At Valentino, pastry chef Michelle Robie cuts the cake into individual heart shapes and sometimes serves them with a blood orange sauce.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 8
Ingredients
For cake
For ganache
Preparation
Make cake:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter a 10-inch springform pan.
Step 2
Chop chocolate and cut butter into pieces. In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate and butter with sugar, stirring until smooth (sugar will not be dissolved). Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and cool mixture to room temperature. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.
Step 3
Separate eggs, putting yolks in a small bowl and whites in a large bowl. Add yolks 1 at a time to chocolate mixture, whisking well after each addition. With an electric mixer beat whites until they just hold soft peaks. Sift flour over chocolate mixture and with a whisk fold flour and half of whites into mixture gently but thoroughly. With a rubber spatula fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.
Step 4
Pour batter into pan, smoothing top, and bake in middle of oven 40 to 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out with moist crumbs adhering. Cool cake completely in pan on a rack. Cake may be made up to this point 2 days ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.
Make ganache:
Step 5
Chop chocolate and in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat. While chocolate is melting, in a small saucepan bring cream just to a simmer and add espresso. Add cream mixture to chocolate with butter and liqueur and stir until smooth.
Assemble cake:
Step 6
Remove side of pan and cut cake into 8 wedges. Invert wedges (so that top sides will be flat) onto a large rack set over a large shallow baking pan, spacing them at least 1 inch apart. Pour enough warm ganache evenly over wedges to coat them and let stand 5 minutes.
Step 7
Scrape excess ganache from baking pan into bowl of ganache and pour ganache over wedges again, making sure they are coated completely. (Remaining ganache may be chilled, covered, and reheated for using as a chocolate sauce.) Let wedges stand at room temperature until ganache is set, at least 1 hour, and up to 6.
Step 8
Just before serving, pick over raspberries and cover top of each wedge with raspberries.
