I’ve no idea what “Tchaika” means.
Tchaika Chocolate Cake (Gateau au Chocolat la Tchaika)
Ingredients
Ingredients for cake
- 6 egg yolks retain whites
- cup 100 g confectioner’s sugar
- 295 to 395 g bittersweet chocolate
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup 140 g almonds, ground to a fine powder
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 3/4 cup 170 g unsalted butter at room temp
- 6 egg whites from above
- pinch of salt
Ingredients for icing
- 1/2 cup 125 ml crème fraiche
- 100 g bittersweet chocolate broken into small bits
Instructions
Instructions for Cake
- Preheat oven to 190° C
- In a medium sized bowl, beat together egg yolk and sugar until pale lemon coloured.
- Melt chocolate in 3 tablespoons of water over low heat
- Add to egg yolk mixture; mix well
- Add almonds to chocolate batter; mix well
- Add cornflour to chocolate batter; mix well
- Add butter to chocolate batter; mix well
- In a second bowl, beat egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry.
- Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the chocolate batter, and fold in gently but thoroughly.
- Gently fold in the remaining whites. Don’t over mix, but be sure the mixture is well blended.
- Butter a 22 cm springform pan and fill with the batter.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 190 C.
- Cool before removing from pan.
- When completely cooled, make the icing.
Instructions for icing
- In a small saucepan, bring crème fraiche to boil over low heat.
- Reduce heat
- Add chocolate to crème fraiche, bit by bit, stirring until it is all melted.
- Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Ice the cake.
Notes
The icing should have the consistency of a thick but spreadable frosting. If the icing hardens before the cake is frosted, reheat gently, until it reaches the proper consistency.
Adapted from “Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” Patricia Wells