Belinda Jeffery's Flourless Chocolate, Pecan and Raspberry Torte

Have you ever baked something out of guilt?

I made this gorgeous chocolate cake for Mr J yesterday, so I could go out with Linda, Steph and Karen to watch The Twilight Sage: New Moon without feeling sorry for leaving him behind to babysit little Miss C.

I baked this cake for the first time as a trial run for an upcoming birthday + Christmas occasion. It's not perfect but by the look of the pictures, it's pretty good.

This cake is so rich and dense that Mr J only managed to bite into a small portion of it. 90% of the cake is still in the fridge. I sincerely wish some of you live close by enough to drop by and grab a piece!

Belinda Jeffery, "I love this cake. It fills all the criteria for a wonderful holiday dessert. It's rich and sophisticated, keep exceptionally well, is very simple to make and, all-important for a special occasion, look spectacular. The iced cake, minus the raspberries, keeps well in the freezer for up to a month."


Belinda Jeffery's Flourless Chocolate, Pecan and Raspberry Torte Recipe
(Adapted from AWW Christmas and Holiday Entertaining Cookbook)

Ingredients

250 g unsalted butter
250 g good quality dark chocolate
3/4 cup (75 g) sifted Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 2/3 cup (200 g) roasted pecans
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups (330 g) caster sugar
1/3 cup (80 ml) brandy or cognac
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 punnets raspberries
double thick cream, for serving

Chocolate Glace:
250 g good quality dark chocolate, chunks
125 g unsalted butter, chopped
2 1/2 tbsp water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Butter a 23 cm springform cake pan and line the base with buttered baking paper. Dust cake pan with flour or rice flour (if you're avoiding wheat) and tap out the excess. Set it aside.
2. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat. Add the chocolate and whisk until melted. Take the pan off the heat, then add the cocoa, stirring it in until the mixture is thick and smooth. Set it aside to cool a little.
3. Meanwhile, whiz the pecans in a food processor to chop them as finely as possible. Stop the machine every so often to check them so they don't become oily and form a paste. Set them aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar with a balloon whisk until they are just blended together, then whisk in the warm chocolate mixture until it's well combined. Mix in the brandy and vanilla. Finally, stir in the ground pecans - the batter will look very loose and sloppy, but don't worry, it's fine.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the torte for 40-45 minutes or until the side is set, but the middle 15 cm or so of the torte is still a bit wobbly when you gently shake the pan.
6. Cool the torte completely in the pan on a wire rack. Once cool, release the sides of the pan and carefully invert the torte onto the rack. Remove the paper.
7. Chocolate Glaze: Put the chocolate, butter and water into a medium-sized, heavy based saucepan over low heat. Let the chocolate and butter melt, stirring regularly, until they are smooth. (A small, flat sauce whisk is ideal for this, as it gets right into the corners of the pan where the chocolate tends to clump a bit.) The most important thing to keep in mind when you're making the glaze is that it mustn't get too hot and boil; If it does, it becomes oily and grainy and there's not much chance of salvaging it. Once it's silky smooth, take it off the heat. Let it cool until it's barely warm and a thick pouring consistency before using it.
8. To ice, place the torte on the rack over a plate to catch any drips, then pour a good amount of the barely warm Chocolate Glaze into the middle of the torte. Tilt the rack so the glaze flows evenly over the top and runs down the sides (for the smoothest finish, don't run a palette knife over it). If your room is cool, you can leave the glaze to set at room temperature. However, where I live, summer is hot and humid, so I generally transfer the lot - the torte on its rack on the drip plate - into the fridge to set. Once set, slide the torte onto a serving plate and cover it in plastic wrap - it will keep well like this for at least a week. Before serving, remove the wrap and return the torte to cool room temperature.
9. To finish off, sit a tightly packed layer of raspberries all over the top, then dust them very lightly with icing sugar. Serve with cream.