Raspberry Truffle Hibiscus Torte for Two

Valentine’s Day is not a huge event at our house, but we do enjoy a Valentine’s Day treat. Today’s Raspberry Truffle Hibiscus Torte for Two is a fun recipe that has been in the works lately. In my opinion, hibiscus is under-utilized in the kitchen. Its tart and tangy flavor is reminiscent of raspberries and is wonderful in all sorts of things. It also is a flavor that is perfect when paired with chocolate which is how I ended up with today’s Valentine’s dessert.

This decadent treat is more involved than most of my recipes but is worth the effort. I wouldn’t call it difficult- just more work. However, it helps to be a seasoned baker. For the cake I used Hershey’s standard chocolate cake recipe which is just perfect and fool-proof, and I have used a lot of chocolate cake recipes. And as the recipe name indicates it is a small dessert because I didn’t want a lot of cake, so I halved the Hershey’s cake recipe. However, you can easily use the full cake recipe. Just make sure to double the ganache recipe and allow for extra preserves. The hibiscus frosting recipe is plenty to cover a large cake.

For fun I used the “naked cake” technique on this torte. This frosting technique allows for plenty of room for error for people nervous about frosting cakes. Its beauty is in the imperfections, so don’t be nervous about trying!

Raspberry Truffle Hibiscus Torte for Two

Skill level: intermediate

Cake (Hershey’s perfectly chocolate cake original recipe here)

1 scant cup flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/3 heaping cup cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup soft seedless raspberry preserves

Ganache (below)

Hibiscus frosting (below)

1/2 cup of chopped truffles

1/2 cup of fresh raspberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease or spray two 6-inch springform pans (or 6-inch cake pans). In mixer combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. Add milk, oil, egg, and vanilla and mix well. Next, add 1/2 boiling water. Your cake batter will be thin. Divide the batter between the two greased pans and bake for 30 minutes or until center is raised and toothpick stuck in middle comes out clean. Remove cakes from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before carefully removing from pans. Let cakes cool on a rack and proceed to the rest of recipe.

Torte Assembly

Start by slicing the two cakes in half horizontally. You should have 4 thin cakes to layer with now. Place one cake on the bottom of your platter and spread with 1/2 cup of the raspberry preserves. Place another cake layer on top of the preserves. Spread a thick layer of ganache on top of this. Take a third cake layer and place it on top of the ganache (recipe below). Spread the remaining 1/2 cup of raspberry preserves on top of this cake layer and place remaining fourth cake layer on top of this. At this point I refrigerate the cake for a bit to let it “firm up”. This is a good time to make the hibiscus frosting (recipe below). Frost the cake entirely with hibiscus frosting. Using a frosting knife, scrape most of the frosting off the sides for a “naked” look.

Top cake with fresh raspberries and chopped truffles

Ganache

1/2 cup chocolate chips

 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat chocolate chips, heavy whipping cream, and butter in double boiler until just melted. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Cool in fridge until spreading consistency

Hibiscus Frosting

Note: you will have leftover frosting.

1 lb. of powdered sugar

1 cup of butter

1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream (light cream is fine too, but you probably will need to adjust amount)

1 tbsp. of hibiscus powder (dried hibiscus that has been blended and sifted for the powder)

Whip the butter in a mixer until soft and fluffy. Next, add powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, and hibiscus powder. Whip on high until fluffy while occasionally scraping sides.

Note: no monies received from affiliates. All opinions are my own.