Dark Chocolate Truffle Torte With White Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream

Yeah, see that crazy chocolate thing up there? See how beautiful it is? See those handmade chocolate leaves? Well, I made it. All by myself. Yep.





See, I can do gourmet. All I need is the right inspiration. And 22 years of marriage is definitely inspiring.

In Mom and Dad's 22 years of marriage, they have built a beautiful home, shared 8035 days together,broken at least 50 wine glasses, killed off at least a few dozen pets, eaten 86 of their children's birthday cakes, and brought seven lives into the world.
Inspiring? Yes.

They went out to dinner and a movie on their anniversary. When they got home, we had dessert waiting for them. I made a dark chocolate truffle torte with white chocolate raspberry buttercream. It was as good as it sounds.

This recipe should probably serve about six, but I just made three and the frosted the rest like brownies because I got bored.

Dark Chocolate Truffle Torte 
With White Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream

For the flourless chocolate cake:
adadpted from Gina's Flourless Chocolate Cake

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
1/2 cup dutch process cocoa powder (Hershey's Special Dark will do, but better quality cocoa will obviously give you a better quality cake)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup brandy (I used wine because that's what we had and I obviously can't go out and buy a bottle of brandy. I'm only a child, you see).


Preheat the oven to 350º.
Grease a 9x13 inch pan, line it with parchment paper, and then grease the paper.
Melt the butter and then add the chocolate, whisking until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar for about five minutes until they are very pale and about doubled in volume. Slowly add the vanilla and brandy. Then sift in the cocoa powder and salt and mix until smooth. Slowly add in the chocolate and butter mixture until smooth. Poor into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until the top has a thin crust, the edges are set, and a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached. Put it in the fridge if you want it to cool faster before you begin assembling your tortes.


White Chocolate Raspberry Butter Cream:

About a cup of frozen raspberries, thawed
8 oz. white baking chocolate
2 sticks of cold butter, sliced

Puree the raspberries in the blender or a food processor. Sift through a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds. You'll want to press them through with a rubber spatula. You'll need about 2/3 cups of raspberry juice.
Melt the white chocolate. I do it in the microwave and turn the power level down to about 50%. Make sure you don't overcook it or it won't be smooth.
Add the raspberry juice to the white chocolate. Once you're sure that the chocolate is cooled, beat in the cold butter, a few thin slices at a time. Make sure that all of the butter is incorporated before adding more. Beat for 5-10 minutes on high speed until smooth.

Chocolate Ganache:

8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar

Melt the butter and whisk in the chocolate until it's smooth and melted. Add the Powdered sugar and whisk until smooth


Assembly:
In case you haven't noticed by now, the center of your cake has fallen, leaving you with a tall crispy edge. Remove this crust and consume it immediately to prevent any clutter or confusion. Now that you have a nice even sheet of cake, find yourself a 2 inch round cookie cutter and cut about 24 round circles. If you don't have a little round cookie cutter, you can try just cutting them into squares, bigger circles, or whatever shape you want. Just make sure that they're all even. Layer four of your little circles of cake on top of each other with a tablespoon of your raspberry buttercream between each layer. Like so:

Smooth out the edges. I put them in the freezer for a few minutes so that I could just press the edges together with my hands, but feel free to use a long flat knife or bench scraper to smooth them out.
Now frost each one with ganache. It is wise to tuck some pieces of paper under the cake so that the ganache doesn't drip onto the plate. Garnish with fresh red raspberries and white chocolate leaves.

I'll show you how to make the leaves tomorrow. Frantic with anticipation? I thought so. They're even super easy. I promise. They will cause all of your friends to admire you and fall at your feet for the wonders that you have done. I mean, look how cool they are:

When Piggie saw them, she said, "Whoa, they look like real elven leaves!"

"Oh wait.... elven leaves aren't real."

But they really do look like real elven leaves.

Boots really wanted to take this picture all by his own six-year-old self. Once he took it he said, "oh man! That turned out so ugly!" It looked even better in person though really. Especially because you can't hear the romantic music emanating from the iHome.

Cheers!