Recipe: Chocolate Genoa Cake with creamy chocolate and berries

1. Creamy chocolate: Start by preparing a crème anglaise. Using a paring knife, slice the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape the interior. In a saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla to a boil. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and thick. Pour the hot milk onto the eggs and sugar, stirring continuously. Return the mixture to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon. (Do not bring it to a boil.) Pour the crème anglaise over the chopped chocolate and gently mix together until the chocolate has melted. Cool the creamy chocolate and refrigerate for about one hour until thick enough to place into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter small molds.
2. Chocolate Genoa cake: Melt the butter in a saucepan and set aside. Beat the eggs into the almond paste, one at a time. Continue whisking for 5 minutes; or until the mixture is pale and thick and falls from the whisk in a ribbon without breaking. Fold in the sifted flour, cocoa and baking powder; add the melted butter. Pour the cake batter into the prepared molds, to come to two-thirds of the sides. Bake for 12 minutes (or 20 to 25 minutes for a cake pan) or until the blade of a small knife inserted into the center of the cakes come out clean and dry. Turn out onto a rack and cool.
3. Prepare a Chantilly cream.
4. To serve: Place a chocolate genoa cake on a plate. Pipe elongated balls of creamy chocolate on top. Decorate with vandyked strawberries and gold leaves. Place a quenelle of Chantilly cream on one side and sprinkle some chocolate shavings. Complete the plate with raspberries or other red fruits.

Chef's tip: Use almond paste and not marzipan. Marzipan is cooked and contains only 20% almonds – it will burn. Almond paste is uncooked and contains 50% almonds and will not burn. These two ingredients are not interchangeable.