Twice Baked Chocolate Cake
Twice Baked Chocolate Cake
A twice baked chocolate cake is the ultimate combination of textures – a fudgy gluten free torte on the base, topped with a really bubbly and light, baked chocolate mousse on top.
The beauty when you slice into it, is the contrast of those chocolate textures. Using different cocoa percentages for the chocolate too helps to bring varying levels of flavour and intensity to each layer.
If you’re serving this as an evening dessert, I’d definitely recommend pouring over a warm crème anglaise!
Ingredients
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 150C/300F non-fan assisted (135C/275F fan-assisted). Lightly grease a 20cm ring mold and line the sides with parchment paper so they extend slightly above the rim on the ring mold. Place it onto a lined baking tray and set aside.
Into a small bowl, add the chocolate and butter. Melt this over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally. Once completely melted, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, into a bowl, whisk together the salt, sugar, eggs, egg yolks until smooth.
Tip in the cocoa powder and ground almonds and whisk to combine.
Pour in the cooled melted chocolate mixture and whisk together until everything is evenly combined.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a separate large bowl and using a hand mixer, whisk the egg whites on a medium-low speed until they are frothy. Increase the speed to medium and slowly tip in the sugar just a little at a time. Whisk until the egg whites hold a medium-stiff peak. It is a relatively low quantity of sugar so they won't be as stable and glossy, so be careful not to overwhisk them or they will go grainy.
Fold the egg whites in thirds, relatively gently into the chocolate mixture making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate all of the chocolate mixture into the egg whites. Once it is all mixed in and there is no visible egg white left, pour the mixture into your lined ring mold. Bake in the oven for around 30-35 minutes. The batter should have just about set so there is no wobble and a toothpick will come out just slightly wet. Remove and allow to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 160C/320F non-fan assisted (145C/295F fan-assisted).
Into a tall jug, add the chopped chocolate and butter (you want to make sure this is 70% cocoa solids). Set this to one side.
Add the milk and cream into a small saucepan and stir occasionally over a medium low heat, until it is steaming (not boiling). Pour this over the chocolate and let it sit for 2 minutes.
Use a hand blender to blend this until it is completely smooth, then add in the egg yolks and blend again. Use a silicon spatula to transfer the mixture into a medium sized bowl.
Tip in the cocoa powder and whisk this until smooth.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a separate large bowl and using a hand mixer, whisk the egg whites on a medium-low speed until they are frothy. Increase the speed to medium and slowly tip in the sugar just a little at a time. Whisk until the egg whites hold a medium-stiff peak. It is a relatively low quantity of sugar so they won't be as stable and glossy, so be careful not to overwhisk them or they will go grainy.
Fold the egg whites through the chocolate base in two parts until there are no more streaks of egg white. If the chocolate base feels a bit stiff, you can whisk the first part in, which will make it easier to loosen. We want to try and be as gentle as possible here though to retain as much of that airy structure as possible.
Pour the mousse on top of the cooled chocolate torte and gently spread it to the edges of the tin with an offset spatula so it is even.
Place it into the oven to bake for 25 minutes or until the mousse just feels set to the touch. You can bake it for a few minutes less if you want a slightly "gooey-er" chocolate mousse texture. The mousse will puff up as it bakes.
Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature before placing it into the fridge for 3-4 hours. You can chill it for longer (overnight), it will just contract at the edges slightly leading to a slightly slanted edge once you remove the baking paper. It's purely aesthetic but keep it in mind!
When you are ready to serve, remove it from the fridge and lift off the ring mold and peel away the baking paper. Dust a light layer of cocoa powder over the top and use a hot knife to cut slices. Once sliced, I'd recommend leaving it at room temperature for 15-20 minutes, so that it can warm up slightly.
One recommendation I would make is serving it with a warm crème anglaise.