Books and Bites: Bruce Bogtrotter’s Cake

“That was not the boy’s cake! You don’t think for one minute I’m going to eat the filth I give to you? That cake was made from real butter and real cream! And he, that robber-bandit, that safe-cracker, that highwayman standing over there with his socks around his ankles stole it and ate it!”

Roald Dahl, Matilda

Yay today is the day! Wooo! As of 7:30 this morning I am now officially nineteen years old! That is positively crazy to think about! It feels like just yesterday I was thirteen and celebrating my birthday while watching the first Avengers film and now I’m nineteen and I just saw Infinity War last night. Now while my heart does hurt I will not release my feelings by spoiling the film for everyone as that is a terrible move and I would like for others to go in without spoilers as I had done. So instead I will do what I do best….BAKE MY FEELINGS!

Now I mentioned before in a post about my love of Matilda but I don’t think I expressed my love for chocolate cake. I really really really really reaaaally love chocolate cake. And yes I know I didn’t put my copy of Matilda in the photo its only because I couldn’t find it! So I have decided to recreate my favourite chocolate cake in gluten free form. That chocolate cake is specifically known as a Sacher Torte. (Pronounced like Za-ha t-or-t-ah) This cake is basically the Crabby Patty of all cakes. We truly do not know the actual recipe but that doesn’t stop me from trying to make my own version. I’ve kinda been dreaming of this cake since I left Austria a year ago. Now you don’t need to eat this whole cake on your own nor will you have to steal a slice. You’ll find it is dense and a bit heavy but it is lovely all the same and very easy to share. I don’t think I would be as angry as Trunchbull if Bruce came and ate a slice of my cake. (Now if he ate the whole cake like my brother did that would be another story.

Ingredients:

For the cake-

Butter and cocoa powder to grease the tin

7 eggs (separated)

125 grams of confectioner’s sugar

1 sachet of vanilla sugar or just 8 grams of regular sugar and 1/4 tsp of vanilla

150 grams soft unsalted butter

125 grams of caster sugar

200 grams of unsweetened dark chocolate (I used Camino)

1 pinch of kosher salt (I once read it was the best for baking and it hasn’t proved me wrong yet!)

75 grams of almond flour (I use the one by Sunblest)

75 grams of gluten free all purpose flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

For the filling-

200 grams apricot jam

1 oz. of rum (Rum is gluten free but always make sure to check either the bottle or the company’s website)

For the glaze-

250 grams caster sugar

170 ml water

200 grams dark unsweetened chocolate (still used Camino)

 

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius. Rub your cake tin with butter and cover completely with cocoa powder.

1. Heat a small saucepan with water in it until it simmers. While you wait please take your unsweetened chocolate and chop it into smaller pieces.
2. Melt your chocolate in a bowl over the sauce pan, making sure that the water doesn’t touch the bowl. Once melted let cool for a little bit before adding it in the next step.
3. While your chocolate cools, cream your butter, your vanilla sugar, and your confectioner’s sugar together until there are no clumps and the mixture looks homogeneous. Mix in your egg yolks until well combined. After this mix in the chocolate and set aside.
4. In a separate bowl take your egg whites, a pinch of salt and your sugar and whip them until stiff peaks form. You technically should be able to hold it over your head without the egg falling onto it but I wouldn’t recommend it!
5. Mix the flours and the xanthan gum together.
6. Alternately fold the chocolate and flour mixtures into the egg whites, making sure you do not deflate the batter. Place this mix into the tin and bake from 45 minutes to an hour in the oven. When pressed with a toothpick it should come out clean. Once this is done allow for the cake to cool.
7. Once its cooled cut off the excess part of the cake in order to make a flat surface. (The ugly bubbly parts) Place your hand on the top and cut the cake in half so you have two separate circular layers. (Cut it like a sandwich) Put one on the serving plate and put the other one off to the side.
8. In a small saucepan warm up the jam and the rum until glossy and then pour it over the cake on the serving dish. Once that is done place the next layer on top.
9. Finally for the glaze you must heat up the sugar and the water together in order to make a simple syrup. Just don’t let it burn! Let it cool for a couple minutes until you can touch it without burning yourself. Mix in the other 200 grams of chocolate just a little bit at a time , stirring to allow the chocolate to melt. Once the chocolate is melted quickly pour the chocolate over top of the cake. You can smooth out the excess drips using a palette knife. Allow to cool before serving.

Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream and enjoy!

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe as much as I have and I hope you have a lovely day!

Your Birthday Girl,

Viktoria