Recipes by Zola - Double Chocolate English Toffee Torte

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Double Chocolate English Toffee Torte

Zola Gorgon

The Grand Finale...

One of my favorite New Year's Eves of all times took place during The Blizzard of '79. In Chicago that winter, no one called it 1979, they just called it The Blizzard of '79. Stores even sold t-shirts that said, "I survived The Blizzard of '79."

It all started on New Year's Eve.

My boyfriend and I were in charge of getting his baby sister (age 16) to O'Hare so she could fly to Brazil. She was going to be a foreign exchange student. In those days, O'Hare didn't have a beautiful international terminal. The international take-off gates were in a glorified quonset hut set off from the main terminals. The building stood off to the side like it was located in the parking lot. A real hike.

The snow had already started early in the morning. Forecasters were predicting a blizzard, but no one knew for sure what was in store.

Each time we tried to get Molly on the flight, they told us it was delayed and to come back in an hour. There was nowhere decent to sit in the makeshift terminal. It was crowded to the point of overflowing, and all there was to eat were a few candy bars in a vending machine. So each time Molly was turned away, we trudged back through the growing snow depths and went back to the main terminals to wander around and kill time. This went on for over 8 hours. Each time we trekked back to the international terminal, the snow had grown deeper. It was coming down so fast the maintenance crew was not concerned with shoveling a path between the buildings. They were concentrating on trying to keep at least one runway in working order. So we were faced with beating our own path (literally) back and forth between the buildings, each time bundling up like Nanook of the North so we didn't freeze our little tootsies off before we could get there...or back...because we kept getting sent back.

Finally about 8 PM we got Molly off to Brazil.

Now we had to get home!

Home was an apartment in downtown Chicago. It should have taken 17 minutes to drive from O'Hare to our apartment. I lost track at the one-hour point. I don't really remember when we got there, but it must have been at least 10 PM.

We were so tired and hungry we just wanted to drop. We lit a fire in the fireplace and made popcorn. That was about all we had the energy for, and we had not been to the grocery store.

We curled up on the floor in front of the fire, gobbled our popcorn and watched the snow come down … and come down ... and come down.... The clock struck midnight and we welcomed in 1979 by clinking our soda pop cans.

By morning we had almost 3 feet of freshly fallen snow. When we shoveled a path from our back door to the garage, we measured the drifts on each side of the path to be about 11 feet high. It was a long winter after that.

I wanted to give you something beautiful to make for the Grand Finale of 2005. I made up this dessert the other day when I was doing our company holiday gathering. I had made up my mind WHAT I was going to cook for that party when I was in Chicago, but I was going to be doing my cooking in Madison.

When I got to Madison, Wisconsin to start my cooking I realized I had forgotten the cookbook with the recipe I had intended to make! So this is another installment in the saga of "There's Always Plan B." I had to make something up.

Even I was impressed when this sky-high torte was completed. It's not 11 feet high like the drifts in our backyard, but it's a good 10 inches high on your cake plate. And if you put it on a pedestal plate, it's really tall! A grand finale with a rich flavor, sure to please any chocoholic.

I wish you the best for 2006. I wish for snow in Chicago too –– just not quite so much.

Happy New Year!

Cheers, Zola

Double Chocolate English Toffee Torte

This torte is VERY EASY and BEAUTIFUL ({prelink}http://www.dinnerwithzola.com/recipe.php?recipeId=00000244 {postlink} for picture). It looks like you stopped by the best bakery in town and picked it up on your way home.

Cake

1 Chocolate cake mix (or make your favorite 3-layer chocolate cake) plus the ingredients specified on the box, e.g., eggs, water and oil

Chocolate Filling

10 ounces semisweet chocolate, diced
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbl Kahlua or brewed coffee
3 Heath bars (or other chocolate-covered toffee brand), diced

Topping

2 cups whipping cream
3 Tbl powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
Chocolate shavings or chocolate jimmies

Bake the chocolate cake mix according to the box instructions EXCEPT you are going to divide the batter into three round pans instead of two. Bake the cake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the cake springs back and a toothpick test shows no wet crumbs.

One more hint: Use baking spray to line your pans if at all possible. This way you don't have a flour residue on the sides of your cake and, since this is not frosted on the sides, it will be prettier if it has no residue. (I was out of baking spray when I made this, so in the picture if you look closely, you can see some of the residue. I would have been happier had that not been there.)

Let the cake cool.

While the cake bakes, you can make the filling.

Heat the chopped chocolate and the whipping cream in a sauce pan on Medium High. Stir it constantly until you see bubbles start to form around the edges. You don't want to boil this mixture. You are just trying to melt the chocolate. When you see the bubbles, turn off the heat and just stir until all bits of chocolate break down and you have no lumps. If necessary, turn the heat back on to get it warm again and get the lumps melted.

Add the Kahlua or coffee and stir. Put this mixture in your refrigerator to cool. It will take about an hour, maybe a bit more.

Take it out of the refrigerator and beat the mixture in a bowl on High with your electric mixer. You want to get it good and stiff, but turn off your mixer before the mixture turns to butter. You'll know you are getting close to going overboard if the mixture starts to break down. Your goal is fluffy and stiff, but not grainy looking.

Then stir in your diced chocolate-covered toffee pieces.

Place the first layer of the cake flat side down on your serving plate. Spread with half of the chocolate filling. Ease the filling toward the sides with a spatula. It should hold its own without running down the sides. Add the next layer. If that cake layer has not risen too much, you can still have it flat side down. If it's too rounded, turn it over. Spread on the other half of the chocolate mixture. Then place the final cake layer flat side down on top. Press ever so lightly just to get the top to stick to the chocolate mixture. Don't press so hard that you split your cake. If you do make a mistake, don't worry. You'll cover it with the topping.

Place the cake in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up the chocolate mixture. This ensures that the cake will cut smoothly and that it will stand up without sliding apart. The cake can be in the refrigerator longer if you cover it with plastic wrap. It will taste best if you serve it the same day but, if it needs to wait until the next day, just remember to take it out of the refrigerator about 2 hours before you want to serve it so it can loosen up, or the filling will be quite firm. (Even firm it tastes great though.)

Within 2 hours of wanting to serve the cake, you'll make the topping. This is a chantilly cream so you don't want to leave this out in the warm air too long or it might start to slide off of your cake. Make the topping and put the cake on display before serving, or put it back in the refrigerator. It can handle a few hours in there. Just don't cover it or you'll spoil the look.

To make the topping:

Put your whipping cream and the powdered sugar in a bowl. Begin whipping on Medium speed and, when the powdered sugar is incorporated, add the vanilla and turn it up to High. You want a nice stiff whipped cream. Because it's been sweetened, this is often referred to as chantilly cream. When it's good and firm (beaters will make stiff peaks), turn off mixer and begin piling the chantilly cream in the center of your cake. Nudge it toward the edges with a spatula. You want this mound to be quite high. I didn't use all of the chantilly cream on top. I had about a cup left over. You can serve the dollops on the side if you want, or save this extra cream for your waffles in the morning. Just cover it and keep it cold.

Sprinkle on your chocolate shavings or jimmies. You can also think of other ways to decorate it if you choose.

When you waltz into the room with this Grand Finale in hand, your guests and family will ooh and ahh. Cut with a sharp, long chef's blade for the smoothest cut.

Cover leftovers (if you have any!) and keep them refrigerated.

Cheers! Enjoy

Zola

This news arrived on: 12/21/2005

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