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Monday, April 09, 2007

a chocolate dipped century

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So this is my hundredth post. And...uh....it seems it took me two weeks to get my ass in gear to write it. I officially suck. So thanks for sticking with me, and I promise you, this is absolutely worth the wait.

I give you here a chocolate torte with not one, two or even three layers of chocolatude. We have FOUR full layers of chocolate bliss, on top of which are three more layers of evil delicious and sinful chocolate. We're talking a pound and a half of some of the most delicious stuff on the planet. And probably about sixty billion pounds on my butt.

I had a full house for Easter Dinner (actually, the house has in general been quite full lately; I can offer this only as a partial explanation for my absence) and since I'd found myself making alot of the same-old, same-old lately, I wanted something completely off the wall indulgent. Last weekend, I actually had two dinner parties (one big, one small), and while they both went great....they were boring. Nothing new or adventurous or exciting. And I NEED food to be new, adventurous and exciting.

So what better time to experiment than Easter dinner (talk about a same-old, same-old kind of meal.....). Since I'm all about being backwards and doing things my way, I'm going to start with dessert first.

I wanted to make something so lusciously and singularly chocolatey. Something so full of all the good stuff. Something so heart-stoppingly rich that you can only have a tiny little piece.

And I found this something, thanks to my friend epicurious. A triple chocolate mousse torte. And I made it. But as I said, mine actually had seven layers of chocolate.

This recipe is fabulous. It has great presentation (particularly if you fancy yourself more of a patissier than I......mine looks pretty good, but someone with talent could really do a lot with this!). It's a bit time consuming to make (especially as you have to wait for each layer to firm up before adding the next), but it's not terribly difficult and if you're busy doing other things, the time goes by pretty quickly.

Triple Chocolate Mousse Torte
(adapted from Epicurious.com)

1 1/4 c. chocolate cookie crumbs (I bought Oreo crumbs - you could make your own in the processor)
1/4 c. melted butter

1. Combine crumbs and melted butter.
2. Press into the bottom of an 8 or 9-inch springform pan that has been oiled. Chill while you do the rest of the chocolate stuff.

Oreo crumb crust

Vegetable oil
120 grams bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped (plus extra for drizzling)
120 grams milk chocolate, chopped (plus extra for drizzling)
120 grams good-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Baker's), chopped (plus extra for drizzling)
I had 2-100g bars of each kind of chocolate. I bought Lindt because it's easy to find here and it's reliably yummy. I personally don't like Baker's because it tastes like ass (sorry, but if I wouldn't eat it, I don't really want to melt it down into cake!)
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1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar (if I made this again, I would omit the sugar)
1 cup half and half

1 3/4 cups chilled whipping cream

1. Place each chocolate in separate medium bowl.

2. Combine 1/4 cup water and gelatin in small bowl. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, beat yolks and sugar in large bowl until mixture is pale yellow and very thick, about 5 minutes. Bring half and half just to simmer in heavy large saucepan.

4. Gradually whisk hot half and half into beaten egg mixture. Return mixture to same saucepan. Stir over medium heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 3 minutes (do not boil) I think I might have boiled it. Oops!

5. Remove custard from heat. Add softened gelatin; stir until gelatin dissolves. (NOTE: Mine never dissolved totally....or it could have been bits of egg yolk....at any rate, my custard wasn't totally smooth. Straining seemed to help a lot though!)
chopped chocolate and custard

6. Strain mixture into large glass measuring cup. Immediately pour 1/3 of hot custard over each chocolate. Stir each chocolate with separate spoon until melted and smooth. If mixture cools before chocolate is completely melted, set bowl over saucepan of simmering water and stir just until chocolate melts (NOTE: I found white chocolate melted very easily, but dark and milk needed to be heated over water). Cool chocolate mixtures to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
chocolatey custards

7. Beat whipping cream in large bowl until stiff peaks form. Divide whipped cream equally among bowls of chocolate, using about 1 1/3 cups cream for each. Fold whipped cream into chocolate in each bowl.

8. Pour bittersweet chocolate mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Smooth top with spatula. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Pour milk chocolate mixture over bittersweet chocolate layer. Smooth top with spatula. Freeze until firm, about
15 minutes. Pour white chocolate mixture over milk chocolate mixture. Smooth top with spatula. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
milk chocolate mousse layer

9. Run sharp knife around sides of pan. Remove pan sides. At this point, I melted my reserved chocolate and drizzled it over top. All I did was crumble the chocolate, and microwave it for about 1 minute and stir until melted. Then I spooned it into a small ziploc, snipped the corner and drizzled away. This is optional, but it makes it look fancier and covers up the fact that I can't level a cake to save my life. :)

Here's the dark chocolate layer (I think it actually looks pretty snazzy with just the one layer):
drizzly dark chocolate

And then the milk chocolate layer:
milk chocolate drizzle layer

And just because I could, here is the white chocolate layer:
white chocolate drizzle layer

I kinda made a bit of a mess with the chocolate.

But so worth it. Seven layers of chocolate is no mean feat......but as I said, this is REALLY rich, and were I to make it again, I would omit the extra 1/4 c. of sugar - I think the chocolate is sweet enough on its own. This is the perfect treat for the chocoholic (i.e., ME and my father-in-law). Thanks for reading! I will soon be back with the rest of dinner, including my flaming attempts at turkey roasting.......

yum

Serves 12.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

oh my. that sounds (and looks!) absolutely divine. I might even have to try it for J's birthday!!

BubblyBunny said...

Oh wow! That triple chocolate torte looks amazing! Just the photos are worth waiting 2 weeks for, I can only imagine how yummy it is.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous torte! I have a bridesmaids dress to squeeze into this weekend, but as soon as that reception is over, this is sooo making a debut in my kitchen.

Deborah Dowd said...

Even after the chocolate orgy that is Easter, your torte looks incredible!

Anonymous said...

Hi - jandoubleoh7 here from Weddingbells. I made this on Friday and it was FANTASTIC - between 4 people we ate the entire thing (and were somewhat high from all of the sugar) but it was SO good

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

i'm bookmarking this. i'll probably make it for my dad's birthday in september!

thanks!! :)

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