Lavazza Series 2015: La Bête Noire (Black Beast Recipe)

The Traditional Black Beast Recipe is Transformed Past Perky Perfection!

On holiday in Bijeljina, Bosnia, but with contract requirements to meet, what greater pleasure than La Bête Noire  or The Black Beast Recipe? I developed this recipe for the Thermomix machine 5 years ago for my dear friend, Marie’s 30th wedding anniversary, and it is the richest, most decadent, most moist and velvety, most chocolatey chocolate cake that will ever grace your palate, especially with this brilliant, yet very simple change: 200g of strong flavourful Lavazza espresso replaces the 200g of water in the recipe. Instead of a sugar syrup, you get an espresso syrup. And, once you add the butter, an espresso butterscotch that is simply irresistible.

The chocolate and eggs are all that is added to the cake batter. Seriously, one bite is enough, but it is addictive. The espresso elevates the flavour profile of this traditional Black Beauty, though without knowing the only liquid in the cake was espresso, you would not taste it, per se. Yet, as soon as you realize it, the espresso flavour is definitely evident. It is that classic chocolate coffee combination: one elevates the flavour of the other and thought the obvious overarching flavour profile of this cake is chocolate, La Bête Noire beside without the espresso would most definitely pale in comparison. Standing ovation for moi! And the texture? Oh my: very similar to a baked cheesecake, actually. Nothing close to it in flavour, but similar in texture: velvety, richly creamy and moist.

Last year, Petar bought us three massive birthday cakes. This year, it was nice to provide one for him. He adores dark chocolate, so I am sure this will be the purest of pleasures for him.

Last year, after the flood, when we were cleaning up everything for him, and refurnishing, I learned that he loved the dark chocolate Pava used to buy to bake with. We found an old scraggly bunch of it. He smiled as he reminisced, “She would hide it on me as she knew how I loved to nibble it.” I bought 4 of the same bars you see below (they are specifically for baking, but the best quality one can access here) and hid them around the house before we left. He loved finding them.

I had Igor do it again, at Christmas, and today we are leaving until next year, so I have hidden four more bars for him. I have cake in the deep freeze to share our love for him (and lots of other meals) when he feels that chocolate craving. The cherries are from his own trees, too!

Love the Lavazza espresso. It took two big cups or 4 shots of espresso for this recipe.

It was about one large cup of espresso and one large cup of sugar (but weigh the ingredients); boiled into a sugar syrup for about 9-10 minutes.

It will be ready when the syrup hangs off the spoon.

If you make caramel (or butterscotch), you know you can put the butter into the boiling mass immediately. I didn’t even have this butter at room temperature to cool the syrup to below 50ºC to ensure that the chocolate won’t seize when melting.

Once the syrup is just warm, and no longer hot (at all), the chocolate can be melted in it. Use a thermometer to be sure, if you lack chocolate melting experience. You will be surprised at how little heat it takes to melt a mass of chocolate. Stir constantly for 4 minutes, and you will have a thick, pudding-like mass of chocolate.

At this point, add the eggs, one at a time, rather quickly, while beating with an electric mixer. My Thermomix clients will be thrilled to know that I have this recipe translated for the Thermomix machine. It absolutely effortless to make in the Thermomix.

Pour the batter into the prepared spring form pan. The heavy duty foil is wrapped around the pan to prevent water from seeping into the batter from the Ban Marie the cake will be baked in.

Boiling water, halfway up the sides of the pan, then into a 350°F oven for 40 to 50 minutes; just until the middle stops wiggling when the pan is jiggled.

Ah! Perfect!

Now, for the ganache frosting.

Seriously, I have been to this country probably 11 or 12 times, and still there is nowhere to buy heavy cream. Believe it? These people have pigs and chickens in their yards, but no one sells heavy cream. The closest thing I could find is called Pavlaka which is very similar to Crème Frâiche, if not the same thing. It is a bit more gelatinous, but not much. It is a sweet, very thick cream. And, it worked perfectly.

I didn’t have a scale, so estimated. The ration of cream to chocolate has to be perfect in this particular ganache to have a skating rink shiny surface. This one was not like that. It was a little too thick, as you can see in the photo above. The ganache should “flow” across the cake in a molten-like mass, then settle and solidify with a clean, shiny and perfect surface.

That glean is part of the charm and the “awe” of La Bête Noire  or The Black Beast Recipe. You can see I wasn’t able to master that under these circumstances for this specialty; however, I did pretty darn good baking it in the Summer Kitchen (the Smokehouse).

Look at the rich, moist, velvety sides.

It is so rich that it is actually necessary to serve it with a tart accompaniment. I love serving it with my Black Currant Coulis when home, and whipped up a little sour cherry compote to accompany it here. The cherries were ripe on the trees. Boiled briefly with a bit of sugar created the perfect foil. A little extra Pavlaka also added a welcome reprieve from the intensity of the chocolate when traveling across the landscape of flavour on the plate.

Vanja was happy.

A little bit staged. “It is so good, I ate the whole thing!” But, in actuality, there was a little left. It is that rich. (I ate it.)

Sitting in front of the lovely little Bijeljina home on our last day of our time here, snapping photos of La Bête Noire, I wished we had more time.

I was sure Petar would love the cake, but didn’t get to see him taste it. I know Pava would love it. I could picture her face. “MMMMmmm! Oh, Valerika! Prejak!” (Too rich!) But, she would keep eating it until it was all gone, complaining the entire time. And, grinning.

I think of my cherries at home on my Evan’s Cherry Tree. I wanted to make Petar some preserved cherries, but just did not have the two weeks needed and enough cherries to do it with. There were enough cherries, but I didn’t want to climb that high to pick them all!

Like espresso and chocolate, tart cherries and chocolate are perfect partners, as are black currants and chocolate, and cranberries and chocolate….

5 from 2 votes

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La Bête Noire (The Black Beast Recipe) also with Thermomix Instructions

La Bête Noire or The Black Beast Recipe is transformed past perky perfection with a strong 200g of espresso instead of water. This flourless chocolate cake, is rich, dense, velvety and unforgettable. A little goes a long way. This cake will feed a big crowd.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes

Servings 16 -20

Author Valerie Lugonja

Ingredients

Ingredients for the Cake

• 200 g Lavazza espresso , strong
• 130 g granulated sugar
• 130 g unsalted butter , room temperature
• 500 g dark bittersweet chocolate
• 7 large eggs
• cranberry compote , cassis coulis, or fresh raspberries, optional, for garnish

Ingredients for the Ganache Icing

• 250 g heavy cream
• 210 g dark bittersweet chocolate

Instructions

Instructions for the Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 175°C
2. Butter 10 inch spring form pan; cut out parchment paper circle to fit in the bottom of the pan and butter it, too
3. Wrap three layers of heavy duty foil around the outside of the pan to the top of the rim (not because the cake will rise above the pan, but to ensure water from the Bain Marie will not seep into the pan)
4. Place espresso and sugar into a non reactive heavy sauce pan and boil to 250 F (about 9 minutes)
5. Chop chocolate into small chunks while the sugar espresso syrup is cooking
6. Heat a pot or kettle of water on the stove for the Bain Marie
7. Turn off heat and once cooled to 35-50F; place room temperature butter and chocolate into sauce pan with espresso sugar syrup stir for 4 minutes until melted (If mixture is too hot, chocolate will seize)
8. Move ingredients to a mixing bowl, scraping sides with a spatula to get every drop
9. Using an electric mixer, beat each egg into the chocolate mass one at a time taking about 90 seconds or less for all 7 eggs
10. Pour batter into prepared pan
11. Place cake pan into the bottom of a large roasting pan; carefully pour hot water into roasting pan to come half way up sides of cake
12. Bake until centre no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, 45 to 50 minutes
13. Remove from hot water bath and foil immediately; transfer to rack and cool completely in pan

Instructions for the Ganache Icing

1. Scale heavy cream into the TM bowl and set time to 3 minutes, temp to Varoma at speed 2
2. Chop chocolate into smaller bits
3. Add chocolate into the TM bowl and set time to 2 minutes, temp to 37°C at reverse speed 2
4. Pour ganache directly over completely cooled cake; even better if the cake has been refrigerated
5. Bump out any air bubbles and refrigerate for a minimum of two hours, until ganache has set
6. Remove from pan and plate with desired garnish (cranberry compote, cassis coulis, fresh raspberries, sour cherries)

Instructions for the Cake using the Thermomix Machine in Manual Mode

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Butter 10 inch spring form pan; cut out parchment paper circle to fit in the bottom of the pan and butter it, too
3. Wrap three layers of heavy duty foil around the outside of the pan to the top of the rim (not because the cake will rise above the pan, but to ensure water from the Bain Marie will not seep into the pan)
4. Scale chocolate on the lid of the TM bowl; chop into small chunks for 2 seconds on Turbo three times until fine and set aside
5. Without cleaning the TM bowl, scale espresso and sugar into it and set time to 9 minutes at Varoma temperature, speed 2
6. Heat a pot or kettle of water on the stove for the Bain Marie
7. Cooled espresso syrup to 37°C; scale butter and chocolate into the TM bowl with the sugar syrup remaining and set time to 4 minutes, temp to 37°C at speed reverse 2 (do not put chocolate in earlier as it will seize; 37C in the Thermomix works well, but even at 40C, some chocolate may seize and you will have hard bits in the cake)
8. Insert butterfly into the TM bowl: and set the time to 90 seconds; whisk at speed 3-4 adding eggs through lid, one at a time (crack each into a separate dish first)
9. Pour batter into prepared pan
10. Place cake pan into the bottom of a large roasting pan; carefully pour hot water into roasting pan to come half way up sides of cake
11. Bake until centre no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, 45 to 50 minutes
12. Remove from hot water bath and foil immediately; transfer to rack and cool completely in pan

Instructions for the Ganache Icing using the Thermomix Machine in Manual Mode

1. Scale chocolate in the TM bowl; chop until fine for 2 seconds three times
2. Scale heavy cream into the TM bowl and set time to 3 minutes, temp to Varoma at speed 2
3. Chop chocolate into smaller bits
4. Add chocolate into the TM bowl and set time to 2 minutes, temp to 37°C at reverse speed 2
5. Pour ganache directly over completely cooled cake; even better if the cake has been refrigerated
6. Bump out any air bubbles and refrigerate for a minimum of two hours, until ganache has set
7. Remove from pan and plate with desired garnish (cranberry compote, cassis coulis, fresh raspberries, sour cherries)

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Lavazza Series Posts:

This is my second, but I will be listing each of the 6 I plan to write this year at the bottom of each post if you are a coffee fanatic like me.

• Lavazza Tasting Challenge and Affogato
• La Bête Noire (The Black Beast Recipe)

Lavazza Prize Opportunity for A Canadian Foodie Reader:

There will be an opportunity for a prize package for my readers at the end of this series. How about some feedback on what you would like to see in that prize package. Take a look here, as there are a lot of goodies available! Anyone comment on this before my next Lavazza post to give me some ideas, in the comments section below, will get your name in the draw 5 times when the prize is identified (by Septpember), and drawn in December 2015.

Disclaimer

As noted within the text, I have been paid to write a series of posts for Lavazza from now until December 2015. This is one of them.

What the kitchen looks like when cooking away from home!