CHOCOLATE- RASPBERRY TORTE

A very dear friend is celebrating a birthday and because her schedule has been very hectic lately and will continue to be so for another 2 weeks,a nice dinner celebration was not possible. But every birthday deserves a cake at the very least. The arrangements were made and coffee and cake it would be, even though it was only served after 10pm. I felt sorry for the gals that had to work the next day!

Barb loves chocolate and raspberries, so it wasn't very hard on deciding what cake to make, little did I know that I would be making it twice. I still don't quite know what went wrong, but suffice it to say the center of the cake was wobbly , even though I gave it an extra 10 minutes in the oven and then an additional 5 minutes. The end result was that when the cake cooled, it did solidify somewhat in the center and I thought that it would still be ok, seeing that it would have preserves in the center anyways,,, but then when  I cut the cake in half it all crumbled to the point where no amount of patching or covering up with icing would help.Too bad because the cake itself was delicious, almost like a brownie texture.
Sometimes it just goes like that! Ron offered to help me start it all over again, but to be truthful , it was late already, I did not have the energy left to have another go at it and mostly, could not deal with another disappointment. The basement pantry had a box of chocolate Duncan Hines and I knew that this was going to be foolproof. Don't get me wrong I will have another go at the original cake batter, but at another date. Or, if any of you are going to try it do let me know if it works for you.
 The inspiration for this cake comes from the Sachertorte, a famous cake that was created in the kitchen of Vienna's renowned Hotel Sacher.  The dense cake is coated with apricot reserves and then topped with a chocolate glaze.  This version features raspberry perseveres which provide a good counter point to the intense chocolate. Traditionally, |Sachertorte is eaten with lots of whipped cream. ( |While the original cake fell apart we are still enjoying the broken pieces with a cup of coffee as the cake itself is really very delicious and while the first attempt at it did not work for me it dose not mean ,the instructions are bad, as I have made many recipes from this book and they always work.I think it was just me.)

Ingredient's:
1C plain flour
8oz bitter sweet chocolate
3/4C  unsalted butter
1C sugar
6 lg. eggs separated at room temperature
1C seedless raspberry reserves
Chocolate Glaze
Whipped cream optional

Directions:
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9" spring form pan, set aside.

Place the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler placed over barely simmering water.  Stir often until the butter and chocolate melt.  Remove from over the water.  Whisk 1/2 C of the sugar into the egg yolks and then stir the egg mixture into the chocolate.  Using a mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites on medium high speed until soft peaks form while slowly adding the remaining 1/2c sugar.

Using a rubber spatula stir 1/4 of the whites into the chocolate mixture.  Gently fold in the flour.  Add the remaining egg whites, folding gently and thoroughly.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan using the spatula. 

Bake the cake until it puffs up and feels firm to the touch in the center.  25-30 mins.  If the center looks soupy, bake for another 5mins.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 3mins, then release and lift of the pan sides.  Place a wire rack on top of the cake and carefully invert them together.  Lift off the pan bottom and peel off the parchment paper if you used it.  Gently turn the cake back over onto another rack and let cool completely.  Cover the cake with a clean slightly damp kitchen towel so the outside does not dry out as it cools. 

To assemble the cake cut it in half horizontally, remove the top half.  Using a icing spatula spread 1/3c of preserves on the bottom layer.  Replace the top round.  Spread the remaining preserves over the top and sides of the cake.  Refrigerate the cake for 30mins to firm up the preserves.  Meanwhile make thew chocolate glaze.  Refrigerate the cake for 30mins to set the glaze.  Scrape any drippings from the sheet pan, rewarm the glaze and add a second coat.  When the glaze sets up slightly transfer the cake to a serving platter.  Serve immediately with whip cream.

Chocolate Glaze:
12oz semi sweet chocolate finely chopped
1c unsalted butter
2T corn syrup
Place the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in the top of a double boiler placed over barely simmering water and heat until the chocolate and butter melt, stirring often.  Remove from heat and pour the glaze through a fine mesh sieve.  Let cool to 92 degrees before serving.  (Taken from Essentials of Baking Williams-Sonoma)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!