Red Currant Bakery

0 Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
Chocolate Cake
2 In a medium mixing bowl add in the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa. Whisk to combine.
3 Then in the center of the bowl add in the soft butter, eggs, vanilla, sour cream and espresso.
4 Beat until smooth on medium high speed, starting on low and then increasing. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
5 Spray your cake pan with a nonstick baking spray and pour in the cake batter. Smooth out the top, then bake in the hot oven for 25 minutes.
6 After 25 minutes, rotate the cake 180 degrees and bake for another 10-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7 Leave to cool completely.
Hot Chocolate Soak
9 In a heavy bottomed pot add in the milk, cocoa powder, light brown sugar, and salt.
10 Heat over medium low heat whisking frequently until steaming and the cocoa powder and sugar have both dissolved.
11 Add in the chocolate and vanilla and whisk again until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool to room temperature.
Soak the Cake
13 Once the cake has cooled, take it out of the cake pan. Use a serrated knife to trim off the surface layer of the cake just to expose the insides.
14 Put the cake on a piece of parchment paper and then back into the same cake pan.
15 Use a skewer to poke holes all over the cake all the way to the bottom. Carefully pour or brush the hot chocolate soak over the cake. It will seem like a lot but you want to use it all. If it isn't soaking in anymore, let it sit for 10 minutes, poke a few more holes and add more soak.
16 Let the cake sit in the soak while prepping the ganache and meringue.
17 You could prep this the day before and keep it covered in the fridge once soaked!
Chocolate Ganache
19 In a medium heat safe bowl add in the dark chocolate. It should be roughly chopped or just broken up by hand.
20 Heat the heavy cream in a small sauce pot on the stove until steaming. It shouldn't be boiling. It's not the end of the world if it starts to bubble, just turn the heat off immediately.
21 Pour the hot heavy cream over the chocolate and cover with a cutting board or lid. Let sit for 1 minute.
22 After 1 minute has passed, remove the cover and whisk gently until smooth. Add in 40 grams of soft butter and whisk again until smooth.
23 Set aside, stirring gently every 10-15 minutes until it has thickened and cooled enough to be spreadable but not run off the sides of the cake.
Meringue Topping
25 In the bowl of a stand mixer (I think a hand mixer will work too, it will just take ages but I've never tried it), add in the egg whites, sugar, and salt. Whisk to combine.
26 Place a medium sauce pot half way full with water onto the stove. Bring the water to a simmer.
27 Set the mixing bowl with the egg whites and sugar over the bowl of simmering water and turn the heat to low. The water shouldn’t touch the bottom of the mixing bowl.
28 Whisk the egg whites and sugar constantly until the sugar has fully dissolved into the egg whites. To check and see if the sugar has dissolved, pinch and rub some of the mixture in between your fingers and feel if you still feel any of the sugar granules, if not you’re good to go. If you do just keep cooking a bit longer.
29 Once the sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat and remove the bowl from the water. Leave it to cool off for about 10 minutes.
30 Using your mixer, whip the egg white mixture first on medium and then on high speed until fluffy, shiny and stiff.
31 Add in the vanilla bean paste (vanilla extract will work too!) and whip again until combined.
Assemble
33 Carefully (the cake will be more fragile because of the soak) transfer the cake to a cake stand.
34 Scoop the chocolate ganache over the cake and use the back of a spoon to level it out to the edges of the cake. Sprinkle the top with flaky sea salt.
35 Use a big spoon or rubber spatula to scoop the meringue on top of the ganache. The bigger the scoops the more billowy it will look. Of course you can do this however you want!
36 If you have a torch, torch the surface of the meringue otherwise leave it as is and it will still be delicious! Serve immediately!