Alex,

A little while ago you posted the response below to a question, with a
recipe. I'd like to give it a try.

But, since I'm going to do it for a party along with other things, I'd like
to know what I can do ahead of time. In fact, I'd like to do it a LOT ahead
of time, as much as two weeks, and so I'm interested in knowing whether I
can freeze it at any point at all.

The two candidates that come to my mind a

- freeze the finished batter - and then you unfreeze it when you're ready to
bake. Maybe take it out of the freezer the night before, put it into the
refrigerator, then baking it the same day that you present it.

- freeze the finished cake. In which case I suppose you'd just bring it up
to room temperature on the day itself.

What do you think? Any part of the process in which I could intervene and
freeze?

Thanks,

John

(Haven't decided which of the three chocolate scenarios I'd like to do, but
since I'm in Italy it might be fun to do an all Italian version.)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Rast" >
Newsgroups: rec.food.chocolate
Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2005 10:21 AM
Subject: Recipe help please!


> at Fri, 11 Nov 2005 20:04:00 GMT in <49u9n1leu669418k6hvaageu34q64l0u98@
> 4ax.com>, (E) wrote :
>
>>A long time ago I was at a restaurant, and was served for dessert a
>>sort of chocolate cake/torte/pie.
>>
>>This thing was unreal. It was dense like a piece of cold fudge and
>>had three layers, each a different color of chocolate. It was about
>>an inch high total.
>>
>>Would anyone be able to help out with a recipe for this wonder? I'd
>>like to make it for Thanksgiving alongside the apple pie!
>
> Sounds like somebody concocted a triple chocolate decadence. To make it,
> use the following base recipe:
>
> 24 oz High-quality bittersweet Chocolate
> 15 tb Unsalted butter
> 1 1/2 tb Flour
> 6 Eggs
> 1 1/2 tb Sugar
>
> Heat oven to 350F/175C. In a double-boiler, melt
> broken chocolate with butter, stirring constantly; set
> aside. Again in a double-boiler, stir eggs with sugar
> until mixture is lukewarm and sugar is dissolved.
> Blend flour into egg mixture; fold into chocolate mixture,
> a little at a time. Spread into a buttered and waxed paper
> lined 10"/25cm springform pan. Wrap the pan in foil, and set
> in a roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water
> until the water level is about 1/2" above batter line in the
> pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the center of cake is
> soft but just barely set. Cool.
>
> Classically this is served with raspberry sauce : just puree some good
> frozen raspberries - I recommend Cascadian Farm - and you can pass them
> through a fine strainer if you are obsessive about seeds.
>
> With a triple chocolate version, however, I think a slightly less
> assertive, sweeter fruit is called for: strawberries.
>
> To make the triple chocolate version, you need 3 different types of
> chocolate. Here there are several possibilities. One possibility is to go
> bittersweet/semisweet/milk. Another is bittersweet/milk/white. For the
> true
> chocoholic, you may want to go unsweetened/bittersweet/semisweet.
>
> If you want a strong colour contrast between bittersweet and semisweet,
> you'll want to use a Dutch-process chocolate for the bittersweet and a
> natural-process for the semisweet. And since natural-process has a
> stronger
> flavour, for best flavour contrast you should use an extra bitter (85%-
> class) chocolate for the Dutch-process layer (it will sit on the bottom)
>
> So, what you do is divide the recipe into thirds, and use 1/3 for each
> separate chocolate type. In other words, you'll need 8 oz of each type.
> Then you assemble the cake by spreading layer 1 (the darkest) in the pan,
> chilling until it firms up a bit, then make and spread layer 2, etc...
> Then
> you bake as before. Since it's starting from a colder temperature, it will
> take longer, too.
>
> If you're using milk and especially white chocolate, you may want to turn
> down the temperature to 325F/165C. Also be aware that when you melt either
> of these chocolates, you need to use even lower temperatures.
>
> Then there is the choice of chocolate. Here's what I would recommend for
> each type, and then you can pick and choose as you prefer.
>
> Unsweetened: Domori Style line 100%
> Extra Bitter 85% (Dutch-processed): Cuba Venchi Cuor di Cacao 85%
> Bittersweet: Amedei Trinidad
> Semisweet: Callebaut 835 54.5%
> Milk: Bonnat Asfarth
> White: El Rey Icoa
>
> If the price and availability of these deter you (and they might) then try
> the following:
>
> Unsweetened: Ghirardelli Unsweetened
> Extra Bitter 85%: Lindt Excellence 85 (not Dutch, but oh well)
> Bittersweet: Callebaut 7030
> Semisweet: Stick with the Callebaut 835
> Milk: Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate
> White: Stick with El Rey, there is no substitute.
>
> As you can see, some effort is involved. Being honest, I personally prefer
> the all-bittersweet version. But the 3-chocolates variety does give
> attractive visuals.
>
>
> --
> Alex Rast
>
> (remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

at Sat, 26 Nov 2005 18:08:52 GMT in
>, (JMF)
wrote :

>Alex,
>
>A little while ago you posted the response below to a question, with a
>recipe. I'd like to give it a try.
>
>But, since I'm going to do it for a party along with other things, I'd
>like to know what I can do ahead of time. In fact, I'd like to do it a
>LOT ahead of time, as much as two weeks, and so I'm interested in
>knowing whether I can freeze it at any point at all.
>
.... (snipped recipe for Chocolate Decadence)

Chocolate Decadence freezes superbly. Indeed, it's one of the best for
freezing with its dense texture that resists freezer burn. You can safely
store a well-wrapped decadence for months without ill effects. So 2 weeks
ahead of time should be no problem at all. Definitely bake it then freeze
it.

And you can also freeze the accompanying raspberry sauce, so you can even
do that ahead of time.


--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

That's great, thanks Alex, I'll start baking and freezing.

John

"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
...
> at Sat, 26 Nov 2005 18:08:52 GMT in
> >, (JMF)
> wrote :
>
>>Alex,
>>
>>A little while ago you posted the response below to a question, with a
>>recipe. I'd like to give it a try.
>>
>>But, since I'm going to do it for a party along with other things, I'd
>>like to know what I can do ahead of time. In fact, I'd like to do it a
>>LOT ahead of time, as much as two weeks, and so I'm interested in
>>knowing whether I can freeze it at any point at all.
>>
> ... (snipped recipe for Chocolate Decadence)
>
> Chocolate Decadence freezes superbly. Indeed, it's one of the best for
> freezing with its dense texture that resists freezer burn. You can safely
> store a well-wrapped decadence for months without ill effects. So 2 weeks
> ahead of time should be no problem at all. Definitely bake it then freeze
> it.
>
> And you can also freeze the accompanying raspberry sauce, so you can even
> do that ahead of time.
>
>
> --
> Alex Rast
>
> (remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)