ScarlettChocolate, Prune and Armagnac Cake
August 27th 2008 14:06
Chocolate, Prune and Armagnac Cake
About Chocolate, Prune and Armagnac Cake
This ‘no flour’ chocolate cake is simply made with eggs and cocoa powder. If possible, begin this a couple of days ahead, by heating the prunes with the Armagnac and then leaving them to soak up all the delicious flavour.
About Armagnac
Armagnac is a distinctive kind of brandy or eau de vie, made of mainly the same grapes as cognac and undergoing the same aging in oak barrels, but mainly with column still distillation (cognac and part of armagnac is distilled in pot stills). Armagnac production is overseen by INAO and the Bureau National Interprofessionel de l'Armagnac (BNIA).
Along with cognac in Cognac, France and sherry in Jerez, Spain, it is one of only three officially demarcated brandy regions in Europe.
Armagnac is one of two rivals for cognac wine recognition as the finest producer of eau de vie (brandy) in the world. Its name comes from the Armagnac region of France where it originates.
Its quantity of production is significantly lower than that of the Cognac region; for every six bottles of Armagnac sold around the world there are one hundred bottles of cognac sold.
Armagnac has been making brandy for around 200 years longer than Cognac.
About Agen prunes
The Agen prune has been part of the culinary heritage in south-western France for centuries. Prunes are natural, tender and full of flavour : a treat for the palate that satisfies every requirement for a healthy, balanced diet.
Black, shiny and wrinkled, this little sun-filled fruit has been part of the gastronomic heritage of France's Aquitaine region for centuries. Arriving originally from China via the silk route, the plum tree became established all around the Mediterranean through the influence of the Greeks and Romans. The technique for drying fruit dates back to the same period. The prune, the result of drying a plum, was known to Greek, Roman and Arab doctors several centuries before the Christian era.
In Gaul, it was in the first Roman province, called the Narbonnaise, which exteneded to present-day Quercy that the growing of plum trees developed. It was not until the 13th century and the return of the third Crusade that the monks of the Benedictine abbey of Clairac, near Agen, crossed local plum trees with Damascus plums brought back from Syria, producing a new variety of plum called "prunier d'Ente" (from the old French word "enter," meaning "to graft.") By drying the plums in the sun the first Agen prunes were born.
INGREDIENTS
Serves 8
For the cake
6 large eggs, separated
150 gm / 5 oz golden caster sugar
50 gm / 2 oz cocoa powder, sifted
For the filling
400 gm / 14 oz pitted Agen prunes. Soaked overnight (or longer if possible) in 120 ml / 4 fl oz Armagnac
1 tablespoon crème fraîche
To finish
150 gm / 5 oz dark chocolate with 70-75% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
1 tablespoon crème fraîche
1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC / 350ºF. Grease the bases and sides of two 20 cm / 8 inches sponge tins, 4 cm / 1½ inches deep, and bases lined with baking parchment.
2. Place the egg whites in a large, clean, grease-free bowl.
3. Put the yolks in another bowl, along with the sugar, and whisk until just begin to turn pale and thicken – be careful not to thicken too much; they need approximately 3 minutes’ whisking.
4. Gently fold in the sifted cocoa powder in yolk mixture.
5. Beat the egg whites with a spanking-clean whisk until stiff but not too dry.
6. Using a metal spoon, fold a heaped tablespoon of the egg white into the chocolate mixture to loosen it up a little, then carefully and gently fold in the rest of the egg white, slowly and patiently, trying not to lose any air.
7. Divide the mixture equally between the prepared sponge tins and bake near the centre of the oven for 15 minutes. They won’t appear to be cooked exactly, just set and slightly puffy and springy in the centre, so when they’re taken out of the oven they will shrink (but that’s normal, so don’t panic).
8. Leave the cakes to cool in their tins, then slide a palette knife around the edges, gently invert them on to a board and carefully strip off the base papers.
9. To make the filling, set aside 10-12 of the largest prunes, then place the rest, plus any remaining soaking liquid, in a processor, along with the crème fraîche, and whiz to a puree.
10. Transfer the puree straight from the processor on to one half of the cake, place carefully on to a plate.
11. Spread the puree over the cake and place the other half on top.
12. For the chocolate covering, place the broken-up pieces of chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl, which should be sitting over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
13. Keeping the heat at its lowest, allow the chocolate to melt slowly – it should take about 5 minutes to become smooth and glossy.
14. Remove from the heat and give it a good stir.
15. Allow the chocolate cool for 2-3 minutes.
16. Take each of the reserved prunes and dip into the melted chocolate so that half of each one gets covered.
17. Place the chocolate prunes on a sheet of parchment paper to set.
18. Stir the crème fraîche into the chocolate.
19. Use the chocolate mixture to cover the surface of the cake, spread it over carefully with a palette knife, making ridges with the knife as you go.
20. Decorate the cake with the chocolate prunes. Cover the whole thing with an upturned, suitably sized bowl or polythene cake container, and keep in the fridge until about an hour before you need it.
**COLOR=Red]From “The Delia Collection Chocolate”, “The Worldwide Gourmet.com” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”[/COLOR]**
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