Sunday, December 13th 9:30 am - Holiday Desserts

Italian Chocolate Torte with Fresh Raspberries
Serves 16

800 grams semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons plain flour
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 stick plus 6 tablespoons of butter plus a little for coating cake ring
8 eggs, separated
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 pint fresh raspberries

Special equipment needed: cake ring

1 prepared pie crust or make your own, recipe follows:

Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper. Coat the inside of the cake ring with butter and set aside. Preheat oven to 375*. Remove pie crust from container and roll out onto the prepared baking sheet or roll out ¼ of the prepared pastry dough to about ¼ inch thick. Bake in oven for 12 minutes or until crust is golden. Remove from oven. Take a cake ring and press down into the baked but still soft pie crust. Set aside.

In double boiler, melt chocolate and butter together over medium heat. Separately with egg yolks with flour. Temper chocolate mixture into the egg yolks. Blend well. Add cayenne. Separately, whip egg whites until just combined. Add sugar and continue whipping until soft peaks form. Fold egg white mixture into chocolate mixture. Pour into cake ring. Bake approximately 25 minutes. Torte will be soft in the middle. Let rest for 2 to 3 hours before serving. Can be chilled in the refrigerator for 1 hour, if preferred. Slice into 16 equal slices and serve with fresh raspberries.

Pastry Crust
Makes 4 crusts

8 cups plain flour
5 sticks of butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 vanilla beans, vanilla removed
Fine zest of one lemon
3 eggs

In mixing bowl, combine flour, butter, and sugar. Mix well. Add lemon zest and vanilla. Mix well. Add eggs one at a time. Mix thoroughly until pasty. Place in refrigerator overnight or in freezer for about 20 minutes. Separate into 4 equal parts. Use as needed for pastry crusts. Recipe for Italian Chocolate Torte uses ¼ of this recipe.

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