Deep, intense chocolate flavor melts across your tongue with each bite of this Tokyo Gateau au Chocolate. It is perfect for Valentine’s Day or any special occasion.
As I shared it with friends, the accolades came pouring in.
“Each bite is like a little miracle in your mouth.”
“I was expecting it to be dense, but it wasn’t. It perfectly melted on the tongue and was incredible.”
“This is the best thing you have ever made!”
“What. The. Heck!”
“Thanks for bringing us cake last night. It was FANTASTIC!”
“About that chocolate cake. . . THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for sharing that AMAZING chocolate cake with us.”
Tokyo Gateau au Chocolat
- 425 grams (3 and 3/4 sticks) grass-fed, salted butter
- 675 grams single-origin chocolate, around 70% chocolate (1 1/2 pounds)
- 500 grams eggs, at room temperature (about 10 large eggs with the shells and chalazas removed)
- 575 grams organic cane sugar (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 1/8 tsp pink Himalayan sea salt
This cake is made of 4 simple ingredients— butter, chocolate, eggs, and sugar. The quality of the ingredients and method are very important. Read through the instructions before making the gateau. It is not a difficult cake to make, it just takes a fair amount of time.
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 250F. Position the oven rack in the middle of the oven.
- Butter a 9-inch springform pan all along the bottom and sides of the pan. Cut out a parchment circle the size of the bottom of the pan and line the springform pan with the parchment paper. (If your pan tends to leak a little, make the parchment circle a little larger than the bottom of the pan and press it over the bottom seam of the pan, creating a little seal.)
- Place the springform pan in the middle of a half-sheet baking sheet. Set aside.
- Boil a liter of water. (I like to boil the water in my electric kettle that I make coffee with. I leave the kettle on “hold temp” so that the water is ready when I need it.)
- Crack open all the eggs and remove all the chalazas. (A chalaza is the little white cord in an egg. Removing it from the eggs gives the cake a better texture.)
- Cut the butter into cubes and place it in a 4-quart saucepan.
- Chop the chocolate and put it in the saucepan with the butter.
- Heat the butter and chocolate over very low heat. (My stovetop heats at a range of 1-10 and I heat the chocolate over 2.)
- Once the butter begins to melt, stir the mixture constantly to keep the chocolate from scorching and seizing. Once the chocolate is completely melted and mixed with the butter, turn off the heat and set it aside.
- Using a stand mixer, mix your eggs on low to break them up. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium low.
- Slowly stream the sugar into the eggs as they whip. Once all the sugar is added, whip the eggs on medium high until they quadruple in volume; this will take about 10 minutes if your eggs are at room temperature and about 20 minutes if your eggs are cold.)
- During the last 2 minutes of your eggs whipping, check your butter and chocolate mixture. Rewarm it if the chocolate has started to harden. Stir the mixture to make sure it is completely smooth.
- Once the eggs are ready, reduce the speed of the mixer to medium-low. Stream in the chocolate mixture very slowly so that the chocolate emulsifies into the eggs.
- Add the salt and whip the mixture until all the chocolate is incorporated and there are no streaks in the batter.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and give the mixture 2 or 3 stirs with a silicon spatula to make sure everything is incorporated. Tap the bowl of the mixer on the counter a few times to remove some of the bubbles from the batter.
- Pour the cake batter into the springform pan.
- Place the baking sheet with the springform pan onto the middle rack of the oven. Carefully pour about a liter of boiling water into the baking sheet, creating a water bath for the cake.
- Bake the cake for 2 hours. After 2 hours gently move the baking sheet back and forth to check if the cake is baked or still jiggly. If it is very jiggly, bake it for an additional 10-15 minutes. Once the cake barely has any jiggle, just a slight jiggle in the middle or no jiggle at all, remove it from the oven. (Remove the baking sheet carefully so that you do not spill the water from the water bath on yourself.)
- Allow the cake to cool for about 30 minutes. Carefully lift the springform pan off the baking sheet and place it on a baking rack to let it cool completely. (Make sure you don’t accidentally release the springform pan as you lift the cake off the baking sheet.)
- Allow the cake to cool to completely.
- Run a pairing knife around the edge of the cake and release it from the springform ring. (Leave the cake on the springform base.) Wrap the cake and chill it in the fridge for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
- Run a chef’s knife under the hottest tap water. Wipe the water off the knife. Using the hot chef’s knife, slice the cake. Rinse the knife with hot water and wipe it dry between each cut.
- Garnish each slice of gateau with whipped cream, toasted hazelnuts, strawberries, or fresh raspberries if desired.
- The gateau can be eaten cold, but allowing it to come to room temperature for about 20 minutes gives the cake the best texture and flavor.
- Enjoy!
Test Kitchen Notes:
You will need a 9 inch springform pan to make the cake. The pan should be about 3 inches deep to hold all the cake batter. I prefer this springform pan, but this one also works fine.
You need to bake the gateau in a springform pan on a half-sheet baking sheet in order to make a water bath for the gateau. A water bath allows the cake to gently bake at a constant temperature. You may be tempted to skip the water bath, but don’t do it! If you bake the gateau without the water bath the texture will by like a wet, dense brownie instead of a melt-in-your-mouth gateau and the flavors will be muted.
I like to boil the water in my electric kettle that I make coffee with. I leave the kettle on “hold temp” so that the water is ready when I need it.
Remove all the chalazas from the eggs. A chalaza is the little white cord in an egg. Removing it from the eggs gives the cake a better texture. You can scoop them out with clean hands. Or, you can scramble the eggs and pass them through a fine mesh strainer. The strainer will catch all the chalazas.
This recipe call for 500 grams of eggs, which is about 10 very large eggs. If your eggs are small you may need an 11th egg or part of an egg. If you just need part of an egg, crack on egg open, remove the chalaza, scramble the egg, then weigh out the additional amount of egg needed.
If you don’t want to fool with weighing out eggs, just use 10 large eggs.
This cake has 4 simple ingredients (5 if you count the salt). The quality of the ingredients makes a difference. Use the best ingredients that make sense for your budget.
Kerrygold Salted Butter is my favorite butter to use in this gateau.
If you have to choose one ingredient to splurge on, splurge on the chocolate. You will be able to taste a difference in a high quality, single-origin chocolate. My favorite chocolate to use is Xocolatl’s Nicaraguan Chocolate and a bit of their Tanzanian and Ugandan chocolates. The Nicaraguan chocolate has a classic nutty and brownie taste. The Tanzanian chocolate has tastes of bright berries and elevates the flavor of the gateau. The Ugandan chocolate has hints of sweet spices and deep, fudgy notes and is one of my favorite chocolates of all time.
Chocolate is traditionally heated over a water bath to keep it from scorching. I have found that if you heat the chocolate over a low enough heat and stir it constantly, there is no need to heat the chocolate over a water bath.
The flavor of this gateau deepens as it ages overnight so, I prefer to eat it the day after I make it.
This Gateau can be cut into 12-16 slices. It is very rich so, you only need a small slice.
Store the gateau in the fridge. It keeps for about 4 days.