Effortless and outrageously delicious, moist chocolate cake? This tenerina cake is super chocolatey and fudgy yet stunningly light. You can decorate the cake with powdered sugar and serve it as it is or you can go for super indulgence with scoops of vanilla ice cream. DROOL!
This Torta Tenerina translates into English as “tender cake”, and for good reason! This dessert has a crackly crispy top surrounding a soft, melted chocolate heart. It’s a typical dessert of Ferrara, a region of Italy, however, is well-known across the whole country and in recent times it has spread its popularity worldwide.
Ingredients for a moist chocolate cake
- Dark Chocolate: Use baking chocolate that contains at least 70% cocoa solids.
- Eggs: 4 medium eggs are required. First, you’ll need to separate the egg whites and beat them with half of the amount of sugar until stiff peaks form. Second, add the remaining amount of sugar to the egg yolk and beat them until you obtain a light, frothy, yellow-pale mixture.
- Flour: Use “00” flour or cake flour.
- Butter: Unsalted butter is necessary. Cut the butter into smaller cubes. The butter can be cold or at room temperature.
- Sugar: 150 g in total. Half will be needed for the egg whites and half for the egg yolks mixture.
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar: To decorate.
What to serve with this moist chocolate cake?
- Vanilla Ice Cream
- Whipped Cream
- Fresh Fruit: raspberries, strawberries
Tips for the best chocolate cake
- Use the best ingredients: As with everything, the quality of your ingredients will influence the end result. I would encourage you to source a good quality chocolate bar that is recommended for baking. Dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids works best. Also, use a good quality unsalted butter with at least 82% fat.
- Melting Chocolate & Butter: Start by roughly chopping the chocolate, then add it to a bowl. Place the bowl over a pot with simmering water (bain-marie) and make sure that the bowl is not in contact with the water from the pot. When the chocolate is completely melted (but not too hot) add the butter and mix to combine. It’s important for the chocolate to not be too hot as the butter can separate.
- Don’t overmix the batter! Gently incorporate the stiff egg whites and flour into the mixture and stir just until combined. This is important for obtaining a light texture.
Moist Chocolate Cake - Torta Tenerina
Effortless and outrageously delicious, moist chocolate cake? This tenerina cake is super chocolatey and fudgy yet stunningly light.
Ingredients
- 200 g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa), roughly chopped
- 4 eggs, egg-whites separated from egg yolks
- 50 g "00" flour
- 100 g butter, cut into cubes + a little extra to grease the cake tin
- 150 g granulated sugar (half to be used to whip together with the egg-whites and half to be mixed together with the egg yolks)
- 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- powdered sugar as preferred to decorate the cake
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa powdered to prepare the cake form
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (ventilated).
- Place the roughly chopped chocolate in a bowl and melt over a bain-marie stirring continuously (see notes regarding the bain-marie technique). When the chocolate has melted add the butter cubes and mix well until it's well combined. Then set it aside and allow it to cool.
- In the meantime, separate the eggs. Place the egg whites into a clean bowl and start whipping them using a hand mixer. When a light foam starts to form gradually add half of the sugar (75 g) and continue mixing until stiff peaks form. Set aside until needed.
- Pour the remaining sugar (the remaining 75 g) over the egg yolks and start mixing until you obtain a yellow-pale and frothy texture. This should take around 4 - 5 minutes to mix on medium speed.
- Pour the melted chocolate and butter mixture over the egg yolks and combine.
- Then, gradually add the beaten egg whites and incorporate them gently so that you still keep that aerated texture.
- Add the flour and mix well slowly until fully incorporated.
- Lightly grease a cake springform (20 cm) with a little bit of butter and sprinkle some cocoa powder eliminating the excess. Cover the bottom of the form with parchment paper as well. Pour in the batter and distribute evenly using a spatula.
- Bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Allow cooling completely then decorate with powdered sugar.
Notes
How to use the Bain-Marie Technique
Heat a pot with water until a gentle simmer. Then place the bowl of chocolate on top of the pot. The water should not come into contact with the bottom of the bowl or pot in which you poured your chocolate.
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