SHF #27: Chocolate by brand (Very, very late but better late than never!)

I learned this week that no matter how many times I read and reread something, it doesn't mean I will remember it.

Such as the date of submissions for this blog event, Sugar High Friday: Chocolate by brand, hosted by David Lebovitz.

I was convinced the final date was Friday the 26th. Turns out it was the 22nd. I learned this as I was taking my item out of the oven.

Despite this, I see no reason not to share the chocolaty goodness that was my choice for SHF, chocolate torte with chocolate ganache.

I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate, I admit. I like milk chocolate (especially if there is caramel involved in some way.) But I do admit that dark chocolate is superior for baking with. Because of its intense chocolate flavor, it is less likely to be dulled by other ingredients. I just won't eat it straight.

I will also admit, I was limited in my choice of chocolate by what they had on the shelves at the local drug store (which does have a pretty decent grocery section, which is why I went there instead of going to a grocery store.) I simply did not have the time this week to get to a gourmet store to buy the best quality chocolate I could find, even had I been so inclined to do so. I wasn't inclined.

Besides, Lindt is a pretty good chocolate (and again, one I don't want to eat out of hand, or at least I don't like their milk chocolate truffles.)

Okay, enough about my chocolate likes and dislikes - and onto the cake itself!

I had an afternoon to myself, both kids at school, no work and a relatively clean house. (Note to self though -next time don't try making dinner and the cake at the same time. Bad idea.)

My chocolate choices, as I've mentioned, were Lindt. I bought 3 kinds: 2 bars of 70% cocoa dark, two bars of 65% Madagascar dark mild, and one bar of Swiss dark chocolate, who's cocoa content were not listed. Each of the % bars were 100 grams, which is why I bought the third kind. It came in small pieces and could be broken up and added in to make up the weight difference. Plus I had 3 small squares of the 70% cocoa bar in my pantry, which allowed me to get the full weight of 257 grams of chocolate with only a few small pieces of the Swiss chocolate.

The 70% cocoa chocolate melted beautifully with the butter, giving me a shinny, smooth consistency, and Bob the mixer was happy to whip up the egg whites until light and fluffy. He'd done an equally good job at mixing the egg yolks with sugar earlier. The batter I poured into my springform pan was light, airy, and very chocolatey!

I only ran into one small hitch on this recipe. (Isn't there at least one for every recipe?) Seems I don't own a 9 x 3 springform pan. I own a 9 x 2 1/2. So my cake baked a bit above my pan, which meant it crumbled a bit more than it likely should have when I turned it out and later when I plated. Not that it had any impact at all on the taste.

This cake is not "pretty". It has cracks all over it, crumbles and leaves a big mess. Which makes it perfect for playing with. And my version of playing with was the ganache, which I made with the 65% chocolate, again with a few squares of Swiss to make up the weight difference.

Again, the chocolate melted beautifully into the cream, smooth and glossy. And I didn't want to pour it over my cake as an icing. Besides, crumb coating my cake would have taken alot more chocolate ganache than I had!

Instead I went fancy, pooled some of the ganache on the plate, with little drizzles for affect, placed a slice of the cake, and then poured more ganache over the top.

Can you say chocolate over load?

I had to get this cake out of my house fast! Otherwise I would have been eating it for breakfast, lunch, dinner with some snacks in between! It was deemed too rich for the children (by the children, not by me.) Good thing I have friends willing to be my assistants. Three friends were the recipients of cake, served up on a plate with a ball of ganache/truffle along side, for them to enjoy at home. I haven't heard any complaints so I think they enjoyed it.

If I've learned anything about this SHF it is to keep a closer eye out on the dates. Write them down, several times and in several places! Maybe next time I'll get it on time.