I found this amazing recipe in the Christmas edition of the Feel Good Food magazine. A bit outdated, I agree, but a still very useful recipe for one of the deepest and darkest chocolate torte you have ever tasted. It was down as a salted caramel torte, but as I am not a massive fan of salted caramel (and indeed any salty dessert whatsoever), I just took the salt off. I know the method might sound and look complicated, but believe me it’s really easy to make.
Ingredients
- 12 digestive biscuits
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 100g caster sugar (for the caramel)
- 2 tbsp liquid glucose
- 600ml double cream
- 2 egg whites
- 125 g caster sugar (for the chocolate layer)
- vanilla extract
- 300g dark chocolate, melted and left to cool
Method
- Put the biscuits in the food processor and blitz until you get fine breadcrumbs, then tip in the butter (diced, for ease of operation) and whiz again until you get a sandy consistency. Tip into the base of a lined 20cm loose bottomed cake tin and press down well. Chill in the fridge while you get on with the rest.
- For the caramel, place the sugar, glucose and 4 tbsp water in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Using a damp pastry brush, remove any crystals which are forming on the side of the pan but for Heaven’s sake don’t stir the sugar any more. Increase the heat a bit and let is come to a bubble until the mixture turns a rich golden brown.
- Meanwhile, heat 300ml of the cream in another saucepan and bring it to the boil. Remove the caramel from the heat and slowly and carefully pour in the hot cream, whisking all the time. Stir well, then return the pan to the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- Once cooled, pour most of the caramel over the biscuit base in the cake tin and spread it almost to the edges. Reserve the remaining caramel for the topping. Put the cake tin back in the fridge.
- Place the egg whites and the sugar in a bowl over hot water. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved, then remove the bowl from the water and whisk the mixture to form a thick meringue.
- In a different bowl, whisk the remaining cream with a few drops of vanilla extract until it just forms soft peaks.
- Fold the chocolate into the meringue mix, then fold in the cream. Pour over the caramel in the tin and smooth the top. Chill the torte until set (about 1 hour to be on the safe side).
- Once the cake is chilled enough, spoon the rest of the caramel into a piping bag and use to decorate the top with nice swirls.
- To serve, run a round bladed knife around the edges of the tin to release the cake and slide it on to a serving plate.
Baking with Attitude 