Mocha Pecan Torte
In this Mocha Pecan Torte, flavorful pecan flour replaces the almond flour often used in French-style chocolate cakes and tortes. The mocha glaze, crafted with milk chocolate and coffee, beautifully complements the tortes dark chocolate interior, resulting in a unique and delightful taste sensation.
The key ingredient is the pecan flour, also known as pecan meal, which must be fresh and have a pleasant pecan aroma. An excellent source for this and all nuts and nut products is provided in the notes below. Many supermarket or mail order nut flours are old and not stored properly, so be sure to smell before using in your recipes.
This recipe is from one of my favorite baking books, Cocolat, by Alice Medrich. This book is an invaluable resource for not only excellent recipes, but for professional-style finishing and decorating techniques. I have seen copies available on eBay.
As with most rich chocolate cakes, Mocha Pecan Torte is best served in thin slices and it goes extremely well with a little dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.
While creating the spider-web design is a fun project, the torte is also appealing when adorned simply with the chocolate glaze.
Mocha Pecan Torte
| Yield: 1 8″ cake | Serves: 10 | Method: Modified creaming | Difficulty: Moderate |
Ingredients
6 oz (170 g) 60% to 64% chocolate, wafers or chopped
6 oz (170 g) unsalted butter, cut into six pieces, room temperature
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
½ cup (3.5 oz / 99 g) sugar
1 cup (3.25 oz / 93 g) pecan flour
2 tbl (.60 oz / 17 g) all-purpose flour
4 large egg whites, room temperature
Pinch of salt
â…› tsp cream of tartar
¼ cup (1.75 oz / 50 g) sugar
Ganache:
½ cup (4 fl oz) heavy cream
4 oz chocolate, 64% to 66%, wafers or chopped
Mocha Glaze:
¾ cup (6 fl oz) heavy cream
1 tbl light corn syrup
1 tbl + 1 tsp powdered instant coffee or espresso
Hot water, as needed
10 oz milk chocolate, wafers or chopped into small pieces
Décor:
2 oz milk chocolate, wafers or chopped, melted
1 cup (4 oz / 113 g) pecan pieces
Special tools and equipment needed:
- 1 8″ by 2″ cake pan
- 8″ parchment paper circle
- Countertop mixer with whip attachment or handheld mixer
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Make the ganache a day ahead.
- Bring eggs and butter to room temperature
- Butter the cake pan with the parchment paper circle in the bottom, buttered as well. Dust with cocoa or flour.
Directions:
The cake:
- Place the chocolate and butter in a large mixing bowl1 over a pan of barely simmering water until mostly melted. Remove from heat, stir with a whisk until smooth, and keep warm.
- In machine bowl with whip attachment, whip egg yolks and sugar until pale colored and thick. Scrape out of machine bowl into chocolate and butter mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add pecan meal and flour. Stir to combine.
- In clean machine bowl and whip attachment, whip the egg whites, with the salt and cream of tartar until soft to medium peaks. Gradually add the sugar and beat until a just firm meringue.
- Using a plastic spatula, stir one-quarter of the whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten, making sure to stir up from the bottom to combine all the mixture with the whites.
- Fold in the remaining whites just until no blended and no streaks of white remain. Pour into cake pan.
- Bake just until the center is firm to the touch, and a cake texter (toothpick or wooden skewer) shows moist chocolate crumbs, about 38 to 42 minutes.
- Let cool for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cardboard cake circle or a cooling rack, remove the parchment circle, and invert back onto another cooling rack, so the cake is right side up. Allow to thoroughly cool. Cake may be baked a day ahead, well wrapped in plastic film and left at room temperature. It may also be frozen up to one month ahead.
Prepping the cake:
- Using a long, serrated knife, trim the top of the cake to make it level. Place the cake top side down an 8″ cardboard circle. Â
- Crumb coat the cake by spreading a thin layer of ganache over the cake. Let the ganache dry, about 1½ to 2 hours
Mocha glaze:
- In small saucepan, bring the heavy cream and corn syrup to the simmer.
- Dissolve the coffee powder in a few droplets of hot water. Add to the heavy cream.
- Add the milk chocolate all at once. Cover for 5 minutes. Gently whisk until smooth. Let sit until 100°F.
Glazing and finishing:
- Place the cake on clean cooling rack or turntable.
- If doing the spider web design, fill a parchment cone with melted milk chocolate.
- Pour the glaze over the cake, and with a few motions of a long metal cake spatula, direct the glaze around the cake and over the sides. Lift the cooking rack or turntable up about an inch and drop it, to facilitate the glaze dripping over the sides.
- Cover any holes with glaze that has drip onto the counter.
- Let the glaze set for 2 minutes
- If doing spider web design, start at center and pipe a concentric circle over the cake.
- Using a paring knife or wooden skewer, form the spider web pull from the center out alternating with pulling from the outer edge toward the center.
- Let the cake set for five minutes.
- Press the chopped pecans along the edge of the cake.
- Using a long, offset spatula, lift the cake to a cake plate or serving platter.
Ingredient Notes
Nuts.com is an excellent source for pecan flour (meal) and all other nut products.
