Chocoholic’s fantasy cake

My dad is a huge chocolate lover and so for a meal for father’s day, my sister Lizzie suggested I make a death-by-chocolate style cake.  As she’s coeliac I decided to make a a version of the flourless chocolate cake I’ve made previously, Torta Gianduia, but instead of hazelnuts, this time I used ground almonds.   

I made three layers of cake – each one made with a different bar of chocolate: white, milk and dark chocolate.  A sweetened whipped cream and a chocolate whipped cream sandwiched the layers together, and then the whole cake was iced with a chocolate buttercream.  To finish, I piped lines of shiny dark chocolate ganache on top, then sprinkled shavings of each type of chocolate over it.  Happy father’s day, Dad!

Ingredients

For each of the three cakes:

5 eggs

6 oz butter

6 oz sugar

6 oz chocolate (either dark, milk or white)

6 oz ground almonds

For the white whipped cream

200ml double cream

4 tbsp icing sugar

For the milk chocolate whipped cream

200ml double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

3 tbsp hot chocolate powder

For the chocolate buttercream icing

5 oz butter

7 oz icing sugar

3 oz cocoa powder

1-2 tbsp milk

For the dark chocolate ganache

100g dark chocolate, chopped

100ml double cream

To decorate

A few chunks of dark, milk and white chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C, and butter and line three 9 inch springform cake tins.
2. Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl, set over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir occasionally and as soon as nearly all the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the pan and continue to let the chocolate melt in the residual heat.
3. Stir in the ground almonds and leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.
4. In a separate, large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and creamy.
5. Stir the egg yolk mixture into the chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined.
6. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
7. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the whisked egg whites and stir until thoroughly combined, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 35–40 minutes or until the cake is well risen and firm.
9. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 30 minutes, before inverting onto a serving plate to cool completely.
10. Meanwhile, whip the two batches of cream, one bowl with icing sugar, and the other with icing sugar and hot chocolate powder.  Place in the fridge to chill.
11. To make the chocolate buttercream, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar, cocoa powder and one tablespoon of the milk and beat until creamy. Beat in more milk if necessary to loosen the icing.
12. To make the chocolate ganache, place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to the boil, then pour over the chopped chocolate, leave to sit for 2 minutes, then gently beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
13. To assemble, place the white chocolate cake on a cake stand, and use a palette knife to spread with the white whipped cream. Place the milk chocolate layer on top and spread with the milk chocolate whipped cream. Top with the dark chocolate layer.  Coat the entire cake with the chocolate buttercream icing and place in the fridge to chill for 30 mins.
14. Finally, pour the ganache into a piping bag and pipe lines across the top of the cake. Use a peeler to shave chunks of white, milk and dark chocolate on top.