Chocolate cake with ginger curd

We have a new recipe for you! Try to cook this delicate chocolate cake with ginger curd and orange flavor.

The calculation is for an 18 cm (7 inch) mold.

Ingredients:

• eggs – 4 pcs | 4.00 items
• flour – 120 g | 4.25 oz
• sugar – 100 g | 3.55 oz
• chocolate – 60 g | 2.10 oz
• butter – 60 g | 2.10 oz
• orange juice – 60 g | 2.10 oz
• baking powder – 15 g | 0.55 oz
• zest and vanilla | 0.00 to taste

Cooking:

1. Melt the chocolate.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients.
3. Whisk the egg whites with sugar until firm peaks.
4. Whip the soft butter until white.
5. Add the egg yolks to the butter, one at a time.
6. Add the chocolate to the egg-butter base, and then add the juice, zest and vanilla.
7. Mix it with the flour.
8. Finally, add the egg whites in three passes.
9. Bake the sponge biscuit at 170C (338F) for about 40 minutes. Check the readiness with a skewer.

There is a crispy crust on the biscuit; remove it later. The finished biscuit is very juicy and moist. Cover it with the film overnight. Divide the cooled sponge biscuit into three cake layers.

For the citrus-ginger curd:

• juice from 2 oranges and 1 lemon (+ zest) 220 g | 7.75 oz
• fresh ginger (grated) 3 tsp | 3.00 tsp
• sugar 150 g | 5.30 oz
• eggs 4 pcs | 4.00 items
• butter 80 g | 2.80 oz
• flour 2 tbsp | 2.00 tbsp

Cooking:

1. Whip the eggs with sugar.
2. Squeeze the juice, and remove the zest; grate the ginger.
3. Mix all the components with the eggs, and cook it in a water bath for 5 to 7 minutes until thickened, stirring constantly.
4. As soon as the curd is brewed, take it off from the heat. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes; it should be thick and smooth.
5. Stir in the butter, and whisk until dissolved; rub the mass through a sieve to weed out the zest and the ginger.

Next, we would like to share a secret for a stable curd: stabilize it with gelatin for the interlayer.

There are two options. The first one is to place the ready-made curd in the fridge, and to get it out before assembling the cake; then you should warm it up a little, add the melted gelatin, and smear it directly into the interlayer.

The second option is to make a blank immediately in the ring mold, like confit. For this amount of the curd you should take 8 g (0.30 oz) of gelatin, and soak it.

When the curd is completely ready (filtered, but still warm), add the gelatin. Pour the curd into two ring molds, and put it in the freezer.

For the whipped chocolate crème:

• cream 300 g | 10.60 oz
• chocolate 100 g | 3.55 oz
• cream cheese 350 g | 12.35 oz

Cooking:

1. Heat the cream, and pour the chocolate until it dissolves, stirring (you can whisk it a little with a blender). Put the crème in the fridge for at least (better overnight).
2. Whip the cooled crème, and add the cream cheese in two passes. Whip again.

You can cook all the components the day before: bake the sponge biscuit, cook the curd and the crème.

Assemble the cake in a ring mold, covered with acetate film.

Follow the next assembling order:

1. Place the first sponge biscuit. Cover it with a thin layer of chocolate crème. Make a thicker crème border in a circle.
2. Place the curd (if it’s frozen in a ring, then it’s very convenient. If not, then take it out from the fridge, and mix with the gelatin; spread quickly in the middle). Cover the curd with a thin layer of crème.
3. Place the second sponge cake. Soak it a little with the orange syrup (if you have one). Repeat the same manipulations with the crème: a thin layer of crème, a rim in a circle, the curd in the middle, a thin layer of crème.
4. Cover the cake with the third cake layer (last); tighten it in a ring mold, and place it in the fridge.

Bon Appetit!