A Cookbook-less Chocolate Cake with Fleur de Sel Ganache
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- Prep time
- --
- Cook time
- Not listed
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 5 tbsp cocoa powder (I use Valrhona)
- 80 ml boiling water
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 130 g brown sugar
- 150 g unsalted butter, (brought to room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 eggs, (brought to room temperature)
- 4 tbsp buttermilk
- 100 g flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- 1
In a small bowl, add boiling water to cocoa and stir.
- 2
In your kitchen mixer or in a medium-size bowl, combine butter and sugar and beat at a high speed for 7 minutes.
- 3
Add vanilla essence.
- 4
Add eggs one by one and mix for another 7-10 minutes on high speed.
- 5
Fold in the flour and baking powder gently, and mix on medium speed.
- 6
Once all the flour has been incorporated, add buttermilk and cocoa and continue to mix.
- 7
Transfer to springform pan and bake for 40 minutes.
- 8
When a skewer is inserted in the middle of the cake it should come out clean.
- 9
If the cake dips a little in the middle, don't worry, you're going to invert the cake and cover it with chocolate ganache.
- 10
To prepare cake for ganache
- 11
After removing from the oven, allow to rest and cool at least one hour.
- 12
In the meanwhile, cut out 4 large square pieces of parchment paper.
- 13
Once the cake is cool, place parchment paper squares on top of cake- make sure they are slightly overlapping when placed on the cake. Take the cake dish / stand in which you will serve the cake and with a swift movement, invert the cake onto it.
- 14
Leave the parchment paper as is, you will need it when you decorate it with the ganache.
- 15
Ganache
- 16
Warm 240 ml heavy whipping cream till scalding, but it should not boil over. Pour over 200g dark chocolate (I use Valrhona Guanaja). Allow it to rest for a bit, if you start whipping it immediately, bubbles will form.
- 17
Stir gently and slowly. Please do not whip rigorously- it will create pockets of air and you won't have a smooth, shiny ganache in the end.
- 18
Add a good pinch of fleur de sel, do a taste test. Add more if you like. I added a mere pinch.
- 19
Give the ganache a gentle stir.
- 20
Final Assembly
- 21
With a spatula, apply the soft ganache over the cake in gentle swirls. (You will have some ganache leftover, serve with the cake in a small bowl).
- 22
When spreading the ganache on the cake, there will be overflow on the sides, but don't worry, that is what the parchment paper is there for.
- 23
Place cake in fridge and allow to rest for at least half an hour.
- 24
Remove from fridge and gently pull the parchment squares out from under the cake.
- 25
Serve with a light sprinkling of fleur de sel.