Devastating Chocolate Lasagna will quash any chocolate craving! This is a layered, trifle-like block of pure chocolate love which brings together chocolate whipped cream, dark chocolate, and chocolate cake.
This is an off-the-hip recipe. Measurements are approximate and based on baking the bake in a 9 x 13-inch glass Pyrex pan. You don’t need to be a pro baker to do this, but you should be comfortable with the following techniques:
- Making, baking, and de-panning a one-bowl cake
- Melting chocolate — you do not need to temper it for this recipe
- Making ganache
- Using gelatin in chilled desserts
- Whipping cream
If you want to get up to speed, I demo everything but stabilized whipped cream in these shows, and I describe that process below:
- Chocolate melting: Black and Bleu Filet Mignon
- Ganache and cake making: Lobster in Sweetheart Sauce
- Gelatin prep: Steak with Scallop Butter
To make Devastating Chocolate Lasagna, you stack the components from the bottom up, in this order:
- Chocolate cake
- Chocolate whipped cream
- Thin layer of dark chocolate
- Chocolate whipped cream
- Thin layer of dark chocolate
- Chocolate cake
- Chocolate whipped cream
- Poured ganache
Devastating Chocolate Lasagna Ingredients & Mise en Place:
- Chocolate cake (try this easy one-bowl cake recipe)
- 4-5 cups heavy cream
- 8 ounces dark Chocolate (you can probably get away with chocolate chips)
- Packet of gelatin
- Sugar or honey
- Parchment-lined baking sheet
- Parchment to build it on
- A way to melt chocolate
- Soft spatula
- A pan or two
- Mixer with whisk or mixing bowl and beaters
Make the cake:
- Make the cake batter.
- Pour the batter into a greased, floured 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake for about 10 minutes. When it’s done, cool it on a rack.
Make the chocolate whip:
- Dissolve the gelatin in a little cold water. Start heating 1/2 c of heavy cream.
- Stir the gelatin into the cream once it is foaming.
- Turn off the heat, add about 2 ounces of chopped chocolate and let it sit.
- Stir after about 5 minutes until smooth. Don’t let it set, but don’t keep it warm to the touch either.
- While that cools, whip 3–4 cups of cream to soft peaks in a metal bowl. Put it in the fridge or freezer — don’t leave it in the freezer over 30 minutes.
- When the gelatinized chocolate cream is near setting and the whipped cream is good and chilled, whip them together. If it gets a little sloppy, pop it back in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes.
- Sweeten it with honey or sugar to taste. You could also add some instant coffee, liquor or extract of choice, but don’t overdo it.
Make the chocolate layer:
- Melt the chocolate. Put down parchment in a pan at least the size of the pan in which you’re baking the cake.
- Spread the chocolate so that it’s thin and even and about the same size as the cake; a little bigger is fine.
- Chill it so it hardens.
Stack it up:
- Put down parchment on the serving dish. Cut the cool cake in half. Set aside one-half and set the other on the parchment
- Spread about a quarter of the chocolate whip evenly across the cake.
- Layer on half the chocolate. If the chocolate is curling up at the edges, just walk away for a few minutes to let it warm slightly.
- Spread another quarter of the chocolate cream. Top with the rest of the chocolate. Spread on another quarter of the cream.
- Stack the other half of the cake on top. Spread the last of the cream.
- Chill in the fridge or freezer. Probably wouldn’t hurt for it to reach a soft freeze.
Make the ganache:
- Heat about 1 cup of cream until the surface is frothy. Add the chocolate, let it sit for up to five minutes and stir until smooth. Let it get to a liquid but not a warm state.
Finish this thing:
- When the stack is firm — give it at least 30 minutes — take a thin serrated knife to the edges to remove overhanging bits of cake and chocolate.
- Pour the ganache over the top, allowing it to drizzle down the sides or encase the cake entirely.
- Let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
Present your masterpiece:
- Before you cut it, free it from the overpour, bits of cake, and chocolate shards that no doubt surround it.
- Slide a large spatula underneath it to loosen it from the parchment and slide it onto its final dish.
- Cut with a thin serrated knife into triangles, cubes, or rectangles. Top with whipped cream.