Amandine
By: gabrielacuisine
Published: Saturday, July 6, 2013 - 6:56am

Ingredients




Ingredients for a tray 20cm/30cm (about 20 mini cakes)
Cake:
4 eggs
4 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons oil
Syrup:
500 ml water (I wanted it very juicy)
10 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon rum
1 teaspoon instant coffee
Cream:
270 gr butter
200 gr dark chocolate
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
Fondant:
250 g sugar
125 ml water
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons water (extra)
Alternative glaze:
150 g dark chocolate
50 g butter (or 75 ml whipped cream)

Preparation

1 For the crust, separate the eggs,beat egg whites with a pinch of salt, then add egg yolks one at a time, the oil, and then incorporate (with a whisk, from bottom up) the flour mixed with cocoa and baking powder 2 Line a tray with baking paper and bake about 20 minutes until toothpick test passes. If you want, you can use a large pan (the stove one,so you don’t have to cut the dough in two) 3 Syrup: we make it while we are baking the cake. 4 Put together sugar and water to a boil and let it dissolve well. Add honey and let it boil for few more minutes (about 3 minutes). Add the instant coffee the rum essence. Let it cool thoroughly before you will soak the cake. 5 Cream: 6 Butter should be at room temperature and the chocolate should be melted on boiling water bath or in the microwave (I kept it about 1 minute 40 seconds, checking it from time to time). 7 Mix the butter with an electric mixer, then stir in the melted chocolate (cooled). My advice is to taste the cream first and if you think that needs more sugar, add more for your taste. I’ve put 3 tablespoons powdered sugar. Add the cocoa and mix well. Leave it on the counter top until you will cut the cake ( do not refrigerate ,it will set very hard and you wont be able to spread it on the cake :-) ) 8 Cut dough in two sheets and soak it with the syrup in abundance. 9 First assemble cake, a piece of cake underneath, cream, and then refrigerate it until you make the fondant. (keep 3 tablespoons of cream for garnish) Meanwhile prepare the fondant (glaze). 10 In a double bottom saucepan, put water and sugar and let it approx. 15 minutes. You must have a glass of cold water, beside you. From time to time (after about 10 min.) drip a little bit of syrup into the cold water, if it forms a hard drop like a pearl, then the the fondant is ready, let it simmer more if needed. When the pearl test passed, turn off the heat and add honey. 11 Fill a saucepan with cold water to cool the fondant, or put cold water in the sink to cool it down. Mix with a spoon until the fondant starts to thicken (becomes viscous), and white. When becomes like that, add the cocoa and mix well. 12 My fondant has hardened a bit too much, so if this thing happens to you, add in 2 tablespoons of water and stir well. 13 Cut the cake into squares and pour 1 – 2 teaspoons of fondant over each piece. let the fondant to harden (possibly after 10 minutes refrigeration ) then ornate the cake on the top with the remaining cream filling. (each square) 14 Keep it in the fridge and when you want to serve, remove the cake from the fridge at least 20 minutes before, to be at room temperature. 15 Bon appetite! it is worth trying this awesome chocolate cake, is incredibly good!

About

This cake is great if is done at home, does not compare to what is found in bakeries. I found a few recipes for the cake and cream, but I chose to make this one, only with 4 eggs, butter cream and a fondant frosting of course, this is a true Amandina (Chocolate cake). I chose to inspire from www.enjoydessert.blogspot.ro because it seemed the most appropriate as for ingredients and quantities! Maybe it is a little bit too sweet for someone else, but you can reduce the amount of syrup and for the glaze you can use a mix of melted chocolate with whipped cream or butter instead of fondant (which is very sweet)