Heart of Darkness
This one takes a little forethought and planning. Read through carefully being aware of timing. For instance, the night before baking, combine cognac and cherries. Four hours prior to baking, prepare chocolate ganache. One hour prior to baking, combine cocoa, chocolate and water for cake batter.
At least ½ hr. prior to baking, preheat oven to 350*. Line with parchment paper and spray with flour/oil two 9 inch cake pans.
Ingredients
Cherry Filling
¾ cup dried tart cherries
½ cup cognac or French brandy
¼ cup light corn syrup
Dante’s Ganache
108 g. cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
1 tbs. reserve cherry cognac
1 ¼ tsp. vanilla
7 oz. chopped dark chocolate (60-62% cocoa)
236 g. sugar
¼ cup boiling water
½ cup plus 2 tbs. heavy cream (4.5 fl. oz.)
2 ½ tbs. unsalted butter, room temp.
Cake Batter
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
63 g. cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
2 eggs plus 2 yolks, room temp.
¼ cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
225 g. cake flour
326 g. light brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp., cut into ¼ inch slices
Preparation
Cherry Filling
Combine cognac and cherries in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Let soak at room temperature 8 hours or overnight. Drain well, reserving 1 tbs. cognac for ganache. Toss cherries with corn syrup and set aside.
Dante’s Ganache
Combine cocoa powder and boiling water in a small bowl. Stir until smooth add vanilla and cognac, stir to combine, then cover tightly and set aside.
Powderize chocolate in the workbowl of a food processor. Set aside.
Warm cream in microwave, keep warm. In a medium heavy saucepan, combine boiling water and sugar. Stir gently until sugar is dissolved, then over medium heat, boil until temperature reaches 370* and the syrup is a deep amber color. Remove from heat and carefully add warm cream (mixture will bubble and steam, be careful). Stir over very low heat until the caramel is completely dissolved. With the machine running, add caramel to chocolate powder, process until combined and smooth. Add cocoa mixture and process until just combined. Scrape out the ganache to a metal bowl and let rest for 1 hour, then cover and let thicken at least 5 hours until thick enough for frosting.
Cake Batter
In a small bowl (preferably metal), combine unsweetened chocolate, cocoa and water. Stir until smooth. Then cover tightly and set aside to cool to room temperature (about 1 hour).
In another small bowl, combine eggs, yolk, vanilla and sour cream. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir at low speed 30 seconds until adequately mixed. Add butter and mix at low speed until it resembles strudel topping. Add egg mixture and beat at medium speed 90 seconds. In a steady stream and at low speed, pour in cocoa mixture, scraping out the cocoa bowl. Then raise speed to medium and beat 30 seconds. Transfer batter equally to the prepared pans and bake 30-40 minutes until the tester comes out clean and the top lightly springs back. Cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes, then turn out from pans and cool completely.
Compose Cake
Level the cooled cakes. Chop the excess cake into crumbs. Combine the crumbs with the reserved cherries as filling. Spread about 1 cup of the ganache on the top of one layer, the add the cherry/cake crumb filling, top with the other layer of cake, then frost the entire cake, top and sides.