Decadent, silky, and rich… This cake is perfect for celebrating any occasion.
The Royal Chocolate Cake is composed of three chocolate layers: A meringue biscuit-style base, a praliné crispy layer, and a mousse frosting.
It’s Parisian Host Odile‘s go-to cake to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. As she puts it, this cake is an iconic French dessert and once you try it – you won’t regret it!
3 Things to Know About Royal Chocolate Cake
- This dessert has 3 names in French: le Royal, le Versaillais, le Trianon
- All the names are related to royalty. In the 17th century, the king introduced and popularized chocolate in France.
- It’s mainly baked for special occasions (especially during Easter!)
Ingredients & Instructions
This dessert is made of 3 layers:
- The dacquoise (almond meringue layer)
- The crispy praliné
- The chocolate ganache/mousse
For this recipe, you will need a 20cm pastry ring
For the dacquoise:
Ingredients
- 3 oz. Egg whites
- 1.5 oz. Sugar
- 3 oz. Almond powder
- 3 oz. Icing sugar
Steps
- Beat the egg whites with the sugar.
- Mix together the almond powder and icing sugar
- Pour gently on the whites
- Gently fold in and do not mix. Use a spatula so you don’t break the white.
- Put butter on your pastry ring then place it on a baking tray covered with baking paper.
- Pour in the mixture and bake in the preheated oven at 180C for 15 min.
- Let it cool down at room temperature
For the crispy praliné:
Ingredients
- 4.5 oz. Praline chocolate (or Nutella type of spread)
- 2.5 oz. Any thin cookies
Steps:
- Mash the cookies in a bowl and pour the melted praline chocolate (or the spread on it).
- Mix and spread in the circle on the dacquoise and put it into the freezer until the end of the recipe
For the Chocolate ganache mousse:
Ingredients
- 9 oz. Whipping cream
- 4.5 oz. of Dark chocolate (min 66% of cocoa)
- 4.5 oz. of Milk
- .15 oz. Gelatin (1.5 to 2 sheets)
- 1 Pinch of salt
Steps:
- Soften the gelatin in a large amount of cold water.
- Slowly melt the chocolate in a small saucepan.
- Heat the milk and once hot, incorporate the rehydrated gelatin, pour it in 3 times over
- Chocolate. Don’t pour it all at once.
- Stir until you have a smooth and shiny result.
- Add the salt
- Stir and let cool to room temperature.
- Whip the cream in a very cold bowl. You can your bowl into another bowl with water and ice. Whip until you have whipping cream. You know you are done if you flip over the bowl and all the cream stays in the bowl
- Add 1 large spoon of whipped cream to the chocolate and mix it gently. One everything is mixed, add the rest of the whipped cream.
To assemble the cake:
- Take the circle out of the freezer.
- Pour the mousse on the crispy disc.
- Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Possibility to freeze immediately to serve later (in this case defrost at half a day before).
- Take it out at least an hour and gently take out the pastry ring.
- Optional: decorate by sprinkling with cocoa or with a few raspberries.
