This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays was chosen by Jennifer of The Rookie Baker: chocolate raspberry truffle torte. I had planned to write my post earlier this morning, but instead Shane and I found ourselves at the outlets doing a little shopping! When we head to the outlets my first stop is always Williams-Sonoma and today I got some great deals, including a mini cheesecake pan for only $8! It’s not a pan I really needed, but at that price I simply couldn’t pass it up. I almost never make cheesecake because a whole one is just too much, but minis solve that problem nicely.
Back to this week’s recipe… As delicious as the combination of chocolate and raspberries is, I skipped the raspberries because I was counting on Shane eating a majority of the torte. I also scaled the recipe back making just 1/3 and baking it in my 4″ springform pan. This is a really elegant, yet super simple dessert. Four ingredients (five if you include the raspberries) are all that you need to pull it together – good quality bittersweet chocolate, butter, rum, and eggs. I used Guittard 61% semisweet chocolate for the torte (close enough to bittersweet in my book) and dark rum. First, the butter and chocolate are melted then the rum is added. The eggs are whipped until tripled in volume and then folded into the chocolate mixture. It reminded me a lot of making a souffle actually as the process and the ingredients were fairly similar. My one complaint about this recipe – the instructions for baking provided only a time and no visual or textural cues. It would have been helpful to have had some insight as to how I should reduce the baking time for my mini torte. In the end, I only baked it about 10 minutes less than the full size torte, but I don’t have a good sense whether it turned out with the right texture.
I gave Shane a taste of the torte as I photographed it to get his take. Essentially he liked it, but didn’t love it. He commented that it was really rich and definitely on the bitter side. I had a small bite too and mostly agreed with him. Perhaps with a scoop of vanilla ice cream I could have eaten a sliver, but otherwise, this type of dessert is too rich for me. Many thanks to Jennifer for hosting this week! She’ll post the recipe on her site or you can find it on pages 206-207 of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
I think that the raspberries cut through some of the bitterness perhaps. In addition, I added a chocolate frosting topping so it was just a sugar high for everyone eating it.
I love my mini cheescake pans! I should have cooked mine a few mins less, it was almost dry. I thought vanilla ice cream would have been perfect, too!
This is a rich torte. I still managed to eat a whole piece.
We are certainly making a variety with Sweet Melissa.
very nice & pretty
Your pics always look amazing. I love that napkin!
I considered leaving the raspberries out too, but forgot! I think they did help it taste sweeter.
i love how honest you are!
Fun finds at William Sonoma!
I healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream makes anything taste better.
Looks beautiful! I agree with you about the lack of visual cues in Melissa’s recipes. Dorie’s use of cues for all of the senses makes her one of the best cooking writers out there.
I didn’t make the torte this week, but I might try it out in the fall.
Love WS outlets! I’ve found many a bargain there. Even better when you pick something up and use it right away.
Your photos look great. Do you think the recipe needs more sugar to cut the bitterness? (And you used semisweet too!)
This definitely looks like a recipe needing to be downsized – sounds incredibly intense. Your version looks deceptively snarf-able though 😉
That looks perfect!! I love rich desserts. The raspberries would probably have helped cut down on the richness and bitterness, though I’m sure I would have eaten it plain!
My texture came out a bit odd, almost like a cross between a dense cake and ganache filling so I second the need for more visual or at least descriptive cues on what to look for.
Your tart does look adorable though, and I am WAY jealous of your thrifty priced springform. We don’t have a W-S store in our outlet, so I’m crossing fingers for one soon!
Great job on the mini torte, Tracey! I used Guittard 61% for mine too; I think it’s good chocolate and love that it comes in discs so I don’t have to chop. Sorry it wasn’t a hit. We liked it, but I’m not sorry I only made 1/4 of the recipe.
Having a Williams-Sonoma outlet nearby sounds fun and dangerous! Enjoy your new purchase.
I wish I substituted and used semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet. It. Was. Awful.
So cute! Yours looks like the perfect size for such a rich treat. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to make this, but I’m freezing my raspberries for future use. Your torte looks yummy!!!
VEry elegant torte. And looks delicious. Rich is good in small quantities.
I have 4 mini cheesecake pans in different sizes. VERY helpful. For lots of things.