Torta 900

Two thin cocoa layers and one thick chocolate cream, chilled hard and cut cold.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (double cream).

Ingredients

the two layers

• 4 eggs
• 120 g caster sugar
• 100 g plain flour
• 30 g cocoa
• 1 pinch salt

the cream

• 200 g dark chocolate, 60 per cent, chopped
• 300 ml double cream
• 100 g butter, soft
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar

Method

1. MY OWN VERSION, as with the Barozzi: one pasticceria is associated with it and published recipes differ. The shape is the part that matters, and it is TWO layers and one filling, not four thin ones.
2. Whisk the eggs, sugar and salt over a pan of hot water until the mixture triples and holds a ribbon, about 8 minutes. Off the heat, keep whisking 2 minutes as it cools.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa over it and fold in three goes, cutting rather than stirring. Stop the moment no streaks show.
4. Divide between two lined 22 cm tins -- the layers want to be thin, about 1.5 cm -- and bake at 180C for 12 to 14 minutes. Cool in the tins 5 minutes, then on a rack.
5. For the cream, heat 100 ml of the double cream to just below a boil, pour it over the chocolate, wait 2 minutes and stir smooth. Let it cool to room temperature, then beat in the butter.
6. Whip the remaining 200 ml cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks and FOLD it into the chocolate. This is a whipped cream, not a poured ganache: it has to hold a 2 cm layer without slumping out of the sides.
7. Spread all of it on one layer, set the second on top and press gently level.
8. FOUR HOURS IN THE FRIDGE, and cut it cold with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped. Cut warm, the filling squeezes out and the layers slide.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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