Chocolatey Goodness for Valentine’s Day

The torte is simple to prepare when all the ingredients are measured and at proper temperature. Don’t be intimidated! If you do not have a springform pan, using a standard 9-inch baking pan lined with a parchment disc worked well to invert the cake when it cooled.

If you’d like to skip the ganache (but why?!) you could always dust the cake with coco powder. Either way, it is a rich, sweet bite.

Note: Your baking time may vary if using a convection setting versus a standard stove. Bake until the cake has set. Overall, you almost want them undercooked; if you overcook it, it will dry out. As soon as it begins to pull away from the pan is when it should be pulled out.

Grain-Free Chocolate Torte

Recipe by Patricia Brett, Kimberton Whole Foods Cookbook

Serves 12

Ingredients

1 ½ cups almonds or hazelnuts

2, 3-ounce bars dark chocolate

¾ cup raw sugar

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp orange zest (make some curly orange peels or thin slices of orange with leftover orange to decorate the cake)

1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Ingredients for Ganache

½ cup heavy cream

2, 3-ounce bars dark chocolate

Cake Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter an 8- or 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper for easy removal. Spread almonds (or hazelnuts) on a baking sheet and place in oven to toast for 5 to 10 minutes until fragrant and beginning to brown. Remove from oven and cool. Break chocolate up and place in food processor with nuts and sugar. Process until finely ground (be careful not to process too much to avoid turning into a nut butter).

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until fluffy and then add one egg at a time, beating after each is added. The mixture may separate and look curdled during this process, which is fine. With the mixer on low, stir in the nut and chocolate mixture, then add vanilla, orange zest and salt. Pour batter into cake pan and smooth the top. Bake 20 mins (for convection oven) or 30 mins (for standard oven). The top of the cake will appear cracked and the edges will have begun to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool on a wire rack before inverting cake onto a serving plate.

Ganache Directions

To make the ganache, heat cream in a small saucepan until bubbles begin forming around the edge. Remove saucepan from heat, add chocolate. Stir very gently until chocolate is completely melted. Allow mixture to cool a bit and stir just before pouring over the center of cake on serving plate. When pouring ganache, hold saucepan in one hand and a rubber spatula in the other to spread it to the edges, allowing the ganache to drip down the sides of the cake. For an elegant finish, smooth the sides. Decorate the top of torte with curls of orange peel or thin slices of orange.

Featured in Kimberton Whole Foods Cookbook: A Family History with Recipes (Hickory Grove Publishing) by Patricia Brett and Courtney Diener-Stokes/Photography by Seneca Shahara Brand. Available at Kimberton Whole Foods or online at www.hickorygrovepublishing.com.

Good-For-You- Chocolate Mousse is a recipe that was surprising for me! It is rich, smooth and creamy and like the Grain-Free Chocolate Torte, it is gluten-free (and it has only two ingredients)!

The recipe is shared by Keely Childers Heany, owner and host at the Pineapple Manor, an event venue located in Millersville. Keely organized a Love Yourself : Winter Wellness Retreat at the manor which included an art class, yoga home organization and wellness presentation. A flavorful lunch was also provided and it included the mousse. Oh my!

I hope you enjoy it as much as all the attendees did. Be sure to use a good chocolate! To learn more about chocolate, tune into the Bean-To-Bar Chocolate episode of The Two Weird Hungry Girls Podcast.

In the meantime, enjoy this Good-For-You- Chocolate Mousse!