Gluten Free Dairy Free Almond Earl Grey Chocolate Ganache Layer Cake
Gluten Free Dairy Free Almond Earl Grey Chocolate Ganache Layer Cake. The cake itself is also legumes free, so if you don’t eat legumes on Passover, it can be used for any dessert you like.
I recommend using a scale as I’m using both whole eggs, egg whites and egg yolks (total of about 7 eggs for the entire cake) which could make your life easier.
The filling I went for this time is a dairy free earl grey chocolate ganache, that is simply made of dark chocolate and soy milk – that’s right, no need to use coconut or have that coconutty flavor (personal I don’t mind but know that many people are not the biggest fan).
The cake is assembled into a beautiful tall layer cake that is absolutely stunning! Hope you’ll give it a try and enjoy her! (:
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Gluten Free Dairy Free Almond Earl Grey Chocolate Ganache Layer Cake:
Equipment:
For the cake: standard cake sheet baking tray sized 30 by 40 cm, bottom and sides lined with parchment paper.
Recipe:
For the sponge cake:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Whole Eggs | 85g (1.5 Large eggs) |
| Egg Yolks | 55g (3 Large yolks) |
| Egg Whites | 180g (about 5 large egg whites) |
| Almond Meal | 100g |
| Powdered Sugar | 100g |
| White Granulated Sugar | 55g |
| Vanilla Sugar | 10g |
For the earl grey chocolate ganache:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Dark Chocolate (55%) | 150g |
| Soy Milk or Dairy Free Cream | 200g |
| Dried Earl Grey Tea Leaves | 15g |
For the simple syrup:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| White Granulated Sugar | 30g |
| Boiling Water | 120g |
| Dark Rum (do not skip) | 15g |
For the icing and piping cream:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Dairy free Whipping Cream | 150g |
| White Granulated Sugar | 15g |
| Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder | 1/2 tsp |
Preparation instructions:
For the sponge cake:
- Preheat your oven to 180C, static heat (fan mode off), placing the baking rack at the lowest level inside the oven.
- In a food processor, finely grind the almond meal and powdered sugar together, and set to the side.
- Using an electric handheld mixer, beat the egg whites to a meringue, while gradually adding the sugar and vanilla sugar, until it reaches stiff peaks.
- Using the same mixer (no need to clean the beaters), beat the whole eggs and egg yolks over high speed, for 5 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Fold the almond meal and powdered sugar mixture into the eggs’ mixture in 3 parts, until fully combined.
- Fold the meringue in 3 parts into the eggs’ mixture until fully combined.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tray, making sure it is evenly layered, and bake for 15 minutes.
- Once done, take the cake still attached to the parchment paper, out onto a cooling rack. Wait for about 3 minutes, then place a large parchment paper and place it on top of the cake. Use it to reinvert the cake to the other side, and peel off the attached parchment paper at the bottom. Use both papers to reinvert the cake to the other side again.
- Once the cake has fully cooled down, make cutting marks 7cm apart from each other, with a length of 23cm. Cut through the marks into 5 equally sized rectangles (each is 7cm wide and 23cm long). Set to the side until ready to assemble.
For the earl grey chocolate ganache:
- Place the chocolate inside a tall container, setting it on top of a scale.
- In a saucepan, over low heat, cook the earl grey tea leaves together with the soy milk for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Place a wide strainer on top of the container with the chocolate, and tare the scale to zero. Pour the hot milk with the tea leaves directly into the strainer- you should apply pressure with the back of a tablespoon or a spatula to help squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the tea leaves. Pay attention to the scale and check to see that you have managed to squeeze out 150g of liquid, as some it will evaporate during the cooking. If necessary, add more hot liquid to complement to 150g.
- Allow the heat to slightly melt the chocolate, and using an immersion blender mix everything together. Transfer to a shallow container, and allow to cool down at room temperature for the ganache to set to a spreadable consistency (this should take about 1 hour, and avoid putting the ganache inside the refrigerator).
For the simple syrup:
Mix together the boiling water with sugar until it fully dissolves. Once the syrup has cooled down, add in the rum.
Assembly:
- Place a cake rectangle on top of a serving plate (you can thinly spread a tiny bit of ganache at the bottom, to hold it still on the serving plate), and apply the syrup on top.
- Evenly spread about 60g of the earl grey chocolate ganache on top of the sponge.
- Repeat steps 1-2 with the rest of the cake, syrup and ganache. Note that if the ganache sets too hard during the process, you may re-heat it in the microwave for 5 seconds only, then using a rubber spatula bring it together to a spreadable consistency.
- There should be enough ganache left at the end of the process (about 40-60g) to ice the top layer evenly.
- Beat the whipping cream, sugar and cocoa powder to an icing consistency and ice the sides of the cake. With the rest of the cream, pipe a border around the edges (I’ve used Wilton 4B piping nozzle). Store refrigerated.
