"Don't Tell Me What To Do!" and Chocolate Galore II (Sachertorte)

I've been taking wide gaps between my posts. Besides the annoying renovation upstair which is STILL ongoing, I've been busy preparing for our wedding in Siem Reap which is only two months away...Well, the boys just had their exams thus taking another 3 weeks break. This week, Ms. Psycho Bitch spreaded her venom again...not to me though. Poor ADD girl got scolded for nothing. Well, this week is my turn at the dishes and both girls are in charged of sweeping and mopping. Pretty simple you might think...Unfortunately, when you have a rotten apple in the bunch things will never be peaceful. Psycho Bitch decided that she won't do much except sweeping a few spots and leave one hour before the class ends. ADD girl is not stupid either...one fine day, she decided to sweep the floor first so Psycho Bitch will have to mop the floor (guess she's tired of Psycho Bitch's little escape trick) Good for her!!! Unfortunately, Psycho Bitch got a few "dead frogs" up her sleeves too...She simply ignored the floor mopping altogether! (told you she's a LAZY bitch!!). After couple of days, ADD girl can't take it anymore so went up to Psycho Bitch and asked her to mop the floor after she swept the kitchen floor.

"Don't tell me what to do!" screamed Psycho Bitch.

Followed by more insults and you can see ADD girl's eyes turned teary. Gosh sake, she's an innocent 17 years old...and you are an adult (probably an antique)...So, as usual...I came to the rescue. I screamed back at her, stated all her wrongdoings, called her "Psycho Bitch" for real and asked her to go just away. ADD girl ran to the toilet and slammed the door. Silly drama..sigh. Well, let's go back to Chocolate Galore II (Sachertorte).

Sachertorte (torte is German word for cake)
This is a classic chocolate cake originated at the Hotel Sacher in Vienna. The original recipe was never revealed but many bakers tried to imitate it and here's one of them:

Set oven temperature at 165 degree C (quantity for 2 x 8" cake tins)

Butter......................................250g (room temp)
Sugar 1..................................250g
Vanilla Essence....................drops
Melted Chocolate.................312g
Egg Yolks..............................250g (room temp)
Egg White.............................375g (room temp)
Sugar 2.................................188g
Salt.........................................2g
Cake Flour.............................250g (sifted)
Apricot Jam...........................as required

1. Cream Butter, Sugar 1 and vanilla essence until pale and fluffy.
2. Add egg yolks gradually. Mix well.
3. Add melted chocolate.
4. On another mixer, whisk egg white with salt on high speed. Stop, add sugar 2 and whisk on high speed until soft peak (Meringue).
5. Scrap Batter 1 into a big round bowl. Fold in meringue alternately with the flour. Mix well but not over mix.

6. Pour into cake tin layered with baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour. Test for doneness with a skewer.
7. Slice cake top so it will be flat and slice into 2 layers. Spread apricot jam in between.
8. Mask the top and sides with ganache. Make sure the surface is smooth. Chill.
9. Get chocolate mirror ready, slight warm and flowy.

10. Cake on a rack, pour chocolate mirror on the cake edges so the sides were all covered and use a spatula with one straight horizontal swipe smoothen the chocolate mirror on the cake top. Chill.

Ganache
Ganache is a chocolate cream which is very useful for both filling and topping for chocolate based cakes. It can be piped onto cake as decorations as well.

1. Boil heavy cream (250g) in a saucepan.
2. Add dark couventure (250g) and stir until all chocolate melted. If too thick, add more cream or milk. Chill until set.

Chocolate Mirror
Chocolate mirror is a chocolate glaze which is smooth and very glossy that gives a mirror like surface. Used it while it is still warm since it will set to room temperature.

1. Boil 100ml water with 80g sugar and 40g glucose. Sift 30g cocoa powder before adding into the hot liquid. Stir with a whisk until blended.
2. Melt 80g dark couventure. Add in 40g butter. Remove from heat and stir until blended.
3. Add (2) into (1). Stir well.