Chocolate truffle layer cake
Chocolate truffle layer cake

What better complement to chocolate than more chocolate? A delicious hocolate cake layered with chocolate mousse, laced with, yes more chocolate.
Ingredients
Serves 12-16
Prep time: 50 mins
Cooking time: 1½ hours
– Chocolate liqueur, for brushing.
– Chocolate curls (optional),to serve.
Chocolate buttermilk cake
– 140 gm unsalted butter, diced.
– 240 gm Lindt Dessert Premium Dark.
– chocolate, coarsely chopped.
– 420 gm plain fl our, sifted.
– 2 tbsp Dutch processed cocoa.
– 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted.
– 600 gm caster sugar.
– 3 eggs.
– 180 ml buttermilk.
Milk chocolate truffl e mousse
– 300 ml pouring cream.
– 80 ml chocolate liqueur.
– 720 gm Lindt Dessert Premium Milk.
– chocolate, fi nely chopped.
– 6 egg yolks.
Chocolate glaze
– 165 gm (¾ cup) caster sugar.
– 250 ml (1 cup) pouring cream.
– 300 gm Lindt Dessert Premium.
– Dark chocolate, fi nely chopped.
Instructions
Step 1:For chocolate buttermilk cake, preheat oven to 160°C and butter and line two 20cm-diameter cake tins with baking paper. Stir butter, chocolate and 350ml water in a saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients, then whisk in eggs, buttermilk and a pinch of salt until smooth. Divide among prepared tins and bake until a skewer inserted withdraws clean (40-50 minutes). Cool in tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Step 2:For milk chocolate truffle mousse, bring cream and 60ml liqueur to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Place chocolate in a large bowl, add hot cream and stand for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Whisk yolks and remaining liqueur in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until thick and pale (3-4 minutes). Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate mixture, then whisk in an electric mixer until cooled to room temperature (4-5 minutes). Refrigerate and whisk occasionally until thick but spreadable (4-4½ hours).
Step 3:Meanwhile, for chocolate glaze, stir sugar and 60ml water in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, then boil until dark caramel (4-5 minutes). Remove from heat, carefully add 125ml warm water (be careful, caramel will spit), then add cream, return to heat and bring back to the boil. Add chocolate and a pinch of salt, remove from heat, stand for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Set aside at room temperature.
Step 4:To assemble, trim the top of each cake flat, then cut in half horizontally. Place a cake round on a cake stand or serving plate, brush with a little liqueur, spread with a fifth of the truffle mixture, then top with another layer of cake. Continue layering, finishing with a layer of truffle mousse, then spread remaining truffle mixture around the sides of cake with a palette knife to neaten. Refrigerate for 1 hour to set.
Step 5:Pour a little chocolate glaze over the cake, allowing it to run over the edges and drip a little. Refrigerate to set (20 minutes), then serve topped with chocolate curls and extra chocolate glaze.
Step 6:Chocolate curls: temper milk chocolate by warming coarsely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water until molten. Stir frequently until the chocolate reaches 48°C. Cool and crystallise to 26°C using the tabling method or by seeding. Then gently warm to working temperature of 30-31°C and pour som tempered chocolate onto bench, spread into a thin, even layer with a palette knife, then allow to just set (1-2 minutes). For chocolate curls, use a scraper, at a 45 degree angle, to scrape in a smooth motion to form curls. Set aside until serving.