This cake was a rousing success! It's very rich and chocolate-y, not too sweet, the pecans come through nicely, and the ganache is just right; not too firm, not too sweet, just a perfect complement to the cake.

Chocolate-Pecan Torte

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

• 227g dark chocolate
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 c. pecans
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• scant 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 c. packed brown sugar, divided
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 c. spiced rum

Ganache

• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 227g dark chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• ~35 pecan halves

Directions

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and grease and flour¹ a 23cm (9") springform pan.
2. Melt chocolate and butter together. (Microwaving at 50% power for 1-2 minutes works well.)
3. Process or blend pecans, flour, cinnamon, and salt together until ground and mostly uniform. (A few chunks are okay.)
4. Beat until light and fluffy but not quite at the soft peak stage.
5. Gradually add 1/4 c. of the sugar and continue beating to soft, glossy peaks.
6. Beat egg yolks with remaining 3/4 c. sugar and vanilla until pale and thick.
7. Gradually beat chocolate mixture into egg yolk mixture.
8. Slowly beat the rum into the chocolate-egg yolk mixture as well. (If you pour it in too quickly it'll splatter everywhere; go slow!)
9. Mix about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to loosen it. (No need to worry too much about deflating the eggs at this point.)
10. Using a spatula, fold in ~1/2 the pecan mixture.
11. Now gently fold in ~1/2 of the remaining egg whites. (Now being careful not to deflate them.)
12. Fold in the remaining pecan mixture followed by the remaining egg whites.
13. Carefully pour the batter into the prepared pan.
14. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 45-55 minutes.
15. Transfer cake (still in the pan) to a wire rack to cool for at least two hours.
16. Once cooled, run a knife around the edge and remove the sides of the pan. Invert the cake onto either a serving platter or a wire rack over a baking sheet depending on how fancy you want to be. Remove the bottom of the pan from what is now the top of your cake.

Ganache

1. Bring cream to a simmer over medium heat.
2. Immediately pour over chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk until smooth and mix in corn syrup.
4. Pour ganache over cake, letting it run down the sides and coat the entire surface.
5. Transfer cake to fridge and chill for 30 minutes.
6. If you went the fancy route and cake is on a wire rack, transfer it to the serving platter at this point, leaving all the pooled ganache behind.
7. Decorate the bottom edge of the cake with the pecan halves and serve.

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¹ If you want to be very sure of not having any flecks of white flour left clinging to the surface of the cake once baked, you can use cocoa instead of flour. Making a paste of cocoa powder and melted butter and painting it on the pan works well. I usually don't bother with that and just use flour. ^Back