Photography John-Paul Urizar, Styling Kristine Duran-Thiessen
How to decorate the gluten-free chocolate cakes
We serve the gluten-free cakes inverted to create a flat top, perfect to coat with luscious chocolate ganache and to pile with your favourite brand of chocolates kisses. We used Baci Perugina Original Dark Chocolates and Hesheys Kisses to decorate our cakes, but you can use your favourite chocolates or a chopped chocolate bar instead, if preferred.
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease 18 holes of two 12-hole (⅓-cup/80ml) muffin pans.
Stir chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a medium saucepan of simmering water (don’t let water touch base of bowl) until chocolate is melted. Cool slightly.
Beat butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, stir in melted chocolate, then fold in ground hazelnuts, liqueur and extract.
Beat egg whites in a clean small bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold egg white into chocolate mixture, in two batches. Spoon mixture into pan holes.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with moist crumbs attached. Stand cakes in pans for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, to make chocolate ganache, combine chocolate and butter in a small heatproof bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water (don’t let water touch base of bowl), stirring occasionally, until smooth and glossy. Remove from heat; stand for 30 minutes or until thickened slightly.
Pour a little chocolate ganache over each cake; decorate tops with chocolates. Stand at room temperature until set. Decorate with chocolates of choice, halving if necessary.
Un-iced cakes can be made 4 days ahead; store, covered, in an airtight container at room temperature. Ice the cakes on the day of serving.
Test Kitchen tip
Which chocolate to use?
Here at the Weekly we are firm believers that there is a chocolate cake that is the perfect match for everyone. From our simple cakes to elaborate masterpieces and everything in between we have chocolate cakes covered. Once you’ve made your selection, a note on chocolate; be guided by the recipe if it includes the percentage of cocoa solids. It is best not to substitute types or percentages, unless you’ve made the recipe before, A recipe which recommends a chocolate with high cocoa solids may contain a little more sugar to balance the bitterness. And reducing sugar without knowing what you are doing can impact on the cake texture. For this recipe, we recommend using a chocolate with 45 percent cocoa solids. Click here for our guide to melt chocolate in the microwave.
