My Gâteau au Chocolat

I love chocolate, especially chocolate cake...I am not sure how many I have in a year but I do know I always have one in my fridge. So, I won't have to worry any running-out-of-chocolate-cake-crisis! Since Easter...my chocolate cake went so fast and its time again to make another one. This time I was inspired by a book Heavenly Cake by Rose Levy Beranbaum... actually its the cake on its cover, but of course I would have my own surprise...so my Gâteau au Chocolat has born!

you need

• one six inch chocolate génoise (I use 100% Valrhona cocoa)
• 60 g Crème de Cassis syrup
• 210g light pistachio buttercream
• 160 g crème fraîche ganache (I use 66% Valrhona Caraibe)
• 200g chocolate lacquer glaze (I use 100% Valrhona cocoa)
• 20 g white chocolate for decoration (I use Valrhona Ivoire)
• one Callebaut marble callet and raspberries for decoration

First thing I need to do is to bake my chocolate génoise a day before I assemble my cake. It needs to firm up before slicing and frosting. I slicde my génoise's dome top (I ate it in bread pudding already!!) and sliced it into four 5mm thick layers. Each layer was then soaked with a lovely Crème de Cassis syrup and frosted with a thin layer of light pistachio buttercream... I love to have a bit suprise in this gâteau, so no chocolate ganache... yet!

Okay, I let my cake rest a bit in fridge, and getting ready to frost it with an amazing crème fraîche ganache. I used 66% Valrhona Caraibe, cause I like a bit darker chocolate for my liking. Love using crème fraîche a lot... no matter savory or sweet dish...that extra tangy kick make this ganache taste even better. I crumb coated my cake and coated it again until it looks smooth and let it sleep overnight to firm up till next day... feeling sleepy now!

Another step which is very important is to glaze my cake! I love my cake looks pretty! I have tried quite a few glaze formulas but this one by Rose works pretty good. I gently laid my cake on a rack and glazed it quickly, however, I found I need to use a bit higher temperature, around 87 F instead of a lower one suggested in the book. It looks so so great and shiny...let it rest a bit before going to my cake stand.

Wow, my cake looks so great on its stand now... shiny like a mirror and I can see myself too! Okay need another little time to firm up before I do my finishing touch. This glaze looks great within the first eight hours but will looks dull a bit, but its okay for me cause it will go into my tummy!

Now, final finishing time... I melted my Valrhona Ivoire and piped three rows of 1mm little dots on top of my cake. It took me a while and my arm muscles nearly go into spasm... but worth my effort! Last touch, a marble chocolate callet in the middle, some raspberries and I am done! Tasting, tasting time soon...my cake looks great and I feel kind of bad to cut through it...

Tasting time now....omg..my gâteau au chocolat taste exquisite! Dark chocolate glaze, tangy kick crème fraîche ganache, smooth light pistachio buttercream plus moist chocolate génoise with hint of Crème de Cassis make me go back for more and more... certainly this gâteau au chocolat will be on top of my gâteau recipes!

Enjoy!