For my Valentine

                   

Thursday is our French lesson day.  We have been taking French for almost 3 years.  It's still so hard!  This morning I didn't feel like going, I felt like cooking.  So, Bruce went without me.  Thursday night at our studio is a late night for us.  We have a class from 3:30 - 5:00 and then a teen class from 5:30 - 7:00 pm, don't get home until around 7:30, too late to cook.  So I decided to make the meal in the morning and then we'd have it ready when we got home. 

Instead of being adventurous and trying something new I decided to go with a proven winner, my roast chicken and tri-colored orzo pasta salad (I'll give you the recipe for these next time).  The one thing I have never made is this chocolate torte.  I wanted to make individual chocolate souffle's, but you had to cook them right before you ate them and I didn't want to do that. 

First, you need a springform pan.  Butter or spray bottom and then cut out circle to fit in bottom, press in and butter or spray on top of it.  Set aside.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Great ingredients:  butter, eggs, unsweetened chocolate, sugar and vanilla.

Separate the eggs while still cold, placing the egg whites in one bowl and the egg yolks in another bowl.  Cover both eggs whites and yolks with plastic wrap and bring to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes)

 Cut butter into pieces - 1 cup of butter!!!!

Combine butter and chips melt.  You can either microwave this (keep a close eye on it and stir often), or you can use a glass bowl on top of boiling water.  Either way works fine.  Just make sure you watch it so it doesn't burn.

This is what the mix should look like once everything is melted...very shiny.

Place egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat on medium high speed until thick and lemon-colored, about five minutes.  The eggs should have tripled in volume, look thick and soft, and when you lift the beater the mixture falls back into the bowl in a slow ribbon.  Add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined.

 

In a clean bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tarter and continue beating until soft peaks form.  Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.  Using a large rubber spatula, fold in a small amount of whites to the egg yolk mixture to lighten the batter.

Add the remaining egg whites, folding just until incorporated.  Do NOT over mix.

Fold the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.  Bake cake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  During baking the surface of the cake will form a crust which will collapse when the cake is removed from the oven - don't panic.  Remove from over and place on wire rack to cool.  The top of the cake will be cracked with crumbs.

This turned out great.  Moist, dense, intense chocolate flavor.  I topped it with whipping cream (no sugar) but you can also do it with the ganache that is included in the recipe.  Feed this to your love (any day...doesn't have to be Valentines day) and this is what you'll end up with!  Guaranteed.

 

Comments

[Betty C.]

This looks so delicious -- bravo! All I did for my Valentine was open a bottle of "pétillant de Savoie" -- that's what happens when Valentine's Day falls mid-week.

[Becky]

I am so impressed. I made tacos for my love. Good thing he didn't get a glimpse of the gourmet meal Bruce got!