31 October 2011

Random Recipe - Chocolate Sabayon Torte



This month's Random Recipe challenge teamed up participants and had them make a recipe that a team member randomly chose ... a neat trick! Well, I got the treat when Lyndsey from Vanilla Clouds and Lemon Drops chose this recipe for me! I'm making it for a Halloween treat; it's small enough that it will be gone by the end of the evening. I intend to offer our neighbor's a dessert and coffee 'trick or treat' as they bring their children by for their more traditional candy treats. This treat involves chocolate ... a lot of chocolate!





My recipe comes from Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America. I've begun to slowly find used copies of the various CIA cookbooks as I browse the Web and poke around consignment shops and used book bookstores. Their cook books have a wealth of information on technique as well as classic recipes. Lyndsey couldn't have chosen a more classic recipe for me!




This torte  ... a cake and fluffy filling ... is a chilled dessert. It involves making a chocolate sponge cake, splitting the cake horizontally, brushing it with a simple syrup and then filling the layers with a chocolate sabayon (read: schmancy chocolate pudding fluff). The cake is chilled and then given a super smooth outer layer of chocolate ganache. Very chic ... very rich ... very chocolate!

My torte looks , of course, like an amateur made it ... no apologies there, but it tastes so incredibly good, even with all my mistakes!




 My chocolate sponge cake never really 'sponged' ... it was heavy. I didn't drizzle as much simple syrup on it as I should have, as it was a bit dry on the lower layer toward the center of the cake. I  think the next time I make the cake, I'll use my mother's tried and true basic chocolate cake ... the sabayon filling got stiff on me, so I had to warm it a bit as I whipped the whipped cream into the chocolate gelatin base to finish the schmancy sabayon. It is totally wonderful! Finally, the chocolate ganache was a bit lumpy ... my little handmixer just doesn't make it these days. To boot, I was a bit excited about this ganache and rushed the whipping process, I think.



All these foibles you can see in the up close and personal of a slice of this little chocolate bomb ...



... that I totally devoured after the photo shoot ... I'm hoping there is some left later when the trick-or-treaters arrive. It could be a tricky affair, though. All day in the house alone with a chocolate torte ... on a day when chocolate treats reign supreme ...  sigh ... our inner chocolate demons may possess us ... bwah -ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!
Happy Halloween, all!

12 comments:

  1. ok ok ok I'm reading this fist, gimme 5 minutes and it'll be up on the site... it looks AMAZING!!!! I would have died and gone to heaven had I picked this recipe... that moussey lovely gooey cake is pure and utter fabulousness... thanks for taking part honey x

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  2. Promise me that if I come to your door this evening - you'll offer me slice. I'll even kneel so you can think of me as one the wee ones :) There are no foibles with this darling Susan. You rocked it!!!

    chow! Devaki @ weavethousandflavors

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  3. Wow! What a decadent looking cake, I'll take a slice please! Also love the Homer Laughlin plate! I have a few pieces that belonged to my hubby's grandmother!

    Happy Halloween . . . it's been cancelled in my town :-(

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  4. @ Mary - CANCELLED ??? You MUST be kidding! How do you cancel Halloween! It's un-American! I wonder if someone told The Great Pumpkin ?

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  5. look at that lil chocolate bomb....i'm dying over here....baby #3 is due thursday and chocolate just may be the only thing that can make me hang in there lol.....but those beef noodles looked amazing too - and, if you only knew how much i loved challah bread....sigh....i must make some!!!!!! you inspire me bella

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  6. I think this cake could make me pass out! it looks just divine. If you're ever looking for tips on making ganache, I thoroughly recommend Pierre Herme's Macaron cookbook. He is so specific about the technique- in a way others often aren't.

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  7. This torte looks absolutely amazing!! Yum! Goodness, I cannot stop looking at it.

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  8. Well I don't think it looks like an amateur made it - I don't like cakes and desserts that look like they were made by a machine. This looks so inviting and more than a bit decadent. I was slightly worried about the idea of a CIA cookbook, but that was just a little misunderstanding on my part.

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  9. I must make this. I love that it is not dark, dark chocolate. I would like to bring this to my brother's house as an other option for the chocolate lovers at Thanksgiving. I'll let you know how it came out.

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  10. Susan, you did a wonderful job on this torte! Not amateurish at all. It looks gorgeous! And delicious.... I'll need a huge glass of cold milk though with mine. Thanks! :o)

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  11. Amazing cake! Looks very professional to me!

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  12. Wow! What a great choice ; )
    That looks so fantastic - I wish part of the deal was that you had to sample it as well as randomly pick the recipe! Amazing!!

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