbles that may be trapped in the batter.
7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 35-40mins, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. [I will try to keep the temp as consistent as possible and see if it still it turn "black" on top. I baked it for about 40 min. The skewer wasn't really clean when i inserted it was still "cooked" when i sliced to eat it.]
8. Remove from oven, let cool in the pan for about 1omins. Run a thin-bladed knife along the sides of the pan, unmold and cool right-side up. [Not sure about the importance of cooling it right side up but i'll test it out the next time round]
9. Dust with cocoa powder before serving. Alternatively, if desired, spread with chocolate ganache. To make chocolate ganache: bring the heavy cream to a boil, remove from heat and add in chopped chocolate. Stir till chocolate is melted. Let cool for a few mins and spread over the cake. [I didn't even carry on till this point]

Recipe source: Gorgeous Cake by Annie Bell

Those who gave the recipe a shot, do let me know how things go! =)