Bruno's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream
Submitted by trtg
The full showpiece version of Bruno’s flourless Italian chocolate cake: three layers filled with rum-spiked chocolate whipped cream, wrapped in alternating dark and white chocolate strips, and garnished with chocolate leaves.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
COOK
20 minREADY
If you’ve mastered the plain version, this is where you take it to the next level.
Same three layers of rich, nearly flourless chocolate cake made with amaretti cookies, rum, and nine whipped eggs, but now they’re stacked with a silky chocolate cream spiked with dark rum and folded into whipped cream.
The decoration is where things get serious: alternating strips of tempered dark and white chocolate are pressed around the sides, piped lines of chocolate cream run across the top, and handmade chocolate leaves finish the whole thing off.
This is a project cake, the kind you make when you want to stun a room.
Chef Tips
- Cool the melted chocolate mixture to room temperature before folding it into the whipped cream. If it’s too warm, it will deflate the cream instantly.
- Chill the chocolate strips until firm but still pliable, not brittle. If they snap when you try to curve them around the cake, they’ve been in the fridge too long.
- Bring the finished cake to room temperature before serving. Cold dulls the chocolate flavor significantly.
- For the chocolate leaves, use sturdy, waxy leaves like lemon or holly. Paint melted chocolate on the underside, chill until set, then peel the leaf away gently.
Ingredients
Directions
*For chocolate leaves, brush melted chocolate on undersides of holly or lemon leaves; refrigerate until firm, carefully peel off leaves.
For Cake:
Preheat oven to 375℉ (190℃) Fahrenheit.
Butter and flour 3 9-inch round cake pans.
Beat egg yolks until they are pale yellow and form a ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes.
Beat in rum and vanilla.
Beat egg whites with cream of tartar to soft peaks.
Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and continue beating until stiff and shiny.
Stir 12 ounces of semisweet chocolate and butter into yolks until well combined.
Gently fold in ¼ of egg whites to lighten the batter, then gently fold in the remaining whites.
Sift together cornstarch and cocoa; combine with ground amaretti.
Gently fold into the batter.
Divide batter among prepared pans.
Bake until centers of cakes rise and tops begin to crack, 18 to 20 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes in pans, then cool completely on wire rack (cakes will fall slightly.)
For Chocolate Cream:
Whisk together 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate and hot water; cool to room temperature.
Whip cream until nearly stiff.
Gently fold chocolate mixture and rum into whipped cream.
To Assemble:
Set aside ¼ of the chocolate cream for decorating the top of the cake.
Spread remainder evenly between the 3 layers, stacking them neatly, then spread over the reserved cream over the top and sides.
Measure height of the cake.
On a sheet of parchment or waxed paper, spread 3 ounces melted semisweet chocolate into rectangle 1/16-inch-thick and as wide as the cake is high.
Repeat with melted white chocolate on another sheet of parchment.
Refrigerate until chocolate is firm but not brittle, about 15 minutes.
Cut chocolate crosswise into ¾ inch-wide strips.
Refrigerate to refirm chocolate, about 15 minutes.
Carefully arrange strips alternately around edges of cake, gently pressing into icing.
Spoon reserved chocolate cream into pastry bag fitted with a number 3 round tip.
Pipe mixture into straight lines atop the cake.
Dust lightly with cocoa; refrigerate.
Garnish with chocolate leaves.
Bring to room temperature before serving.
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