This Flourless Chocolate Torte
is a dense and rich flourless chocolate cake covered with chocolate mirror glaze and topped with fresh strawberries.
I made this cake special for my step Mom Peggy’s birthday! This is the shortest Cake I have made in a long time. Usually I pile my cakes high in 3-5 layers. This cake is more like a torte then a cake. It is so rich and chocolatey that one layer seemed enough for this cake!
I love this shot that my sister took. You can see the reflection of the strawberries in the mirror glaze! Before covering the cake with the mirror glaze, I used some ganache to smooth out the sides and top of the cake. I waited till the ganache was the consistency of peanut butter before I started frosting. I smoothed out the edges and let it set before pouring the mirror glaze on top. However, you can see on the right hand side of the cake, it was not even or smooth enough and you can actually see every bump and dip in the side of the cake! The mirror glaze shows all imperfections of the cake, so be careful to get it as perfectly smooth as you can before pouring on the mirror glaze. I wish I had put on another layer of ganache!
Before pouring on the mirror glaze, also remember to wait till it is the correct temperature or it will not lay smooth. 90 degrees F is the temp you want your mirror glaze to be.
photography by Wendycoxphotography.com
Ingredients
- Makes glaze for a dozen 10-inch cakes.
- 700 grams chocolate (white or dark)
- 400 grams water
- 600 grams sugar
- 400 grams condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 38 grams powdered gelatin (yes, it’s quite a large amount)
- If making a dark chocolate mirror glaze, you may wish to add about 100 grams of cocoa powder,
- 1 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups chopped semi-sweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder (I used a mix of dutch process and regular)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces chocolate chips
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Bloom the gelatin in cold water. This is quite a bit of gelatin so rather than sprinkling it on top of cold water, quickly stir them together. It should be a thick slurry.
- Heat the water, sugar, and condensed milk in a saucepan. Bring it just to a boil and turn off the heat. Stir in the vanilla and bloomed gelatin until it is fully dissolved.
- Place the chocolate in a bowl and pour the hot liquid over it. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes until the chocolate is fully melted. Using an immersion blender (or poured into a blender), process until it is very smooth. Be careful not to introduce too many bubbles since every minor imperfection will show on the surface. For the same reason, strain the glaze through a sieve to remove any stray particles.
- When the glaze has cooled to 90°F (32°C), it is ready to pour over your entremets. Use a stand or cooling rack to position the entremet and collect the excess below. You can save this and use it for future pours.
- Once poured over frozen entremets, the glaze will cool quickly. It will take about 15 minutes until it is fully cooled and solidified. It should be more like a soft ganache-like gel than a hard shell.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease three 8 inch cake pans (depending on how many layers you want) and line with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter and chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove top.
- Meanwhile beat together the eggs and sugar for about five minutes at high speed until pale and more than doubled in volume. Add the vanilla to the eggs and beat until combined. Sift in the cocoa and salt and mix again until combined. Stream in the melted chocolate and butter and beat until combined. Divide into prepared cake pans and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out with some crumbs attached but no longer wet.
- Place the chocolate in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
- Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan and when it begins to bubble up, pour over the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Gently stir, starting in the middle and working your way outward, until the cream and chocolate are completely mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Let the ganache sit at room temperature over night.