Mocha and Eggnog Cream Torte with Creampuff Swans
Ingredients
- For the cake
- 2 eggs
- 50 grams sugar
- 50 grams Pastry flour
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped toasted almonds
- 1 pinch salt
- 50 grams dark Couverture
- For the eggnog cream
- 70 milliliters Advocaat
- 300 grams Quark
- 200 milliliters Whipped cream
- 7 sheets gelatin
- 50 grams sugar
- 1 packet Vanilla sugar
- For the mocha cream
- 2 centiliters Coffee liqueur
- 100 grams Quark
- 50 grams Whipped cream
- 1 Tbsp Instant Espresso powder
- 2 Tbsps sugar
- 3 sheets gelatin
- For garnish
- 100 grams Whipped cream
- 1 packet whipped cream stabilizer
- 1 tsp sugar
- Cream puff swan (recipe follows)
- 3 Tbsps roasted slivered almonds
- For the cream puff swans
- 50 grams butter
- ⅛ l water
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla sugar
- 125 grams Pastry flour
- 4 eggs
- salt
- For the cream puff filling
- 1 cup Whipped cream
- 1 packet Vanilla sugar
- powdered sugar (for dusting)
Preparation steps
For the cake, separate eggs and beat yolks with sugar until fluffy and white. Beat egg whites and salt until stiff. Fold egg whites into yolk mixture. Sift flour over egg mixture, fold in with a whisk and fold in almonds. Spread batter into a greased and floured springform pan and smooth surface. Bake cake in oven preheated to 180°C (approximately 350°F) until cake tests done with a toothpick, 15-20 minutes. Let cake cool and cut in half crosswise. Melt dark chocolate over a hot-water bath, pour over one half of cake and set cake chocolate-side up on a serving plate. Set a springform ring around cake on plate, leaving a 0.5 cm gap (approximately 1/8-inch gap) between cake and ring.
For the mocha cream, soak gelatin in plenty of cold water. Mix quark, coffee liqueur, sugar and espresso powder until smooth. Squeeze gelatin well and dissolve in a small saucepan. Stir a bit of the quark mixture into gelatin to temper, then quickly stir gelatin mixture into remaining quark mixture. Beat cream until stiff and fold into quark mixture. Line a bundt or tube pan with plastic wrap and spread mocha cream into pan. Refrigerate mocha cream until set, about 1 hour. Invert pan to remove mocha cream ring, place on chocolate-coated cake base in springform ring and remove plastic wrap.
For the eggnog cream, soak gelatin in plenty of cold water. Mix quark, sugar and advocaat until smooth. Squeeze gelatin, dissolve in a small saucepan and stir in a bit of the quark mixture to temper. Quickly stir gelatin mixture into remaining quark mixture. Beat cream until stiff and fold into quark mixture. Evenly spread eggnog cream into springform pan over cake and mocha cream layers and smooth top.
Place remaining cake layer over eggnog cream and refrigerate torte for at least 3 hours to set.
For the creampuff swans, mix butter, salt and 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar into water and bring to a boil. Add flour to water and stir until dough forms a lump and a white film forms on bottom of pan. Remove dough from heat and let cool. Gradually mix eggs into dough. Place dough in a pastry bag with a large star tip. Pipe 8 puffs from dough for swan bodies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pipe 8 swan necks shaped like the number 2. Bake creampuffs in oven preheated to 220°C (approximately 425°F) until golden, about 20 minutes.
For the creampuff filling, beat cream and vanilla sugar until stiff and place in a pastry bag. To assemble swans, cut swan body creampuffs in half lengthwise and pipe filling onto bottom halves. Cut top halves in half again for wings and insert with necks into filling. Dust creampuff swans with powdered sugar.
For garnish, beat cream, sugar and cream stabilizer until stiff, spread over torte and remove springform ring. Decorate torte with creampuff swans and sprinkle with sliced almonds to serve.
