This is the recipe for the Episode 8 Technical Challenge on The Great South African Bake Off 4.
You'll find links to the recipes for the season's other episodes underneath it.
Chocolate and Almond Cake: Queen of Sheba
JUDGE PAUL'S COMMENTS:
- This is a moist, dense chocolate cake with a good ganache covering.
- There musn't be too much ganache in relation to the sponge so the ganache doesn't overpower the sponge.
- Pay attention to the chocolate tiara which needs to be tempered. (Instructions in the recipe below.)
INGREDIENTS
For the Cake
115g Dark Chocolate, melted
2 tbsp. Coffee
115g Butter
135g Sugar
100g Flour
40g Almond Flour
3 Eggs, separated
½ tsp. Baking Powder
Praline Ganache Glaze
200g Milk Chocolate
100g Almond Praline
80g Cream
White Chocolate Tiara
200g White Chocolate
7 each Gold Pearls
Whipped Ganache
100g Caramélia Chocolate
50ml Milk
50ml Cream
2g Gelatine
65ea. Crunchy Pearls
METHOD
Whipped Chocolate Ganache
Heat the cream and add the bloomed gelatine with the chocolate.
Stir until chocolate is melted.
Pour into bowl, pour in the milk, then stir to cool down rapidly: can also be put on an ice bath.
Once cool, whip on high speed to aerate, then place in a piping bag with a ruffle nozzle.
For the Almond Chocolate Torte
Whip the eggs whites to stiff peaks with 1/3 of the sugar.
Cream the butter and the remaining sugar.
Mix the yolks with the coffee, then gradually beat into the creamed butter.
Pour in the melted chocolate, tip in the almond flour and the flour.
Mix well, then add 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter. Stir through.
Fold in the remainder of the whipped egg whites.
Pour into a greased 22cm cake ring and bake at 170ºC for 25 - 30 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes then place in freezer for 10 minutes before pouring over ganache
Praline Ganache
Heat the half the cream, then pour over the chocolate and Almond Praline.
Stir to emulsify well then add the remaining cream.
Pour over the cooled chocolate almond cake when the ganache reaches 37ºC.
Refrigerate.
Chocolate Tiara
Temper the chocolate according to the seeding method:
Melt 150g of the chocolate to 45ºC.
Pour a third of the melted chocolate into a bowl.
Seed with 50g of finely chopped chocolate, stirring to bring the temperature down to 26ºC.
Add the reserved 2/3 of melted chocolate to the seeded bowl and to final temperature 28ºC - 29ºC.
Pour into a piping bag and then carefully trace over the template provided.
Trace a second layer over the blue crown on the Tiara to create a 3 D effect.
Allow to cool and using a 22 cm ring as a mould, allow to set firmly.
Assembly
Pipe an elaborate “S” in the centre of the cake about 12 cm tall, using a ruffle nozzle.
On the ‘flat’ side on the piped “S” place, equidistance apart, 23 Crunchy Pearls.
Stick the tiara against the torte; then place 19 Crunchy Pearls, as indicated on the template.
Decorate the rim of the cake with the remaining Crunchy pearls, spaced equidistance apart.
NOTES
Queen of Sheba cake is a Meringue Method Almond and Chocolate Cake. The exact origin is a mystery, however, it was made famous by the TV cook Julia Shild.
Queen of Sheba cakes should be moist inside and therefore are baked for a relatively short time. Because of the moistness, they need no filling. And the rich ganache adds to its luxuriousness.
Tempering chocolate changes the crystal structure of the chocolate allowing it to be firm and withstand room temperature better.
The method given is the simplest of the tempering methods, but care should be taken to work the chocolate within the correct temperatures as given by Valrhona.
The foaming method – specifically Meringue Method is utilised here to achieve aeration as no raising agents are used to lift the batter.
The Meringue Method is where the egg whites are beaten to a stiff peak with some sugar and then incorporated into the base batter – 1/3 of the stiff egg whites are first folded through the batter quickly and then remaining egg whites are carefully incorporated.
Working on the method steps above allows the cake to be done from start to finish in 1 hour 45.
Tap these links to see recipes from each week:
(Each one opens in a new window.)
Episode 1: Chocolate & Citrus Biscotti
Episode 2: Macadamia Lemon Meringue Roulade
Episode 3: Butternut Maize Meal Parmesan Scones
Episode 4: Classic Choux Swans with Berry Coulis
Episode 5: Plum and Ginger Pudding with Roasted White Chocolate Sauce
Episode 6: Turkish Spinach and Cheese Street Food
Episode 7: Red Berry and Jammy Coconut Crème Doughnuts
Episode 9: Milk Tart Saint Honoré
Episode 10: Banana Soufflé & Dark Chocolate Ice Cream