White and Dark Chocolate Cake

I really wanted to use that chocolate “structure” to decorate one of my cakes with. Finally did it. Well… they asked me if it’s a Christmas tree… and actually it was for my fiance’s birthday but… anyway. 😀
I did almond sponge covered with a lot of dark chocolate ganache and decorated with white chocolate. I find the taste of white chocolate too strong to use much of it. Actually… don’t juge me but I think white chocolate is not a real chocolate… Probably because I love chocolate but not this one.
Ok… Let’s move to cake.
For the sponge you will need:
250g of cake flour
100g of almond meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
325g of granulated sugar
280g unsalted butter
5 large egg yolks
7 large egg whites + 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup of milk
Mhm… pretty long list but finally you’ll have a great moist sponge.
Now preheat the oven at 180°C. Butter and cover with baking paper a 25cm cake pan (if you prefer baking the 2 layers separate you could. I just prefer baking one and cutting it later.)
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add to them the egg yolks (one at a time). Mix and add almond extract.
It’s time to add the almond meal. Mix till incorporated. And start adding the flour mixture. Mix till batter is homogenous.
In a big glass bowl mix the egg whites and the cream of tartar till soft peaks start forming.
Now add it to the batter. Sloooowly stirring with a spoon. You want it to keep the maximum of volume.
When homogenous quickly pour the batter in the cake pan and it goes in the oven for around 45 minutes(if you bake 2 thinner cakes it will take around 30 minutes). But better always try it with a toothpick. It must go out clean.
When cake is ready let it cool completely.
I always prepare my chocolate ganache from the night before so it’s ready to go on my cake.
Here I give you the template I used for my decoration.

You just need to pipe with melted chocolate 4 identical pieces, let them set and glue them together with more melted chocolate where the x sign is. It is actually pretty easy. You could see photos of every step on my Facebook page. Just look for The Secret Life Of A Peach.

Hope you like my cake. And hope you are going to try it.
See you later!

Bon Appétit!
Christina