Flourless white chocolate torte (cake)

[dpchef]

I am recipe testing for a new menu. Has anyone done a Flourless white chocolate torte but really without almond meal?

I've been working on converting a bête noire recipe but it's been a little tricky.

Anyone with any thoughts?

DP

[Lisa Shock]

White chocolate is very different from dark chocolate. The additional milks solids mean that it tempers at different temperatures, burns more easily, and is less 'snappy' when tempered.Just subbing the dark chocolate for white will make the cake more runny and less solid.

What are you replacing the almond meal with?

There are bare-bones recipes like this http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Flourless-Chocolate-Cake-14478 but, eventually, you just have melted chocolate, some eggs, and butter, (and sugar, maybe -white chocolate may not need it) so, you're essentially making a custard/emulsion that maybe doesn't need to be baked -just whipped up like Hollandaise. Essentially, you're in mousse territory now...

[ChrisZ]

Why don't you want flour or almond meal? Are you still after a soft cake-like result?

From what I can tell, when people deliberately want a flourless cake it's because it's gluten free. So the wheat flour is replaced with either a nut meal or a naturally gluten-free flour such as corn flour, rice flour or potato flour. I've also seen gluten free cakes with chestnut and hazelnut meal used instead of flour.

If you don't want any flours or nut meals at all in the cake at all then you could try using layers of meringue instead, this would add a crunchy texture as well. The filling would need to balance the sweetness of the meringue but it would work.

[JeanneCake]

I would probably search for a white chocolate sponge cake with a little flour, and replace that flour with a gluten free flour replacer. The bete noire is pretty much a baked mousse, like Lisa says, so if you don't want that texture, go for a sponge cake to modify....

[dpchef]

Bête noire is a strange type cake. Butter and chocolate are melted together. Then a sugar syrup is added. Then whole eggs beaten and strained are beaten in. Baked in water bath. Overall texture close to light fudgy to dense mousse. I want to plate the dark on the same plate as the white so I'd like the textures close. I'm having more trouble with the top browning too much and the darker area is almost chewy. I'm going to try a tight cover this time.

[dpchef]

I also thought about what Lisa posted. Since there is a difference in milk content I'm going to up the eggs. If you want a tighter baked custard you'd up the egg ratio maybe this will do it too.

[Lisa Shock]

Definitelty bake at a lower temp. It only needs to get to an internal temperature of 180° or so, therefore go with a low oven for a longer time to avoid the dark tops -this is like cheesecake.

If you were eliminating almonds in the white because you have them in your dark cake and want a different flavor for the white, use a different nut in the white like macadamia or cashew.

[JeanneCake]

I'm having more trouble with the top browning too much and the darker area is almost chewy.

Mine (dark chocolate version) always forms a "crust" on the top, especially the larger size; I think if you're going to increase the eggs, I'd suggest adding an extra yolk or two before adding another whole egg.....

[dpchef]

I'll be retesting the recipe next week. I'm going to try two additional yolks and turn the temp down to 300 degrees from 325 convection and cover only the cake. In a water bath. I'll see how it responds.