Čokoladno karamelna torta brez moke / Flourless chocolate caramel cake

(please scroll down for English)

Pred dobrimi štirinajstimi dnevi je moja boljša polovica praznovala rojstni dan. Pa sem mu spekla torto. Rekel je, da dobro :). Je pa res, da je precej nezahteven jedec. Recept sem našla na blogu Ja u kuhinji, kjer lahko poleg tega najdete še kopico drugih okusnih receptov, ki so opremljeni z lepimi fotografijami. Torta je brez moke in je primerna tudi za tiste, ki je zaradi alergij ne smejo uživati. Uporabila sem temno čokolado,  saj se mi zdi da je karamela v torti že sama po sebi precej sladka. Kremo pripravite en dan prej, da bo dovolj kompaktna. Torta je močna, polna okusa, en košček je povsem dovolj. Gostje so bili zadovoljni, midva pa tudi :).

Za tortico premera 18 cm

(recept: tu in tu)

Biskvit:

70 g mletih mandljev

70 g sladkorja

5 jajc

25 g grenkega kakava v prahu

Čokoladna krema:

350 g smetane

200 g temne čokolade

Karamela: (recept: tu)

180 g belega sladkorja

200 g smetane

10 g masla

70 g nasekljanih pekanov (ali drugih oreščkov: lešniki, mandlji, pinjole)

Sirup:

4 žlice vode

1 žlička sladkorja

2-3 žlice konjaka

Biskvit:

Mlete mandlje zmešamo s kakavom v prahu. Ločimo rumenjake in beljake. Rumenjake stepemo s polovico sladkorja, dokler zmes ne postane penasta in bledo rumene barve. Postopek ponovimo z beljaki: s polovico sladkorja jih stepemo v sneg. Čvrst sneg je bistvenega pomena za dobro testo. Pazljivo združimo rumenjakovo in beljakovo zmes in počasi dodamo še mlete mandlje zmešane s kakavom. Vlijemo v pomaščen model in pečemo približno 25 minut na 180-190 °C. Ohlajeno testo prerežemo  na dva dela.

Čokoladna krema:

(pripraviti 1 dan prej)

Za čokoladno kremo najprej segrejemo smetano. Tik pred vretjem jo odstavimo in vanjo vmešamo koščke temne čokolade. Damo nazaj na štedilnik in na nizkem ognju kuhljamo toliko časa, da se popolnoma raztopi. Kremo ohladimo in čez noč postavimo v hladilnik. Naslednji dan je zmes precej trda, tako da jo le malo premešamo z žlico (v kolikor ni, jo brez skrbi zmiksajte).

Karamela:

Sladkor stresemo v globoko kozico. Najbolje je, da je ta svetle barve, saj takoj vidimo, kdaj sladkor karamelizira. Mešamo in kuhamo dokler se ves sladkor ne stopi. Treba je paziti, da ga ne zažgemo, saj bo sicer karamela grenka. Sladkor mora dobiti svetlo zlato barvo. Stopljenemu sladkorju dodamo toplo sladko smetano (pazite, ker bo »prasketalo«) in hkrati mešamo, dokler se vsa karamela ne stopi. Lahko se zgodi, da se bo karamela sprijela v veliko žogico, brez panike, samo mešajte naprej, počasi se bo razstopila. Ko zmes postane kremasta in bolj gosta, jo  odstavimo, vanjo vmešamo maslo in narezane pekane ter ohladimo.

Zlaganje torte:

Prvo plast dobro navlažimo s pripravljenim sirupom, na debelo namažemo s karamelo in pokrijemo z drugo plastjo biskvita, ki jo prav tako obilno navlažimo s sirupom. Celo torto premažemo s čokoladno kremo, ki je precej kompaktna. Čokoladno kremo z žlico nanesemo na torto in z vročim nožem  zgladimo vse stranice in površino torte. Okrasimo s preostalo karamelo in pekani. 

Flourless chocolate caramel cake

(adapted from here and here)

For the cake: (18-19 cm)

70 g ground almonds

70 g sugar

5 eggs

25 g dark bitter cocoa

Chocolate cream:

350g heavy cream

200 g dark chocolate

Caramel: recipe from: here

180 g white sugar

200 g heavy cream

10 g butter

70 g chopped pecans (or any other nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts,…)

Syrup:

4 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon sugar

2-3 tablespoon cognac

For the cake:

Mix almonds with cocoa powder. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. Beat egg yolks with half of the sugar until fluffy and pale. Do the same with egg whites:  in a medium mixing bowl whip the egg whites with half of the sugar until really stiff peaks form (this is essential for the success of the cake/batter). Carefully combine egg yolk mixture with egg whites mixture and slowly add ground almonds with cocoa. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake at 180-190 °C for approx. 25 minutes. When baked and cooled cut in half so you get two layers.

Chocolate cream: (one day before)

Heat the heavy cream until it  starts to bubble, remove from the heat and mix in chocolate pieces. Whisk. Put it back to low heat and stir until all the chocolate melts. Set aside, cool to the room temperature and leave (store?) it in the fridge overnight.

Next day the cream will be very thick so just mix it with a spoon.

Caramel:*

Put sugar in a deep saucepan. Use white color pan so you can immediately see when the sugar starts to caramelize. Stir until it starts to melt. Keep stirring and make sure there are no clumps in the melting sugar. If it starts to brown to fast, just lower your heat and keep stirring. When melted, remove it from the heat and add warm heavy cream (be careful it will bubble a lot) and mix until it thickens. A big ball of caramel may form when you add the heavy cream,  but don't worry, just keep on stiring.

When done, mix in chopped pecans and cool to a room temperature.

*worth reading: Tips on making caramel

Assembling the cake:

Place the first layer of the cake on a plate, soak it with prepared syrup, put the caramel on top and cover it with the second cake layer. Again soak it with syrup and frost it with chocolate cream. Chocolate cream will be quite thick, use warm palette knife to smooth the top surface and outer side edges of the cake.

Decorate with the rest of the caramel and pecans.