Best 2 Chocolate Quatre Quarts Recipes

QUATRE-QUARTS AU CHOCOLAT DE JULIETTE (CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE) RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Butter and flour cake pan. In a small metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate with the water, stirring, until the mixture is smooth and remove the bowl from the heat. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat in the chocolate mixture. Onto a sheet of wax paper, sift the cake flour and in a bowl, combine it with the almond flour. Beat the flour mixture into the yolk mixture in batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, and transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
• In the mixer bowl, cleaned, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they just hold stiff peaks, stir 1/4 of the whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Spoon the batter into the bundt pan, smoothing the top, put the bundt pan in a deep roasting pan, and add enough hot water to the roasting pan to reach halfway up the side of the bundt pan. Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for 1 1/4 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove the bundt pan from the water bath and let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out onto the rack and let it cool completely. Serve the cake with the cream.

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE PETIT FOURS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9''x9'' cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, combine the whites only of 4 eggs (reserve 2 of the yolks for later). Try to avoid any 'goldfish' (little bits of yolk in the egg whites). If you do get goldfish, it's okay for this recipe, just realize that you won't get peaks when you beat it.
• Add the 1/4 t cream of tartar and 1/4 t salt to the egg whites. Beat until foamy.
• Add the 1/3 c Splenda/sugar to the egg white mixture and beat until stiff peaks form (or until foamy and well-mixed if you had goldfish).
• Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
• In a small bowl, mix together the 1/4 c flour and 1/4 c cocoa.
• Lightly fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
• Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until cake springs back lightly to touch.
• Once the cake is finished baking, turn out onto parchment lined baking rack to cool.
• When the cake is cool, slice into two layers using a long, sharp knife with a serrated blade.
• To make the simple syrup: combine the 1/2 c water and 1/2 c Splenda/sugar in a small saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved.
• Using a pastry brush, coat both sides of the two cake layers with the simple syrup mixture.
• To make the frosting: cream the 3 T unsalted butter with 1/4 t vanilla. Add the 1 1/2 c powdered sugar and 1/4 c cocoa and blend gently to avoid the powders flying everywhere. CAREFULLY add just enough water to get a thick frosting (caution on this because if you add way too much you'll need to start over with the frosting, it only takes just a little water).
• Spread the frosting over one layer of the cake. Top this layer with the other layer and then frost the top of your layered cake.
• Using your sharp serrated knife again, cut the cake into 36 pieces (5 equal cuts in both directions). To make the pieces perfectly the same size you can measure and insert toothpicks as markers before you cut.
• To make the glaze: In a double boiler, melt the 16 oz bittersweet chocolate, the 1 c unsalted butter, and the 2 T light corn syrup. Stir often until well-blended.
• Set a baking rack over a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Set the layered cake pieces on the backing rack with spaces between each piece to let the chocolate flow over their sides.
• Pour the glaze over the cake pieces, taking care to cover the sides. The excess glaze will pool on the cookie sheet and may be reheated and reused. **For less waste, you can half the amount of glaze and coat in two phases, or have another recipe ready to use the excess glaze in.**.
• Allow the glaze to cool. I relocate the baking rack to the freezer to speed up the process once the pieces are slightly cooled.
• For the white hearts decoration: melt the white chocolate chips in a clean double boiler. Once the petit fours are well-hardened, use a clean paintbrush to paint the white chocolate hearts (or whatever decoration you'd like) on the tops. You may need to go over them more than once to get a nice white color without mixing with the dark brown glaze.