Pete bought me Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet recently, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I love reading the words of someone so enthralled in her art, and so specific about her recipes.
Last weekend, I christened the cookbook by trying out three of her recipes. You can see them all in the photo above – the Queen of Sheba torte, topped with Cocoa Bean Cream and Alice’s Chocolate Sauce. The thing to note about all these recipes is that they are, as inferred by the book title, dark dark dark. The cake is made with 70% cacao bittersweet chocolate, the sauce with 75% Tanzanie origin chocolate, and the cream is infused with bitter cacao nibs and sweetened with just a whisper of sugar. It was almost too dark for Big Boy, but Pete loved the combination. I do think the chocolate sauce was probably overkill, but hey, I was on a roll.
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Cocoa Bean Whipped Cream
- 1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons cacao nibs
- sugar to taste
Bring the cream and nibs to boil in a small saucepan, remove from heat and cover. Allow to infuse for 20 minutes. Strain the cream into a bowl, pushing down on the nibs to extract all the flavour. Chill the strained cream until cold (at least 6 hours) – if it’s not cold enough, it won’t whip up. When ready to use, whip the cream, adding sugar to taste.
This is seriously good, a subtle black chocolate flavour with just enough sugar to take the edge off the bitterness. Slightly reminiscent of coffee cream, but much nicer. We made this first, and then had to find a cake to go with it – or risk eating it all with a spoon!
A note to Sydneysiders – you can buy Callebaut cacao nibs at Chef’s Warehouse in Surry Hills. They’re a fun ingredient to play around with.
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Queen of Sheba Torte
I asked Pete to choose a cake to try, and this is the one he picked. It’s very dark, and I personally found the brandy a little overpowering, but Pete loved it, particularly with the cocoa bean cream. I’ve included metric conversions – it’s so much easier to work with a set of scales!
- 6oz (170g) dark chocolate (66% – 70% cacao), coarsely chopped
- 10 tablespoons (155g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) brandy
- ¹⁄8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup (70g) unblanched whole almonds (I used unblanched almond meal)
- 2 tablespoons (20g) plain (AP) flour
- 4 large (59g) eggs, separated, at room temperature
- ¾ cup (165g) sugar
- ¹⁄8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C, or 175C with fan).
2. Grease an 8″ (20cm) round springform pan, and line the base with parchment paper.
3. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heatproof bowl, either over a pot of gently simmering water, or in the microwave in 30 second increments. Stir until smooth, then stir in brandy and salt. Set aside to cool.
4. If using whole nuts, pulse them in a food processor with the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Or, stir together the almond meal and flour in a small bowl.
5. In a large mixing bowl (it needs to be big, as this is where the final mixing takes place), whisk the egg yolks with ½ cup (110g) of sugar until well blended. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture.
6. In another large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium until soft peaks form, then gradually sprinkle in the remaining ¼ cup (55g) sugar and beat on high until peaks are stiff but not dry.
7. Scoop a quarter of the egg whites and all the nut/flour mixture on to the top of the chocolate batter, and fold in with a rubber spatula. Then gently but thoroughly fold in the remaining egg whites. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted 1½ inches (4cm) from the edge comes out almost clean, but a toothpick in the centre is still moist and gooey (Ms Medrich is very specific about this!). Set the pan on a rack to cool completely (it will sink as it cools), before releasing from the pan and setting on a serving platter. You could dust this with a little icing sugar before serving.
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Alice’s Chocolate Sauce
Ok, the cake really didn’t need this, but I was having too much fun with my new cookbook. I found the recipe as written a little too thick, so I’ve provided the quantities I used here. Note the absence of any sugar whatsoever – this is a seriously dark sauce!
- 10 ounces (285g) dark chocolate (54% cacao upwards – I used 75%), finely chopped
- 1½ (375ml) cups milk, cream or a combination of both (I used 125ml cream and 250ml milk). Note: original recipe specified ½ – 1 cup milk/cream.
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)
- pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Over a double boiler, melt 125ml milk or cream with the chocolate, stirring frequently until the chocolate is smooth. Now add as much extra liquid needed to achieve your preferred consistency. If the mixture appears to thicken too much or curdle, add more milk and whisk until it becomes smooth and pourable.
If desired, you can add the butter a little at a time to adjust the intensity of flavour. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.
The sauce will keep for a few days in the fridge, or frozen for up to three months. I’m planning to use it as a base for dark hot chocolate!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
