Griottine Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Sieve flour and baking powder. Add sugar and salt.
• Add egg and mix in food processor.
• Add melted butter then add Griottines. Mix.
• Pour into a baking tray or mould.
• Bake at 145C for 40 minutes.
• Soak cake as soon as it comes out of the oven with Griottine juice.

Steps:

• In a small pot over medium-high heat, combine prunes, rum and 2 tablespoons water. (Use 1 cup/240 milliliters water if using dried apricots.) Cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed (about 5 minutes for prunes, 10 to 15 for apricots). Use a fork to mash into a thick purée. Cover and chill.
• In a food processor, pulse to combine flour, sugar and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add 5 egg yolks and pulse until mixture comes together as a dough. Divide in half, form into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill at least 2 hours or until firm.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap, roll one of the dough halves into an 8-inch circle. Transfer dough to prepared cake pan, pressing into edges. Spread prune or apricot purée across dough, leaving 3/4 inch border around outside edge. Roll second piece of dough into an 8-inch circle, transfer to cake pan, press around outside edge to stick the pieces together and seal in fruit purée.
• In a small bowl, combine remaining egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water and beat lightly. Brush over top of cake, then use a fork to score a crisscross pattern into the dough. Bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes (cover with foil if cake is browning too quickly). Cool in pan 15 minutes. Flip onto a plate, then invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Steps:

• Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Then assemble a bain-marie - do this by pouring a little water into a saucepan and placing the bowl over the water (making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl). Set the pan over a gentle heat and warm the water until the chocolate has melted. Take off the heat and leave to cool a little.
• Meanwhile, place the butter and half the sugar into another large bowl. Using a tabletop mixer or electric hand whisk, beat until the mixture is really light and creamy, then beat in the cocoa powder.
• Separate the eggs (the whites can be frozen for another time) and put the yolks in a third bowl. Tip in the remaining sugar, then beat together until pale and creamy. To check if it's ready, make a figure-of-eight shape in the mixture with the beater - it should hold its shape for a moment. In a fourth bowl, whip the cream until thickened with soft peaks.
• Pour the melted chocolate into the butter mixture, and carefully stir through until it is well combined. Gently fold in the egg mixture. When this is amalgamated, stir in the whipped cream. Now line a 6.5 x 22cm tin with 3 layers of cling film, leaving a 10cm overhang.
• Spoon the mixture into a large piping bag with a large nozzle attached (see Gordon's steps, far right). Pipe a layer over the bottom of the tin, then cover this with a layer of After Eights (cut some in half to ensure they fit). Pipe over another layer of chocolate cream, followed by a layer of After Eights. Continue until you have 4 layers of chocolate mints and the tin is full, finishing with a chocolate cream layer. Fold over the cling film, then chill overnight or up to 2 days.
• Just before serving, place the marquise in the freezer for 10 mins to make it easier to slice. Place the tin, bottomside up, on a serving plate, slide off the tin, then peel away the cling film. If you have a blowtorch, quickly run the flame over the surface of the marquise to give it a glossy sheen. Alternatively, dip a palette knife in boiling water and smooth the surface that way. Use a serrated knife dipped in boiling water to cut the marquise into slices.