Have I told you lately... that I love you? How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Wild thing, I think I love you...
*ahem*. Oh, sorry. You caught me having a private little conversation with the chocolate bar on my desk. What, I'm the only one who talks to chocolate? Ha, I think not. I talk to plants, I talk to my fish, cats, and dogs, so why not talk to my bestest non-human friend? Chocolate and I are off on a new adventure together and can't wait for you to join us.
As some of you may remember, I've recently gotten over my snootiness regarding cake balls. I love the silky texture of the interior playing off the snap of the chocolate coating.
But where to go next? I've laughingly compressed tennis ball-sized fistfuls of crumbs, saying I was going to make giant cake balls that would take two hands to eat. What if we toned that down just a bit, to domes of stuffed cake; and switched from a crisp coating to a fluffy one? After that, it didn't take long to come up with these chocolate fudge "cake bombes."
A simple single layer chocolate cake, a batch of basic ganache, and a mound of meringue makes the fixings for these layered little bombes of goodness. Let's get started.
Place 1 2/3 (283g) cup chopped chocolate or chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl. Pour 1 cup (227g) boiling heavy cream over the chocolate and stir, stir, stir until the chocolate is melted and the ganache is silky smooth.
Refrigerate the ganache for a few hours or up to overnight, to set up. It should be thick and fudge-like.
Reserve about 1/3 cup of the cooled ganache for thickening and binding the cake crumbs.
Using a tablespoon cookie scoop or large spoon, scoop out 1/8-cup portions of the ganache and roll into balls the size of walnuts or large gumballs. Set aside on a plate in the fridge for another 2 to 3 hours, to firm up again.
Bake up your favorite single-layer chocolate cake. I've always loved our Cake Pan Cake; it stays so nice and moist, you barely need to add extra ganache for binding.
After the cake has cooled, remove any firm crusty edges and crumble the cake into a large bowl. Add the reserved 1/3 cup ganache, and blend the chocolate and crumbs together until they form a ball when pressed.
From here, it's a simple matter of assembly. Make a half-shell of cake in the bowl of a muffin scoop. Add one chilled ball of ganache. Cover with more crumbs, press it all together firmly, and unmold.
If you cave to temptation like I did and eat one right away you'll be rewarded with silky soft cake with a fudgy, rich center. Believe me, it was hard to stop at just one.
At this point you could certainly chill the domes in the fridge for a few hours, then enrobe each in a bath of tempered chocolate. Or, you can go one step further...
And swath each dome in a layer of creamy meringue...
Toast to golden perfection...
And carefully transfer to a plate for serving. I rather missed the "carefully" here, didn't I? Trust me, it still tasted just fine.
With a little imagination, three simple recipes come together to make something special. As I write this there's a storm outside my windows, and the local schools are all closed. If you're stuck inside, why not make something really special with the kids? It would become a day that would stand out in their memories forever.
Oh, and don't forget to whisper a few words of encouragement and thanks to your chocolate, too. Spread the love.
Here are the links to the recipes you'll need to make these wonderful bombes of goodness:
King Arthur Flour's Original Cake Pan Cake; Chocolate Ganache, and Basic Meringue.
Recipes in this post
