Chocolate Truffle Cake

What a lovely dessert is a Chocolate Truffle cake.  Mine is a Genoese sponge(but only half of it), lightly brushed with some rum to give a little extra moisture, and topped with a chocolate truffle ganache.

The tricky part is getting the Genoese sponge right, and I think I managed it quite well.  Making the truffle is quite straightforward and putting it all together should be too.  However I encountered a problem, not of my making.  Having made a 20cm in diameter sponge I thought that my 20cm diameter cake ring would fit it quite snugly, to allow me to top it with the truffle.  But no, as ever with these things the 20cm cake tin is smaller than the the 20cm cake ring.  Go figure!  If I could get hold of the manufacturers of these things short shrift would be given to them, I can tell you.  But ever the trooper I improvised. I made a ring from aluminium foil,over some brown paper, and wrapped it around the sponge.  Then I places the cake ring over that and then back filled with some more foil, to make a snug fit.  The big issue was then to be how to take it off without messing up the edge.  Normally a blowtorch on the cake ring would allow it to slide off nicely.  But I couldn’t do that, so I snipped the aluminium foil all around the top edge.  Then I removed the cake ring which freed the handmade ring, leaving just the inside edge of foil against the cake.  Then I carefully removed that.  It was a lot of messing about but worked, after a fashion.

Oh, and I should say it tastes delicious, very rich and chocolatey, and very nice with some raspberries, coulis or cream.

In the recipe below I just give instructions for how it should be done, rather than include all my messing about.

Ingredients:
For the Genoese Sponge:

• 30g melted butter, allowed to cool slightly
• 75g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder(unsweetened)
• 4 medium eggs (for US it would be large eggs)
• 125g caster sugar

For the truffle:

• 475g dark chocolate ( I used 70% cocoa solids)
• 475 ml double cream
• 2 tbsp dark rum(optional)
• cocoa powder for dusting

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190c/170c Fan/Gas Mark 5/375F
2. grease and lightly flour a 20cm cake tin
3. Place the sugar and eggs in a bowl and whisk them immediately. Keep whisking until you have achieved a thickened mixture of a ribbon consistency.Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into the egg mixture and gently fold it in, until fully combined.  Be careful not to overwork.
4. Add the melted butter and fold in until combined.
5. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for thirty minutes, until the top is springy.
6. If you listen carefully, once you have taken it out of the oven you will hear the cake squeaking a little.
7. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack for cooling.  Turn after about 10 minutes or so to avoid it sticking.
8. Let the cake cool fully, at least 2 hours.
9. Once it has cooled take a serrated knife and cut the cake, horizontally into two.  You will want a layer about half to threequarters of an inch for the truffle cake.  The other layer can be used for something else, or just eaten with a cup of tea.
10. Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl, over a pan of hot water, and allow to cool a little, but not below about 25c.
11. As it is cooling you can whisk the cream until it thickens and forms ribbons.
12. Then gently fold the chocolate into the whipped cream until it is a uniform colour.
13. Place the cake layer on a board or plate.
14. Place a 20cm cake ring around your sponge cake layer and pour/spoon the truffle mixture into it. 
15. Smooth the truffle mixture out over the cake, up to the sides of the cake ring.
16. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours to firm up.
17. Remove the firmed up cake from the fridge and dust the top with cocoa powder.
18. Remove the cake ring from around the cake.  You may need to use something like a blowtorch to apply some heat to the ring to allow it to slide off.
19. The cake is now ready to serve.  Use a knife dipped in hot water, to slice into portions, this will keep the edge of each portion nice and sharp.
20. It can be served with anything, but I like raspberry coulis and some chantilly cream.