Chocolate rum Easter torte

Happy Easter everyone ... hope you are all enjoying the extended break from work.

As this is the first Easter time since I started baking, I decided to swerve Easter eggs this year and do a spot of Easter themed baking instead.  There were some fabulous-looking recipes in  last week's Mail On Sunday You magazine, so I thought I would try one ... and here it is 

Chocolate rum Easter torte

Taken from The Mail On Sunday You Magazine 13/4/2014 - recipe by Annie Bell

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

For the cake:

150g dark chocloate (approx. 70% cocoa solids)

4 eggs, separated

150g golden caster sugar

150g unsalted butter, softened

25g plain flour, sifted

1 tbsp dark rum (I substituted approx. 1/2 tsp natural rum flavouring)

For the glaze:

100g dark chocloate

55ml boiling water

1 tsp dark rum (I substituted approx 1/8 tsp natural rum flavouring)

To finish: 

Easter themed edible decorations (I used micro eggs and choclate spaghetti)

Equipment:

1 * 20cm (8") loose bottomed cake tin (I used my Lakeland non-stick pushpan)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C/160 C fan/gas mark 4. Grease cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.

2. Gently melt the chocolate for the cake in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, then set aside to cool.

3. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy, then add the butter and continue to beat until smooth.

4. Incorporate the chocolate and then the flour and rum.

5. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff, and fold into the chocolate mixture in two halves.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin, and smooth the top.

7. Bake for approx 25 minutes or until risen, and a cake skewer comes out clean or with only the slightest moist crumb. Run a small palette knife around the cake and leave to cool - it will sink a little (mine didn't actually!!)

8. When cool, turn out the cake onto a plate with the base uppermost, and peel off the baking parchment.
9. melt the chocolate for the glaze, then add in 55ml of boiling water and the rum. Smooth the glaze over the top of the cake and top with edible decorations.  Leave to cool - you can refrigerate for a short while to serve chilled. Serve  with creme fraiche.

Observations:

This cake was very easy, though boy did it create a lot of washing up!! Yesterday afternoon when I went out I couldn't get any Cadbury's mini eggs for love nor money, but luckily I spotted some micro eggs in my local Tesco which I think were actually a better size for topping a cake. I also decided to use a bit of stray chocolate spaghetti I had around the place to give a slightly more nest-like appearance. 

I did have to guess the amount of rum flavouring to use, but googling indicated I should use 1/9 of the amount of actual rum (ie 1 tsp flavouring for every 3 tbsp of rum). My husband said he couldn't really taste the rum, though the cake was very rich although light ... I thought it better to err on the side of caution so maybe I would use a bit more next time :-)  Eating it with a dollop of creme fraiche was definitely the way to go though ... fab treat after our Easter dinner!

I would like to enter this cake into a few baking challenges, namely ...

Cake of the Week: Baking With Spirit - Chocolate & Alcohol (my rum flavouring does contain alcohol .. it's just more concentrated and cheaper than buying a whole bottle lol!)

Simply Food - Let's Cook Sweet Treats For Easter

Calendar Cakes (April), hosted by Dollybakes -  Easter Bakes

The Pink Whisk (in conjunction with Two Little Fleas) - Easter Bake & Make  (2nd entry - I'm not sure if more than 1 is allowed as I couldn't see anything bout it in the rules .. so hope this is ok!! :-) )

That's all from me for today .... all caked out now so I think I will be having a little rest from baking. Til next time ...

Hugs,