Chatsworth chocolate torte & chench !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About 3 1/2 years ago , we made our way to Chatsworth House on the way back from a wedding the night before. Its worth a visit and has the most beautiful furniture and artefact's. Lashings of my favourite Chinoiserie everywhere, but anyway , Im going way off topic.

Back to the torte!


After wandering the rooms (with a 13mth old strapped to my front, no buggies allowed), we needed some sustenance and had a lovely lunch in the grounds restaurant the Carriage House, (although then it was in the area now called The Cavendish rooms), which was quite unexpected, as sometimes the homes in England dont always have the best restaurants. I remember having a huge and delicious lasagne accompanied by lovely beany and leafy, fresh and well dressed salads of various kinds.

The piece de resistance however was the most amazing moist and moorish chocolate torte. After scoffing the lot bewteen us ; Mr hubby, myself and little cupcake, I was compelled to get the recipe from them, and the staff kindly wrote it all out for us. The only downside was the mass catering quantities of 8 HUGE TORTE'S ,(8lbs plain chocolate, 2PTS OF GLUCOSE, you get the picture!), and not one small one, so to this date , we have never ever been able to work out the ratios and the recipe below is probably our 10th stab at making it in the combination we can work out . This time we also also used it as chocolate experiment with a block of that Venezuelan black cacao from William Harcourt Cooze. This one was nervously served last night to our friends !!!

More about chench later , 1st the all important recipe!!!

10 digestives crushed into a fine-ish texture (you can leave some to add to the top of the torte after)

125g unsalted butter

90g Venezuelan black 100% pure cacao , Carenero Superior, single bean (grated)

40g Green and blacks milk chocolate

4-5 tbs glucose powder (for anyone wondering why this and not sugar, it just absorbs straight into the mix and has no need for special dissolving).

280g whipped double cream (stiff peaks)

splash of rum or creme de cacao

1 shallow cake tin about 25cm dia

Add the butter to the digestives and mix , pour into the cake in and press down firm with the back of spoon creating a smooth and even base

whip the cream

melt the grated choc in a bowl over a pan on medium heat

break up the milk chocolate and add into the melted cacao (It has a lower melting point)

add the alcohol to the chocolate off the heat

add the glucose

taste for sweetness (you may wish to add more)

it may seize up at this point so add some cream in slowly to loosen

continue to add in the whipped cream

pour onto biscuit base

set in fridge for 2-3 hrs
To serve leave out for 20 mins

We also served Mr hubby's famed pavlova. Recipe to follow soon!

Serving something with the torte that was sweet & sour really helped to break up the richness of the chocolate.

Ok about the chench briefly , basically Mr hubby was asked about his favourite recipes last night , one being a Ken Hom chicken dish that uses 20-30 garlic cloves with various Chinese ingredients. Its a wonderful recipe and we make it regularly . We often feel it almost channels something french about it. So our friends thought that may be we should start a new fusion of french and Chinese cooking naming it Chench! Frionese came up at one point , but the chench stuck!!! (see now ive said it, its one of those , you had to be there moments!!!!).

I would love to know if any one comes up with improvements on the recipe if they try it?