Genoes Sponge Cake
4 eggs
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
5 tbsp (75 mL) unsalted or clarified butter
2/3 cup 165 mL) flour
1 tbsp (15 mL) cocoa powder

Topping
1 1/4 cups (310 mL) whipping cream
few drops vanilla extract
8 oz (225 g) milk chocolate

Preheat oven to 375^oF (190^oC). To make Genoese sponge, place eggs and sugar in a bowl over a pot of hot water. Whisk until mixture leaves a trail when you hold up whisk. Remove from heat and continue whisking until cool.

Melt butter and leave until cool but not set. Sift flour and cocoa together. Gently fold small quantities alternately of flour and melted butter into egg mixture, finishing with flour.

Pour mixture into 2 lined, greased, heart-shaped cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cooked. Test by lightly touching center of cakes. When cakes feels firm and there are no finger marks, they are cooked. Also, cakes should have shrunk away slightly from sides of pans. Cool cakes on wire rack.

Whip cream with vanilla. Reserve some whipped cream for decoration and use rest to sandwich the cold cakes.

Make chocolate curls for decoration by scraping milk chocolate bar with vegetable peeler. Melt remaining chocolate in a bowl over pan of hot, but not boiling, water and spread over top and sides of cake.

When chocolate has set, pipe cream in a heart shape on top of cake. Pipe three lines of cream from top to bottom of cream heart and top with chocolate curls. Decorate with a red ribbon if desired.

Note : for extra zing, sprinkle 3 tbsp (45 mL) rum or Tia Maria over cookde cakes before decorating (if you like).

Serves 6-8

Source :
Handmade chocolate recipes by Jilly Brain and Dale Wohler
Handmade chocolate tested by Ruth Hewitt
Complied by Juliet Cobb
Tormont Publications Inc., Canada

1 ½ quantities ingredients for Genoese sponge
Finely grated rind of 1 orange

Filling and Topping
½ cup (125 mL) ground almonds
2/3 cup (165 mL) icing sugar
8 oz (225 g) canned mandarins in syrup
Few drops green food coloring
1 ¼ cups (310 mL) whipping cream
6 oz (180 g) chocolate, finely grated to form curls

Preheat oven to 190^oCelcius (375^oF)
Prepare Genoese sponge following instructions in Cupid’s Chocolate Cake, replacing the cocoa powder with an equal quantity of flour, and adding orange rind with flour.Transfer mixture to a greased and lined 10 inch (25 cm) round cake pan and bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour, until firm to the touch. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

To prepare filling: Combine almonds and sugar. Drain mandarins, reserving syrup, and add enough syrup to almonds and sugar to form a spreading consistency. Tint with a few drops of green food coloring, if desired.

Whip cream until just thick. Reserve 18 mandarin segments for decoration, chop remainder and add to half of the cream. Split cold sponge into 3 layers. Spread 2 bottom layers with almond mixture and mandarin cream. Re-assemble cake.

Pipe remainig portion of cream over top of cake and decorate with mandarin segments and chocolate curls.

Serves 12

Source :
Handmade chocolate recipes by Jilly Brain and Dale Wohler
Handmade chocolate tested by Ruth Hewitt
Complied by Juliet Cobb
Tormont Publications Inc., Canada

Photography by Ashley Barber 

2/3 cup (165 mL) butter
2/3 cup (165 mL) sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup (250 mL) mixed nuts, finely chopped
2 eggs
1 tbsp (15 mL) sherry
1 tbsp (15 mL) cream
3/4 cup (185 mL) strong black coffee
4 thick slices sponge cake

Decoration :
1/2 lb (225 g) soft butter
3 cups (750 mL) icing sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) cocoa powder
1/4 cup (60 mL) cream
few drops vanilla extract
1 oz (30 g) chocolate, melted
12 roasted hazelnuts

Methode :
Line with waxed paper the bottom and sides of a large greased loaf pan, and grease paper well.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in sifted cocoa, chopped nuts and eggs.

In a clean bowl, mix sherry and cream with strong coffee. Trim 2 sponge cake slices to fit side by side in pan. Brush both slices with coffee mixture and place them in bottom of pan. Spread cocoa butter mixture on top of coffee-soaked cake. Brush remaining cake slices with coffee and press them level on top. Cover and chill overnight.

To make decoration, cream together butter, icing sugar, cocoa, cream, and vanilla extract, adding a little more cream if necessary to give a spreading consistency. Dip base of loaf pan in warma water and turn dessert out on a serving plate. Cut ends to neaten.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a start nozzle with butter-cream mixture and pipe over top and sides of cake. Decorate cake with melted chocolate and arrange hazelnuts on top. Serve chilled.

Serves 8

Source :
Handmade chocolate recipes by Jilly Brain and Dale Wohler
Handmade chocolate tested by Ruth Hewitt
Complied by Juliet Cobb
Tormont Publications Inc., Canada

Photography by Ashley Barber