Dark Chocolate Raspberry Gâteau

I have been visiting the library a lot recently, trying to get my hands on all books food related. My new obsession with library books began because a few weeks ago I finished probably one of the best books I’ve ever read. The memoir, titled Blood, Bones, and Butter, recounts chef Gabrielle Hamilton’s memories from childhood up through the birth of her restaurant Prune and her rise to becoming one of the most celebrated chefs in New York City. I can’t help but be inspired from Gabrielle’s stories and from other cookbooks that I can’t seem to get my nose out of. Last Wednesday, I crafted an idea for a cake far too lavish to create in a dorm kitchen, but with the company of a few friends, I was able to create this beauty that far exceeded my expectations. Whipped cream, chocolate, and raspberries is a combination no one can deny, and the cake combines all three into an absolutely delicious three-tiered piece of perfection. The vanilla sponge dotted with chocolate and raspberries is moist and soft but dense enough to hold layers of chocolate ganache, roasted hazelnuts, and fluffy whipped cream. The cake, topped with handfuls of raspberries, a drizzle of ganache, and delicate chocolate shavings stays together beautifully even after cutting out the first slice.  

Raspberry Chocolate Swirl Gâteau with Chantilly cream

Inspiration:

Twigg Studios Raspberry Ripple Birthday Cake

Jamie Oliver’s Beautiful Black Forest Gâteau (from Jamie Oliver’s Comfort Food)

For the vanilla raspberry sponge:

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons whole milk

2 oz. chopped, good quality dark chocolate

¾ cup raspberries, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter, four, and line the bottom of a spring form pan with parchment, ensuring the sides of the tin are greased well with butter and dusted with flour.

Cream the butter and sugar into a large bowl until butter is pale and the mixture is soft and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture with a spatula--making sure there are no pockets of flour. Add the milk and then the chopped chocolate. Stir in the fresh raspberries.

Pour all the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle.

Lightly press on the top of the cake with a tea towel when it comes out of the oven to flatten the top slightly.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, slide a knife around the edges, and invert onto a cooling rack.

For the ganache:

¾ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon liquid honey

3.5 oz good quality dark chocolate

~ plus extra shavings for the top

While the cake is baking, make the ganache. Bring the cream and honey to a simmer over the stove. Chop the chocolate and put it in the bottom of a heatproof bowl. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and whisk until all the chocolate has dissolved and the mixture is shiny and thick.

For the chantilly cream:

2 ¼ cups heavy cream

¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk the cream (by hand or with an electric mixture) in a cold bowl. Add the sugar once the cream begins to thicken. Follow with the vanilla extract, and beat to soft peaks.

2 ½ oz. of hazelnuts, chopped and toasted in a frying pan on medium heat until golden

Assembly:

Once the cake is completely cool, carefully slice it into three rounds with a serrated knife. Cover the bottom layer with a fourth of the chocolate ganache, sprinkle a third of the hazelnuts over the ganache, and top with a third of the whipped cream and raspberries. (Reserve most of the raspberries for the top, sprinkling only a handful in between the layers of cake.) Repeat this again with the next layer, with ganache, hazlenuts, whipped cream, and raspberries. For the top layer, start with the chocolate ganache and then finish off the whipped cream with a thick layer. Put a few large handfuls of raspberries in the center of the cake. Sprinkle the rest of the hazelnuts over the raspberries, and then, with a spoon, drizzle the last of the chocolate ganache over the cake. (You might need to heat the ganache in the microwave for 20 seconds to make the chocolate a good consistency for drizzling.) Sprinkle the shaved pieces of chocolate onto the cake for the final touch.