Parisian chocolate layered cake. For chocolate lovers who prefer a moist cake less sweet and appreciate the intense flavours with a hint of orange. Adapted recipe inspired by French chocolatier, Patrick Roger, Meilleur Ouvrier de France.
½teaspoonvanilla powder or extractor 1 vanilla pod
1orange, zest onlyunwaxed
Ganache Filling and Topping
200g (7oz/¾ cup)heavy or whipping cream30% fat
30g (2 tbsp)honey
30g (2 tbsp)unsalted buttermelted, then slightly cooled
200g (7oz/ ¾ cup)dark chocolateminimum 60% cacao
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
Using a mixer, whisk the egg whites until foaming then gradually add the caster sugar until you have firm peaks. Add the egg yolk and continue to mix a couple of seconds.
Preheat the oven at 180°C/160°C fan/360°F/Gas 4.
Gently melt the butter in a saucepan then leave aside to cool slightly.Take off the mixer and, by hand, fold in the flour with a large spatula and add the sifted cocoa powder. Gently incorporate the melted butter into the batter with the hazelnuts.
Pour into a rectangular tin (non-stick or greased) and bake for 40-45 minutes, depending on the height of your mould. Check by testing a sharp knife in the middle. It's ready when comes out clean.
Take out the tin after 10 minutes and leave to cool on a wire rack. When cool, cut the biscuit into 3 slices horizontally. Cut off the top of the cake and keep aside for the busy cook!
Syrup
In a saucepan, boil the water, sugar and rum together with the vanilla and orange zest. If using vanilla pods, scrape out the seeds and add to the syrup. Boil until the syrup reduces by a third and concentrates in flavour.
Using a brush, cover each layer with syrup.
Ganache
Cover and spread the cake layers evenly with a thin coating of the ganache. Place each layer one on top of the other then finish the ganache to cover the rest of the cake. Leave to rest for 30 mins then when more set, make patterns using the spatula.
Notes
Like macarons, this cake is best served after at least 24 hours of maturing time. This lets the orange flavour mingle into the cake layers and the chocolate cake moistens.Syrup without alcohol: If you prefer without the rum, replace with orange juice - even better, freshly squeezed from the orange used for zesting.
Keyword chocolate layered cake, French chocolate cake, layered French chocolate cake