Chocolate Rum Truffle Cake

I loooove chocolate...everyone who knows me knows that for a fact. I'm not so fond of dessert, but when there's chocolate, I will eat it. Chocolate IS the ultimate comfort food, I believe that. I'm always looking for chocolate cake recipes, trying to find THE one. This recipe isn't THE one, but I'd have to admit, it's one of the best tasting that I have come across. The base is chocolate genoise, which is a French sponge cake made by whisking warm egg yolks and sugar until it has tripled in volume and then folding in the sifted flour and melted butter. I used my Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen recipe for genoise since it's the most reliable that I have tried. Genoise can be tricky in that, if the flour is not folded in carefully, the whole mixture collapses, I'm always very careful in this crucial step and instead of using a rubber spatula, I use my trusty wire whisk. I think it makes my job easier and faster. The only drawback for the Professional Baking recipe is that it's in grams :) otherwise it's very reliable.

CHOCOLATE GENOISE

Eggs 7 pieces

Refined Sugar 234 grams

Cake Flour 200 grams

Cocoa Powder, unsweetened 30 grams

Vanilla Extract 5 ml

Butter, melted, cooled 75 grams

Whisk eggs and sugar over double boiler until thick and light. When mixture is warm, transfer to the bowl of your kitchenaid mixer and whip until triple in volume, around 10 minutes. Carefully fold in sifted cake flour and cocoa powder. Pour in melted butter on the side of the bowl and fold in. Folding in must be done with extra care so that the mixture will not deflate. Pour mixture onto a greased and bottom-lined 9-inch cake pan. Bake for 50 minutes in a preheated 350 degrees farenheit oven.

SOAKING SYRUP

Sugar 1/2 cup

Water 1/3 cup

Rum 30 ml

Put ingredients in a pan and cook until thickened and sugar has dissolved completely, set aside.

CHOCOLATE CREAM

Chocolate 200 grams (I used bittersweet couverture chocolate)

Cream 300 grams

Cut chocolate into smaller pieces and melt over double boiler, making sure that all the chocolate is smooth.

Whip cream on the kitchenaid mixer until double in volume, carefully fold in cooled melted chocolate, making sure that is it well incorporated and no streaks remain. Set aside in chiller.

ASSEMBLY:

Slice cooled chocolate genoise into two layers, making the bottom layer thicker. Brush soaking syrup until bottom layer is soaked through. Spread about half of the chocolate cream and put second layer on top. Brush with the soaking syrup making sure that the genoise is moistened completely. Cover the cake with the rest of the chocolate cream. Decorate top with chocolate cream rosettes, cocoa powder and chocolate sprinkles.

NOTE: This kind of cake relies on the proper whipping of the egg yolk mixture and careful folding in of the sifted cocoa powder and cake flour. Genoise can be quite dry, so the soaking syrup has to be used liberally.