CHOCOLATE DATE CAKE  RECIPE BY

KIRSTEN TIBBALLS

A romance between a rich chocolate date cake and a fluffy Swiss meringue drizzled
in chocolate ganache.

BEGINNER

CHOCOLATE GANACHE 
40 MINS
MERINGUE

CHOCOLATE DATE CAKE

MAKES 1 21-22cm cakes

CHOCOLATE DATE CAKE

METHOD
INGREDIENTS
175g (6.17oz) water Preheat the oven to 170°C. Lightly roast the pecans for 8-10
112g (3.95oz) dried dates, pitted and chopped minutes. Place the dates into a bowl and pour the boiling water
2g (0.07oz) baking soda (A) over top. Add in baking soda (A) and set aside to soak while
58g (2.05oz) unsalted butter making the batter. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a
130g (4.59oz) plain (all purpose) flour paddle attachment, combine the butter and caster sugar and mix
30g (1.06oz) Callebaut cocoa powder 22-24% until light and creamy. Draw a base on baking paper by tracing
fat around the circumference of the cake ring (we call this the base-
2.5g (0.09oz) salt line) then add another 30mm to that edge so that the baking
1.5g (0.05oz) baking soda (B) paper is 30mm larger than your cake ring/tin and cut. Make
100g (3.53oz) caster (superfine) sugar small incisions with the scissors back to the baseline about
1 whole egg 20mm apart. Measure the circumference of the cake ring/tin and
3g (0.11oz) Heilala vanilla paste cut a strip of baking paper to that length so it will wrap around
120g (4.23oz) Callebaut 811 dark couverture the cake ring overlapping 15mm also making it 10mm higher
54.5% than the cake ring/tin. Spray the cake ring with some vegetable
50g (1.76oz) Callebaut 823NV milk couverture oil and ensure it sits on a flat tray lined with a baking mat or
33.6% baking paper. Place the prepared circle baking paper base into
65g (2.29oz) pecans, coarsely chopped the bottom of the cake ring/tin, so the fluted edges go up the
side. Place the strip of baking paper inside the cake ring so it
sits flush against the sides with no air bubbles.
EQUIPMENT
CONT OVER PAGE...
stand mixer
21-22cm cake ring
spray vegetable oil
Demarle Silpat mat (3/4)

Recipe from SAVOUR ONLINE CLASSES | savourschool.com.au

Copyright ©2019 Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School. All rights reserved.
METHOD CONT...

Once the butter and sugar has become light and creamy, slowly add in the egg and vanilla paste and mix until com-
bined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add in the dates and all of the water they’ve been soaking
in, again mixing until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add in the couvertures and the roasted pecans
and fold through by hand using a spatula. Transfer the mixture into the prepared cake tin, smoothing out the top so that
it’s even. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. At this point, you don’t want to fully bake your cake at this point as you
want to bake it further once the meringue is on top. Make sure you begin making the meringue with enough time to have
it ready before the cake gets taken out of the oven.

SWISS MERINGUE

INGREDIENTS METHOD
135g (4.76oz) caster (superfine) sugar
To make a bain marie, place the bowl of a stand mixer over a
95g (3.35oz) egg whites
saucepan of simmering water, ensuring the bowl is not touching
75g (2.65oz) icing (confectioners') sugar, sieved
the water and that the water is not boiling. Add the egg whites,
2g (0.07oz) cream of tartar
sugar and cream of tartar to the bowl and whisk it continuously
by hand until the mixture reaches 60°C, making sure the egg
EQUIPMENT white doesn’t begin to cook. Put the bowl onto the stand mixer
fitted with a whisk attachment and beat until a shiny meringue
stand mixer is achieved. Remove from the mixer and fold through the icing
saucepan sugar by hand using a spatula. Remove the cake from the
whisk oven at the 20 minutes point and spoon on the meringue onto
spatula the centre. Use a palette knife to smooth out the meringue so
medium flat palette knife that the meringue covers the top of the cake and there are no
air pockets between the meringue and the cake. Shape your
meringue so that it’s lower at the edges and rises in the centre,
pulling the spatula up to create scattered peaks. Place back into
the oven until the cake has reached a total cooking time of 28
minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

INGREDIENTS METHOD
100g (3.53oz) Callebaut 811 dark couverture
Place the cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour
54.5%
over the chocolate and whisk by hands until smooth. Use imme-
100g (3.53oz) fresh cream 35% fat
diately.
EQUIPMENT

whisk

FINSHING

METHOD

Once the cake has cooled, remove the cake ring and baking
paper. Place it onto your serving plate and drizzle the ganache
over top using a spoon.

Recipe from SAVOUR ONLINE CLASSES | savourschool.com.au

Copyright ©2019 Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School. All rights reserved.