Hello, lovebirds and single awareness day appreciators. This day of love comes once a year. Some of you will get dolled up and have dinner with your sweetie, some may wallow in your loneliness at home watching Sleepless in Seattle, and the others are either bashing the couples that are in love, or they just don’t care. Either way you see it, I hope you’ll let the people around you enjoy their day together.
Personally, I don’t need a day of love to be thankful for the people I have in my life; love is all the time. That’s why it’s all about the chocolate, babe, or some equally luscious dessert. The rich, smooth, and intense chocolate dessert of my choice comes from Square Table Cookbook. Mocha velvet torte is my ultimate delight. Time stands still when you take your first bite. There’s nothing better than tantalizing your taste buds with a concoction of chocolate, coffee, and Kahlua. Since you’re using Kahlua anyway, you might as well make yourself a white Russian cocktail to wash it down with.
So, if chocolate is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. Mocha velvet torte amazing-ness, in my mouth, is the only way I want to remember Valentine’s Day. Cheers.
Mocha Velvet Torte
Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Torte:
½ cup coffee
½ cup Kahlua
1 and ½ cups sugar
2 and ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 and ½ cups unsalted butter, melted
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
For ganache, in a heavy medium saucepan over high heat, bring cream just to a simmer. Turn off heat and add chopped chocolate. When chocolate has melted, whisk to blend. Set aside to cool and thicken slightly.
For torte, preheat oven to 225 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch spring form pan and line bottom with greased waxed paper. In a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, bring coffee and Kahlua to a simmer. Add sugar and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Set aside. Position metal blade in food processor bowl and add chocolate chips. Process until chocolate is finely chopped. Pour hot coffee mixture through food chute with processor running. Pour melted butter through food chute with processor running. Add eggs through food chute one at a time, pulsing after each until blended. Add vanilla and pulse to blend. Open food processor, scrape down sides and stir mixture. Pour into prepared pan and bake until slightly firm, about 2 ½ hours. Cool completely on a wire rack. Run a knife along pan edges, release spring form pan sides, and invert onto an 8-inch cardboard circle.
On a rack over a shallow pan, pour ganache over torte, covering top and sides. Chill 8 hours before serving.
16 servings
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| My Valentine this year, Mo. He looks pretty awesome in a red bow tie. |
If you like this recipe, tweet to YACoxfordarts and one lucky tweeter will be chosen for a prize from the Arts Council! Maybe even win your very own copy of Square Table Cookbook!
*Permission to use the Mocha Velvet Torte recipe granted by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council ; Square Table Cookbook is a community cookbook and a fundraiser for the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and can be ordered on their website www.oxfordarts.com.
