The Cake of The Day: Chocolate Demise

I made two of this cake for the Twins 21st Birthday. They were just great for an auspicious occasion. it is a layer of flourless chocolate cake, a layer of ganache, a pecan tuile, a layer of ganache, a pecan tuile, a layer of ganache, a pecan tuile, a layer of ganache, a pecan tuile, a layer of ganache, a layer of flourless chocolate cake, topped off by a final layer of ganache. Decorate with rolled pecan tuiles.
Beware this beautiful cake is super rich! The recipe is from Death by Chocolate: The Last Word on a Consuming Passion and one of the best high quality dessert books by Marcel Desaulniers. The recipe is long and complex. "Devil's Food". A cake made with dark chocolate, so called because it is supposedly so rich and delicious, it must be somewhat sinful, although I make the comment with a little humor.

Pecan Tuiles

Ingredients:

142 g Pecan pieces
166 g soft brown sugar
113 g unsalted butter
170 ml. Golden Syrup
96 g plain flour
In the bowl of a food processor with a metal blade, break these pecan pieces into as size very small pieces.
Heat the soft brown sugar, butter and golden syrup over medium heat and bring to boil. Remove from heat.
Add the chopped nuts and flour and mix with a rubber spatula. Place 4 tablespoons of pecan batter in the centre of each of the two non stick baking papers. Warning these portions will spread out to about 8 inches wide.
Place these two baking sheets on the top and bottom of your oven at (325 F, 170 C) and bake for 16 mins. Rotate the two sheets at about halfway through your baking cycle. They must be evenly caramel coloured. Remove from oven and set aside for 7 - 10 Mins. Transfer to a cooling rack to completely cool;
Repeat another two lots of tuiles.
Make the small ones: - 1 teaspoon of the batter on to a baking sheet allowing 8 small tuiles to a sheet.
Repeat and bake one sheet at a time, on the centre shelf and bake for 6 mins. Remove and allow to cool for 30 secs before handling. Roll the small Tuiles around a chop stick and allow to cool for 5 mins.

Truffle Cake (300 F, 150 C)

Ingredients:

166G soft brown sugar
255 g of the unsalted butter, 28 g to be melted.
454 ml. Dark chocolate (Broken into 14 g pieces
4 eggs
And 2 more egg yolks.
To prepare the Truffle cakes lightly coat the insides of 2 9in x 1 ½ cake tins with melted butter, Line each pan with greaseproof paper and lightly coat with melted butter.
Using a double boiler place 1 inch of water in the bottom and place all the chocolate and 227g of butter and cover the tightly with cling film for 15 mins. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Transfer to a stainless steel bowl and leave at room temperature until you need it. Place the eggs and the extra egg yolks in to the top of the clean double boiler and whisk until they reach a temperature of 110 F or 43 C. Transfer to your electric beater with a balloon whisk. Whisk on high until light and pale, 6- 7 mins. Remove and pour 1/3 of the eggs into the melted chocolate. When completely blended in, pour the rest of the eggs into this mix. (Be Gentle but thorough) Pour into the prepared cake tins and bake for 20 to 25 mins until internal temperature of the layers reach 170 F or 70 C.
After cooling in pans for 20mins, invert 1 of the tins onto cardboard cake circle invert the other layer on to the bottom of enclosed springform pan. Refrigerate the truffle layers until required.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

710 g double cream
85 g of unsalted butter
56 g of castor sugar
576 dark chocolate broken into 14g pieces
170 g of unsweetened chocolate broken into 14g pieces
To prepare the Chocolate Ganache
Heat 85 g of double cream, unsalted butter and the sugar in a 4 pint saucepan over medium- high heat.
When hot stir to dissolve the sugar and bring mix to boil, place 567 of dark chocolate and the unsweetened chocolate into stainless steel bowl and pour the boiling cream over the two chocolates and allow to stand for five mins. Stir until smooth. Reserve 142 ml of ganache and refrigerate. Hold the rest at room temperature.

Assembling the Chocolate Demise
Dip one at a time, I inch of the tip of each small rolled pecan tuile into the room temperature ganache,
Allow the excess ganache to drip off. Lean the dipped tuile against the inside of edge of the pie tin. (Dry tip up) Keep these tuiles in the pie tin in a cool dry place.
Remove the truffle layers from the refrigerator. Pour 142 g of ganache over the tuile in the springform pan and smooth out to the edge. Place one of the large tuiles over the layer of ganache, gently pressing into position. Keep repeating until all 4 layers of Tuiles are used and covered by the ganache. Slide the last tuile over the ganache and press firmly down onto the ganache to set into position.
Cover the springform pan with cling film and freeze for 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator. Cut around the inside of the Ganache to release from the springform tin, use a cake spatula to smooth the sides. Pour the remaining ganache, spreading out to smooth the top and sides. Refrigerate for 30 mins.
Transfer the reserved refrigerated ganache to a piping bag fitted with a medium size star nozzle. Pipe an even circle of 16 stars along the outside edge of your Demise. Refrigerate the cake for at least one hour, before cutting and serving.
Place each of the 16 small dipped tuiles from sitting on the star to the centre of the cake. (Allow the dipped ends to touch the cakes).
Cut with a serrated slicer, heating the blade under running hot water, before making each slice.
Allow the slice to come to room temperature for 45 to 60 mins before serving.
Some notes do your tuiles the day before.
Work fast rolling the small tuiles.
Serve the cake the day you assemble.
You will have every one of your guests begging you for your recipe.
You will be the host of all Parties
To me, good food and home cooking is all about comfort, pleasure, and indulgence, relaxation, looking after body and mind, creating a home and welcoming friends.
They were delicious, with rave reviews! Achieving these two Chocolate Demise cakes, created the desire to make more cakes, even Christmas cakes, (Fruit cakes) for friends and family. I became an invincible baker. But this cake story is adorned with irony. That was the first and probably the last time, I made those two beautiful cakes. Now you find that I had already ventured along the road to make another one
"You only needed confidence in yourself. That is my gift to you.