"What to serve on a first date...Just Desserts."

If ever we fight…just leave me piece of chocolate cake on a love letter.

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chocolate raspberry truffle cake-makes 1- 6”two-layer cake

Serves 2 generously (really its enough for four but this love was made for two…)

Chocolate Butter Genoise (cake layers)

5 large eggs, room temp. (carefully separated)

2 oz. butter, softened

6 oz. Superfine sugar (divided)

1 oz. Bitter-Sweet chocolate (melted, cooled. This will come from the bars listed below.)

1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

4 oz. Cake flour

2 oz. Dutch Process cocoa powder

pinch of salt

1 oz. Grand Marnier or Chambord (for brushing on baked layers)

Raspberry Coulis (the filling)

12 oz. raspberries (divided)

1/2 of a lemon

2 tbsp. Superfine Sugar

Chocolate Ganache (the frosting)

1 cup Heavy Cream

2 bars Bittersweet Chocolate, chopped (1 oz. set aside for cake above)

Garnish

Dutch Process cocoa powder for dusting

12 Raspberries (set aside from the above)

Prepare cake layers.

1.) Prepare two 6” cake pans by spraying bottom and sides with non-stick spray and place a piece of parchment in the bottom of each, cut to size. Preheat oven to 375f. Carefully separate eggs (see chef notes below). Whip egg whites with half of the sugar until soft peaks form (usually 8-10 minutes). In a medium size bowl, cream together butter, melted chocolate and remaining sugar until combined. Add one egg yolk at a time stirring each in completely before adding the next. Sift together cake flour, first listed cocoa powder & salt.

2.) Fold a third of the egg whites into the butter mixture using a spatula or a wooden spoon, then fold in a third of the dry ingredients. Alternate until all of the whites and all of the dry ingredients are incorporated in the butter mixture. Be careful not to overmix as this cake has no leaven, it gets it lift solely from the eggs. Scale mixture equally between two prepared cake pans and bake for 20 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool 15 minutes in cake pans, then run a knife around edge of pan between pan and cake, turn out onto a cake rack to cool completely. Level out cakes if necessary by cutting off rounded top. Brush all sides of cake with liqueur of choice.

Prepare filling (raspberry coulis)

3.) Set aside 12 of the loveliest raspberries for garnish and count out another 20 for cake center (set aside). Add remaining raspberries to a small saucepan with juice & zest from lemon and listed sugar (2 tbsp.). Cook over low heat smashing raspberries up against the side of the pan using a wooden spoon and stirring until slightly thickened. Set aside to cool.

Prepare ganache.

4.) Heat heavy cream until very hot, but do not let it boil. Remove from heat & add chopped chocolate. Stir for a minute then let it sit for a minute or two & stir again until all chocolate is melted. Cool in the fridge. The mixture needs to be cool enough to whip, but not so cold that it gets firm. After proper chilling; 15 minutes or so, whip until creamy & spreadable.

Assemble cake.

5.) On one cake layer, pipe a rim of ganache just along the edge. Fill with raspberry coulis and then press the 20 reserved whole raspberries into the filling. Place second cake layer on top with the bottom of the cake facing upwards. This will give you a perfectly flat top surface to work with. Spread a very thin layer of ganache on top and sides of cake using a flat edge cake spatula. Chill for 20 minutes. This is referred to as a crumb coat. Remove from refrigeration and smooth remaining ganache over surface of cake creating as smooth of a surface as you can. Dust top & sides with cocoa powder & garnish with remaining 12 raspberries.

Chef Notes: It is recommended that you use three separate bowls to separate eggs; one for yolks, one for whites and one in which the separation is done. The purpose of which is to prevent any yolk getting into the white. This is important because the whites will not form peaks if there is even a trace of yolk or fat of any kind