Cross Cake – Triple Chocolate Cake

Method

Black Sponge Cake

• Whip up the eggs at high speed until light and fluffy. Mix together sugar and salt and add to the whipped eggs at low speed, the continue whipping on high speed for another 5-10 minutes until frothy. Mix together flour, black cocoa, cornstarch and baking powder, sieve half of it into the egg mixture and combine carefully with a whisk to form a cake batter. Repeat the process with the second half. Make sure that no flour pockets remain at the bottom of the bowl. Line the base of two 17cm / 6.5inch baking pans with parchment paper. Bake the batter in a preheated oven at 180°C / 356°F top/bottom heating for 25-30 minutes. After baking, check whether the cake is baked. Leave to cool on a cake rack for 30 minutes, then remove the cake pans with a cake knife and leave to cool completely on the cake rack. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge, cut each cake once horizontally the next day and use chilled to stack the cake.

Namelaka

• Finely chop the chocolate place it in a heat-proof bowl. Place the milk and agave syrup in a small saucepan on low heat and bring to a simmer. While the milk is heating up, prepare the gelatin or vegan alternative according to package instructions. Once the milk starts to simmer, remove it from the heat and mix in the gelatin or vegan alternative until completely dissolved. Pour the hot milk mixture over the chocolate and leave for a couple of minutes to allow for chocolate to melt. Using a heat-proof spatula, gently stir in a circular motion to mix the milk and chocolate until completely smooth, shiny and emulsified. Pour in the cold heavy cream and stir in small circular movements with the spatula until fully combined. It should look smooth, fluid and very runny. Pour the namelaka into a small dish and cover with plastic wrap touching its surface. Chill overnight.

Chocolate-covered Cornflakes

• Chop the dark chocolate and carefully melt together with the coconut oil. Mix with the cornflakes until each cornflake is coated with chocolate, then spread on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and leave to set.

Vanilla Mousse

• Split the vanilla pod in half and remove the vanilla pulp. Bring to the boil briefly with the vanilla pod in 70 ml of whipping cream and remove from the heat. Leave to infuse for 30 minutes, then chop the white couverture and carefully melt over a low heat (in a bowl over a bain-marie) and set aside. Briefly heat the hot vanilla whipped cream, but do not let it boil, and add it to the couverture in two parts, stirring everything together with a spatula to form a homogeneous mixture. Now stir 150ml of cold whipped cream into the vanilla cream. Cover the surface of the cream with cling film and leave to cool in the fridge overnight. The next day, whip the vanilla cream together with the mascarpone using a hand mixer or food processor until it has a firm consistency.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• In a fat-free bowl (wipe out the bowl and whisk with vinegar) add the egg whites, sugar and salt. Place over a saucepan, which is half filled with boiling water. Let the bowl be warmed by it and continuously whisk the egg whites until all the sugar dissolves and you cannot feel any sugar crystals between your fingers, it should have a frothy texture. Whip the egg whites on high speed with a standing mixer until it is room temperature and perfectly whipped meringue. This can take up to 10 minutes, I’m sometimes putting cool packs on the sides of the bowl to shorten the cool down time. Once it is at room temperature add the butter spoon by spoon. Add a pinch of violet food coloring to take away the yellowish color and make it completely white. To obtain a perfectly smooth buttercream, take out a quarter of the buttercream and heat it up until it slighlty melts, add back to the batch and whip with a stirring hook 5-10 minutes on low speed. Before using it, let it come down to room temperature. Stir it with a whisk and it’s ready to use.

Decorations & Assembly

• Chop the white chocolate and melt carefully. Brush a chocolate bomb silicone mold and other molds with gold powder and spread the white chocolate on them. Leave to set, chill in the fridge and after removing the molds, brush with gold powder again if necessary.

  All components of the cake should be chilled before assembling. Place a cake layer on a cake plate and pipe a buttercream ring on the rim of the cake layer with the Swiss Meringue buttercream. Drizzle some milk on the cake layer. Fill the Namelaka and vanilla mousse into piping bags. Spread a third of the Namelaka on the cake layer, then a third of the vanilla mousse. Finally, spread a third of the chocolate-covered Cornflakes on top. Repeat this process two more times. Finally, place the last cake layer upside down on top of the cake. Wrap the cake in cling film, tightly pull a cake ring around it and chill for 2-3 hours. After chilling, remove the cake ring and cling film and cover the cake with a thin layer of Swiss Meringue buttercream, chill again for 2-3 hours. Finally, cover the cake in the final layer of Swiss Meringue buttercream. For the gold layer on top and the sides of the cake mix together powdered sugar, gold powder and add alcohol until desired consistency is reached. Spread the gold layer on top and sides of the cake and decorate with the gold decorations. Make a small hole in the center of the chocolate bomb half by heating up a spoon, press lightly on the center of the hemisphere so that the chocolate melts, then quickly stick the cross on top and the cake is ready. For the best taste experience, cut and serve the cake at room temperature.