Dark Chocolate Cake with Forest Berry Foam

Nearly every time my husband is traveling overseas, I’m trying to get the girls together for a girls night at my house. For our recent girls night, I wanted to make a dessert that’s not too sweet and not too high in carbs. That’s when I thought of changing the delicious Italian “Torta al Cioccolato Morbide” into a low-carb “Dark Chocolate Cake with Forest Berry Foam”. The richness of the dark chocolate and the sourness of the berries make a great combination. It was so delicious, and we all liked it. You should give it a try…

You need the following ingredients:

For the Dark Chocolate Cake:

• 200 g (~ 7 oz) dark chocolate (I used 70% cacao)
• 100 g (~ 3 1/2 oz) butter
• 120 g (~ 4 1/4 oz) xylitol (or use sugar if you are not concerned about carbs)
• 4 tbsp almond flour
• 4 eggs

For the Forest Berry Foam:

• 200 g (~ 7 oz) forest berry’s frozen
• 100 g (~ 3 1/2 oz) cream
• 2 cl Frangelico / hazelnut liqueur (optional) – or another liqueur flavor of your choice
• 2 tbsp honey (optional)

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Then start with separating the eggs. Whisk the egg yolk and the xylitol until foamy, it should get a whitish color like in the picture above. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it with the butter in a bowl over hot water. Alternatively, use a small pan over very low heat, stirring the chocolate butter mixture all the time until the chocolate is almost completely melted. Then set aside and let it cool a little bit. Meanwhile you can beat the egg white until stiff.

Add the chocolate butter mixture and the almond flour into the egg yolk mixture, and combine everything. At the end, fold in the stiff egg white very carefully.

Prepare a cake form by spreading a bit of butter inside and dust it with a little bit of almond flour to prevent the cake from sticking to the form. I used a 26cm cake form. If you have a smaller one it’s also ok, but the cake might need a bit longer in the oven. To make sure the cake is done, check it with a toothpick by sticking it into the middle of the cake. Once the toothpick comes out dry, the cake is done. Mine was in the oven for about 40 minutes.

For the Forest Berry Foam, heat the cream and pour it over the frozen berries. Add the Frangelico. If you like more sweetness, add honey, but in my opinion it is not necessary. Pass it through a sieve using a spoon (the seeds of the berries should stay behind) and pour the mixture into a cream whipper. It has to refrigerate for at least an hour before you can use it. In case you don’t have a cream whipper, you can try adding a little whipping cream, and stir vigorously or use a hand blender to obtain a fluffy texture.

To serve, cut the cake into triangle pieces and place a slice onto each plate. Shake the whipping cream dispenser and release a good portion of forest berry foam on the side of the cake. Decorate the plate with fresh berries to your liking.

Enjoy, Melanie…

Categories: Desserts, World of Recipes